Beautiful Life Magazine

When you start blogging and getting serious about it, you might find yourself all over the place adding this and that. You can so into it that you get away from what your blog needs. As a blogger, you’re personal. Your readers want to know you and your content. They want to be able to identify you everywhere. That’s why it’s so important to not forget the key things your blog needs.

As you’re investing in your blog to improve it, you don’t want to get so involved that you forget what’s really important. It’s up to you to make a pleasant experience for your readers. The list below are the 7 things your blog needs. Don’t skip these things. They’re what your readers want and are looking for. Don’t forget them.

1. YOUR NAME

Including your name on your site is so important. Your readers want to know you. They don’t like the idea of anonymity on a blog they’re going to for information. Your readers will have a hard time trusting you if you neglect to tell them your name. Who are you? What is your name? Build that trust. Put your name in your about me and/or in your copyright information in your footer. Wherever you put it, just don’t forget it. Make sure your readers can find your name. This is so important.

2. CONTACT

Make sure you’re giving your readers a way to contact you. A contact page is great, but I also recommend putting your email address somewhere on your site as well. I include my email address in my privacy policy and disclosure and also have a contact page. This makes it easy for my readers to know how to contact me.

3. YOUR PICTURE

You want your blog to be personal. You want to create a relationship with your readers. They’ll build a trust in you not just from your content, but from knowing who you are. Including a picture is so helpful in earning that trust. Readers like to put a face to the name and a face to the online voice. Let people see you. Put up a picture of yourself either in your sidebar or on your about page.

4. ABOUT PAGE

People want to know about you and your blog. Give them one full source to find information about both. Your about page should talk about why you started your blog, how you got involved in your niche, and who you are. This will really help your readers get to know you and get a good feel for your blog. Your about page will keep the right readers on your site.

Having an organized blog is just as having an organized room, if you don’t have everything you need in hand, you get stressed out, take more time to get ready in the mornings and it’s all chaos.

5. SEARCH BAR

While the blog posts on your main page are great, your readers might be looking for something specific. Give them the ability to find it. Including a search bar will help your readers find what they’re looking for in your content. This will help users stay on your site longer and will help you to get traffic to old posts.

6. CONSISTENT COLOR SCHEME

It’s all about branding. You want your color scheme on your blog to be professional and nice looking. You want to use the same colors on all of your social media networks. This is helpful to your readers so they can recognize you on social media. It also helps to build trust because people love consistency, even when it’s just with the colors you use.

7. LINKED SOCIAL MEDIA

While you do want your readers to stay on your site, you also want to give them a way to stay connected with you. Social media is perfect for that. Make sure you have the social media sites you’re active on linked for your readers to navigate to easily. Focus on social media where your ideal reader hangs out.

While you’re making your blog the best it can be, don’t forget these key things. They’re simple but also easy to forget. Don’t rob yourself of readers by forgetting them. They might not seem that important to you, but I promise they are. Keep your readers happy, give them what they want, and your readers will keep coming back for more.

Have you included these things on your blog? Have they been helpful for your readers?