Whether you’re gearing up for your first blog adventure or looking for something to spice up your established site, there are three major guidelines that you can’t afford to ignore.
#1 Responsive Themes
Responsive themes are also called fluid or adaptive themes. If you frequently browse the Web using a smartphone or tablet, you know how frustrating it can be to navigate a site that is not formatted for different screen dimensions.
Responsive themes solve this problem by automatically adjusting your content to fit within different screen sizes. Now your blog can be visually appealing and easily navigable across multiple platforms. It is speculated that, as mobile devices are more predominantly used to access the Web, responsive themes will become the standard.
Having a fresh design that highlights your written and visual content is essential to engaging your reader. Gain the competitive edge now by installing a responsive theme.
Free Responsive WordPress Themes
#2 Information Architecture
Building an easily navigable site is an essential part of boosting the user experience as well as search engine optimization. Remember, search engines aren’t very smart, so you have to make it extremely easy for them to establish connections between keywords and major topics in your blog.
Use keywords in your menu bar, URLs and headlines. Also, including keywords in your meta tags can make it easier for users to navigate your site, depending on the style.
But before you can even begin tweaking those details, you will need to establish your key information or topic channels. House umbrella topics in your menu bar to help browsers find information quickly. Any subcategories can be displayed in a dropdown menu.
Adding topics to your menu bar and creating new categories are extremely easy tasks in WordPress, so as your information and specialties evolve, you can change your blog to reflect this. Don’t create a new channel until there is plenty of archival information. You don’t want users to click on a topic only to find it empty. Monitor your topics regularly to ensure that none are leading with a significantly outdated article or post.
Our blogs allow us to be extremely expressive and fluid, but the information architecture of any site needs to be built to last. Yes, topics may fluctuate, but the framework and system used to organize the content must be easy for you maintain and easy for your reader to navigate.
As important as it is to stand out, it’s just as important to create an environment that browsers find familiar. This means keeping standard features such as a Contact Us/About Us feature as well as a search bar.
#3 Social Media Network
Most great ideas are the ones that seem completely obvious after they’ve hit the market. Facebook serving up a WordPress plug-in was just as natural as butter on bread (which is why there are still many other Facebook/WordPress plug-ins floating around).
The Facebook plug-in for WordPress is a must-have for your blog. In any business, building a brand is about connecting with your audience. Social media platforms are excellent ways to tap into a social community, and this plug-in makes it extremely easy to simultaneously update your Facebook and tag friends. Comments posted on both platforms will be accessible to you once you install the plug-in.
Guess who benefits even more than you do? That’s right, your readers. This plug-in makes it incredibly easy for browsers to like and share your content. Making it easy for them to like you increases your chances for popularity and traffic.
Familiar with the industry, Kristie Lewis knows that not all construction management careers are the same. Read her posts to gain a better understanding or contact her directly at Kristie.lewis81@gmail.com
