Dear A-listers: Have you visited your blog lately?

Do the requirements for a user-friendly blog vary all that much from a user-friendly website?

Folks, I gotta pipe up. It can be pretty painful visiting some of the A-list blogs out there today. My pain comes from experiencing – over and over again – stinging instances of poor usability and functionality. In social-sphere terms, this translates to “lack of hospitality.”

Your blog is like a house. And your content – which is quite yummy – is what you serve to your guests. Your blog’s usability and functionality are two of several key elements that define your hospitality. 

Consider conducting a professional audit of your blog’s current level of hospitality – and do so from the viewpoint of new-to-the-blogosphere visitors (who are, after all, still the majority). Here’s a basic starter checklist that relates solely to usability and functionality – both of which will create your foundation for improved hospitality. If anyone wants to add to this checklist, please feel free to do so.

Usability and Functionality:
The Foundation for Creating a Hospitable Blog

• Don’t make the guest wait at your front door:
  • Fast-loading home page – ?
    Seriously, some blogs are taking what seems like “days” to load.
• Provide free reign to explore your home:
  • Search Engine functionality – ?
    Don’t force folks to page through and manually scan years of archived posts to find a quote, learn more about you, or explore a particular topic.
• Let your visitors read your diaries:
  • Easy and Simple-to-Use Access to Archived Posts – ?
    Yes, your pearls of yesteryear are just a valuable as those you dispense today.
• Don’t renege on invitations:
  • Fix Broken Links – ?
    This is Usability 101 stuff, but why are there still so many broken links (including those that ask guests to “register here”)?

While any blog (including my own) may unwittingly cause usability pain, I am noticing the trend more frequently among popular blogs (Perhaps because I visit them more often? Or maybe because I expect more? You tell me…).

These are the blogs that, by virtue of their sheer traffic volume, have the power and resources to lead by example, sway opinion, and provide a truly hospitable experience for guests – on a grand scale. And your guests include members of the mainstream media who are trying to learn more about the blogosphere and understand your role as an influential communicator in our world. It behooves you to make it easy for them to move about your home.

Why, you may be thinking, hasn’t my loyal following told me about this pain? Well, I can’t speak for the rest of the folks, but I will go out on a limb and offer this: Transparency or not, if a guest is in your home – chances are they will be too polite to say that they have issues with your home (particularly if the prospect of “link love” beckons) or to dis you for your lack of hospitality.

Obviously my appeal is not directed at every A-list blogger out there. But it can be directed at any blogger, A-list or not – both those who are passionate about blogging as well as those who consider it a “necessary evil” (you know who you are) – who haven’t visited their own site, as a guest, in months or even years.

Overall, however, it seems to me that the marketing-focused blogs have a tendency to be much less painful than the others (not really a surprise). And if I were to award a Grand Prize for the blog that was completely pain-free, from a usability and functionality perspective, it would go to Seth Godin (again, no big surprise). He even says “Click on my Head” which actually takes usability to the extreme – never a bad thing though.

Regardless of the usability condition of any of our blog homes, I am still very grateful to be a guest every day. I’ve learned a great deal from all of you in the blogosphere – from the A-listers to the zealous newbies.  I value your content – your insight – your expertise – your humanity – your advice – your comments – your feedback – your companionship – and your leadership.

Shoot, I think I just buried the lede.

SPECIAL NOTE: As I was finishing this post, I saw a tweet from Katie Paine that said: “pet peeve: #1 blogs that make you register in order to leave a comment. it’s like demanding a biz card before starting a conversation.” 

I’m grateful for her comment because it continues the discussion about improving blog hospitality –albeit from the perspective of communication exchange, rather than usability and functionality. However, like the still-untouched topic of design, this one will require a whole other conversation. Stay tuned…   

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