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Am I the only one who is getting tired/overwhelmed/annoyed with all of the stamp company blog hops? It used to be that a blog hop was a "special event". Now it seems like there's a blog hop for every little thing. And not only are there blog hops, but if you want to be eligible for a modest prize, you have to go to all bazillion stops, comment on every one of them, do entries in Rafflecopter, stand on one foot with your eyes closed while reciting the stampers' creed (there must be one somewhere, right?), and head back to the company blog to declare your success. By the time I get to the 5th or 6th stop, I've forgotten what I saw on the first stops and question why I'm even doing this!
My dearly loved stamp companies, there must be a better - and less frustrating and time consuming - way to showcase your products than this!
Not just that, I am on photo overload at some places. Maybe you don't need 27 people on your design team to begin with. Or maybe you only need like five of them to work in a given month. And also, figure out how to make those pictures smaller but clickable to enlarge, because my scrolling finger is tired. LOL.
I flat-out refuse to go a-hoppin'! I figure if something is important enough for them to want me to see it, they'll put it right there on the "home" blog. If I'm curious about what someone else on the design team has done beyond what's on that home blog, I may click through (there are a couple of people on a couple of design teams that I am enamored with, so I may visit them).
I also get annoyed when there's only a paragraph or two of any given blog post and you have to click "continue reading" to see the rest. Who has time for all of this nonsense?
__________________ ~ Sue Happy for no reason...
Last edited by gregzgurl; 12-02-2017 at 10:34 AM..
I have to agree, it does feel like it has been exponentially growing at a rate that might threaten my dust bunny production rate. (which to date is about the speed of light. Can you tell I have been cleaning today? )
My big issue is blog hops...are BLOG hops. If I am not signed up for your blog, I dont want my email inbox littered with blog hop announcements.
If you want to do a fast, single screen announcement of new product launch with a link, fine. I like to see new product. (with samples attached each, no blog required) If there is a SINGLE line in there that samples are on the blog, again with a link, fine.
But emails solely to tell me there is a hop, no. As it is, there are some truly beloved bloggers I am seriously considering unsubscribing to. They seem to participate in EVERY hop (bless their energy and creativity) and so THEY are ALSO emailing me about the hop. :shock:
Between all things, I could get 5+ notices of the same hop. Multiplied by X, esp during holidays...or slow times to maintain interest....as Becky said...pretty much it feels like every other week so my inbox increasingly looks like Hop Central....no thanks.
Yup. No blog hopping for me either. NONE. In fact I rarely go to anyone’s site in the first place. I ge all the inspiration I need right here and Pinterest. I don’t need any new products either so what’s the point!
My time is more valuable for me than to spend it scrolling and scrolling between blogs. I would hate all those emails you mention!
I believe there are So Many because major stamp producers create a new release EVERY MONTH!
I appreciate that My Favorite Things has changed the potential for a prize to just commenting on the 'home' blog page and not everyone of the many contributors. It is still every day of the release. but I can just view the designers I really enjoy.
I actually like several blog hops because I like those products and some of the designers. There is one that just started at Taheera Achita (sp?) dot com, where you can see a variety of creations through an Advent Calendar Extravaganza.
I NEED inspiration, so I like some of them.
I think you just helped me pinpoint why I'm getting increasingly LESS interested in blogs, in general. I enjoy cooking but every recipe I pull up lately seems to have multiple pictures of each step; I don't need four pictures of step 3 no matter how good the photography is. And unless someone is a gifted storyteller (like Lydia), I'm not sure I want to read through all the unrelated stuff posted either. Especially when there are ads interspersed. scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll
Emily - Skynacho, you have me thinking though. I had to change my blog layout and have begun inserting larger photos. Most often I only have one photo of the project and my posts are usually short. Is it really better to only have smaller photos and make someone click?
I never participated in blog hops, they seemed insane to me I even stopped looking at blogs a couple of years ago because I thought blogs were a dying breed. Was I wrong, hmmm oh well...
Companies look upon the internet as "free" advertising and go way overboard as a result, IMHO. Wish they would wise up and realize that the frustration/negativity they create when they abuse the internet does cost them. Some non-stamping companies send me at least 2 emails every single day and during the holidays, etc I get way more than that, really?!?! Do they really think they are so important they I (we) have nothing better to do than to spend our lives clicking buttons (aka jumping hoops) just for them. Wrong.
Instead I choose to deleted 90% of their emails without even reading them and as stated above I do not nor will I participate in blog hops. I can and often do choose to not shop at places that don't get it.
Most of the images from the hops can also be found on Instagram or Pinterest, so I’ve abandoned a lot of the hops too. From the designers’ perspective, though, I can see why they want the company to drive traffic to their blog and increase their own visibility. For those who love it, more power to them.
I don't blog hop. But I like knowing when certain bloggers post a new project. If I like the project or think I might learn something despite not liking it, I visit the blog, whether it's part of a hop or not. Otherwise I hit delete.
But once in a blue moon (pretty!), I'll click on a name I'm not familiar with to see if I might enjoy their style. Otherwise delete and repeat. (I have a simple brain.)
My sense is companies are desperate to bring in traffic, so have overused the hop. And I unsubscribe from companies - stamping related or not - that besiege me with emails.
I think you just helped me pinpoint why I'm getting increasingly LESS interested in blogs, in general. I enjoy cooking but every recipe I pull up lately seems to have multiple pictures of each step; I don't need four pictures of step 3 no matter how good the photography is. And unless someone is a gifted storyteller (like Lydia), I'm not sure I want to read through all the unrelated stuff posted either. Especially when there are ads interspersed. scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll
Emily - Skynacho, you have me thinking though. I had to change my blog layout and have begun inserting larger photos. Most often I only have one photo of the project and my posts are usually short. Is it really better to only have smaller photos and make someone click?
Yes! All I want is the recipe. I scroll down and down through the chit chat and endless pictures of said recipe until I get the actual recipe. It�s super annoying to me to have to sift through the stories and photos.
I rarely look at a hop and only have a couple of blogs I even check-in with. I think its become less about the fun and more about the Benjamins.
Its like NASCAR, they had a great thing going but pushed themselves so hard and fast to draw in even more fans, They forget (ignored?) their core base so now they've lost many of the die-hards and are hurting really bad.
I feel bad for the small bloggers who just want to share their work and get lost in this great big blogging engine.
I thought it was just me being grumpy. I seldom hop but just this morning I also started unsubbing some designers and stamp companies. Some of them send more than one email a day and there is one company that has a different complicated sale several times a week. Some people might love that but I’m not going to buy a bundle of 14 stamp and die sets for $184 anytime soon, so goodbye to that one. I already get emails from their designers I admire and I’m pretty well snowflaked out anyway.
I flat-out refuse to go a-hoppin'! I figure if something is important enough for them to want me to see it, they'll put it right there on the "home" blog. If I'm curious about what someone else on the design team has done beyond what's on that home blog, I may click through (there are a couple of people on a couple of design teams that I am enamored with, so I may visit them).
I also get annoyed when there's only a paragraph or two of any given blog post and you have to click "continue reading" to see the rest. Who has time for all of this nonsense?
Sue,
I wasn't going to post this, but then I read another post you left and decided I will. Your post made me laugh because I love the "click to continue" .
I don't like having to scroll through pages of posts to find the one I am looking for. I prefer to see all the pretty pictures then click if I want more info
Becky-
As far as blog hops go, there are a lot. I used to click on every single person and watch every video, now I skip those people whom I know never do a video and skip the videos that are not "my style". And I usually only comment on posts that I took the time to watch, whether or not there is a prize involved.
Last edited by staceylovespaper; 12-03-2017 at 11:02 AM..
I occasionally will do a blog hop. But not usually. My frustrations are the same as many of yours.
I only follow ONE blog...Jennifer McGuire. So my emails aren't affected that much.
I have a blog listing on MY blog that lists what blogs I like to look at. I may read everything posted, I may not. But it's there, it's easy to at to, subtract from, or ignore, and there's not tons of email involved.
What bugs me? Ten photos (and they're big) of the same project. I only want one. Or if it is a technique, then maybe a few more. But I'm fine with clicking on one picture to see it bigger. Make those posts short. Most of them are short anyway, and it's the pictures that make it long.
And if you do the "continue reading" thing, then ONE project per post, and have the project be the first picture. Not the company logo. That way I can decide whether I really want to see the post. I'm visual! And I'm like Stacey. Show me the project. Let it sell me on clicking thru to read your post.
I have another frustration, and maybe you do as well. It has to do with the size of the photo. I have a laptop. The screen is wide and not very tall. If the picture is huge then I cannot see the whole card on the screen. I have to scroll to see it all. And that means I never get to see the entire effect of the card. Face it. Seeing the whole card at once is a big deal.
@fionna51 I know on my laptop a quick sizing trick is (control +) to go bigger or (control -) to go smaller. See if that helps you. But know it wont auto reset. It will stay in that size till you correct back. Shrinks or grows the whole screen. I was thrilled when I learned this for small print.
Emily - Skynacho, you have me thinking though. I had to change my blog layout and have begun inserting larger photos. Most often I only have one photo of the project and my posts are usually short. Is it really better to only have smaller photos and make someone click?
Size of the photos doesn't bother me if you've only got a small number of photos per post.
When I was posting originally I was mostly thinking of some recipe blogs that I'm growing increasingly frustrated with because there's like 20 huge pictures of various assembly stages before I get to the recipe.
But there are some craft blogs where they'll put four projects into a post and there will be like four pictures of each project-- a wide shot, a photo of all the components, and then two or three or 12 artsy angle shots that maybe show off the dimension or some embellishment or something. Those bonus pictures (some of which are awfully close to identical) I think could be made a little smaller and then if I want to see those extra details, I can click to enlarge (and in some cases, being able to enlarge further to see detail would be desirable anyway).
When those photos are ALL IN ONE POST it takes me so long to find anything-- the page lags in loading, then because the photos don't all load the same time, the page skips as I am scrolling... it's especially bad on blogs that have been monetized and also have ads that are trying to load.
But if you put one project per post, even if you have multiple photos for it, it's easy for me to click on the title of that post, and then just load the five photos for that one project rather than waiting for 20 photos.
For me, it is also a matter of a short attention span. I don't like to scroll through a bunch of stuff to try to find the written material. If I feel like it's really burdensome to get through a post, I just give up.
But, you know, I'm just one person, so my opinion should carry very little weight. ;)
I totally get it. The sheer amount of new products almost every day is unbelievable. I comment only when I truly love a card or new product. I don't do it for a prize. There aren't enough hours in the day, though, to comment on all the gorgeous cards and releases.
I asked a company owner about the monthly (or more) releases and the blog hop frenzy and she said that they don't like it either. But, she found that unless they incessantly beat the drum to promote new products every single month, that their sales go way down.
__________________ Dear Paperlicious is my blog...with a series on how I'm learning to improve my cardmaking by studying others.
@fionna51 I know on my laptop a quick sizing trick is (control +) to go bigger or (control -) to go smaller. See if that helps you. But know it wont auto reset. It will stay in that size till you correct back. Shrinks or grows the whole screen. I was thrilled when I learned this for small print.
WOW! I wish I had known this for the past many years. And then to get it back to normal with Control 0. Thank you, Thank you!!:p
No, I won't do blog hops at all. I don't read DT blogs at all. I am sorry but I think it is just a cash grab and not educational. No side eye on cash grab. Everyone has their inspiration. It is just not mine.
I am very surprised blog hops are still a marketing thing. I spend my life at Instagram now. That is where I find the most inspiration. I was sooo burned out on stamping and the industry I was giving it up. Instagram inspired me to stamp again. It was like I found my own kind of people and the way I use to stamp.
It’s a business and I get that there is a lot of competition. It’s become a really crowded market. I have unsubbed a bunch of duplicate stuff especially the ones that come directly from the companies, but I do want to take the time I’m saving on reading so many and take the time to at least make a comment on the designers that have inspired me. I imagine it takes quite a bit of time and effort to film and edit a well paced video.
I don't do blog hops. I've done a few in the past, and I've found them to be tedious, uninspiring, and generally a waste of my time. I especially dislike them when they are for giveaways. If you're going to give something away, don't make it so long and drawn-out. One comment on your blog should be sufficient.
Blog Hop Overload
