Have you ever come across a blog you loved what they were saying but just trying to read it exhausted you?
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
Try out some of these tips on your next blog post and take a look at the difference. Does it look nicer to you? Did more people stop and comment on your post? Did you notice people even commented about something in the middle of your post vs the beginning and the ending?
I would love to see your posts showing off your editing skills, please comment and share your experience with me.
Have you really looked at your blog lately? Is it time to start freshening it up but you are not sure where to start?
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.
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.
Sliderscan 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. A slider can cause your homepage to load slower so you do need to consider this when considering adding it to your blog.
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.
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.
Social Share Buttons – 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
A sidebar is a place to share more additional information about you, your blog, and your advertisers. Sidebars are one of the biggest struggles for bloggers, they are fighting the constant battle of clutter.
More than this can start making your site look busy or cluttered. Again white space is very important in your sidebar. I have written a post about sidebars in my post How Much is Too Much? Let’s talk sidebars.
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.
I have been participating in a great series over at SITSgirls: Think Like a Marketer. Last week we started by focusing on the branding of our blogs. I loved this article because when I work with my graphic design clients I have to explain to them that branding is visual and conceptual. When I’m helping someone build a blog I explain how color and logo will work building their visual brand, but that they need to build their conceptual brand also. I loved that Melissa (@momcommblog) really got this point across so well in her article. The homework for this week was very revealing and a great growing experience. I will be going through the steps to share my experience as I worked on my homework. I hope this shows you how this can really help you to improve your brand and blog.
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:
Interesting
Inspirational
Informational
Stylish
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
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.
How do you make your customers or readers remember you and your blog or business? How do you make them know instantly that they have arrived at your website, twitter feed or facebook page?
You create a logo that your visitors remember and associate with you and your business. Branding can be one of the most important steps when creating a business. Sometimes this can even make or break your business.
One way that you brand your business visually is by creating a logo for your company.
I have heard advice throughout the web on how to make a logo or brand for your business or blog. Not all of these suggestion for logos are good ideas.
We will be talking about 4 ways of creating a brand or logo and the pros and cons of each option.
1. Use your picture
I’ve actually seen a few suggestions to use your picture to represent you, your blog or your business. The thought behind this is that it is more personal. People really like to see a face behind a business.
You could also do this for very cheap by just taking a photo of yourself, but unless you are an excellent photographer I would not recommend using your own photos. You don’t want to use a bad photo to represent you and your business.
What is the first impression a bad photo is going to give? Is that photo going to be remembered? In a good way?
Another issue with using your photo is that your personal image and your face are constantly changing. Think about your drivers license. Do you still look like that person in that picture?
If you are using your photo on your business cards (and even as a blogger you should have business cards) or on your website or your twitter you will want to keep it up to date. With business cards this can start becoming expensive.
This also runs into the trouble where you are trying to make a “look” that your readers or customers remember. But it will make it harder for them to remember your logo if it is constantly changing.
Let’s now talk about the biggest issue with using your picture. This is not a logo. A logo should be simple, clean, and should be able to go from color to black and white (think photocopy). Obviously a photo is not a logo. It can be used in your branding but you should have a logo that can stand alone also.
2. Use a stock image or premade logo
Something I see constantly, especially in the blogging world, are “logos” created from stock images. This can be an inexpensive option especially when you are starting out.
But everybody is doing it and don’t be surprised when you are browsing the Internet and you find somebody using the same logo as you.
You will also lose a little bit of that personal feeling when people see an image that closely represents you but isn’t quite right. Then if they happen to find the same image on another website they will feel even less connected to you and your brand.
Stock images also have limitations on their licenses. Make sure and read the fine type. You may be limited to the number of printings you can have or limited on where and when you can use the image. Be careful.
3. Hire your brother or a friend
This could be a great option for you. A friend may offer to create a logo for free or a discounted rate. But you have a couple negative outcomes that could show up.
Sometimes your friend may think they know how to make a logo, but you may find that they don’t create it in the correct format so you may have to have it redone in the future. Or if the format is incorrect you may find you cannot use it for different marketing peices including posters, banners, stickers, t-shirts, etc. Logos should be created as a vector, not in Photoshop, and your designer should give you the original files.
You may also find that if your friend does create logos professionally that you will be at the bottom of their to do list. Your friend is still running a business and many freelancers over commit themselves. Doing a free or discounted logo is not going to be high priority for them.
You may find that nothing has been worked on for a month and you are still waiting for your logo. Or you may find that they rushed through your job just to get it out of the way and it is not up to par to their typical work.
4. Hire a professional
Hiring a professional designer will be an investment and this investment depends on the logo and the designer you work with. Talk with the designer and find out if you will work well with them.
Some basic questions to ask:
How many mock ups will I recieve?
How many revisions?
Do you charge by the hour or by the design?
When you hire a professional designer for your logo you will find that they will spend the time with you to find out about you and your business. They will create a logo that is completely unique and will represent you and your business. When you see the final work you will be proud and say this is me, this is my business!
A professional will also make sure that the files will be in the correct format and may give you the logo in multiple formats for printers and for further work down the road. They should also get you the matching colors and fonts for other branding including your web design.
A professional can also help you learn more about how to make your logo usable in multiple formats including web, print, large or small, black and white or color.
Whichever way you go make sure that you pick a logo that you love and will love for a long time. Make sure that when you see this logo that in an instant you recognize it, it pops at you and that it truly represents you. Then use your logo everywhere: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, website, blog, business cards, stationary, and anywhere you can mark your presence.
More Questions?
I’m always happy to help with questions so feel free and ask here in the comments or email me at (unicornbeauty (@) gmail.com)
After last nights Comment Cocktail Hour I had one of the ladies, ManWifeDog from Man, Wife & Dog, ask me about how to clean up her comments section of her blog. I always love to share with people how to simplify the look and feel of their blogs. This has been one thing I have been starting to write about over at Unicornbeauty, my design blog, but I wanted to share this one with you right away.
Step #1
Make sure your version of WP is up to date! The current version is WordPress 3.1. WordPress has built in some great commenting features. We used to have to have special plugins to be able to reply to comments and make sure the people who commented knew we replied. Now that is all built in.
Step #2
Deactivate all the comment plugins you currently have installed. You may decide you want some of these back but the fewer plugins you have installed the better. And you don’t want any of your plugins to start having confllicts.
Step #3
Look at your comments on your most current post. Does everything look nice and clean?
When I am working on my blog or a clients’ blog I will have the dashboard open in one tab and the actual blog open in another. This way I can quickly check my changes.
Step #4
Before we start installing plugins you need to sit back and think about your readers.
Do you have a lot of readers from twitter? Then you will want to let them link up their twitter accounts. Do you have a facebook page? Then you will want to encourage your facebook friends to share or like your post. Are your readers usually other bloggers? Well you will want them to be able to share their link and give them encouragement to comment.
Step #5
Now that you know who you are targeting now is the time to start adding plugins, but remember less is more!
Here are some great comment plugins:
CommentLuv
“Plugin to show a link to the last post from the commenters blog by parsing the feed at their given URL when they leave a comment. Rewards your readers and encourage more comments.”
CommentLuv is great way to encourage your blogging comments to comment even more. Of course, they love the free advertisement of their most current blog post! I like it because I can instantly jump to a blog post to share some comment love.
Subscribe To Comments
“Allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry”
Another very similar plugin to this is Comment Reply Notification. These plugins just give your readers an option to know if you or someone else has commented on your blog post. And really your goal with comments should be to interact with your readers and to start conversations with them and between each other.
Twitterlink Comments
“Plugin to show a link to follow the comment author on twitter if they have entered in their username at least once in the comment form”
I have a lot of twitter followers and readers so I added this to my blog so that they have the option to share their twitter id and page. This is also a tool for me for Comment Cocktail Hour.
Step #6
You would think that we are done, but I would say that social media sharing is a part of commenting these days. Make sure that you have a clean and precise “call to action” for your social media lovers. Remember again less is more!
I use an all in one social media plugin:
Sharebar – “Adds a dynamic bar with sharing icons (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) that changes based on browser size and page location. More info and demo at: Sharebar Plugin Home”
Sharebar is kind of because you can adjust it to fit just perfectly with your layout and you can have it float as your reader scrolls. This plugin also gives you multiple social media options, but don’t overwhelm your readers with options. Know your readers and where they are most likely to share your posts and only set these up.
Also, in the past I have used Sexy Bookmarks which is also a good multiple social media option. I would say your choice between these two would depend on your theme and style.
Step #7
Delete all plugins you deactivated earlier and are not using. Remember you don’t want to have to many plugins installed. This can cause your site to be slow, cause conflict problems and it just makes it harder keeping your current plugins updated. You can always reinstall anything you want back later.
Are their other plugins you would recommend? Or are you looking for a plugin to do more and you haven’t found it yet? Feel free and let me know in the comments!
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