How to Blog on WordPress – Your Sidebar

In the “How To Blog On WordPress” series,  I will be posting on using your sidebar as an effective marketing tool.

We will be looking at each element of the sidebar and what works best for your readers and for you.

Sidebar placement

WordPress themes come with the options of where and how many sidebars you want.

Your readers read your blog from left to right. And so do the web crawlers. With the way WordPress is built you do not need to worry about the search engines. The internal navigation of your site has told them where to go. You just need to concern your self with directing your readers to what you want them to see.

If you find want your readers to notice your optin box first put it in your left side bar. If you want your content to stand out put your sidebars on the right.

Keep your sidebar clean it is not a dumping ground for all the stuff you think your readers might want to know. Tell them what you want them to do and what you want them to know. Direct their attention.

Control Your Sidebar

You can control your readers by controlling what you put in the sidebar.

Look at your sidebar from the viewpoint of your readers. What do they want? Give it to them in the sidebars, in the way you want.

Since your about page is the second most looked at page, be sure to keep it easy to access. Also you want to be very visible in order to establish a relationship with your readers. On my review and niche blogs I like to put my picture in the top of the sidebar just for this reason. Then I keep the sidebar plain and simple.

Samedayessays focus is on making money. I know my readers are here to find out about making money online. I give them what they want in the top of both sidebars.

I have chosen not to use “blogroll” on this blog. I do send you out to other blogs I recommend. But I like to control that by giving my recommendation in my blog posts. This way you go look at the recommend site and land back on my blog. I always have the other sites open in a new window.

Categories

Keep your categories simple. You want your reader to find any data they are curious about, yet you do not want to overwhelm them with too many choices.

Use your blogs keywords for you category titles.

Banner Ads

It is really a matter of what you like when it comes to banner ads and how much people are paying to advertise on your site. Although I make money on this site by selling affiliate products, I like to keep my banners down at the bottom and least important.

Hmmmmmm – I better get big or move my ads. I do know for sure, that I do not want flashing ads. I would rather have your attention else where. Like on content.

P.S. Learning how to blog on WordPress is easy. Making sure your make money from your blog only takes a few tweeks.