First impressions always last – whether it comes to people, foods, or websites. If the layout of your website is unorganized, most people will automatically get a bad impression and leave after a short amount of time. How you choose to organize your website affects how people will respond and interact with it.
While many methods of increasing traffic to your website require money, keeping your website organized will have people coming back for no extra charge. Furthermore, an organized website makes the addition of new material much easier. Follow these tips below to keep your blog organized to not only make your life easier, but to also increase traffic to your website:
1. Categorize your blog posts.
Visitors to your website are trying to look for a solution to a problem, be entertained, learn something new, etc. In order to help your audience find what they are looking for, it is crucial to organize all of your information into distinct categories. There are numerous different ways to do this. For example, if your blog offers different cooking recipes, consider organizing them into different types of food, such as Mexican, Chinese, Greek, etc.
If time is an important factor to the information on your blog, you can organize your posts in a chronological sequence, either by month or by year. If there is no relation between your posts, consider organizing them alphabetically. By getting into the habit of organizing all your new material, this can also spill over into organizing other areas of your life, such as your work/life balance and even cleaning your house.
2. Develop a main structure.
With a smaller website, it can be easy to display all your links on the home page. However, as the content of your website grows, it is vital to create a hierarchical structure that shows your audience what your website provides. Consider
implementing a drop down menu leading to your different categories on your home page.
Set up a navigational menu on the side of your web page that allows your users to maneuver around the website without having to go back to the main page each time. Think of the file system on your computer drive and try to apply something similar to your website.
3. Use headers.
It is important to understand that not many people are going to read every single word on your website. In fact most people will scan and pick up what stands out. This is why it is always a smart move to use headers to break up your text. Your headings should always summarize the text that follows. This helps readers figure out what the point of the next paragraph is and decide if it interests them enough to continue reading.
This not only helps your readers, but also assists search engines in finding your content which increases traffic to your website. Be sure to focus on key words related to your topic because this will increase your search engine optimization, meaning web users will have an easier time finding your website when they are searching the Internet. Keep in mind that key words are not only in your headers and page titles, but also in meta tags that search engines use.
4. Keep your paragraphs short.
The paragraphs in your blog posts should never be excessive. Write just enough so that readers will understand what you’re trying to get at. Most visitors to your website will quickly skim through a long paragraph, but there is a bigger
chance that they will read a short one. See, you just read this whole paragraph.
5. Keep things simple.
When visitors come to your website, their focus starts off at the top left of the home page and gradually travels to the right. Web users are more focused on the page’s text instead of the images. By removing all unnecessary visual stimuli, it
makes your website easier to read, information easier to find, and the overall look of the site more visually appealing.
The more texture and color added to your background, the more distracting it is and the less evident your actual text. Be
careful when using bright colors like red or yellow because this can cause a temporary loss of brainpower from the hard mental work, causing the reader to lose focus on what they’re reading. Furthermore, you want your pages to load as quickly as possible, and excessive graphics will make this take longer.
This is a guest post by Kenneth McCall, check out the guidelines to guest post here.
Image Credit: Loony Hiker
16 comments
Great tips. I agree with you that it’s important to categorize blog posts, this will make it neat and easier for readers to find related posts.
I hate to admit this, but many of my last posts currently are labeled “uncategorized”. This blog post was just the impetus to get me to finally change that. Thanks for the great post, with real value and actionable steps!
Why shouldn’t use images especially with tips or tutorials. I think images will help to explain to readers clearer.
Keeping paraghaphs short and to the point helps with the “readability” of your blog. often, I find myself rambling on only to find that no one will read some 6-700 words just because it looks too cluttered. Remember, in this day and age, people will scan your page in a couple of seconds and you need to keep them on your page. Give them that they want, and fast!
Using headers is most important considering readers as well as SEO
A user friendly navigational menu is so important. So many times I’ve left a blog because i simply couldn’t get around. Many people focus on a funky background image or a cool font for the title, but these may obscure or divert attention from the backbone of the blog, which should be a well organized menu.
Keeping things simple is HUGE, a very important in keeping things organized. Not to mention, it’ll help you get done faster!
Thanks for your advice. Indeed organizing your website is one of the most important work that one needs to do to increase the traffic.
I would like to suggest to those having a large content in their pages is that
they can use dynamic pages to link their topics, this would ease the reader from scrolling and finding. After all time factor is the most important aspect for a viewer.
And also keeping your paragraphs short.
my blog is clutter free and i like to keep it that way so that people dont get too distracted and not read my posts or articles.
I find this a lot with my blog. I want it to only be a certain way, and then I start writing about something thats off topic and end up deleting it all!
Great topic , never actually looked at the value that organising can bring to the overall blog…I’ll need to dig deep on this 🙂
Oi vey. Headers. I’m always forgetting them! Well, when I’m in a hurry to get a post up. My numbers are always at least twice as good when I remember to include them than when I don’t. It’s still something I’m getting used to, because headers really weren’t ever a thing I was used to including or thinking about.
Only when I take the time to actually design and build a blog post carefully to headers work for me. I know, I know; *every* blog post should be done like that, but the reality of my life is that it just doesn’t happen. Headers are like the necessary evil for me. =)
Delena
Categorising posts is just a great way to maintain readers as they they find browsing the blog very easy.
Hello Readers,
Really good post for the newbie bloggers. The blog should be niche blog, well categorized, Make your opinion known, Link like crazy, Write less
and to the point, 250 Words is enough, Make Headlines snappy and catchy, Write with passion, Include Bullet point lists, Make your posts easy to scan, Be consistent with your style, Litter the post with your proper keywords …. what do you think friends?
By the way nice sharing, Keep posting
Thanks and regards,
Daniel Hughes.
Blog clutter is easy to avoid. The key is to not let the clutter build up in the first place. If you plan and organize your blog from the outset, your blog will be like a storage unit with neat shelves and a place where everything belongs. Make your readers feel good about your blogs.