Steps to Optimize your Site

Every other person that I've recently met has got a blog of some sort, but far too many of them seem to skip a very important part in the process. Understand here that it's highly important to take relevant steps in-order for you to optimize your site for your readers as well as search engines, without alienating either one. While some blogger's try very hard in focusing on how to monetize their site, there are still those that use these platforms to simply relay their personal feelings where they discuss daily issues, such as : what they had for breakfast today, or how they experienced some bad service at a fancy restaurant the night before, and so forth.

So it doesn't really matter what your ultimate goal is for your blog, the important keyword you have to remember here is - Optimizing! For some, the ideology of blogging is that it's a 'walk-in-the-park', you basically need to write a couple of lines, paste a great photo alongside it, post it up and you're done! In reality, I know you could simply carry on doing it in this manner, but sadly it's not gonna go very far if you want it to withstand the test-of-time.

But what I'm discussing here today is not your usual Search Engine Optimization (in short - SEO), because the majority of blogger's out there run off standard blog platforms or even run as a hosted blog with someone else's domain name, which makes optimizing for a blog a bit different, not to mention design issues which are unique to blogs that may have an impact in your rankings.

Step 1
Let us evaluate the many times we have changed our templates? I know a friend who has changed their template three times in the last six months. All because he didn't get the right background color! Yes, I reiterate that design is important and it counts, BUT, unfortunately not many of those so-called 'blog designers' that offer free templates, are also SEO's by trade. So, without you knowing, these designs could actually be effecting your rankings in a way. My best bet - get a designer to help you on this, or at the very least, try to customize your default template by changing the colors or even adding a uniquely brand new header.

Step 2
In order for you to optimize your blog for user experience, always make sure that their visits are hassle free - easy to access, interactive and most importantly - make them return. Blogs need repeat visitors, that's for sure. There are few methods in achieving this, take for example the commonly orange colored RSS button, every blog needs this, as it would allow yours readers to subscribe to your blog. Automatically many hosted blogging solutions do not have this feature, so it's highly recommended that you add one. FeedBurner is one good source for this feature. Another option you could offer would be to allow your readers to get your posts via email - FeedBlitz does this automatically for me. Finally, make certain that these buttons are well visible, rather than tucked far away at the bottom of the page or placed at another page all together.

Step 3
I remember reading a blog which did not even have a single paragraph break in any of its posts and boy were the posts lengthy. I was automatically off their site in just seconds. What does this tell you, it's always safer to break your posts into parts if you're planning to write a lengthy story, because how you write would eventually keep your readers coming back for more. And always remember to do a spell check prior to posting the article up at your page, this can help you save a lot of embarrassment and ultimately need not affect your image as an author.

Step 4
For some strange reason, I'm not sure why, but I've seen certain sites that display four to five different colored text in a single post or even better still, numerous different sized fonts placed all over. Yes, they may call it a unique talent or an artistic gift that they have, but ironically it simply doesn't work in the real world. Blogs such as these will eventually give their readers a painful experience, forcing them to leave, never to return. So, try not to kill the look of your blog by doing this. Choose a font that best suits your site and add color, only to certain crucial text.

Step 5
We tend to add anything and everything onto our blogs these days, one very common item has to be what we call - widgets. Every time you join something online there's always a possibility of them requiring you to place their widget at your blog. And no doubt there also some widgets that are so useful that you can't do without. But then again its always a wise choice to never overload your site with too many widgets as well. Adding a large number of javascript into your site will surely slow it down. Ya, I know some widgets have nice colors and all, but why sacrifice timely loading up time for something not all that necessary.