I have been spending a lot of time looking at romance review sites and blogs (who knew there were so many). I’m putting together a group of posts about review sites, ads, what they are charging, why and if it seems to be worth it.
It is all sort of funny to me because I never ever pay attention to those ad’s (is that just me?) so keeping an eye out for them is amusing.
One thing I keep seeing is how some sites are going for creative or nifty in their layouts and forgetting about being user friendly.
I get wanting to be eye catching to get people to stop, scroll and read but if your page takes too long to read because of graphics, the side bars are too busy, there isn’t a good search function or the posts are too long. ::coughbamcough:: I would think you risk losing your audience, very few are as amusing as bam. Hell I can’t read all her reviews, she needs cliff notes.
So when LLB started to talk about flash ad’s I cringed and started to post but really no one said anything so I am thinking maybe it is just me. Ag seems to like many of the blogs I think are pretty but don’t go to much because I don’t find them very readable.
I am not new to blogland, a baby to wordpress but was on livejournal for a long ass time. So where some might find the scroll text on the top for AAR’s home page new and nifty I think it is annoying as all get out. I think flash is for icons, personal blogs, kid sites and MYSPACE
not sites that are aimed at being professional. I think that is one of the many reasons I so dislike myspace.
Is that just me? About the bells and whistles not myspace… Or is flash like bell bottoms and coming back in style? Of course I have only met one or two book trailers I like and people seem to think they are kewl.
**all icons are ones I use(d) for my livejournal… can you guess which ones were made just for me.. for those wondering… the title is just me being a dork or I miss fanish things)**
I don’t notice ads.
I read via RSS as much as possible, so there are blogs I’ve not been to in ages because I don’t comment on that blog.
Bells and whistles annoy me, especially if I’m a frequent visitor and have to wait for it to load, or things to pop up etc.
You’re new to blogland?
I don’t like to thnk of myself as old. I’m not yet 40, for god’s sake! But I do find myself muttering, “those wacky kids” at some websites.
I think the icons above are cute, and I laugh when they show up in your posts from time to time, but if they were on every post I’d start losing it a little.
My personal pet-peeve are motha fcking blinkies in the signatures on message boards. They all need to die. Now.
I. Hate. Blinkies.
Maybe I need to be extra ironic nad have a Blinkie made which says that. Nah.
(BTW. I love the Dory avatar. She soo cuuuute. Squishy. Mmmm.)
lol May… well I have had a romance blog now for over two years? So I guess I am not new… but much newer than the 10+ years I have been on the net which I know is nuthing on some people.
time is relative I guess *g*
I love icons suisan, really… and I like to have something brighten up a post – be it bookcover or icon or whatever. But too much is TOO much and I wouldn’t want to stare at them in ads. But they smart bitches do it (I think) so maybe that is why All About Romance is going to do it as well.
I have noticed most romance review sites have added blogs because this is where the readers seem to be for the most part. But most of them… fresh fiction, AAR After Hours, Romance by the Heart seem to be pretty much deadsville and least last time I checked. Not sure why that is… will have to think on it ;).
Shut up, Sybil… MY POSTS aren’t LONG!! They’re… um… involved and… um… extensive and… ooh! in-depth. I review because I care, biznatch! 😉
Anyway, I don’t really notice ads, either. Unless they’re fucking sparkling and shiny and make noises… with those, I usually click out of the page so I don’t have to deal with them. That’s not a good thing.
I’m more with Suisan. What really drives me bonkers are the signature avatars and blinking/winking things on “a certain publishers’ authors” message board. Those things are horrendous with all the crap and movie star avatars and shit. Suisan’s right! They. Need. To. Die!
I have noticed most romance review sites have added blogs because this is where the readers seem to be for the most part. But most of them… fresh fiction, AAR After Hours, Romance by the Heart seem to be pretty much deadsville and least last time I checked. Not sure why that is… will have to think on it
I tend to think it’s because blogging/journals are supposed to be about flying by the seat of your pants, spur of the moment stuff and trying to turn them into something that’s more like a magazine just doesn’t work. Most – not all but definitely a lot – of the group blogs I’ve run across seem to be trying to come across that way and it does show. Heck, some individual blogs do which is really weird.
Heck, I’m pretty sure that’s why I can’t stick to a schedule on mine. The best I can hope for is a loose guideline of the types of posts I’ll probably favor on a fairly regular basis just to keep the categories more neat and compact. Past that, I really don’t care.
There’s also a certain amount of, how shall I say this, overkill with some of the sites mentioned. One in particular anyway. Meaning that having a blog, plus the site, plus message boards, plus whatever else they have may just be stretching things a tad far. Sure, there’s an audience but just how varied will it be over time really? Will the same people really want to show up at all of those forums?
Okay, I’ll bite. What’s a blinkie?
I only ever go to the odd message board if I need to know something about a TV show and my God the signature lines of some of these people take up half a page – is that a blinkie? Or is my owl avatar a blinkie?
CindyS
Chosen completely at random from a Google search, here are blinkies.
Add about four into your signature line with maybe with a big sparkling script signature and post to your heart’s delight on message boards.
It’s like hallmark – there is a blinkie for every occasion.
But why is there a blinkie for every occasion? They hurt my eyes. Ouch.
And how have I missed them until now? Actually, I think someone mentioned them when we first set up the Reader Network forum but I didn’t pay that much attention then. Honest, though, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed them on any boards I’ve been on.