Blog Usability Mistakes
If you maintain a blog within your website and want to establish a successful two-way connection with your visitors you should avoid certain mistakes and follow rules that will increase your web log usability and thus lead to fruitful results.
1. Confusing navigation.
Make it easy for the visitors to access the menu avoiding scrolling down to the bottom of the blog. It is better to place it traditionally in the left or right column in the beginning of the page.
There is also the ability to tag your posts according to the subject creating navigation categories so the reader may select any subject he is interested in and view the posts which correspond it by topic. Calendar and archive options may appear useful as well making it easier for the readers to navigate your blog.
2. Poor readability.
Remember that you must avoid anything that prevents your blog from being easily readable. So you must select the background and text color attentively, pay attention to contrast combinations and so on. The reader won’t be able to apprehend the sense of your content and thus won’t appreciate your blog if the information you provide is impossible to read.
3. Contact Information Lack.
If you want your blog to be valued as trustworthy and respected source you need to provide full and correct contact information. The readers seldom appreciate anonymous posting so make it easy for them to contact you and corroborate their impression of blog content by showing your responsibility.
4. Writing mixed posts.
For professional image of your blog you should set its focus and always keep to the subject. Writing random posts on various topics which do not correspond the aim of your web log may make the readers doubt in its seriousness and usefulness. So try to provide your visitors with information that touches upon the topic of your business - the one they were interested in when they first reached your website.
5. Belated posting.
When your blog obtains regular audience it is important for you to update its content constantly without making your readers wait for some fresh piece of information and get bored. Think over your posting schedule and stick to it providing new publications without delay.
6. Avoiding links.
If you refer to some news or other authors’ posts within your blog you should paste links to such references to let your readers check the background information. Don’t be afraid to insert links as it may influence your blog search engine rankings and also help you to be noticed by other bloggers.
7. Comments skipping.
It is obvious that your readers will leave their feedback and opinions on the posts you publish. So you must carefully watch all the comments and delete those one that may be considered as spam in order not to confuse and annoy your blog regular visitors who are aimed at serious purposes. Besides proper comments moderation will also add to your blog professionalism.
8. Hard subscription.
Your subscribers are what predetermine your blog success and thus the main thing that justifies your efforts and goals. Taking it into account you should make it easy for the readers interested in your content to subscribe to your publications and stay abreast of the news you post. For this make the RSS buttons viewable and easy to find within your blog, preferably at the top of navigation menu.
So as you see there is nothing difficult in improving your blog usability avoiding simple but important mistakes. Taking into account points listed above you will make your web log friendlier to readers and thus more profitable for your work.
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