Time to put your blog on a diet?
Widgets, plugins, advertising, blogrolls, images, videos, and more can be added to blogs to add functionality or just plain fun. There are thousands of add-ons to consider using on your business blog, and many of which will be beneficial to you or your readers. However, add too many of these added features and your blog will balloon from fun and functional to fat and flaky.
The problem with blog add-ons, plugins, and widgets
- They can distract your readers from your larger purpose — giving them useful, relevant content that they want
- They slow down your site loading speed — even though many people have high-speed connections, making them wait is likely to make them want to leave your site altogether
- They don’t always add value — while they may be cool or unique, they may provide nothing that your readers are looking for when they come to your site
- They don’t always work — if something in your sidebar stops functioning even temporarily, you’re left with a big blank space, or worse some gobbledygook that makes your site look bad
- They can lure your readers away — some widgets are so cool that your readers end up visiting the widget-creator’s site and leaving your blog entirely
Tips for putting your blog on an add-on diet
Ask yourself these questions to determine which widgets/add-ons to keep, which to toss, and 
which to limit in some manner. If you answer “yes,” this widget is good for your diet. Any “no” answers mean it’s time to wean yourself from the widget or not consume it in the first place.
- Does this add value for my readers?
- Does this add value for me?
- Is this the most simple/pretty/clean way to add the functionality I seek?
- Can the look of the add on be made to complement my blog’s theme?
- Do I get enough control of the widget to create a professional blog presence?
- Is this add-on being used by my readers now?
If you have other tips for keeping your blog svelte and stylish, please chime in. Or, if you have examples of blogs from either extreme, send in the URL so we can all go take a look.
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The Coaches’ Blog Book — use a blog to market your coaching practice
If you want to attract new clients, provide value to your current clients, and build new business relationships, blogging is a
great tool to use. Using a blog as part of your marketing strategy isn’t necessarily straight-forward, however, so it’s good to have a helping hand on your blogging journey. To make it easy for every coach to learn how to use a blog as a marketing and communications tool, I’ve written The Coaches’ Blog Book: The 8 Building Blocks for Blogging Success.
Written in non-technical language that’s easy to understand, you’ll discover how you can use a blog to:
- Reach more potential clients
- Share your knowledge and wisdom
- Create greater cash flow
- Promote your products and services
The Coaches’ Blog Book is a workbook that you use to find the right answers for your practice (it’s not a cookie cutter process). View a PDF preview of the book or visit my publisher to purchase your own copy today.
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Pencasting…the next wave in the blogosphere?
While scanning through my incoming links today I landed on a great site I hadn’t visited for some time. Once there, I happened upon the idea of pencasting, as coined by the author. The definition is this: publication of manuscript content to the world-wide-web as scanned images of pen-and-paper text. While I generally think that pencasting is more appropriate for blogs of a personal nature, I could see them being used in a business blogging context (e.g., holiday greetings, special announcements, or maybe even just a portion of a post such as a quote or important line of text).
Take a look at some of the pencasting examples at Mandarine’s site as well as the tutorial for how to pencast.
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Custom blog design — a must have for business blogs
There are three main options to choose from when creating your blog design. Though a business can use any of these options, I heartily discourage you from choosing option #1 for a professional blog. This is for the same reason that I don’t advise people to have hotmail accounts for business — the message is that you don’t invest in your business and you don’t care about creating a professional image.
Options to getting the look and feel you want in your blog’s design
- Use free blogging systems and select one of the preformatted templates/themes = your blog looks like many other blogs out there.
- Use a blogging system that allows modifications then thoroughly customize the look (more than just changing a couple of colors) = a fairly unique look that can complement your business brand and make the aesthetic statement you desire. This blog customization is what I do for many of my clients.
- Use a blogging system that allows modifications and hire a very-experienced designer to create a theme just for you = you’ll have a blog built entirely to your specifications.
Reasons to customize the look of your business blog
You’ll stand out from the crowd- You’ll convey professionalism for your business
- You’ll have a consistent, visual brand for your company
- You’ll be more likely to blog (that’s what my clients tell me)
- You’ll have a blog (or blogsite) that you proudly promote
- All these factors combined will help you attract visitors, retain them, and draw them into your circle of satisfied clients!
“If you are using one of those themes [widely available free themes], when new visitors stumble across your blog they are likely to note they have already seen it several times before. The fact that you haven’t taken the time to visually differentiate your blog might well leave your visitors thinking that if your blog design isn’t unique, then what you have to say probably isn’t either.”
~ Unique Blog Designs
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Why blogging isn’t as easy as some say (but it can be easier)
“Create a blog in 3 easy steps: 1. Create an account, 2. Name your blog, 3. Choose a template.”~ Blogger Instructions
“It’s [a blog] easy to start and maintain. You don’t need an IT staff or a degree in computer science to start a TypePad blog. Designing your blog is point-and-click, and updating your blog is simpler than sending an email. You can be up and running in minutes.”
~ TypePad Instructions
There is no dishonesty in the two statements above; however they are misleading.
Key blogging distinctions
- Creating a blog and blogging are two entirely different things.
- Using a cookie-cutter template and having a customized blog are two more entirely different things.
- Personal blogging and blogging for business are entirely different.
- Having a blog and using a blog effectively are entirely different.
- Having an easy-to-use blog system and having a strategic blogging plan are entirely different too.
These distinctions aren’t what the people at Blogger and TypePad tell you. Why? It’s not a conspiracy to inflate your expectations and then let you down. Most of the “free” hosted systems (Blogger, TypePad, wordpress.com) are catering to personal bloggers for whom design, flexibility, and the overall process aren’t that important. For this kind of blogger, the distinctions above don’t matter that much. As a person using a blog for business, however, everything about your blog matters.
Key components of the business blogging process
All of these items are covered in detail during my Simple, Successful Blogging Program, a 10-week group blogging course designed to help business owners plan and launch a blog for their company and customers.
- Know the purpose behind your blog.
- Know who you’re blogging for and what’s important to them.
- Know what will sustain your passion for blogging once the newness has faded.
- Develop specific goals and know how to evaluate your progress.
- Organize your blog in a way that best helps you achieve your goals.
- Have a plan for promoting your blog online and offline.
- Develop a blogging practice that you can maintain easily over time.
In addition to developing the components listed above, as a Simple, Successful Blogging participant, you will:
- install WordPress on your own web host — this step gives you the blogging system from which you’ll do all your amazing work
- add the key plugins (added features) — this step ensures that your blog is user-friendly and highly functional for both you and your readers
- learn how to use most of the functions of WordPress — this step helps you learn your way around WordPress so your time blogging can be as fruitful as possible
By the time you complete the program, you will have learned what you need to be a successful business blogger.
So the bad news is that blogging is NOT easy, despite what you’ve read/heard. The good news is that business blogging can be easier, more effective, and more enjoyable if you take part in my Simple, Successful Blogging Program. Early bird pricing is in effect until August 16, 2007. Space is limited.
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Beautiful blog design — help for the color clueless
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way - things I had no words for.”~ Georgia O’Keeffe
RGB, CMYK, Pantone, hue, tint, palette. If these words mean little to you, you might need some color calisthenics to warm up your blog design and make your site more attractive to your target audience.
While I think it’s certainly advisable to work with a good designer on your site, having your own knowledge will make you a better collaborator. So find some resources–from the list below or your own web search–and learn the basic principles of color and its use on the web.
Website resources for effectively using color online
- Article about how color psychology works
- Collection of links to site dealing with color
- Color combinations
- Color principles for the web
- Color scheme tool
Do you have resources that have helped you be brilliant without blinding, scintillating but not over-saturated, colorful without clashing?
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How many columns make the best blog?
Jason, one of my Simple, Successful Blogging program students recently asked me to share “the advantages/disadvantages of one-column, two-column, and three-column set ups.” Below are my thoughts on the subject as well as a couple of links where you can read others thoughts on the matter before coming to your own conclusion.
Things to consider when choosing your blog layout (theme)
- Choose the set up that will best help you fulfill your blog’s purpose. As Orangeguru said in his comment at Weblog Tools Collection, “Form should always follow function. Unless you define the functions a layout has to fulfill there is no clear answer to your needs.”
- Select a set up that will serve your target audience. If you write primarily for super-techies, you can have lots of widgets, plugins, social media links, and various other things on your pages and everyone will be happy. Conversely, let’s say you are an ADD/ADHD coach/counselor and your blog is for folks with ADD/ADHD. If you’ve got a 3-column theme with lots going on, this is likely to be “too much” for your readers.
- Pick a blog theme that you like (unless you have absolutely no taste or style). Face it, it’s your blog and you’ll be spending more time there than most folks, so go with a blog layout that you enjoy looking at AND that you can easily work with.
Pros and cons of blog layouts
One column — Simple (somewhat) and clean. I just wonder where various navigation items go. If you decide to promote events, causes, products, or political candidates it seems that you have no logical place to put them unless it’s on a static page somewhere. To me the 1-column blog layout is the equivalent of a dress without pockets. It looks nice, yet I’m forced to carry a purse because it’s not very utilitarian.- Two columns – Still simple (most of the time) and now I have somewhere to put other items of relative importance that help people navigate my site. As long as you are thoughtful about what you place in your sidebar, I think that the two-column blog layout offers the right mix of style and practicality. In my book, the 2-column blog layout is equivalent to a wrinkle-resistant pair of slacks with 4 pockets. It wears well in many settings and it’s still practical.
- Three columns – Simple has gone by the wayside and now the blog is choc full of information everywhere I look. While this might allow you to fit in every last plugin, ad, and info nugget, I think you run a much higher risk of overwhelming people with three columns (there may be exceptions, so feel free to share them in the comments area). My call is that the 3-column blog layout is like the parachute pants of the ’80s or today’s cargo pants stuffed full-to-bursting. It’s cool that you can carry your worldly possessions with you, but that’s not truly practical or pretty, so why do it.
Other’s opinions on the best blog layouts
Now, just so you can get tons of other ideas, I invite you to read what other bloggers have to say on the subject of blog layout.
Below are selected quotes from Lorelle VanFossen. Check out the opinions of her readers too.
- “I believe that above everything else, your blog must ‘look’ like what you want it to look like. It must reflect who you are and what you blog about. The choice of how many sidebars the blog requires must service those points.”
- “The single most important feature on your blog is the navigation.”
- “As important as the blog title, post title, content, and other contextual information is, if the visitor [to your blog] cannot move where they arrive to other places on your blog, how will they ever know of all the other wonderful things you have done here?”
Mark at Weblog Tools Collection wrote, “I personally prefer one column themes with a minimal second column. Most information that is put on my sidebar(s) is extraneous and could be placed elsewhere. I have also found that some of that information deters from the original content of the blog.” Like Lorelle’s readers, Mark’s have some valuable input as well. Read their comments on choosing the right blog layout.
If you’re now either overwhelmed by the myriad of voices or feel torn between having to choose a layout for your blog, you can do what I do in similar situations — Eenie, meenie, miney, mo (or if you prefer, flip a coin) to make your choice. 
If you’d like to add your opinion to this conversation or share resources to help others make the right blog layout choice for them, please comment.
