One of the most critical parts of your blog is the section that is visible in the browser window without requiring any scrolling on the behalf of the visitor. What this means, in no uncertain terms, is that the most important and most critical elements need to be in this “above the fold” area, because many visitors who come to your blog are never even going to scroll down. Unfortunately, people make a lot of really common mistakes regarding this area of their blogs. Here are five critical mistakes that you need to avoid if you want each blog visitor that comes to your site to find reasons to stick around.
- * You are making a critical mistake if your header is too large. People will be able to tell what your blog is without you flashing it in 128 point font. Your header can be small and professional and speak volumes more than 128-point screaming in an annoying font.
- * You are making a mistake if you have useless things in your sidebars. The tops of your sidebars should be utilized by the most important things to your readers. Give them the most recent comments, links to your best blog posts, links to related websites, your blog roll, anything that has real meaning. If you put a calendar, pointless ads and other stuff in your sidebar, you are going to likely upset your visitors more than gain their interest in your blog.
- * You are making a critical mistake if you are utilizing a poor visual style, bad colors or annoying fonts. Your blog should be visually appealing and pleasant to each blog visitor that comes to see it. If your blog is not visually appealing, especially when it comes to the “above the fold” area, then your blog visitors will not stick around.
- * You are making a critical mistake if you have music or video that starts instantly on your blog. Yes, this is something that can be considered to be an above the fold part of your blog. Music, video and anything else that creates noise absolutely should not begin automatically. Let your blog visitors click on a start button. There’s no telling how loud your visitors have their volume turned up, and you may end up startling someone if they are not expecting music.
- * You are making a critical mistake if there is no focus on your blog. Your blog needs to be about what your blog is supposed to be about. If people come to a blog about a certain subject, and the top post in your blog is about something completely different, do you think they are going to stick around, or maybe never return? This is an important consideration if you want visitors to keep visiting, end of story.
Photo Credits: Bagryan
Originally posted 2009-07-29 05:36:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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