1. categories/labels - Always categorize or label your blog post and make sure that you have categories/labels on your sidebar. Some bloggers do label their entries but fail to place a category menu on the sidebar. What happens then is that readers can still search via label but only by clicking on the label immediately after the post. What this means is that if you do not have a recent post on a certain category your reader might not realize that you have entries information on topic falling under that category.

2. search box – Again always place a search box in your blog. You can place it on the sidebar or on the top of the page. Place it in a prominent position. If you offer a choice between searching for results just on your blog or from the entire web make sure the default search results for your blog. Sure you want to be helpful to your readers but you also want to encourage them to look for information in your blog and not some other place.

3. similar posts - If you read this post entire post (and if you read this part you’re actually almost done) and look at the end of the entry you will see a list of similar entries (Related Articles). Giving a short list of similar entries is very helpful to readers since they can simply jump to another post with related information in case they found the post they have been reading useful. This will save them the effort of having to do another search or having to skim through posts categorically.

With blogs the site structure is pretty simple since everything is organised chronologically. However this structure is virtually useless for searching for entries based on content. Because of this as a blogger it is your responsibility to ensure that you provide other navigation elements that will help your readers look for specific information without having to scan your previous posts one by one. After all, if you do not provide any other way chances are no one will really take the time to dig deeper for the information they need and will simply go to another blog/site to look for what they need.

On my next post I will list down several ways you can make it easier for readers to look for the information they need in your blog.

For this blog, even if Blog Tutorials is a descriptive enough name a simple phrase “Helping you create a successful blog” was added to the page title of the main page. This is a good choice because it expounds on what Blog Tutorials is about and yet does it in just a few words. Keep in mind that when coming up with a page title try to keep it as short as possible. This is important since people usually browse using multiple windows and/or tabs so that the page titles get cut. A long page title, though descriptive, is of no value since the title won’t be seen easily anyway. Furthermore place the most important words at the beginning of the page title so that the ones that are cut off are the least important ones.

Note that for blogs the title of the blog entry is usually the one used as the page title. This means that each time you write an entry make sure your post’s title will not just be catchy but will also make for a good page title.

Usability is very important in any website’s design – including blogs. Of course, in blogs content is the main thing, however usability shouldn’t be set aside. Personally I read most blogs using a reader but I find myself clicking on a few favourite blogs and visiting some of the actual blogs more often than others. The quality of content of course comes into play, since the content is the one that catches my eye first (in my reader at least), but after having visited a blog with good content I realized that I tend to never visit ugly blogs again and visit those that have more to offer just for the sake of reading the blog post in its original layout.

In my next posts I will discuss some blog usability issues and give some tips to help increase your blog’s usability.

You can never get too creative when it comes to your blog. There are so many ways you could tweak it. If you like experimenting with colors, go ahead and try these sites. You could find so many color schemes that could suit your taste and the overall theme of your blog.

Colourlovers
Colourlovers is an awesome site! You could get all sorts of ideas for your blog because there are palettes available. You get to see new palettes, new colors and the hexadecimal values of these colors. Makes it easier for you to customize your CSS. You could check out the most loved colors and color schemes too. There are not too many articles just yet but nevertheless this is a pretty good reference.

ColorToy2.0
Another amazing color scheme site, you could easily see what colors go well together. With just a few clicks you could figure out what goes well with #5BD938. It is a pretty straightforward color scheme generator so it should be easy to use.

Daily Color Scheme
Looking for a fresh set of colors everyday? If you are, look no farther than the daily color scheme! It is nice because you basically have one per day and you could easily see the different values on the screen. On the sidebar, the top part of it, you could see the different ways you could import the color scheme, save it into different formats and use them when you need to.

Playing around with your blog is one of the fun things you could do to show your individuality and creativity. There are actually many different sources of color schemes but these seem to be really nice and easy to use whether you are a beginner or a pro. You could even complement the images that you have on your blog layout with the right colors. As some people say, there’s something about the way you present things that make them even more palatable. Ask any chef about it They sure would be able to relate.

Think appropriate – Make sure you only put up ads that are appropriate for your readers. Obviously if your blog are for kids do not become an affiliate for adult websites. Advertise things that will be of real interest to your readers.

Do not use your sole sidebar purely for monetization – As I mentioned in my previous posts one of the major benefits of sidebars in the increase in usability. Make sure you still put in navigation elements so that people will have a way to get around your blog more easily.

Make it pretty – A deluge of varied ads can make for a messy looking sidebar. If you are putting up sponsor blogs limit them to specific dimensions so that your blog will at least look streamlined. Think about your color scheme and don’t put up ads that really clash with your blog’s look. You can ask sponsors for several (color) versions of ads so that you can choose to post the one that best fits your blog. For adsense, you can always tweak the color scheme so don’t settle for the default.

Aesthetics – The sidebar should always complement your blog’s over all graphical design. You want the colors to blend in, the proportions to work, and the format such that it will enhance your blog’s overall look without taking the reader’s attention away from the most important thing – your posts. What this means is that your side bar should always take up a smaller space than your main column. This isn’t hard for blogs with single sidebars, but for blogs like Blog-tutorials that have a three-column format, sometimes the sidebar can end up taking too much space. If you notice though with Blog-tutorials the first left column (main column) is just slightly larger than the middle one yet due to the font size used for post titles you can immediately identify the left part as the main column. Furthermore the middle column doesn’t take away from the content since it contains featured content, which is of course, where you want your readers to go.

Navigation – Your sidebar(s) exist for a reason – increased navigability. It isn’t there to just pretty up your blog. If it doesn’t help people navigate through your blog then you’re missing out on this benefit. What you see on the sidebar depends on what your focus is – what you want your readers to read. It can have a section for featured/ most popular posts, it can have a tag cloud, or it can have a search box (this can be put somewhere more prominent than the sidebar). It can contain all of the above. The important thing is that you give readers several options to accommodate different search styles. Oh and don’t forget to include “subscribe feeds” buttons to encourage readers to add your blog to their feeds.

The About Page is probably one of the most neglected pages there is, especially when it comes to the blogosphere. This is a big mistake because About Pages can be really useful. Some of the benefits of having a good About Page include:

Searchability – If you are out to build your online reputation an About Page is another page where people can get to know more about you. It’s another page crawled by search engines that will hopefully climb the rankings to be included among the top results so that when someone searches for you online you’ll be easy to find. Of course if you have a lousy blog or have personal stuff there you don’t want linked to you then ditch the About Page.

Credibility – A blank about page or a too generic one (one that doesn’t really reveal anything about you) will do nothing to help build your online reputation. List basic facts such as your job title (description), interests and skills. Treat your About Page like a resume because you never know who’ll end up reading it. Note though that for privacy and/or security reasons it isn’t advisable to list down personal details such as your complete address, complete birth date, and other such information that can be used to physically stalk/target you and/or get access to your financial records.

Forget the clutter
There are countless widgets and buttons out there. It seems to me that everyday, you can find a new one that you like and that you want to put in your blog. While widgets and buttons are cool and useful, beware of using too many of them in your blog. Doing so will only increase the clutter and take away from the visual appeal of your blog.

Learn basic color principles
Some people have the talent for this – they know intuitively what colors work well together and what color combinations are a no no. For those who aren’t exactly gifted in this department (I think I would belong to this group), it would not hurt to learn the basic color principles. It might not turn you into a graphic designer overnight but at least it will help you with your blog design.

Don’t overdo it with the graphics
Graphics are necessary. They add to the visual appeal. But why use loud oversized graphics when you can use smaller ones that mix better with your posts? Make it so that users who want to see the larger picture just need to click on the image. By doing this, you maintain balance in your blog while giving the option of larger images for those who want it.

That is the idea of a sticky blog – you get to entice people to keep coming back for more. Getting exposure is only the start. What you want are repeat visitors.

So how do you make your blog sticky? Here are some practical tips which you can employ NOW.

Create your visual design with “sticky” in mind.
And how do you do this? Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor. What will make you keep coming back? For sure, one element would be easy navigation. Make sure that your archives are easy to access. Use relatively large fonts. Stay away from a combination of colors that hurt the eyes. You follow?

Highlight recent posts and most popular posts.
What you want is for your readers to be able to find your posts easily. While your archives can help a lot, especially for the recent posts, it would be much easier for readers to find a section devoted entirely to these. As for the most popular posts, why not make them even more popular by creating links to them as well? More so, you want new visitors to sample the best of what you have to offer, and your most popular posts give them exactly that.