In my way of breaking the fourth wall, those of you who frequent this blog often will notice that this article is posting on Tuesday instead of Monday. That’s because yesterday was the 11th year of my business blog, Mitch’s Blog, and I decided to give it the Monday slot and wait a day for this one. That doesn’t mean that today’s subject isn’t important to me, or isn’t irking me to no end, but it could be delayed a day. Anyway, please go check out that other post; there’s some good stuff there if I say so myself. š
Today’s rant is about pop ups on blogs. I’m going to leave out the new notices that are popping up on a lot of blogs that are advertising that they have cookies on them, based on a ruling that the European Union put on Google that has nothing to do with the overwhelming majority of us who don’t have any real traffic coming from European nations or aren’t using Adsense (phooey!) that makes it a prerequisite for that message. I found a script to block it so those aren’t bothering me.
Instead, I’m going to talk about those popups that keep getting bigger and more intrusive on more blogs than I care to think about. Not that this is the first time I’ve talked about it or mentioned it. As far back as 2008 I was griping about this issue. I talked about it in my 15 wishes for bloggers post, my post about irritating things bloggers do, and 15 other posts over the years.
It has now gotten to the point where as soon as you arrive at a page either there’s something popping up from the top or popping into the middle, and every once in awhile it’s so big that you can’t find the X to close it. Frankly, for as many blogs that I visit, way more new blogs than blogs I visit often, it’s really starting to get on my nerves.
Last week I decided to put out a quick message on Twitter asking people to stop with the popups. I know they’re not going to stop just because I asked them to, since I can’t get anyone to listen to me when it comes to those stupid DM messages, but it would be nice if we, the blog readers and the people they’re hoping to attract, could at least have the opportunity to read some of the article first.
After I put that message out, there were a lot of people on Twitter who liked it. You know that on Twitter because you get the messages that tell you that people like something. I only had a couple of people who commented on it, and they were in agreement with me. I know that people who have the popups certainly weren’t going to say “me too”, and as my wife says it was crickets in three part harmony.
Frankly, I’m sick of it and it violates one of my major rules about social media in that it stifles engagement. I know these folks care more about how many people they can get subscribed to their newsletter or how many products they can sell than they actually care about the readers. People can tell you anything, but actions speak louder than words; yeah, I said it!
If you saw my post from last week, whether you fully agreed with the reason I wrote it or not, you know that I highlighted some people who I wanted to share with some of you readers and other people who might see those links and people in other social media spaces. If you also saw a post from me last year regarding how I market myself on Twitter, you know that one of the things I do a lot of there is highlight posts and statements from all sorts of people, both from people I know and don’t know. I’m all about sharing, and I spend a lot of time finding good stuff to share with others. It always seems to be appreciated, if sometimes ignored, but in my opinion the majority of people who are following me on Twitter are hopefully getting some kind of value from my sharing that stuff.
I have therefore made a decision that I’m not going to implement immediately, but probably by May or June I’m going that route, maybe even April.
I will stop sharing any blog post or web sites that has popups that show before I have had time to read the content. I will also start making a list of the people who have those blogs with those popups so that I can remove them from my blog reader and keep myself from accidentally clicking on those links because the topics look interesting.
I know that some folks have read studies which show that as much as we all say we hate popups, they do get people to sign up for their stuff. Frankly, I don’t care. I don’t have a problem with people who want to do commerce online and in social media. What I do have a problem with is people who in one voice say they are there for the people and in another voice, aka action, are doing the very thing that alienates us from wanting to deal with them. Well, that and Captcha, but I’ve written about that in the past also.
If some of you who are visitors to this blog have those popups, and have enjoyed my sharing your articles, which I will admit that if I share it means I think they’re pretty good, still have those types of popups by one of the months I mentioned above, I’m sorry but I will no longer share any of your stuff online.
I have never had a popup on any of my blogs, and I never will. I would like people to actually be able to read my content unobstructed. I risk the possibility that traffic might slow down, or that some people won’t share my content because I won’t share theirs. So be it; if one doesn’t take a stand on something that bothers them then they deserve what they get. You teach people how to treat you after all.
What’s your thought on it? Am I being pigheaded? Do you believe I don’t understand the need to make more money and get more newsletter subscribers? Or do you commiserate with me and understand my point, maybe even agree with me?
I’m not the type who is scared to hear other people giving me their opinion on things so go for it… Just stay nice. š
Pig-headed? YOU? Nevah!
Well, mainly because I agree with you on this – despite my EU pop-up. (I did set that to last a whole month, though so you shouldn’t see it often – unless you dump all your cookies, and then it won’t know you so it’ll show it to you over and over and over – oh, irony.) Anyway…
That one’s meant to be respectful of my readers from the EU. Most are grubby, greedy little devices that feel mildly abusive of our time and generosity. I can see why newspapers and magazines – entities that actually pay writers to write articles, not folks on Fiverr to “supply content” – do it. They’re rightfully at war with ad blockers. People who run ad blockers and expect everything for free are nuts. I’ve used paid online services in the distant past, and it was both expensive and pleasantly devoid of advertising. I’m happy to put up with unobtrusive ads in my sidebar, to get so much for free. It’s a trade-off. But I’m NOT happy that I, who have never used ad blockers, am now being treated just like those who do – forced to sit through pop-ups and watch videos that do not interest me, or to have to subscribe and pay for each site I was once able to access for free.
It’s not those sites I blame, Mitch. It’s the folks who block the ads and expect it all for free. The world doesn’t work that way.
Holly, I don’t see your EU thing, or anyone else’s; totally taken care of. lol
As for adblockers, I block almost everything and I’m not ashamed either. It’s not because I want everything free though. It’s because maybe 5 or 6 years ago CNN, the site I go to most often for news, started popping these things up as soon as you went to a new page after the main page, then it started happening on the local Syracuse news page and I said “enough”. So, sites are blocked immediately and only unblocked when I feel they’re worthy, such as YouTube because those folk are creating content and I don’t mind supporting them. If the adblocker I use blocked these stupid newsletter popups I probably would have never written this post.
That still doesn’t excuse the DM folks; ugh! And now that you don’t have to be following someone to get them, it’s even worse; double ugh!
Okay, first of all, the following sentence made no sense to me.
“Iām going to talk about those pop up that keep getting bigger and more intrusive on more blonde than I care to think about.”
Is it possible that your voice recognition software made an error?
Secondly, were there actually five reasons mentioned that I didn’t catch because they were not neatly packaged?
Thirdly, Yeah, I hate those buggers too. And you’re right, they certainly discourage engagement. You’re not going to get subscribers or a make a sale if you keep pissing people off.
Rasheed, good catch on both. I actually rewrote a lot of this post, which I initially dictated, and thought I’d caught all the bad stuff, including the title; it’s all fixed now… whew!
Glad we at least agree on the popups, even if I wrote some of this incorrectly. Actually, I’ve already started because I was irked a couple of nights ago when I went to 3 blogs in a row and all of them had a popup before I got to read a single thing. I haven’t started the list though; that part will probably come later.
I loath pop ups in blog posts and avoid going to them if they are present. I don’t use them in my blog.
That’s just it Rummuser; I don’t know a single person who’s ever said “Man, I love when those popups interrupt my reading experience when I visit a new blog”, yet they still do it. I’m totally with you.
Hi Mitch
Very interesting topic and I love the way you share very serious kind of things in a quite lighter tone.
This is why it is called one should take the life seriously but never let anyone know how much serious he is.
I do have a popup on my blog for email subscription but that is not so irritating.
Earlier it was just on sidebar but conversion rate was not as higher as it is right now.
So after impressing people with awesome contents one can put one popup decently to get the conversion at a higher rate.
Many thanks for sharing this lovely post.
Have a great rest of the week.
As much as I hate them in general Mi, at least yours doesn’t show up until we’ve had a chance to read the post. That passes the test.
Hey Mitch,
You pig-headed? Nah… Not at all. LOL!!! Okay, now that I’ve composed myself. š
I hate them too, I seriously do but I will turn them off but I’ll never sign up for any list that has them. I agree that they don’t seem to me to be more for the reader but more about their list. At the same time I do know as a business owner how important my list is as well. The way I see it though, if I build up that trust with you as a reader then you’re going to opt-in anyway if you’re interested. I don’t need to entice you in through any other methods. That’s my thoughts anyway.
I’ll still share them though and leave it up to the individual whether or not they want to take the time to actually read it. We all have to do what we have to do right!
~Adrienne
Adrienne, if I could figure out how to turn those suckers off I surely would. I need to find a script; please, please, let me find a script! lol That’s why I’ll stop sharing those articles, because I don’t share anything I didn’t read, and I’m not reading anymore of those blogs that irritate me like that. If it pops up once I’m done, that’s a different thing altogether.
Hurrah!
Now, I have someone on my side.
No, you are not pigheaded. Not at all!
A hand of applause for this post Mitch and for taking such a firm decision.
Though we may never completely fight this off the net, it’s important to state a point and unshakably firm on it.
Since starting blogging in 2012, Popups have never been part of my blogs. When I think of what I feel when I get obstructed by an email-hungry popup, I completely don’t see why it should be on my plug.
I have developers of some excellent popup plugins who have offered me free copies in exchange for a review. Sorry but I can’t accept this.
Maybe exit popups are better because we know the reader is moving away. But while still on the blog, I strongly believe nothing should show up that can snatch away any chance of having someone pleased.
Everyone seems to say ‘I hate this’ š but those popups are everywhere.
Maybe I should have part II of this post on my blog
First, I’ll accept the applause lol Second, please write that post because I can’t be the only one writing about it all the time & expect anyone to listen or at least reconsider how they’re using these things.
Hi Mitch.
How are you doin?
Your title is bang on..
POPups are awful
And have had many
Bad experiences with them.
11th year of your blog?
WOWWW that is sooo amazing.
How did you do it?
Congratz on your 11th year.
Keep getting stronger!
All the best.
Enjoy your week.
Regards
Thanks Vee. Popups make for a horrible experience.
Hate, hate, hate the pop-ups! I will often just escape and not read the blog unless I’m really compelled to do so. It’s so annoying when pop-ups block part of the text–or some cases all of it–so I have to maneuver the page in order to read. There are better things that I can do with my time without dealing with pop-ups.
Lee
That’s how I feel Lee. I’ve been reading some tests & studies which shows people that they do seem to get more people who subscribe to their newsletters but at the risk of lower engagement on their blogs. That so many are willing to sacrifice engagement shows in my mind how little they actually care about the readers or visitors.
Hi Mitch,
Now I haven’t been reading your blog for a long time, so your feelings on this are new to me. I just want to say…relax, man.
It sounds like you’re spending way too much energy on this…keeping a log of offenders??? Wow. Have fun with that. Your list is going to get incredibly long. Think of all the time you’ll spend checking it (Okay, let’s see, Matt’s headline looks enticing here. Should I click it? I can’t recall if he uses pop ups or not. Let me scan through these 6 pages and see if I find him)…really?
Not sure what your opinion was on my pop up…it is smaller than a lot of the new ones, and it doesn’t show up till about 30 seconds after you start reading a post. I happen to use it because it’s helpful for my business.:) I know you don’t like that, but it is true.
Mitch, if you let every pop up stress you out, that is not healthy at all. Is one click to dismiss them really that strenuous?
You are definitely entitled to your opinion and are free to do whatever you want. This post just got me a little concerned for your well being.
I hope you will chill, eat something sweet and let it go.
Life is too short.
Best,
Matthew
Hi Matthew,
First, I had to go check your blog out again to see how it worked. It at least let me get to the end of the content before it popped up so that doesn’t bother me… too much. lol
Second, have you looked at all the other comments here before yours? Did you see a single person who liked them? Did you notice that every other person who commented hated them? Dude, this is a much bigger issue than me; just sayin’…
Actually, I do spend a lot of energy. I spend tons of energy visiting blogs on a daily basis. I probably visit over 100 blogs or websites a day, reading material, commenting, and then sharing. That means this happens to me a lot… and I mean A LOT! Other people complain about spam, which is something I don’t have any problems with but popups…
Just asking, but do you really think blogs that have popups as soon as a visitor shows up are actually reader friendly? If you walked into KFC would you like being slapped in the face before you even told them what you wanted? What about if they slapped you in the face afterwards? That’s kind of a visual example but it’s quite appropriate. I don’t mind the slap so much at the end since I can always slap back at that point (lol) because I’ve at least gotten what I came for. But being assaulted before I even get to see what the article is all about, and these days we’re talking about at least 70% of the time because these aren’t blogs I visit all that often… I ain’t got time for that.
Course, I’ll make you an offer. You visit 100 blogs a day for two weeks and comment on at least 25% that you don’t normally visit (1400 blogs and websites), tell me afterwards that you enjoyed the experience, and I’ll put a popup on this blog for a week. I’m betting your feelings would be a lot more like Adrienne’s, who hates them but deals with some of them and ignores the rest or never goes back to visit them. Life is short; I’d rather be eating chocolate ice cream than always having to click those things.
We got a deal? š
Hey Mitch,
That IS a LOT of blogs. I’m a daily visitor too, but 100? I don’t have time for that, honestly.
I have increased my outreach, so let’s not put a number on it. I do get what you’re saying. 100 a day, and I have no reason to doubt your claim, is a lot. And I do agree that some pop ups are obnoxious and even rude.
Where I’m coming from is this: I use pop ups, I get good traffic, I don’t hear anyone complaining to me about it. Truthfully. Zero. Nobody is emailing me to complain about my pop up. And mine works for me. If it didn’t work, if it turned people off, I’d be the first to share that feedback.
I just think there’s bigger fish to fry. As a pop up user, I’d be a hypocrite to bash them. I think there are more tactful ways to use them than what some are doing.
Yes, I saw more of these comments are anti pop up. That’s why I thought it would be fun to interject a pro pop up slant to this conversation. š
You can hate them and rant about them, I just wouldn’t start policing the internet, keeping records of who has them and who doesn’t. If you have time for that, more power to ya.
Ice cream? I’m suddenly craving pop tarts.;)
Plugging in the toaster now,
Matthew
Ah, it’s the list thing bothering you then. I keep lists for everything; that’s how I organize my life, something I got from both my mom and dad. I have a list of between 200 and 250 blogs I visit on a regular basis. I have a list of blog post of my own stuff (I have 5 blogs remember?) that I want to share that’s about 10 pages long that I’m always adding to. I have a running list that hangs around 150 to 200 a week that are blog posts, web articles and quotes that I like from people that I glean from Twitter that I share along with my own things, everything scheduled out so that I’m not only talking about myself and sharing my own stuff, and I’m interested in lots of stuff. To go further (non-web) but I have lists of every song I have on my albums (yup, I still have those), every song I have on cassette tapes (yup, those also lol), and I make all sorts of playlists so I can quickly access the type of music I want to listen to in MP3 format. I have lists of books, lists of movies, lists of projects, lists of article topics I want to write on…
So, keeping a list of blogs I don’t want to visit because of irritating popups would just continue the trend. Policing the internet; that’s not close to my intention. Actually, if you go back and read that paragraph again, you didn’t see me saying I was going to share that list with anybody; that’s just an assumption you happened to make. lol I tell people all the time that if I didn’t say it, don’t assume it because I’m nothing if not truthful.
Does that make you feel better? BTW, the reason I can visit 100 blogs is because so many have popups that drive me away that I can move on to the next one pretty quickly. If I was actually reading 100 blogs a day that might take more time to get through. It’s like a question I answer in my own industry (health care finance) when people ask how many collection calls per hour should people be able to make. The correct answer is a question; how many people are they actually talking to? If they’re not talking to anyone then they can make 50 calls an hour. Once they start talking to people a call can last anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. See, me sharing knowledge and commentary wherever I go. š
Hi Mitch,
As a programmer, I think pop-ups are neat. I love seeing the new technology behind them.
As a content consumer, they irritate me for two reasons: one, I routinely clear my cookies and two, even between cookie crushings, many sites keep showing their pop-ups.
I know for a fact that some plugins are supposed to be “smart” enough to check a visitor’s status and behave accordingly.
Anyway, I don’t hate them. If I want to subscribe, the webmaster has made it easy for me to do so. If the site is interesting enough, I’ll be getting the content via email, anyway!
Cheers,
Mitch
I don’t receive any blog notifications by email; I get way too many emails already. I use a blog reader, Feedreader, for those blogs I know I’m going to visit multiple times. But the popups have gotten out of hand in my opinion, like everything else does when one person decides it’s the greatest thing since chocolate (which is way better than bread), writes about it, and everyone else starts drinking the Kool-Aid (I wonder how many people these days actually know where that came from; it’s actually really scary for those of you who don’t…). That it also means there are a lot of sites who have those popups that hide the stupid X so that we have no clue how to close it… nope, I’m done with that mess.
Well, that’s the huge difference between us, Mitch. I only follow 5 people! You’re one and guess how I find out about your blog posts? LOLOL.
The other four are Lisa Irby, two Excel gurus and my Buddy Derek (WordBuff).
Cheers,
Mitch
Sure, I get loads more notifications, but these are to websites, forums, etc.
Hello Mitch,
This is my first time here, and I am glad that I am here.
The pop up has gotten completely out of control in my eyes as well. I am right there with you!Lately if something comes up, I figure that they are trying harder to advertise something instead of wanting me to read their content, so I just leave.
The one that bothers me the most is this “scroll mat”. I find a great piece of content that I think I want to read, and as soon as I scroll down, my page is filled with a bright colored advertisement.
I had a pop up once… but when I visited my own site from an incognito page to see if things were working correctly, it annoyed me terribly. I didn’t know I would be able to annoy myself.
Let’s stop the pop up movement! I’m with you.
All the best,
Jeff Sollee
LOL! You annoyed yourself; that’s funny! Yet I can fully understand that. I once had a script on a blog that was supposed to offer some kind of advertising thing. When I went to see how it worked it pretty much hijacked my blog page, and if I hadn’t kept open my admin panel I would have had to ftp my way in to remove the plugin; ugh.
I’d forgotten about the scroll thing which, though bothersome, isn’t as bad as not being able to read any of the content at all… unless it refuses to get out of the way. I’m glad we’re on the same side of this issue; thanks for your great comment Jeff!
I don ‘t think you’re being pig headed at all Mitch. I think I only ever tried pop-ups on one of my blogs. Not sure if it ever did any good though.
I’m with you on the annoyance factor. I would also delete them from my reader if I had one lol
Peter, if anyone could understand my grief it’s you because you used to visit as many blogs as I do now. Can you just imagine trying to get around when you keep encountering those things?
Oh yes, Mitch. Add me to the list of folks who agree with you. I seem to remember that in the early days of the web there were popups and enough protest to slow them way down. Then people rediscovered them.
I use Chrome’s popup blocker which helps.
Maybe we should start a petition!
Congrats on 11 years!
Thanks Anne. I’m on Firefox and have popup blockers and a host of other blockers but none of them do anything with those newsletter popups. As Matt said in his comment, many folk say it’s good for business and that’s why they keep them. I figure that everyone writes for their particular audience but if those folks don’t really want me to read what they have to say then it’s obvious I’m not their audience. That’s why it’s called “choice” I suppose. š
I was reading the conversation you were having with Matthew and he was saying that no-one has ever complained about the popup he uses. Honestly? I don’t bother complaining either, I just go back. Have you ever complained to anyone using those pop-ups that you find so annoying? I’m sure you haven’t. I’m sure most people wouldn’t complain, just don’t go back.
I used to complain and it would end up being an argument on someone else’s blog that had nothing to do with the topic. You know how I am; I’ve been writing on this same subject since 2008: http://www.imjustsharing.com/irritating-popups-et-al/ and you were the first one to comment on it lol
Pop-ups is fine so long as I don’t get the pop-ups on every single page. If it’s only showing on the about page (which I have seen on some blog), I’m totally cool with that.
If it’s on every single page. I’ll never return no matter how great the blog (or content) may be. It’s just pure irritating.
I’ll probably add to the bounce-rate if I ended up on a landing page or squeeze page with pop-ups. I don’t know why. Maybe is just me.
I absolutely loathe popups! I think they are a sign of disrespect for your audience.
Uttam, when I’m visiting blogs I rarely visit their About page unless I’m actually going to share the post & I can’t find a Twitter handle to add because they forgot to set up their share buttons to show it. So, this means those popups are on every single article on those blogs; irritating as sin.
Ah, the good old Sire days LOL. Yeah, I forgot about commenting. I was thinking more of someone complaining via the contact form. I personally wouldn’t bother, I would just stop calling back. I certainly wouldn’t continue reading the post.
See, we agree on that point.
Hey Mitch,
I have to agree with this one. I, too, find pop-ups intrusive.
I don’t hold anything against the bloggers themselves because I’ve heard that this can increase signups – and everyone needs to do what they feel is best with their own websites. Diversity makes the world go round, so to each his/her own.
But with this being said, it ruins the experience of reading the post for me. There is the option of the pop-up displaying itself once the reader is about to leave, and I think this is the “cleanest” way to go about it.
I don’t have any of them installed on my blog, but eventually, I’ll probably go with the one I’ve just mentioned (if I do at all).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It looks as if you’re not the only one with this perspective š
Thanks Dana. I don’t see me ever doing it but if I did, I might go for one of those things that comes from the side once a person has gotten to the bottom of the article so at least they had the opportunity to read it. That’s really my gripe, even though I hate popups that also block trying to leave comments.
I’m wondering if you’ve ever encountered popups on Hot Blog Tips?
I have one running but it only activates for new visitors (or people that haven’t visited for over a month) and then only on certain pages.
This was for testing using LeadPages. I haven’t had a single complaint and it really has helped boost subscriber rates.
Right now I’m comparing open rates from that segment (such an impersonal word) with the other subscribers. I have to ignore the initial open since that’s the one that offers the subscriber gift. It turns out that testing can be pretty complicated.
For me, on a reader lever, they can get overwhelming but it takes more than a single popup with an easy close. When I get them every time I click to a new page or get more than one popup.
The worst pop-up ever? The ones that won’t let you leave. You close a page and a popup asks, “Are you sure you want to leave and say goodbye to -whatever- forever?” Why, yes I do. I do want to leave and I want you to die! LOL Can’t stand those.
Oh, I forgot about the video ads. How crazy is that? Your first experience visiting a site is searching around to turn off the sound.
Wow, one more. lol The hidden sidebar ads. I guess they’re not really a popup but when you click outside the content area (to focus your mouse), you just clicked an ad. Super deceptive.
All in all, I think there can be a place for popups when used respectfully. I know, you just witnessed a complete 180 and then back again but, hey, I’m a complicated dude. LOL
Glad you kind of came around Brian! lol For those of you who don’t follow Hot Blog Tips (and why wouldn’t you?), Brian had a bit of fun at my expense with this post: http://hotblogtips.com/stop-crying-about-popups
My gripe is with those suckers that pop up as soon as you get to the page, blocks all the content so you can’t read until you take action. I’ve put up with it long enough, and the thing is that it seems no sites ever remember that I’ve visited so I’m constantly getting bombarded by those suckers. You know how many blogs I love to visit; that just turns me off greatly, and now we can include all those other things you just mentioned.
I did see your popup, but it didn’t show until I’d already read the entire post. It was also to the right side; if that’s not what was supposed to happen then I’m glad it did because it never blocked the content. And now that I see you’ve changed your commenting system… I’ll be heading there lickety-split! lol
You are not a pig head. āŗ
I can’t stand popups. I have thought about adding a ppopup, but if I don’t like them, I am quite sure vistors and readers won’t like them either. Just because everyone is doing the popup thing doesn’t make it the best thing.
I have a signup form for blog post updates, but I try to put them in different places. Front page, slider, sidebar, and as a call to action (sometimes) after a blog post.
I am glad I am not the only person who cannot stand popups.
Glad you’re on my side Evelyn! lol Nope, doing something to others that you hate yourself definitely isn’t cool. I know business is business but really, isn’t social media marketing supposed to be about customer experience?
Hey Mitch,
I have a popup on my blog, but I have it set up to show after my audience reads the blog post. Now if they complain about it popping up in the comment section, then I’ll take it off.
Besides that, I really don’t like to see popups as soon as you click on the article. Like you I want to at least get a chance to read the article first before I see any popup. And as you mentioned, I hate the really big ones where you have to manipulate the window in order to get to the “X” to close it out. I read blogs on my smart phone a lot and this can be irksome.
But Mitch, you have to do what you have to do. I have much respect for that and Im sure your online peers will love you more for it.
Thanks for sharing Mitch! Have a great week!
Sherm, that’s the way to do it. Let people see your content before asking them to subscribe so they know what they’re getting into. That’s friendly and enhances the customer experience; good for you! š
I hate the popups and have tried very hard not to implement things that kill the reading experience.
Periodically I have used tools like a floating share bar to see if those had a positive impact, but I tried to make sure I tested it out on my phone and tablet first just to make sure it wouldn’t be a problem.
I try to be forgiving of that kind of stuff on other blogs, but if you block my ability to read your stuff with a popup before I have any sense of who you are or a relationship, forget it.
Thanks for your input Jack. I’m with you, all I’d like the ability to do is read the article, which I believe most people would like to do first before those popups appear.
Hi Mitch,
Pig-headed? Not at all my friend. I am a fellow ranter of those pop-ups!
It gets me crazy when I visit a blog and a huge pop up comes up and I can’t find the x. It sure is nerve wracking. Then I’m in the middle of reading, and another pops up. Call me cranky, but I loose focus of the content when this happens.
Because I’m a blogger, I read many blogs per day. It’s just part of the business of being a blogger. I have no time to fool around with those pop ups that keep flashing at me.
So, I’m with you! I have read the research too and just cannot believe it would ever work for me. I find them too annoying and will only use them on a sales page, not my blog.
-Donna
Wonderful stuff Donna; you’re someone who fully understands my consternation about the whole process. I didn’t even talk about the middle of reading popups; those are quite irritating also but I figure they’re on some kind of timer or position setting and at least I got to see some of the article. I still don’t like those but I can deal with them a bit better.
Hi Mitch
I have to say, I am 100% with you on this subject. I’ve done a lot of testing over the past couple of months with popups and the majority of visitors do not like them. I got better conversion rates by including my subscription form in clearly visible spaces on my website, than when I used different types of popups.
I also found that using a sticky bar at the top of one of my blogs brought in more subscribers and had a better conversion rate than the blogs that I tested popups on.
Thank you for sharing your insight in this matter, and I look forward to reading more here on your blog.
– G
Thanks Gerhard; another supporter. lol Testing will usually show people the best way to go, although some of my tests end up being inconclusive. I always wonder what the bounce rate looks like for those folks who have popups blocking content before people even get to read it. I’d be hard pressed to believe it wasn’t negatively affecting them, even if they’re getting more signups for their newsletters.
Of a truth, pop-ups distracts readers and reduces the value of a blog since a reader may never return after being frustrated by pop-ups contained in a blog.Although many authority internet marketers utilize pop-ups for list building,I really do not think that it is a nice idea. I’d prefer leaving my subscription box by the sidebar or at the end of a post.
All the same, thanks for taking your time to construct such a wonderful piece. Enjoy the rest of the day!
~Chinedu
Subscription box in the sidebar; it’s kind of what I said I might do, and I think it’s definitely the least obtrusive.
well honestly I was planning to add a neat pop-up to my blog (a like button to our facebook page :|) after the user is finished reading a recipe. Definitely not the one where you have to figure out finding X for hours. will that still be annoying?
If you let people read your article first it won’t be annoying. If you ask before… people will leave before even thinking about reading anything.
I also agree with you, popups is worthless till not you become popular on the internet. Plus, using popups is changed much from past years. Popups are now more content based and appears only after blog post read.
Well, they should be Paul, but I’m seeing more often than not popups appearing before anyone’s even had a chance to see the type of content being presented. It’s irksome as heck! lol
lol, Maybe irksome is a karma !! Most of non experienced bloggers feel they can create a traffic generating machine just copying popular entrepreneur website and layout. š š don’t know, why they forget experience and knowledge is something that come with time…
They may think that Paul but they don’t realize how much traffic they’re throwing away because people like me get irritated.
Course, after tomorrow’s post, we’re going to see who I irritate more, us or the people who use popups; stay tuned. š
Pop-ups on your website front page really put a bad impression on the user. It also affects SEO ranking of your website.