These are some basic blogging dos and don'ts I've been collecting. Some I have posted on Facebook. Some are oldies but goodies.
- Don't clutter your sidebars with all sorts of gadgets and widgets. Only keep things that have a meaningful purpose.
- Don't have auto-play music on your blog. Or auto-play videos.
- Do put a contact link, button or page on your blog. Do make it clearly visible.
- Do look at your blog from a reader's point of view. Does your site make sense to a new visitor?
- Do use extreme caution when posting links to your stuff on someone else's Facebook page or blog comments.
- Do subscribe to your own blog so you know what your readers are seeing.
- Don't copy more than a small excerpt (1-3 sentences) from someone else's site and paste it on your own. Even if you credit them.
- Don't write in long paragraphs. Break them up so it's easier to read.
- Don't have a gazillion categories. Use tags to further break down your categories if necessary. (Here's the difference between categories and tags.)
- Do make navigation clear and obvious.
- Do edit your posts but don't stress about being perfect. You're writing a blog post, not a dissertation.
- Do make sure your Facebook page, Facebook personal profile, Twitter bio, Google+ about tab and any other social media profile pages link to your blog.
- Do check your stats regularly but not incessantly. Don't get hung up on specific numbers, just look for upward trends over longer periods (like 3 months).
- Do make your blog's purpose immediately apparent. Visitors should be able to tell within 3 seconds what your blog is about. Use a bio box or tagline to communicate it.
- Don't make your header image so tall that visitors have to scroll down to see your content.
What else would you add?
Photo by .reid.
Don't make me jump thru a million hoops to comment. Moderation or captcha not both please. Also people using Blogger please leave the name & url option available.
Agree.
So agree; nothing I find more irritating than to write a comment and THEN see that Name/URL is not a choice in Blogger. I have to walk away, not commenting and having wasted my time.
I also find it annoying when the url option isn't avialable, but also remember that if a post is compelling enough to make us comment, we shouldn't *only* be commenting to get the link (although that is a definite bonus!).
It's not about the link back; it's about not having any of those other accounts just so that I can leave a comment on a Blogger blog. I never waste my time commenting just for links but when I write a comment and realize after the fact that I can't leave it because the Name/URL option is not available, it's both a waste of my time and a comment not left.
Sorry – l misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying.
I guess most of the blogs I follow use WP, because I had never encountered that situation before. But wouldn't you know – I just came across a site tonight that wants a user profile from one of those services instead of name/url, so now I know what you're talking about!
amen!
Couldn't agree more
Great list, Amy! Some of these I definitely had to check over on my own blog. Thanks!
Always give photo credit
Phew! Had to make sure I did that. LOL!
Great tips. I need to implement contact info on my 3 blogs. Silly me!
Have everything checked off except for linking to my blog FB page from my personal. The opportunities I'm missing out on there, with my own friends! Somehow, I have also yet to update my signature on my personal email, still has my blogspot.com address. Yikes. Thanks for the reminder, such simple but effective stuff!
That's great! You might be able to check off more than I can.
(Here's the link to the post about Facebook personal profiles.)
What's really sad is I read that post awhile ago and never did anything about it.
Oh I totally do that all the time.
Great advice as always Amy! I would add to focus on original content. My sister works in Silicon Valley and she reiterated to me there is so little original content out there. I notice when I am just posting deal after deal, I get traffic. But when I post original content, I REALLY get traffic and they are more apt to share.
Yes, your own voice is so important. It makes you stand out! Thanks for adding that.
Great stuff, Amy.
I think I would add always give photo credit and make links apparent. Half the time I can't tell the links from the regular post.
I love reading your posts! #13 is great advice. With that being said, I would love some tips and tricks from you as to how to best read and review your stats… Just a thought. I recently started my own personal blog after beginning to blog for a non-profit mothers group in February, and this is something I feel I know very little about: can you tell who "likes" and tweets your content? How do you best read your google anylitics report? Etc.
Thanks for your ALWAYS great posts that are well suited for my "beginner blogger" skills
Here's a Google Analytics Getting Started Guide that might be helpful (I haven't read it myself but I trust it's pretty well done given that it was written by Google themselves).
You can see your Likers on FB by clicking on the "people like this" link just under the counter on your FB page.
You can see who mentions you on Twitter on the @mentions tab in your Twitter account. Also, if you use a plugin that allows people to tweet directly from your post, click on the number of tweets to see who has tweeted that post. (I recently started using the "Tweet, Like, Google +1 and Share" plugin. So far so good.)
Thanks Amy! I will definitely check out the Google Analytics Guide and the "tweet, like Google + and share" plugin!
Do respond to comments. I know there's some debate about this, but I view it as a conversation. If someone took the time to listen to me speak, responded to what I said and I just walked away I would be seen as very rude. So, I take the time to respond to those people who leave legitimate responses. The "Thanks, Melissa" comments don't necessarily require a response, but I try to respond to blog comments the same day.
To help this, folks should make sure they have an email linked to their profile (in Blogger)! I do want to respond to comments, but when there is no email to reply to, hunting down how to respond is time consuming and challenging!
Amy, thanks for the great list. I wish you had posted it last week. Ha, ha! I made mistake #7 this week and was called on it. I fixed it and seems all is well now.
You should write a Blogging Etiquette book.
Well if it makes you feel any better, I think I've broken all of these at least once.
Actually, that makes me feel a LOT better.
Make sure you display some form of Categories. I have a food blog and am in a group where we make something from another blogger's blog each month. I went to my assigned blog and except for the last five dishes, there was no way to find what was in her blog except through a Google search for categories I had to guess at. So time consuming…enough so that I'm leaving the group!
Excellent post, Amy! I was guilty of #9, too. I've pared them down, since my redesign earlier this month. But, I may be able to do a little more. Thanks, for sharing!
Another plus to paring them down (and taking them out of your navbar) is to increase site load time. I had all my subcategories listed for a long time but then replaced them with just a page which lists each topic after. This way there aren't so many calls on your server. (Got that tip from here.)
DON'T use photographs that aren't your own…unless you have purchased them from a stock photo website.
Some photographers are now putting their photos on free, non-copyrighted "commons" websites, letting people use them without a copyright, and then removing them and putting them another copyrighted site. They can then go after people and demand money for copyright infringement. Trust me…it just happened to me.
What about photos on microsoft that they have available for free? That is where I get a lot of my photos from-from the link in Word to clipart online.
Not sure about that. I'd just make sure you read the TOS (Terms of Service) and if they aren't clear, contact them. (Anyone else know?)
These are great tips! As a fairly new blogger, I don't really have anything to add but enjoy learning from the veterans. Thanks again for another relevant post!
I HATE it when people have auto play music.
I usually have half a dozen tabs open at once so it is a pain to go find the one that is making music and scroll down and find how to turn off the song widget.
Thanks for the tips
Great tips, Amy. I always need reminders. I need to declutter my sidebar – somehow!
I would add: if you want me to share your post, give me some sharing buttons so that its super easy for me. I was reading a post on one my favourite blogs the other day and went to hit the Facebook share button, only to find she didn't have one. It doesn't matter whether you are on Facebook. I am and I like to share with people there.
That is an awesome tip! I highly recommend the plugin "Sexy Bookmarks". It's clean and you can use it for all kinds of social media.
Okay, dumb question here…why do you spell out your email address in the contact info?
A question around here is never dumb.
Spammy robots hunt the web looking for email addresses in regular format, so spelling it out helps eliminate the problem of spam. At least some.
I would add, don't allow flashing or moving ads on your side bar, I never hang around when I feel annoyed. I think this goes with the music thing.
Oh, I gotta say, I'm with ya on the flashing ads. Not a fan of those.
If you use Google Chrome, the plugin AdBlock is great and will usually automatically block ads. If it does not, then you can still fix it for sites you don't normally visit to avoid seeing the ads.
…Works on Facebook automatically, which is a huge plus for me. 
Don't forget doing away with those blasted captchas!
As always, a great set of advice Amy! I'd like some help on reducing the size of my header – I'm on WPcom. Also need to do some work with stats or more like looking at SEO. I seem to get lots of comments (no where near as many as you of course but…!) & yet my stats don't really change. I suspect I haven't ticked a box somewhere!
Major problem in writing. Do not use contractions.
These were great points to go over, thank you!
Warning: I'm about to step on some toes.
If you don't use a 3rd party commenting app {like Disqus} be sure to install a plugin {such as ReplyMe} that notifies readers of response(s) to their comments ONLY. It's really incovenient and inefficient for me to have to return to a blog to check for a response or to hit "notify me of follow-up comments via e-mail", which floods my inbox with all kinds of comments. Most often, I just want to know what others said to me, not everyone who has commented on the post.
Good point. I use the Comment Reply Notification plugin.
Would you mind telling me where I can find this app?
Which app are you referring to, Megan?
Great advice. If I put something new on a page, I always create a post on my home page with a link to that page. For example, I created a special "Countdown to the first day of school" page. Every time I add something new, I create a new post on my home page with a link to the "Countdown to…" page. Also, after I create a new post, I post it to Facebook and Tweet it. the content of your Tweets is also very important. 140 characters can be very powerful if you use strong words that create interest and curiosity. How many times have you skipped over Tweets that say: *HOT* deal, "new blog post", or "enter to win"?
Thanks for the idea!
ah, you are great amy! I don't know what I would do without your blog! I gotta go over your list when I am more awake! but I agree with the above reader who said, you should write a book about blogging…i realize that is what your blog is about…but I would love to curl up with a book by you, and underline and highlight and read read read.
just my opinion. I love all you have to say !
You are very kind. Perhaps I'll ponder the possibility…
You mentioned that you shouldn't have too many side bar widgets and things that clutter. I have been toying around with a "Top Commenter" widget to encourage commenting. Is this something you would recommend or is it a little bit too elementary??
Thanks for your input.
Hi Amy,
The new site is awesome! Love the new look.
Thank you so much!
Great tips, Amy! I just subscribed to my own feeds!
Great advice! Love the new look of your blog! It looks great!
Thank you!
Love these. Especially the "no auto-play music or videos"…that's a pet peeve of mine lol. Thanks for a great list
Was good to double-check my blog against this list.
I second the "no auto-play music" – I have about jumped out of my seat a few times when all of a sudden music starts blasting out of nowhere. I don't even think that could be healthy.
Something that has come up in one of my blogger groups just recently is NO hotlinking photos. which many people do all the time, some people don't realize it is wrong. etc. Amy, you could do a whole post on it and I would share it with them all, plus I think it would get a lot of hits.
Anyway, another thing is….if you use someones deals or matchups LINK BACK! and don't take the entire matchup. just like the top 5 – 7 deals.
Anyway, Amy, this list is great and thanks for reposting it!
Great additions, Steph. Thanks!
It helps to have a **working** Search box, in addition to tags and categories. Try to help people find things in the way that is most comfortable for them.
And: now that it's been mentioned, I need to go back and do EITHER moderation or CAPTCHA, but not both. Thanks for reminding me! I too get really annoyed when I have to jump through too many hoops, and then I just leave.
Good post, Amy, and great comments, too!
Oh my I've done so much GOOD housekeeping on my blog this morning due to these insights! Thank you!
Don't be a "no reply" blogger!!! This can be fixed and it is so nice to be able to email the folks that comment.
http://teachingwithloveandlaughter.blogspot.com/2012/07/are-you-no-reply-blogger.html
My friend Lori, over at Teaching with Love and Laughter did a GREAT post on how to be a "reply blogger"….
Deb at Fabulously First
Thanks for this. I have just started to expand my travel blog and am very interested in the considerations of readers. I had never thought of subscribing myself, but that is a great idea. I have done so and already I can see immediate steps I can take such as a quick intro so as to tempt people to read more. Another thing I need to do is make commenting easier, I have deleted word verification but I don't seem to be able to figure out how to stop the 'registration' requirement as I am sure some people don't want to register to comment. Any suggestions on this in Blogger would be much appreciated.
Hi Michelle! Go to your Blogger Dashboard –> Settings –> Posts and Comments –> under "Who can comment?" select "Anyone." Hope that helps!
Great article! And bloggers should still keep the "name and url" option open and not just limit people to social network comment integration. Leaving a comment should be as easy and quick as possible.
Okay so I see all of you saying about name and url in blogger for comments what is that?
Hey Elisa, there's a setting in your Blogger Dashboard that you can set so bloggers can leave their Name and URL when they leave a comment. Sometimes bloggers on Blogspot restrict comments so you have to login with your Google profile or something else. Does that clear things up?
I really wish you would blog about Mozilla Persona. It's the best, easiest, nicest way to automate logging into services/sites/etc. It requires that you enter 4 things: username (that you want) , your full name, and your email address. It'll send confirmation and then (without doing anything after receiving the confirmation) it will log you into sites automatically that use Persona. It's soon going to be a standard.