There’s so much blogging advice on the web! If you did a search you’d be overwhelmed. Everyone’s preaching how to grow your blog and get more traffic. Many of these I read, and then with eyes rolled (in my mind because I can’t really roll them in person) wonder why I spent that precious time. Some others however I read, and thank the internet gods for directing me to that link – as I hurriedly run to make changes on my blog or jot down the notes for later.
For me mostly, these changes I try to implement – not because I think they were quick fixes to gaining a million readers but because for my existing readers, I’m trying to make it the most comfortable experience – and for the ones that are likely to stumble on my blog – simply hoping that they love it enough to look around and stay!
So I’m going to share with you today, some little and very quick fixes that can improve your blog. I’m hoping that after this you’d run and make the necessary changes! Or if you’re not guilty, you’ll pay it forward and share it with someone you know!
Enough preamble, let’s get to the juicy bits.
1. Illegible or Weird Fonts!
This is worth singling out honestly. I genuinely read a few blogs and I’m not even going to lie, I feel the strain on my eyes. I already use glasses which I hate, so any blog that insists on funny fonts – I think I’ll have to get the information elsewhere.
The thing is some people want their blogs to be unique and so go with some tiny or weirdly shaped fonts. Chances are that if I leave your blog and still vividly remember how your font looked like, then it wasn’t a good one. It’s better to have a general font that no one remembers. Same goes for the comment boxes. I love reading other people’s comments on blogs. So if you’ve somehow changed this that makes it illegible – your audience may lose interest. Having different font types and sizes (without coherence) is also something to be on the look out for.
And I’ve been guilty of this. When I started my newsletter the font was so tiny – but I didn’t realise until after a while and quickly rushed to changed it to make it bigger.
Kind of related to font is the format of the post. If you’re guilty of jamming up your entire post, you have to run to fix it. People have very short attention spans – and many people skim posts (sadly!). So they want to see a lot of white space, subtitles and clear headings.
To be honest, the entire layout of the blog is one we should look to improve – but hey, topic for another day.
2. Pop Up (Subscription) Boxes
If you’ve been on my blog for a while, you may remember when I had pop-up subscription boxes. It seemed cool and lots of people had them, so I thought why not? I did a quick search and happily installed one – with bright yellow lettering that invited you to subscribe and join the cool gang.
My pop up however only popped up when you were a first time visitor or logging in with a new device. Now honestly, what are the odds that a first-time visitor to your blog will join the cool gang within 30 seconds of landing on your blog? Very slim yes? So what was the point? I quickly took it down.
Now even if your pop ups come up all the time – except you’ve checked out the figures and people are really getting on your mailing list through that pop-up, it’s honestly best to take it out. It’s distracting and many times the close button isn’t visible. When people can’t find it, they’d simply exit the blog totally.
It’s okay to have an invitation to subscribe on the side bar or bottom of the blog, but I’m rather doubtful about pop ups. People subscribe when they see the value (or freebies!)
3. Contact Forms
First off, there should absolutely be a way foryour audience to contact you. Your readers may simply want to send a hello or thumbs up message while other persons may be interested in collaborations or sponsorship. But, if you’ve only got contact forms on your blog that ask people to fill in the boxes, then that might be a problem. For several reasons.
People generally dislike contact forms. We’re never really sure if the message gets sent to an actual email address or if the recipient gets it. Secondly, it leaves no trail or evidence. If I’m sending a message, I want to be able to refer to it at some point. So have an actual email address in your contact details.
And while we’re at that it’s advisable to have something slightly professional. So sleeky4kizz@y.com or might just be a turn-off – particularly for more serious emails.
4. Template text
Easily overlooked. Especially when you were so excited to set up your blog and get it running. But I’ve begun to see it rather frequently that I was wondering if it was a new thing I wasn’t aware of.
Basically, when you set up a blog, the theme or layout often comes with template meaningless text to guide you in creating your own wordings. So you’ll have stuff like “Loresum ipsum faftor uniet la dente etc”. These could be in the about pages or any other page or area of the blog. But once you’ve edited it in a few places and your blog looks ready to go – you may have forgotten to take out the template text everywhere.
The consequence of that is that your blog looks like it’s under construction – or still not ready for viewers! Or just not professional enough. So even if you’re not quite sure what to replace these with, just take them off for now.
5. Inconsistent Social Media Handles
Now this one you may think isn’t necessary. But the reality is that if you’re trying to build a brand then for consistency sake it helps a whole lot! If you look at some of the most successful bloggers you may recognise that they have the same or very similar names across their social media handles.
So for example, if they run a blog called LifeofK, they’d have @lifeofk as their Twitter & Instagram and perhaps even Facebook name. It helps people remember & follow you easily. So if you’ve got very different names for your blog & social media, it’s worth considering how you may streamline those.
And we’re done. For now anyway. There are a few others but those will take more than a minute so let’s get these fixed first. Are you all spot on on these? Or guilty in any way? It’ll take less than one minute to fix so you can do that, right after you leave a comment sharing your thoughts!
Love,
Kachee… xx
PS: Talking about social media, hope you’re following me? I’m @KacheeTee everywhere!
Afoma
March 28, 2017 at 08:48Lol! Omg pop up boxes get to me SO MUCH. It’s so petty but if you have a pop up box, I will not subscribe, especially those ones that pop up AS SOON as I land on your blog! Let me decide for chrissake if I like your blog enough to subscribe. And fonts get to me as well. I even had to get a plug in to resize my fonts on my new blog, because it was so small. Instead of leaving the blog tho, of you use an iPhone or iPad you can just use reader view and it evens out text for you like so.Really great points all around Kachi! Loved this post. Still keeping my social media names sha lool. Even if it isn’t same as my blog name, miszjeanie is my name on basically all of my social media soo I guess that’s consistent, no?afomaumesi.com
Afoma
March 28, 2017 at 08:50https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Oluwatoceen!
March 28, 2017 at 12:12I was anticipating this post when I saw the drafts on your inventory. And here it is!!!As in ehn, I have never subscribed to those pop up boxes on blogs. They get at me and i never see the close button too. I an guilty in terms of the social media names. I was contemplating changing the name of my personal account to the blog, but I am not yet convinced.Thank you for this post.You should start getting paid oo !https://thatinternist.wordp…
Demilade
March 28, 2017 at 16:47Oh dear, I have a pop up subscription box on my blog. I added it because people that access my blog through their mobile phones can’t see the email subscription in the sidebar. Going to rectify this issue!Back to the post, I don’t like weird or tiny fonts either. Thank you for sharing Kachee.xxCoco Bella Blog
A girl called
March 28, 2017 at 19:14LOL yes I’m following. I totally ageee with the font type and subscribe pop up, it can be a turn off especially when you are subscribed and have to look for the x close box cause it’s of no need. I end up closing the page without reading. Thanks for the tips.
jennifer ijeoma
March 28, 2017 at 23:09When i started reading i thought i had seen this some where, then i remembered it was on instastory. Valid one minute points indeed. I had to change my font last night when i was previewing my last post, i knew there had to be a way of changing it and i did. That subscription box thing ehhh….i went to a site and whilst it was loading i decided to pick up something and i look up and there is this giant yellow screen talking about joining the gang! Ahh!! not today, pls where is the close button biko? Lemme come and be going.This is a very funny post sha. As for social media handles we will still be taking it one day at a time. Welldone Kachee. Regards to Tee of KacheeTee!ijefinelivin.com
Kachee || KacheeTee.com
April 3, 2017 at 05:42Lol @ join the gang! Thank you for reading Ije and I sent your regards!
Lara Oseni
March 29, 2017 at 10:13Insightful! Thanks for sharing.https://laraoseni.wordpress…
Bubu Green
March 29, 2017 at 11:43So true, Kachee. Some Fonts, color theme can give me a headache sometimes. I visited a blog with very electrical looking, mustard and black background. By the time I was done reading, I kept seeing the prints when I close my eyes. I vowed never to do such to my eyes again. As for pop ups, let’s be honest, who leaves what they are reading to take a minute to use that box? It’s so distracting, I hit the ‘x’ button like that game you constantly hit a weasel popping from its hole.😂. I knew how much I was tempted to put that up on my blog cos it seemed like the in-thing, but I felt it’d be as annoying to others as it is to me, so why bother. We are all guilty of some of these, so this is a great take home note. Thanks😚www.bubusboulevard.com
Kachee || KacheeTee.com
April 3, 2017 at 05:41Electric looking, mustard and black. Looool!That’s hilarious girl!! Thank you for reading. Xx
Madeline Wilson-Ojo
March 29, 2017 at 13:08Thank you for the advice. I so agree with legible fonts – there is nothing as off putting as being unable to read text.I also find that too much animation and sound can also be annoying.https://madelinewilsonojo.b…
Kachee || KacheeTee.com
April 3, 2017 at 05:40True! Animation and music or videos that start to play automatically. Phew!
Nedoux
March 29, 2017 at 15:06@”Loresum ipsum faftor uniet la dente etc etc”. LMAO I’ve seen that blooper a few times.Ah, those pop-up subscription boxes are mildly annoying, I can’t hit the close “X” button quickly enough.Thank you for sharing Kachee. 🙂
Kachee || KacheeTee.com
April 3, 2017 at 05:40i love the phrase ‘mildly annoying’. I think that’s the correct description of hoe it feels!
TRAVEL WITH A PEN
March 29, 2017 at 17:11As a user, I’m not a fan of popups but as a blogger, I find them less annoying. I don’t have them on my site but I understand why bloggers choose to keep them. Great tips, I quickly did an assessment on my blog in less than a minute!BTW, I like ‘sleeky4kizz@y.com’! 🙂
Kachee || KacheeTee.com
March 29, 2017 at 18:31Loool!I find them less annoying too, but readers may not. I wonder if that’s a real email address! 😂😂😂
Vivianne @ Prickly Pear Blog
March 29, 2017 at 21:41Totally agree about social media — even though I don’t follow it! 😉 My instagram name is different, so I keep lots of social media buttons on my blog so people can find me. I have the twitter and FB down though. And weird fonts drive me NUTS. I take so much time deciding on fonts, I hope if mine ever get weird someone will tell me haha. Also, death to pop-ups. seriously.Viv | pricklypearblog.com
Sarah Enuwa Audu
March 30, 2017 at 16:01Yeah those pop up boxes can be annoying especially when there is no exist button. I recently took mine down as I recieved a complaint about it not closing and blocking other contents plus my conversion rate was alright so I figured whats the point. And as for the template text, I’ve been quilty. If you dont know much about programming and install a free template sometimes is unavoidable. Now the inconsistent social media names gets me the most, at times I’ll be searching for a blog with the Instagram name and when I can’t find it I just give up, because I follow more blogs on Instagram than I do the actual blog. This post is very accurate, keep it up! Princess Audu
Adeniyi Esther
April 2, 2017 at 14:44Yes, the Social media consistency. I learned that way way early, thanks to blogs I read then. It’s a cool way of branding yourself and your presence online. All you have to do for example to find me anywhere is type ‘Esther Adeniyi’. I think this is really important. Thank you for sharing these tips.Well done Kacheetee.www.estheradeniyi.com
Kachee || KacheeTee.com
April 3, 2017 at 05:39Thanks Esther! you’re right. It’s a cool way of branding yourself indeed.
Oreoluwa Aremo
April 2, 2017 at 21:37Love the tips! Especially the subscription pop up boxes. I had to remove mine because it was beginning to annoy me… hahaOréoluwa’s blog
Kachee || KacheeTee.com
April 3, 2017 at 05:39Hahahahaha. Good riddance!
Live In Ibadan
April 3, 2017 at 13:43The fonts part and the social media part is very true. The pop-up is too true. Some notable blogs I like just gets me distracted and never wanting to return back because of the pop – up subscribe button. The annoying thing is even after you have subscribed, the pop-up still comes up each time you open the blog.www.liveinibadan.blogspot.com
Kachee || KacheeTee.com
April 3, 2017 at 13:49Actually that’s so true! Even after subscribing, they still pop up. That’s quite annoying!
Beth
April 3, 2017 at 23:38Yes! I completely agree with these tipsThe font tip most especially is really important as it has driven me away from some blogs. Also pop-up subscription boxes that “don’t” have a close button can be annoying too.www.myvoguelife.com
Senero DIY
April 9, 2017 at 22:23Kacheetee! Yay I found your blog. Thanks for these tips. I just started an Ankara Crafts Blog and I tried not to talk about it yet on our social accounts, because I felt I still needed to work on a few things but I’ve made some adjustments after reading this article and I think we’re all set to tell the world about it. lol. Have a great week!www.senero.com.ng
yevandy
April 17, 2017 at 21:29Thanks Kachee… Those Popup boxes get to me every time… so annoying!!!
Jude Nnadozie
April 18, 2017 at 07:20kacheetee everywhere!!!
Michelle Langi
April 21, 2017 at 19:12I just cane across your blog. Informative post for newbie bloggers like myself.www.lifestyle360.co.ke
Desire Uba
April 22, 2017 at 21:59Thanks Kachee. This was actually quite eye-opening, especially the font and pop-ups.www.desireuba.wordpress.com
Maureen
November 26, 2017 at 17:33Wow! Thanks Kachee. This was very informative and enlightening. I actually just started my blog last month.I love the way you write.
Kachee || KacheeTee.com
January 7, 2018 at 19:18Thank you Maureen! Just seeing this comment. All the best with the blog.
Adenike
April 14, 2018 at 12:45Def not spot on and i know i am guilty on some. Thanks for the tips.I was really about to install the pop up subscription box, i thought it was cool and you know what is funny? Now that you mentioned it, i know for a fact i exit so many blogs just because the close button isn’t visible. Also i never subscribe at that initial stage. https://lifewithtwotees.com/