3 Most Common Layout Mistakes You Don't Want To Make

After sitting on the "review my blog" page for a while I've noticed there were a few things that I kept saying over and over.

So, here they are. I will be using my site as an example of what to aim for. If you have any questions please ask me and I'll be more than happy to help!

1. The Home Page Blog Roll

Many sites I have reviewed are just listing out their blog posts (this is the WordPress default). What we need to do is tell the readers what our site is about, how it's going to help them, and what to do next.

Really take the time to flush this out. My homepage is still the most landed on page (says Google). If I did not have my homepage in this manner I would have a much higher bounce rate.

You can view my homepage for an example.
For a quick walk through to change this check out Stuart's training.

2. The Sidebar Achieve

Most of the time I'm seeing another list of posts, pages, tags, and categories. Honestly, this is not engaging to your visitor nor is it helping you convert them into long time readers.At the top place a search bar.

I used to not have this on my site but my readers asked for it to help them find the information they were looking for much easier. Under the search bar you need an email opt-in form.

"The money is in the list!" I get more people to my blog from sending out an email about the new post than I ever do with social media. Head over to MailChimp and sign up for their free account.

The sooner you start to collect emails the better off you'll be. Next, have a list of 5 to 10 of the most useful post to new visitors. Mine is currently the ten steps to starting a blog.

You can view my sidebar for an example

3. Your "All About Me" Page

Unfortunately, even though it's called 'about me' it's not about you. It still has to be about your readers. The about page of your website is the second most visited page. So let's make sure it's working hard for us.

Make the first section of your about page needs to tell the reader what the site is about and how it will help the reader.

Second, talk about your authority in the niche. Make sure you still keep it about the reader. Show them how you know what you are talking about and why they should listen to you.

The third section of your about page can be about you and your history. Still make sure it's focused on your reader. Don't make this the longest part of the page either. At most it should be the same length as your shortest section.

You can view my about page for an example

If you have any questions please ask! I'm here to help make all our sites better.

PS. You may also PM me if you'd like to get a bit more into the details. I will do my best to answer all PMs.