if you are a blogger, or even if you just read blogs, you likely have some things about the blogging world that annoy you. maybe there is one issue in particular that just makes you want to pull your hair out. websites with white text on black background? blogs with no "about me" page? people who have accounts set to send out a tweet each time they pin something? bloggers who don't use proper capitalization? eeek - that's me!
I realize there are much larger problems in the world. but just for today - let's playfully vent about this stuff that is not, in the grand scheme of things, actually important. please take this article with a grain of satirically flavored salt. seriously, don't take it too seriously.
[this post is partially inspired by Amanda's blogging pet peeves from last month, and largely motivated by a frustrating email exchange I had this morning.]
clickbait titles that don't deliver
the nature of social media, and how we choose to get our information these days has twisted the way we represent our work. with a flood of articles available, both bloggers and legitimate news outlets have to compete to be clicked. so they amp up the advertisement. "5 easy ways to become a morning person" and "the best quiche recipe, ever" or "the secret to growing your blog" are more likely to be read than honest descriptions.if you search blogging tips on pinterest you will find charts giving you formulas on how to craft the best titles for your posts. while I agree that getting readers to your content is important, it shouldn't be more important than the content itself. so many articles I have seen sound like they will give useful and detailed information... and then don't. if you're going to write fluff, write fluff, and own it. ahem - like an entire post of slightly judgmental blogging complaints.
oh, this post again...
have you ever started reading a blog post and realized that it seems very familiar? [oh shoot, is it this one?] I see bloggers giving the same advice over and over again. "how to quit your job and travel the world" and "how to create a cohesive instagram feed" and "how to use pinterest to grow your blog" have probably been written to death by now. the same thing happens with news articles. one person writes an original story reporting an event, and a hundred other sites write articles letting us know that someone has written an article about the actual story.if you don't have something new to say, even just to add your own perspective and experience on the topic... maybe it's best not to say anything at all. I understand that popular and timely subjects generate pageviews. but it does not always generate the highest quality content. [wait... is this the fourteenth "things I hate about blogging" post that you've read this month? dang it.]
irrelevant form emails
this is more a frustration that bloggers endure rather than commit, but lately has been the top of my grievance list. I receive several emails each week from companies and organizations. these emails ask me to participate in some online thing or another, share an infographic about their product, post about a topic related to their company, share some pre-written content of theirs on my blog, or join their website as a member/teacher/associate/affiliate/etc. that's all fine. the problem is that 99% of these emails are related to goods and services that are A: not available in Taiwan, where I reside or B: something that I am, in fact allergic to or C: completely and utterly unrelated to anything having to do with my blog, expat life or travel.the biggest insult is that these emails all begin the same way. "I was reading your blog and thought..." "we are such a fan of Ink + Adventure and wanted to contact you with this opportunity..." "your content seems like a great fit for our project..." and many other variations of bullshit flattery that precede requests that make it painfully clear that none of it is true. I understand that the people who send these emails are just doing their jobs. they are paid to scan for email addresses and fill in the blanks of names and send them out. they are not paid to actually read blogs to determine if they are truly a good fit. gosh, but wouldn't it be nice if they did?
the "ultimate guide"
the "ultimate guide" is perhaps a special sub-category of clickbait. it happens elsewhere but is most commonly seen in the sphere of travel blogging. guys, spending a weekend in a city does not qualify you to write an ultimate guide to that destination. even a week does not make you an expert. I would argue that someone would need to spend years living somewhere and actively exploring it to be able to even come close.most of the "ultimate guide" posts I see are simply regurgitated versions of the guidebook highlights. I'd much rather see an honest and accurate representation of your trip - "how I spent a week in Paris" or "traveling Thailand with kids" or, heck, even "I went to Yellowstone and looked up all this information after I got home." what makes a blog interesting [for me, anyway] is not the perfection of the posts or the most information - it's the person and the personality behind it.
the social media and self promotion circus
I'm sure we could all name a handful of blogs we love to read, but hate to follow on social media. the reason? too. many. posts. every reader has a different threshold for how much they can tolerate, and with all the new algorithms everywhere they don't get much of a choice on what they see. unfortunately bloggers don't have much control over it either. the best we can do is try to find a balance in what we share - and hope it is enough to be seen, but not so much that it annoys.in fact, there's a whole long list of things we bloggers are "supposed to do" after publishing a post to help it circulate the internet. ugh. in fact, now that I have finished this post I have to make a pinterest graphic, come up with a witty description for my facebook post, schedule 87 tweets with this link, and decide which photo and 30 hashtags to share on instagram. #bloggerproblems
thanks for taking five minutes to let me complain about the world of blogging [which, for the most part, I actually do enjoy!] please feel free to commiserate in the comments or share what drives you most nuts about this weird internet world we live in.
and in case this list was too salty for you, try my post on why I love to read your blog.
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