My key take outs from this session:
- Brand your blog.
- Use your sidebar space wisely and creatively.
You can see my other posts from #BWELA here.
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Bob Dunn
Don’t just think about what you like, think about it from your readers perspective
Your header
name and tagline
when Bob lands on a blog, you look at the header – it is like a billboard.
it has to say something that means something
the site title and tagline are what google looks like
clever taglines don’t work so well from a google perspective
have what ever you like in your header image and then keep your backend stuff google friendly
if you use a photo make sure it relates to your blog topic
when you are branding yourself they need to see that the blog is part of the business
put your brand in your header
doesn’t have to look the coolest, but needs to relay the message and fit with your branding
be careful with the size of the header
Navigation
with wordpress you can make your navigation really simple
use categories, use drop downs
what people to be able to look at it quick and get where they want to go
tags make it easy for readers to find topics on your blog
categories are chapters tags are like the index in a book
tag clouds can be useful on some type of blogs
it gives readers a birds eye view of what you talk about
you can see what the person is talking about more than other things
some disagree and say not to have a tag cloud
can also do nave menus in the side bar or footer
Custom Sidebars
put on your marketing hat
has different side bars on about page – is more personal and about how you can connect with him
on side bar that advertise online classes, puts in other courses he runs
not distracting people with unrelated info in the sidebar
Sharing
RSS make it easy for your readers to sign up for an RSS feed
Create an email subscription
Email subscribers are your gold class customers
Only about 20% use a reader
Do a custom sign up for your feedburner emails – catches people’s eye more
Dig Dig plugin
Sociable for WP 30
Give your readers an opportunity to share your post with the platform they like to use
Connecting
if they want to connect with you, make sure they can
make sure you are active on the social media platforms before you add the buttons
think about whether you really need to have the stream coming through on every sidebar through out your blog (maybe just the about page)
grab code from twitter or facebook and add it to widgets
Moderation
Moderating your comments – can be done in wordpress so you have approve them before they are published
Choice you have to make, but for readers it can be frustrating to see the message that it is held in moderation. Everyone wants something now.
There are comment services you can use. Eg. Live Wire, Disqus
2 critical pages for connecting
About page
if it is good, can be second highest popular page
most people go to the about page to get a feel about you
write an irresistible about page
what you do and for whom
your mission/blog’s purpose for being
an interesting, relevant bio – no one really cares if you have a degree, it is not a CV (try something like 5 things you don’t know about me)
have a photo of yourself
keep the photo and bio up to date
Contact Page
Create a form – people do use them
Contact forms can be used for a call to action as well
Gravity forms – premium plugin
Contact form 7 is ok
Spell out the email as well
Going Mobile
wptouch plugin makes your site look better on mobile devices
wizi app lets you create your own app for your blog
