I know what you are thinking... you think that I am going to tell you that if you are on Blogger that you need to jump ship to Wordpress right now. Sadly, no. And honestly, I would be a hypocrite if I told you that. Sure it should eventually be a goal, or end goal, but I am not here to talk about that currently. Today I want to talk about the four things that you should do to your blog to provide a better experience for your readers.
Add sharing buttons to your blog
Having sharing buttons is essential if you want your posts shared. Period.
But when I talk about sharing buttons, I'm not talking about having some cute little pin it button. I am talking about something tangible- like the SumoMe bar on the left side of my screen, something above your post that includes more than just Pinterest, Twitter, or Facebook, or even something below your post. I use Stumble Upon to save the posts that I like (meaning that I do an overview of the post, and then come back to read it when I have a minute) and when I can't find a Stumble Upon button for a post, it kinda irritates me. I love the Sumo Me bar, because it has literally every type of sharing button- if you don't see what you want, just click on the crown, and pick which one you want. And please, for the love of all things holy in the bloggy world, do not use a button in your sidebar. Truth be told- it's annoying and if you want people to share your stuff, do not make them look for a sharing button. You shouldn't have to tell people where a button is. The end.
Share "pinnable" images
One thing that all bloggers find out in their first year blogging is that every post NEEDS to have a pinnable image, and the reason is this: Pinterest is an important social media tool, and if you want to drive traffic to your posts, then you need a Pinterest-worthy image. The main thing about Pinterest is the fact that the pins are eye catching, interesting, and VERTICAL and it just makes sense to have a pinnable image in every post, even if you hide it.
Make your pictures BIG
I can't tell you how many posts I have been reading lately, and the pictures are so darn small. When I first started blogging, I did the same thing for a simple reason- I didn't want my posts to look bad. But in the past year, I have looked for blog designs that automatically resize my photos, so when I draft a post, I make sure that my photos are "original size" and wah-la, the code resizes them for me. Bigger pictures that fill the width of your post area just make the post more put together. And if you don't want a vertical photo hogging up all the space, just add another and make a collage with Canva.
Make your blog ascetically pleasing
Besides being nice, another cardinal rule of blogging is to have an ascetically pleasing blog. In layman's terms, it means to have a blog that is easy on the eyes. You don't want readers to be turned away by a too small or unreadable font, too many colors, or 5 million pop ups. If you need some help in the design area, Etsy offers alot of low cost blog design options.
When I'm not debuting a new post, I am generally doing ALOT of blog reading and participating in Facebook group threads. Throughout the past few weeks I have noticed all four of these things. I am not saying that they are bad things necessarily, rather I am just here to offer some help. :)
No comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting! I love hearing from my readers! :)