Sorry, but design and functionality and popularity matter. Just like a bar full of desperate singles looking to get laid, a dude (or lady) saunters up to the object of their affection. They don’t saunter based on personality or intelligence or sense of humor, because first impressions are all about attraction. And if you’ve got a blog with a yellow font or lack of links, or – gasp! – are using comic sans, no one’s going to spend the time getting to know the real you.
Readers will notice…
How many comments you get. Traffic doesn’t matter. Google rank doesn’t matter. Twitter followers and retweets and “influence” don’t matter. It’s all about the comments, baby. Comments mean people are moved/annoyed/emotional enough by what you have to say to add in their own two cents.
Comment sign-ins. Unless your HuffPo, don’t. Just… don’t. Do you know what happens when I’m told I need to sign in in order to comment? I don’t comment. Period. End of story. Capiche?
Professionalism. Does your blog look like a legit site or someone’s childhood diary?
Is it up-to-date? If you have events that have passed or an about me page that’s blatantly expired, fix it. Not being on top of your blog’s information shows you’re not serious and/or are too lazy to fix it.
Google ads. Good bloggers just don’t have them. AdSense is cheap, doesn’t make you enough money and looks ridiculously spammy. Article databases have them, and as any good blogger knows, you don’t actually make money from those kinds of sites and the last thing you want to do is look like them (plus, editors could give less of a crap if you’re published on Suite 101). You want to monetize your blog? Build it up so you can get real advertisers. Write an eBook. Use your blog to expand business. Opportunities abound but I swear to God people… if I catch you so much as looking at Adsense I’ll hunt you down and pay you the 7¢ myself.
Your theme. God, I know I’m the last person to talk since my blog design is so thesis-y, Thesis wants to vomit on it, but you have to know what I’m talking about. When you see a blog with a generic theme you’ve seen a thousand times it just looks a little less professional. So (if you can): customize, find a really awesome but rarely used free theme or shell out for a designer.
Social media links. I’ve gotten to that stage in blogging where I’m confused when a site has no links to their social media outlet of choice. Make your Twitter feed or button prominent and accessible. And if you’re not on Twitter? Ugh, never mind, I can’t even look at you right now.
Readers wont notice…
If your blog is easy to navigate. I know, it sucks when you put in the hard work to make something easy, but trust me on this one. Make sure your site is glitch and over-the-top/snazz free. Because while maybe people won’t notice if your site is the easiest place on the web, they will notice if it’s not.
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