I’ve got murder on my mind. Are you responsible for any of these?
- Do not have an ‘about me’ page on your blog
- Your ‘about me’ page takes more than a few seconds to find
- Your ‘about me’ page starts with these words – ‘this is an example of an about me page…’
- The number of followers you have is more important to you than what you write
- Poor quality posts
- Have broken links on your blog which you have no idea are broken or can not be bothered to fix
- Do not respond to comments
- Do not respond to questions
- Ignore your readers
- Do not treat visitors to your blog as guests
- Have no name to be called by
- Do not read other blogs
- Do not comment on other blogs
- Believe that blogging is going to make you rich
- Leave links with no relevance (usually to your own posts) on the posts of other bloggers
- Do not promote your blog
- Refuse to use social media
- Refuse to keep up to date with blogging technology
- Think readers will find you rather than you find your readers
- You publish posts that contain too many ‘block’ paragraphs
- No ‘contact me’ page/details
- Do not thank people for sharing your posts
- Do not use images and/or photos in any posts
- Use images, photos and words (including lyrics) on your blog which are copyrighted and not free to use
- Do not ask for permission to use photos and/or images owned by other bloggers, before using them
- Ignore all copyright advice
- Respond to constructive negative comments in an unprofessional and unfriendly manner
- Keep begging other bloggers to reblog a post, visit, or follow your blog
- Leave worthless comments on other blogs
- Leave worthless comments on other blogs which clearly show you’ve not read the post
- Do not edit posts before publishing them
- Do not preview your posts before publishing them
- Inundate followers with too many posts in a short space of time instead of scheduling them out
- Respond to comments left by trolls in the comments section of your blog where all can read them
- Allow trolls to leave comments on your blog
- Allow spam comments onto posts
- Attack other bloggers in the comments section on your own or other blogs
- Steal the ideas of other bloggers and publish them on your blog as if content is original and has been written by you
- Fail to maintain and house-keep your blog on a regular basis
- Keep reblogging your own posts which are less than a few months old
- Do not have a ‘landing’ page that will keep visitors coming back
- Ignore advice and feedback from other bloggers
- Believe that blogging will only take up a few minutes of your time every week
- Wake up and dread opening up your blog because of all the comments you will need to reply to
- Keep telling your readers that you are giving blogging up, and keep coming back
- Allow blogging to stress you out
- Allow blogging to make you feel guilty
- Your blog and/or blog posts are poorly laid out
- Have a widget on your blog that says ‘This is an example of a widget…’
- Choose a font and background combination that makes it hard for visitors to read your posts
- Fail to categorise all your blog posts (including reblogs)
- Fail to add ‘tags’ to your blog posts
- Fail to understand what a ‘pingback’ is and how to use one
- Your blog has no ‘search’ bar
- Fail to add your blog details to your gravatar
- Have pop-up boxes on your blog that can not be removed unless somebody subscribes to your mailing list
- Have pop-up boxes on your blog which keeps popping up every time someone visits or until they have subscribed to your mailing list
- Keep suffering from blog envy when you read a post that you’d wish you’d written
- Regularly publish posts that tell your readers to buy your book(s) rather than allow them to decide if they want to buy them
- You believe that blogging is all about the quantity of blog posts you can publish on a daily basis rather than what you are writing about
- You think you have the superpower to read and comment on every single new blog post on all the blogs you follow
- Fail to update your blog when away for an extended period of time (more than one month)
- Lose motivation and a desire to carry on blogging when your blog stats take a nosedive
- Believe that everyone will enjoy reading every post you write and publish
- Think that all your followers will read and comment on all your posts
- Get upset when your blog loses followers
- Follow other blogs in the hope that they will follow back, before unfollowing them again
- Believe all your readers will agree with everything you say
- Think nobody will dare to disagree with what you have to say by leaving you a constructive comment telling you why they disagree
- Criticise other bloggers behind their backs (in the comments section of your own blog or on other blogs) for wanting to help other bloggers
- Fail to take some time away from blogging (knowing that you need to) because you believe the blogging world can not survive without you
Some of the above will kill your blog far quicker than others will. Others may slowly kill your blog when combined.
What about you? Can you add anything to the list?
If you have any blogging tips posts that you have written and published on your blog, please feel free to leave a link to them in the comments section.
Meanwhile, you can find the answers to solving many of the above issues by clicking on ‘blogging tips’ in the menu bar at the top of my blog, or by visiting my ‘blogging tips’ page on Flipboard. Click here for access.
You can also find advice on blogging by following and reading blogs such as Mostly Blogging, which is hosted by Janice Wald, or by visiting the blogging and social media tips section of other blogs such as Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog.
Whatever you do, keep Blogging Fun!
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Hugh, great list! I was just visiting blogs and several of them had one or more of these problems. I searched high and low on several and could not find the blogger’s first name anywhere. C’mon, people, just give me your first name so I can address my comment to a person! #BloggersPitStop
Thank you very much, Jean. Even if a blogger doesn’t want to give their real name, they can always use one they’d like us to address them by. I find that addressing somebody by name always comes over as being more friendly. Readers and commenters are then more likely to keep coming back.
I loved this post! This is all sage advice for bloggers to take to heart. Mind you, I might not follow all the rules of blogging, but I do follow a majority of them as I can. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us! It was a solid reminder for me since I’m stepping back into blogging after taking a break from it for a period of time.
Thank you. I’m glad it’s helped. Welcome back to the Blogging world.
I’m glad I came across your post on the Blogger’s Pit Stop– it reminded me to fix the broken search bar on my own website! Thanks for the helpful list!
You’re very welcome. That’s great to hear. I hope you managed to get it fixed.
You’ve captured many of my pet peeves. Blogs with no author name is the big one at the moment. I’m now curious why that bothers me so.
Do you mean Blogs that do not have the Author’s name in the blogs title?
Reblogged this on Misha Herwin and commented:
Things not to do.
Guilty as charged! I am sure most of us will find some points here where we need to smarten up our blogging and make some improvements. So we will feature your post on the next Blogger’s Pit Stop. Nice job.
Kathleen
Blogger’s Pit Stop
Thanks so much, Kathleen, that’s great news.
Best wishes,
Hugh
Hi,
Congrats on winning Most Popular Post at last week’s Inspire Me Monday. Did you know? If not, surprise!
Question for you: How are you getting the related posts with the graphics on your blog? Is it a plugin? If so, which one? I didn’t think WordPress.com users could install plugins. Thanks for the info. I’m looking for a good related posts plugin.
Janice
Thanks, Janice. No, I had no idea – I guess it’s the title of the post that draws readers into clicking the link and reading the post (that’s what I’ve taken from some of the comments left here). After all, didn’t I learn from you that the titles we give our blog posts are what bring readers our way? It’s a great piece of advice that I firmly believe in.
As for the ‘related posts’ with graphics that show at the bottom of all my posts, it’s a feature that can be found and switched on from the Dashboard of all WordPress.Com blogs. It can be found under WP Admin – Settings – Reading – Related Posts. I hope that helps?
Thanks so much for the wonderful news of this post winning last weeks Inspire Me Monday link.
Have a great week.
I confess I was a little nervous when I read the title of this post, Hugh. I was afraid I might fail the “test.” As it stands, I’m guilty of five of these at least on occasion, or to put a more positive spin on things, I’m doing 66 things right. 🙂 In all seriousness, I appreciate the tips from a successful blogger like you. Thanks for linking up on the Bloggers Pitstop, which is where I found this post.
I haven’t written many blogging tips posts, but I did write one weighing the options of DIY or hiring a pro when it comes to blogging. https://christiehawkes.com/diy-or-hire-a-pro/
I think just about every blog will have a few of these on their list, Christie. I think the biggest lesson, though, is to remember not to go back to bad habits. I learned much of what I know about blogging from other bloggers. Without their posts and advice, I’d have probably have thrown in the towel a long while back.
I’m just glad that my free blogging tips are helpful to others. I’ll continue to share what works for me in the hope that it helps others.