I was recently tagged by Lauren to write about stuff that annoys me about blogs, the things I’d love to throw unceremoniously into Room 101. I enjoy reading other blogs but some stuff does annoy me somewhat so I thought I’d give it a go. Here are my top 10 blog peeves.

  1. Poor Grammar – If you’ve ever read my ‘Top 10 Grammatical Bugbears‘ then this point won’t surprise you! Everyone has the right to have their own blog and that’s great, however I can’t read posts that are constantly littered with poor spelling and punctuation. Sorry!
  2. Pop Up Adverts and Subscription Boxes – This is more of an issue on mobile rather than desktop and I especially hate it when I go to click through to an article having landed on a blog homepage, only for an advert to leap up in my face and I end up mistakenly clicking that. I feel cheated!
  3. Non Responsive Websites – Another mobile issue. If your blog isn’t responsive then you need to get on it because not only does it make it a pain in the bum to read, Google are penalising non responsive websites.
  4. Automatically Ticked Subscription Boxes – I dislike it when I comment on a post, only to receive an email asking me to confirm my subscription. If I want to subscribe then I’ll purposefully seek out a way to do so, please don’t force me into it.
  5. Auto DMs – This is a Twitter thing rather than on blogs, but I (and many other bloggers for that matter) dislike the auto DMs when you follow someone, asking you to follow them on every other social media platform and then some! It’s not the end of the world, it’s just annoying and I’d much rather either nothing, or a hello tweet.
  6. Constant Streams of Sponsored Content – I’m bundling sponsored posts, reviews and giveaways together here. I don’t have anything against those types of posts and I myself do them, however I don’t feel like I know the person behind, or personality of, a blog when every single post is of this nature. I like the real life stuff, I’m nosy like that.
  7. Fake Reviews – I’ve seen it a few times where bloggers have ‘reviewed’ a product positively then either slated it in private Facebook groups or indeed put it up for sale as brand new and unused. It brings the authenticity of blogger reviews into disrepute and I don’t want to be lumped in with dishonest reviewers when I put the time and effort into trying products out before I write my balanced and honest reviews.
  8. Searching To Search or Follow – I like social media and search buttons to be clear and accessible on every page. Part of this comes via my job as a social media manager/blogger outreach type because I want to find and share reviews of my clients’ products and want to credit the blogger. Don’t make it hard for me to do that!
  9. Using Your Profile To Complain – I’m not talking about moaning about bad days or the such – goodness know I’d be a hypocrite if that were the case! I’m on about people who use their blog and social media as a way to complain about companies and services they’ve used outside of their blogging life. Had a negative experience with a review product or service? By all means tell us, it will help others to not have the same misfortune. Annoyed because Parcel Force lost your parcel that has absolutely nothing to do with your blog? Take it up with them then!
  10. The ‘Free Stuff’ Blag – Most bloggers will agree that the misconception that the review items we get are ‘freebies’ is a pain in the backside. We work hard to keep our profile raised, write about, photograph and promote the product. What bugs me, however, are the few who are constantly on Facebook groups or Twitter practically begging for stuff and completely abusing tags such as #PRrequest. It just looks desperate! If you want to pitch to a company then contact them and make a pitch, don’t beg for contacts on social media or tweet every 10 minutes about how you so desperately need a washing machine, using those sorts of tags. Buy a washing machine or save the money to buy one. I have lived without washing machines, microwaves, beds and sofas before. It’s not life shattering.

My Top 10 Blog Peeves // Room 101: Blogging

There are probably other things, but those are definitely my top 10 blog peeves and the ones I would love to see banished to Room 101! If any of those things relate to you or your blog then don’t take it personally, these are simply my opinions and what makes life great is that we are all different.

I am now tagging the following bloggers to write about the blog peeves they’d throw into Room 101:

What are your blog peeves? Anything you dislike about my blog? Let me know in the comments below or get in touch on Facebook or Twitter.