You don’t need to go far to understand that there is a psychological aspect of a blog’s design, content and social elements. Combinations of these items turn a dreadfully boring blog into a very effective publication.
Check this out …
Simplicity
IncomeDiary
As a blogger, you’re already accustomed to how blogs work; you check the sidebar, browse through the archives and dig through the latest post – hell, you also know the inner workings of RSS and how to effectively use blog commenting to promote your own website. But, are you seeing your blog through the eyes of the average person?
Unless you’re blogging about blogging, people visiting your website are going to be lost when they land on the average blog because of the way things are setup. People don’t immediately know where to start and so people leave; if they happen to dig into your content, they may find it out of context and pass over some of your greatest work.
Simplicity is truly important for effective blogging. Don’t make the visitor think. Keep things as simple and minimal as possible without compromising your brand. Get people to immediately understand where to start, which you are and what your brand represents. Get people onto your best content or interested in signing p for your list to convert them to community members rather than hoping for the best.
Navigation
SmartPassiveIncome
Blogging, by default (and from what you’re told), generally means that you’re using the categories for the main navigation of your blog. The problem with this approach is that once a visitor lands on those archives, they’re immediately lost because they don’t know where to truly start.
The website, at its core, needs to be as easy as possible to navigate. Again, don’t make people second guess whether they want to dig into your blog or get them lost while trying to find content. Go no more than a three step process for finding your content: Home > Best of > Post.
Of course, people will be landing on individual posts so make it apparent that there is additional content you deem worth viewing; a ‘start here’ page is very effective for this purpose. Get people to dig deep into your website through silo category pages, getting started pages, best of lists, interlinks and clear call to actions and you’ll be twice as effective at blogging.
Focus
CareerInsider
We all make this mistake when blogging: we’re too much all over the place with your topic selection.
In one post, we’re talking about setting up a blog but the next day, we’re publishing something about the latest social network or pictures of cats. People need some kind of focus when they are browsing your blog.
I’m not saying that you should focus on a single niche but what I do suggest is that you create some kind of structure in your content creation. Try to plan out segments of your content based around your schedule or create some kind of progression to new topics for your regular readers.
Let people immediately understand what you’re representing and where you stand on a topic. If you plan to build authority on your website than you need to stay focused on doing just that. You’re either professional or casual; there is an in between but this disconnection in brand will often lose the vast majority of your readers.
Time
ZenHabits
How much time do you have dedicated to your blog posts? Take that number and divide it in half. Hell, divide it by three. Your readers don’t have nearly as much time on their hands as you do. Sure, you’re involved with your topic all day, every day but everyone else is busy with their lives.
First and foremost, you need to make your website as fast as possible because people are becoming less and less patient with the web (I can’t even sit through a 3 minute Youtube video these days). You can do this by upgrading your web hosting, reducing the widgets, optimizing code, using a caching program or subscribing to a content delivery network. Bonus: you gain a bit of SEO juice for a fast website.
Secondly, remember that people need to be focused and get through your site without hurdles. Speed is one of those elements that will prevent people from ever taking a look through the content; keep things simple s your blog is nice and speedy.
Message
SocialMediaExaminer
Refine your message so you can explain it in as little as a single sentence. What is your blog about, what does it represent, what can people expect from it and what will they get if they trade their time.
Think of your message as your elevator pitch. You want to be clear and concise every moment that someone is on your blog from the home page to the 404. There shouldn’t be a single moment where someone is disconnected from your content because you switch gears.
Your message is entirely up to you but I believe you need to have some kind of drive to get people to convert. Your message should represent your brand but also lead people to actions you want them to take – your call-to-action. To be effective at blogging, keep things clear and to the point.
Continuity
RedLetterMedia
Continuity is the consistency between elements of your blog but take it a step further and understand that your social presence has also become a factor in this.
Bounce rate is one of the most difficult items to handle when running a site. One of the main elements that make people leave is some kind of disconnect between the message they read prior to landing and the message they read after.
If someone lands on your page through search engines about a particular subject line than you damn well better be sure to share that information. Likewise, people need some kind of common element between design and message; don’t make your website green and your fan page purple.
Make it so when someone reads your tweets, it makes just as much sense as how you share content on your blog. Don’t have split personalities when it comes to your public image.
Community
SmashingMagazine
Lastly, it’s really the community that makes for an effective blog because, after all, it’s your readers that will ultimately decide the fate of your blog. Push out as much content you want, if people don’t want to read and share it than it’s not making an impact.
Get over the idea that it’s a numbers game. How many blogs have you landed on where you’ve noticed 1,000 tweets but only 2 comments – something seems off, doesn’t it?
People want to interact with other people. When someone sees others participating in blog comments, Facebook wall posts, Twitter discussions (and other networks) – they naturally want to join in. In fact, pay attention next time to how people comment on your own blog – you’ll see that it takes a bit for people to immediately comment but if you show that there are people joining in right away than they’re likely to jump in as well – it’s all about social proof; people want to be associated with what’s happening.
Final Thoughts
You are playing a game; you’re in a constant struggle between a person’s attention span and your effectiveness of delivering a message.
To understand effective blogging at its core level, I recommend that you take time to learn from individuals that strive on user experience such as: Social Triggers, UX Blog and the Usability Section of Smashing Magazine.
Think what you want about those that offer advice on conversions but the real information is based on psychological factors and great web design practices. Testing these elements is your free access to substantial improvement.
Congratulations, you’ve just saved yourself thousands of dollars in mistakes with your blog.
Nice one Murray. Once we step into the field of blogging, we will always try to stuff as much things in our blog, worrying there is not enough to feed our readers.
You have pointed one very important point. We are always looking our blog from our very own view. We do have the experience but we forget some people may be overwhelmed if they realize there are too many choices available. Simplicity and focus are definitely two things we need to take note.
Love this post. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you liked it Lye,
I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many hours I’ve put into a project at my old work that simply revolved around simplicity in the web design. We always made it a point to get people to what they want in 3 steps and no more. It seems that blogs generally have people jumping all over and that’s difficult for people to get involved; hell, I find a new blog and know where to look for content like the archives but you have to wonder if non-bloggers are doing that, ya know? Gotta get them when their interest is at its zenith.
You are right,
It is all about keeping things simple, easy, quick, entertaining and informative for you readers. You have to balance bewteen keeping the long term readers happy, yet also keeping things accessible to those that do not have a “history” of reading your blog.
One additional thought. (just because I was reminded of this today on BT) Have a good “greet” page after people leave a first time comment, that will guide people to your “start” page, other good artilces and perhaps RSS, email list sign up.
Oh yahhhhh!
I completely forgot about that.
In fact, one of the things I wanted to experiment with was having separate landing pages for people coming over from certain blogs – exclusive content and bonuses for checking out the website when they read a guest post so that you’re crafting a message that specifically hits those readers. An exit page would be amazing too, just like an order confirmation page – build that trust every step of the way!
Murray, you really picked some great examples above to drive home your points man. Loved this, and I actually hadn’t seen 3 of the blogs above, so I’m going to have to check’ em out.
Well done brother,
Marcus
Thanks Marcus,
Glad you enjoyed the post.
I like to think things very logically hence why I broke them down – I’m sure we could probably go one step further – what it would really come down to is personality and drive – those two items could really get you noticed because you’re likeable and have the energy to create something amazing
Excellent article Murray. I’ve been thinking about the user experience quite a lot lately and wondering what sort of site layout people actually prefer, and even if there is an “ideal layout”. I’m so used to reading sites that have a blog style layout but for people outside internet marketing and blogging, this layout might actually throw people. I guess you can’t appeal to everyone but it’s good to see more and blogs addressing and simplifying navigation by adding things like ‘start here’ pages with links to pillar content and adding related links. I think it will make sites more sticky as visitors get pointed to more immediately useful information from post to post.
I am definitely digging the simple, minimalist, layouts some bloggers have changed to, like incomediary and viperchill. It really makes them stand out amongst the noise. Especially when you compare them to so many ad-heavy sites with terrible UX, where the content has to “snake” its way down the page.
Keep up the great work.
Toby
Exactly!
People see the headline, they click the link and then bam – they’re hit with this wall of adds and distraction which is a real pain in the ass because no matter how much they want to read the content – they don’t want to be hammered by some marketing message; it would be like reading a text book but every other page is some advertisement – you don’t see this in published books, college books and other information-heavy mediums – we treat our blogs like magazines which makes sense because it’s a great medium to integrate dynamic advertising and content but there comes a point where it’s like Maxim or something where it’s one article and then 10 pages of makeup ads.
Hey Murray, great post here! Definitely important to have a user-friendly blog. If our visitors visit and have no idea what to do or why they’re there, instantly we lose that visitor. Our goal here is to keep our visitor on our site as long as possible and let them take something with them when they leave. What is that something? It is either could be a free gift, new set of skills learned, knowledge, etc. Keeping our blogs clear and simple is the best way to run a blog. Thanks for sharing this! Keep it up!
For sure man,
When I land on a site, I want to be able to get right into the thick of information and also connect with the blogger – not just get bombarded by advertising and need to sort my way through the crap to get the real information; real businesses wouldn’t hit you hard if you entered a store for other companies and blogging should follow suit – you’ve got someone, essential, in your “store” and too many ways to leave the page, ie advertising, can often make people back out reaaaal quick.