Critical Mistakes in Keeping Blog Visitors

focuslessOne 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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Principles for Good Blog Design, pt 2

help4 – To reiterate… 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. You may have a popular posts section in the sidebar of your blog, for example, keeping these specific blog posts from getting lost in the shuffle. Another option is to have a popular articles section in your sidebar where you list your most popular blog posts so that readers can continue to find them. You can also tag or categorize blog posts to reflect their popularity so readers can go back and easily find them later.

5 – Do not make a blog banner that is big or unwieldy. The banner is the top portion of your blog, spanning across from right to left. There is a lot of information that you can put here, like a graphic, the name of your blog or even your picture. If your blog banner is too big, and someone who is reading your blog has to scroll down in order to find your content, then its time to make a change. Your blog banner and how readable your content is are two details that will make or break your blog when people visit for the first time.

6 – Make sure that your blog is visually appealing. If you cannot come up with a design that screams “visual appeal!”, at least make sure that your blog is not ugly. You should avoid bright colors or seriously contrasting colors, and you should stick to fonts that are reasonable, such as Arial and Times New Roman. If you are looking for something with a little bit of flair, Calibri is a good choice as well. Once you are done, let a professional designer look your blog over and give you feedback before you start taking things live, because what looks okay to you may not look okay to the rest of the world.

7 – Get rid of anything that isn’t serving a purpose. If you have random widgets and other junk in your blog sidebars and they’re not serving any real purpose, get rid of them. Blogs can become too busy really quickly, and one, two or three sidebars can quickly become too much. Go through every widget and remove the ones that aren’t benefiting you or your readers in some way. Cut down on the clutter, because visual appeal and good blog design are your friends when it comes to attracting readers to your following.

* Keep in mind that not only is empty space allowable, but it can also serve a great purpose because it helps your readers focus on what truly is important: Your content. These concepts are really simple but they pack a punch when it comes to delivering the content your readers want without forcing them to be bogged down by poor blog design.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2009-02-06 08:20:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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