It’s so damn aggravating…all the annoying bastards and/or things that just try to get under your skin and push you to the limit. What am I talking about? Those little “pet peeves” that come around and make your life just a little more of a hassle than what it should be while running your travel blog.
So what of it? What are the most annoying pet peeves that just aggravate the hell out of me…sending me off the ends of the earth ranting and raving? Well it’s about time that we all found out:
#1. No Internet Vs. Slow Internet
You are taking forever to load!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!
The good ole battle of a reliable, no-nonsense Wi-Fi connection. I must say that even in todays society that I still have problems with this on a regular occasion. You just got done exploring the town you’re in, find a coffee shop, sit down to write that exciting experience you just had and just after you connect to the internet it takes 5-10 minutes to load a page.
5 or 10 minutes might not be much, but when you’re trying to write an article, upload a photo or video and are constantly saving your data…this can be a royal pain in the ass because what should only take 30 minutes to write an article turns into a 2-3 hour project.
My piece of advice:
If you’re going to host Wi-Fi to your customers as well as pay for advertising, don’t you think you should get off your tight bum and get a halfway decent modem? It’s called Amazon
jackass…use it.
jackass…use it.#2. Talk the Talk & Walk the Walk
If you are tired of your everyday life and want to do something different…then do it! Quit complaining about ‘how nice’ it would be to travel for a living…you’re going nowhere unless you take that wasted energy and put it into action.
If you are serious, just like I and many other full time travelers were in the beginning, then you will make some serious life changes and follow your dreams. I mean seriously…you have a virtually never ending supply of people right before you who can help guide you through the process…it’s not THAT difficult as long as you’re dedicated.
My piece of advice:
It’s not rocket science, just creativity. There are literally a million different ways for someone to live a life of travel; it just takes some time, patience & creativity. If you have any questions or would like a ‘guide’, I wrote an entire ebook on how to start traveling just for your convenience!
#3. Dead Guest Writers
Don’t offer to write for me then fall of the face of the earth!
One of my favorites and particularly one of the biggest wastes of time I have; guest writers. Every day I have at least 5-10 emails in my box of people offering to write an article on Active Planet Travels. Don’t get me wrong, now…guest contributors are great! I absolutely love them!
But what I don’t love? Is when they go through the trouble of inquiring on my site, I send them a detailed email on the next steps to take while they just fall off the face of the earth!
My piece of advice:
If you’re going to waste someones time, don’t waste mine. Go out and write in a forum or something.
#4. Spammy & Over-advertised Websites
I must say that I see websites (big & small) make this mistake on a daily basis. If you’re going to monetize your website, then do it with class. I don’t want to see Google Adsense on every bloody page, bar, banner and popping up all over the damn place. Afraid you’re not going to make enough money from your traffic?
Well I’ve got a reality check for you sweetheart…if you have good enough content and you’re doing what you do with passion, then the money will follow. Not happening for you? Then get the f&%$ over yourself and move on to the next big thing.
My piece of advice:
If you work diligently, with passion on your blog, then over time you will receive a number of advertising/sponsorship offers to keep you going. Take your time, don’t push the envelope and build a solid combination of fans as well as sponsors that are RELATED to your niche.
#5. Short, Unrelated & Obviously Retarded Comments
Comments like this I do not take seriously and go straight in the trash!
The other day I logged into my dashboard to find over 95 comments (no joke) and 92 of them were broken english, talking about something totally unrelated to the article or were just gibberish; aka spam. The remaining 3 were actual people leaving spam comments, too. If you are going to make an effort to put your name out there, do it with pizzazz.
For instance, don’t leave me a comment like this:
“Hello! Nice article! Follow my blog at www.ImAJoke.com”
If you think for one second that I’m going to leave your dirty little comment cluttering up the small corners of my blog then you’ve got something coming to you. To us bloggers, that’s trash…white trash…and quite frankly I don’t deal with white trash.
My piece of advice:
If you’re going to leave a comment, do so in an informational way. People read for information and the last thing they want is spam.
Next time, give information in your thoughts so that people leave knowing that you know your niche…then you just might have a chance at getting a new loyal and active fan.
My pet peeve at the moment is what I perceive to be “fake” bloggers. Note that it’s my perception before reading on…I could totally be wrong. I see some “travel bloggers” who have hundreds of posts and thousands of followers on ever social media platform and claim to have been to so many countries, but 90% of their posts contain CC images. Granted, it’s great that they give credit to the photographer. But it makes me wonder if they have actually been there, if they don’t have any of their own photos. Also, a lot of their posts are written in a non-personal way, like a website page for the place instead of an experience. Like I said, maybe it’s just me….but I’d be peeved if I found out I was following someone who was just finding stuff on the net and posting it just to gain followers, when there are so many genuine people who are more deserving of their writing being recognized. (Not saying I’m one of them -I’m still brand new to this…but you get my drift). Okay, rant over. Thanks for allowing it
I can understand your point of view Sandra. I guess it all comes down to what your goals are with your blog. Some bloggers do it just for the fun of it, some people like to make some extra spending money while others (like myself) make a full blown living from it. I think it comes down to that person though…every person has the right to publish what they want being it’s their blog; although I do agree and find it SUPER annoying when someone makes false claims as to what they have and haven’t done. But I digress, welcome to the internet right?! lol
This made me laugh. I actually think slow internet is worse because you keep trying to work whereas with no internet you give up and do something else.
Haha! Yes it is the worst! Having slow internet is like going to a candy shop with absolutely no money…that and when you finally getting something done and try to save it you end up losing all your work!
Thanks for the laugh this morning:) It is a small thing, but I hate when I go to post a link on Facebook and the thumbnail doesn’t show up. I’ve spent hours diagnosing this problem and have finally figured it out, but man it would drive me absolutely bonkers…
That happens to you too?! I thought I was the only one with this unfortunate problem…that and while we are on the subject, I wish they would allow us to choose which picture we want displayed. (Like if they took all of the pictures from an article instead of just the featured one!)
How about other travelers who are not bloggers and give you a hard time for being on your computer working.
OMG…That’s another one! People are always giving me a hard time about being on my computer working…lol. I guess it’s hard for some to realize that not having a “real job” requires some responsibility and putting time aside for blog work…and that doesn’t mean playing virtual chess. lol 😀