Business Website Advice

For readers new to blogs here’s my show and tell article with screen shots of my Sticky Websites blog showing 22 different elements. Learn their names, where they appear and get tips on how you read and use them.

This is part 2 of a 3 part series on blog basics. Note my Browse Articles section now has a category dedicated to the benefits and risks of blogs for business owners.

Boggled by blogs?  You are not alone.  More than one new subscriber sheepishly wrote me of blogs boggling their brain.  My thanks to a reader who asked, “Kath, what’s a blog? I’m not quite up with technology and don’t know if it’s too much for me.” 

My answer:  worry not, you too can understand blogs. This is for you and for all those who felt like asking, but didn’t, “How do I read a blog?”

A blog and website have more in common than differences. You’re already familiar with reading websites. The big distinction isn’t how it looks but how the site is published and sent out to readers.

Here goes.  Let me show you over twenty blog elements you see when reading a blog.  I’ll use my Sticky Websites blog for screen shots. Other blogs may differ a wee bit.

The 22 major parts of a blog website are:

1. blog posts - the articles shown in the middle column on my blog but can be on the right or left on other blogs. The most recent article shows on top.  My blog shows the 10 most recent articles. All articles are permanently stored in the Category Folders (see 10).  I call my categories Browse Articles. In the article column it’s common to show only a short intro  called a summary so the center column doesn’t stretch to Africa.  You can easily scroll down seeing the headlines and intros.  1A Left sidebar shows the Recent Articles. No matter what article you’re reading,  or old it is, you can always glance at the Recent Article box and see the most current article headlines.
2. post headline - always click on the headline title. It’s a link to the full article and enables you to see all the parts of the site. If you don’t open it you’ll miss bits.
3. Read the rest of this entry> Click on this link to see the rest of the article.
4. Bookmark - click on the colorful symbol at the bottom of an article to save it for later access in your browser favorities/bookmark section.  Experienced busy bloggers often maintain a Bookmark site. More on that in a future post.

   

5. post quotations - shows you at a glance if I’m referring to some other expert I want you to pay attention to. I may be agreeing with them, or disagreeing. Sorry, I don’t have a screen shot of this element. Imagine it, indented, big “  “, sometimes with shaded background.
6. blog site layout (2 to 5 columns) mine is 3 column: left sidebar, center for articles, right sidebar.  Often you’ll see blogs with sidebars on the right only, sometimes even 2 sidebars together on the right, articles on the left. Imagine a magazine layout with article columns and ads in columns.  Such a layout differs from the what the usability studies tell us users prefer.  Users want 3 columns, with navigation on the left. It’s like driving a different car than you’re use to, turning on the turn indicators only to have the wipers come on. Thus I chose a 3 column layout for my blog to avoid visitor ire. 
7. Comments - You have to click on a post headline (2) to unfurl all its features. A main feature is the Leave a Reply (21) box and submit box. You write feedback at the bottom of an article along with a link to your website. It’s very very very helpful to regular website owners to write comments and get an inbound link. Comments will show at bottom of the article or Page (9) where you left a reply. Comments travel with the articles they are attached to, from centre stage so to speak, to folders for long term storage. 
8. Recent Comments section on my left sidebar shows only 1 now but is capable of  showing the most recent 6 or 8 comments so you can keep tabs if people have commented on your comments or to an article you are tracking.  

       

9. blog Pages - usually only a few static pages of really important information that doesn’t change and doesn’t go away from easy viewing in contrast to the articles that move from center column, like center stage, to long term storage in sidebar category folders.  Sidenote on ranking:  it use to be search engines could see static pages easier and thus carried a premium, but times are changing, to quote a master, a topic too complex to discuss here.

   

10. blog Categories -  called Browse Articles on my blog. Like main chapter headings I store my articles under to help find the topics you’re most interested in. Some blog authors organise their posts by date, or events, or person.  10A tells you how many articles in the category. 10B shows subcategories under a main category.
11. blog sitemap or index - use this like a Table of Contents for the whole site. I keep mine as a static Page, top left sidebar. In my case, this page changes everytime I publish a new article. Many people love the way Site Maps make an organisation scheme transparent.  Awesome feature.                                                            

    

12. blogroll - sometimes called Permalinks, I call mine Free DIY Resources. Important links to internal and external sites.
13. blogs’ sidebar extra bits - called widgets or features that all blog writers can opt for when creating a blog.  Not all blog writers use them. These features are often on the sidebars, left or right. Used to help things stand out and give easy access like my Web Page of the Month.  Often readers can’t see the box outline, just the headings. Writers can fill the widgets with text, images, video. I’ve used a variety to show you the range of possibilities.  A common widget is a Calendar which I have no need for and thus not shown.        
14. a post’s extra bits - date, author, category it’s in (can be more than one), how many comments people have written.
15. blog subscribing methods - subscribing is the main big difference between regular static websites and blogs. On blogs you get more than one way you can be alerted to a new article being written.  Read more on subscribing options on my About Blogs Page.  
16. search box - easy way to find out if the site has info you are looking for. Keywords yield the most accurate results, however if your words arent’ the same as mine you may not find what you want, even if I have heaps of articles on the topic. Bugger.
17. related posts - appears at the end of an article to offer further reading suggestions. In theory works better than sometimes in practice. Your best bet is to use the Site Map / Index in the Pages section. 
18. meta widget - like a sidebar widget (13) but for subscribing (15) and author’s access to the control toolbars called a dashboard. The login is my in-door.      
19. previous post written and next post written - links appear on full article below the Submit Comment button.  Knowing what was written before and after is helpful if you’re reading a several part series.
20. most viewed articles, popular commentators, calendar widget and other possible features appear in widget sidebars, not used here.
21. Leave a Reply - read this one in conjunction with Comments (7).  You have to click on a Post headline to get to the Leave a Reply box. This is where you make a comment and leave your website address. Making comments gives ‘link juice’ for your website URL (21A), read Improve Search Engine Visibility with Link Reward for Making Comments article. Go ahead, click on a Comment and see what happens… an inbound link for the commentator!
22. Plug-ins - small software programmes that give blog authors special functionality that readers may or may not see but do benefit from.  Some of my plug-ins are my site index, my ability to have subcategories and do podcasts. Some subscribe and database generators are plugins. There are hundreds.

Here’s you chance to ask more questions. Remember this article is the result of readers who asked “Kath, what’s a blog? I’m not sure I’m up to….”  See, yes you are. Use my blog as a friendly practice place, like that classroom you have fond recollections of and thought the teacher a bit mad. Cheers to blog readers.

Next in the Blog Basics series is Part 3: How to Write Blogs.

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