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Top 10 Sins of Blog Usability
By Linda Bustos (c) 2007

"Sinning" is an archery term, which literally means "to miss the
mark."  If you're blogging to establish a two-way dialogue with
the world, the "mark" is the optimal reader experience. The
following is a list of ten things that can hurt your blog's
usability.

10. Sending Mixed Messages

The focus of your blog should be decided before your first post
and then committed to. Random blog entries about a melee of
topics might work for a personal blog read by friends and
family, but is not a good approach for a serious, professional
blog. The lifeblood of any blog is in its loyal subscriber
base. And readers are more willing to subscribe to blogs that
talk about their area of interest on a consistent basis.

If your blog's "personality" includes the odd personal entry,
create a separate category for "fun stuff," "random" or other
"personal," and think about each post's fit with your target
audience before you publish. Or start a separate blog on that
topic and cross-link your blogs.

9. Making It Hard to Subscribe

Because subscribers are such an important part of blogging
success, you need to make it easy for users to sign up. Since
not all users understand and use RSS feed aggregators like
Feedburner (http://www.feedburner.com) and Bloglines
(http://www.bloglines.com) (also called newsreaders), offer
both email and RSS options. Make them very conspicuous,
preferably placing them at the top of your navigation menu
and above the fold.

Don't be afraid to "ask for the subscription" at the end of each
post as well. Chicklets are mini-icons that make it easy to add
to feed aggregators and social bookmark sites like [link=
del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us) and Netvouz (http://netvouz.com)
with one click.  You can find more information on adding
chicklets to your blog with the Chicklet Creator
(http://www.twistermc.com/shake/RSS-index.php). If you are using
free blog software and hosting, it may not be possible to add
these extra functions. So plan ahead when choosing your platform.

8. Inconsistent Posting

Now that you have a loyal fan base who are notified of every new
post, don't disappoint them with time lags between posts. Pick
a posting schedule that's realistic for your time schedule and
stick to it. If you can't think of anything to post about, blog
about someone else's post related to your topic and include a
link back to that post.

Will this hurt your own blog to send subscribers away to another
blog? No, because you're still offering them something useful
in lieu of you posting something. You can also leave a comment
or trackback on the other blog that links back to your post
which can send traffic back to you. Bloggers often monitor their
trackbacks or incoming links through Technorati
(http://www.technorati.com), PubSub (http://www.pubsub.com) or
other services. They might end up blogging about you in return.

7.  No Contact Info

Some blogs can pull off the mystique of an anonymous posting.
But if your website is for business, it's hard to have a two way
dialogue when you make it impossible to contact you.
Transparency is fundamental to building trust on the web. And
you don't want users to mistake your reputable blog for a
"splog" or spammy blog that scrapes content from other sites.

If you don't want to advertise your email address because of
spammers you can still enable comments on your posts. Yes
you'll still get spammed, that's the reality of the Web.
Wordpress (http://www.wordpress.com) blogs come with Akismet
(http://www.akismet.com) anti-spam which does a good job at
catching most spam. You usually have the option to moderate
comments before they appear on your blog.

6. Not Moderating Comments

Allowing anyone and everyone to post whatever they want in your
comments section is asking for spam. Not only is this annoying
to your readers, but it really takes down the professionalism of
your blog.

5.  Excessive Advertising

It's fine to monetize your blog or use affiliate links, as long
as they are not intrusive to users and overshadow useful
content. When ads appear all over the page and even in the
middle of posts, the user experience suffers. Avoid contextual
ads -- programs that highlight words in your posts to make them
look like hyperlinks, but popup an ad when they are rolled over
with a mouse. Just like having items appear clickable that are
not has been a usability issue, so is tricking users into
clicking on ads or viewing ads when they appear to be hyperlinks.

And if your blog is very new, it's a good idea to wait until
you've built up a history of useful posts before running
advertising.

4.  Not Linking to Posts

When you're referring to something that can be found on the Web
such as a news story, another business, person or other blog
post (whether on your own or someone else's blog), allow your
reader to check out the background info. Linking back to
previous entries also builds page strength for those posts and
can help you with search engine rankings. But don't be afraid
to link off your site, this generosity can help you get noticed
by other bloggers. And it's also nice to give credit where
credit is due.

3. Dark Background, Light Text

What's been a general usability rule for years certainly applies
to blogs. Anything that makes your blog harder to read should
be avoided. Remember, it's harder to read online than offline.
The worst culprits for eyestrain are white text on a black
background, low contrast combinations like black with red and
busy patterned backgrounds. And it's a good idea to avoid
blocks of red text, even on a white background.

2.  No Search Box

Returning visitors may not remember a post that's not intuitive
to find through your navigation menu or tag system. Regular
readers might also want to find their own comments, so make
that possible by placing a search box somewhere in your layout.

1.  Hiding Navigation

Most blog software comes with a variety of lovely templates to
skin your site. But not all of these templates are optimal for
usability. Templates that require users to scroll right down to
the bottom of the blog to find navigation are not the best
choice. Stick to conventional left column or right column
navigation.

One of social media's best gifts to the World Wide Web is the
ability to "tag" posts by subject/content and automatically
create navigation categories. Users can easily browse by
subject, and hone in on all your posts related to a specific
topic or microtopic. This also helps users find you on blog
portals like Technorati.

You also have the option of displaying calendars, archives and
tag clouds which may or may not be useful and can clutter up
your page. Keep in mind that with usability and design, less is
often more.

Conclusion

Taking some time to evaluate your blog, wearing the hat of your
reader, can greatly improve the user experience. Considering
what makes a user-friendly blog before you begin blogging helps
you plan for optimal usability right from the start.
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Linda Bustos is the Marketing Director for Image X Media, a
Vancouver web design (http://www.imagexmedia.com) and Internet
marketing (http://www.imagexmedia.com) firm. She also writes for
the Smogger Social Media Blog (http://smogger.wordpress.com).
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