7 Usability Tips to Keep Your Blog Pleasant for Reading
Blogs became a unique way of sharing information. Comparing with real life mass media they are faster, more accessible, and they are less censored. Due to quick development of mobile internet it’s possible to reach a blog from anywhere using handheld devices.
The other side of benefit is that authors have a rather easy way to find the readers. Sure, it takes little efforts to launch a website using some blog platform and begin to post. However, it’s just a tip of the iceberg: internet is big, the competition is high, so you’ll need to do extra things to win more people for your audience. No doubts, content is the king. But the big importance of how the info is presented is undeniable, because it creates a path leading content to a reader.
That’s why I’m eager to note 7 tips on blog usability which would help increase the rating of your resource among the web users.
Image source: Shutterstock Typewriter closeup shot.
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Mixing Topics
Even if you have a private blog where the only poster is you, you should choose a certain direction for your posts. It should be wide, yet specific at the same time. The first point gives enough space for catching ideas. The other one helps you focus on the field of interests of your audience. Through mixing, readers are not bored of the content that stands out the sphere of their interests.
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Social Activity
Humans are social creatures. And whether the activity takes place in reality or on the web, this trait doesn’t left us.
Be social. First of all you should speak with your readers: take it as a rule that you must reply to any comment. Whether they thanks for interesting info or dispute your point of view, you should reply. People would be thankful, they would understand that the author is real, alive, ready for discussion and values every reader. By the way, presenting of an author’s bio is also a social element, because it gives an opportunity to know a person you’re learning from and talking with.
The other considerable sphere is activity in social networks. I believe you know that creating of website accounts on all the popular social media is already a default. These profiles are aimed for regular share, but it’s not enough – don’t forget to talk to interested people on the social media.
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Mobile Version
There are a lot of writings about the relevance of mobile internet developments due to smartphone boom. In particular, DesignFloat has an infographic post including tips for mobile web design. If you need some inspiration, you can check the post about mobile web design trends with examples.
So, the bottom line is your blog must be responsive for readers to comfortably review the content from their handheld devices. You can go further and create mobile apps for Android and iOS, if it makes sense according to the demand of your resource.
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Using Link Titles
Yesterday I mentioned in the post on Templates.com about such disease of blogs as “Previous Post” and “Next Post” links without actual description of the page you would get after clicking (as you can see on DesignFloat blog we have actual article names for next and previous ones). And it’s just a particular case of the general mistake, which consists in links without names. People don’t want to waste time on something they don’t know exactly what it is. This feature especially progresses in modern society when the information amount increases, though we still have 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week.
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Categorization
Most blogs has a calendar method of arranging posts. It’s natural for such type of websites, however the time categorization is not enough for proper interaction of readers with posts. Many people don’t know the time when some post has been published and in this case the most effective is a correct search system. The other thing that would help is tagging articles with topic categories. But don’t overdo: the tags should help a reader orientate and navigate through the categories, they are not just a list of what a post is related to.
As for the old, but valuable articles there is an efficient method for them not to be lost in archive: it’s recommended to display top popular posts on your blog. Moreover, it would help a reader find your most interesting articles.
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Own Domain Name
You can easily create your blog using popular platforms such as Blogger, WordPress, Tumblr or other. And most bloggers begin with starting a free blog including blogspot, wordpress and tumblr in the domain name. You need to understand – they are taken (and fair enough) more like amateur social profiles than a serious internet diurnal. It’s simply because these beginner blogs are regarded as a part of a big blogging system, not as a separate web unit.
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Instant Updates
Instant updates don’t mean post as much articles a day as possible. However the posting should be regular and constant. Some say the optimal speed is post a day, but actually it’s not an axiom: the frequency depends on the audience and specifics of the blog.
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These 7 seven tips are quite general and they would work for every blog as a base directive. Nevertheless, all blogs differ. You ought to count the specific features and add elements, which would be useful in your particular case. For example, if you are posting about your travel experiences, it would be excellent to mark the places you visited on Google map widget attached to every article.
So,
- analyze
- and
- improve
- – there’s no more universal rules.
Have anything else to add? The comment section is intended for your thoughts. You’re welcome.
About the author:
Art Rivera: Deeply interested in everything connected with Internet, I sincerely suppose the web is the only future reality for the humanity through its inevitable involving into every part of human life. I’m not a great fan of cyberpunk concept, but the world is keeping that certain direction of total connectedness. And of course there should be someone, who can write the history, who would describe and analyze and enter in the record all notable changes and tendencies on the web. Hello, it’s me.
