Quick Blog Fixes

Have you found yourself doing some spring cleaning around the house and yard?
You can do the same for your blog—a critical component of your Web presence.

If you want to feel a little more love for your blog, it’s easy to implement these five fixes.

1. Update your About page.

Add a fresh photo of yourself, tell a new story, or write the text in verse.
Your About page is often the first link people click on. If it doesn’t make you smile, it might be losing visitors.

2. Add more images of your art.

You probably have a blog because you want to share your art with more people. Why are you hiding it? Make sure your art is near the top of the blog at all times. Check out Debbie Gonville Miller‘s blog (pictured above) for a lesson in featuring your art.
Also, give us a way to look through a portfolio of images without scrolling through all of your posts.

3. Write better titles for your posts.

Titles show up in Web searches, in RSS feeds, in emails, and more. Titles are critical for capturing your reader’s attention. Don’t neglect the importance of strong titles.
By the way, “strong” doesn’t have to mean clever. “Strong” means it compels people to read your post.

4. Break up your text.

Long paragraphs are a convention of the past. Use 2-3 sentence paragraphs (max) in your blog posts. When called for, use bullet points, numbering, and bold text to make your blog more scannable.

5. Plan your posts in advance.

The best thing I’ve done for my blog in the last year is to install a WordPress plugin called Editorial Calendar. I can see all of my posts by date and plan future content accordingly. It’s one thing to keep a list of ideas, but quite another to see them on a calendar by date.
You can’t change your entire blog in one sitting, but any one of these fixes will bring rewards.