How often do you check for broken links on your blog?
Is it something bloggers should often do, or are broken links nothing to worry about?
Are you allowing broken links to damage your blog?
At the end of last year, I completed fixing over 300 broken links on my blog. It was a long job, but something I did not regret doing.
Since fixing those broken links, I’ve seen a decrease in spam hitting my blog and seen an increase in followers and visitors.
Not only will SEOs such as Google and Bing rank blogs with broken links lower, but visitors who get the dreaded ‘404 page not found’ error when clicking on too many broken links, are more likely to never return.
I’ve even seen broken links to an author’s books on their blog. How often do you check the links to your books are working?
It’s been three months since I last ran a broken links report for my blog, so I was surprised when the report returned 33 broken links. Here’s the list. Are you or your blog one of them? You may need to zoom in to view the report.
Ensure broken links are fixed quickly.
Why do links break?
There are many reasons for broken links. More important are the ones embedded in blog posts. When the name of a blog post (line 8 on the report) or a single word, such as ‘here’ (line 16 on the report), appears in the ‘Link Text’ column, a pingback to the post has broken. The link is usually broken because the post has been deleted or moved.
To fix the two broken links mentioned in the above paragraph, you can deactivate the pingback or delete it (and the sentence it appears in) from the post.
More often than not, where names appear in the ‘Link Text’ column (line 19 on the report), the link to the person’s gravatar has broken, or their blog or gravatar has been moved or deleted. Most of these errors occur in the comments sections of blog posts. Click here if you’re unsure what a Gravatar is and how to ensure your blog is linked to it.
If you know the person concerned is still blogging, you can either report the broken link to them or unapprove and delete the comment to eliminate it. It’s just as important to fix or delete broken links in the comments section of your posts as in the main body of a blog post.
Remember what I said earlier. SEOs such as Google and Bing rank blogs lower if they contain too many broken links. If you want to increase visitors and followers to your blog, ensure you regularly fix broken links.
Another reason for broken links is when a post has been reblogged, and the blogger who reblogged the post has since deleted the reblog (line 31 of the report).
Do not be surprised to also find broken links to your blog posts. If you decide to delete a blog post, I’d recommend deleting or removing any pingbacks or links before deleting the post. They then will not show up on your next broken link report.
Fact: Did you know that spambots and spammers are more likely to attack blogs with broken links than those without or with fewer broken links?
How do I run a broken link report?
I use the free version of Broken Link Check Dot Com. Click here for more details. To run a report, simply enter the URL address of your blog and the security code you see on the page. I’d recommend running the ‘Report distinct broken links only’ report.
If it’s the first time you run a report, you may be overwhelmed by the number of broken links the report returns. I recommend stopping the report when it reaches 20 broken links, fixing them, and running another report.
Do not try and fix the broken links in one go, as you’ll become overwhelmed. Give yourself time to fix them. Maybe fix a couple every day. You’ll soon catch up on them.
Don’t allow the sheer size of broken links the report shows to stop you from fixing broken links. Look after your blog by fixing any broken links rather than believing you don’t have the time to fix them. Spending a few minutes daily fixing links is better than not fixing them at all.
Once you have fixed all the broken links, run another report at least once every three months.
Let’s wrap it up.
SEOs such as Google and Bing rank blogs with broken links lower.
Fixing broken links will reduce the amount of spam your blog gets while increasing the number of followers and visitors.
If you have links to any books or products, regularly check that they work.
Fix any broken links to books, services and products quickly.
It’s just as important to fix or delete broken links in the comments section of your blog posts as it is in the main body of a post.
Before deleting any blog posts, remove any links in them first.
Your first broken link report may be overwhelming. Take your time to fix those links. Don’t rush it.
Spending a few minutes daily fixing links is better than not fixing them at all.
Run a new broken link report at least once every three months.
How often do you check for broken links on your blog? How do you check for them? Do you have any questions about broken links? Leave them in the comments section.
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However, users must republish posts again to get pingback notifications on the posts published while the problem was ongoing (Feb 23rd – 27th). Please note that when a post is rescheduled or republished, any links to the original post will become broken. So unless it’s essential those pingbacks must appear, I’d recommend not republishing those posts.
The problem was only affecting pingbacks between WordPress. Com blogs. Self-hosted blogs were not affected.
Any questions regarding the recent pingback problem? Leave them in the comments box.
Copyright @ 2023 hughsviewsandnews.com – All rights reserved.
Update (28th Feb 2023) pingbacks on WordPress are now working again.
Are you experiencing problems with not getting pingback notifications on your WordPress blog? You’re not alone. Many other users are experiencing the same issue.
Don’t allow the current WordPress problem with pingbacks to defeat you.
Over a week ago, I realised I no longer received pingback notifications from WordPress. Even when linking to my posts, I got no notifications, hence no links in the comments section.
The problem meant that if other bloggers linked to any of my blog posts, I didn’t know. Hence, I could come over as rude for not thanking those who were linking to my blog.
I contacted the WordPress Happiness Engineers, and to cut a long story short, they finally acknowledged that the problem was (and still is) across the WordPress platform.
The current WordPress Pingback problem is affecting many users.
I received the above reply on 26th February 2023.
Strangely, I’m getting pingback notifications from self-hosted blogs but not from WordPress.Com blogs.
How To Get Around The Problem
If you publish posts inviting other bloggers to create a pingback to your post, ask them to copy and paste the URL address of the post in the comments section. You can then visit their post.
However, beware of the spammers who may take the opportunity of this problem and leave a link or comment that has nothing to do with your post. Before clicking any links from bloggers, you’re not used to seeing, check the URL address in the comment first.
Mark any comments or pingbacks that are not genuine as spam.
Mark comments or links as spam if they look suspicious.
Another way to identify spam comments is that most have no Gravatar image.
While the problem persists, I’d also recommend adding a reusable block to your posts (like the one in the green box on this post) in case anyone links to any of your posts.
When WordPress finally fixes the problem, you can delete the reusable block, which will then disappear from all your posts.
Not sure what a pingback is? Click here for details.
Not sure how to create a reusable block? Click here for details.
Please leave any questions about the current pingback problem in the comments section.
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Copyright @ 2023 hughsviewsandnews.com – All rights reserved.
These 9 popular and easy blogging tips will help bring you and your blog success. Are you missing out on any of them?
Are you missing out on any if these popular blogging tips?
1. Add Excerpts To Your Blog Posts.
Excerpts are a great way to entice readers to click the ‘read more’ link to your post.
Did you know that WordPress offers bloggers a way to add excerpts to posts?
If you don’t add excerpts to your posts, WordPress takes the first 55 words of the post and uses them as the excerpt. This can often cause confusion to readers, especially when sentences are cut off midway.
If the opening sentence of your post does not entice readers, you could be missing out on many more new visitors reading your posts and engaging with you.
I added the following excerpt to this post.
Are you new to blogging or thinking of starting a blog? Are you already a blogger who wants more readers, followers and success for your blog?
These 9 tips will guarantee you success.
Adding experts to your posts is easy and an excellent way to promote and entice readers to want to read them. Here’s how to add an excerpt.
On the draft page of a post, scroll down to the except box in the setting section of the post.
Add an excerpt to your blog post before publishing it.
After adding the excerpt, publish or schedule your post.
The excerpt will be displayed on WordPress notification emails.
Tip: When drafting excerpts, ask yourself what excerpt would make you want to read the post.
2. Change This Setting And Watch Your Blog Stats Boom.
Ensure you view your blog’s dashboard in Default View (not Classic). To do this, click the View button in the top right corner of your blog’s dashboard.
Go to Settings – Writing on your blog’s dashboard and look for the Feed Settings box.
Turn on the Limit Feed To Excerpt button. Users will then need to visit your site to view the full content of every post.
Click the Save Settings button.
Ensure you slide the Limit Feed to excerpt only’ button to the ‘on’ position
3. Engage With Your Audience And On The Posts Of Other Bloggers.
I recently came across a blogger who complained that everyone ignored her. She claimed that nobody left comments on her posts. However, I’d left comments along with other bloggers. The problem was that she only replied to comments with a ‘thanks.’ No wonder other bloggers and I got fed up with leaving comments.
Engagement is a two-way thing.
If you don’t engage with more than a ‘thank you’ to every comment, then visitors will soon get fed up with trying to engage with you.
Make your comments and replies to comments count. Instead of telling a blogger their post was great or that you loved it, expand on why you thought it was great. Most bloggers want to engage, especially when leaving comments that offer feedback and discussion.
By fully engaging with your readers, you’re likely to get them and more visitors wanting to engage with you. They’ll likely follow your blog if they want to engage and see that you engage with others who leave comments.
However, don’t leave dead-end comments where the only response can be a ‘thank you.’ If you’ve nothing of value to add, click the ‘like’ button and move on. Never feel guilty for not leaving dead-end, pointless comments.
The more you engage with your audience and other bloggers, the more you’ll reap the rewards of your blog becoming successful and a place other bloggers will want to visit and engage.
If English is not your first language, then don’t be afraid to leave a comment in your native dialogue. Free online translation tools, such as one from Systran.Com, are available, so bloggers can translate your comment. My thanks to Renard Moreau for recommending Systran.Com.
4. Reduce The Size Of Your Images Before Publishing Posts.
If a blog post takes too long to download, most visitors will likely get fed up and move on.
One of the biggest causes of a blog post taking too long to download is that the images and photos within the post are too big. They also take up lots of space in the media library.
Before placing an image or photo in a post, reduce its size.
The majority of the photos and images in my posts are no more than 900 x 675 pixels. I’ve found that the quality of images and pictures this size are still excellent, plus they take up much less space in my media library.
Many apps and software allow you to reduce the size of images and photos, but many are not free to use. So be careful when choosing.
To reduce the size of images and photos on an iMac, open the image, click on Tools and then on Adjust Size (both found in the toolbar).
Click here to find out how to reduce the size of images and photos in Windows 10 and 11.
How do you reduce the size of images and photos on your blog? Tell us in the comments section.
5. Categorise Your Blog Posts.
Categorising your blog posts is essential when helping visitors find information.
Never categorise any of your blog posts as Uncategorised. It’s not helpful and only makes the blog’s owner look lazy and not care about their followers or visitors.
However, don’t use too many categories. A long list of categories can confuse readers. Cut categories down by adding sub-categories. Click here to find out more about categories and tags.
Important information: You may have already heard the cardinal tagging rule on WordPress.com, but it’s worth repeating: you should never add more than 15 tags and categories (combined) to your post; otherwise, it won’t show up in the WordPress Reader. This cap is used to keep out spam blogs — you need to ensure that your tags are only those most relevant to your post.
6. Blog Post Titles
I’m always shocked by the many boring and dull titles I see bloggers using for their blog posts. They don’t give me any incentive to want to read the post. Other than those who read every blog post some of these bloggers publish, nobody will be enticed to read posts that don’t draw you to click the ‘read more’ button.
Given that the first thing the majority of readers see is your blog post titles, make the titles count. If the titles of your posts are bland, dull, and uninviting, they won’t entice readers to want to read the post. You could be losing out not only on lots of new followers but lots of engagement.
When thinking of a title for your blog post, ask yourself what would make you want to click the ‘read more‘ button.
If you struggle with thinking of good titles for your blog posts, use a Headline analyzer such as Coschedule.com. It’s free to use and challenges you to come up with the best titles for your blog posts.
The title of this blog post scored 92 out of 100. That’s the highest score I’ve achieved when creating a blog post title.
Important Tip: Never duplicate your blog post titles or use the same titles as other bloggers. Why? Because SEO, such as Google and Bing, rank blogs lower that contain duplicated blog post titles.
7. Ensure Links In Your Posts Do Not Close Your Blog Down.
Do you find it frustrating when you click on a link in a blog post and a new window opens on the same page you are reading? When this happens, most readers won’t return to the page they were reading, thus losing the possibility of leaving a comment.
When creating pingbacks or links in posts, ensure you turn on the ‘open in a new tab’ button by sliding it to the on position.
Ensure your readers don’t lose the page they’re reading when clicking on links.
Visitors won’t lose the page they’re reading when you switch on this button when creating pingbacks and links.
Not sure how to create a pingback? Click here for details.
8. Don’t Become A Blogging Spammer.
What do I mean by a blogging spammer? Somebody who leaves uninvited links to their blogs, blog posts or products in the comments section. This also includes bloggers who leave a link to their blog in all their comments.
Fortunately, the antispam system on WordPress sends the majority of these types of comments to my spam folder.
Only leave links in comments when invited to do so by the blogger you’re leaving a comment for. If you need more clarification, ask first before including any links.
I get comments every day that include uninvited links. Most go straight to my spam folder, and I mark as spam the ones that don’t. You’ll never find comments that include uninvited links in the comments section of any of my blog posts.
9. Slow Down
I’ve witnessed many bloggers become overwhelmed with blogging because they try to do too much in the time they have available to blog. It often results in what is known as Blogging Burnout.
Blog at a leisurely pace. You don’t need to participate in all those blogging challenges. You don’t need to read and leave comments on all the posts of the blogs you follow. You don’t need to follow the blog of every blogger who follows you. Only read and comment and follow the blogs that interest you.
Never feel obliged to read, comment and follow because they read and comment on your blog posts.
Slow down. Enjoy blogging. Never allow it to overwhelm you or make you feel guilty or stressed.
Let’s wrap it up.
Rather than allow WordPress to choose what words to introduce your posts, use your own excerpts.
If you want people to visit your blog, don’t display your whole posts in the WordPress email notifications. To get more visitors to your blog, switch on the ‘Limit feed to excerpt only’ button. Users will then need to visit your site to view the full content of every post.
Engage with your audience when replying to comments and when leaving comments on other blogs. Avoid leaving short, pointless comments that add no value. Always say more than a ‘thank you’ when replying to comments.
Reduce the size of images and photos before placing them on blog posts; otherwise, your blog may download slowly and force visitors away.
Categorise all your blog posts. Never categorise them as ‘Uncategorised,’
Make all your blog post titles count by giving them titles that will entice readers to want to read the whole post. Consider using a Headline analyser for them.
When adding pingbacks and links to your blog, always switch on the ‘open in new tab’ button so that readers do not lose the page they are reading when clicking on links.
Don’t become a blog spammer by leaving uninvited links in the comments section of other blogs.
Take blogging slowly. Don’t try doing too much in a short space of time. You’ll only end up feeling overwhelmed, stressed or guilty if you try to fit everything in when you don’t have the time.
Keep blogging a fun and enjoyable experience. If it becomes a chore, step back and take a good look at how you are blogging. Make changes. Only consider quitting blogging if you lose interest.
Are You New To Blogging Or Thinking Of Starting A Blog?
Click here to read an excellent blog post by James Lane that is full of essential information for new bloggers and acts as a gentle reminder for those who already blog.
What’s the best blogging tip you have? Do you have any questions about the 9 tips in this post? Leave them in the comments section.
Layout, content, settings, and format might differ on self-hosted blogs.
This is an updated version of a post originally published on Hugh’s Views And News in 2020.
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You’ve written and published your best-ever blog post, yet hardly anyone is reading it or leaving you any comments. What are you doing wrong?
Struggling to find readers and get engagement?
I remember how disappointed I would get when posts I’d taken days to write got hardly any visits or comments. I felt as if I was talking to myself. I had to find ways to promote my blog without spending any cash.
Here are seven methods that help me promote my blog for free and have bought me amazing results.
1. Linking Up
There are generous bloggers out there who are always on the lookout for links to your blog posts. They want to help you promote your blog posts for free. Yes, for free!
Many run weekly link-up parties where they encourage other bloggers to leave a link to one of their blog posts.
These link-ups can attract hundreds of links. Many lead readers to interesting articles such as recipes, blogging and writing tips, health tips, music, reviews, arts and crafts, and short stories. The list is endless.
By participating in a link-up party and adding a link to your post, you’ll see increased visitors to your blog and comments being left on your posts.
However, the general rule is to click at least one link from another blogger and read and share their post for every link you leave. Leave a comment if you’ve something to say that adds value to the discussion.
It could bring even more visitors to your blog if you’re lucky enough to get your link and blog post featured the following week. As it happens, it’s happened to me this week.
Featured Blog Post
Here are a couple of link-up parties I regally participate in. Click on the buttons for more details.
My posts have been featured several times in these link-up parties, resulting in more traffic to my blog and more comments on my featured posts.
2. Blog Parties
Similar to link-up parties, blog parties are a great way to promote your blog to other bloggers and for you to discover new blogs to follow. The host will ask you to introduce yourself in the comments section, mingle with other participants and leave a link to your blog or to one of your own blog posts.
Unlike link-up parties, which tend to be held on the same day every week, blog parties tend to happen much less regally.
When I first started blogging, I hosted and participated in blog parties. I always found them to be successful and beneficial.
The rule is if you leave a link to your blog, you must at least visit some of the blogs of other people at the party. It’s another free way to promote yourself and one of your blog posts and make some new friends in the blogging community.
3. Pingbacks
A pingback is a link inserted into a post that takes the reader to another web page when clicked. They are used to connect to another website or blog post where the subject is similar to the post being read or when introducing or referring to someone. I’ve used pingbacks in this post.
Search engine optimisations such as Google and Bing rank posts containing pingbacks higher than those that don’t include pingbacks. However, beware of broken pingbacks in your blog posts because they have the reverse effect, and SEOs will downgrade the posts.
If you link to another blogger’s post via a pingback, it will appear as a link to your blog post in the comments section of the post you are connecting to. Here’s an image of a pingback I created that appeared on the blog post I was linking to.
Pingback
Anybody clicking on the pingback will be taken to the post it appears on.
However, not all bloggers allow pingbacks, so they may not appear in the comments section.
If pingbacks are allowed, the blogger you linked to may come back and thank you for linking to their post. In return, some may link up to one of your blog posts. However, nobody is under any obligation to do so.
You can also use a pingback to link to one of your blog posts. However, only do this if the post’s subject is similar to what you are connecting to.
Never insert links to your posts (or those of other bloggers) if there is no clear theme to the post you are linking to, as this comes over as spammy.
Top Tip: Try and add at least one pingback to every post you publish. You’ll soon see results and benefits.
And don’t forget that you can also add pingbacks to images and photos on your blog posts.
Not sure how to create a pingback? Click here for a step-by-step guide.
4. Guest Blogging
Many bloggers are often on the lookout for guest bloggers.
I’ve written many guest posts that have put my blog and writing in front of new audiences.
I’ve had people write guest posts for my blog.
It’s a fantastic free way to get you and your blog in front of a brand new audience.
However, ask yourself these questions before you accept an invitation to write a guest post.
Are you writing for the right audience?
Will their readers find your article interesting?
Are there any restrictions on word count?
Are there any restrictions on what you can write about?
Is the blogger you’re writing the post for asking for anything in return?
When spending time deciding which blogs you’re going to write guest posts for, always ensure it’s going to be published in front of an audience that will want to read more of your posts and visit your blog.
Don’t be afraid of approaching other bloggers to ask if they accept guest posts. You’ll be amazed at how many bloggers take guest posts even though they don’t advertise it.
5. Social Media
The sharing buttons at the bottom of blog posts are free to use, so every blogger should use them well.
Tip: WordPress has a feature that will automatically share your posts to your social media accounts. Click here to find out the details.
I recommend not having more than a couple of primary social media accounts (so as not to spread yourself too thinly). However, you should always share your posts on all your social media platforms.
Likewise, share the posts of other bloggers on your social media platforms. In turn, some may share your posts on their social media channels. This can result in lots of new visitors to your blog.
Take a look at the following screenshot showing where most of my blog’s traffic comes from.
This is how powerful social media is at bringing traffic to your blog
I’ve highlighted the social media platforms that have sent traffic to my blog.
It proves that social media is a fantastic place to promote your blog posts and other bloggers’ posts for free.
Social media can demand a lot of time to work correctly (that’s why I recommended that you should have no more than a couple of primary social media accounts). I’ve found that the more time I give a social media platform, the better the results are in getting traffic from it.
6. Leaving Comments
No doubt leaving good quality comments that add value to other blog posts will get readers to your blog. Plus, it’s free to do.
Whenever I see a great comment that asks questions or has added value to a post, I will visit the person’s blog who left the comment. If they’ve left a comment that was interesting to read, they’ll probably be publishing blog posts that are interesting to read.
Beware of leaving too many short comments that add no value because those comments can have the reverse effect. Comments such as ‘Great Post’ or ‘Thanks for writing this’ or just a line of emojis look spammy.
You want your blog to look like it’s a place of good quality and interesting blog posts, don’t you? Then leave good quality and interesting comments on the posts of other bloggers.
7. Take Up A Challenge
Blog challenges can be found all over the blogging world. They are usually a writing or photography challenge (others are also available).
Hosted by other bloggers, not only can they get your creative cogs producing great blog posts, but they also help in that they put you in front of a whole new audience for free!
Using a pingback, you link your post back to the post of the blogger hosting the challenge. Once there, your pingback will attract other readers and participants to your blog.
Many blog challenge hosts will promote those who have participated by including them in a round-up post. Some also reblog some of the entries. Other participants will also visit and comment on the post you published for the challenge. They may even follow your blog!
Here’s a list of some of the blog challenges I participate in. Click on the buttons to find out more details.
Every time I participate in a blog challenge, I get lots of traffic and more comments on my blog and get new followers too.
Let’s wrap it up
You don’t need to spend cash to promote your blog. There are lots of free ways to promote it.
Never feel ashamed or frightened of promoting your blog.
Search engine optimisations rank posts high if they include pingbacks. Ensure every blog post you write includes at least one pingback.
Don’t forget that you can add pingbacks to photos and images on blog posts.
Make good use of the sharing buttons at the bottom of your posts and other bloggers’ posts.
Make sure you share your blog posts on all your social media accounts.
Join link-up and blog parties, but remember to visit other participants’ blogs, read their posts and leave them comments. They’ll return your visit.
Before accepting an invitation to write a guest blog post, ensure you’ll write it for the right audience.
Don’t be afraid to ask other bloggers if they accept guest blog posts or if they’d like to write a guest post for publication on your blog.
Participating in blog challenges is an excellent way to promote your blog. Plus, challenges can spark new ideas for posts and are a great way of putting you in touch with other bloggers and finding a new audience.
Leaving good quality comments on other blogs is one of the easiest ways of promoting your blog. Other readers will be intrigued about who you are and what you write about.
What do you do to promote your blog for free? Have you tried any of the methods I’ve outlined in this post? What were the results?
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Unfollowing blogs. It’s something many bloggers don’t like talking about and is something many fear.
However, unfollowing blogs is a great way to free up time. Your WordPress reader and email box (if you subscribe to new post notifications) become a little more uncluttered from stuff that no longer interests you, and you get back some time you’d have otherwise wasted.
Are These The 7 Main Reasons Why Your Blog Is Losing Readers?
Have you unfollowed or not followed a blog for any of these reasons?
1. No ‘About Me’ page or one that hasn’t been updated
Did you know that the ‘About Me’ page is one of the most visited pages of a blog? Go on, check your stats. You may be surprised by how many visits that page has had.
One of the first things I look for when visiting a new blog is an ‘About me’ page. If there isn’t one, it takes more than 30 seconds to find, or the contents of it are not interesting, then I won’t follow.
Likewise, if there is an ‘About Me’ page that hasn’t been updated for many years, I’ll also not follow.
Of course, if you don’t have an ‘about me’ page then you could be missing out on hundreds of new visitors and followers every month.
Don’t have an ‘About Me’ page or don’t know what to put on one?
From time to time, we all encounter problems with broken links on our blogs.
Broken links are no good to anyone and can spoil the enjoyment of reading blog posts and pages that contain them. The ‘404 – Page Not Found‘ message is one of the most frustrating messages readers come across.
If I find a broken link, I’ll notify the blog owner of it. If it doesn’t get fixed and there are many other broken links on the blog (including those in the email notifications I get from WordPress), I will unfollow the blog
Check the links on your blog’s home and ‘About Me’ pages at least every couple of months to ensure they’re still working. If they’re not, fix them immediately.
Don’t lose followers by not fixing broken links on your blog.
I’ve mentioned this many times before, but if somebody has taken the time to read any of your posts and leaves a comment, then how are they going to feel if you ignore them?
Would you ask somebody around for dinner and ignore everything they had to say? No!
So never ignore or take readers for granted.
If bloggers do not respond to comments, I will unfollow them or stop leaving comments if the content is still of interest.
4. Unfriendly and uninviting blogs
Would you shop on a website that’s not easy to use or navigate around? Probably not.
Do you find the layout of my blog or my blog posts messy? Are they not particularly nice to look at or hard to read? I hope not.
Now, ask yourself the same question about your blog. Does it look inviting and friendly? Is it easy to navigate around? Are all the links working? Is the menu too top-heavy and over-cluttered?
If my first impression of a blog is any of what I’ve mentioned in the above paragraph, then I’m not going to waste my time trying to find posts I may be interested in reading.
Likewise, if a blog I’m following becomes over-cluttered, unfriendly, no longer easy to get around or takes too long to download, then I’ll unfollow it.
So ensure you keep up with your blog’s housekeeping. Keep your blog an inviting and friendly place to hang out on and make all your blog posts engaging.
5. Out of sight, out of mind
One of the first things every blogger should decide is how often they are going to publish posts. If you choose to publish posts three times a week, then stick to that schedule. However, do not, without warning, change your posting schedule or not publish anything for a couple of months.
There’s nothing wrong with changing how often you publish blog posts and informing your readers why you’re doing it, but try and stick to the same schedule. If your readers expect a blog post once a week, they will probably not stick around if you don’t publish anything for months. Out of sight, out of mind.
Every six months, I check for blogs I follow who haven’t published any new content for at least six months. I’ll unfollow those blogs because it’s likely they’ve either abandoned their blog and will not publish any new posts.
If your readers expect a new blog post from you once a month and don’t get anything for six months, then you’re going to lose followers.
6. Uninteresting content
I’ve followed many blogs by mistake. In the early days, I fell into the trap of following every blogger who followed me. Have you fallen into that trap?
Then again, and this is something I think many bloggers don’t like talking about, I’ve unfollowed blogs because the content they are publishing no longer interests me.
Doesn’t it make sense to spend the precious time you have reading content that interests you rather than read content that doesn’t interest you simply because the blogger who publishes it follows you?
And I have no problem with people unfollowing me if my content no longer interests them. However, I take a different view of people unfollowing my blog simply because I don’t follow them.
I follow many bloggers who don’t follow me. Why? Because they publish engaging content I am interested in and which motivates me to leave comments.
Never be afraid to unfollow a blog you’re no longer interested in. It will free up valuable time, which you can put to better use, such as writing or reading and commenting on the remaining blogs you follow.
Do you have any annoying popups on your blog? Do they keep popping up because they don’t give readers the chance to say ‘no thank you’ to what you’re trying to offer them? Or do they not go away unless I do subscribe to your newsletter? What if I don’t want to subscribe? Will I keep seeing that annoying popup?
Then I’ve probably unfollowed your blog.
I don’t mind discrete popups that do not cover the post I’m reading, but when my reading is interrupted by the same popup every time I visit, then I’ll unfollow.
Get rid of annoying popups. If you do need them on your blog, chose a design that is discrete and one that does not interrupt the enjoyment of reading.
Do You Know How To Unfollow A Blog?
The simplest way to unfollow a blog is to click on the ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of the WordPress email notification you get when a new post is published.
Where to find the unsubscribe button on a WordPress email notification
WordPress.Com users and those choosing not to receive email notifications can use the following methods.
1. Click the ‘follow’ button that appears in the bottom righthand corner of a blog you’re following. It appears when scrolling up on the device you’re using.
The Following button on a WordPress blog
The ‘following’ message will change to ‘follow‘ when you click it.
You’ve now unfollowed the blog.
2. Click the ‘Reader’ button (situated next to ‘My Sites’ in the top left corner of your blog).
A list of newly published blog posts from the blogs you follow will display.
If the blog you want to unfollow is listed, click on the toggle menu button next to the post.
Where to find the toggle button
To unfollow the blog, click on ‘Following Site’ in the new mini-window that opens.
The Following Site button
You’ve now unfollowed the blog.
3. Click the ‘Manage’ button (situated near Followed Sites).
The Manage sites button
You’ll now see a new page that lists all the blogs you follow.
Find the blog you want to unfollow in the list and click the ‘following’ button next to it.
The Following Blog button
You’ve now unfollowed the blog.
Does WordPress notify bloggers you’ve unfollowed?
No.
Of course, nobody wants anyone to unfollow their blog, but do consider unfollowing some of those blogs you never visit anymore. All they’re doing is cluttering up your WordPress Reader and email box.
Let’s wrap it up.
Unfollowing blogs you’re no longer interested in frees up your WordPress Reader, email box and time.
Rather than wasting time reading and following blogs you’re not interested in, use that time to write or read the blogs that motivate you to leave comments on.
It’s easy to unfollow blogs on WordPress. Follow my guide in this post.
WordPress does not notify any bloggers you’ve unfollowed.
Don’t want to lose followers? Then make sure your blog is inviting, easy to navigate around, has an updated ‘about me’ page and is a friendly place to hang out on.
Never ignore or take your readers for granted. Consider unfollowing bloggers that do not respond to your comments.
If you’re going to change your blogging schedule, inform your readers about it.
Don’t leave long gaps between publishing posts. Stick to your schedule. Once a month – great. Once a month, but don’t publish your next post for six months – not good. Out of sight, could mean out of mind.
Join the disussion
Do you unfollow blogs? If so, what are the main reasons why you unfollow them? If you’ve never unfollowed a blog, why not?
Layout, content, settings, and format might differ on self-hosted blogs.
This is an updated version of a post originally published on Hugh’s Views And News in 2020.
Are you reblogging correctly on WordPress?Check out my post for full details.
A pingback is a link that allows you to notify another blogger that you have linked to a post or article on their blog or website. In some cases, pingbacks are also known as trackbacks.
If the other blogger has a Pingback enabled website, then they can see a notification that you have linked to their article. They can then choose to allow your link to appear on their blog.
In turn, this may drive traffic to your blog when readers click on the pingback notification.
Creating pingbacks
Today, I’m going to show you how to create a pingback on the Gutenberg editor. It’s an easy process and is very similar to creating a pingback on the Classic editor (with just a few small differences).
Let’s get started
In the screenshots below, I’m creating a pingback on my ‘About Hugh’ page to an interview I recently did for blogger and author Esther Chilton.
First of all, decide which word or words you want to be the pingback link. In this case, I’m using the words ‘Esther Chilton Blog.’
Highlight the word or words you have chosen and click on the pingback link that appears in the window that opens.
Creating pingbacks
Copy and paste, into the URL box, the URL link to the blog post or article you want to link to.
Creating pingbacks
Tip – If you are linking to one of your own blog posts, you can search for the post by typing some words from the title of the post into the box.
Click on the ‘link setting’ arrow.
Creating pingbacks
In the new window that opens (under the box where you have pasted the URL link), slide open the ‘open in New Tab’ button.
Creating pingbacks
This is important because when anybody clicks on your pingback, the blog post you’ve linked to will open in a new window on their screen. Therefore, when they click on the pingback, your blog will not be closed down on their screen.
Click on the ‘apply pingback’ button and remember to save the changes to the post.
Creating pingbacks
Your pingback is now created and will be highlighted as a pingback on the post.
Creating pingbacks
Tip – You can also highlight the pingback by making the text bold. To do this, highlight the text and click on the ‘B’ – bold button.
Before publishing your post, preview it first and make sure the pingback works. Does it go to the right location? If not, delete the URL and insert the correct one.
Once you are happy that your pingback is working, publish the post.
Only create pingbacks to blog posts and sites that have a connection with the subject of the post you are publishing.
Advantages of having pingbacks on your blog posts.
Creates traffic to your blog.
They are SEO friendly.
Blog posts that include pingbacks are ranked higher by search engine optimisations (SEOs) such as Google and Bing.
Bloggers, whose blogs you link to, may link back to one of your blog posts.
They are a great way of promoting older blog posts you have published.
Warning – never create a pingback to the home page of a blog or website. Why? Because no notification is sent to the blogger whose post you are linking to.
Some experts recommend not allowing any pingbacks or trackbacks to a blog because they attract spam. However, by moderating all pingback notifications, you can prevent any spam pingbacks from appearing in the comments section of your blog posts.
Where possible, try and include at least one pingback in every blog post you publish.
You can use a mixture of pingbacks to your own posts as well as those of other bloggers. However, don’t have too many on a blog post as it can make them look messy. My recommendation is to have no more than one pingback for every 250 words in any post.
Pingback problems
One of the reasons why I changed to using the Gutenberg editor is that I was having lots of problems with pingbacks not working on the Classic editor.
Even today, I see lots of bloggers asking readers to also leave a link to their post despite a pingback being created to it.
I’m pleased to say that since changing to the Gutenberg editor, I’ve not experienced any problems with any of my pingbacks not working.
An invitation to create a pingback
If you’ve never created a pingback before, try creating one for this post. I’ll be happy to let you know if it’s worked and to include it in the comments section if it has.
If you encounter any problems creating a pingback, don’t hesitate to ask me for some help.
Do you use pingbacks, and how often do you use them? Have you had any experiences where pingbacks did not work?
Hugh's Views & News 