17 Blog improvement ideas

January 9, 2010 at 1:38 pm | Posted in social media | Leave a comment
Tags: abbreviation, avatar, banner, blog, blog improvement, blog measurement, blog post, blog success, blog tip, blogger, capitalisation, caption, client, comment, community, discussion, home page, internet, optimisation, optimization, photo, pic, reader, readership, rollover, social media, Twitter, visitor, visitors

Small changes can make a BIG difference. Photo by rwpeary.

A while ago I was asked to critique a blog. While many of my suggestions were client specific, there were some I thought you might find useful.

This list shows the sort of feedback I can give on your blog.

1. Changing/rotating banner pics are a nice touch. A small explanatory caption for each would be even better. Especially for first-time visitors.
2. Once you delve into older posts, it can take time to get back to the start. It’d be nice if clicking the banner pic returned readers to the home page.
3. Captions on post images would satisfy scanning readers, intrigue deeper readers and generally draw more people into each post.
4. An avatar (profile) pic of unusual dimensions makes it hard to use in other social media applications (which will crop it).
5. Clicking your avatar should lead to your bio.
6. Inconsistent capitalisation may distract some readers from your message.
7. Responding swiftly to comments can elicit others and build readership and community.
8. Clicking the post photos makes them much bigger than expected (or needed). This could disadvantage readers with slower internet connections.
9. Given this blog’s many components, a three-column design like this could work better than a two-column design.
10. ‘Rollover’ comments (which appear when you put your cursor over a link – see my blogroll on the right of this page) let you know what you’re getting into before clicking through. Some people prefer this.
11. Are you on Twitter? I couldn’t find a way to follow you. How do you announce new posts to the world?
12. One post had two hyperlinks. One was embedded, the other wasn’t. The former is neater and should be used consistently.
13. One photo acknowledgement took two lines, where one would suffice.
14. Abbreviations (it’s, we’re, don’t) would make the tone friendlier (and the writing shorter and easier to read).
15. Many of the photos are so beautiful, it’s a shame to have them so small. Putting them above the text would solve this problem.
16. Some posts contain many passive constructions. The active voice is shorter and more ‘up’.
17. Bullets are great. If you can left align them, they’ll remain distinct without looking cramped or consuming too much white space.

Was any of that useful? You can probably see I’m bringing my copywriting expertise to bear on the content.

And why not? Blogs are just another vehicle for interesting, relevant messages expressed in perfect English.

Did you want anything explained more fully? Just leave a comment; I’d love to hear from you!