*It makes your content easy to scan – The average internet surfer (which of course includes blog readers) have very short attention spans. This makes it very important to present your posts in a manner that would allow them to scan and take in as much information as they can by simply scanning your post. If what they see at a glance interests them then they will take the time to read the post in detail. If they aren’t too interested they go to the next post or leave at least satisfied enough to have read snippets of your post.

*It helps you organize your post – Since most blogs are written with a conversational tone a lot of bloggers tend to ramble ending up with unstructured posts. Bullets are a great way to deliver points directly and concisely. Of course points can be delivered in using another structure but it is just so much easier to write when using bullets since the flow from paragraph to paragraph does not have to be that seamless.

In the end though what is important is that you learn how to structure your posts to fit your blog’s content and feel. If bullets are not appropriate then do not use them, but by all means use this easy on the brain and easy on the eye format whenever you can.

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.

As I have mentioned before, your About Page is your chance to make a good impression to new readers interested in knowing more about you and your blog. With that in mind you should choose a profile picture that represents you well. This means that the picture should:

Be REAL – No stock photos please of some handsome or pretty stranger. You know how some blogs use such photos. If you won’t be posting your own picture then don’t post any!

Have a good resolution – Grainy photos are a turn off. Choose a clear picture. Black and white or colored does not matter as long as it’s of a good resolution.

Suit your blog’s tone and feel – If your blog has a serious tone and your want to portray yourself as a reputable knowledgeable source of information then a half-body or head shot would be appropriate. However, if your blog is a “mom blog” or “pet blog” you might want to include your pet or your family in the snapshot. The point is that your photo should reflect the blog’s overall theme.

Have a good aspect ratio – This is for the sake of SEO. Image search prefers images with good aspect ratio. Your photo will even have a better chance of appearing in Google News results (the blog portion) if you use a common aspect ratio.

When deciding on the contents of an About Page I’m pretty sure that almost all bloggers put much effort on the text portion – the information to be shared, the wording, the tone, and the length. However, when it comes to the photo what most people do is either simply use the current profile photo or just forgo posting a profile pic. The question now is: Should you post your photo or not?

As in all things this depends on the type of blog you maintain as well as you personality. There are three cases when I recommend NOT posting a profile pic:

Privacy issues – Some people do not post their photos because of privacy issues. In that case I wouldn’t push anyone to post anything they are not comfortable with, however, remember that the presence of a photo helps readers identify more with the blogger thus contributing to a sense of trust. Another legitimate privacy issue would be “anonymous” bloggers that have blog posts that could compromise them, whether at work or their personal lives, if anyone finds out their true identity. Obviously anonymous bloggers should not post their pictures in their About Page!

Corporate blog – Corporate blogs where the blog serves more as a venue for press releases and where the poster can be anyone from a team need not post the photo of each and every “blogger”. This is especially important if your company’s blog is very formal. Instead use the company logo for a profile picture so as to help in brand recognition. Note that this is different from en employee having a blog centered on the company, in which case I would caution the employee on editing EVERYTHING he posts.

With the popularity of texting (and chatting) it is no wonder that initialism has boomed. If you’re wondering what initialism means it is simply abbreviating phrases by using the first letter of each word on the phrase.

Initialism is not a bad thing because it serves its purpose – makes texting and chatting really faster. (Though I’m pretty sure spelling teachers all over the world hate it. People misspell words often enough without developing bad habits from initialism and utterly random abbreviations!) When it comes to blogging I do have to side with the educators and discourage its use.

One of the things you never want your blog to be is unreadable. Initialisms may be easy to understand for the initiated but really even I get lost with some of the things I see. LOL (laugh out loud) and WTF (I don’t need to spell this one out) is all I really understand. You have to assume that your readers are as “illiterate” as I am when it comes to such abbreviations. If you must use initialisms make sure you explain it. Sounds corny, but remember witticisms are no good if there’s no one to understand you.

Oh and yeah – DUH is not an initialism… ^_^

Spreading link love is, I think, like good karma. As they say, “What goes around, comes around.”

If you spread link love you might not see immediate results but it DOES help your blog in several ways.

1. Ups your user-friendliness – Blogs that mention sites or other blog posts without linking to the exact page they are referring to is one of my major irritations. I end up having to search for their source when I could just have got to where I could get more info in just one click had they linked to their source. The only thing more irritating to me than this are blog posts that use their main topic as anchor text to links but then redirect you to another blog post on the same topic instead of the main website of whatever topic is being discussed. Talk about misleading! It’s ok to link to your other but don’t be misleading in the use of your anchor text. Users will appreciate your being helpful in sending them on their merry way to where they need to go. In the end they’ll be more willing to go back to you because they know you give good info and good links.

2. Makes other bloggers happy – Bloggers usually don’t mind being quoted without being asked for permission first. However, they DO mind not being given proper credit for their words and ideas. Even if you do not quote another blogger directly, if you got your idea from someone else’s post, give credit where it is due and mention the blogger’s name/blog and spread the link love. This way you also avoid being accused of plagiarism!!! Oh, and the blogger you link to may even checkout the backlink and end up liking your blog – another (hopefully loyal) reader for your blog.

3. Keeps you on the straight an narrow – As mentioned earlier, avoid plagiarism by linking to your reference.

I already wrote about this in the past but concentrated on FALSE ALARMS. However, what do you do when you find out that your search rank has indeed dropped? Just like finding out the reason for a decrease in traffic, the first thing you need to do is find out WHY.

Major reasons could be:

1. spam – If you are a splog then you have most likely been discovered. However, if your blog is legit then you need to check whether you’ve been hacked and spammed. If this is the case IMMEDIATELY take the steps to remove the spam and whatever malware the hacker might have installed in your blog. Report the incident to Google and other search engines and ask to be included in the index again (if you have been removed). They do know these things happen and actually manually right the wrongs when the case is justified.

2. competition – Check out which the competition that has been jumped you. There is a reason why your competition places better than you do in search results pages. Have they made improvements in their format, content and/or offerings? Does it look like they’re finally employing sound SEO? How does your blog compare to theirs? Try to figure out what’s working for them then make the necessary adjustments. Note though that I do not believe in reactionary techniques. It’s better to be better than your competition on the get go rather than keep on trying to chase after their success.

3. lack of SEO – Are you doing your own SEO? Do you even do SEO? If not then I have news for you: YOU NEED SEO. In this competitive atmosphere content is still king but without SEO no one will get to watch the king’s parade.

*problems with your stats tracker;
*technical difficulties with your blog;
*holidays/special events; and
*a sudden drop in search rank (or even removal from search index).

What I will be discussing today though could explain why your blog has been experiencing a slow and steady decline in traffic.

In my opinion a steady decline in traffic is harder to reverse and more deadly than an abrupt plunge (unless the plunge has been lingered for some time). The reason for this is, as you can see from the list above, the reasons for abrupt changes in blog traffic have short term effects. Because of this the problem can be easily resolved or even just take care of itself.

On the other hand, a steady decline usually shows a genuine lack of interest from your readers. This means that you have no choice but to figure out what’s sucking the life out of your blog.

In my opinion the top reasons for a slow but steady decline include:

Poor content – For the nth time “Content is King”. There is no substitute for good content. If you started with a great engaging blog and lost steam, you shouldn’t be surprised to find your followers falling off one-by-one. There’s nothing left to do but to get back on tracking with the quality of your posts.

Too infrequent posting – Readers don’t like getting spammed but neither do they like having nothing new to read. The point of blogs is having fresh content, so have something for your readers on a regular basis.

Booming competitor’s blog – A new or old blog may be bleeding you dry. Whether this be intentional or not you have to do something. Again it usually boils down to content but just to make sure do an objective comparison to know the specific reasons why your readers have moved on to another blog.

Highly specific event-centered blogs – In cases like these (i.e. Beijing Olympics last 2008) there really isn’t much you can do. After some time people’s interest will wane no matter what you do. All you can do is either adapt and change theme or wait for the next similar event (i.e. the next Olympics) and in the meantime be satisfied with less traffic, if any.

When I first experienced this problem I found that my first response was emotional: I got frustrated and discouraged. There’s nothing wrong with that unless you let it get to you and end up quitting. I can’t tell you not to feel discouraged but what I can help you with is to be prepared to take proper steps to address the issue.

After giving yourself a few minutes to wallow, the next step is to check whether you are experiencing a sudden drop in traffic or if it is a slow and steady decline. The reason for this is that it will help you determine the reason behind the decrease in traffic.

If you experienced a sudden drop in traffic I would advice that you do the following steps:

Check whether your stats tracker (i.e. Google Analytics) is having issues - It might actually be that you don’t have any problem and will get the right feedback as soon as they get things back in order.
Check whether your blog is having any technical difficulties – Your hosting service might be having trouble in which case your blog can’t be accessed properly, leading to the noticeable drop in traffic.
Look at the calendar – The drop in traffic might be something as simple as the holidays. Though I end up spending even more time in front of the computer you (we) have to realize that lots of people actually spend their vacations doing something other than surfing the internet. In this case I advice you to just sit tight and wait to see if things go back to normal when the holiday’s over.
Check your search rank – In cases when you suddenly drop in rank getting less traffic from searches you need to go a further step by finding out what affected your SEO. I recently wrote about Search Rank Drops and False Alarms but will be writing a more in depth post(s) on the topic.

On my next post I will be writing about the possible reasons for a slow and steady decline in your blog traffic.