A Jacked Sidebar![suped up sidebar]()
Clean and Uncluttered
Think minimalism here. Too many widgets/gadgets makes an unattractive blog. What is the main purpose of your blog? Anything in your sidebar should help you accomplish this purpose. Everything else is a waste of valuable space.
What to include?
1. mini bio with pic of your face
2. subscription to site
3. popular posts
4. social media buttons
5. categories (rather than archives)
Optional: 1. pick one of the social media sites that you are most active in and give it more prominence with a bigger widget. such as instagram photos, latest pins, facebook like faces, lastest tweets 2. testimonials for ag businesses 3. search (some say this is important others don’t)
Widgets to dump: tag clouds (clutter), recent posts (redundant they are already listed), blog rolls (at least limit to 3 or 4), network blogs (readers don’t care), too many social media streams (pick one)
It is very important to limit any links that take people away from your site.
Personal Preference
Bloggers can become very attached to certain widgets. You should remember that the sidebar is for your visitors not you. Help them discover what your site has to offer without overwhelming them.
This is is step three in my free ebook “8 Steps to Update Your Website”. To quickly update your site with the other steps fill out the address box below and click subscribe. The ebook will be sent to you after confirmation.