This article is a great little tool to use, to judge whether your blog is scaring readers away. Each numbered item contains a number of criticisms that a person reading your blog may make.
Read each paragraph and pay attention to each comment made in each sentence, and ask yourself, “Could someone make this comment about my blog?” Some paragraphs may only have one comment/sentence that you think applies to your blog, where other paragraphs may be stuffed with criticisms that may apply to your blog.
1. Not different enough
Your blog looks like everybody else’s, which is further damaged by the fact that you do not post interesting blogs on topics that are not frequently covered.
- There is nothing new, interesting or original about your blog.
- The graphics and layout is dull, predictable and boring.
2. Hard to read
You make your blog too hard to read with small text or fonts that are harder to read.
- Your blog may look nice with an italic twist or a handwritten look, but it is difficult to read, especially if the reader is tired.
- The color of your blogs background makes it harder to read because there is not enough contrast between the two.
- The way you layout your text makes it harder to follow.
- It is too modular and it is hard to see which paragraph follows which.
- Your background colors are too distracting.
3. Your blog takes a lifetime to load
- Images and stuff are nice but people are clicking on you to read something and they have to wait ten minutes for it to load.
- Your JavaScript’s run too slow, and sometimes they crash or bring up pop up that says they are unstable.
- There is a stupid flash intro, which is annoying, even though you are allowed to skip it.
- The HTML tables are making it take even longer to load, which is boring, and your content is fast becoming NOT worth the wait.
4. Insubstantial content
There are widgets everywhere, so clearly your content is not good enough to stand-alone.
- There is a widget for every social media on earth, and a share section, and one to translate, etc. In short there are too many widgets.
- The sheer amount of widgets on the screen is silly, and pointless, and is casting some real doubt over the legitimacy of the text and the character that created it. Clearly the person who created the blog has no idea what he or she is doing.
5. It is off putting
The text is too confrontational and people feel like they should not even bother engaging with the text.
- It is too opinionated without giving any factors as to why the blogger believed what they believe.
- The blog is stating opinion as fact without proper proof.
6. Lacks approachability
Your blog sounds like it is written by government official or a police officer, so why bother commenting.
- Clearly the person who wrote the blog is a master of whatever they are writing about and the commenter will just be shot down.
- There is no room for other opinions and so why bother commenting, or even bothering to engage with the text.
- Your blog has no opinions in it whatsoever.
- It reads more like a collection of information or a technical data sheet than it does a blog.
- The blog feels like it was written by a computer and not by a person who has feeling, insight or any motivation for writing the text.
7. Not original
The text on the blog has clearly been spun from another article.
- Many of the word choices are not ideal for the blog and its topic.
- Many of the sentences do not flow correctly or have incorrect grammar.
- The writing seems stale and its context and syntax jumps from paragraph to paragraph.
- It is too much of a mixture of casual writing and professional writing.
- It jumps from first, second and third person perspective throughout the text.
8. Lacks consistency
There is no consistency in the blogs posted from one week to the next. For example, one week the blogger is pro-democrat, but then the next week the blog is hailing Republican values.
- The blogs show no sign of consistency in their topics -one week the topic is on flower arranging; the week after it is pro-choice.
- The person perspectives are not consistent from post to post. One is in the third person when dealing with one topic, and in first person when dealing with another.
9. The blog is too controversial
- People do not want to log on every week to be angered, insulted or upset.
10. Lacks style
It feels as if there is more than one writer doing the blog.
- The quality of the writing changes from post to post, and the vocabulary use frequently changes from week to week (not to mention style).
To be a "readable" blogger isn't so easy as you might think. You should spend lot of time and energy to improve your writing and designing skills. Furthermore, don’t forget to listen to your readers' voices because they are your main force in blogging world.
