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Mini-Session 4: (Why) Navigation is Important to You and Your Readers

Filed Under Guest Writer, Successful Blog | 58 Comments

Joe Hauckes

Liz has invited me to be a “speaker” at this Virtual Version of SOBCon07. I’m not really sure why she picked me, but I was more than happy to accept. So, whether you are able to attend the Conference in 3D in May or in 2D Now, Everyone is Welcome to join in Today at the SOBCon07 Virtual Version.

(Why) Navigation is Important to You and Your Readers

What’s the most annoying thing you encounter when you are looking for something specific? Let’s say you already found a Blog that looks promising as a place to get some answers to some questions you may have. You see the original article you landed on, but you have more questions.

You go through “Archives”. You hit the “Previous post” and “Next post” links in search of some specific information but you can’t seem to find what you are looking for. You know it should be there somewhere (and it very well could be) but you just can’t seem to find it.

What do you do next? You go somewhere else to find what you need.

That’s where NAVIGATION comes in…

When someone visits your Blog, especially for the first time, you need to give them a way to find other things that could be of interest to them. You want to draw them deeper into your site. In order to do that you should give them access to the places they can find what they are looking for by providing things like Series You Have Written, some of your Most Popular Posts and Posts related to the subject of the post they landed on.

Show them your Recent Posts so they can get a better idea of the overal Theme and Subject Matter of your Blog. Provide a Category List covering the various topics you have covered previously.

Put links to the Most Recent Comments and any Special Projects you have running at the time. Invite visitors to join in, let them know you want them to be part of your community. The more Intra-links you provide the deeper new readers might dig to find information and possibly become Loyal Readers and Friends.

The only way I can achive my objective to help out others working at home is to makeit easy for them to READ what I’ve WRITTEN. And this can Best be accomplished by providing really Good NAVIGATION to other posts on My Blog.

What are your thoughts about NAVIGATION? Can you think of other reasons NAVIGATION is important to you? Your Readers?

Thank you, Joe!
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Visit Joe’s Blog Working at Home on the Internet where his main objective is to help others through my experiences in Working at Home by writing helpful articles. .–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Let’s open the Q&A . . .

I’ll go first, Joe, what’s your biggest frustration when navigating blogs?


SOBCon 07 link

During the Virtual Conference today, you can take $100 off registration to SOBCon 07.

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Blog Design Checklist

Filed Under Audience, Blog Review, Checklists, Design, Successful Blog | 11 Comments

A successful blogger is always asking the question, How does this serve my readers?

To many of us design is the fun and “creative” part of building our blog, talking and tweaking design can take up more time than writing content–if we let it. A checklist can help keep my creativity at uptimum levels and keep my focus on how my choices will ensure my readers enjoy their stay well enough to return again and again.

Blog Design Checklist.

      1. Title and Subtitle: Are they here? Are they clear? Could any reader understand what they mean? Turn off the blinkers, the sliders and slinkers. They distract me when I’m trying to read your post.

      2. Bio: Can I find it? Does it tell enough about you that I feel a connection with the person behind the screen? Did you give me a way to contact you, if I have a genuine reason to? Is there a photo, or at least a visual, there to represent you?

      3. Fonts/Text: Are they readable? Are there too many? too few? Are they in readable colors? Is there moving, blinking, twinkling text to distract me and annoy me? When it comes to color, size, and number less is always more.

      4. Comments/Permalinks/Trackbacks/Email: I expect to find these after the post? Please don’t get creative and make me look all over to find them.

      5. Navigation: Can I find my way around in a glance? Can I find your Classic Posts? Do your links really work? Is it easy to get back to the home page? I don’t like feeling lost.

      6. Sound/Gadgets/Plug-ins: Do they really need to be there? Are you sure they won’t irritate me? When in doubt, take them out.

      7. Technical Issues: Does the blog load fast in my browser? Does it load accurately? You may hate IE but most folks still use it. If you pretend they don’t exist. You can be sure for you they won’t.

      8. Images: Are they clean, clear and crisp? Are the files compressed so they load quickly? Fuzzy pictures hurt my eyes.

      9. Organization: Does the page feel in proportion? Do things seem where they belong? Is there enough white space and a lack of clutter? I like a little room to breathe.

      10. Marketing: Is the presentation of subscriptions, ads, and other marketing integrated into the design? Do ads become too interruptive? Are there pop-ups or pop-unders? Ads that make themselves too annoying will drive me from your blog forever. No pop-ups or pop-unders–they break your trust with me.

Use this checklist to remind yourself not to let too much design creativity take the “fun” out of reading your blog. Then get started. Have fun tweaking.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

And don’t forget the other checklists in the set:
Blog Review Checklist
Editing for Quality and a Content Editor’s Checklist
Checklist for Linking to Quality Blogs
A Blogger’s Personal Narrative Checklist
Checklist for Starting a Directory Listing

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