Today I’m excited to welcome Katie Price for an awesome guest post highlighting some of the important things you should be sure to include on your blog – but most importantly where on your blog they should go. Katie blogs at Priceless Adventure and has her own blog design business.
Hello Everyone! After designing dozen of blogs, and looking at thousands, I’ve decided on the 5 most important things you should have “above the fold” on your blog. {The fold is the point where you have to start scrolling to see more!} Kate’s blog is an awesome example of how to do it right!
1- About Page
After absorbing the overall design, the very first place I go when I visit a new blog is their about page. I encourage my clients to put a link to it on their menu bar AND somewhere near their welcome image or text.
2- Picture of Yourself
Who are you? I like to associate a face to a name and it helps me connect with you if I can picture who is talking. Put a picture of yourself at the top of one of your columns!
Side Rant: Anonymous bloggers drive me a little nuts. How am I supposed to trust what you are saying if you don’t even show me a picture or give me your real first name? I understand the need for privacy, but if you can’t attach your name to what you are writing maybe you shouldn’t be writing it.
3- Social Networking Icons
You want your social networking icons to be front & center. If I like what I read, chances are I will take two seconds & follow you on Twitter. So have that bad boy somewhere above the fold!
4- Subscribe Button: RSS
If I really like what I’m reading, I will want to subscribe. If you don’t have a Feedburner link, I’m probably not going to take the time to open my RSS reader & manually input your blog. Having your blog setup through Feedburner also gives you another way to track how many people are following your blog.
5- Home Button
It’s important to have a way to get back to the main page of your blog. After I click into a post or page and want to go back, it’s nice to have a clearly marked Home link. And also make sure that your header is linked to the homepage of your blog too!
Thanks Kate, for having me on your blog today. Hope you are having a wonderful time at your brother’s wedding!
My name is Kate. I'm a makeup and coffee addict (and total Jesus freak) fighting to lose over 100 pounds. But there's more to life than losing weight. This is where I try to balance it all - and hilarity ensues.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tips! Keeping all this in mind for my blog redesign. I agree about the anonymous bloggers! I like to feel like I’m making a friend if I read a blog frequently, can’t do that if I don’t know even your first name or know what you look like. I’ve noticed that I tend to not keep up with blogs that are too secretive about their identity.
Exactly! Secretive identities are cool at first, but then they just get in the way of real connection. At least give me a first name & a photo! I don’t need to know what city you live in or your children’s names.
Katie recently posted..Designing Above the Fold
Kate, I love the intro picture you made! The moustache totally works with your design. Thanks for having me today!
Katie recently posted..Designing Above the Fold
I’m happy to say that I meet the Above The Fold criteria!
This is a great post by Katie!
Lindsay @ Trial By Sapphire recently posted..Celebrate!
great tips! love this post! my only thing i would say that can be a little difficult is Feedburner. I used feed burner for four years and just actually got rid of it and went back to my native RSS feed on my blog. I had SO MANY issues with feed burner that the headache was actually not worth it in the end, to me… but, i do believe you gotta have some way for people to subscribe easily!
molly recently posted..Red [Boots], White, and Blue
I agree that so long as there is some sort of RSS link, that is great. Feedburner is just an easy interface for newbies or people who don’t know too much about that area. Whatever works for you!
Katie recently posted..Designing Above the Fold
Great advice Katie! I am torn about about home link. I feel like it’s obvious that the header should be linked to the homepage so I got rid of it – but maybe that’s me just thinking that things are obvious. I think with my new design (whenever that is) will require some serious thought. And now I totally get the ‘Above the Fold’ comment you left me today.
Emily @ Hope Squared recently posted..Current Events
Great tips, Katie. My awesome blog designer met all the “above the fold” criteria!
Clare recently posted..Dominica Beach Bag
I’ve thought about this when designing my blog… but then it gets tricky because my desktop has a screen bigger than our first TV had… so basically nothing is “behind the fold” on my computer… and then if I pull our my 10 inch netbook… well… it’s tiny… so everything is “below the fold.” lol. Then I stopped worrying about it because I’m not out to make money and most people probably read through a reader/feeder any way.
Jessica @ One Shiny Star recently posted..Monologue Mondays any one?
I think if you’re very concerned (and it doesn’t sound like you are, which is totally your prerogative, but for what it’s worth) you can look up suggested dimensions in pixels for what is “above” vs. “below” the fold- but you’re absolutely right that “above” is a relative term in this world of mobile and multi-size monitors. For me, I just like to be able to find this stuff when I visit a new blog for the first time before I know if I want to add it to my reader so it’s simplest when it’s right near the top and you don’t have to scroll a lot to get there. But choosing to do your own blog your own way is always what I advocate – and you can sort of select for the kinds of readers you want to attract by the way you style your blog.