Everyone’s a Critic
Everyone’s a Critic and if you ask anyone, women can be the absolute MOST critical - but that’s another topic for another day!
What I’d to talk about here is blogs! Obviously!
As much as I try not to be so judgmental when I’m browsing around the blogosphere, I find myself cringing and wrinkling my nose at some things while grabbing a notebook and pen to take notes on others.
So for the sake of conversation, I’m going to list two each of Must Have’s and Must Have Not’s for my own blogs…
Must Have:
MyBlogLog Widget - I have to admit, I’m addicted. I love discovering new blogs via that little widget.
An appealing design that’s fitting to the writers personality — I view the design like a first impression when meeting someone. I have to feel (I’m such a girlie girl) like the writer is trying to impress me or I’m not staying for a nice long visit.
Must Have Not’s:
A cluttered mess - Too many blogrolls, blinkies, banners - it makes me feel like I’m walking into a persons home where they have to clean the crap off the sofa before I can sit down. There are pages and posts that can be made to help organize the clutter.
Excessive ads that don’t match the content are a huge turn-off. And I really hate to see risqué ads on what should be family friendly sites. I browse a lot while my kids are home and nothing ticks me off more then to pop on a site that embarrasses me in front of my kids.
Don’t make me have THAT talk any sooner then I have to!
What are the two things you think every blog should have and not have?
Tags: blogging, mybloglog, advertising, blog design
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Nice topic, Gayla.
I think every blog should have a prominent RSS feed button and also a prominent ‘contact’ page.
Two have nots are tiny, illegible text and black backgounds (a personal dislike of mine).
Thanks David! I just replied to a comment on how much I just hate black backgrounds with RED print. I spend far too much time online to stress my eyes that much!
Love the RSS and contact page too! I could have probably turned this topic into a weeks event, but two is a good number
I’m not a fan of widgets, but I like the MyBlogLog idea. I’ll have to give that some thought. Clutter in a blog design a major pet peeve of mine though. Nicely written.
I just realized when I updated my site I left off the RSS feed, now that ya’ll are talking about it and I need to make my contact/about me page.
As for mybloglog, love it. I too am addicted to it already. I normally click on the ones that have a face, kiddie or money symbols.