Since I recently got back into the blogging thing, I've also been trying to catch up on my blog reading and commenting. And there are a few things that have stuck out to me that I wanted to share for my friends who are starting up new blogs, redesigning blogs, and even maybe for those who have been blogging a while and haven't really thought about these things:
1. I'm a lot more likely to comment if I don't have to deal with CAPTCHA. Deciding whether to remove that step is something everyone has to evaluate, and I understand if you're more comfortable keeping it. I don't know what kinds of comments you might get if you get rid of it, but I know what kinds of comments you're less likely to get--the ones that I'm considering posting but aren't important enough for me to bother if I have to do the CAPTCHA too.
2. I use an RSS reader (Google Reader specifically in my case), and I don't like seeing only a preview of the posts I'm reading. If I have to click through to read the whole post, I'm more likely just to mark that I've read it. For a really long time I had the settings of this blog on preview only and didn't even know it. So unless you're sure what your settings are, take a moment to check and make sure you're happy with them.
3. I heard a while back that readers prefer dark text on a light background to light text on a dark background. I was skeptical at first, but now that I've been paying attention, I really agree.
So these are all things that I've learned in the past year. Now what about you? Do you have any suggestions for how I could make my blog better for you?
I've been meaning to do away with the word verification box. Thanks for the reminder. :)
ReplyDeleteI keep the feed for my posts set to short because I would rather the few who actually read my blog, to see the post and pics as I intended. Within the design of my blog. I'm a visuals kinda gal. ;)
If I think of any useful tips you might want to apply to your blog, I'll let ya know. Happy blogging!
Thanks, Kendra! And that does make a lot of sense for you. Fits with your persona :)
ReplyDeleteLight text on a dark background is unpleasant to look at if you have just a slight amount of astigmatism.
ReplyDeleteI'm winning on the captcha front. I just checked and I don't have one.
I do have the summary thing on. Hoping to have people actually visit my site.
In that case, you need to make sure your first paragraph is really gripping. Which I guess is good practice anyway :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think that blogspot gives you a choice on the captcha--does it? I'll try to get rid of it but with it, I know I don't get many spam comments.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the light/dark--totally agree. Also--DON'T USE WEIRD FONTS! It takes longer to read and gets annoying really quickly.
It's under settings->comments->show word verification for comments
ReplyDelete