We’re nearing the end of the year, and if you’re like me,
your blog may have put on a little extra weight. But unlike us, slimming down
your blog takes only a couple of hours.
This is a good time to whip it back into shape, before the
insanity of the holidays descends. So today I’m going to help you put your blog
on a diet.
Click on your own
site and look at it with these thoughts in mind. Here’s the checklist I use to
evaluate my sites. Don’t hesitate to tweak it to fit your needs.
Checklist
- First take a look at your blog’s sidebar. That’s a place a site can really pack on the pounds. I’m always adding things to my sidebar without taking the time to remove anything. Pay close attention to your social media links. Check each one to make certain it's working. Clean out any old links and add any you’ve been considering. Also be sure to update any lists you have of other sites, like those for writers, photographers or others.
- Recheck your default font for your posts. Sometimes you’ll find you’ve drifted into a different one. Whatever font you use, make certain it’s easily readable…on all screens.
- Update your about me section on your site. Include the things that have happened over the past year in regard to publication, job changes, awards, and anything else applicable. If you have a calendar with your speaking engagements, update it as well.
- Now it’s time to slim down the core of your site. Take a look at the length of your individual blog posts. Have you drifted into wordiness over the past year? Ideally blog posts should only be between 300-500 words. Any more and a large section of your audience won’t read what you’ve shared, but only bookmark it for later. How often do you do the very same thing? And how often do you actually go back and catch up with those bookmarked sites?
- Look at the most popular posts of the past year. Do they fall into a specific category or theme? If this isn’t the main focus of your blog consider making it a bigger part of your posting schedule.
- Now look at the day of the week when you get your most hits. Does it correspond to your posting date or is it the following day? You may need to tweak when your email notification is sent out.
- Finally, Google the subject of those popular posts. Don’t plug in the exact title of those blogs, instead try a more generic subject search. The purpose of this is to see where within that search your blog entry is falling. Not certain what I’m referring to? Read my posts about SEO and Tagging.
Taking a small amount of time to trim down your site will
pay off. But before we go, I’d love to know what you do to keep your blog in
tip-top shape.
And I have a short pop quiz. Who can tell me, without copying and pasting this post into a word processing program. How many words it is. The answer may surprise you!
Don’t forget to join the conversation!
And I have a short pop quiz. Who can tell me, without copying and pasting this post into a word processing program. How many words it is. The answer may surprise you!
Don’t forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie
Hmm, I'll guess 500 words although it looks like a lot more. You have a lot of white space, bullet points, and graphics.
ReplyDeleteSusan, thanks for playing along. I'll post the answer later today in the comments section! Blessings, E
DeleteAbout 400. And yes, the white space helps. I have to clean out my links at least twice a year. It really annoys me when I click a link on someone's website and the site it links to has been out of operation for years. Of course, the link to this site remains near the top.
ReplyDeleteRon, I hate clicking and going nowhere too! I especially hate it though when someone tells me one of my links is dead. Thanks so much for stopping by, Blessings, E
DeleteGreat advice, Edie! I like to clean mine up once or twice a year. It's good to keep it fresh!
ReplyDeleteJill, I try to do it twice a year, too. Thanks for sharing! Blessings, E
DeleteI'm going to say about 600. It is easy to read and doesn't seem long because of the bullet points, etc. Great info, thanks.
ReplyDeleteTammie, I'll post the exact number later today in the comments section. But you're right about the bullet points and white space, it makes a huge difference! Blessings, E
DeleteLots of great advice I plan to utilize. I had been looking at my posts and the ones that rec'd the most traffic. Thanks Edie:)
ReplyDeleteMary, that's a good plan. It's amazing what we can learn when we go back begin to analyze how people have responded to our different posts and topics. Thanks so much for stopping by, Blessings, E
DeleteSo helpful, Edie! Yeah, I need to cut back on 100 words or so. Short and sweet--its easy for me to lose sight of that.
ReplyDeleteGwendolyn, my post word counts had begun to creep up. I noticed because I started needing 4 images instead of 3. Thanks for chiming in! Blessings, E
DeleteEdie,
ReplyDeleteDo you have a guideline for how many images per 100 words? I'd appreciate it if you shared. I'm guessing ~500 on this post.
Lori, great question! Unfortunately there isn't a cut and dried answer. If you'll bear with me, I'll try to explain. The purpose of images is linked with the purpose of white space, bullet point, headings, etc. All these things break up the text, giving the eye of the reader a chance to rest and making the page appealing.
DeleteIn a post with lots of white space, less images are needed. So a lot has to do with how the word count is organized. The rule of thumb I use is roughly 3 images for a 450 word post.
Look for a blog post soon exploring this in detail. Again, thanks for the question! Blessings, E
Maybe 375? It's probably less than it looks like since the info is so succinct.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing 400! Great advice. I'm shooting for shorter post in the coming year.
ReplyDeleteEdie, thanks for this list! I'm going to guess 450. Love you!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to the post on use of images within a blog. Lately, I've had difficulty posting images via blogger--even uploading my own photos for the blog. Now I have to go through Picassa.
ReplyDeleteMy word count guess is 400.
You may be surprised to learn that this post is 550 words long. 50 words too long in my opinion, but you can fudge on the length of a post if you use images and/or bullet points. Thanks for playing along! Blessings, E
ReplyDelete