Are you suffering from Blog Reader’s Frustration?
Symptoms: joy of reading your favorite blog diminishes as you go from patient waiting to finger tapping and then verbal outbursts of frustration such as “Oh, come on!” or “I subscribed last time!” And then you click away.
As a blogger I totally understand the desire to keep in touch with readers. We need them! Email lists are very valuable. Social media shares are essential. Paid adverts and sponsored posts our life-blood. I get it. But when does it become too much?
Let me paint you a picture.
I love to blog hop and share other people’s work. I pin, I like, I yum, I stumble. I am very very active online. Not only is it a blessing to me, as I gain new friends and followers, it is a way I that can help others. I truly look at a means of giving. I love to be a blessing.
All too many times lately have I gone to an interesting post via a blog party or social media to be met with the following:
Page loads slowly due to extremely large images and lots of plugins.
Just as it looks like I can view the post, a bar floats up from the bottom of the page.
Click. It doesn’t leave. Click again. OK, it’s gone… I think.
A voice comes out of nowhere.
What’s that?
Oh no, a video spontaneously starts from the sidebar.
It slows up the load even more.
I turn the audio off so I don’t have to listen because I can’t make it stop.
I want to pin that fabulous image but Pinterest can’t find anything “pinnable.”
That appears to be because I need to wait for the pin-it button to show up…or will there be a bunch of buttons floating in from the side?
Yep, there are the floaters. I’ll try that.
“Wow. This is really a great post.”
I think I’ll read it all.
Oh no, as I scroll down to continue reading, a swinging card blocks my view asking me to subscribe to the newsletter.
I don’t want to, I JUST want to read it and pin that unpinnable image.
Wait a minute.
Now that I think of it, I AM subscribed. That’s how I got here.
Will it swing in and ask me every time I come here?
Finally I find a way to pin it. Waiting. Waiting. Pinned!
This really is a great post!
I want to leave a comment.
I have stamina. This post is really good. I must let them know.
No, I AM NOT A ROBOT!!!
I get why I have to prove that but MORE to do before I can leave.
Lest I bore you with more… that what Blog Reader’s Frustration looks like.
So, what is the cure? I am not 100% sure but I do know this, readers deserve to have a smooth visit. They’ll want to come back if its fun and uncomplicated.
Bloggers, we need to clear the clutter and still get the job done.
Opt-ins that swing in front of our faces are annoying. Floating bars slow processing down. My suggestion is that we all visit our own blogs with new eyes and ask ourselves “If I were a visitor, what would I see?” Then, go on a cleanup operation.
Yes, we need social media buttons. Yes, we need to build our mailing lists. But we also should be good hosts. These readers are our guests. If they do share our work, what a gift! Let’s give them a reason to want to and make it a simple process.
Will I come back to your site if you keep it that way? Of course I will. You are my friend! But there will be those days that I won’t have the time to stay and navigate the obstacles. Sorry, on those days you’ll hear “click!”
Have you ever experienced Blog Reader’s Frustration?
How we can do this better?
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