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Assume and There Is A Chance You Might Lose Blog Readers!

I've been attempting to spend more time on my outside blogs...trying to be a little more organized and offer niche reading...right now..things seem out of wack..tearing apart...replacing and updating but the most important task..darn it I forgot...is testing....

On All Of The Browsers

I use Mozilla Firefox..and I assumed so does everyone else

And you know what happens when you assume?

YOU MAY LOSE READERS!

Let me explain..I use IE in my office it seems to be where I edit my site...but at home I use Mozilla Firefox with the Internet Explorer tab.. I do have Internet Explorer on my computer and rarely use it..except what else..to get into the office of my site!

Recently I wrote a post about linking to your old posts...and Missy offered her recent experiences...

"Thanks I need to link to more of my past posts. I do it but not all the time. I never really look at my blog log here either. I do on my outside blog because I am still trying to build my readership. One person who I met here, follows me there and I was so grateful she contacted me on Sat and said she could not open my blog on IE. So I checked and I could not either. It was fine in FF and Safari, so I went to Twitter and posted the HELP and Danny Thorton jumped in and tried to figure it out. Brad Carroll said I might have a widget interfering and I took off my latest one and voila it worked again. I will not check all the search sites if I add a widget or pluggin." Missy Caulk-Ann Arbor- Realtor(R)- Ann Arbor Real Estate (Keller Williams-Ann Arbor)

So for a few days now..I couldn't open my blog on Internet Explorer and in truth I probably would have never checked. But Missy's comment rang a bell...and I remember some chaos over widgets on the rain...

And to think I assumed everyone used Modzilla..don't assume anything.... check all of your blogs on the various browsers out there!

p.s. It was a few of my widgets that I just removed and will have to adjust the code around..the code sometimes does not work in all web browsers!

And to think..

I said I wasn't technical...I'm not...... I just surfed the net and got my answer!

Various Browser Statistics and more various browser statistics and even more various browser statistics

I think you get it each source varies! Have you checked your blogs lately?

Midori Miller is a licensed real estate associate with CENTURY 21 Sundance Realty, Real Estate Trainer and Manager. If you are interested in a career in real estate please contact me! All calls and inquiries are confidential. CENTURY 21 Sundance Realty is located in Volusia County with 3 office locations to better serve the public. Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach and Ormond by the Sea. midorimiller@yahoo.com (386) 453-3236

Posted by Florida Real Estate Trainer | Daytona Beach After School Training | Midori on 01/04/2009 12:55 PM

Comments (42)

Web Browsers in the Training Channel

you know what happens when you assume, lose readers, check your browsers, midori miller daytona beach real estate trainer, training, florida

Originally posted at: Daytona Real Estate Training: Assume and There Is A Chance You Might Lose Blog Readers!

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42 Comments on Assume and There Is A Chance You Might Lose Blog Readers!

JAN

Sometimes we get so caught up in the technology and it becomes so convoluted that we grind everything to a halt. Its like the icing became so heavy it collapsed the cake. Sound like that is what is happening to you. Then on the other end ther are folks like me with a cake and are looking t ice it

Midori, its hard finding what works where and on which browser. Just go for the one with the most adoption and if you can get it in more than one its a win. you sound very techie, there are work arounds for everything good luck

Very interesting about the widgets. I've not checked my outside blog in ages! Thanks for the valuable info.

Good information! I'll have to keep an eye on this, and wouldn't have known about it without your post. Thank you.

There's so much technology out there it's hard to know what's what. Word of mouth is good, like your post here, but end the end, you have to figure out what best fits your needs.

Good luck with that one and thanks for the info.

As much as I dislike it, I use IE7 almost all the time. Why? Because according to my blog analytics, 78% of the people who land on my blog are using IE 6 or 7 and I want to make their experience the best I can, even though it ruins mine :)

Oh Wow...I use a Mac and IE isn't supported on the newer macs. The only time I get on IE is when I use the MLS on Windows. So I had beter check my blog. I think its OK, because my father took a look at it a few days ago and he uses windows with IE - but still -that's scary for Mac users becuase we rarely use IE.

I always forget now to check how things look on IE. I used to always use IE and I was horrified a time or two by how my blog would look in Firefox. I had a hard time getting used to Firefox

I have the stats on my blog that show what browsers people are using, not on AR anymore. There was a site that I used long ago that would show you the same page on different browsers.

I have tried to become relatively widget free.

i HAVE HAD THAT PROBLEM ON THE COMMUNITY GRAPEVINES TILL A MONTH AGO AND NOW ALL BROWSERS WORK.

http://www.westernmontanagrapevines.com

Thanks for the heads up! I went and checked using IE6 and it appears to bed working fine. But now I know to check periodically to make sure.

Thanks for the heads-up. I really try to keep my widgets on outside blogs to a minimum. I'm pretty straight WordPress using a template, but my Active Rain blog may be widget heavy. I'll take a look.

Midori-I guess it's hard to know what others are using.

I use internet explorer. My text looks cut off on my website blog, on the right hand side. I have been going nuts trying to figure out how to fix it. I've been told it's the monitor settings, but it's cut off on my laptop, and two other computers at work. I tried to play around in feedburner to no avail.

I wonder if the blog looks Ok with Mozilla.

Midori...

Nice post and thanks for the reminders. I am a tech evangelist, but I don't use a lot of widgets for the reasons you state above. But I do love the behind the scene widgets for analysis and stats. More and more I like sites that are visually minimalist. One thing I learned this past year going to tradeshows and RE conventions is that the advertising on location was all so busy and visually loud that it all blurred together... I also find this to be true with a lot of industry websites. Simple attracts me because it stands out.

Thanks for the nitecruzer link... forgot about this one, and it's a handy site.

Rene'

Midori I agree with Rene up above. I've really focused on trying to have a cleaner look, no widgets. Google Analytics can do so much for stat information.

Thankfully?? I noticed some blogs on AR loaded slowly and they had a lot of widgets, so I haven't used any in a long time, but I will have to check this every so often...

Because many agents are such active online users, we also tend to be early adapters of new technology, such as Firefox. It's important to remember that about 70% of the browsing public still uses IE, so we should always tailor our content to the largest possible audience.

hi Midori, My son-in law is a tec expert and advised me to stop IE and use firefox. I never thought about the people who use IR having a problem accessing the blog. I was told along time ago by one of the AR members who said keep the sidebar and widgets to a minimum, you really don't need them. So that is what I have done other than my play list that I can't be without. Thanks for the tip.

Sometimes all this technology can get confusing. Thank you for the information

I use Firefox myself. Most techies also use it but the vast majority of mainstream america still uses IE. It is good to check to see how your blog looks in IE as this will be how it is seen by most.

I run into a reverse problem. I build and maintain sever web sites. I find that they all work great in Internet Explorer, but from time to time things get wacky with when viewing with Moziila.

Thanks for the reminder !!! Is good to be able to stay on top of it all !!! Is very hard to, hard to remember everything. And even harder if one is not too technical - that would be us !! : )

Like Michelle D, my stat counter says that far and away, the majority of my readers use IE 6 or 7. I use IE7 because our MLS requres it.

BTW, I was the one that advised Missy that I could no longer read her outside blog. I kept getting an Operation Abort, then IE would lock up my computer. I had to sign off the internet and then go back in to continue.

At first I thought it was something with my system, but I didn't have any problem with the other outside blogs that I read. It had just started doing it on Missy's blog, so I thought it likely that she had made some recent change. She tested the recently added widgets, and eventually deleted the problem one.

Midori, I have so much to learn!! Thanks for posting. I will bookmark to keep close at hand.

Midori - Hi and Happy New Year first of all! I have been using IE7 most of the time and only occasionally use FF. I have noticed that when editing in IE7 there are some bugs on the A/R site that I have confirmed with Bob Stewart that are a problem with IE7. I have had to use FF to go in and fix the problems that IE7 will not let me fix on A/R . Just a heads up for those who are having some problems editing in IE7. Bob H

I've found different things on different browsers and different screens. It's all a little bit different. This sounds like even more of a problem. At least it sounds like you pretty much got a handle on it.

I am checking my outside blogs pretty diligently. I do have a question regarding if those blogs are more valuable than an active rain blog. I will be posting this question shortly to see what type of feedback I receive.

Good reminder, Midori... I use Firefox as well and only use IE to log into our MLS system. Everything looks good, but this is a great reminder to cross check on both to make sure everyone can access our sites.

Never thought about this...as a Firefox user I guess I need to check this out. Thanks

I know our site has issues with IE but we can't figure out the fix. It sure is frustrating.

Midori, isn't it great that we can find help quickly like you did from the Twitter? That is what amazes me.

I didn't like too many widgets anyway because sometimes it crashes my computer.

Hi Midori, I am thinking of putting a disclaimer on our blogs that read "best viewed with Mozillo Firefox". I also use Google Analytics to see what % of users use which browser. Look slike 65% use IE. 28% use FireFox.

Look slike 65% of our readers are mis-guided. LOL

One of the side benefits of faithfully using an analytics program is that you can see a traffic drop off. And, when it happens (of course, it NEVER happens to me... except when I am busy ;^| ) you can see if there is a specific type of traffic that is affected... I had a hacker that hijacked my Google results. I had a widget that shut me down and I've had other little oddities pop up... but with the analytics, I can sometimes see where the problem originates. Sometimes.

Midori - this is not anything I would have even thought about - are you saying that some results may show up lower in google searches depending on what browser you are using? Hmmmm... that is a lot to digest - it seems that there is so little time and so much to learn!!!

This is news to me. I use IE, but I know a lot of people using macs and that do not use ie. I will have to check my sites and be careful with widgets I guess.

Marcy

Midori: This is something to keep in mind. I don't use firefox so I don't know much about it.

Midori- I only use IE and I wanted to get a new mac laptop but I can't use it to open my MLS site because it is only linked through IE. All of this technology gets confusing doesn't it???!!

JAN

Thanks everyone for the comments....

You should look at the stats...most people use IE! I didn't really think about it...until I could not open my blog. Just be careful in how you and what widgets you place on your site!

Emily-I'm saying you won't have readers if they can't get your blog open!

Michelle-pretty smart since you can see how it looks in IE for the majority of your readers!

Maureen-many widgets gone...gone...gone!

Kristal-check the stats..above..links..its clear the majority of users use IE!

June-my husband too and I use mozilla..I just forget that the rest of the world does not!

Elaine-Thank you...thank you! I would have not checked otherwise! Thats why I love love the comments sometimes more than the posts!

Jay-awesome Idea and in truth I might have to use that idea !

Lane-thanks that is very useful info for me as well as others.

Widgets! Love them and hate them. Can't get in here on AR to change my Christmas ornament widget! Grrr. Have no clue why. Nice of you to spell all of this out for everyone!

Old habits die hard...I am an IE devotee and when we had our computers in for an overhaul....the techie guy defaulted to firefox...I am still fighting...less....it takes some getting used to...enjoy...best to you in 09 !

Thanks for the post and great information!

Midori- I received an email today from the hosting site tech help, that the blog looks fine viewed with Mozilla firefox. Now the question is how to make it look fine if their viewing it with IE. Based on your blog, it seems most are still using that.

Midori - I've had little snafus like you and Missy describe, and am so grateful for the Internet - and the many generous souls here on Active Rain.

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