Blogging: Basic Errors

~ beetleypete

For years now, I have been banging on about new bloggers who embark on the process of blogging without really trying to understand anything about how it works. Regular readers and followers can look away now, as I will be repeating myself here. A lot.

Everyone loves to get genuine new followers. After all, building that community is an important part of being a fulfilled blogger. Yet despite previous posts from me, and many others, so many new bloggers continue to make the most basic mistakes, both in communication, and etiquette.
At the risk of being very boring, here I go again.

Following.

You do not follow someone’s blog by adding the words ‘Please follow back’
For the thousandth time, be told that this is not Twitter or Facebook.

If you decide to follow a blog, try to occasionally read and comment on a post. Clicking ‘Like’ in the Reader is not following.

If you are too busy to follow so many blogs, then just ‘unfollow’ them. It’s easy.

Contact.

There is very little point being a blogger if other bloggers are unable to see or read your posts. If you do not link your Gravatar image to your site, then you will be impossible to find, and end up wondering why nobody ever reads your blog.

If you only want to follow a blog by email, that’s fine. It probably means that you don’t want to have your own blog.

Making your blog accessible ‘By request’ seems rather superior, and also totally pointless to me. I am not about to fill in lots of personal details for the privilege of being able to view your blog, believe me.

Sort out your comments thread. Having to add name, email, website, etc every single time I want to leave a comment is tiresome.

If someone takes the trouble to leave a relevant comment on one of your blog posts, then have the decency to acknowledge that.

Religion.

If people have decided to be religious, that has usually happened by the time they are writing a blog. By all means enjoy your religion, but please stop telling me that I am doomed because I have none. There are so many evangelical blogs out there, and they all look and sound the same.

Be nice.

If you don’t agree with a point of view, or just want to criticise a writing style, that’s fine. Healthy debate is to be encouraged in blogging. It would be a dull life if we all agreed all the time, I get that. And ‘banter’ can be fun. But avoid harsh sarcasm, sniping, or deliberate rudeness. There is no place for such things in our community.

Blogging can be such a rewarding activity. You can make lifelong friends, expand your knowledge, and discover so much too. But just like so many other things in life, there are some ‘natural rules’ to follow. You should not have to be reminded what they are, as they fall under the category of commonsense and decency.

Best wishes to you all, and happy blogging!

67 thoughts on “Blogging: Basic Errors”

    1. Glad to remind you. I have had eight new followers just this week with no connection to their Gravatar image.
      This despite me banging on about that constantly! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  2. Very helpful read Pete thank you.

    As a new blogger all of what you have mentioned is pure common sense and human decency. It stuns me that someone would need to be reminded not to be sarcastic or rude or push their opinions on others.

    Thank you again, thoroughly enjoying reading your older blog posts.

    KW x

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    1. I am very pleased to welcome you to my blog, CTK. At least we have something in common, albeit different roles, separated by many years. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  4. Great post 🙂 I do not mind you repeating yourself at all 🙂 Whenever I write reviews, some might accuse me (not in a mean way or anything) of repeating words I used in past reviews, but that may be because I do not know any other words to use. I do have a rich vocabulary though, so do not worry 🙂 Other times, I wish I could come up with coherent thoughts faster than a few weeks or a month (I have yet to write my review of Ken Russell’s Isadora Duncan TV bio). Nevertheless, I love blogging because I feel like I can get my thoughts on a particular film out there for the world to read. For those who are interested of course 🙂 Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂

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  5. I realized that I didn’t know there was a middle ground about comments. How do I set it so I can allow folks I now to comment without moderation? Right now I use the moderate all comments from when I first started and wanted to avoid attack from some people.

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    1. Try this, Elizabeth.
      Admin Dashboard.
      Scroll down to
      Settings>
      then
      Discussion>
      Scroll down to
      ‘Before a comment appears’.
      Uncheck box marked
      ‘Comment must be manually approved’
      Check box next to
      ‘Comment author must have a previously approved comment’
      Save changes.
      New comments will still be moderated, unless you have previously approved that person.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Thanks so much. I immediately changed several settings around comments. I hadn’t looked at it in three years. Maybe you could write a post on things you should do after a few years of blogging.

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  8. These are all good points, Pete. One thing I’ve noticed is that not all (maybe most?) of the people that follow my blog actually read, like, or comment. There are a few dozen regulars and a lot of invisibles. I’m often flummoxed by some of the ones who do follow, since their interests are so different from what I write about. I don’t automatically follow back. And if someone “likes” every one of my recent posts in a matter of minutes, I suspect they haven’t actually read them, which makes me disinclined pay their blog a courtesy visit. To end on a positive note, blogging is a great way to discover and connect with interesting people.

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  11. Good points, hadn’t seen them here before, so thanks Pete! Your blog is one of the few I keep returning to to read (and sometimes comment on) and am never disappointed by.

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    1. Thanks for reading and commenting, Jen. Blogging is great, so don’t let my gripes put you off. 🙂 I have been doing it for seven years, and made some wonderful friends. Just take your time, build a community, and enjoy the process. If I can ever be of any help, my email address is on my ‘About’ page.
      Best wishes, and happy blogging. Pete.

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  14. All excellent points to make. I try and comment – but only if I feel I have something to say.
    I like to think I don’t fall foul of most of your points!

    Although ….what’s a Gravetar image thingy?

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    1. Your photo is your gravatar. In your case, clicking on it displays links for your Flickr and Facebook sites, but not your blog. I don’t include you in any of the above, John. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  15. Always good points Pete…I follow several Bloggers who have that “name, email, website” sign-on – every single time even when I click save…a bit tiresome, but I do it because I enjoy their blogs

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  16. I get a perverse kick out of the comments from new “people” that say the say thing, usually very long comments, under several different blog ids or name. Be that as it may, I still do not do other than treat them as the spam they are.
    Warmest regards, Theo

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  17. Common sense and decency. I don’t follow as many blogs as you do. I just stick with my core group and add infrequently and subtract those who don’t communicate. Some bloggers are very nice but their site doesn’t mesh with me. For instance, sites devoted to horror films. I don’t watch them, so I can’t think of what to comment when they post about the latest horror film. I feel I can’t reciprocate so am likely to unfollow after a while.

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    1. I’m much the same with food blogs, Cindy. I have a few food bloggers who follow me, but there are only so many photos of meals I can look at. And what to say? Except for ‘looks tasty’, or ‘yum’. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  19. Always good advice, Pete. I am not a fan of too many ads or pop ups. If I am blocked from reading your content, then I will just leave. One of the beauties of the WordPress reader.

    I have a few filters on my comment settings, moderating first time commenters is one I use as well.

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  23. HI Pete, I found your post most interesting [of course, I always find your posts interesting]. I have been fairly luck with all my blogs and I haven’t been targeted by trolls or had mean comments passed. I do have to approved initial comments by new bloggers to my blog. After that they post automatically but I monitor them all.

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    1. I also have all ‘first comments’ subject to moderation. Before allowing any, I visit the site, to check that they are genuine. After that, they can get through without further approval. I have not had many nasty comments over the years, but have seen some very unpleasant exchanges on other blogs. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Hi Julie, your blog link is not on your gravatar (which is your photograph). However, as you have a standard wordpress blog, the name of your blog is linked to your blog. The specialised blogs don’t do that. You will see I found you [smile].

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