Create a Blog Checklist

These days it’s really easy to set up an online diary – a blog, and very quick. You could be up and running in minutes with some blogging software platforms which allows you to get on with the fun part – writing your blog articles! Here’s our handy ‘Create a Blog Checklist’. It’s a good reminder as to what you should remember to have and do – or not! on your blog. Happy blogging!

• Branding. Make sure that your blog’s title along with its tagline or subtitle clearly tells the user what your blog is about. Your target audience should identify themselves to your blog right away.
• Blog Layout. Make sure that the layout is not cluttered and page elements are well proportioned to one another.
  • Make it easy for visitors to find the information they are after.
  • Ads must not negatively affect the layout or user experience.
  • Make sure that you include footer content, legal notices, and a search facility.
• Blog Design. These days if you are using a blogging platform, a ‘theme’ is used to give your blog an instant design.  You can find both free and paid for themes – there are hundreds available.
  • When looking around, make sure that your blog is responsive – so it can be easily read on mobile and tablet devices.
• Contact Information. This should be easy to find – you never know what a contact can result in! While a contact form is not a requirement (you can of course just offer your email address), a form will make it easier to manage enquiries and hides your email address (if that’s something you’re not comfortable with and want to avoid spam).
• Comments. Comments bring a blog alive. It makes it real and helps build up a community, it creates conversation and discussion.
  • Always moderate new comments from unknown visitors I accept comments on my blog posts and let visitors know when their comments are held for moderation.
  • Make sure that people can opt in to receive new comments on a blog post that they are interested in. It’s a good way to have them come back to your blog time and time again.
• Social Media. These days social media is part and parcel of communicating with the world at large. Make sure that people can share your blog posts easily. Key social media websites include Twitter, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon.
• Blog Content. Make sure that your blog content contains originally. 
  • Is your blog content interesting and quality rich?
  • Does it mean your my target audience needs?  Is it relevant?
  • Have you taken on board the comments and improved your blog content where possible?
  • Make sure that you break up text with images (and attribute the image copyright where needed)
• Blog Analytics. Use Google Analytics (it’s free) or another web analytics tool to track your blog’s performance. This tool can help improve your blog’s traffic as you learn what works and what doesn’t, especially for SEO and keywords.
• Usability. Make sure that it’s easy and intuitive to navigate around your blog.
  • Pages load quickly (visitors have short attention spans these days!)
  • The blog’s “up-time” and availability should be as close to 100% as possible – so when people visit they can see the blog without any delay or problems).
  • Don’t have any pop-up or pop-over ads that can annoy visitors and put them off visiting again.
  • Make sure that your blog’s video or audio elements have to be started by the visitor – auto-starting these can be rather annoying.
• Disclosures and Legal Matters. All ads and sponsored posts on my blog should be attributed to their source.
  • Make sure that your blog complies with copyright and privacy laws.
  • This includes all sources for content and images.
  • Don’t forget about the necessary privacy disclosures too.