{Blogging 101} 7 things every blog should have

Setting up a blog is pretty easy. You can go to wordpress or blogger and set up one for free in minutes, even a self-hosted domain is pretty easy to set up. There are thousands of free themes and as many paid for ones. If you want your blog to grow and grab the attention of brands and readers, then you do need to make sure there are a few things on your blog.

1. A header. This is needs to be clear, well designed, easy to read and ideally contain our blog name and tag line. It is often how people will remember your blog. It also does set the tone of your blog so spend some time on this or get someone to do it for you.

 

2. Your profile. A new visitor to your blog may enjoy a specific blog post but will want to find out more about you, where you live, how many children, what you do etc. Your profile should have all of this info and be easy to find on your site. Make it upbeat, interesting and honest.

3. Social Media links. These are important for your readers to be able to connect with you on your various platforms. Make sure they are clearly visible and that the links all work correctly.

4. Contact details. These are so important. You can create a seperate page or a tab for this or have it on your sidebar, it doesn’t really matter what you choose to do, just make sure it is easy to find and that the details are all correct.

5. Colours and fonts must be easy to read. View your site on a Firefox, Chrome, Safari as well as on the various phones. It may look ok on your screen but your theme may not work well on another OS. Also make sure that the font can be read easily. Pretty fonts aren’t so pretty if your readers are battling to read them.

6. Title and Tagline. This is important for google searches because the tag line and heading will come up when readers search on the internet. Choose something that is short but describes what your blog is about, clearly! This make it easier for potential brands who are searching for blogs to work with.

7. Comment section. This may sound obvious but make sure your comment section is open and allows comments to be made easily.You can still add security features without making it too complicated. If the process is too long or cumbersome, people won’t comment. Comments are important to create conversations, interaction and a community. The focus is not on the amount of comments you received but rather the quality of these comments and whether or not they create positive discussions.