Aff links | When you spend so long working on your blog content, it can be a hard pill to swallow when you see that not many people are reading it. And there are tons of personal reasons why I didn’t read your blog post which I guarantee are the same reasons many others don’t either. I’m not saying I’m special here obvs – but I’m also saying your blog post isn’t special either (soz). With SO MANY bloggers putting out content every single day, that’s what your blog post HAS to be… special.
Photo by Tanya Trukyr on Unsplash
7 Reasons Why I Didn’t Read Your Blog Post
Now I’m not saying it has to have flashing lights, falling glitter and gives away a £10 Amazon voucher for every person that reads it. But you do need to put into practice some things in order to encourage people to both click on your blog post and continue reading your blog post once they’re there. It’s all very well writing a banging blog post but if nobody reads it, what’s the point?
All of the points mentioned in this post are very easy to change or fix – so if you find you are doing some of these things, don’t panic! But it’s certainly worth making the appropriate changes so you can boost your blog traffic and grow a dedicated blog following of readers who love reading your blog posts!
Here are 7 reasons why I didn’t read your blog post:
You’re not selling it to me
So you’ve just written an incredible new blog post that provides a ton of helpful information to people. Yet you’re not getting many views? Perhaps it’s the way you’re selling it. Social media provides an excellent platform to really SELL your content and make it almost impossible for people not to click on your blog post. Consider how you’re doing that. If you came across your tweet, your pin, your Facebook post… would YOU click on it?
You have too many pop ups
This is something that puts a lot of people off and has many readers running for the hills. You’ve sold us on your blog post, we’re excited to read it, yet we can’t get further than 2 sentences before 4 different popups fly up and hit us in the face. Assess your popups – you could be putting people off reading your content because of something that’s very easily fixable.
You have no paragraphs breaking up your text
Did you know some people with learning difficulties or dyslexia literally can’t consume huge chunks of text that aren’t broken up? Even people without dyslexia just bloody HATE large chunks of text that aren’t broken up. Myself included. It’s really hard to read. It’s really hard to digest. And that’s one of the main reasons why I didn’t read your blog post.
The writing is too small
Look, I wear glasses. Sometimes, I forget to put my glasses on. So therefore, I can’t see. And it’s reaaaally hard for me to concentrate on teeny tiny writing. It might look cute but accessibility it more important here. Not for me but for a large portion of readers or content consumers who might have disabilities or additional needs. And this could be another easily fixable reason people are put off from reading your content.
There’s no images or graphics
Similarly to the large chunks of text point, not having anything visual in your blog post can be a huge turn-off. Not only do images and graphics help break up a lot of text, they’re also aesthetically pleasing and can add so much more to your content. I’m not saying you have to be like Ansel Adams here, just a couple of nice graphics to compliment your post.
Your title isn’t click-worthy
A catchy blog post title can have a huge impact on your views. So along with the selling your blog post point at the start, consider how your title sounds too. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t click on a blog post titled, “My New Dress” but I WOULD click on a post titled, “The Head Turning Dress You Need This Summer!”
I can’t find your blog post
If you’re not selling your blog post at all, how do you expect people to find it? Of course if you’re clued up on SEO and keyword research (for more info on SEO and keyword research, check out these eBooks) then you could be getting traffic from search engines which is fantastic but social media is there for a reason – USE IT.
Has this post helped you figure out why people aren’t reading your blog post? Are you going to change any of these things about your own content? As a consumer of blogs, do you find any of these things off putting too?
Thank you for this helpful blog. I am new to blogging and struggling with advertising my blogs, so this was helpful 🙂
THANKS FOR THIS VALUABLE POST, I WANT TO KNOW HOW TO WRITE catchy blog post titles FOR TRAVEL BLOG.
Thanks, this has helped a lot!
I was just wondering how to better my blog posts and increase my views when I came across your post on Twitter!
I think I definitely need to focus on social media promoting more, as well as using better images.
Thanks, Jenny! 🙂 Xx
You’re welcome! Glad this helped 😊
Thanks, this has helped a lot!
I hate too many pop ups. I puts me off reading the whole text. I especaily hate the ones that pop up in the middle of the text. Annoying as heck. 🙄🙄🙄 As always a great post Jenny
[…] ⭐️ Jenny in Neverland | I Didn’t Read Your Blog Post: Here Are 7 Reasons Why […]
Great points! I have conquered most, but am still working on click worthy titles, and the sell. As for ad pop ups? Nothing makes me back out of a post faster!
I have a blog post about catchy blog post titles – check that out!
Great advice, and the links are super helpful. Thank you!❤️
Ooh, the point about pop-ups and adverts, I can’t stand a website that’s riddled with them! Something flashing in the corner of my eye while I’m trying to read immediately puts me off. Another thing that people don’t seem to consider is that Google ads are personalized. So, they don’t know what ads I will see on their site and for some reason google is completely unable to decipher what sorts of ads to show me, which sometimes ends with me exiting a blog post because I saw an inappropriate ad (can be a pregnancy test, not porn sites or anything like that ;D) I’ve worked in marketing for yeas and badly places ads annoy me more than they should, haha.
Badly placed Ads are the worst! I’ve read blog posts before with an ad in between every bloody paragraph.
I am guilty of so much of this haha, but especially sharing posts.
A big bugbear of mine is pop ups. They’re distracting, time consuming to close, they hide content. And frankly they make me not want to sign up for whatever newsletter they’re advertising for!
Cora | http://teapartyprincess.co.uk/
Haha agree! Especially when you can’t close the poxy thing.
good **
maybe one of the points should have been typos haha
Hahahah xD
Thanks for sharing. Goof to know! x
Such a great, helpful post with such useful tips! Thankyou for sharing!😃
You’re welcome 😊
Ahhhh yes, some of these are big pet peeves of mine. I understand why people use pop-ups but if I get spammed with 2 or 3 within the first 10 seconds, I’m going to click straight off. Likewise, what you said about long text and small fonts. If it isn’t easily consumable, it’s a no from me. *shakes head like Simon Cowell*
Thanks for sharing these Jenny! 🙂
Haha totally agree!
Great advice thank you. I’m off to tweak mine!
You’re welcome! Glad you found it helpful!
That’s so true, I agree with so many of these pointers xx Definitely taking notes for some of them haha
Glad you found it helpful!
I agree with all of these points. The title can be tricky though because SEO prefers “searchworthy” titles (read: short and boring.) So I have to admit to being guilty of that one. My titles were a lot more exciting before I started paying attention to SEO
Agree. I usually try and find a balance. Use the first part of the title as the SEO title and then add something catchy afterwards!
This is so interesting and something that every blogger should work on and evolve constantly!
Rosie
I hate pop-ups, ads everywhere and messy post! It’s not just about content but appearance/layout 🙂 That’s why I find your blog post and layout are really awesome. Thanks for this great tips, Jen xxx
Awh thank you! Glad to hear that 🙂
I hate pop-ups, especially when they’re difficult to find the little X to close the tab. If I find a pop up, I usually click off the blog as it irritates me. Similarly, when people leave comments on my blog, I feel inclined to respond. Half the time I can’t even find their blog, let alone their most recent post to return the favour. Thanks for sharing!
Em x
Great post with some really fab tips!
Thank you!
Nice tips, I’d try to make my blog post as readable as possible
Thank you 🙂
Pop-ups are the one thing that really annoy me about some blogs – it’s so off putting x
I completely agree with you on the pop-ups thing. If there’s more than one I’m likely to just close the page and not even attempt, especially if I’m trying to read on my phone. I also wear glasses and I find it quite hard to read when a blog post has like a bright pink background or something. If it’s not made super simple for me, I just don’t bother!
Same! More than 1 pop up drives me spare. I actually had that this morning, I was trying to comment on a blog post and the comment box writing was so light – I didn’t have my glasses on so literally couldn’t see what I was typing. God knows what that comment said hahaha
I HATE pop ups – if I click on to a post and within seconds get a pop up, I’m gone. I don’t care how much I want to read the post. xx
Shows how annoying they can be!
I agree with all of these points! I definitely find it more difficult to read when there isn’t any paragraphs, it’s just too much for my eyes and brain to handle when there’s just a block of so much text! xx
I agree – it’s awful!
This is a great post to keep in mind! Thank you, and I don’t like pop ups either 😬 I worry sometimes that mine does it but I try to check it to make sure xx
I don’t think yours does!
Definitely not a fan of pop ups all over the place! I’ve been considering change my post titles for my book reviews but I’ve not quite figure out yet what, I’m experimenting with some scheduled posts I’ll see how they do.
Yeah book review titles are hard because there’s not much you can really change them to!
Good tips! Pop-ups are the most annoying things ever and always make me close down a website, regardless of how important the content is to me – I’ve come across sites before with sidebar ads, ads in the text, a mailing list pop-up, an ad bar running at the bottom of the screen, and those incredibly annoying video ads that cover the text that you can’t shut down! Makes me so angry, haha
Oh my god it’s UNBEARABLE
Good reasons not to read the post. LOL
There are so many blogs lately that just post WORDS with no… meaning? Like I can read it and I literally close the browser not even knowing what I was supposed to learn/read/etc. I now avoid those blogs lol
Oh Christ 😂😂
Thanks for these Jenny, some really valuable tips here! I try to make my posts varied and interesting but I guess it depends on my audience seeing as I don’t have much of a niche! I have no idea whether my layout is good enough or not but I wouldn’t blame someone for being put off by it straight away. I have a question regarding SEO – does it only really “matter” if you’re self-hosted?
Absolutely not! SEO practices should be put into place ASAP, whether you’re self hosted or not! ☺️
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Going to be honest, if I click on a blog and instantly hate the layout, I almost immediately click off. If I’m returning a comment and feel like I have to read War & Peace just to find your latest post, I’m unlikely to return to your site. Simple layout changes can make a huge difference to how appealing your work looks. Which is a shame because it should be about the words…but they have to look inviting too x
Sophie
I totally agree. I hate it when it takes me 10 minutes to find someone’s latest posts!
Pop ups can be so annoying and really put me off x
Yep, totally x
I’m with you on these points! I genuinely get so stressed out when a blog post has super tiny writing… and I don’t wear or need glasses! Paragraphs are also such a huge thing when it comes to readability. It’s so much easy to read and absorb a blog posts’ information when it’s split into smaller paragraphs x
https://www.femaleoriginal.com
This is a really insightful post. I recently found a post that I really wanted to read but the writing was so small, I couldn’t physically read it.
Totally agree. I just can’t digest huge chunks of text!
Agreed. Pop-ups and font choices can be a real turn-off. But before I even get to that stage, I need to know the blog is there, so point 1 & 7 crucial.
Good post. Thanks for sharing
Absolutely agree!
Yup Very True… Everyone read blogs for knowledge and these things are just barrier in getting knowledge… 🙂
Totally agree!
My pet peeve is when websites make you sign up to comment! Some are alright and not that difficult but there are some that requires a sign up, then verification of email, and lots of other steps and it is quite frustrating!
I also agree that fonts matter. I hate reading content that has a terrible unreadable font.
Thanks for sharing! 😊 Have a good week!
Oh my gosh, that’s sooo annoying!
Tiny text (or worse still, hard-to-read fonts, ugh!) and a myriad of pop-ups are the biggest turn offs ever!! Can’t stress how many times I’ve had to click away from a blog due to these two ://
Absolutely. I usually do end up clicking off!
OMG, this is so helpful. There are so many aspects to consider but the one that I need to work on is selling myself! I am not that good at it but I guess I just need to get over myself and be confident doing so! Thank you so much for this!
Darina from daramiblog
Yes totally. You need to put yourself out there!
Tiny text is an annoyance to me too, but I also hate excessively scroll-y writing because that is also hard to read!
I feel you on being bombarded by popups. Sometimes I make it past the first wave only to be hit by a whole bunch more halfway down the page. Then I quit . . .
Right! Same!
I love this post!! It’s spot on, for sure. I don’t read posts that don’t have paragraphs breaking things up. I feel like I’m reading scholarly stuff when it’s like that, and I lose interest quickly.
I totally agree. I give up after a few sentences.
Thank for this! I’m with you – I REALLY hate huge chunks of text and excessive pop ups. Also if I open a post and it’s full of all kinds of typos and errors I just close it. 🤷♀️ I feel like I see that kind of a lot. I just can’t take a post full of mistakes seriously.
I’m not too fussed with a few typos but if it’s excessive, it raises eyebrows!
Awesome post! These are some of the reasons why but I try my best to read all of them
Thank you x
Great post with good tips. You are right…there are so many blogs out there! One thing is for sure…certain blogs and certain personalities resonate with us more than others. Still, all of the above things would help a so-so blog improve. 🙂
Agree! A blog with zero personality doesn’t draw me in at all.
These are some great tips, I stopped using pop ups a while back when someone else mentioned it.
Another one to add to the list is if you have too much in your side bars. It can be off putting.
Thanks for sharing
Mrs D
https://icanshowyoutheworld5.com/
I don’t mind about sidebars – as long as they don’t interfere with the content!
Thank you for this. Super helpful for new bloggers like myself.
Thank you 🙂
Using images to break up the text is super helpful! Everyone has a different learning style, so having multiple ways of displaying information is always great, plus, as a visual learner, it makes things alot more interesting
I totally agree. And its really helpful for visual learners!
Thank you so much, this is very helpful.
You’re welcome 🙂
Great tips. The barrage of pop-ups… that’s my biggest pet peeve! Even if I am completely interested in the topic of a post, I’m closing out and walking away the second I am hit with more than one pop up. Other turn offs include spelling/grammar errors and walls of text.
Walls of text…. UGH!
All of those but especially the formating! If it’s just a huge chunk of text with no pictures I just close the page because I just don’t have the willpower to focus on not missing a line or whatever! It’s basic courtesy to your readers to make the thing readable!! Great post <3
Same! I just can’t with those types of posts!
Great list! I 100% agree with small writing and too many pop-ups. Nothing makes me click out of a post faster. Likewise for a lack of paragraph breaks and a website/blog that’s too difficult to navigate.
I hate a website that’s hard to navigate!
Hi Jenny,
Writing that is too small is an instant turnoff. As is too much stuff going on in the sidebar or wherever. Clean and simple work best. And also, if I spot a bunch of spelling/grammar errors, I generally stop reading. Not that I want or expect perfection (I make mistakes too!), but it does need to look like you care. Thanks for these reminders.
I agree. I don’t mind a few errors but if it’s every other word I give up with it too!
This is such a helpful post! I hate popups or even blogs that require you to sign in (I don’t mind signing in to a wordpress account or blogger one time only). Thanks for sharing these useful suggestions.
You’re welcome!
This is really useful thanks for sharing! Pop ups and lots of adds that make it difficult to read on your phone are a deal breaker for me, it’s gotta be easily accessed
I agree. I’ve seen posts where there’s as AD in between every single paragraph!
Great post Jenny! I take all of that into consideration when I’m blogging, and this is a great reminder.
Thank you 🙂
Small text isn’t a deal breaker for me as you can CTRL + any page on the Internet to make text larger. My biggest bugbear is ads. Pop ups are the devil incarnate and those click to close ads that appear as a bar at the bottom of the screen… nope. The only thing worse is ads where the click to close button doesn’t work. UX is key, and if that means less ads – or even better, no ads at all – so be it. I know ads can bring in extra money, but is it worth compromising UX on?
True but not everyone knows that – including me! I’m all for ADs as long as they’re displayed appropriately.
I agree with all of these! I really struggle to promote my posts on social media because I feel like I’m annoying people haha! I guess it’s a major way of getting clicks though 😊 x
Trust me, you’re not! The average shelf life of a tweet is 18 minutes so you need to be promoting all day!
Thanks for sharing 🙂 These are useful not to do! I find adds annoying to, lots of text annoys me to 🙂
Nic | Nic’s Adventures & Bakes
Both very annoying things!
Such an interesting post and I agree with lots of these! I think not being able to like or comment along with pop ups all the time are what annoys me the most.. Sometimes coming up with a name can be so hard – but I agree, it needs to be catchy. xx
Thank you 🙂
I would also be put off by a blog post if it is filled with spelling or grammar errors. One or two in the whole post is ok, but if there are 5 errors in the first paragraph then I usually don’t read the rest of it
Yeah I understand that!
I also dislike when words are hard to read. I’m blind without my glasses and I cannot read writing with a black background for example. Or other colors that clash with the backgrounds. Also, fonts that are difficult to read bug me too. What’s wrong with simple to read font? “Keep it simple, stupid.” I’m no expert here but I know when something looks bad. 🤦♀️
For these reasons, even if the blog has amazing content, I likely won’t return or sign up to their mailing list. Even in school, whenever students had slides that were impossible to read I would get annoyed. Profs do this too. You would think profs would know better but they’re equally as guilty! I would often end up changing my slides to a better layout.
Yeah very good points!
I think mine is okay 😬 far from perfect, and one area I’d like to improve is the whole website layout.
Your posts are great! I love reading your content 🙂
I don’t mind pop ups but it’S a bit too much when every 5 seconds, there would be a pop up to sell course, subscribe etc. It ruined the reading experience.
I also couldn’t believe that there are bloggers who use unreadable font type and size. It shows that they haven’t preview their blog post. There’s a reason why the preview button is at the top of blog post editor.
It really does! 1 pop up is fine IMO. And right, the preview button is there for a reason!
I hate pop ups as well, they’re highly annoying! These are great points to consider when working on a blog post Jenny! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Thank you 🙂
This is a great list of handy tips. I know that my first several blog posts are lacking in photos. I should really go back and add some. Pop ups are definitely the worst when it comes to reading blogs!
They really are!
Really helpful advice Jenny! I definitely need to work on selling my posts a bit better on social media, I often just find I’m repeating myself so need to try and change it up! xx
Tiffany x http://www.foodandotherloves.co.uk
I understand that struggle!
All great points – especially breaking up the text. Lesson learned on that one for me
Thank you! I think your posts are set out great!
Oh my goodness this is helpful!!! Thank you so much for writing this Jenny! I’m going to be going through my posts and checking these things out.
So glad you found this helpful!
Great post! Thank you for sharing! This is so useful and I have definitely learned something from this post!
Thank you 🙂 I’m so glad!
I don’t sell my blog post, hehe ^^
I don’t know, but I just want to write and that’s it.
Good post ^^
You definitely need to if you want to build a following and views but we all blog for different reasons!
This is such awesome advice! I wasn’t really aware of some of these aspects before reading right now, so thanks for sharing and always providing so much important information!
You’re welcome!
Thanks for the info ..I read yours😂 a very catchy title
Thank you haha
Great post, I feel like I achieved a few but struggle finding WordPress blogger views/feedback. What do you think of mine?
What do you mean by WordPress blogger views/feedback?
I get most of my views from sharing on social media, not many people from WordPress, likes, comments etc!
I agree with this so much! It’s not enough to just write something but presentation and marketing is also really key!👌🏻☺️
Totally agree!
Hi Jenny. Excellent points there for all of us to remember when we are writing our posts. I HATE (with the intensity of a thousand burning suns!) pop-ups – I’ve come to read your post, don’t make me instantly regret that decision. In terms of my own failings, I know that I have to put in more effort on the social media front (I am working on it 🙂 )
For anybody that would like some help with headlines you could do worse than try: https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer (sorry Jenny – I hope links are ok, I have no connection to whoever it is that designed this).
Pop ups are the worst😣. Especially when you read a blog post from from smartphone. I can’t even see the close button. Thanks for writig this👍.
Oh my I hateeee that!
Totally agree about excessive pop ups! And yes, links are fine!
Love this Jenny! Pop-ups and ads are the worse. It really puts me off reading blogs.
Zoey | http://www.zoeyolivia.com
Especially when you can’t find the bloody close button!
Big blocks of text and loads of pop ups are enough to have me clicking off. Other than that I will always try and read a post.
Great advice though, I am always conscious of what I am putting out and how readable it might be for others. I’d hate to think people clicked on and clicked off straight away x
True. I love your posts – as you know. I never click off them!
Very helpful advice Jenny. Thank you
You’re welcome 🙂
I love this post! I do think too many ads and pop ups is the worst!
Agreed!
Thankyou for these tips. I am currently getting started in a blog and am struggling to grow my audience, though I think that selling it through other platforms can definitely help 🙂
It 100% helps!
Thanks for these tips Jenny, they are something all of us bloggers should have at the front of our mind. I must admit pop-ups and huge chunks of text put me off too. Also sites that are really difficult to navigate and are full of ads.
Loads of ads drive me spare!
Pop-ups are a huge put off for me too! If they don’t disappear straight away I’m more likely to close the whole page. Font is so important to! It’s not always the size as I can zoom in (even though it takes a minute), but the actual style of the font can stop me from reading a post. If it’s difficult to read it’s always hard to stick with. Great post!
Anika | chaptersofmay.com
I agree. The bulk of the post needs to be a nice readable font! Nothing fancy is necessary!
I got worried when I first saw the title of this one, haha! As soon as I see just one big block of text I’m like nope! My worst is definitely titles – mine says what it is on the tin for book reviews and everything else I get really stumped with. Need to re-read your post.
Haha no need to worry!
This is such a helpful post! I’m always trying to improve my blogging game and this post definitely helps. Thank you for sharing!
Antonia || Sweet Passions
You’re welcome!
Yes, I’ve been blogging for over 2 years and support what you say. I also hate sites that have annoying pop-ups! I often just leave them if they persist.
I do too!
It’s a handy list of things to keep in mind when creating your blog posts! I’m trying to work hard on the titles – they can really make a difference, I’ve realised!
They really can!