71 Ways To Slowly Kill Your Blog

I’ve got murder on my mind. Are you responsible for any of these?

  1. Do not have an ‘about me’ page on your blog
  2. Your ‘about me’ page takes more than a few seconds to find
  3. Your ‘about me’ page starts with these words – ‘this is an example of an about me page…’
  4. The number of followers you have is more important to you than what you write
  5. Poor quality posts
  6. Have broken links on your blog which you have no idea are broken or can not be bothered to fix
  7. Do not respond to comments
  8. Do not respond to questions
  9. Ignore your readers
  10. Do not treat visitors to your blog as guests
  11. Have no name to be called by
  12. Do not read other blogs
  13. Do not comment on other blogs
  14. Believe that blogging is going to make you rich
  15. Leave links with no relevance (usually to your own posts) on the posts of other bloggers
  16. Do not promote your blog
  17. Refuse to use social media
  18. Refuse to keep up to date with blogging technology
  19. Think readers will find you rather than you find your readers
  20. You publish posts that contain too many ‘block’ paragraphs
  21. No ‘contact me’ page/details
  22. Do not thank people for sharing your posts
  23. Do not use images and/or photos in any posts
  24. Use images, photos and words (including lyrics) on your blog which are copyrighted and not free to use
  25. Do not ask for permission to use photos and/or images owned by other bloggers, before using them
  26. Ignore all copyright advice
  27. Respond to constructive negative comments in an unprofessional and unfriendly manner
  28. Keep begging other bloggers to reblog a post, visit, or follow your blog
  29. Leave worthless comments on other blogs
  30. Leave worthless comments on other blogs which clearly show you’ve not read the post
  31. Do not edit posts before publishing them
  32. Do not preview your posts before publishing them
  33. Inundate followers with too many posts in a short space of time instead of scheduling them out
  34. Respond to comments left by trolls in the comments section of your blog where all can read them
  35. Allow trolls to leave comments on your blog
  36. Allow spam comments onto posts
  37. Attack other bloggers in the comments section on your own or other blogs
  38. Steal the ideas of other bloggers and publish them on your blog as if content is original and has been written by you
  39. Fail to maintain and house-keep your blog on a regular basis
  40. Keep reblogging your own posts which are less than a few months old
  41. Do not have a ‘landing’ page that will keep visitors coming back
  42. Ignore advice and feedback from other bloggers
  43. Believe that blogging will only take up a few minutes of your time every week
  44. Wake up and dread opening up your blog because of all the comments you will need to reply to
  45. Keep telling your readers that you are giving blogging up, and keep coming back
  46. Allow blogging to stress you out
  47. Allow blogging to make you feel guilty
  48. Your blog and/or blog posts are poorly laid out
  49. Have a widget on your blog that says ‘This is an example of a widget…’
  50. Choose a font and background combination that makes it hard for visitors to read your posts
  51. Fail to categorise all your blog posts (including reblogs)
  52. Fail to add ‘tags’ to your blog posts
  53. Fail to understand what a ‘pingback’ is and how to use one
  54. Your blog has no ‘search’ bar
  55. Fail to add your blog details to your gravatar
  56. Have pop-up boxes on your blog that can not be removed unless somebody subscribes to your mailing list
  57. Have pop-up boxes on your blog which keeps popping up every time someone visits or until they have subscribed to your mailing list
  58. Keep suffering from blog envy when you read a post that you’d wish you’d written
  59. Regularly publish posts that tell your readers to buy your book(s) rather than allow them to decide if they want to buy them
  60. 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
  61. You think you have the superpower to read and comment on every single new blog post on all the blogs you follow
  62. Fail to update your blog when away for an extended period of time (more than one month)
  63. Lose motivation and a desire to carry on blogging when your blog stats take a nosedive
  64. Believe that everyone will enjoy reading every post you write and publish
  65. Think that all your followers will read and comment on all your posts
  66. Get upset when your blog loses followers
  67. Follow other blogs in the hope that they will follow back, before unfollowing them again
  68. Believe all your readers will agree with everything you say
  69. Think nobody will dare to disagree with what you have to say by leaving you a constructive comment telling you why they disagree
  70. Criticise other bloggers behind their backs (in the comments section of your own blog or on other blogs) for wanting to help other bloggers
  71. 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?

#bloggingtips #blogging

 

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!

© 2017 Copyright-All rights reserved-hughsviewsandnews.com.

 Click here for your chance to win a £50 Amazon Gift Card and a signed copy of Glimpses.

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300 thoughts

    1. Thanks, James. Just about everybody seems to agree with you. Having learned much of these points from far more experienced bloggers (some of whom make money out of blogging), I enjoy passing these bits of ‘gold nugget’ information on to my readers.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. That I don’t understand. I welcome any and all encouragement for self-promotion. I just want to be tactful and polite so I don’t like to do it without permission, near-perfect relevance, or a request. Forgive me if I gush at you giving me all three! 🙂

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    1. I remember being in your shoes when I first started to blog. I have lots of other blogging tips posts also under ‘blogging tips’ on the menu bar of my blog. I’m still learning about the blogging world and would encourage you to read posts that cover blogging tips when you find them. They certainly helped me get started.

      A tag addresses items you discuss in a particular blog post. It is usually only a word or two and reflects the keywords or points of your article. Adding them to your blog post helps people find your posts when doing a search for particular words e.g photography, fiction, recipes, blogging tips, art, clothes, etc.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. Hugh, I was very tempted to add a photo of my dog to this comment after reading all your tips for a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour. I have most of those points covered. One suggestion I would make is backing up your blog, which I something I’m yet to do myself. I think you blogged about that before. Lose your content, and your blog is gone. I’m not sure whether you included not allowing comments to your posts and another thing which annoys me, is blogs which require going through the wringer to leave a comment. I would also recommend posting at least once a week. I would also empahsise the reciprocal nature of blogging. I do try to visit people’s blogs when they leave a comment on mine. Reading other blogs is really important and really should be more of a pleasure than a chore.
    BTW I would like to see blogging as “alternative media” and not just being lumped under the “social media” banner. Many bloggers taken their writing and in many cases, photography as seriously as a paid journalist yet values the freedom of not being paid to write the party line and having true freedom of expression. I’ve been thinking about that a bit lately. My previous pet peeve was journalists referring to mothers who blog as “Mummy Bloggers”. It was such a derogatory, sexist term and put down. Hated it.
    That’s my rant over for the night, but thought it tied in with your post.
    xx Rowena

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    1. Hi Rowena, thanks for your comments.

      Yes, I’ve covered ‘backing up your blog’, before. In fact, it’s one of my most read, liked and commented on posts. I only wrote it after almost losing all my blog content and finding out from another blogger that I should have backed up my blog. I thought WordPress did it all, but it seems they don’t.

      Making it easy for readers to leave a comment is also another very good point. I’ve heard of readers finding it really difficult to leave comments on some blogs and the owners of those blogs asking for help as hardly anyone leaves them comments. It’s what I call the first check gate – make it easy, and then get people to leave you comments. I’ve written about that as well, and although the post did very well, it’s not done as well as some of my other blogging tips posts.

      I did mention posting too many posts, but although I’ve looked into how often we should post, I’ve never been able to find an answer that the majority of more professional bloggers agree with. However, all said that we should update our blogs at least once a month, especially if we are going to be away for a long period of time.

      And, I agree about reading other blogs being seen as pleasure and not a chore. I’ve seen too many blog posts from bloggers who keep apologising that they’ve not read and commented on blog posts as if it’s part of their job role as a blogger. It should never be that; it should always be a pleasurable and enjoyable experience that nobody should ever have to apologise for.

      My turn to get off my soap box now. 😀
      Thanks again.
      Hugh

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. Wow ..that is some list, Hugh…Gravatar not working is my pet peeve and I don’t want to give out my e-mail and blog link just to make a comment…rant over…Wow, that was a short rant for a Monday…lol…Some very valid points and I love your how to posts…I passed the Flipboard link one on only the other day to a blogger who didn’t know she could have it on her free blog … so easy to follow and at my age I need easy to follow..techy I am not, so thank you Hugh and keep them ones coming always so helpful 🙂 Have a lovely week 🙂

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    Reply

    1. Carol, thanks so much for your kind words and for passing on and sharing my recent post on how to use Flipboard. I really appreciate it very much. And, I don’t mind the occasional rant. This post seems to have attracted a lot of them, but the subject of blogging (being close to many of our hearts) always does. 😀
      You too. Have a lovely week.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. 73, having an inconsistent blog identity. I look for blogs that are about certain specific topics, but many times people have a few great posts about those topics, and then proceed to talk about the weather or their darn cats. (blogging in a non English language is btw also a great way to limit your viability)

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    Reply

  12. I find your posts very helpful and I’m trying to go back to your past posts to try to pick up more pointers. I am at the moment going over how my blog looks, adding social media icons etc and trying to find ways to encourage viewers to press the email Follow button. I have read such a lot on this, but alas I don’t have anything to dangle as a carrot, i.e freebies, ebooks etc so am struggling. I am fairly new to this, still trying to find my feet with my blog and learning something new everyday, so hopefully something will come to mind. Your posts though certainly do help so thank you again 🙂

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    1. Thanks very much, Sam. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t have a huge email following myself, although many of my followers may get WordPress email notifications whenever I publish a new post. I’m not very keen on mail lists popups which pop up every time I visit a blog. If I say ‘no thank you’ the first time, then that popup should not keep popping up! It’s one sure way of getting me to unfollow a blog. However, I know many bloggers and authors who say it’s absolutely vital to have an email subscribers list, and they give very good reasons as to why.

      As for the ‘dangling a carrot’ to get people to sign up, maybe something like offering an Amazon gift card to one new subscriber? However, once the promotion is over, you may lose a few who were only ever interested in entering a free competition.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I totally agree about the pop ups, I don’t like them myself I find them annoying. Thanks for the advice for the promotion offer too. Maybe I’m worrying too much with regards traffic & also trying to ‘run before walking’ 😊

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      2. Yes, slow and steady is the game, Sam. It takes a long time to build up a blog. I’m still building mine. I picked up most of my blogging tips from other bloggers. Don’t allow the stats to take over the reason(s) why you started to blog. The bloggers who chase stats, rather than concentrate on what they write, seldom last very long in the blogging world.

        Liked by 1 person

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