We’ve talked about the Do’s of Blogging and then even More Do’s of blogging, now its time to talk about some of the Don’ts of Blogging!
There are many “Do’s” when it comes to blogging, there are just as many “Don’ts”, if not more! Today we’re gonna talk about 5 don’ts… these are the first 5 that come to mind whenever I think about the things that bloggers should not do.
The Don’ts of Blogging…
#1. Don’t Steal. It seems like a pretty simple thing right? Our parents hammer this concept into our brains from a young age. If its not yours, its not ok for you to take it. The same is just as true with online property. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen blogging friends freak out because someone stole their entire post and republished it on a different website. NOT COOL! {There are legal steps you can take to take care of the problem if it ever arises, but that’s a different post for a different day.} Basically it boils down to this… if you didn’t write it, its not yours and you shouldn’t publish it. If you didn’t take that photo (or pay for the licensing rights to share it), its not yours and you shouldn’t publish it. If you didn’t draw, create, or design it, its not yours and you shouldn’t publish it! EVEN IF you give credit back to the original author. The only exception to this rule would be if you have express, written permission from the original creator. EVEN IF you give credit back to the original author. So in case I hadn’t already made my point *wink wink nudge nudge*, if its not yours, you shouldn’t publish it.
#2. Don’t Bash Other Bloggers. The Golden Rule… do unto others… play nicely… think before you speak… yada yada yada. We’re grown ups, act like it! Its kind of amazing to me that it even has to be said, but I’ve seen bloggers trash one another over silly, petty, ridiculous things. It makes me sad! We need to encourage each other, build each other up and support each others endeavors. Remember that your words have power, and can effect another person for a looooonnnnngggggg time!
#3. Don’t Comment on Other Blogs Just to Link to Your Blog. Its kinda like spamming other bloggers. Uncool dude. I’ve gotten so many of these “Hi. I like your blog. Come read mine at www.insertlamenesshere.com”. Nope. Sorry. No Chance. Ain’t Gonna Happen. If you’re new to the world of blogging and leaving comments, and I am assuming you’re at least a little bit new, Leaving comments on other blogger’s blogs is an awesome way to connect, make new friends and build your own blogging community. BUT you need to be AUTHENTIC and GENUINE while doing it. You won’t gain points with anyone for a lame comment and a link drop, and you certainly won’t gain any new followers either.
#4. Don’t Use Captcha. This has been said a hundred times in a thousand different ways, but for the love of all that is bloggy! PLEASE TURN OFF CAPTCHA. It boggles my mind that there are still blogs out there using captcha to “protect” their comments. Captcha might help weed out some spam, but it will definitely prevent more comments than anything else. I have to be realllyyyy determined to add my thoughts to a post/conversation to even consider dealing with captcha. More often than not, I’ll walk away, leaving no comment. If you want to protect your comments and weed out spam before it gets published, there are widgets you can install, or better yet, turn on comment moderation. With comment moderation you may have to approve every comment (depending on the widget/app and the settings you choose), but you’re likely to gain more legitimate comments this way.
#5. Don’t Set Music and Videos to Auto-play. Nothing will make me click that little red x button and leave a page faster than music or an ad talking at me when I’m not expecting it! 99% of the time I already have music or netflix playing while I’m going about my bloggy business online and the last thing I want is some random, unexpected noise to overpower whatever it is I was already listening too. Usually those ads or little audio play buttons are buried beneath the fold (meaning I have to scroll to find it) and can be hard to locate. I ain’t got time for that! I mentioned this when I talked about clean blog design in part 1 of the Do’s of Blogging, yet here I am talking about it again. It is that important!
There are probably a million more things we could include in this don’ts of blogging series, in fact there are at least 6 more I want to share with you next week. A few of them are basic knowledge and a few go a little bit deeper, but they are sure to help you take your blog to yet another level!
What are your blogging pet peeves? What are your top Don’ts of Blogging?
I love ALL of these, ESPECIALLY the auto play thing. I can't tell you how many sites I've left because their auto play videos started bogging down my computer.
I agree with all of your don'ts!
Yes yes yes and yes! You nailed everything. Preach it!!
I 100% agree to all of these!!!!!
Love the Don't Steal!!
I agree 100% too all of these!
All of those. Especially the stealing. That fires me up!
ALL so important!!!
Yasssssssssss you said it sister
Yup, to all of the above. Someone just stole my content for the first time…..I was NOT happy!
Great information!
Really good information! Thank you for sharing!
Google just announced that linking is on the way out as a good measure of authoritative/popular site, and that they're going with "truthfulness" of content, so #3 is good advice.
LOVE all of these! Especially captcha!
I am with you on the CAPTCHA and the auto play. I leave a lot of sites because they use a captcha or want me to log into WordPress or something else and I can't remember my username or password. It should be easy to leave a comment.
Ok I am good I don't think I do any of those.
You nailed it!
Thanks for posting- people always list the dos, but you rarely see list of the don'ts!
I stopped by from Mom-2-Mom Monday.
So true. I would add to #4, don't include anything that makes it hard to comment. I'm surprised how many blogs I've found that use only Google+ for their comments. Um, if I don't have that, I certainly don't want to sign up just to leave a comment.
Thanks for sharing some great don'ts … I found them very useful.
Popped over from The Markers party.
Love all your points! I can't stand the auto play either. It drives me crazy! Stopping by from the Wildly Original Link Party!
My pet peeve is trying to find the follow my blog button, some blogs make it so difficult to follow that I sigh and pass by – only a fantastic blog that really fires me up gets a bookmark (which I usually forget about anyway)
I love every single one of your Don'ts on your don't list! No steal, or spamming, or bashing aloud! 🙂
Great tips!! Thank you for sharing.
Great advice! # 5 is my pet peeve too. Thanks for linking up at Thursday Favorite Things. Can't wait to see what you'll share next week!
Yes, yes, yes, YES and YES!!! Four and Five are the most annoying to me when I try to leave an authentic comment.
found you on Treasure Box Tuesdays
Great tips! I agree with everyone of them. I can't stand the music and audio play, it may be a blog that I really want to checkout, but when the music starts I leave. Another mentioned above by kerihouchin, about comments, I have left blogs because they have made it to hard to leave a comment. And one more I would like to add to the list is, don't have a dark background. Dark colors make it really hard to read the post. I'm not going to strain my eyes trying to read a post I just leave. Thanks for the great tips.
Great advice…thanks for sharing with the Thursday Blog Hop…a comment of appreciation for your work and participation! 🙂
Thanks for these great tips! I also hate the Captcha thingy. It seems like I have to try at least a half a dozen times before I get it right. LOL I am visiting from Katherine's Corner.
visiting from pin me linky.. .yes I agree on all! I hate typing those captcha codes…and the music is second! And TONS of stuff on the side bar that dont' go with the blog post! Thanks!
Thanks for posting this! I just started my blog and have been (for some time) reading tips and trucks on blogging, but everyone seems to do the do’s and not sp much the don’ts, an i have to say that i totally agree with every single one of your points. Loved the post and will definetly be coming back for more 🙂
Hi Jennifer! I am new to the blogger world and these "blogger don't" are a big help! Thanks for sharing blogger wisdom! Dropping in from Pin Me Linky Party!
Couldn't agree more with every single one!!
For the win! I hate it when bloggers comment to just link up. Read my post already. And I HATE auto video/audio play. Drives me bonkers and usually scares the crap out of me. LOL! Great tips lady! Thanks for linking up at Found & Foraged!
No pop ups screaming at me to FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK or SUBSCRIBE TO US or whatever…especially the ones that gray out the whole screen and you can't do anything until you tend to that annoying screen. I also very very strongly dislike the creep-up-on-you-from -the-bottom-of-the-screen infolink box, whatever THAT is. Some blogs are becoming so loaded down with ads and widgets and things and popups that they take a long time to load (and of course, in internet time, just a few seconds is a long time)….and the screen is jumping around a little as each thing loads and I end up clicking on something I didn't intend to click on….and then I'm just "ok, never mind, and away I go.
On some really overloaded blogs…..huge ad headers and footers and ads on the content photos themselves, and there's just a few inches of actual blog in a strip across the middle of your screen…..I have the thought more and more, "do they realize how their blog looks/functions to readers? do they know how slowly it loads because of all the extras on it? do they know I can't actually SEE their chocolate tart because of the Lincoln Continental ad or McDonald's ad plastered across it?"
I guess if you make enough off of the ad it doesn't matter? In one of my FB blogger groups, we were discussing these things, and everyone was posting about how much they hate the auto play ads….and one group member kind of sheepishly said, "yeah, I hate them too, but I have one cause they pay well." So there ya go. 🙂
Thought provoking. Thanks, Jennifer. 🙂
#5 all the way. I hate autoplay. I am the same as you, usually have the tv on while I'm blogging and it's always hard to find those ads that start talking. I also don't like popup. Lately, I've run across a few blogs that immediately pop up with some kind of 'follow me' or 'subscribe to my mailing list' I haven't even read the blog post yet why would I subscribe?? I'd much rather see easy to find social media follow buttons.
And don't use funky fonts or backgrounds that no one can read. 🙂 I have been blogging since the late 90s and this one, always this one, bugs me most of all. If I can't read it, I can't continue to visit!
I can't stand captcha! sometimes I don't bother commenting even though I had something to add because there is a catcha thing. Thanks for including one of my pet peeves!
Great post on what not to do! Love these ideas!Thanks for linking up at #PureBlogLove Link Party! Hope to see you Thursday 8.p.m. EST at our next link up. I'm hosting at http://www.homemadefoodjunkie.com. Can't wait to see more of your ideas!
There are other great reasons not to do any of these things. For instance, if you republish something someone else wrote (and I mean word-for-word), Google's crawlers will see two blog posts that are the same and it will hurt your SEO. Though I keep a copyright and permissions thing on my blog, because so many bloggers take forever to respond to emails and comments–if they ever do–most people won't bother asking permission. The number of people stealing content from my site has gone WAY down since I started doing that.
Same with commenting and leaving a link. Google sees links in the comment section and marks the commenter AND the blog they commented on as spam. Again, hurting their SEO. I know a lot of Blogger users like to receive the links because Blogger doesn't play nicely with WordPress (which gives WordPress users very little incentive to comment on Blogger blogs in the first place, but makes it hard for the blogger to click through to the commenter's blog), but it's really something that shouldn't ever be done. I delete comments if people leave a link in them.
I so agree about the autoplay! Now Capcha's are a problem, because I turn them off on my blog and sometimes Blogger turns them back on!
These are GREAT tips for new bloggers. I can so irritated with half hearted comments with people wanting me to visit. Out of kindness, I typically do visit their site, but when I get super busy that' not going to happen. Found your post through Twitter, woo!!