Right after you complete the installation of your blog there are many vital things that need to be set up before you actually start to put content on it. Some we have already talked about in my last posts.
If you have not read them yet, go read them now must have plugins for your blog and the essential settings on your blog
And today also I am going to share 7 must have elements your blog should never miss.
So, here they go:
1. A Clean Header:
First thing first; when somebody comes to your blog the first thing they see is the header.
So, have a header that is clean and clear, it should contain your blog name, if possible a professional logo.
But again for starters, you might not have that right away. So, instead of a logo, you can use a professional font like “Bebas Neue (this is a clean and bold font and has been used by many and one of my favorites) for your blog title.
Have the navigation menu clean and easy to play around.
2. About Section:
Your readers want to know about you more than you think.
They want to know why they should listen to you. What makes you an expert in your field?
Importantly everyone loves to know about the person (yes! you guessed it right, “You”.) behind the awesome stuff they have just found.
When I land on a blog for the first time and read something awesome, the very next thing I do is look for more details about the author.
So, list down your skills, experiences, interests, where you are from, what do you currently do, your achievements and if you like to be transparent, be a bit open to your readers and tell them your plans, tell them how the blog is working out for you so far.
3. Your Photo:
I have seen many blogs that don’t have a single image of the author and that makes me feel like the author is not confident enough with his work, maybe that is why he is hiding behind the computer screen; that should not be you.
When someone is reading your posts they should be able to put a face to the words.
By putting your photo on the blog, you’ll be giving your readers one more reason to trust you.
4. Social Media Links:
Show your readers that you are real and you would love to connect with them. Give them a way to have a glimpse of your social life and a way to stay in touch with you, outside the blog.
By sharing your social media profiles you will be giving your readers a sense of authenticity. And that is something you cannot ignore if you want to be successful with your blogging career.
If possible keep your social media handles the same on all the platforms. That way it would be easier for your followers to find you.
5. Social Share Buttons:
When you put so much of your time into creating a blog post, you sure want many people to see it, read it. You want to get the most out of it, right?
But how will that happen if people can’t share what they read?
Of course, you can invest a lot of money into promoting your post and might as well get a decent amount of readers, but by not allowing the readers (that you have acquired through self-sharing, and paid advertising) to share that content with their friends and followers you are simply limiting your organic reach.
Nowadays search engines are getting very smarter, they only show the content that is highly likely to be liked and will be useful to the users. In other words, if your content is being liked and shared often, then, it can give your blog a boost in the search engines as well.
Social signals are now included as an algorithm-ranking factor in search engines.
So, if you don’t mind some free traffic, then set up the social share buttons for all the blog posts without any excuse.
You can try a social share plugin like Mashshare if you’re on a self-hosted WordPress blog.
6. Contact Info:
As you know blogging is all about connecting with people, so make it easy for your readers to get in touch with you in case they want to share something with you in private. Or for any potential customer who might want to offer you a job. Or maybe some other influence who would want to interview you; you never know.
So, have a contact page with a simple contact form on your blog instead of embedding your email address, as it might get scrapped and your inbox might get spammed.
7. A Search Bar:
You might not find this useful initially but in the long run, having a simple search bar will improve the user experience.
You are sure going to write many posts on your blog… right? so, say, one or two years later when you have a strong readership, your returning readers might want to re-read some of your old posts they liked, then it will be easier for them to just type in the keywords on the search bar and find the posts they are looking for.
Even if a new reader comes to your blog looking for some solution, he would most likely look for a search bar where he can simply type in the topic he needs help with and it will show him the filtered results; given you have written something on his queried topic.
Now, if you don’t have a search bar installed, someone might come and navigate through each page and if he is certain he would find a solution on your blog and also he has ample time to spend, he might stick till to the last page but if he is in a hurry, after searching through few pages he would get bored and just leave to some other blog.
Final Words:
If you want your blog to be a success, you must have to see it through your reader’s eyes.
When you start a blog, it is very important that you make sure, your audience is having a nice experience on your site.
So, invest some time to set up the must-have elements that we talked about today.
If you liked what you read today or have any other must-haves in your mind that you think I should have added here, please share it in the comment. I would love to hear them.
See you soon.
