In order to excel in blogging, we need readers and without them, blogging is just a waste of time. Have you created time to check your analytics and study your bounce rate?
The tips mentioned below is just one of the pinch of reasons why you have a high one and you can do some split testing to find out ways to reduce your bounce rate.
Why do we blog?
We blog for money; and how do we make money online?
We need traffic; and how do we generate traffic?
By following the rules Erik wrote on how to increase traffic; OK I’ve done all that and I have traffic now but why did you say you won’t read my blog?
Good Question!
Table of Contents
5 good Reasons why I won’t Read your Blog
1. You have an Unfriendly Design
There are some kinds of designs that can make your blog difficult to access, bad navigations, bad fonts (difficult to read) and many more.
It all originates from your theme and your configuration. Your blog design is the first thing that must be considered because that’s the first thing visitors will see when they land on your blog; they won’t hesitate to leave your blog if your design is not friendly.
My little advice for you is to go for an attractive and responsive theme, for more insight on this check out the things to consider before going for the best blog design
2. Your Content lacks Quality
If you’re on a journey to becoming a successful blogger then the first step you must take is to write quality contents on your blog. It’s already a national anthem and you know what’s on my mind; “Content is king”.
You’ve bypassed your design and you’ve gotten good grades for that right? Now it’s time you focus on writing quality contents (if you really want me to stay longer on your blog).
I do hear people saying that your content must have so and so amount of words before it can be called a quality content, I totally don’t believe that myth.
All you have to do is to write according to your style, regardless of the quantity of your content, if it has a good quality then you’ll gain readers that’ll read and share them but don’t write and relax thinking that your content will go viral.
It might be a little gold in a large desert. If you don’t promote your content then nobody is actually going to read them.
3. Your Popups are annoying
Popups are great ways to get more followers or subscribers and I use it on my blog to, I don’t see anything bad in it but most of us use it the wrong way (especially facebook popups) and this annoys readers of your blog.
Try configuring your popup to show up once or twice in a specific time interval and not to show always.
An example is visiting the homepage of a blog > welcomed by a facebook popup; clicking on your latest blog post > welcomed by a facebook popup > Navigate to one of your pages > welcomed by a facebook pop.
Duhh that’s too much, can you see that “X” button above your browser? I won’t hesitate to click it and I’m sure you’ll do the same if you’re in my shoes.
4. Too much Ads
Why would I go against having adsense on your blog? I have google adsense on mine too but it’s just in two permanent positions; my header and my sidebar.
According to Google’s policy, the maximum number of ad you can have on your blog is three but most of us went against that rule (by bombarding their blog with tons of ads) after complying with Google’s policy before getting adsense approval.
Avoid too much ads on your blog because majority of bloggers hate this and they will leave your blog if they’re distracted by it.
I also noticed that google adsense is one of the scripts that slows down our blog but never mind, you’re not a speed junkie like I am. Just make your ad moderate and don’t let it distract your readers.
This is off topic but I’ve have to shoot it out, folks are now blinded to ads and the blogging niche has the lowest CPC apart from niche sites where you can even get $10 or more per click.
5. You don’t reply to comments
Replying to comments is my fort and I gave this same rule to my guest bloggers. Tell me, if you leave your readers with unanswered questions do you think they’ll come back to your blog?
Definitely not unless it’s a content they can’t resist to read but don’t expect their comments because they wouldn’t want to leave your blog with unanswered questions again.
You might be lucky though, they might drop a comment but don’t get it twisted, they’re just building backlinks.
Replying to comments is one of the best ways to create connections with your readers and get returning visitors for your blog so don’t underestimate it. I’ve see blogs with hundreds of comments yet the blog author still create time to reply to those comments, if they can do it then you can too.
Finally
If you really want me to stay longer on your blog then you have to implement these tips mentioned above. With these tips you’re going to build your readership and create more connection.
Have you implemented them?
Expect me on your blog and if they are perfect then count me as your new reader.
What are the features that annoy you whenever you visit a blog?
Do share them with us; we would love to hear your view.
Wait! Before You Go, Read:
Eight Methods for getting the Most out of Google Search
5 Best Practices For Managing A Profitable WordPress Website
Seven Blog Writing Tips for Newbies and Veterans
5 Best SEO Tools for Bloggers – They Will Help You Get More Traffic For Your Blog
Top Books an Entrepreneur Should Read
Getting Rich Quickly – Forget About It!
How to Make Your Blog Popular?
Benefits of Engaging In Digital Marketing
How to Stalk A-List Bloggers Until They Publish Your Guest Post
Top 100 Websites For Bloggers
9 Must Have Plugins for Your Blog
Start Monetizing Your Blog with SeedingUp : Interview with Johannes
6 Rules to Build Online Relationships Based on Trust – How to Become an Authority
How Sponsored Posts Can Ruin Your Blog Completely
3 Digital Marketing Tips for Professionals Selling their Services
Ethical Search Engine Optimization Tips
How to Write a Blog Post in a Short Time – 5 Points to Follow
How to Make Money from Your Love of Cars
5 Link Building Tips for 2013
XOVI: All-In-One Marketing Suite (Alternative to SEMRush)
Hi gilvert.
I will have agree with you. You above mentioned about comment. I want to mention here little about comment. If you are not interested to reply your readers comment or you don’t want to answers to their questions on the comment “Readers won’t read your blog post” This line gilvert already mentioned above. Other thing that i want to mention here that you will not make a good relation with your readers. Good relationships is really need for a blogger. You must need good relationship with readers for becoming a successful blogger.
So, Guys do reply comment and answer your readers questions for above tow benefits.
Thanks for pointing those out Moryom,
I guess it’s high time they learnt from their mistakes, replying to comments is a great way of building relationship but they never knew they’re missing a precious gold. Thanks for recommending those, I hope they’ll learn form it, have a wonderful week ahead.
Gilbert, excellent points. I do find many great blogs with pop-ups, because the content is really good I still visit them (unless on my cell which is impossible to click off the popups at times). I do find them annoying though.
I also do not like blogs with banner ads all over the sidebar, they are do distracting and seem almost desperate for money.
Comments that never get replied or approved is a reason I may not leave another but may still read the blog if it contains excellent content. Relationships do matter when it comes to blogging so it’s best if comments are replied to!
Have a great day Gilbert.
Hi Lisa,
I do blog on mobile at times and most of these blogs are difficult to access, pop doesn’t really matter but they should be configured in a way that’s going to serve visitors and give them a good experience on the blog,they’ll definitely love to come back since there’s nothing hindering them.
Banners is one of the best way of making money but too much of it has a bad impct, thanks for pointing that out, same as comment. The fact is that we must lways consider our readers in everything we do, when we bait them with what they can’t afford to bite then they’ll always come back.
Thanks for sharing your view, do have a great week too.
Hi Gilbert,
I agree with all your 5 don’ts despite of the fact that sometimes I may be guilty of not complying with 2 of the “rules” 🙂
1) Too many ads – While I agree that adding too many ads isn’t good, each person understands differently the wording “too many”. I don’t think that my blogs have too many ads but maybe you or someone else will think different. I didn’t plan to make everyone happy, no one can do it 🙂
2) Not replying to comments – While I agree that not replying is USUALLY bad, sometimes I don’t reply to some comments. If someone asks a question, of course that I always reply. But if someone posts a comment that isn’t spam but isn’t very much related to my blog post, then I may not reply. Sometimes I reply to such comments, but not all the time 🙂
Adrian
P.S. Let’s see if I’m qualified to have my blog read by you 🙂
Hi Adrian,
I can’t really say if your ads are too much, why? Becuase there are relevant contents on your sidebar then followed by ads.
As per replying to comments, I do try as much as possible to reply to all my comments but there are some comments that doesn’t actually need a reply. If I should dive into my archive I’m sure I’ll see some ureplyed comments but at least those relevant questions shouldn’t be ignored.
Hehe! You’re qualified 97% 🙂
Hehe, Gilbert, that “too many ads” part from my comment was a tricky one. I was waiting to see what you’ll respond. You know why? Because this blog where you’re a guest has way more ads than my blogs 🙂
Actually not the number of the ads is the problem. “Too many ads” doesn’t mean too much anyway.
The real problem is whether the ads are intrusive or not. For example, look at this blog. I have no problem if the owner puts 100 ads on the right side widget. Really! But I don’t like other blogs where are only a few ads but they are placed inside the blog articles (after the first paragraph for example). That kind of ads bothers me. Even one single ad between 2 paragraphs of an article bothers me. Isn’t the number of ads that bothers 😉 Got my point?
You got me there Adrian, I was trying to hide that part to aviod misunderstanding but you broke it. I love the way you explained it and actually I’ve seen tons of blogs like that but sidebar counts too, even if there are 100s of banners, at least there should be something valuable like socialmedia profiles, popular posts and more.
Ps: seems you made a mistake in the email form, I’m seeing a blank gravatar here
Yes, You are right. I have stopped visiting a lot of websites just because they have really bad navigation system and design. Thats the main reason . And many bloggers still don’t reply to valuable comments. They don’t ven answer even if we have a doubt which only they can solve. Thats how they lose their trust. Well, I hope you will build my trust by replying to this comment. Haha . I know you will because, you are not the other type of guy who thinks that by gtting comments they have become a big and replying comments is just a waste of time. I see, you are taking domination over the internet with a lot of guest posts, right ?
Hope you get success
Rizwan @ Blogger Kid
Hi Rizwan,
Good to see you on my side, actully, I reply to every single comments on my guest posts and blog posts and this was what build my traffic. Haha, why won’t I reply your comment, of course I will. I hope I’ve gained your trust.
I haven’t dominted the blogosphere but that’s my dream, I’m just a new 3 months old blogger going to 4 months (started july) with just few guest posts, I won’t say lot of guest post 🙂
Agree with your Gilbert, these mistakes would annoy the readers certainly. As a result, they would fail to visit that blog permanently.
I feel good coz am not doing any of the mistakes which you’ve listed here. I wish all the bloggers should avoid these mistakes and should engage the readers well with quality information and reply comments.
Hope u r doing great in guest blogging, keep it up.
Good to see you here Nirmala
*whispering*
(Don’t tell anybody and don’t let Erik hear this)
Actually I submitted a guest post here after reading your guest post round up 😉
Back to where we were, I’m glad you didn’t fall in any criteria, I can testify to that also, you’re doing a good job, keep it up.
Have a wonderful week ahead.
Hmm.. its ok, good.
Nope, I won’t tell this to Erik sir (lol)
Glad my roundup post made you to contribute your guest post here. I really love to help other people and am happy about it.
Thanks for your honest reply Gilbert 🙂
These tips are really very good and practical. We should focus on these tips and we can make our blog better.
Thanks for sharing such valuable words with us.
I’m glad you found them helpful, thaks for recommending it and I’m sure others will find it useful too. Have a wonderful week ahead.
Hi Samuel
Too much ads and pop ups are too annoying for me too which makes me to stop visiting those blogs people giving more importance to make money by showing ads here and there for the sake of money but they are not giving importance for readers
Hi Shameem
Good to see you here, actually the reason why I still read som is due to the quality content on the blog, aside from that, it’s bye bye to the blog. Thanks for sharing your view and have a wonderful week ahead.
Hi Gilbert,
Thanks for sharing your post with us. I found it very informative and useful. And i totally agree with u.
Thanks
Gilbert,
Good information. My bounce rate is always in the high 60%. I don’t have too many ads or popups, so I guess either my design is ugly or they are just not interested in reading more. I’m going to invest more time in my header and logo to make it look more friendly. I am also going to try more interlinking and see how that goes. Thanks for the ideas…they got me thinking.
Good to see you here Cecil
I’m glad you found these tips helpful, I guess you should make some changes as soon as now, you never know the amount of genuine readers you’re losing. Good luck as you do so.
HI Gilbert
There is only one thing that makes me exit a site immediately; Pop ups. The irony of the whole thing is that some of us just have to make these mistakes in other to get better. 🙂
Hello Gilbert, loved those points but I cant agree with your last point. Some bloggers are there just for link building, but some actually comment there to appreciate your work.
Also, I don’t think that you should reply to each and every comment. Because some comments are there just for Appreciating the knowledge that you’ve provided them.
And replying every comment sometimes become annoying too. Just think of a blog who have 3 comments for appreciating your work and author replied ever comment with “Subscribe RSS”or “Like us on FB” etc. At-least I find it annoying.
Hi Sumeet,
If you got my point carely, I didn’t mean that the entire comments must be replied but at lere are some comments and questions that needs a reply, we shouldn’t ignore those.
I don’t really understand what you mean by “like us on facebook” and Rss thingy, can you explain more
Unfriendly design and bad content. Major turn-offs for me
hi gilbert. i believe your last point may not apply to A-List bloggers for example Traffic Generation Cafe and Dragon blogger. they do not reply to all comments and yet they still have many readers that visits them.
they only reply to comments that they think provides additional information.. or comments that makes a lot of sense.. they do not reply in posts that simply appreciates their articles..perhaps that is the advantage of being an A-List blogger..
Hi Marilyn,
I understand where you’re heading to, I wasn’t saying that you should reply to entirely all your comments but there are some questions that must be attented to but for a new blogger, the best wy of building relationship is by replying to comments. Eveny if they didn’t reply to comments, I’m sure there are ways they used in building relationships, of course you know they’ve been in the business for long.
Hi Gilbert,
All good reasons! As for comments I do my best to respond to each but sometimes I just cannot. Aha, the joys of being prolific lol 😉 Other than that I intend to get all the other reasons down to attract more and more readers daily.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Hey Gilbert,
Great points points, I don’t like visiting blogs that bombard you with a bunch of banners. When I land on these types of sites, I usually leave very quickly.
Also, can’t stand the sites that have pop ups. While I don’t mind the pop ups you can close, the ones that won’t let you close them are extremely annoying.
I’ve never used pop ups before, but I heard that they convert very well. I guess I haven’t used them because I personally don’t like them.
Great share and I hope you have a great day.
Hi,
Informative article. I agree with your views – all points are important. Especially point 4 – “Too much Ads” is one of the vital reasons to lose readers. Thanks for share!!
Its annoying when you dont get replys for your comments especially when someone needed a response on a question. you have rightly mentioned the basic points why i dont read some blogs especially in the dept and quality of content. i want contents that will answer my question and not make me ask more. Google hummingbird update demands a content answer a question and this is a standard every blogger should maintain else i wont waste my time to read your blog.
agree with all points discussed above. but i think those popsups and too much adds are major factor that can destroy your page.
I have to agree with all the points mate as this is what i do when i visit a blog . If the author has no time to reply to the comments then why should we bother to drop our comment there? . Thanks for sharing the points mate !
You’re welcome Pramond,
It’s always good to see you here, glad to see you on my side. Thanks for the comment and have a wonderful weekend.
oh! happy new month
I Agree! It is worth reading.
Having a lots ads and pop-ups really pissing readers. Crap content is the main reason of gets ignored by readers, bloggers need to prime focus in educating and inspiring its readers with trending and hot topics.
Good day!
A bad design and poor quality content are two things that really turn off my mind.
Also displaying too many ads on a blog is a really bad thing and most of the new bloggers commit this mistake.
Thanks for sharing this post with us 🙂
There are 2 things that make me don’t want to visit a blog
Firstly , Design. i’m really confused with blog which’s not designed professionally and really hard to know where i could start.
Secondly, information of content. someone just want to blog everyday and don’t care about the quality of their posts, sometime they just copy of the others and don’t even check the information, they can’t survive in this competition that i can tell,
Thanks for your informative sharing.
Stephan
yes, definitely i agree with your points. Because if a site having these mistakes, no one would see that. Moreover, i appreciate you as i like point no. 1,3, and 5 the most. Because if anyone wants his/her site to be viewed then these mistakes should not be done.
By the way thanks for sharing such a nice information.
Really appreciative article.
-Nitin
Ads and Popups are really a big factor for me too. They annoy you because you are still not presented with the page and booms comes out the pop up (often with half naked ladies)
Too many ads is the most frequently reason why I don’t read some blog.
Pop ups are the worst! But you’ve got to pay for the content you’re enjoying for “free”. Do you have any recommendations for the types of pop ups and how to best monetize your traffic, if they don’t sign up to be a customer?
Hi Trevor,
Popups are not bad, what makes it bad is the way you configure it on your blog. For example, don’t just welcome your visitors with popups but let them read your content for a couple of seconds before the popup comes up.
Paying for your content is simple and the best strategy that works is affiliate marketing, check out the link below (comluv)
Gilbert Samuel, your advice is helpful for me. I love this post. Could you visit my website and then tell me what you are thinking about?. Hope to read more helpful information from you. Great job!
These are the good reasons and points due to which we can lost coming traffic and comments from the visitors I totally agree with you. I am working on my blogs to change them in order to get maximum exposure and results.
Very nice post with valid points. Pop-ups always cause me to leave the page, I do not care how good the content may be. I understand that everyone needs to earn money, but don’t do it by slapping readers in the face with it.
Hi Gilbert,
Visitors love to visit blog with clean and elegant design so it is necessary to make the design of our blog user-friendly. Thanks for sharing the points. Your post will be a good lesson for newbie bloggers.
Hello Wonderful post Gilbert,
The top mistake we can notice is bad design or having lot of ads on the blog which make every readers annoying and they make not visit the blog again. And other thing is not replying to all the comments or not even approving any comments. I’d say you’ve just shared common mistakes of bloggers.
Thanks
Yea very nice tips and I always try to keep my website design simple and attractive, And I never use pop up as its really irritate. Nice post. Thanks.