What do you look for in a Blog?

[Jude, The In Between Mod]

What do you look for in a Blog?

People that have helped: Kristi, Heather, Lexi

Here's some tips:
1.- Make the "Followers" Box easy to find.
2.- Avoid slowliness in your Blog, like posting way to many trailers and stuff
3.- [for Book Review Blogs] a variety of reviews and well done reviews.
4.- A Blog design that stand out
5.- An Achieve Page and a list of future events/giveaways/etc.

Let the Bloggers know ;)

[Kristi]

I like it when I can find the 'followers' box easy. If I have to hunt all over for it, I'm less likely to join. I think it should be right on the Right hand side where Blogger or other sites designed it to be. It's there for a reason :o] All of your 'joiner' buttons should be there for easy access!

Also, a lot of sites are 'bogged' down because there's to many Trailers on them. One thing I learned is if your 'Trailer Blog' is over 3 days old and nobody's commenting anymore, take the trailer off. It slows your blog down and often it will pop up in strange places. This isn't for everyone's blog but I've noticed it a lot lately. I read on Blogger a while ago that to many Trailers will slow down your blog and can also affect your site, that's why I rarely use them.
About a week ago I went to a site that had about 3 trailers on it and I was trying to read her review but the trailer was covering it up. No matter what I did, the trailer kept bouncing down, It was annoying and I couldn't read her review, either. I had a blogger friend go and see if it was just me but she experienced the same problem so I sent her an email to let her know and she was really grateful.

Hmmm... lets see...I think that's it. All your 'join' info on the Right hand side, just below your header so that the visitor can find it easily and the abundance of trailers on blogs.

That's all, otherwise, I love the uniqueness of everyones blogs!

[nightlyreadingheather]

The number one thing I look for are great reviews of books that I am interested in. Also, simple to use blogs where it is easy to find what I am looking for. Of course, the design stands out too!

[Lexi]

I totally agree with your first one. If I can't find the Follow bar easily, I usually won't follow, unless it's an absolutely amazing!

Also, I love a good blog design. If you've got a cool header and a great set-up then you're instantly getting followed if you do book reviews :) Then I'll always enjoy coming to your page!

For reviews, I like blogs with a set up. I don't always like it when they just write a few paragraphs about it, but if they critique each section, like characters, plot and writing style. But if you do the paragraph, don't worry, I'll still read it! I just prefer the other way!

Other things I enjoy are review archives as a page, so I can easily see all the books you've reviewed, a list of your favorite blogs, giveaways, future reviews and events are helpful too :)

[Cassie]

Can someone help me make a grab button? Mine doesn't seem to link back but you can look at my page and see shadowkissedcassie.blogspot.com

Also how do I make social networking buttons like a "Goodreads, Facebook, and twitter"? I'm new to this and need the help :)

[Rachel]

1. Someone with a nice variety of posts
2. A great personality
3. Clean blog doesn't need to be gorgeous but not too cluttered
4. Interesting posts
5. Easy follower access

[Alyxandria]

I don't normally look for anything in particular. I don't focus on blog designs, but I do highly stress the quality of the posts on the blog :D

[Cas ♛]

Alexandria wrote: "I don't normally look for anything in particular. I don't focus on blog designs, but I do highly stress the quality of the posts on the blog :D"

I agree.

[Lishia]

Well, this is what I look for!

1) As others have said. The blog followers button must be easy to find! That is the MAIN reason I don't follow some blogs - I can't find the button!

2) The comment box is easy to use. Aka, I don't have to enter my email, my full name, sign up for something, etc.

3) When the blog site is really complicated. I am still very new to blogging so it is hard for me to find what I am looking for when the blog is super "techie."

4) This is the most important. The quality of the blog posts! The other 3 things that I mentioned are not really all that important. The quality of the posts matters. :)

[Madeline]

I like blogs that keep a steady stream of posts but don't post too often. The title should be good and clearly state the purpose of the blog. Whatever niche the blog is in, its posts should be well written and relevant to the topic :)

[Lien]

I enjoy reading blogs that have well thought out reviews discussing different aspects of the book. I also enjoy reading book reviews from diverse genres so that I can be exposed to books I otherwise wouldn't normally read. The aesthetics of the blog isn't normally important to me because I tend to read all blog posts on Feedly.

[Christina T]

I like to read blogs that have a an easy way to see what books have been reviewed so having a link that lists reviews either by title or author. I don't like to see a blog that has just a never ending scroll to determine what has been posted.

I'm with you all about wanting an easy way to follow close to the top of the page. Multiple different ways to follow is great too. Not everyone likes to have blogs posts sent to email.

I like well thought out book reviews consisting of more than just "I liked it" and the synopsis. I dislike reviews that spend 2 paragraphs just telling what the book is about following with one sentence of it was good. I'm actually ok with no synopsis especially on reviews on Amazon or GoodReads. The access to what the book is about it super easy to get so often it is overkill and makes a review that much longer.

If a review is super long I lose interest. So, a long review is just as bad to me as a super short one.

A no-no big time is including spoilers without warning. I sometimes add spoilers (especially if I'm really pissed off at the book) but forewarn so someone can stop reading if they want.

Looks of the blog are important but not something I will refuse to read someone's blog because. A total white background is a little stark but a busy background can be distracting. Too bold of a background can get hard on the eyes too. A neon green background with Hot pink writing, for example, would be terrible.

Also including the ability to comment on posts. It's a bummer to read something that you agree or disagree with and cannot talk directly to the poster.

[Jenn]

Christina T wrote: "I like to read blogs that have a an easy way to see what books have been reviewed so having a link that lists reviews either by title or author. I don't like to see a blog that has just a never end..."

Christina, can I ask you to look at my blog? I don't have a list of reviews yet, but I'm working on it. I think I have everything else you like. I'm always worried that my reviews are too short, but you say you don't like too long ones so I'd love your opinion!

Readandreviews.blogspot.com

Thank you so much!

[Iris Hunter]

Hi, are there some of you that are also active on Instagram?
Please let me know. We like to connect with new book lovers out there!
www.IGreads.com
Connect to us with hashtag #IGREADS or follow us on Instagram @readsbyig and we will follow you back! <3

[Davida]

Aside from the obvious I have some strong opinions about things I sometimes see in blog posts, which include the following:

I don’t like GIFs, videos, or tons of unrelated pictures in the middle of book review posts. By the way, this could be because I’m dyslexic. These tend to grab my eye, and then I can’t move on to read the text nearby these graphics, but…
I do like to see the cover of the book early in the post, and even more than one version of the cover art is nice to see.

I don’t like scrolling through several paragraphs of hundreds of words of the summary of a book’s plot to get to your opinion of the book – one short paragraph should be enough, but…
I love reading as much as you can tell me about how you felt about the book, what you liked, what you didn’t, and what audience you think the book will appeal to (even why you didn’t like it).

I will probably skim or scroll past the “about the author” part of your review, but…
I will happily read a separate interview with them if you do one.

I think blog tours are awesome but I do not find that those that have no reviews on them, and only contain excerpts of the book and information about the author, to be helpful in my deciding to read a book or not, but…
Cover reveal posts are fun to look at, they can tell me a whole lot (see below), but you should know that they also might not help me decide to read the book.

I get very disappointed with giveaways because I don’t live in a “normal” country, so I’m almost always disqualified from entering but…
I love it when you tell me straight away that a giveaway is open internationally! If you say that, I’m THERE (well, if I’m interested in the book)!

I have a hard time reading blogs with light colored lettering on dark backgrounds, as well as black print on very bright (jewel colored) backgrounds. I also have a hard time reading really small fonts, but…
I can just zoom in on them, so that’s not so bad.

I don’t understand why some posts have dozens and dozens of tags and categories, while others have little or no tags or categories, but…
I have sometimes forgotten to use these myself, so you’re all forgiven for the latter!

[Iris Hunter]

Davida wrote: "Aside from the obvious I have some strong opinions about things I sometimes see in blog posts, which include the following:

I don’t like GIFs, videos, or tons of unrelated pictures in the middle o..."

o joh the gifs's they are killing... and copy/pasting the summary of the book is also not done. I don't understand why people do that. It is already on the page where you are entering your review.

[Christina T]

I agree copy and pasting the summary on GR or Amazon is unnecessary as it's right there on the page. I include it on my personal blog because the book may be unknown to my readers. I label sections in my blog reviews clearly so if someone wants to scroll past the summary they can easily.