If you are new to blogging, then you may spend the first few weeks, designing your blog, tweaking your blog and spending many hours just getting it right.

Then you see someone else’s blog and like it and want to copy the design of what they have. So you spend loads more hours designing and tweaking. Then you see another blog and off you go again.

NO-ONE IS 100% HAPPY WITH HOW THEIR BLOG LOOKS.

There I said it!

A generic statement, perhaps, but the vast majority of people are not 100 happy with their blog design.

80% happy yes, but not 100%.

When you get to 80%, leave it alone. Don’t tweak it anymore. Spend your time and concentrate on creating great content.

So what do I recommend you add to your blog and blog design?

1. Get yourself a premium theme

I don’t want to keep repeating myself but if you can, invest in a premium theme like Thesis or Flexx.

See my post 11 top wordpress themes.

Getting a premium theme will save you hours.

2. Post only relevant content

First of all, you should take care to include only relevant content according to your chosen niche. This means that whatever you post on your blog should be strongly related to what the blog is all about.

If you post a health related content on your blog that is about casino gambling, it will seem more like a blog spam and people will won’t want to read further.  Of course, you want to add some personal things as well like holiday photos or videos or what you did at the weekend. But that’s only about you and people like to see some information about the blog owner.

I recently added a video which included a bit about my garden. I received some great comments and requests for more content like that.

3. Add an opt-in form

If you are selling products or services, then make sure you include opt-in form offering a free giveaway or newsletter on your blog. Put the opt-in form on your blog at a place where it is easily visible and make sure it is above the ‘fold’. I use Aweber for my opt-in process.

4. Images and Photos.

You should give at least one photo for every blog post you write, so that readers will feel more attracted to read the blog post and re-visit your site. Make sure the images that you include are high resolution ones and not those irritating blurry ones.  Use Istockphoto or Flickr for photos.

5. Advertising

If you want to advertise, don’t put hundreds of text links and banners. Keep it to a minimum. You can automatically rotate your banner by using the free plugin MaxBannerAds. See the banners on the right hand side of this blog. If you were to refresh this page, different ones would appear. That’s what the free plugin MaxBannerAds does for you.

What would you add to your blog? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Post from: Blogging Guide

When I make a blog what should I include?