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So my friend just started a blog; she's on cloud nine and totally enjoying it and asking me all these blogging related questions. I realized that I have forgotten SO MUCH of everything that goes into setting up a blog! So I thought about it and asked myself to answer this question: what are a blog's MUST HAVES. Things that make a blog flow well, keeps it organized, and most importantly, entices readers to stay and click around. Here are my top 10.
Seamless Blog Design
I really do think a blog design is SO important. Just like they say the cover of a book sells the book; even though the content could be amazing...if the cover is horrid, you're gonna question what's inside if the outside looks that bad.
So, your blog needs to look GOOD. At the very least, it needs to be bright, open, and not cluttered. I bought my design from Restored 316 Designs (aff link). There are a lot of child themes available for WordPress blogs but a lot of them are just NOT cute or feminine, so I really like this site. When I was on Blogger, I did most of my site myself but there are lots of cute templates you can buy on Etsy.
Contact info
Nothing haunts my soul more than not being able to contact a blogger. You ransack their blog trying to find a freakin' email or a contact form to no avail. NOT COOL, people, not cool. You can put it in your About page, you can make a contact page and put it there, you can add it to your social media icons, etc.
Social media icons
Another soul haunting mistake: not having social media icons. These are the buttons you put under your picture at the top of your sidebar or in your blog's header area that link to your blog's social media pages. Readers then have the opportunity to follow you on their favorite social media outlet in order to stay updated with your blog. I use this plugin for mine and here are some free ones for Blogger blogs. Usually they will come with your design if you purchase one.
And on a side note, if you want people to share your stuff on multiple media outlets, it's best if you yourself are also on those social media outlets. A lot of times I want to share a blogger's post, but when I go to check what their Twitter handle is so I can tag them and realize they aren't on Twitter, it kind of discourages me from even sharing their post. I would say, if you're a blogger, make sure you're on Facebook and Twitter where it's common for people to tag you when they share your stuff.
Categories
Having a section for the different categories you blog about will help keep your blog organized and will help readers easily find the content they're interested in reading.
Search bar
All blogs FOR SURE need a search bar, the higher the better. I prefer them to be right at the top so that I can quickly find something if I can't find it just by scanning the page.
Archives
Some bloggers hide their archives and I think that's a bad idea. I know I used to because either I was embarrassed of people going through them or I was trying to hide how new I was, but if you want someone to fall in love with your blog (keep them clicking around and wanting to come back) you need to let them dig around a little. The more ways you can help readers navigate around your posts, the better.
Social sharing buttons
These are buttons that you display in your posts so that a reader can share your content if they really love it. I use Shareaholic for my blog and love them. And for those of you who are using Shareaholic, make sure you have the section filled out with your social handles. When I go to share your content, for example, and it looks like this: 10 Things Every Blog Needs www.piganddac.com via @shareaholic <--- that should say @piganddac so it tags YOU. That way you can know when people are sharing your content and people can easily follow you on Twitter. But the standard install comes with it tagging Shareaholic so make sure yours is customized.
When I had a Blogger blog, I added these social share buttons from ShareThis to my site.
Disclosure page
If you plan on ever doing reviews, sponsored posts, displaying ads on your blog or adding in affiliate links, you'll want to add a disclosure page. Google Adsense actually requires you to have one set up before they'll approve you. This site really helped me understand disclosures; when and why you need them and examples for disclosures to add to your blog. I like this site because the author is a lawyer and knows her stuff.
Popular Posts
It is a very, very good idea to have your most popular posts displayed somewhere on your blog. You could put them in your About page, make a special page for them, or display them in your sidebar. A lot of times when readers come to your blog, they will make a very quick analyzation of whether they're interested in coming back to your blog or not. When I had a post go viral once on Huffington, most of the traffic that came to my site went straight to my About page. They wanted to know what my blog was all about and what kinds of posts they could expect to see if they followed me.
I didn't add an About page as one of my top 10, because I feel like it's a given, but it's extremely important that you have one and that it's polished and updated frequently. It's your blog's first impression, so make it look awesome! I struggled for a long time on what to put in my About page since I hate talking about myself and I feel like I suck at writing those kinds of things, but basically just a quick and simple description of your blog, of you, and your best posts are all you need in your About section.
What do you think is absolutely necessary in a blog? What do you look for when you're on a blog? I'd love to hear your answers!
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom
YES! All great things Jessica.
A search bar is HUGE for me. I get so frustrated when I know I read an article on a particular site and there's no way to search for it. Opportunity lost for me to share.
I love an "about" page too. If I've read a few posts from someone, I really want the opportunity to get to "know" them better. Even if it's a decent author box.
Navigation is so important too. I like to be able to pop around a site without getting stuck anywhere. I know it's a good blog when I've lost an hour of my time going from one article to the next.
Thanks for sharing.
xoxo
Jessica Dimas
Me too!!! Thank you!!! When a blog doesn't have a search bar and I'm trying to find something, I'll just give up! And I love me some author boxes 🙂 Just a little insight into who the writer is always nice. Yes, you put that perfectly, you know it's a good blog when you've lost an hour of time hopping around!
jackie gandara
so... based on most these things how do you think i'm doing so far 🙂
Jessica Dimas
Lol you're doing awesome! I saw your site last night and thought it looked sooo good! E did great with the design and your posts are so well written!
Chelsea
I agree on all of these! And also what Jennifer said about an "about" page. When I find a new blog I love, the first thing I do is always find their "about" page so I can read all about them! When I redesigned my site and switched from Blogger to WordPress, I definitely enhanced some of these things and added the rest! Thanks so much for sharing your amazing blogging wisdom!
Jessica Dimas
Me too Chelsea!! I always go to the about page too, it's really so important!
Ruth Meaney
How did you go switching over to wordpress? I'm on wordpress.com but want to head over to wordpress.org to have more control and flexibility. I'm not very tech savvy though so am a bit freaked out!
Jessica Dimas
It went well! I just wrote a new post on transferring over to self-hosted and shared some of the resources I used (or thought about using). It's less scary than you think. I think you need to jump ship and come over here 😉
Ruth
Will check out the post, thank you! I have a domain name and a logo... Just need to figure out the rest!
Tawnya
Yes to all of these 🙂 I had a friend who wanted to start blogging recently and I realized how much I actually do know when she looked at me like I had two heads when I started talking about sharing buttons, etc. I wish I would have known all of the above (or had a friend who could guide me) when I started blogging because I was a fish out of water... someday's I feel like I still am. I don't know how people keep up with it all, I'm drowning lately. Thanks for the tips, Jess! XO
Jessica Dimas
I know, it's kind of overwhelming now when you realize just how much there is to know about blogging, and you don't even realize how far you've come in that knowledge until you help a newbie! And yes, a lot of days I feel like I'm still a fish out of water. There's always something to learn and improve upon in the blogging world 🙂
Tiffany
Yes! For sure all of these things! To add to the about me page I think making it personal and adding photos makes a great about me page. I love learning more about bloggers from their about me pages.
Jessica Dimas
Ooooh I love that piece of advice, yes! The more photos and more personal an about page is, the better.
Kristy
So I don't have a disclosure page, but I do have a disclosure widget on my sidebar. Does that count? This is great advice for any beginner and great checklist for any blogger. You are definitely an expert, so thank you for sharing the wisdom, girlfriend!
Jessica Dimas
Yes, it totally does. I didn't have a disclosure page either when Adsense approved me, just something that was at the bottom of my blog. I am no expert but I like sharing what I'm learning along the way 🙂 xo
katy allred
These are great tips! I still have a long way to go as far as getting my blog where I want it to be, but I was happy to see I at least have most of these things covered!
Jessica Dimas
Yayy! Yeah, I think most bloggers feel like they always have something they want to improve or clean up on their blog. I know my own list seems never-ending! 🙂
Keri
I always learn so much in your blogging posts! Thank you! I want to improve my about Page and I need to display popular posts! So smart!
Jessica Dimas
Aw thanks Keri! I'm always so happy to hear that my blogging posts are helping someone out there 🙂 Yeah, I really love a good About page and I also love seeing their most popular posts! I actually need to update mine too!
Kelli {A Deeper Joy}
These are all so great and so true! Once I have ads on my blog, I need to add the disclosure. It also bothers me when people don't have a search bar on their blog. Great post, Jessica!
Jessica Dimas
Yeah I totally didn't know about the disclosure thing for a long time. And yes for the search bar, glad I'm not the only one who looks for those things!
Emily
I once read an article that said you shouldn't have social media buttons in an obvious place. Something about that distracting from the content, I think? It made NO sense to me why you would do that! I know I haven't been around the blogging block, but as a reader it's annoying if you cannot find the social media buttons.
I need to do more work on my categories...when I first started I put it on the back burner as I wanted to see how my blog subjects would evolve...and now I just have a site that is hard to navigate. Thanks for mentioning. I need to get on that!
Ruth Meaney
I recently realised I didn't have categories on my blog after writing for a year!!! oh boy was it a pain in the bum to go back and categorize every post! So yes, even from the get go, categories are the way to go!!
Jessica Dimas
Yes, I know the pain. I didn't really have categories either on my Blogger site and when I moved to WordPress a few months ago, I had to go through a few hundred posts and categorize them...yeesh.
Ruth
Ouch!!
Jessica Dimas
Lol I know, right?! Some of the advice I read, even if it comes from someone more knowledgeable than me, I just can't follow because as a reader, I know what I want to see! I totally know what you mean about categories, I pretty much went almost 4 years without them! Probably why I had way less page views because no one could find anything easily.
Tabitha Blue
Yes!! So good Jessica! I think it's so important to have social sharing easily available too, it's makes it so difficult when you can't find someone and want to share their stuff… especially when it takes forever, I usually just give up. Haha.
Such great points!
Jessica Dimas
Yessss, I will totally give up if I can't find social sharing buttons within a few seconds lol. Unless it's like an amazing, I-must-tell-everyone-I-know-about-this-post kind of good.
Christie!
Oh, oh, I have something for the list! It drives me insane when I'm on a blog and want to contact the owner but can't find an easy way to do so! As long as its in an obvious spot and I don't have to go searching; it can be a separate static page with the link in the navigation menu or a button in the sidebar. The contact form can be in the about section as well as long as it says "CONTACT" or "email"!! Also, I read through the comments of this post and wanted to mention my experiences so far! I decided I wanted to blog almost a year ago... I knew absolutely NOTHING about blogging or coding or anything, then. I wasn't in a position to pay a lot for anything, either, so I set out to learn how to make a website (basically from scratch. The only thing I had going for me is my love of learning.) WordPress seemed SO scary at first. I was using wordpress.com, though. I switched to Blogger and was getting the hang of it pretty quickly. Then for Christmas I signed up for Bluehost, got my domain name and purchased a premium wordpress.org theme. Self hosted wordpress is so much easier because of the freedom. A little coding goes a long way, even if you stick with basic css, lil tweaks here and there make a big difference from the generic out of the box look. Theres a tutorial for everything. I wound up tiring of the theme I bought and my "brand image" didn't fit the theme's cutesy girly look either but I am so indecisive with that stuff, instead of buying a new theme every time I change my mind, I figured out how to change the whole pre-formatted look to something different. I really need to just get it published though or I'll be tweaking this and changing that forever and ever, 🙂
Jessica Dimas
Yes, being able to find their contact info is SO crucial! Also a pet peeve of mine if I can't easily find it. That's so exciting that you have a self-hosted WP blog! Have you published it yet?! I totally know what you mean though, I really like to change my blog up, which I did a lot over at Blogger since I could so easily tweek everything. Over here on WP though, the themes aren't that cheap so I think it's going to help me not mess with my blog so much lol. Can't wait to see your blog!!
Alycia
I love all these!! I still need to work on these, for sure! I'm hoping once I'm back into a blogging rhythm, I'll have time to freshen up my look and make some of these things more of a priority!!!
Jessica Dimas
Yes, totally! Whenever you feel up to it and are in a blogging rhythm again it's always fun to freshen up your blog a bit and see what it could use and what it could do without 🙂
Monica Rakowski
Just read through all your blogging posts. You have GREAT info! Thank you!!
Jessica Dimas
SO glad they were helpful to you Monica!! <3
Rolene
What a wonderful post! I need to update my about me page. Thanks for the reminder.
Jessica Dimas
Thanks Rolene!
Penny Campriello
Very helpful! I didn't set up my blog page although I did have a say in the design! I was really glad to see I have most of the elements you suggest, need to follow up on the disclosure page for my affiliate links.. Keep on blogging!
Jessica Dimas
Thanks for your comment Penny, yeah I just recently updated my disclosure page too. Seems like there's always something new to add or update!
Owen Kariuki
The About page is very important because that's where your readers connect with you and get to know the face and personality behind the great articles. Great job!
Kortney
All great tips! I learned a lot about the disclosure page. I didn't know it was so necessary. Thank you!