most important things for a blog

[Paella]

What things do you evaluate first while looking at any blog? Of course, blog content is of great importance for everybody. But what are the other essential factors for you after content?

Thank you.

[webfinity]

I would say content is it. I know that isn't the answer your looking for, but I don't care if the site looks pretty, whether there are images, and layout is pretty standard. Unique content.

[Paella]

yeah, I agree with you.
Thanks for the answer Webfinity!
What do the others think?

[rcj662]

Content and links to other sites that offer more info if needed

[MarketLeverage]

Other than content being one of the most important factors, a blog needs to be very eye appealing. If it isn't easy to navigate visitors won't return. I personally like web 2.0 looking sites. A good example of that is www.zenhabits.net.

[zhaira]

Content is the most essential factor of a blog and after that is the links, if it is a related blog, web traffic , page rank and ranking.

[jvr]

CONTENT, content, and content. Plus the topic he/she discussing in the blog must be relevant if it is connected to a site.

[cedricvc]

the topic that he/she discussed in the post, the media content included in the post and lastly the template design

[tjthayer]

Really, really, pretty colors.

No...

Sorry... Just kidding. Content.

(Not that I have anything against pretty colors though).

[Paella]

Thank you guys for the feedback

[infonote]

The more comments a site has and/or rss subscribers and/or traffic might mean that it is widely followed, therefore it is a good source.

[r937]

What things do you evaluate first while looking at any blog?

first of all, i hardly ever "look" at a blog -- i will either read it, or i will leave

so as others have said, the content is important

but there are a number of things i look for if i'm going to read the blog (more than once), and chief among these is: who is this?

as important as the content is the credibility of the author, and credibility is extremely difficult to establish if the author is anonymous

try it yourself -- next few blogs you read, see if you can find the About page, that tells you who the author is, or the Contact page, that tells you how to get in touch and establish a dialog

without these two, credibility suffers, and (at least for me) readability suffers too

[Shyflower]

I look at readability first. I won't read blogs in tiny type, or those with few or no paragraph breaks or poor content formatting.

I generally won't read poorly designed blogs. There are just too many good free themes a blogger can choose from if they can't do their own.

While I agree with r937 about credibility to some extent, I think anonymity is okay on a personal blog and I will read a couple of those if the content is fun to read. However, if a blogger is trying to promote themselves as an authority on a topic... and especially in cases where he has a product or service to sell, anonymity doesn't cut it.

I also won't go back to blogs that expect me to "subscribe" to comment. Although most blogs have you leave your e-mail, it's much different that having to log-in with a user name and password every time you want to leave a comment.

I generally don't spend a lot of times on blogs that are over-monetized. If I have to scroll through ads, turn off pop-ups, and click off pop unders to read the content, I'm out of there.

I'm one of the odd few that won't subscribe to a blog if it has too many posts, and in my opinon, too many is more than one a day.

I don't read rants or negative blogs (I know that has to do with content, but it's what I don't read). Most have an occasional issue they may want to address, but a blog should be inviting to its readers and reading a constant diatribe isn't the way I want to start or end my day (and I certainly don't have time for it in the middle!). If you see a problem, offer a solution or ask your readers to comment with one. Complaining for the sake of just venting doesn't help anyone.

[clink]

Seeing as everyone has metioned content for me the following are very important:

Design - More important than a lot of people here seem to reason. For me design comes before content - as people won't bother reading your content if they are instantly turned off by your design.

Success - I'm more willing to read a blog if it has high subscriber levels already - this proves that it's doing something right. Very shallow of me I admit, and probably detrimental to smaller bloggers, but hey, it's human nature.

Not too much text: I can't sit and read through a page filled with endless lines of text. Break up lines, add bullet points and use relevant pictures.

One voice: I like a consistent voice. If a blog is constantly using guest bloggers then that's a sign to me that they just don't care enough about writing, or care more about money.

[clink]

Oh and out of interest ShyFlower - why don't you like blogs that post several times a day?

[Shyflower]

Oh and out of interest ShyFlower - why don't you like blogs that post several times a day?

I subscribe to about a dozen blogs with authors that make daily or weekly posts and if they hit an "off" day, it's easy to mark the single post read and move on to the next subscription.

Generally, those blogs with multiple posts per day have several authors. For instance I have an acquaintance that I think is a marvelous writer and I subscribed to a blog for which he writes. Everyday, three to seven posts from this blog appeared in my reader. I just gave up on it.

I don't like having to weed through the posts I don't want to read to find the ones I do. It's a poor use of my time... and I don't mean to offend but, I think it's somewhat arrogant of a domain owner to think that every word on a blog is so golden that readers won't want to miss it... that a second or third post can't wait a day to be published.

[Paella]

but there are a number of things i look for if i'm going to read the blog (more than once), and chief among these is: who is this?

as important as the content is the credibility of the author, and credibility is extremely difficult to establish if the author is anonymous

try it yourself -- next few blogs you read, see if you can find the About page, that tells you who the author is, or the Contact page, that tells you how to get in touch and establish a dialog

without these two, credibility suffers, and (at least for me) readability suffers too

First of all thank you for the feedback r937!
And tell me please... if you can't find the About Us page and the author is anonymous, but his or her posts seems useful for you, to some extent... will you come back to this blog?

[r937]

nope

[Paella]

And thank you for the feedbacks, Shyflower and Clink. I appreciate it a lot!

[Paella]

nope

Ok.... I see now...
You all helped me a lot! Thank you!

[Patricksia2007]

Beside contents, I will also look into layout and design, whether the blog is professional done and attractive.

[jvr]

Beside contents, I will also look into layout and design, whether the blog is professional done and attractive.

Yeah, but I suggest you do it after you establish a good content on your blog

[Chr1ssst0pher]

content is king, design is queen Unique content is very important but it should be presented in such order visitors will feel comfortable on the site

[Hafsoh]

With a good, quality content a blog should also be kept simple.

[sweta]

Content is the Key. Update is the Master
You now know Keymaster which is important for blog to get going ahead.