Do you feel how your blog looks affects whether people follow you or not? Do you sometimes decide not to follow blogs that don't look a certain way to you?I think, much like book covers, a blog's appearance can be a big help at attracting enough attention for someone to give it a try. However, appearances can only go so far. For me, content is a much more important factor. If I like what I read on the blog, I'm much more likely to follow it. However, all the great writing on the internet can't compel me to follow a blog that contains so many widgets that my computer locks up (which has happened twice now). I do wind up remembering the blogs, but not in a positive way. Being so cluttered with widgets also makes it difficult to navigate around a blog to find whatever you may be looking for. If you like a blog's theme and want to see who designed it, it would be a daunting task when faced with a veritable sea of widgets. That's just my take on the topic, though. What do you think?
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Judging a Blog by Its Cover
It's time for another prompt from New Books for New Bloggers. This week's prompt is about appearances... blog appearances, that is. Jenny asks:
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I completely agree. Ultimately it is the content that hooks me in but a couple of times I've come across blogs with so many bells and whistles that I had to mute my volume and shield my eyes. Another one has so many widgets (all text based this time) that their actual posts were about the size of this comment box and with a simple white background and lack of distinguishing borders I wasn't even sure if it was a current post or another widget! No guesses whether I followed any of these blogs...
ReplyDeleteI agree - a few well-placed widgets are fine, but too many and you just get sore eyes and a slow load.
ReplyDeleteI wish my blog were prettier. It's not awful (I don't think so anyway), but I see some as I browse that make me green with envy. Sadly I lack the necessary photoshop skills. I keep meaning to browse some of the sites that offer free ones, but it's hard to find time. So for now, I'm concentrating on keeping up with stuff on the content side. Pretty can come later.
Interesting question! I guess sometimes I do judge it, but it doesn't really stop me from reading the content, if that makes sense. It's just one of those things - Whether or not I fall in love with the appearance, I'll still continue on to read what's inside.
ReplyDeleteI love designs, they're so pretty or not so much and just like book covers, I'm pretty vain. A pretty blog may compel me to really read the content if I may have not been otherwise interested but I still give each blog full opportunity to impress.
ReplyDeleteI can say with utmost honesty though that I don't like minimalist white themes.
★Leila
Hi Marla,
ReplyDeleteI came across from New Books For New Bloggers to have a look at what other people had written for this prompt.
I thought this was a great prompt as I've been thinking about this for a few days now. I think that people are attracted to a blog's look, but I hope that they follow a blog because of its content.
Shelagh
The Word Fiend