Hello, readers, were back with the WTF.  Apparently Im stirring a lot of controversy¦ hmm.  Thats just fine.  Keep it coming, I can take it!  I actually feel just a little bit badly about this one, because Wayne seems like such a likable guy.  But, he admits it himself, he has a bad blog.

Run, Wayne, Run!

My first impression of Waynes blog was, ‘Well, this isnt bad¦’ and then I started browsing.  And, well, it kind of IS bad, but good at the same time (is that even possible?).  Wayne has picked out a bland, yet hip background (from the limited choices on blogger.com), and his page is easy to navigate and very readable.  He even writes well!  Kudos, Wayne.  One more thing to add to Waynes list of positives: he uses images in his posts, and theyre actually relevant to what hes writing!

Alright, enough with the niceties.  Wayne, Im glad youre staying fit, but no one cares about your running hobby!  Nor do they expect you to explain to them why you failed to run at any given time in your life.  One of the most important things in a blog is the content.  Please refer to our post about keeping your readers interested with good content.  It makes me mad to have to tell you that your topics suck, because your writing is really good.  You have a good blogging persona.  So, that being said, your topics obviously suck because you dont get any comments.

Your labels are hysterical, but in a bad way.  Hope you dont mind me borrowing this:  ‘Labels: landscaping, shrubbery, trees’ from your post titled, ‘Why I didnt run this weekend¦’, or this:  ‘Labels: muscle soreness, prairie dogs, running, trails’ from ‘Ice baths, prarie dogs.’  (By the way, you spelled Prairie wrong.)  Are you expecting someone to come to your site (which is about running) and do a search for Prairie Dogs or Landscaping?  Wouldnt you find that a little odd?  I know its redundant, but your labels should be more generalized, like ‘running, Chicago, sponsorship’ if you went running in a marathon in Chicago, that sponsored something.  If I want to hear your thoughts on that particular race, Im not going to search for shrubbery.

The thing that cracks me up the most is that you have a Stat Counter on your site, yet you get no comments.  This leads me to believe that one of two things are happening here:  a) you have the counter because youre hopeful that people will visit, but theyre not, or b) you actually DO have visitors, but they never leave comments because you have nothing interesting to say.  If the latter is true, I have to wonder (possibly aloud) why the visitors come back at all¦?  I would like to know, just out of curiosity, how many visits you get daily.

Here are the other problems:

- No RSS Subscription options.  Again.  Im seeing this as a trend among bad blogs.  We need to light our torches and take to the streets, hunting down the owners of incomplete blogs everywhere!  Whos with me?   Anyone?

- No Search box.  You know, to search the content on the page?  Ugh, does anyone else feel like Ive said this all already?  All this repetition is annoying me.

- No Contact information.  Wayne, how can I ask you those important questions about my running schedule if I cant get in touch with you?  I mean, you dont have to leave your cell phone number or anything, but an email address at least would be incredibly useful.

- No Social Bookmarking, no links to other sites, no links to other blogs¦  To get recognition, you must give recognition.  It really is that simple.  I have to tell you that you did a good job with linking to other information sources, though.  But, these sources arent blogs, and they arent going to recognize you.

-  While the background is hip and interesting, its also way too common.  You arent going to stand out from the masses with a faded montage of dots.  

-  You dont post often enough.  This could be another reason why your blog isnt seeing any action.  Posting 3-4 times a month is not going to benefit you.  If you want to be a good blogger, you have to be dedicated, and post 2-3 times a week at least.  If someone reads your blog and finds it interesting, theyll only come back a few times before forgetting about you.  If you dont give them new content, that is.

Wayne, fix your blog.  It needs some love.  

Alright, folks, thats it for this week.  What did you think of Waynes blog?  Not as bad as last weeks, but still bad.  Whos ready for me to pick on a Real Estate blogger?  Any suggestions of who should be the first?  If not, I think Ill go visit Poshd and see what they suggest¦

Go ahead and shoot me your ideas on some crappy blogs that I can make fun of. If you want to be anonymous about it, you can email me. If youre brave, leave it in a comment.

Looking forward to next weeks WTF¦

Erin

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