Beyond blog posts that contain quality content, does your blog have pages as well? Are you capitalising on as much of your traffic as possible and is your blog laid out in a way that will increase your chances of online success?
There are some important blog elements that you should make sure you include on your blog. Here are some examples:
1. About Page
Your content might be great. You might make plenty of revenue from it but if you don’t tell your audience about yourself, you probably won’t be able to build trust with them. Your about us page is important as it helps you connect with your readers.
2. Privacy Policy
If you’re making money on that blog, particularly through companies like Google, who have terms of service for their affiliates, you’ll want to include a privacy policy that helps you establish ground rules for your blog. These rules will help you establish trust with your readers as well as have the potential to help you meet requirements to get paid as you make money through various affiliate marketing programs.
3. RSS
Really simple syndication (RSS) allows people to subscribe to your blog. This allows you to capture someone’s attention for more than a nanosecond, as well. Make sure that it’s clear on the blog where people can go to subscribe so that you can capitalise on the potential of every visitor by having your posts appear in their e-mail inbox or RSS reader in the future.
4. Photos
Photos on posts, in your blog sidebar, and in your header have the potential to help you with SEO, with grabbing people’s attention, and with hitting a home run in terms of selling. Don’t forget the alt image tags so search engines can read the photo in terms of subject matter as this will help your organic SEO efforts.
5. Bookmarks
Share your bookmarks with the world through your blogroll or list of links and put bookmark tools on the blog that lets your readers share your blog posts with their friends / readers/ the public. Tools can be added to make social bookmarking simple and more likely.
6. Monetisation
Are you monetising the blog? Whether you put up Google Adwords ads, contextual Kontera ads, an Amazon widget, promote affiliate products, or have your very own product that you’re marketing, blogs can be well-monetised. Read up on helpful tips for effective monetisation strategies. You don’t want to overcrowd your blog with ads or it’ll just appear to be a “splog” (spam-blog). Some internet marketing experts offer specific advice for the best ad placement tips based on your blog template design.
7. Page Load Speed
Test your blog load speed, especially after adding a new blog element, to see how fast it loads. If there’s too much going on and the delay is more than a blink of an eye, you may lose readers before they get a chance to read your great content.
8. Readability / Style
Most successful blogs have a fairly regular pattern that they often follow. You’ll find that most have short paragraphs, plenty of subheadings, and most have an associated photo as well. Most blog posts will contain a few links, too. A link to something related, maybe a call to action link, and sometimes an off-page link to a reference article.
All your posts don’t need to read exactly the same but once you’re blogging for a while, you’ll discover that certain types of blog posts work well in terms of being able to elicit interest and feedback. Becoming known for a signature style can also boost your status in the blogsphere, which can help you increase your subscriber count and get linked to more often.
This is by no means a definitive list of blog elements to consider, but in my opinion the above 8 elements are some of the more important ones. I would be interested to hear your views on what you consider are important elements of a successful blog, feel free to add your opinion in the comments below.
About Sean Rasmussen
In a recent interview with Matt Cutts that I read, he spoke a lot about page load speed being one of the new items that the Google SE will take into consideration as part of its algorithm.
I think if page load speed does come into play many established sites will need to take a big look at there site structure.
I agree Cemil, I have also been hearing quite a lot around the traps that page load speed will be something Google may take into consideration. Apart from Google, it’s also worth considering that a certain percentage of your traffic will also click the red x button if your pages load too slowly
Regards – Sean
I see way too many sites just littered with ads. This is the best way to turn off readers
I don’t think ads are a bad thing Gee, as long as they are done correctly. Obviously you don’t want to be promoting loads of different offers and filling most of your page with ads. Sticking to one form of advertising, or promoting one product is most effective in my opinion.
Regards – Sean
I have to agree with both of you, Gee and Sean.. Its a bit like when the girls were teenagers, and going out (not me ,of course). they had some really great stuff, but the room looked terrible with everthing scattered everywhere.. I’m glad I have great mentors who can wisely guide the ‘decoration’ of my page.
I bet your room was squeaky clean Jo
The main thing with advertising is to do what you are comfortable with, and remember that if it looks spammy to you, it probably looks a lot more spammier to your visitors.
Regards – Sean
I”m also in agreement on the importance of a fast loading page. It may be nice to have all the bells and whistles on a website however if it takes ages to load up, then it just isn’t worth it and, is best to have a “no frills” page that loads quickly.
I just caught your comment Jill and thank you for a reminder that there needs to be a balance. I agree that a slow loading page is ignored so I will have to consider that when tizzying up my blog (there are so many things to think about!)
I still haven’t worked out how to get an RSS feed on my blog… I know it’s a text widget in WordPress, but I have no idea what to put in it. Can someone help?
Lina
Some themes have it as a option. The feed is your site url with /feed on the end of it
I must admit that blogging is my favorite form of using the internet. I am yet to become an expert at it, but I do enjoy it and am working at it.
I find the most difficult thing for me is to find the balance between being me and chatting, hopefully interestingly, and trying to promote any kind of affiliate links or money making things.
I personally want to connect with my readers and have probably erred in being to timid in the promotion and linking world. But, I am getting a bit of a following and a few people are beginning to know me because of my blogs.
So, I think that your advice about social aspects, bookmarking and particularly adding some photos and/or artwork are very valid. I am going to try to expand my form of expression and see if I can attract even more devoted followers.
Hello Sean,
I prefer to read blogs that are easy to understand, stay to the topic, have a sense of humor, try not sell anything and everything under the sun, keep me coming back for me and are honest. If I notic a blog strays from topic, and can not keep straight with their story then I will not go back. Too long a post, one after the other turns me away as well. Will have to remember your 8 steps each time I hit the keyboard, especially like the Bookmark hint. Never thought about a privacy tab – that’s a great way to protect your blog:)
Cheers
Lisa
One thing I am having trouble with is my ABOUT ME page. Why? I think it’s opening up & TRUSTING to tell my story. Balancing that with my “persona” is the other thing. So I am so torn on how to do it right!
It may be an idea to have a look at what other people are doing for their about pages Samantha, could give you some ideas
Good list of elements to have on your blog. I guess the privacy policy is even more important when you monetize your site, but just to be on the safe side everybody needs to have one. So I will need to get out there and create one for my blog. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Sean,
This is a great list of blog elements that I will need to consider. I’ve been reading what you guys have been saying about page load speed. How can I check how long it takes to load my pages?
Also, for me I love blogs that are funny and entertaining but informative at the same time. I’m in awe of bloggers who can teach you something but make it fun at the same time. I think that is a real talent.
Having experimented with all sorts of blog elements, I have settled on most of the ones listed in this post. They work well for me. I need to look at page load speed tho. I like images but they can add a lot of page load time.
Hi Sean,
A good list of things to consider.
This reminds me I was going to comment last week about how slow your site loads, 15 seconds or more. Anyone else and you would have lost me. So now I just click on it and go do something else until it loads. Does anyone else find it so slow?
I have never really had a problem with it, or had complaints from others Tori. My Facebook and Friendfeed widgets will slow the loading down a little, but I feel these are important for me
Hi Sean,
My views on what I consider are important elements of a successful blog, top of the list the page must load quickly, the layout and it will have information that I am looking for in an easy to read format, and as you mentioned short paragraphs.
I also like to see at least one picture that is relevant to the post it just finishes it off.
Hi Sean,
Another informative article on blog posts that I need to bookmark.
Just checked loading time for SR.com was about 7-8 seconds.
Hi Sean
This is a timely checklist for me. I have not completed an about page yet and although I have started to add pages to my site, after being in this competition I realise that I need to change a few things on my blog as a result of what I have learned so far.
I take into account that I do not have images on my pages yet. After scouting around for so called free images, it is such a hassle getting them that I am going to do my own. I now have a you beaut scanner and soon I will have time to start doing some photography, drawing and photo shop. I need to be using that creative side rather than just the left brain.
The “8 blog Elements You Need To Consider” is a check list that you should print out and place on the wall above your computer. (Hmmm, that wall’s getting pretty full now.
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One thing that concerns me is the “Privacy Policy”. How should we deal with this. Do we read a number of privacy policies on other sites and then write our own or do we simply go to an authoritative site and simply borrow theirs? Any experiences or suggestions?