Blogging Pet Peeves

8.26.2016


I've been blogging for over six years, and in that time I have collected a few pet peeves when it comes to blogging and bloggers. I thought it would be fun to share a few of them with you! Please know that this post is written all in good fun. I do not have a specific blogger in mind for any of these, and I have definitely done some myself on occasion. I think we have all been guilty of at least one of these at some point.

I’d love to hear what blogging pet peeves you have. Do we have any in common? Are there any I missed?

Photos Dumps. 

This seems especially bad in vacation recaps and monthly baby updates. I know your kid is cute (obviously not cuter than my kid, but anyway), but just pick a few highlights to share. You don’t need to post 15 pictures of basically the exact same photo with your baby’s arms just in a slightly different position each time. Only your mom is interested in that, people.

And, like, that's great you went to the beach and all, but I'm not looking at 67 pictures of the sunset and what you ate for dinner each day of the week. Choose your top favorites and move along. Less is more. More is just annoying.

Apologizing for writing “the longest post ever” that is actually not very long at all.

Let’s be honest: My longest post just ate your post for breakfast.

Teasing an upcoming “big announcement” for two months. 

Just say it already or don't say anything at all. Either way, I'm losing interest.

Sponsored posts that pretend to not be a sponsored post. 

Hey, I get it. You’re making a few bucks from your blog. That’s cool! Just don’t start a post talking about your 5 favorite must-have kitchen items and then we get to #5 and it’s a sponsored product. I’m left wondering if you really like that thing or if you would have included it on your list at all if you weren’t getting paid to. 

And do you really like the other 4 items you mentioned????

Not to be dramatic, but now I’m questioning everything you’ve ever written.

Tweeting a link to your new post 85 times an hour. 

You are not reaching a new audience! You are reaching me 85 times and even if I were going to click on your link, I won’t now on principle.

Exclamation points everywhere.

No one is that excited! About writing a random sentence! Every time I see one I hear an inflection in my head! Please no!

See? Wasn't that annoying? Use sparingly, for the love of a period.
_____

So those are a few blogging pet peeves, at least the ones that came to mind when I was writing this. Share yours in the comments! And remember, this is supposed to be fun and lighthearted. Play nice.

Happy Friday! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Charlotte said...

Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep and yep.
Also, food bloggers who post twenty photos of the same food on a recipe post. I JUST WANT TO READ THE RECIPE. ONE PICTURE WAS ENOUGH.

Unknown said...

I am so guilty of the exclamation points so I do sometimes go back and change them to periods but if you hear me speak in real life I am very animated so they get left in.

The Lady Okie said...

Oh yes this is a good one! I am totally with you.

Bethany Carson said...

Ha! Enjoyed your list. The first one--20 photos of the same thing--irks me as well. Some posts are so long with boring photos, I just give up and hope to come back another day when there's something a little less repetitive. It's *hard* picking the best photos, true, but it can be done! :) Oh, and I have to agree in principle on exclamation points.

Bethany Carson said...

(They don't bother me too much in others' posts, but I'm usually careful not to overdo them myself--for some reason an ! after everything just seems wrong.)

Brittanylea02 said...

YES! And yes I'm very excited about that one so I had to use the exclamation point. I just want the recipe please and thank you.

Brittanylea02 said...

I agree with you on these. I love some baby pictures but not ones of your baby from every angle, that is what albums on facebook are for. :)

Julie | A Hopeful Hood said...

Hahaha these are great! Is there any other sponsored post type tho?? I'm just dipping my toes in the water with sponsored posts and I doubt people want to read a post called "Hey Look at this One Product I'm Being Paid To Talk About And There's No Other Interesting Content In The Post" haha

Michelle said...

YES. All of these! As someone who typically posts actual long posts, I always roll my eyes when someone apologizes for "a novel" or "the longest post ever" and it's approximately three paragraphs.

I get weirdly huffy about posts where the sponsored product is woven into an anecdote at the end. I feel like I'm being tricked into reading a sponsored post about paper towels or something and I don't appreciate it. It just feels...deceitful.

A blogger posted about some huge announcement for weeks and then finally announced she was going on vacation. Congrats? I was expecting her to say she was running for president after all that build up.

Also, the more a blog post is tweeted, the less likely I am to read it. It's my contrarian nature. I can't help it.

I'm done now.

Erin LFF said...

I'm totally guilty of the photo dumps, especially of vacations. I think I just have the post-vacay blues and I'm trying to hang on to it for as long as possible ;) The hinting at an announcement FOREVER is super annoying to me. Mention it the day before? Sure, go for it. But weeks and weeks ahead of time? Like Michelle said- you better be running for president lol!

The Lady Okie said...

That's a good question! :) I do think there are actually a few good ways to write a sponsored post that people still want to read even when they know it's sponsored from the beginning. If it's a product that you endorse and something you think readers would like, then it will most likely be interesting to a few people.

The Lady Okie said...

SAME about the long posts! Mine are pretty lengthy most of the time, and some people apologize for the longest post ever and it's half the length of my shortest one. I'm like, get out of here. Ha!

The Lady Okie said...

Post-vacay blues is real! If your blog is there for the memories, sometimes a photo dump is necessary whatever else anyone has to say about it :)

Leslie Lukens Martin said...

I am sooooooo guilty of the photo dumps...each and every month! I think there's even been a few months when I've called it a "photo dump." Ha! The sad thing is that I KNOW it's overload for most people, but...to be totally honest...those posts are kinda for me since I've accepted that I'm never going to get a physical scrapbook put together. #SelfishBlogger

Kayla MKOY said...

I TOTALLY agree on the "hinting of an announcement". I think its fine the week of, but months ahead of time? NO thanks, I've lost interest by then. I'm slightly guilty of vacation photo dumps too, but hey, like you said if its for personal documentation, oh well. I dislike, however, the 15 photos in a row of someones baby who moved slightly 1 inch in each photo. Pick one, stick with it. Ha! Funny post, girl!

Brittany said...

Hinting at an announcement drives me INSANE. Every time I read that for weeks before the actual announcement, I want to scream, "HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"

Audrey Louise said...

Hehehe, this is funny. I'm sure I'm guilty of these (though I try to put a lot of consideration into my punctuation- seriously). I actually enjoy photo dumps sometimes because it gives me a break between the wordy-er blogs. Ha. Not all the time, though!

Victoria said...

I'm in the middle of a photos from July series....That has four parts. And I'm cramming it in before August is over...After not blogging at allll for more than 20 days...You can love me! ;)

In other news, apologizing for anyhing we do as bloggers is probably my BIGGEST pet peeve. I mean, if you were reallllly sorry, wouldn't you just NOT publish it? Just sayin.

As for twitter, I just have one question. When did it become only about sharing links to every post and duplicate IG posts? There are like two people on Twitter that actually post unscheduled content that seems to come straight off the cuff. THAT'S what twitter is for. Right?

Okay, I'm done. :)

Beka @ Sunshine to the Square Inch said...

Regarding photo dumps - it all depends on the subject and quality of the photos. Katie from Hope Engaged is one who I love looking at her photos. If the pictures are not great than I don't love it. However, I'll never be sorry for dumping flower photos. I love them.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me just tell you something about exclamation points. Our bulletin at church reads like this:
Pray for so and so who is in the hospital!!!!
Pray for this missionary in this land!!!!!!
Pray for those who work in dangerous jobs!!
Pray for those who need grammar help!!!!!!
It kills me.

I think sponsored posts can be done tactfully and honestly and I think readers appreciate that, and in turn will read the post.

I don't like it when people turn 'professional' on their blog and are never personal. It makes me kind of sad.

Kristen @ See You In A Porridge said...

lol i do the photo dump thing for vacations for sure! but i know it, so... people apologising for anything is a pet peeve of mine. apologising for it being too long or boring or not blogging for a week or day or whatever, like just stop with the apologising. but as for long posts? i don't think i have ever done a post that WASN'T long. i'm all about that long life. hahaha.

a m b e r said...

girl, i feel you on sponsored posts. i just want to [nicely] shout, "oh, you just randomly picked up this product on a random tuesday, and then randomly took posed photos with a random professional photographer and randomly blogged about it?" NOPE. there are a few bloggers who do it right because they add a story-telling aspect instead of taking the car salesman approach.

and amen to excessively tweeting blog post links!

Breenah A said...

Yes! And why can't the recipe be first and the roundabout story come after?

Breenah A said...

There are some people who have a very natural way of writing that works for sponsored posts as regular posts, but there are way more where they don't and it feels forced, which is where I get the questioning if you like the other things or you just threw them in for the sponsored thing.

Rhonda said...

Amen to feeling sad when people turn 'professional' and now the blog is just a sponsored advert.

Angi said...

YES to all of these. The photo dumps kill me. I do not need to see 37 photos of your food, sunsets, your pet, your flower garden, your child...all from the same weekend. I don't have time to TAKE that many photos, let alone look at someone else's.

And the sponsored posts, I'm totally fine with them if someone has actually used something and loved it and thinks it might be pertinent to their readers but I feel tricked when, like you said, the sponsored item is just thrown in at the end of an otherwise personal blog post and then you wonder how sincere the rest of the post was to begin with. LIES!

Also, when you know that blogger doesn't actually use what they're talking about. One time a couple of years ago, there was this product making the rounds that was - I kid you not - a "pee tampon." Like, a tampon-esque thing you shove up there that is apparently supposed to help compress your bladder just right so you don't accidentally pee yourself, I guess if you've had kids or just have a weak bladder or something. How effing desperate do you have to be to blog about something like that???

Vague-blogging in general kills me. KILLS me. It's like all the 14 year olds from Facebook have invaded the blog world, too.

The Lady Okie said...

Yes, Beka, can't have too many flower pictures! I agree, Katie's pictures are beautiful! Bahaha the church bulletin. Mine is like that too sometimes.

The Lady Okie said...

Your posts are probably what some consider long, but I always like them! :)

The Lady Okie said...

Sponsored posts can definitely be done terribly and also done very well. I know I've done some bad ones in the past!

The Lady Okie said...

A pee tampon???? That is hilarious. I would feel so awkward writing about that. Hello, my dad reads my blog. Haha!

The Lady Okie said...

So true. I love blogging because it's useful for memories and such, especially with baby stuff!

Amy said...

Oh the sponsored posts drive me crazy. Everywhere I turn is a sponsored post. Enough already. I thought your post was great by the way!

AnneMarie said...

Oh my goodness YES! This is me. Give me the recipe first and then you can post however many pictures your heart desires, even though it'll make my webpage take forever to load. I. Just. Want. The. Recipe.

AnneMarie said...

These are all great and so, so true. I go a bit insane with sponsored posts sometimes, especially if the winds up being the majority of posts published my a blogger. And I also have trust issues when I'm reading a post and then at the very end the blogger is trying to sell me something.

StephTheBookworm said...

Agree with the photo dumps. I hate having to scroll and scroll just to get to some words! Come on people, use your words!

Totally agree on the tweeting a million times, too. I don't actually tweet ANY of my posts anymore, let alone several times. Yikes!

Anonymous said...

My biggest pet peeve is when bloggers post tutorial for some lame, mediocre stuff such as "how to peel a potato in 5 easy steps".

Erika Powell said...

I am totally guilty of too many exclamation points. I know its wrong and sometimes I just can't help myself haha... I will try and do better. I do totally agree with the sponsored posts. Be one or don't. Pick a side.

Carolann Chambers said...

This is awesome. A real-life friend of mine who is a writer pointed out recently that I use a lot of exclamation points. I have been trying to pay better attention to that because now I realize how annoying that is. I also hate when bloggers apologize for being MIA for just a week or a few days. I'm not sitting there refreshing your page waiting for a new post. I don't know why, but that really bothers me.

The Girl who Loved to Write said...

I definitely use entirely too many exclamation points. And then I go back and edit myself. But then I feel like my post sounds too serious. It's a vicious cycle, man.

Jamie said...

this definitely made me laugh. I know I use a lot of photos, but I get really annoyed with the "20 almost identical shots" thing. especially when the photos aren't that good to begin with... pick the best one or two and move on please. [that sounds judgmental but I'm a photo snob.] I am also really tired of clickbait titles. so many posts out there don't live up to their advertising. I think with travel blogs it's really bad - "your ultimate guide to france!" should actually be called "I spent a weekend in Paris and did these 5 things."

Charlotte said...

Glad to see I'm not alone! :)

jaime said...

My pet peeve is a sponsored post that isn't clear up front that it's sponsored. 99% of my sponsored posts have a statement at the very beginning, so there's no question I'm getting paid for the post. (I also only post about items that I actually use or think are great. I'm working on something right now and went back to the client and told them I needed more time because we didn't have a good first experience. Bad days happen.) Oh, and my baby updates are really there for my family who live hundreds of miles away. And my girl needs a scrapbook. The blog will be her scrapbook. #SecondChildProblems ;)

Kiki said...

It's funny to me because I've always found these to be annoying but was never sure if people picked up on this the way I do (maybe because I have a lot of pet peeves in general? I don't know). But you nailed it with this list--especially when you mentioned sponsored posts and photo dumps. Even though I love photos and love taking photos, when it gets too long my hand gets tired of scrolling, haha. :) Thanks for the laughs!

Ashley said...

I always love these posts. Lol. You pretty much nailed all my pet peeves, too. I would also add that it annoys me when people apologize for not posting for a while or, even worse, "missing a post." Umm... It's your blog, so... You do what you want. As a reader, I'm not going to hold it against you if you have, you know, a LIFE to live or something bizarre like that...

I'm not so opposed to teasers, though. TWO months is definitely a bit of a stretch, though. A week or two is more than enough to get me excited about whatever it is.

Rachel said...

I think the people who upload 50 pictures to a blog post must have totally different internet than I do. I mean, sometimes for a vacation post I might have a lot, like 15 photos, because I do a ton of stuff on vacations--and I'm almost tearing my hair out at how long the internet takes to upload the photos and how nothing else will work while photos are uploading. Perks of Malaysian internet?
I don't the appeal of 'kind of' sharing big news but not saying what it is. Either say it or don't say it? Why go halfway? I'm not the halfway type.

Rach said...

Oh man, I am the worst at over using exclamation points. And smiley faces for that matter. I tend to be very animated in real life so my writing tends to reflect that, but I do think about it every now and then and try to tone down all the extra !!!!

Unknown said...

I agree with so many of these. Except the photo dump. I love a good photo dump ... probably because I am constantly guilty of it :)

Beka @ Sunshine to the Square Inch said...

I thought of a new pet peeve ...

1. Those people who say, "blogging isn't just for me for now. I'm quitting." And then they come back 3 weeks later with a new blogging platform and then three months later say "bye again" and then come back. aaaah! Decide, people! Either blog or don't.

2. People who only talk professional on their blog and not anything personal.

Jenny Evans said...

When I see the incorrect use of "it's" I want to scream. I noticed that I did it once myself and I had to go take a shower afterward.

Tracy said...

In the same vein as obvious sponsored posts, I would like to add reviews (sponsored or not) that don't provide any information other than whether the person liked it or not. Like wow, very helpful. Also posts that are just a big wish list or whatever of affiliate links. Especially if they don't even disclose the affiliate links. Especially if the link isn't even a description of a product and just says "this" and it's up to you to click on it to find out whether "this" is a sweater or a scarf or laundry soap or whatever.

Unknown said...

Exclamation points everywhere, drive me crazy! Although, I'm pretty sure every comment I have made on your blog within the last 30 minutes has been full of exclamation points. Probably because I'm partial to ending every sentence like I'm laughing, haha! ;) But seriously, I've seen comments and posts where people are going crazy with !!!!! and I keep thinking that if they are using that many exclamation marks then they are yelling, ha!

Brita Long said...

And then none of the pictures are vertical! Why?! Please give me something that I can pin because yes, I co-mingle my personal pins and my Blogger Pins, so I try to only pin good ones.

Brita Long said...

This list has me giggling. I don't mind sponsored posts as long as bloggers disclose properly. Unfortunately, lots of bloggers put a disclosure at the END of their post, when FTC guidelines indicate the disclosure should be at the BEGINNING of the post. Whenever possible, I try to incorporate storytelling into my sponsored posts because I personally don't read straight reviews--they bore me!

Even on Instagram, when I'm given freedom over my disclosure (not always possible), I start my caption with AD. I believe in total transparency, even going beyond FTC rules to make sure my readers are aware of any benefit I'm receiving.

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