Declutter the Blog!
Continuing with our series for beginner bloggers and focusing on boosting readership and building a better blog, let’s look at cutting the clutter out of the blog design and creating a pleasant, easy-on-the-eye readership experience.
Declutter the Sidebar
Let’s start with the biggest clutter magnet on a blog – the sidebars. Whether you have one or two, the rule is simple.
No Clutter.
Please don’t crowd your side bar with Google ads, blog buttons, stats, directory listings and what not. If you have to use all of this, do it aesthetically.
One of my favorite blogs is Life as Mom and Jessica uses Google and other ad networks, but the ads are SO nicely displayed they don’t hurt the eye and in fact, add to the overall design of her site.
Begin by identifying what elements of your sidebar you HAVE to have. Then, work on the design aspect. If that overwhelms you, I really recommend getting professional designer help. It works wonders. Ask me how I know!
Get Rid of the Junk
Besides the sidebars, take a good, hard look at the headers, background, navigation bar and other design elements. Are they reader-friendly and easy to look at and use?
This is also the time to revisit your categories and streamline them. Make sure that your content is easy to find. Keep your categories simple and straightforward. There is no point in having a category for Traveling when you don’t have any posts in it or if you have just a few posts and no intention of writing more about travel, club it with another relevant category, such as Holidays.
Keeping The Good Stuff
Decluttering the blog is a lot like decluttering your home. You get rid of some stuff and you get to keep some stuff. A few must-haves for any blog include:
- Plenty of white space – I talked about its importance in this post on simple writing.
- An About Me Page – Let your readers know who you are.
- Well-Defined and Organized Categories – ‘Nuff said.
- A Contact Me/Email Form – You want your readers to be able to get in touch with you.
- A Search Box – Make it easier for folks to find what they’re looking for.
- Subscription/Social Media Options – Let your readers stay connected with your blog and you easily.
I’d also add Archives and a Welcome Message. Both items are on my own Improve My Blog List.
How do you keep your blog clutter-free and reader-friendly?
Photo Credit: lylarmerle
Funny that this was posted just now! I was in the middle of fixing my navigation menus, haha. And I’m reorganizing my categories so that they are better found. I’m thinking of better places for the buttons/badges, though. For now, I’ve put them on the bottom portion of the sidebar on my home page. I think that it needs work, not yet completely satisfied with the look of my blog yet.
Martine De Luna | Work-at-Home Mom Writer recently posted..Recipe: Peanut Butter Maple Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Dip
Good going, Martine. Do keep us posted when you’ve finished spring cleaning the blog! All the best!
Excellent advice. I try to go through my blog from time to time to try to unclutter – it isn’t always easy. But it does help the look of the blog.
Deanna recently posted..Learn To Take Rejection Gracefully
I agree, Deanna. It took me quite a while to get rid of a whole lot of junk and when I needed help, I hired it:-)
I’m not a blogger…I just wanted you to know I thought this was a great post–and, I hope people pay attention to it! I’ve actually quit following & unsubscribed because I thought a blog/newsletter was TOO busy–it was more than I could handle. I like the aesthetics here–everything looks nice & neat
Thank you so much, Natalie. I really appreciate you stopping by and sharing your views. Do let me know if there’s anything that you’d like me to talk about/discuss as well.
About two weeks ago, I knocked off the ranks and what-nots from my blog
And then 3-4 days later read this post. Slowly am thinking the best thing to do is keep the title, content, and other useful stuff. Of course, I like to keep the badges of blogs I like, but I am thinking of moving those also to their own page. So basically, only content 
I’ve also moved the Followers widget to the bottom.
I still think I need to clean up some more.
Any suggestions are welcome!
Enjoyed the post, Prerna, as always!
Vidya Sury, Freelance Writer & Blogger recently posted..Sunday in my city – the week that was