Keep Your Blog Focused: Trim the Fat
Since being on vacation a little over a week, I’ve been spending some of my free time working on my new design for TechTraction. I’m a little obsessed with making that all important “first impression.” Therefore, I’ve been tweaking nearly every little aspect of the site design; however, I haven’t forgotten one of the most important aspects of the site is the content.
TechTraction’s purpose is clearly stated by the header tag line: technical tips and “gripping” insights to blogging with WordPress. A tag line like that sets a clear expectation. As a visitor scrolls down the home page of TechTraction they expect to find titles in keeping with the stated tag line. Obviously, my post from last Monday (8/6) and then from Thursday (8/9) have little to do with the purpose of this site. Yes, I am on vacation and it makes sense to give readers a “heads up” so they can expect a response delay to their comments; however, once I return from vacation, the information is outdated and no longer has any value. Those posts unfortunately will remain on the home page of TechTraction for at least a couple of weeks. Therefore, I’ll need to “trim the fat.”
The importance of consistent posting doesn’t outweigh the importance of topical consistency. All blogs go “off-topic” from time to time but keeping those off-topic posts around depends on their overall value. In the case of the two posts from last week, their value completely disappears once I return from vacation. Therefore, when I get back, my first “to-do” will be to delete those two posts. I want to make sure that as visitors scan the home page they see titles that remain consistent with TechTraction’s tag line.
Take a moment to confirm your blog’s topical consistency. Try to look at your blog as a first time visitor. If you scroll down the home page and scan the post titles, does it appear consistent with your blog’s stated purpose? If not, decide whether it adds any value to your site. If not, don’t hesitate to “trim the fat.” Probably only second to the quality of content is the topical consistency of that content as you try to build a solid readership.
Share, Bookmark, or Email this post
If you liked this post, subscribe to TechTraction's RSS feed or TechTraction's email feed
Filed under: Blogging Related
Hi Bret,
I hope the break is doing you good. I’ve also been thinking of trimming my site down. Specifically, I want to show my posts on pages 2 onwards as excerpts, rather than full content.
The guess is that I can do this using some php code, whereby if homepage, show full text, and if any other, show excerpt, but I’m not sure. I’m also thinking of changing the homepage articles, so that only the very first one is full, and the other 3 (I show 4 posts on the homepage) are excerpts.
I’ve been doing something similar in a manual fashion, but haven’t kept up during my vacation.
Normally, the first post is always shown completely. The remaining posts display the first paragraph and then the “more” option. I do it manually but am working on a way altering the main display loop to display the first post completely and the rest only the excerpt. Once I figure this out, I’ll post the details here.
Finally, the idea of trimming the fat and displaying excerpts after the first post brings up another idea I’ve been wondering about: how many posts is the ideal number for a blog’s main page? I don’t have an answer but would love to hear what others think on the subject. I might even blog about it next week and include a short poll.
Somewhere along the way, my blog seems to have taken the turn towards blogging tips and I’m getting the feeling that writing about other stuff is taking it all over the place! I gotta get back in control of the situation!
I started out with a blog which was primarily more my myself than anyone else. However as I have begun to enjoy some traffic, met fellow bloggers, I have been wondering on what has the most impact on traffic. I would have thought content, but I guess layouts and visual appeal does play a role. But how much?
Hi Traveller, thanks for the comment.
To answer your question, from my perspective, I’d say that visual appeal is critical to “grab” the first time reader (TechTraction visual appear needs some real work). In that situation, I’d say visual appeal is number one, but only under that condition. Overall, I’d say that content is still number one. It’s the one thing that will keep readers returning to your site. If your site looks amazing, people will stop and look around, but if the content just isn’t there, they won’t come back. Right now I spend most of my time focused on posting consistency and overall content, which explains my site’s poor visual appeal.
Hope that answers your question. Thanks for stopping by.
I think your header is too big in height.