One thing that can make or break your navigation is you categories. When you first create your blog you should draw out a road map for your categories. If you do this they will not get out of hand. But even if you didn’t start out with a category map you can still tame your categories.

How many Categories?

You should try and have between 5 to 10 top categories for your blog. More than this and they become too overwhelming for your reader. You want to use this great tool to help your readers navigate your site. If you give them too many choices they will get overwhelmed.

Limiting your categories will also help make sure you are keeping within your niche. If you don’t have a category that fits your post are you writing off topic. Though you know my feelings about niche blogging. If you are a niche-less blogger, limiting your categories will help make sure your readers can navigate to what they are most interested in reading about.

You can have sub categories also. I don’t expect if you are writing a food blog to not want break down so your readers can read by meal of the day, ingredients, season.  But make sure you create a tiered road map for your readers.

Examples:

Craft Blog: Paper Crafts, Crocheting & Knitting, Sewing, Home Crafts, Kid Crafts

Food Blog: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Sides, Desserts, Snacks, Beverages, Holiday (create subcategories)

Parenting Blog: Pregnancy, Baby, Toddler, Preschooler, Grade School, Middle School, High School

Beauty Blog: Fashion, Accessories, Makeup, Hair, Trends

Tag or Category or Subcategory?

As you are creating your road map for your blog now is the time to start thinking about the differences between categories, sub categories, and tags.

A category is a main theme that you share throughout your blog. You may post a article in a category about once a week or more. (Food Blog Example: Holiday)

A subcategory is related to it’s parent category but is a bit more specific. You may write an article in a sub category about once a month. (Food Blog Example: Holiday>Christmas)

A tag is a word that if someone was searching for something very specific. You may write about it once in a while, very rarely. (Food Blog Example: Cranberries)

Make your Categories Make Sense

It used to be popular on blogs to make your categories cute and fun names like Made with Love. But “Made with Love” could be anything and it will not help your new readers to know what they are going to read under this category. Make sure that if someone is new to your blog they would be able to instantly recognize what they could read under each category.

Great Examples of Category Use

The Pioneer Woman not only a great example of how to use your categories well, but also a great example of a Niche-less blog.

Mashable is a great example of how to map out your categories and how to use subcategories.

1st Web Designer shares how you can create a visual category menu to help guide your readers where they want to go.

Your Homework & Free Printable PDF

Now it is time for you to site back and brainstorm your blogs categories and sub categories. If you are just starting your blog now is the time to really plan out your blog.

If you have a preexisting blog it will be a little harder and take a little work to move some things around, but I promise the end result will be worth it!

Download Category Taming Worksheet

Are your categories organized? How do you feel about the navigation of your blog?

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

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A magazine can be filled with 100s of ideas for you and your blog, even if it’s on a completely different subject. You can use magazines to find great color schemes, learn more about layouts, find out about what people are wanting to learn, and best of all find great headlines and post ideas!

If you have never tried using a magazine for inspiration. Grab a magazine, a pen and paper or I like me your phone or tablet. (Don’t have a magazine check out magazine covers on Amazon.com.)

You are going to start creating headline formulas and build a list of post ideas.

Use Eye Catching Keywords

Original Headline: Have a Stress Free Summer (Good Housekeeping)

Basically Stress Free is your keywords here. So your formula will be Have a Stress Free ________. When I write my ideas down on my tablet if I don’t have an idea instantly I will leave blanks.

My Examples:

• Blogging twist: Have a Stress Free Editorial Calendar
• Kids twist: Have a Stress Free Play Date
• Weight loss twist: Have a Stress Free Date Night on a Diet

Create a List Formula

Original Headling: 285 No-Fail Ideas to Scrapbook (Creative Keepsakes)

Quickly create your formula: # No-Fail Ideas to ________. I don’t actually add the numbers until I start brainstorming and come up with how many items I will have in my list.

My Examples:

• Blogging twist: 10 No-Fail Ideas to Blog Posts
• Weight loss twist: 5 No-Fail Ideas to Get Your Exercise
• Social media twist: 8 No-Fail Ways to get Followers

Great Phrases

See how quickly and easily you can start building ideas and creating great eye catching headlines? The best part of this is you can do this in a few minutes or for a half an hour. It’s quick to pick up and put down.

What’s your favorite way to find blogging inspiration? Have you used a magazine for inspiration before?

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

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The best way to start is to look at your sidebar and ask yourself:

1. How does this benefit me, my blog, or my readers?
2. Could I put this somewhere else on my blog?
3. Does this blend with my blog design or does it distract?

5 things you should have in your sidebar

1. Social Media – You need people to know how to connect with you! I would put this in your #1 spot on your sidebar. Don’t know how learn, it’s really easy.
2. Call to Action – Call to action is a great place for one specific goal you have your blog. Are you wanting more Facebook Followers? Add a Facebook widget. Looking to sell your eBook show it off in your sidebar. The key to this section though is to only have one call to action.
3. Search – If your readers can’t find what they are looking for in a few seconds you are going to loose them. Make it easy and include a search on your sidebar. Make sure this is close to the top also, no one is going to search for a search box.
4. Newsletter Sign Up – Don’t have a newsletter, maybe it’s time to consider one. That’s on my to do list for this summer. Learn more about how to use a newsletter.
5. Paying Ads – The keyword here is paying. I know you love your bloggy friends, but this is valuable space! Don’t overdo your ads. Make sure you are charging enough for your space that you don’t look like your selling out to your readers. I would limit your ads to about 4-6 ads.

5 things to consider putting in your sidebar

1. About You – Share a little something about you or your blog. Make it short, if you want to say a lot link it to your about page. Make it interesting, this would be a good place to use your tagline. You created it to catch new readers, use it here to take
2. Featured and/or Popular Articles – If you want both on your sidebar make sure you use a tabbed widget so that it doesn’t fill your whole sidebar.
3. Categories or Tags – Same above you should have one or the other not both in your sidebar.
4. About Video – This is the newest and coolest thing to do. Instead of an about you section have an about video for your site.
5. Polls – Polls are great way of interacting with your readers, learning more about your visitors, and giving your readers something to look for updates on.

5 things to delete from your sidebar

1. Blog Roll – I know you love your friends and have some great blog finds, but really the best place to share these is on their own page.
2. Badges or Community Buttons – You are using up valuable space to give these communities free advertising. Create a page about the places you have memberships and awards you have received.
3. Too Many Ads -
4. Ugly Widgets –  Just because your favorite website offers the option for you to add their widget it may not be the best to do it. Unless you are getting something from the widget and you have the option to make it look good and look seamless just don’t add it.
5. Your WordPress Login – Unless you have an open sign up for your WordPress there is no reason for you to have the login in your sidebar. It’s really easy to bookmark your login page and take out this section no one but you uses.

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

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Changing Trends

I have talked before about how header trends are changing. Headers used to be large and take up at least half of the screen, but now you will find all kinds of styles. Everything from the traditional to just the simple logo. These changes started because people started using the Above the Fold Theory.

Above the Fold

This is a theory from the newspaper age: that the top half of the paper that is visible when folded should hold your most important story and photography. When this started transferring into web design people started squishing as much stuff as possible in the top of their site. All this did was to make things cluttered and destroy the beauty of the design.

Current thought has started changing. Designers realized people are getting used to scrolling and will look at the whole site. Why should we not start spreading out the elements of the design to make them easier to see and make them eye catching.

From this evolution of design we have gotten tons of new header trends. Let’s take a look at the seven I found.

Traditional Header

The traditional header is still in use, it may not be half a page anymore but it’s still here. This is a great way to either tell a story, showcase your style, show off photography talent, or as above display an artistic ability.

The Small Header

The small header is a hybrid of the traditional header. People loved the space to showcase their photos and personality, but they wanted their visitors to be able to get straight to the content. Creating a smaller, half-sized, header will give you the best of both worlds. This is also a very popular style.

Logo Only

The extreme opposite of the large headers is just placing a logo at the top of your site. This gives lots of space for ads, call to action and content. The content is right at the top so visitors can jump right in and read. One nice feature of the logo only header is that it creates a clean and simple feel.

Featured Section

With all the added space that web designers got from loosing the large headers they realized they could create new elements. One of these elements was a section to feature the newest blog posts, favorite article, or a product (as Darren is doing on his site).

Slider

Another element created to fill up the space from the age old headers was j Query sliders. Sliders are very similar to feature sections but more dynamic and interactive. Usually you will find three to six slides that either slide automatically or by the press of a button. A slider can feature the same posts, articles, and products as a feature section, but adds more content in the same amount of space.

Instant Call to Action

One of the newer trends is to create an instant call to action area. You can use this section to invite your visitors to learn more about you, to buy your book, or to try out a product. You don’t see call to action sectionss on blogs as much as you do on basic web sites.

Typography

The amazing things you are now able to do with fonts in web design has created a new trend: typography. The art of typography is a big trend this year and it will be interesting to see if it continues as more fonts become available. This is also not something you see as much on blogs.

Conclusion

Those are the 7 trends I have seen in web design for headers. Do you have any good examples of headers that fall into these categories? Or do you have a trend that I missed?

What is your favorite header style as a reader? What is your favorite style as a web site owner?

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

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Day 14 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog you are asked to update a key page. Darren gives you multiple  pages that you can update: front page, about page, contact page, or a high traffic page. Let’s focus in on your about page.

How important is your about page? You’ve got your readers attention, where will they go next? Of course they will click your “about” link in your menu. They want to learn more about your blog and about you but really they want to know what they will get from reading your blog.

I will give you an easy formula on how to build an awesome about page that will encourage your new readers to stay longer and subscribe.

5 Elements of an Awesome About Page

I will be using some of the great tools that you have already developed as you have made it through the previous 13 days of the 31DBBB. Plus we will throw in a couple extras.

1. Updated Photo
2. Tagline & Elevator Speech
3. A list of What’s In It For Me (your reader)
4. List of Top Posts
5. Call to Action

Let’s Get Started

I’m going to walk you through how I updated my very boring about page:

The Original Page

A very typical about page, even I have to admit it was boring. I talked about me, how I met my husband, about my boys, and other things. The page was all about me but basically it was a life story. I wasn’t really sharing very much about what my blog was about. Now it’s time to update it.

Step 1: I Updated my Photo

Use a recent photo that is high quality. If you don’t have a current photo or a photo that is high quality then find someone who can take one for you (if you are not good at self portraits). Find a professional to take a few head shots for you or ask your friends and see if any of them can take a high quality photo with a good camera.

Make sure your photo matches the feel of your blog. If your blog is funny and happy share a picture that is bright and full of joy. If you are writing on a very serious topic make sure your photo has a somber and quiet feel.

Step 2: I Started with my Tagline and Elevator Speech

On Day 1 of 31DBBB you wrote a tagline and elevator speech for your blog. You can now describe your blog with a few short words (tagline) and with a short paragraph (elevator speech). This is great for when you are meeting people and trying to describe your blog but this is also great for your about page.

Even though you have already gotten your readers attention you want to keep it. One of the best ways to start out your about page is to recapture your reader in a few seconds and make them want to read more. You have created a quick and interesting description of your blog, use it!

Step 3: I Created a List of WIIFM

Now that you have described your blog to your reader you need to tell them what they gain from reading and/or subscribing to your blog. On Day 2 of 31DBBB you learned why to use lists; they are easy to scan, succinct, look neat, and are persuasive.

You are going to create a list that explains what your reader gets from your blog in an easy to read format. A list is going to catch your readers eye and you are going to use it to persuade them to subscribe to your blog. You can use anywhere from 5 to 10 points explaining to them what you are offering them.

Step 4: I Gave my Readers a List of Top Posts

At this point your reader should be ready for some more content. They have learned why they should read your blog now prove it to them by sharing a list of your top favorite posts. Make a list of your top favorite posts or if you have the stats on your posts the top most popular posts.

On Day 8 of 31DBBB you learned about the importance of interlinking your posts. Not only will this help your reader find your best content, but it will also help with SEO and page views!

Step 5: Lastly I Called my Readers to Action!

Further along 31DBBB you are going to learn more about call to action or you can learn right now at Smashing Magazine. Basically you are prompting your reader to take action!

Your reader has read through your whole introduction, now is the time to tell them what to do next!

This would be a great place for you to ask them to subscribe to you, subscribe to your newsletter, to follow you on twitter, or to like you on facebook. Choose only one to three of these, don’t overwhelm them with too many options. Make it quick and easy.

Your Turn

Now that I have walked you through updating my page I hope you will now feel like you have the tools to update yours. When you use these steps please share your about page in the comments, I would love to see your outcome!

How often do you visit the about page on a blog you are visiting? Do you always read the whole page? Do you have an example of a great about page?

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

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Find your colors!

When looking at color for your site you should think about creating a color palette. In design and branding you always want to try to make sure you are using only 3-5 main colors. When you start getting over 5 colors things start to become too busy. You also want to make sure that at least one or two of your colors are neutral.

Now if you want to create your own unique palette but don’t know where to start, look around you. Look at some of your favorite clothes, look through your favorite magazines, or look at some of your favorite websites. You may be surprised where you can find inspiration.

If you hire a designer to create your layout make sure to ask for the hex codes for the colors in your site.

If you do not have the colors that are used on your site you can use some different tools to find the colors. If you have a header that has all your colors or take a screen shot of your site ( fullscreen). You can visit PhotoCopa and find your color palette by uploading these images to this great tool.

Use your colors!

Use your colors in everything you possibly can. Change the colors on your google friends widget,  on your blogfrog community, and if their is an option of editing on an item you are putting on your site use it.

Make sure all your buttons match your palette. Use these colors on your twitter page, facebook page and other external social sites. As an example, when your readers go to  your twitter page if you are using the same colors they are going to instantly know this is you! This is where they want to be!

Examples

My personal favorite tool is Colour Lovers. This is a great community. You can create your own palettes or you can use pre-made palettes. If you have a color that you know you want to use, you can search for a palette with that color. Another great thing is that people can vote for color palettes, so you are able to see what palettes are popular.

Just while writing this post I found these five great color palettes:

Colors by COLOURlovers

More Resources

Are you ready to go find new colors for your site or for your next design? Trying to find the colors on your current site? Just love color? Here are some great resources:

Color Combos
Color Scheme Designer
Color Schemer

I could keep going but you can see a comprehensive list at Aviva Directory.

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

You have 3 seconds to impress your readers. Even if you have caught them by your web design and your headlines if you haven’t take these 5 simple steps in improving your blog posts your readers are going to leave.

1. White Space
In art and design there is a term called white space. This does not mean literally the color white. But just empty space, with nothing in it. This gives the eye a place to rest.Make sure that your blog design has space between each line (aka line-height). You also want to have a good amount of space between your paragraphs. Putting space around even your images will make a difference fo your readers when looking at your blog.

2. Short Paragraphs, Short Sentences.
When someone looks at your blog and see a wall of words, they become overwhelmed and tired just thinking about reading your blog post. Most readers only skim posts but if they see the wall of words they may just skip it all together. Use short sentences.

Make your paragraphs are short. They should only be a few sentences each. You cannot overdo paragraph breaks!

You can even make a paragraph just one sentence.

3. Edit, Edit, Edit
Make sure and edit your posts. Read your posts out loud and really listen to what you are saying. Can you write your sentences shorter? Can you use less words to make the same point? Less is always more and in blogging this is even more true.

4. Use Your Tools!
Use the edit tools in your blogging control panel. Make the key point in a paragraph bold. If you want to emphasize a point put it in italics. Most readers only skim text on websites. These emphasized points may catch their eye and encourage them to read more.

5. Lists
Use lists whenever you can. If you are joining in on the 31 days to Build a Better Blog then you have just learned that lists are great blog posts. But make sure even your lists are easy to follow. Try using bullet points or number your list. Make sure each item has its own line! Even when making a list and then expanding on each point your list item should have it’s own line.

Your Turn

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

Start by taking a look at the 7 major elements of your blog.

Logo

When someone is visiting your blog you have 3 seconds to give them their first impression (this is one reason you want your blog to load fast). A logo should tell your visitors in 3 seconds what to expect from your site. What’s the name of the blog and what is the style of the blog (ie. bold and bright, simple and clean, fun and crazy, crafty, etc.). You can say a lot in a logo.

You also want to make sure your logo is timeless and can be used for multiple kinds of media. Your logo should be able to be used for your blog, twitter background, facebook page, business cards, magazine articles, your pr package, an ebook, and more.

Think about the logos you see large companies using. When you see the Nike logo you recognize it instantly. When your readers and advertisers see your logo they should instantly know this is you!

The first thing when you come to the design of your blog is to invest in a professional logo.

Learn more about the 4 Options for Creating a Logo

Header

After your logo the next major element to look at in your design is your header. Current trends are slowly changing from large headers to just logos. One reason for this change is because big headers are taking up important space on your blog with very little information. The second reason is that designs are becoming more simple and clean.

If you are a believer in above the fold theory, which usually I am not, you are loosing prime realty on your website with a large header. You could be loosing space that you could sell to your advertisers.

I believe that if you make your header interesting enough you can make it any size you want. But I also believe in keeping it simple and that is hard to do with a large header.

Learn more about 7 Trends in Header Design

Slider

Sliders are the new headers in current web trends. Headers used to be a way for you to show your  readers what to expect from your content. Now you can show off three or more of your best posts quickly and dynamically. You can find lots of themes with sliders built in or you can find a WordPress plugin that will add it for you.

Navigation

Once you have gotten your visitors hooked into staying at your site longer than 3 seconds now you want them to take action and visit the other parts of your site.

For your navigation keeping it simple really is the key. You want your readers to instantly be able to tell that your menu is a menu. Make the buttons and links easy to read and easy to click.

Keep the menu items short and try to avoid being too cute. Use real words that a reader who has never been to your site will instantly recognize. Three items I recommend for every blog are About, Categories, and Contact.

But the most important thing of all is to make sure there is a home button or your header is linked to take them home. You don’t want your visitors to get lost on your site.

Posts

Posts should be easy to follow and easy to read. Make sure that you don’t overwhelm your readers with too many posts on the front page. If they are not going to connect to your blog within 10 posts then they just are not the right audience for you.

When you look at your posts they can be broken down to 5 basic elements:

• Headlines – Headlines (or post titles) should be bold and easy to read. Most readers will scan through your headlines and pick out the articles that they want to read. Learn how to use a magazine to improve your headlines.
• Content – The post itself should be easy to read and have lots of white space. Learn more about 5 Ways to Visually Improve your Blog Posts.
• Post Footer - This is the place to put your meta data. Make sure that your tags and categories are listed so that when your reader finds an article they connected with they can find more to read.
• Comments – Make sure your comment link is easy to find. Most readers expect to find the comment links at the bottom of the post. Plus it’s easier to click a link right after reading something you enjoyed then scrolling right back to the top.
• Share – Make it easy for your readers to share your posts. Use a plugin that gives you each of the social media sites that you want people to connect with your posts. Try and make sure all the share buttons are all in one place. Also do not over do the options. You don’t want to overwhelm your readers with options and buttons.

Sidebar

Footer

If you have an editable footer then this is a great place to put items like your tags, categories, and extra buttons. I would not put more than four sections in your footer and only place one large item in each section.

The Next Step

Now that we have reviewed the 7 elements of a blog it’s now your time to take a look at your blog and see what needs updating and cleaning.

If I’ve talked about a section in your blog that your just not sure what to do with subscribe to my blog. I will be breaking out each of these elements into their own posts and you can learn more how to improve your blog or website.

If you have any questions you want to ask right away please post them in my comments.

Photo by Chris Bloke, on Flickr

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

Your 5 Words

The first part of the homework was to write down five words that you want people to think of when they first see your blog. This was a little hard at first but once I started the words just kept coming. My five words:

1. Interesting
2. Inspirational
3. Informational
4. Stylish
5. Clean

Their 5 Words

Now I did not share these words with anyone and I started doing part two of the homework. I jumped on twitter and started asking others what five words they thought of when they saw my blog. Here are some of the responses I got:

subdued, organized, simple, straightforward, great logo! by @stephmommybrain

Clean, Modern, Fresh, Diverse, fun by @MamaofAllTrades

Sylish, Clean, Narrow, Engaging, Personal by @PhotoLynda

organized, pink, uncluttered, variety, interesting layout by @Modern_Gypsy

simple, organized (i love each post has its own box), clean, colorful (but not too much) and easy (to navigate) by @OurTypicalLife

organized … creative … variety … honest … feminine by LifeLovesLeah

girly … organized … honest … plain … mom by ThoughtsFromHer

These are just some of the few that I received, but you can see that specific words started repeating: clean and organized. That’s great I’m really happy to find that my blog gets described as this! My style for my graphic design business is exactly this: clean & organized, so this is branding my blog for my business. Perfect!

Growing and Learning

Now, time for me to take this information and start learning and growing. One of the words that I’m missing is: Informational. I need to start working on growing this concept on my blog. One of the things I think I need to work on is my post titles. I need to work on communicating more about the benefits my readers will get from reading my blog. If I had awesome post titles this should communicate to visitors that Pepper Scraps is  informational and educational.

Now Your Turn

Did you participate last week? What did you learn from your words? Do you need more words? Feel free and ask me in my comments and I will be honest with you.

Photo by Cappellmeister

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook