1) Links that open in the same tab. Unless the link is at the bottom of the post, always have it open in a new tab. Picture this: I'm on your site and halfway through the post. You mention there are '5 more ways to...' so I click it and the tab I'm on switches to the new link. Now if it's your site still, it might not be a big deal. If you sent me to another site or Amazon or a sales link I might start clicking around there and forget to go back to the original post. If a second tab had opened though, the first tab is still there. When I close the new tab the old one is right there waiting for me to finish reading the post...and maybe click around your site a bit more.
2) Not being able to figure out where to start. Landing pages are great but if I have to hunt for your blog or have to go through three pages of 'featured' or 'pinned' posts before I find the current posts I'm going to give up and probably not come back. All I need is a menu of some sort and I can figure it out from there!
3) You expect me to already know your story. Yes, sometimes there are a series of posts, but I'm not talking about that because they often say part 4 of 5 or something similar. I also don't need a gazillion details, but I do need a clue. When I find a link or pin and head over to your blog and your post starts out "Mike came back today and..." I'm wondering who Mike is and where he was and if that's at all relevant, I'm already lost! A few details like "my brother Mike came back today from his trip to Paris" is all I need to feel caught up.
The thing that gets me about this, is that we're all looking for more viewers. Those new viewers aren't going to know what's going on. Imagine how weird it would be if I assumed Mike was your husband. A few details go a long way!
4) Loud noise. Most people no longer have music playing on their blogs when you open them up, but many allow video ads to play that start all on their own. If I can't easily figure out how to make it stop, I'll just X out of the whole page.
5) Too much sales pitch. We need told where your sales items are, we really do. We need that pop up to say Hey here's my free this or click here to buy that and that's cool. It's the constant reminders that get to me. Every post having a sales pitch written into it is just too much. The worst thing you can do though is those countdown emails. You know the emails that act like if you don't buy within 24 hours the world is going to end? By itself, that's not so bad actually. It's that next email that says 12 hours, then the tonight email, then the 6 hour email...and on and on. I will find that unsubscribe button and I will use it! Without your emails though, now I might forget to visit your blog.
6) Too much pop up action. When I X out of a pop up I expect it to stay away for awhile, preferably the rest of my visit. If I'm there awhile and it pops up again, or even a different one then cool I can X out again but it's a little annoying. When every 'read more' link triggers a new pop up or every time I start to scroll down I get another pop up, or every new post I click on triggers another pop up then I'm done. I get that you want me to sign up for whatever freebie you offer because you want my email address. Quite frankly I want yours too, but if I can't read what I came for then I really don't want to sign up. (and if my site ever does that please tell me!)
Now granted, these tactics must work for somebody or nobody would use them! However, they are the quickest way to send me up to the red X button in the corner!
Lisann
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