There are a lot of parent bloggers out there on the ‘net. More moms (and yes, dads) then normal bloggers anymore (I’m guessing. That’s what it looks like to me anyway). And yes, I admit that I am one of those mom bloggers, but I really try not to be as you can probably tell by most of my blog posts. 
We all love to blog though. And we love to have people visit us and read out shit. I know I do and I want people to stick around and keep up on my stuff, but when I’m surfing other blogs I just get bugged by a few things they’re doing. And since there is nothing I can say or do about it (to them anyway ’cause that would be rude), I thought I’d be a bitch and compile a list here on my blog of things I’ve seen, therefore calling you out on your mistakes. 
But I promise by writing this post I am just trying to help you.
* Disclaimer: This post is aimed at blogs I’ve seen making these boo-boo’s. This isn’t all bloggers. So just go through the list and if you’re guilty of anything, instead of peeing on me, just fix it! But if you can’t handle yourself and be grown up enough to just read and offer an opinion and not cry and pee yourself in my comments, don’t read this. So if you have yourself together and calm, read on!
- Blogging Platforms
Move off of Blogger. Seriously. Blogger just sucks. To get true site control, try WordPress on your own domain, or maybe even Expression Engine or Movable Type. I’ve heard you can appear more professional that way! Plus I won’t have to deal with Bloggers stupid comment system
- Music Players
I cannot stress this enough and I’m sick of seeing (er… hearing) it… DO NOT put music on your website/blog. Did you know there is a hatelisting for this? Wonder why? It crashes browsers for those of us who have shitty connections. Plus there’s the fact that not everyone likes your music. I know I don’t! Gospel and country music makes me hate you. Don’t do it!! - Use Photos/Drawings
I think we all get this. I think it’s been said a million times. No one likes walls of text. Sometimes you can’t help it and we understand that, but don’t make every post like that. Put some pretty pictures in there once in a while. It helps to keep your readers attention! And maybe we’ll even return once in a while to see if you’re still alive. - Less Giveaways
There are many giveaway sites out there. There are also many blogs who run giveaways. It’s awesome to win stuff, but you know what? If you’re running a personal blog but have giveaways for every post, well it get’s kind of annoying and makes people never wanna come back. Learn to separate your stuff, even if you have to start another site to do it! - Post Format
Do not center your content posts. Seriously people, wtf is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how hard it is to read that? I can promise you there are people who do not and will not return to your blog because of it. And can you please make your font larger. 12pt is good (aka 12px). 8pt (11px) is not. Neither is 7pt (whoknowswhatpx). It makes people hate you and it’s hard to read. - Sidebar
I hate most the sidebars I see on some of these blogs. They’re usually cluttered with buttons and sponsor links and who know’s what else. My point is, clean it up. It’s ugly, distracting, scary and makes people run away without reading your entries. Not to mention… you’re slowing down you load time. - Grammar
Not even touching this one. If you don’t know how to talk then…
you are S.O.L. right now.
So after all that, I admit I was a bit of a bitch but I warned you I would be. But when you’re tired of seeing all this, what can you do? What can I do? It’s a blog. It’s what it’s for. I’m supposed to say stuff like this here. Why? ‘Cause it’s MINE!! I admit I’m not perfect and am prolly guilty of a few of these infractions but I’m trying to fix that.
The question here is, what are you doing to fix it? Don’t be an ugly blogger. Fix yourself and be awesome!!
Jenny’s guide to being a not-so-ugly blogger…
We all love to blog though. And we love to have people visit us and read out shit. I know I do and I want people to stick around and keep up on my stuff, but when I’m surfing other blogs I just get bugged by a few things they’re doing. And since there …
Worthy blogging tips. I will keep this in my mind so can increase my blog readership. Yes, I think these tips will work great for readership improvement.
I vote for u at the “top mommy blogs”
aww thank you
It’s fine to vent and gripe on your blog and I do agree with most of your pet-peeves about some of the blogs out there. But I would like to say that I’m offended by your use of the word “gay” to be a disparaging adjective to describe the commenting system on blogger.
It’s also noteworthy that you complain about font size and post your list of complaints in a small font and color that is difficult to read.
You’ve lost a follower.
lol ok then. thanks for reading! been nice knowin’ ya.
All of your points so well written and factual. These very reasons listed are why I shy away from the “mommy” blogger sites with all of the artistic add my button crap.
And of course all of the non-US blogspot filled nightmares from the Phillipines and other countries. Nothing on their sites interest me or have any relevance in my day to day activities.
Great work!!
Girl’s Guide to Not Sucking At Blogging…
We all love to blog though. And we love to have people visit us and read out shit. I know I do and I want people to stick around and keep up on my stuff, but when I’m surfing other blogs I just get bugged by a few things they’re doing….
Omg, I can’t agree with you more on these pointers, especially #1 and #2. Blogger is damn ugly, and even if you don’t know how to design or code, at least use WordPress.com where you can get better looking themes
I’m probably guilty of #3 though, sometimes even I get annoyed at all the text on my blog, but I’m just too damn lazy to prettify it with pictures, lol
Nahhh you’re posts are always cool. Always a great read
Hehe, posts like this are just asking for people to complain
I personally don’t really care what a blog looks like. I LOVE pretty sites but there are very few out there; sadly cos not everyone who wants to blog can design.
Glad to see you edited out any derogatory gay comments, though. I really really do not like the way that’s become the new fashionable way to describe hatred :/
well I meant “gay” as in “retarded” but I guess some people didn’t see it that way. Oh well.
I’ve been into blogging for quite some time and this is definitely a great post. I signed up for your newsletter, so please keep up the informative posts!
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Arugh music players.. so annoying!!
Nice round up!
I especially agree with you on the music player thing, arhg. Really messes with my current music playing
True there are many bloggers that are mommies. However, I feel that posting pics of your children collecting fossils is fun for you. It will have limited appeal to a larger audience that wants information they can use. For them a gardening blog would be more interesting to view.
Oh, yeah. Music players are sooo annoying.
You had my list. Honest – I hate music also, we have moved out sites to WP. Also people could even us spell check and it would help some. We all need to get on our soap box sometimes.
great tips! thanks for sharing
Haha, I loved this post! Some witty and scathing comments in there, but overall 100% true (￣▽￣)ノ I had to agree with everything you wrote and I’m really quite happy that there’s someone else out there who thinks all these negative things when they visit other people’s blogs (although I don’t have the balls to protest against them quite like this
). Ugh, those music players are the worst of the worst! I hate the fact that they’re all set at different volumes and 9 times out of 10 make me jump out of my freakin’ skin.
Those blogs that have music players and huge picture that make your browser to crash are the most annoying! Recently i found a blog about cooking with very nice receipt, but i quite visit it because of the large picture that made my browser to stop running. Very sad!
I agree with your posts and the tips provided.
But I have to point out a few things…
1) You tag line under your logo is very difficult to see and can be considered hidden text resulting in penalties from search engines which negatively affects your rankings.
2) Your side bar is full of useless information. In my opinion the only useful information contained in your side bar is the RSS feed link and recent posts link. All the rest is nothing more then garbage IMO.
3) Text within your post consists of different text sizes making it very difficult to read. Not to mention you clearly insult groups with your choice of words and when a commenter indicates the same you do absolutely nothing to address it other then laugh at them. Feelings of others are clearly not a priority for you.
Your readership is the life blood of any blog. An old adage you should consider is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. You need to take a step back and consider the extent to which these choices can negatively affect the goals you are trying to achieve with this posting.
Needless to say this is my first time visiting this site. And I can assure you it will be my last. I would not be surprised if you loose a pile of visitors and subscribers over this.
/rant
Thanks for your info an insight, but I could honestly care less about loss of readership over one fucking post. It just shows people are just that shallow.
And how do I have different size text. I don’t see any of that on my posts. I think you need to look again on that one.
Whew! I don’t believe I am guilty of any of those infractions. I am a good mommy blogger. Yay for me!
By the way, I find your site very amusing – in a good way of course.
LOL thanks.
Great post!
Even though i’m new to blogging……at least i haven’t done some of the things you’ve mentioned! ha ha