Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Home Page: What Your Blog's Front Page Should Look Like



When creating a blog, it is very important that you create a home page that is visually appealing and easy to navigate. With a well organized home page, your readers will easily be able to see everything that you have to offer with less stress. To help keep things simple, here are 3 elements to add to your blog's front page:

1. Signup form.

If you want to build an email list, you need to clearly provide a signup form on your front page. Some people choose to show the signup form itself directly on the front page while others choose to provide a link instead. Depending on your blog theme and personal preferences, you will need to discover what method will work best for you.

When creating a signup form, it may help to offer a freebie to give away to those that sign up. Many people do not like giving away their email addresses because of spam or excessive sales pitches. Yet, with the right freebie, you may be able to tempt them. However, always ensure that you have an “unsubscribe” option and avoid being too aggressive with your email marketing campaign.

2. Links to archives.

To ensure that all of your content is easy to access, you should organize them and use links to attract readers. Many blogs have columns on either side of the home page that displays content based on category or date. Having such an element for your home page as well will help people better view all of the available content that is relevant to them.

However, if you really want to make your content the center of attention on your front page, you can be more bold and display it in the following formats:

  • Full posts. Full posts are handy to have on your front page because readers do not have to leave your page to read more. The full posts format typically work best only when used for short blog posts. However, it should be noted that full posts used on your front page and featured elsewhere on your blog may also be seen as duplicate content by search engines.

  • Post excerpts. Post excerpts make great teasers for your readers. When using post excerpts, you just have to include a link to the main article. They help create a shorter front page and make scanning much easier, and are excellent for avoiding duplicate content trouble.

  • Magazine style. Magazine style content makes your front page look like a typical news website that may work in your favor. The content also tends to be much more organized.

3. Images.

Images are excellent for capturing readers' attention and giving your brand a unique look. However, it is important that your images are relevant to your blog and that they are not too plentiful. If you use too many images and graphics, you can potentially overwhelm your followers and drive them away.

With these 3 elements to add to your blog's front page, you will make your blog more user friendly.

Edward Olson makes his living blogging. To help others do the same, he shares his best tips for how to build a great blog on work-at-home-mom websites, and solopreneur blogs. Visit the Purchased my Internet in Fort Mill link to learn about fast internet services.

1 comment:

  1. I am working for Minneapolis web design firm. I prefer to use magazine style for my blog homepage. Signup form is not friendly with user at all. If you looking for Minneapolis web design price, please let me know!

    ReplyDelete

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