Blog Must-Haves (For Me, Anyway)
Books for Thought is where I post a discussion topic related to books, reading, writing, or something related to one of the three. I hope you’ll join in, and discuss today’s topic of
blog must-haves
So I know that this isn’t technically related to reading or books, but it’s about book blogs, so it counts (and plus, I make the rules, so who am I even reasoning with?). MOVING ON.
As I am a frequenter of many a book blog (even if I don’t always leave a comment, and therefore people don’t even know I am there, which is a shame), I thought I might give a little list of things I love to see on blogs, or things that I think a book blog must have. Not that I wouldn’t follow a blog that doesn’t have the following things, but these are just things I like to see when I visit a blog.
1. Search Bar.
Please, PLEASE have a search bar. If I am looking for a particular post, I don’t want to have to scroll endlessly, or click through one hundred different links. I just want to be able to type in the title of a post, and have it pop up easily. Search bar = reader’s friend.
2. Book Review Archive.
That is also easy to read! Either by series, or by author surname, or by title. Just something that is easy for readers to find. Star ratings are cool, too, but then if I want to find a certain book, it becomes a little tricky.
3. Your Name.
I like calling people by their names in my comments, and if your name is nowhere easily found, then I don’t know what to call you! Which makes me sad, because I like personal comments that are directed towards the author. It means we’re paying attention to who you are as a blogger, so why not have your name? Beats me.
4. Category Archives.
I like seeing the types of posts you have! Memes, reviews, discussions, book hauls etc etc. Seeing what kind of posts you publish gives insight into the kind of blogger that you are – which lets readers know whether yours is the kind of blog they want in their feed!
5. Book Genres You Read.
When I stumble across a book blog, I immediately want to know the kinds of books the blogger reads. Since I predominantly read YA novels, I am much more likely to follow book blogs that also review/write about/love YA novels. And when I find a book blog, I want to know if I will be able to relate to the books they post about.
6. Connect Links.
If I love your blog, or your writing style, or just you in general, I want to connect with you. I’ll follow your blog, follow you on Twitter and Tumblr, add you on Goodreads, and like you on Facebook. I like being updated, and I like making book blogging friends even more. So I get a little despondent when I can’t find the links to these things easily. I want them all in a nice little row, or area, when I can open five or so tabs and click the follow buttons easily. Don’t have bloglovin half way down your side-bar, I may miss it! I want it to be easy to connect with you, so make it easy for me :D And your other readers, of course.
Side note: none of these things are just for me, by the way. I just think blogs should have these things in general :D I just say me, because I am writing from personal experience.
For now, that’s about all I can think of. I do so love blogs that have these things on their sites somewhere, but like I said at the beginning of the post, I am not going to judge, or discriminate blogs that don’t; because that’s just down-right silly.
Do you have any blog must-haves? If so, what are they? Do you agree with the must-haves that I have listed? Are there any major ones that I have left out? Let me know in the comment section below!
I feel the same way about the blogger’s name – I hate going on a scavenger hunt for five minutes just so that I can leave a proper comment for them! I just feel awkward otherwise, and usually end up not commenting.
Yes, exactly! Sometimes, I can’t ever find it, and then the comment feels impersonal if it’s my first comment. I don’t really mind if I know the blogger, but it definitely helps if I’m discovering a new blog!
I’ll still comment, if I’ve already written it, but if not, I may be persuaded not to. :(
I agree with these! It’s just nice when a blog is easy to navigate! Also, love the last GIF!
It is! It just makes the experience of reading their blog so much easier :D
I was very happy when I found it, that’s for sure!
These really do make a lot of sense. I completely agree about the search bar and the connect buttons. I use those all the time on other people’s blogs. I also think the name is a good one. I always feel a little awkward if I’m following and enjoying a blog and go to comment but have no idea who the author is! Great list (and gif choices), Chiara!
I think the connect buttons are high on he list, because I love to connect with bloggers.
Haha, exactly! I like to make some kind of connection with whoever wrote the post :)
Thank you, Jessica! I’m glad you liked it :)
I think you covered all of the major must-haves! I really agree with having a search bar because it just makes everything more organized. Another little thing that I like to see is just an archive in general, sorted by dates. I love to read people’s first posts, and it makes me really sad when I can’t find them.
I would love to be able to have my follow links set up better, but for now I just have it under a “contact me” page on the blog. One day I plan on making it more visible though.
I feel your pain for schoolwork (though I am not in university yet). It’s really keeping me busy, and I hate that it is taking time away from my blog. I try and schedule posts in advance, but sometimes I am just too tired/too busy.
I liked the discussion this week. I haven’t seen any other kind of must-have list like yours, Chiara.
The search bar is a blogger’s best friend, in my opinion, haha. Especially if I’m looking for a post that isn’t a book review!
General archives are a good tool, I agree. My first ever pot was a book review, followed by a small introduction, haha. Now I want to see what other people’s first posts were!
I think a contact page is fine; all the links are there, and there’s no searching around the site for ages to find them :)
I know! Blogging is taking a back seat, and it’s really depressing :( I only have one of my favourite memes scheduled for the next few weeks, so at the worst there is at least one post a week.
Thank you, Arial! I’m glad you enjoyed it :)
This is a useful list of ‘should-haves’ the only one I don’t completely agree with is making the genre of books clear. Personally I enjoy reading about books I don’t usually read and quite a lot of people genre hop. Everything else is spot on I get frustrated if I can’t comment or find posts easily
I can completely understand that :) I generally like to read about books that I am likely to read at some point, which is why I mentioned that point.
Yes, definitely! I like to be able to comment easily, and I should have mentioned that in this post! I don’t really like it when blog’s have captcha, it makes it to difficult to post a comment quickly and easily.
I agree with basically everything you listed. A big one for me is networking links/buttons. Not only does it make me sad when I can’t find a way to connect with a blogger I really like, but I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want something like that out in the open. Why put the links halfway down the sidebar? I don’t know. I really don’t.
A search bar is CRUCIAL as well. I’m not going to automatically exit a blog if they don’t have one, but it really does make my life so much easier. If they don’t have a review archive either, though, I sort of want to pull my hair out. SIGH.
I never thought about it until now, but I’m the same way about the blogger’s name. There’s been more than one occasion when I couldn’t find a name other than the alias/screen name. And sorry, guys, but I’m not calling you sweetiepie385032, you know? Haha.
Exactly! It’s your blog, and you want people to follow, so why aren’t you making it easy for them? D:
None of these things make me want to leave, but they just really help when I am navigating my way around a blog. Search bars are amazing, and I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t have one!
Book review archives are INTEGRAL to having a book blog, otherwise how are people going to know what you’ve reviewed, or what you thought of a certain book?
Hahaha, definitely! I like being able to connect with bloggers, instead of just being words on a screen, if you know what I mean. I like connecting with people :D
Definitely agree with number 3! It’s awkward when you’re not quite sure what to call the person, especially if they don’t even reply to comments with their name (e.g. they might use their blog’s name instead)
Not being able to find social media buttons easily is definitely one of my pet peeves. It’s really annoying when they’re in the footer. WHY WOULD YOU PUT THEM THERE?! At the top of the sidebar is definitely the easiest and best place to put them!
Yes! I don’t really mind if their username doesn’t have their name in it, because sometimes, you can only post with your blog names. But if it’s on their blog, I definitely want their name to be there, somewhere!
Haha, definitely! I hate it when they’re in the footer. That’s all the way at the bottom, and if infinite scrolling is on, you will never be able to reach them. I definitely like it when they’re at the very top, which is why mine are, haha :D
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Nara :)
A search bar, follow links and review archive are the three most important things to me from the things you’ve listed. I like to be able to see if there is a certain review from X book and I hate it when I can’t find a way to follow the blog.
Mel@thedailyprophecy.
They are the ones I utilise most when visiting a blog, I think.
Definitely! I like to see the kind of books that a blogger has reviewed, and sometimes a specific title, as well. It’s frustrating when I can’t find a list of the books the blogger has reviewed.
Follow buttons are really important when the blog is on a different platform to mine, like Blogger, or a self hosted website. If I can’t find a bloglovin button, I can’t follow! :(
Great tips! These were really interesting! I totally agree about the search bar, I even use my own search bar!
Thank you! :D
I have been known to use my own search bar as well, haha.
And here I was, thinking that nobody checks my review archives. But seriously, I hate making them and updating them, which is why I don’t have a post category archive. And book genres I read? I think it’s in my blog . . . somewhere. Maybe around the Review Policy?
I have been known to forget to add books to my review archive, haha. It’s easy to forget after you’ve posted them, and you’re not really thinking about the review any more.
It’s really easy to have a post category archive on WordPress, as it just updates automatically :D
I can generally tell what kind of books a blogger reads by just scrolling through their reviews. Which is nice and easy!
I suppose I could follow some of these. Though, I hate search bars for some reason, but I have a calendar and if you hover over the underlined numbers, it shows you what posts were made on that day. I could probably put my categories list back up. And I kind of disagree about the names part–I like knowing the blogger’s name just because, but I believe that making a comment on their blog is already personal enough. To each their own, though, as we all have our own quirks.
I’ve been thinking about making a Faecbook page, but… I don’t know, it feels weird thinking about making one. I have only two links up because I don’t have YouTube or Flickr.
Ah, that sounds interesting. I just know that if I’m looking for a particular post, searching it in a search bar is the easy option, haha.
Of course commenting is personal, but I love making connections. I like to feel that it’s not just another generic comment, I suppose :)
Hmm, I have also been thinking about that! But I just don’t have time at the moment. Maybe in the holidays! I don’t have those. either. I don’t think YouTube is the place for me, haha.
Great Advice though I think I don’t follow all of them too well though… My review archive is HOPELESSLY outdated.
Krazyyme @ Young Readers
Mine can get pretty behind sometimes! Once a review is up, I kind of just forget about it, haha.
Thanks for topping by! :D
Great post! I’ll definitely be taking these into account when tweaking my blog. Trying to get everything, ie search bar, where I want it and where it is easily accessible to readers is something I’m still trying to work out.
Thank you! I’m glad you took something away from it :)
I debated about where to put my search-bar, but I thought just being on the sidebar was pretty accessible. It takes a while to be completely happy with your blog layout – I know I am still tweaking, even now, haha.