Most of the open source blogging platforms out there are going to come with at least a few different basic blogging designs. Some platforms call them themes, others call them templates, and others still have completely unique names for them. Most of these basic themes or templates have nothing inherently wrong with them, but customization is somewhat necessary otherwise everyone would have a blog that looked exactly the same as every other blog. Most blogging templates are really basic, and adding your own flair to them is easy. Still, many people get the whole customization thing wrong, and need to be steered in the right direction. There are some basic mistakes to how people go about customizing their blogs, and hopefully we can dispel some of them in this series on principles for good blog design.
1 – Whether you really want to or not, it is vital that you have some information about *you* in the blog. Either create an about me page, or have some information about yourself displayed in the sidebar of your blog. This should be a prominently placed section so it can be easily found, and it should be truly about who you are, rather than read like a resume.
2 – Make sure that your personal contact information is readily available, and even more importantly, easily visible. You need to at least have an e-mail address visible, and a phone number would be even better. If you want to prevent spammers from harvesting your e-mail address, use an image to display it rather than text. You can always use a free web based e-mail address such as a yahoo, gmail or hotmail address to keep from having your true personal address displayed, if you like. By posting real contact information, you are going to make yourself appear much more real. Although people may not really find reasons to contact you, you’re still indicating to your readers that you are available, which is a good thing.
3 – You should absolutely include a picture of yourself in your blog. All blogs, even business blogs, are personal, and the people who visit yours are going to want to know who you are and what you look like so that they can get to know you, and can benefit from the personal nature of your blog. It is much easier to build trust between yourself and your readers if your picture is visible and your readers feel like they know you. You do not absolutely need a picture, but it is still strongly recommended that you do have one in order to get the most out of your blog.
4 – Some of your blog posts are going to be more popular than others. Once you recognize which blog posts these are, keep them from being buried by finding a way to highlight them.
Continued in part 2 of this series.
Photo Credits: 1
Originally posted 2009-02-06 08:15:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Related Posts -
Driving Traffic to Your Blog Many blog owners spend a good portion of their time trying to figure out how to generate traffic to their blog. This is especially true when it comes to a brand new blog that is not yet really rich in meaningful and effective content. Generating visitor traffic to your blog...... -
How to Monetize Your Blog If you want to monetize your blog, you have to ask yourself a series of questions, starting with what kind of blog is it, and do you have any readers? If you're not getting readers at your blog, you might as well put all your money-making plans on hold. Even...... -
4 Tips on Retaining your Blog Readers When you first create a blog, getting people to visit it is definitely going to be one of the most important considerations that you make. Simply attracting these blog readers is not enough if you are not guaranteeing in some way that they will stick around, or visit more often....... -
Using Article Marketing for a Blog One of the most popular things on the Internet today is blogging. In fact, if you notice the trends over the past few years, bloggers have gotten a bit of notoriety and attention even in the news. Bloggers are becoming quite an influential group in the news category and for...... -
Increase Blog Traffic Today, pt2 Here is part two in our series for learning how to increase blog traffic today. 7 - Sign It With Your Blog - Add a link to your blog website in the signature file for your e-mail accounts as well as forum accounts and other accounts where signature files are......
Related Websites -
How to Avoid Corporate Blogging Disasters For those thinking about starting a corporate blog, there are a few caveats that should be considered before you ever throw your hat in the arena. The blogosphere can be a scary place if you are not prepared and it is easy to have a disaster of epic proportions on...... -
Internet Marketing - How To Be The Person Of Influence Image by mirjoran via Flickr Internet Marketing - What does all the guru's have in common? They all use video in their marketing. Videos combined with blogging is literally one of the best marketing tactics you could use. If you haven't started using this powerful form of persuasion yet...... -
5 Steps With A Successful Web Business The first step. Find something you're feeling is a great home business opportunity. You can scour the internet for everyone forms of different businesses and opportunities. Doing a look on any search results using the keywords Home business, Business Opportunities, Home-based business, Internet programs, Generate income, etc., will produce...... -
Do Network Marketing Blogs Really Work? [/caption] It has been known for some time now that network marketing blogs are the way to go when it comes to marketing on the internet. Most people realize this so they dig in and start trying to blog. For many people this is very short lived because they blog...... -
How to Gauge Web Traffic to Your Corporate Blog There are actually a couple of different ways that you can effectively gauge traffic to your corporate blog, each giving different answers and filling in a slightly larger piece of the puzzle. If you are writing in a corporate blog and you want to get a good feel for how......
- S-Series Saturn Hybrid Cars & Trucks
- For Two People Floats & Rafts Pool Fun Pools & Spas Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living Nursery
- 190-Series Mercedes-Benz Hybrid Cars & Trucks
- Large Design Stepping Stones & Rocks Garden Décor Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living Nursery
- Mac Design Publications & Software Gardening & Plants Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living Nursery
