5 Reasons I Keep Reading Your Blog

by Alli

The inspiration for this blog post came about in the wee hours of the morning. I was spending the weekend at the beach and couldn’t sleep, so I crept out of bed at 3 AM and decided it was a great time to visit some of my favorite blogs and find some new ones. Then I had an epiphany! Angels appeared, trumpets blasted . . . just kidding, that was my husband snoring. 🙂

Anyway, I started thinking (thinking is what keeps me up when I have to tinkle in the middle of the night – once my mind wakes up, I’m up) about why I revisit some blogs over and over and some I never want to lay eyes on again. Just keeping it real!

Here’s 5 reasons I keep reading your blog!

1. It’s pretty and uncomplicated

It doesn’t have 12 popups before it fully opens. There’s no clutter and no busy background that distracts me from the written word. The font is big enough to see without squinting. The paragraphs are short and easy to read.

The pictures are nice and big and pretty. They’re not dark and shadowy. (Does anyone else remember Dark Shadows? I loved that scary soap opera when I was growing up.) Don’t say a word if you’ve never heard of it, kid.

2. There are very few typos

Yes, I’m referred to often as the grammar police by my children and friends. I’m sure they’re exaggerating. And, yes, sometimes grammar rules are made to be broken because no one likes a hard-to-read post. I’m certainly not perfect and sometimes I totally miss a typo. But . . .

Lately, I’ve been seeing some off-the-chain errors. For instance . . .

  • Last week I was reading a sponsored post and the name of the sponsored product was misspelled. Every. Single. Time. Including the title. (See, I just typed 4 incomplete sentences, but in the world of blogging, that is totally acceptable.) Chill.
  • I was reading another blog about reasons why the author home schools.  I’m all for homeschooling, but the article had so many typos and featured my biggest pet peeve of all “your instead of you’re!”  I almost came unhinged.  I had to take a break from all things blogging, do a few yoga moves and take several deep cleansing breaths.

3.  You’re funny!

I don’t take myself or anyone else too seriously.  When a person can laugh at herself or use humor in their posts, I’m all over it.  On the other hand, when people try too hard to be funny, it shows.

4. If you showcase yummy food, great makeup tips, the latest in fashion, awesome DIY crafts, pretty parties and/or teach me something new, I’m one of your top fans.

Recently I read the best article on how to grow tomatoes.  I realized all the mistakes I had been making and how to fix them.  It was so good I shared it on my FB page, pinned it and put it in my pocket – the app, not my real pocket.

On the other hand, I received the nicest comment on my Zippy Egg Salad Dip post, thanking me for explaining how to tell if eggs were fresh.

Helpful Hint:  Lately, before I share a food post, etc., I ask myself if there’s any info I can add that will help the reader or teach them something new.  You may have noticed that I offer a helpful hint in just about all of my posts.  My tagline: Helpful Hints for Extraordinary Events.

5.  Keep it short and to the point!

There’s been times when I’ve shared a long post because of different reasons.  I consider a post to be long if it’s 1,500 words or more.  Most of the time I try to stay around 600-800 words, sometimes less, but always at least 300 words.

Helpful Hint:  If you notice your post is going to be extremely long, break it up into a series. It will keep me coming back for more.

I’ve said it before: Most people skim a post.  They don’t read every word.  You may be skimming right this minute.  You can usually tell by the comments if someone has skimmed or not.  (Hey, relax, I’ve been guilty of this myself.)

And don’t share EVERY picture you took on that fabulous vacation.  I get the point and I don’t want to scroll through 60 pictures of basically the same thing.

Bonus Reason:  If you have cute kids and cute pets, I’ll keep reading your blog. 🙂

There you have it – 5 reasons I keep reading your blog!

It’s your turn:  What are some reasons you keep reading a blog?  What’s your biggest turnoff?