Three Things That Turn Away a Blog Reader


Today’s blog post competes with a lot of other mediums, but there are several blogs that still inform, connect, and delight readers. If you are building a blog community, it’s vital to create a welcoming environment where a reader will want to subscribe and return.

In today’s Tuesday Tip, we discuss three things that can potentially turn away a blog reader and what to do about it.

1. You make it hard to connect with you

Recently an acquaintance asked me to visit her blog and offer feedback. I saw page after page of really great content! I also noticed she had little to no interaction. I thought I’d leave a comment of encouragement. After five minutes of trying to jump through hoops to comment on her page, I moved on. It was frustrating! In fact, if I hadn’t known this person, I would have given up on the first try.

If a reader has to sign in, sync it with Facebook, become a member, or type in a captcha to leave a comment most will give up.

Many bloggers set up these types of sign-in procedures because they fear negative comments. After blogging for 15 years, I’ve had a few. I simply hit the delete key and move on. Don’t let the fear of one unkind comment stop the conversation cold. A blog is about community and connection.

Bottom line, don’t make it hard to connect with you.

2. You are heavy on content and light on the visual

A picture is worth a thousand words. Oh-so-true in the blogging world. As you write your content, consider how to visually bring it to life.

Consider the colors and your brand as you do so. If they are in the same tone and color family, readers will see a photo and know it’s you.

You can take your own photos, buy them from royalty-free stock suppliers, or grab a free photo from sites such as pixabay.com or unsplash.com. A picture not only brings your blog content to life, but expands the reach of that post through social media and Pinterest.

3. You write a novel

The beauty of a blog is that it can be read in seconds. Your goal is to share, connect, inform, and do that in a minimum of words.

As you write your blog post, remember that it isn’t a feature article nor a novella. Write from the heart. Be conversational. Have fun and be authentic with your blog and readers. But be succinct.

If you have a wealth of information, break it into several blog posts or create a series!

Your Turn

Take a moment to think about your favorite bloggers and websites you visit regularly as a reader. Think about what draws you in and what keeps you coming back and share your thoughts on the COMPEL blog. How can you implement this into your own writing and blogging?

Go Deeper

Looking for more blogging tips and tricks? People join COMPEL for lots of different reasons and with lots of different goals in mind. But one of the most common reasons we hear is to learn about the popular field of blogging. With a blog, you have the potential to reach hundreds if not thousands of women all over the world and breathe God’s hope into their hard places. You can captivate readers with God’s truth while encouraging and equipping them for the daily lives. But for those of us with no formal training, it can be difficult to know where to start and how to master the art of being a successful blogger.

Luckily, we’ve curated blogging lessons for the true beginner in mind. We have lessons that cover the very basics, like how to set up your blog on a popular platform, how to craft titles to capture your audience, how to continually come up with engaging content and how to find your unique writing voice. Join COMPEL Training to start learning today!

Share

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comments

  1. Elizabeth Baker: April 29, 2020 at 12:16 pm

    Thank you for the information. It’s hard for me since I have done more Bible study writing/teaching and tend to be more of a private person to think of how to connect and be authentic with this format. I appreciate the Compel team sharing their resources so much!

  2. Shirlee Abbott: March 6, 2019 at 6:31 pm

    Almost half of American adults read below the high school level. God has called me to include these reluctant readers in my target audience. It’s not just simpler words and sentences. Fancy fonts and quirky colors can make them give up and click out. It’s easy to get so caught up in making it beautiful I forget to make it easy to read.

  3. Thank you for this information! As far as length of blog post, can you suggest an average word count? I agree that I don’t want it to be a novel. I try to use blogs that I follow as an example, but try not to copy.

    Also, I love the feel of this blog. It encourages me to come back week after week.

    • Some say 500-600 words. Others are shorter. It should feel right to you, but I would also suggest you invite four or five impartial readers and ask them how it feels to them.