Killing Your Customers Softly – Simplify Your Site!

In case you haven’t noticed, my articles lately have focused on writing and marketing to the exclusion of nearly everything else. I haven’t abandoned my other topics, but I believe that a review of the fundamentals of freelance writing from time to time is necessary. Plus, I must assume that a number of my followers are new and may have missed some of my earlier articles which are now part of the archives (and available for your review at no cost to you).

I was paid an important compliment recently regarding this blog. A visitor liked the two-column layout, remarking that the site was clean and easy to read. I was happy to hear what I had long felt – that a two-column blog is much more pleasing to the eye, inviting readers to stop in and spend some time on the site. In addition, if my everyday readers like the look of this blog, then potential customers probably do as well. Which leads me to my point – is your blog harmful to your customers?

6 Easy Blog Clean Up Tips

Here’s what I mean – I’ve come across blogs that are guilty of one or more of the following points, any one of which usually encourages me to move on. Include two or more of these egregious points and you have a real problem on your hands, perhaps without even knowing it:

1. Pop Ups – Please, do I really need to know that you’re running a special? Well, maybe you want to get the word out, but anything that messes up with the navigation of the screen is just plain annoying. Find another way to state your business, perhaps using a starburst widget and placing that in your blog’s header.

2. Music – I’ve made the mistake several times of surfing the ‘net unaware that my PC’s speakers are on. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a rock opera blares forth which usually means that I’ve already hit the forward or back key to leave your site before shutting off my speakers. I can’t see any reason for having sound on a website.

3. Widgets – Speaking of widgets, do you need every single widget currently occupying your sidebar? I’ve gotten lost on some sites where people add widget after widget in a bid to fill their site up with stuff. You’d do better if you removed every widget that doesn’t have to do with your site, limiting yourself to a handful which your readers would find to be unobtrusive and helpful.

4. Buttons, Badges – Much like widgets, buttons and badges are taking over some blogs. Why you would have links to other sites is beyond me especially when those sites are unrelated to yours. If you’ve been using buttons as links, get rid of the buttons and add the link to your Links category. Even better, create a separate links page for all of your link exchanges.

5. Ads – Placing gazillions of advertisements on your blog, especially when it is new is tempting for some people. After all, if people click on your ads you’ll get paid. Instead, resist the temptation to include ads until your site has been running for a few months. That way, you can work on building up content and evaluating traffic, before adding two, perhaps three ads on each page. Take care how you place your ads and stick with those which actually provide relevant content.

6. Categorization – You can save room on your sidebar by removing the META tag; limiting your recent comments and/or recent posts to the last five posts; tossing tags and cloud category; as well as a calendar, unrelated plug ins, and welcome messages.

When surveying your blog, you want visitors to see your blog’s name, tag line (if used), navigation bar and your content which are your blog posts. Secondarily would be what you have featured on your sidebar which shouldn’t detract from your blog’s primary mission – to convey information, including important details telling your customers how to find you.

3 Tips To Help Your Blog Shine

Just in case you think that all I have is negative criticism to offer, consider the following three blog shining steps you can take:

1. Pillar Articles – Most blogs contain a handful of pillar articles, which are those defining posts which are worth reviewing again and again. Don’t allow them to get lost in your archives. Instead, create a widget for your sidebar and title that “Featured Articles.” List three or four of your favorites, making it easier for people to find them once again. These types of articles are what your writing clients want to see as well.

2. New Theme – Is your theme tired looking? I’m amazed at the number of attractive, enjoyable blog themes which are constantly being made. If your blog is established, consider investing in a paid theme, one that offers support from the theme maker and is easy to use.

3. Use Images – Relevant images within your posts (not on the sidebar) can draw the reader’s attention to what you wrote. I’m surprised that some of the more well known bloggers don’t use imagery as a well thought out picture is certainly worth many words.

That’s it for now! Go and shake things up on your blog with an eye on what your customers are reading. With less clutter to pick through, you just may discover that one of your readers is a customer in the making.

Photo Credit: Scott Adams

See Also — Wise Article Marketing Strategies

You Know That You Are Micro-managing Your Blog When….

The blogging phenomenon has worn off.

All right, let me rephrase my statement: blogging’s initial sheen should have worn away, at least within six months of when you started blogging.

So, how come I see people micro-managing their blogs as if they just started blogging? You know what I mean — people who spend too much time on the things that don’t matter and neglect the things that really do. Like providing interesting and useful content for everyone else to read.

To help set these egregious offenders straight I am offering my unsolicited advice to remedy the situation. Of course, there is a certain amount of humor included, but I’m sure someone will be offended!

Instructive Lists — You have to love them, numbered lists whereby the blogger instructs readers how to accomplish a certain task. “5 Reasons Why No One Reads Your Blog,” “8 Steps to Better Blogging,” “14 Ways to Link to Everyone and Anyone,” you get the picture. Sometimes the advice is good, other times, well….

AdSense Nonsense — Yes, you can still make money from AdSense. No, I don’t want you to slap them on your blog and block off content until I click through to read the ad. Of course, some of the content I’ve found is so shallow that the Hairclub for Men ad looks rather appealing! Uh, oh, I get it….

125×125 Ad Mazes — I don’t mind block ads, but I do mind seeing more than two rows of them. I go to your sidebar looking for blog categories and other relevant links, not to find myself scrolling up and down trying to move past your advertisements. Please, some of the ads on your site are just plain stupid.

Plug-in Party — How’s the new plug-in working for ya? Must be doing quite okay because I see them all over the place. Sure, some plug-ins work quietly behind the scenes (my favorite) while others get in your face. For instance, I hate it when bloggers trick me to subscribe to a thread and I am notified three months later that someone else finally replied to my comment.

Theme-A-Day — Okay, I’m exaggerating here. I haven’t found a blog yet where the theme is changed on a daily basis. What I have found are blogs which are updated but something is left out in the update. Yep, the login for people who want to leave a comment. Better yet — don’t require your readers to register in order to leave a comment. Please!

Too Lazy To Post, Eh? — This one could also be filed under “Lack of Originality” or some sort of term. “Monday Matters,” “Wordless Wednesdays,” and “Freaky Fridays” may sound like appealing categories to you, but I seem to remember that those same cutesy sayings were used when I was in junior high school.

Photo Fantasia – Those are nice photos on your site, but couldn’t they have been cropped? Oh, by the way, your photo gallery isn’t working either. At least not in Firefox. You see, I really don’t like Internet Explorer and I’m not about to test your blog to see how it looks with other search engines. That’s right, it’s your job.

That’s it for now — an unnumbered list of seven, count ‘em seven points for the person who looks a bit too closely at their blog but misses some key aspects not lost on their readership. Wake up!