You chose your topic, secured your domain and set up a basic blog. Now what?
While you’re incubating on the perfect topic for your first post, there are some things you can do to develop your blog beyond the basic set-up and make it more appealing to your audience.
1. Consider tone. Make sure your blog is visually appealing and supports your content’s tone. If your topic is light and funny, you should use a template with lighter colors and/or fun graphics. If your topic is more serious, you should use darker, more serious colors. Make sure your blog’s tone is reflected in all visual identity choices (font, colors, graphics, etc.)
2. Use a plain background. A blog theme with too much visual flare is distracting to the reader. If you’ve chosen something a bit visually chaotic, now is the time to consider simplifying it. My advice: Show your blog to a couple of people in your targeted audience and ask them for feedback.
3. Use an easy-to-read font. A plain green background may seem great, but when you add red Comic Sans on top of it, it’s a real eye-burner. Choose a simple, clean font (sans serif is best) that stands out starkly from your blog’s background. My advice: Step away from your blog for awhile and then come back to it. Can you instantly read the copy? If not, perhaps your text is too difficult to read.
4. Avoid bells and whistles… literally. I have a confession. I was tempted to use a theme with Flash letters at the top for this blog. It seemed like a fun idea, until I let a couple of people in my target audience view it. They were distracted by the movement and couldn’t read the white text on a black background. I should have adhered to rules I already knew. Don’t include anything on your site that starts making noise or moving around when your visitors open the page. This will make them want to close the window as quickly as possible. They won’t visit again.
5. Make sure your domain is simple. If it’s too difficult to understand or spell, you will lose readers. It’s a good idea for your blog’s name and your domain to be consistent (if possible). Also, look at your domain name with fresh eyes. Make sure it doesn’t spell anything unappealing to your audience.
6. Write a strong “about” page. Be sure to include a photo so people can link your face and name. Make this page more about your blog and what it provides for the reader than it is about you personally. Check out this post I wrote on creating an about page for additional pointers.
7. Include social media and RSS buttons. Make it simple for readers to find you and for them to find these buttons on your page. I prefer putting them at the top of the side navigation bar, but people locate them in different places on the page. The most important thing is to make them easy to find. Check out this post to help do this on WordPress sites.
8. Allow readers to share your posts. You want your content to be read by as many people interested in your niche as possible. One of the best ways to do this is to allow people to pass along things they find interesting. This is best done by putting social media sharing buttons at the bottom of each post. Check out this post to help do this on WordPress sites.
9. Create a blogroll. This should consist of other bloggers in your niche. You also should follow these people on Twitter and Facebook. Blogging is more of a community than a competition. Don’t forget to include blogs about blogging in your blogroll. If it seems like your blogroll is jumping all over the place, categorize it.
10. Run a site test. Sites like Website Grader and Blog Grader will help you identify weaknesses in your blog. You should take feedback from these sites as advice. Ultimately it is up to you to determine what blog tools and content work best for your audience and your niche. However, sites such as these may help you to identify things you’ve forgotten or weaknesses you had not yet identified.
11. Remain calm. Don’t freak out if your blog doesn’t contain everything you think it should. Get it done to a reasonable point and start posting. You can add something every day if you want.
