In today’s post, I am going to talk about a few things that influence in my following blogs. Before I start, I believe I have to clarify a few things that might arise because of this post. I am in no way specifically condemning anyone’s blogs. All opinions are mine based on my general observations of blogwalking through countless and countless of blogs everyday. I might not always leave my footprints on your chatbox but I do read your blogs even if I don’t follow you. Hey, followers are just numbers, right?
I am a minimalist type of person when it comes to blog templates so I am just going to say this out loud: I love responsive, clean, black and white templates. I am prone to going back to this type of blogs just because I feel connected to them in some ways and it’s just easier on the eye hence why my blog is always black and white and has a clean look. But you do you. Blogging is to express your creativity in writing and blog designing so who am I to tell you what to do, right? Please take my opinions with a pinch of salt.
One post per page
My number one rule in blog layout is to always have my sidebar shorter than my post body. To me having the sidebar longer than post body makes your blog looks weird and unprofessional. And do you even know how annoying it is to click older posts just to see your next post? I know some people do this for the page views but what page views are you going to get if your readers (aka me) are annoyed with your layout and eventually clicking the x button and never coming back to your blog ever again? I am really fussy when it comes to this thing. I know some people are, too. I prefer putting “Read More” link than a post per page.
No navigation/labels
I almost never read older posts if they don’t have navigation/labels somewhere in their blog. I want to be able to go to certain type of post label such as books or makeup or any other labels that you have and just go through that label. I want to be on the homepage your blog knowing that I can go to any type of posts that I want to read just by a single click. That way, readers are inclined to spend more time on your blog if they can go through every single post you have published. Ni dahlah navigation tiada, blog archive also tiada..
No regular post schedule
I know some people don’t have time in their hands to update blog every single day but 2, 3 posts in 2 months? Really? This is by far the fastest way to lose readers, you know. I have a few blogs that I often go to once a week or so and they never updated for months! But in the end your blog is your blog and it’s up to you how you want to manage it or when you want to update. I’m just someone who’s dying to read your new posts but you never update…
Nice design, no content
I come across so many cute blogs with adorable design be it from blogskin or custom made and they’re amazing! First impression is important, no? But when I read the contents, that, I’m not a fan of. Some bloggers got too hooked on blog design that they forget one thing that is more important than the design you spend so much time on: content. I want to read engaging contents. I want to read something that makes me excited just by the post titles.
Small, fancy fonts
I am not fond of small and fancy fonts for your post content. I find it hard to read and not easy on the eye. I also prefer black or a very dark grey for your font colour and any light colours just basically turn me off from reading your blog. Some of my favourites font for contents are Libre Baskerville (currently using), PT Sans, Source Sans Pro, Playfair Display, Neuton, Dubiel, Times New Roman, and Lato. There are many, many fonts you can choose from at Google Fonts. You just have to make sure you choose one that is easy to read.
I hope you learn something from this post and take it as constructive criticism to a better blog. I am still learning myself although 2016 marks my eighth year of blogging and I always want to learn new things to make my blog better. So do you have any blog pet peeves?
