May 31, 2011 Staff

Avoiding Blogging Pitfalls


Websites should make their guests feel at home, not trapped, bombarded or exploited. Afterall, mistreated visitors won't come back, which surely isn't the goal of many sites. Meeting visitor expectations, in terms of access and content, is the bare minimum of making them feel welcome. From Jonathan Bailey at BloggingPro, here are things to avoid if you want to make your guests feel welcome and willing to return.

Excessive Advertising
Avoid popups and popunders. Reasonable advertising that doesn't distract from the content is acceptable.

Forced Registration
Most visitors don't want to register just to leave a comment. If you must insist on registration to limit spam, consider integrating registration with Facebook or Twitter, so your user doesn't have to create yet another online profile.

Inconsistent Design
Don't make users have to relearn how to use your site. Make it easy for them to get what they need.

Slow Loading Times
Your site shouldn't take more than a few seconds to load for someone with a reasonable Internet connection.

Manipulative Scripts
Don't run scripts that limit right click functionality or manipulate the copy and paste functionality.

Missing Features
Most users expect features like About, Contact and Archive pages.

Multiple Pages
The fewer clicks a visitor needs to get what they want, the better.

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Published by Staff May 31, 2011