So, you ask… “How the heck do I do this?!?”

1. Respond to Commenters

Every single comment that you receive online is an entire conversation waiting to unfold. Remember, if someone has taken the time to respond to your work, they have much potential to be a loyal reader and/or customer. Regardless of whether the comment is in agreement or disagreement with what you have written, this is an amazing opportunity to establish, and perhaps even build a relationship.

2. Solicit Opinions from Your Audience

Within your comments, tweets, blog posts, or other social updates, make sure to solicit the opinions of your audience. If you are growing an initial audience/readership, take the time out of your schedule to go out and engage others with questions surrounding what they are doing. This is plain human nature folks. We all enjoy others taking interest in what we do.

3. Occasionally Engage When Not Expected

I always suggest to every company that I do social media work with to make and maintain an excel spreadsheet of their followers / fans. Each week cycle through the list and pick out a certain number of individuals to engage. Spend time looking into what is going on in their life and seeing how you can help them. I am not saying to sell them…that is not the point! If they see you showing a genuine interest on what is going on in their life, you are much more likely to be on your way towards earning a customer than spamming them with your product / service.

4. Invest in Offline Marketing Efforts

What if you actually took the time to send out personalized thank-you notes to your audience? This doesn’t have to be everybody, but it could at least be your top commenters, returning customers, or active followers / fans. The biggest point of this is to really take note of your product / service advocates. These are the people that you want to make sure you always keep closest to you.

If you absolutely have no addresses to send cards to then you can always send personalized emails, but unfortunately during the times that we live, a handwritten letter will trump that any day.  :)

5. Give Away Great Things for Free

Recently, I have seen fantastic examples of this. Most notably here on EpicLaunch with great occasional giveaways, and by one of the contributors Justin Lukasavige, offering free business coaching for one day. If there is anything that will spread like wildfire and draw in potential customers, it is you being willing to put yourself or your product out on the open market for those in need.

6. Cluster Your Readers / Customers / Product Advocates

If you are like most, then your email inbox is constantly inundated by mass-marketed, email-list content. While this may be an easier approach for the sender of the message, unfortunately, it does not really make for an enticing read for the recipient. After all, the information that is being sent is much more well received if it actually applies to you.

Rather than bundling all subscribers or customers on one list, it is very useful to consider making clusters or groups of individuals based on their profession / interests to market specific content to. This is the best way to avoid losing relevance to people and steer free of people hitting the unsubscribe button.

7. Spend Time Marketing Your Posts

If you are taking the time out of your schedule to write something, then you absolutely have to be taking the time out of your schedule to sell it. I am not talking about merely tweeting about it or sending out a status update, but take the time to find and contact those who have discussed or pondered similar topics. Search.Twitter is my best friend whenever I write a post. It is a great source for finding those who have recently conversed about a topic by keyword.

8. Give a Darn About What You Sell

At the end of the day most of us are selling something. If you are not happy and a true believer of what you are selling and how it cures the customer’s pain, then you shouldn’t be selling it. After all, this comes across in every conversation that you have with your customers. If you aren’t your biggest advocate then people will tell your efforts are not genuine and avoid doing business with you.

How do you engage with your online audience?

Writing

Writing has been the gold standard of engaging with a community since the very beginning. It doesn’t take much to get started with a written blog or to maintain it.

To break up your written posts, consider adding pictures. Big blocks of text are intimidating on a computer screen and usually aren’t as enticing to new readers. Numbered or bulleted lists are easy to scan and can draw your reader in to the real meat of your post.

Consider creating a series. If you write about technology, create a top ten free technology series. Break them up and release the posts over time. It keeps readers coming back and engaging with you.  Make sure you link to the series within each post.

Audio

Audio is quickly becoming a dominant force in online content and connecting with your community. The department of transportation states that more than 100 million people in the US alone commute to work every day. The majority of them are alone in their cars for a 20+ minute one-way commute. You ought to be giving them something good to listen to.

I launched the Coach Radio show to go deeper with my listeners. To engage with them, I created a call-in line where they could leave a voicemail. I play their comments and questions during the show which makes them feel cared for. You can also do the same thing with email questions and comments. Always be doing your best not to make it one-sided. The show should be about them, not you.

At one point I played around with short, one-minute audio tips. These were also syndicated on five radio stations across the US and were posted in my weekly newsletter. The response to them was good, but I got bored producing them and wanted a bigger reach. I did like the idea of having a consistent series, though.

Shortly thereafter I created a sub-series of Coach Radio called Your Story. Every week I interview someone with a unique and interesting story. They’re mostly self-employed, and always doing something inspiring that changes the world.

Video

Not everyone likes video, but the same can be said for audio and even written content too.

Video can be the most engaging form of communication with your online community. The standard rules of video are to keep it short and engaging. I encourage you to break the mold and do your own thing, though. Show your personality and find an audience that eats it up. You’ll connect with them and rules won’t matter.

Recently I created a series called Trail Talk. I’ve been posting videos on my blog for the past few years, but felt they were getting old. They were almost always in my office and done on the fly (which was a very good thing). I’ve had good reviews and download numbers, but I was tired of the same old thing.

Every Friday I tend to leave work after lunch and hike about 10 miles. I’m always listening to podcasts on my iPod and thinking through business and life, so I asked my twitter followers if I should share some thoughts from the trail. The answer quickly came back as yes.

Now you never know where you might find me. Sometimes I’m on my standard trail, but in the past month I’ve been in Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, and my backyard.

More Tips

Remember that headlines sell, no matter what style of content you’re producing. If your headline is boring, chances are good that most people won’t dive into what comes next.

Experiment with asking questions at the end of your post.  It’ll make your visitors think and perhaps they’ll be encouraged to leave their own thoughts, thereby improving on yours.

What are your tips on keeping a community engaged?

One such alternative can arise from the commentary that we or others provide to our favorite bloggers, field experts and respected media sources. Ironically, until recently, this was hardly taken advantage of.

Fortunately, we now have the tools to capture this commentary and present it in a format that builds upon the valuable information that we identify across the web.

With that said, here are three great tools to build posts around great content you find throughout the web.

Storify

Looking to piece together a quick post for a current industry happening? Perhaps give a well-rounded glimpse of a topic to your audience at large? If you are looking to pull an interesting and dynamic read together quickly, but don’t have the time to add a million citations, or jump into heavy post research, then this is the tool for you.

Taking the platform for a spin, you can easily search through tweets, images, social bookmarks, and videos. You then drag and drop those that you want to use onto a canvass page that convey the story you’d like to tell. The best part about it is that it will automatically quote the individuals who’s blog content you decide to use.

Amplify

Another fresh and interesting way to present content is to go through recent or topic-specific articles, blog posts or anything else you read on the web, and clip your favorite paragraphs, images and videos to a blank canvass.

After adding interesting content you can then go through and add commentary to your find. What is really nice about this platform is it allows you the the ability to auto-post to Facebook, WordPress, Twitter, Tumblr, Ping.FM and a wide range of additional social media outlets.

Comment on an Article with a Video-Response

Do you have a collection of industry-specific writers that you subscribe to? Perhaps an expert of two who’s posts you read on a regular basis?

If so, then taking the time to substitute an article for video reflection and commentary, on an expert’s thoughts can be another great source of content.

Taking the time to use Yfrog or Twitvid to comment on a favorite post can often be an original way to respond while presenting intersting content to your loyal followers.

What are your top methods of presenting dynamic, interesting, and engaging content to your audience?

Many bloggers are becoming overwhelmed because they aren’t conserving their blogging resources or practicing sustainable blogging. But wait…just what are your blogging resources?

Well, your blogging resources are your content, your time, and your money, and this post is going to show you how to use all of them more wisely! So listen up and learn how to make your blog more green.

Reduce: Get Rid of Your Blog Clutter and Hindering Mindset

The first step to an easily maintained, well manicured blog is reduction. Reduce the amount of clutter and weight on your blog. This includes things like:

• Unnecessary sidebar widgets.
• Plugins that do absolutely nothing or that you could code right into your theme.
• Deleted posts, pages, and comments.
• Deactivated themes and plugins.
• Unnecessary bits of code (code comments)
• Excessive advertisements.

Removing the clutter from your blog will make it look more professional and will make it run faster and smarter. Cats Who Code has an awesome post on speeding up your blog that will help you reduce the amount of drag on your site and build a more sustainable and user-friendly blogging environment.

Reduce the Clutter in Your Mindset

Reducing the clutter doesn’t just mean cleaning up your blog…it means cleaning up your mind. Learning how to turn the things you have to think about everyday into habits will help you blog faster and smarter.

For example: start quick-outlining your blog posts whenever an idea strikes you. In this way, you’ll build up a habit of jotting down a few main points, and you won’t struggle when the time comes to expand on the idea.

Reuse: Optimizing the Way You Blog

Once you’ve reduced the clutter on your blog, you’ll have to learn how to reuse your resources. Taking advantage of the hard work you’ve already done to grow new aspects of your blog is as easy as copying page/post templates when adding content, or linking back to old posts to recap ideas.

For my newest blog, I use post templates to quickly format my posts. This allows me to quickly format posts uniformly, and build authority by having a nicely organized blog. However, post layouts aren’t the only things you can reuse. Try these other usage tips:

• If you have a custom design, re-use it for a new blog and change the color scheme. This way you still have a unique design, but it’s branded and fully-functional.
• If you have a guest post that’s been rejected, post it to your blog, submit it to another blog, or an article base instead.
• Once you find a plugin that works to your advantage, re-use it for your projects so you don’t have to learn a new system.
• Instead of buying shared hosting for each new blog, get a dedicated host the first time and use add-on domains.

Learning to reuse your blogging resources will make running your blog a smooth process.

Recycle: Using Your Current Content for Marketing and Profit

The content on your blog doesn’t have to stay on your blog. Recycling old content into new venues is an easy way of building backlinks and marketing your blog. One of my favorite ways of recycle content is to simplify general information posts into synopsis or a step-by-step process and put them on Ezine Articles and Articles Base.

Of course, there are plenty of other ways to recycle your old content. Try out these blog recycling suggestions:

• Compile all your posts from one category into an ebook or report. Add an introduction and some resources and you can sell it or give it away to email subscribers!
• Take an old blog post and put a new perspective on it, then post it on your blog or in an email campaign.
• Tweet older informational posts on your blog under new headlines to drive traffic to flagship and pillar articles.
• Combine interesting comments from readers into a “press” page and show off what people are saying about your blog.
• Post excerpts of popular posts on relevant forums and lead traffic to your website.

There are tons of ways to use the content on your blog and avoid burning out all of your new ideas. Just take a look at your archives and think, “how can I make these work even harder for my blog and me?”

Are YOU a Green Blogger?

Are you taking full advantage of your blogging resources? Share your stories below!

It isn’t a cakewalk.

It isn’t something you can do half-arsed if you want any sort of results, whether they be monetary or mental rewards.  You gotta have commitment.  You gotta have creativity.  And you gotta have passion.

Especially if you plan on total blogging domination or something crazy like that.

And in fact, I didn’t actually start out and plan to be a blogger.

I actually started out not knowing what the funk I wanted to do with myself and my life.  The only thing I DID know is that I wanted to make a living online so I could work from home, and I wanted to make lots of cash doing it so I would never have to worry about paying my bills again.

Real clear direction there, I know!

But that was my mindset at the time and I had no CLUE what I was jumping into.  So I surfed the web for hours, threw away a good chunk of cash chasing ‘Get Rich Quick Scams’, became disheartened and fed up very quickly… and at the end of it all?

Still had no idea where I was going, and no intention of being a blogger.

At least not a real blogger.

Because shortly after that I happened across an amazing forum where I soon began to learn what people really meant by Internet marketing.  I soaked up info like a sponge and dabbled in creating auto-blogs and affiliate sites with PLR.

BAD idea!

Note to self and you there reading this: Auto-content and PLR for content sucks!  Needless to say I’d spent a bit more cash and still hadn’t made a dime with my little ‘investments’.

But somewhere in the mix of mucking things up I realized I had a knack as a wordsmith.  Then I met a fellow ghostwriter making a great living and realized “Hey! I could do that!”

So long story short?  That’s what I did.  I became a ghostwriter.

STILL not a blogger though.

Before I knew it, I was doing quite well for myself, working from home full-time, and paying all my bills all on my own!

However, I began to notice several high profile blogs, and noticed the way the blogger used those blogs as a sort of platform to create new work opportunities.  So me being me…

Again I thought “Hey! I can do that!” And another long story short, after a bit of trial and error… Big Girl Branding was born.

Now originally I create BGB as a way to showcase my writing and gain new clients.  But I quickly realized I actually really loved blogging… I loved the community aspect… I loved sharing what I know with other people… and let’s face it… I love hearing compliments and when something I write resonates with another!  (Yes, I have a very mild narcissistic streak, so sue me!)

Suddenly… I was a blogger!

And so began my journey as a blogger that is probably pretty similar to many other bloggers out there.  And the most important things I’ve learned about business blogging and really making an impact and growing a community you can be proud of is this…

Creating a blog that’s at all worthwhile takes commitment.  It takes dedication and just plain old hard work.  Yes it’s fun and yes it’s a learning experience…  but it’s also darn hard!

You Have to Have a Great Design.

You have to create a design that’s functional and user-friendly, while still be pleasing to the eye and satisfying your own creative streak as well.

I’ve gone through at least 3 different designs and two different themes since I began my blogging escapades.  And I’m a picky wench, so that’s actually not bad numbers for me.

Plus I’m hard-headed and figure it’s my blog so who cares what it looks like but me?  But that’s a poor mentality to have because you have to at least keep it user-friendly for your readers… don’t make them work toohard to read your stuff and visit often, know what I mean?

You Should Really Love to Write… Or Something.

You have to write.

Like, a lot.

Or you have to outsource to spectacular writers, which is a whole other ball game in and of itself.  Really, running a blog with any iota of success means content, and usually it’s in the form of written content.

You can of course mix it up and use video and audio as well, especially if you’re more comfy in those arenas.  Just be forewarned that some folks (like me) simply don’t have the time or the patience to sit through a 10 minute video when we could have read a 1000 word post in less time.

You Gotta Stick to a Schedule.  I Know, It Sounds So Boring!

But it’s true.

You have to write frequently and consistently.  As in- write on a regular basis.  As in- write often.  As in- write a lot. Get it yet?

So does that mean you have to post 10 times a day?

No, not really.

How about even once a day?  No, you don’t have to do that either if you don’t want to.

What it will ultimately boil down to in the long run is a posting frequency and schedule that is uniquely yours that keeps your readers happy and coming back often.

One long and spectacular post a week. And that works for them, both within their niche and for their readership.

I also know bloggers who post just two or three times a week, and that works for them.  Then there are some bloggers who might post just once a month!  Now I have no idea how that is working out for them, but it’s something some people do regardless.

I think that initially you should definitely focus on posting fairly frequently, and then figure out a good rhythm that works for both you and your readers.

As I said… it will end up being unique to you.

You’ve got to be Creative, Kinda.

Unfortunately many people get really stuck when it comes to ideas and what to blog about.  I’ve been there on occasion.  So sometimes you just have to let your creativity loose and see what you can come up with.

Sometimes people also get stuck in a ‘voice’ or ‘tone’ they’re not real happy with.  Often this happens when a writer is worrying too much about what people are going to think of them for saying something, and less about just saying it and speaking their mind.

Honestly I find that people respect you more as a blogger and a person of authority when you stay true to your personality, tell it like it is, and thumb your nose at people who try to make you be something you’re not.

So experiment with both what you say and how you say it.

Get creative when warranted, and just do your thing.

Your readers will either love you or hate you for it, but at least you won’t have ambivalent people trying to force you into a square when you’re perfectly happy being a triangle.  Or an octagon even!

Finally… You’ve got to be Passionate.

There’s no bones about it.

If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, not passionate about your niche or topic, and don’t get fired up with every post you write (or almost every, we’re all allowed some off days)… sorry honey but you’re in the wrong line of work.

It’s hard to be creative, post consistently, and come up with stuff people want to read on a regular basis.  But guess what?  It’s even harder when you’re not passionate on the subject.  Not sure what I mean by passion?  Hmnn… I don’t know if I find that sad or odd or both… but Maren is an excellent example of a blogger who really gets fired up in what she says.

So take a page from her book and please, don’t make the mistake of jumping into blogging with a niche you’re not fired up to be in.  Some folks like to follow the money, but I vote follow the passion… and money will follow.

Just sayin’.

Talkahead

TalkAhead is a paid social media that let advertisers engage with readers on your blogs through Sponsored Comments. It’s a revolutionary concept that I immediately began to implement after finding.

Sprinkle Penny

Place a small button at the end of each post that allows sprinkle penny users to carefully decide how much they want to donate and easily track their donations.

Net Audio Ads

Instead of using regular text or image advertising, NetAudiAds plays small audio clips when you enter a site.

Ezine Affiliate

A great way to drive traffic to your blog is by submitting posts to Ezine Articles. You can even make money from the articles by including affiliate links in them.

Cafepress

Sell t-shirts, posters or stickers with your blog’s logo. Although it probably won’t be a huge revenue booster some of your loyal fans might decide to buy one.

Scratchback

Get small tips from your readers, with a widget that displays your tip donor’s links or images. Instead of calling it advertising, it’s “scratching your back.”

Page Peel

Regular image and text advertising is boring, page peel ads is fun. Download a plugin that allows you to upload page peel ads, that peel when you hover above them in the corner of a page.

Link Bucks

Linkbucks is an ad company that focuses on monetizing your outbound traffic not your loyal visitors. You have full control over the ads, there are barely any restrictions and pays out twice a month.

Outbrain

This tool will add a rating system to your posts and include related posts from your site as well as from other websites. You will earn a small amount each time you drive traffic to other websites

Vizu

A poll advertising system that engages visitors while providing market research to big brands, which you cash in on.



Feel free to leave suggestions and comments.

And as if that’s not enough analogy for one day, here are more reasons why a good blog is like a good marriage.

You shouldn’t jump in, feet first

Many marriages fail because people don’t take the time to fully get to know each other. Blogging can be the same – you need to spend some time with your blog to fully understand it and how it works, before you start to promote it to your customers. Learn about widgets, plug-ins and capabilities before you rush to launch your blog, and your patience will pay off at a later stage.

Both depend on good communication

This is pretty self-explanatory. A great blog’s best asset is its capability to deliver information openly and without jargon. You need to update your blog frequently to keep your customers coming back. An out of date blog is a disappointment, if you’re following it.

Set apart a time each day, preferably, to tell your customers what’s going on.

Both rely on honesty

Deceit and dishonesty can be as detrimental to a blog as they are to a marriage. Don’t over-inflate your capabilities or services, and keep your blog writing down to earth and realistic. If you have limitations, don’t be afraid to express them!

Both take commitment and dedication

Just like a positive relationship needs attention to make it flourish, so a blog needs regular input from you. Maintenance is critical to make sure your blog operates seamlessly, marketing for you even while you are not working on it. Take time to spring clean your blog regularly, and check basics like spelling, accuracy of links and grammar. Also deactivate and delete unwanted plug-ins.

They can be enhanced through simple actions

While there is not yet a plug-in available for enhancing a marriage, think of buying flowers, going out for meals together and small gifts as positive add-ons. Blogs can only be enhanced by good design, regular updates and widgets to streamline comment-collation and improve the user experience.

They do not stand alone

Good marriages are not closed relationships – people also need friends and family around them. Similarly, a blog should be supported by great customer service, and a killer web site to produce an ideal package for marketing your services to your customers.

You can’t cheat

Plagiarism on your blog is the equivalent of cheating in a marriage. Make no mistake about it, there are highly sophisticated tools available now which people use to detect reproduced text online. Make sure you only publish words which you own, whether you wrote them or commissioned them, so you don’t risk getting caught out.

They both often lead to offspring

Ok, this is a bit of a stretch now, but a good blog, like a good marriage, can result in fruitful blogging productivity. If you get my drift. If you blog with commitment and care, enhanced business success and increased sales will follow. By dedicating attention and love each day to your blog, you can be assured that it will bring you customers, as they get to know all about you and your services.

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions?

Blog Commenting

Commenting! Commenting! Commenting! Just comment, try to visit as many dofollow blogs as possible, make valuable comments and your link will stay. While blog commenting is a link building method, it is also very important to know that most major search engines do not regard nofollow links as links, in fact nofollow links don’t pass Page Rank and they also have no effect on anchor texts so if you only want backlinks then comment on dofollow blogs only.

Forum Backlinks

There are many ways to gain relevant backlinks from forums, but the best option is to give a freebie because many posts in forums linking to another website that is not a freebie might eventually get deleted. Try to give value on the forum, give lots of freebies and also have a lot of friends and only post valuable content relevant to your website. It is also very important not to post links to your site only because this makes you look like a spammer but try to post link to so many other valuable content on the web. It is also important not to neglect your forum signature, try to use them effectively; don’t put too much unrelated links.

Article Submission

Write quality articles and submit them to article directories, but when doing, this the advice I will give you is that don’t try to submit to all article directories because most of them are nofollow and most of them even don’t allow usage of anchor texts. Try to look for quality article directories that are dofollow and allow anchor texts most especially in the middle of the article, and also, don’t try to spam them.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking site is the future of the web, and whether you like it now social bookmarking sites will have large influence on the web. Try to use social bookmarking sites effectively, submit your posts regularly, have as many friends as possible and you will begin to see results. Social bookmarking sites also helps your website indexed quickly; it can help your website indexed in less than 24 hours if properly done.

Guest Posting

Like I am doing now, try to guest post for so many bloggers. Guest blogging has lots of flexibilities, aside it bringing direct traffic from the bloggers website, it also avails you the ability to use the anchor text of your choice. Guest posting is also very important because many of the bloggers you guest post for have high pagerank sites and sooner or later your post to will have high pagerank which will eventually flow to your site. Also note that when guest posting you have to write valuable content and don’t overload your website with links because many bloggers (like me) will not accept rubbish on their blogs.

The above are 5 great tips for building backlinks to your website; try to utilize them effectively and the results will be awesome.

Here are some methods I’ve used:

Use Social Media

If you have a following on Twitter, tweet, asking for some suggestions. If you use LinkedIn or Facebook, update your status and ask away.  Take advantage of Buzz, Friendfeed, Ping.Fm and any other social network that you use to explore the question.

Read a Book

It’s always helpful to sit down and read an amazing book that has aspects to it that connect to your blog. In my case, I could read titles such as The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, Crush It, The Tipping Point, jotting down ideas that might inspire me to write a blog post.

Ask other Bloggers

What’s better than asking other bloggers directly for some input? Every blog has different content, another edge and approach. Sharing ideas could mutually benefit both sides.

Paper or Doc

Take out a piece of paper or create a new document for blog post ideas. Sit down and spend time brainstorming to add any idea that comes to mind. Then, later on, every time you think of something else list it right away. That way you always have ideas available.

Run a Contest

An approach that I took was launching a contest in which one of the main entries was suggesting a post. That will get your readers excited about sharing ideas, which can benefit everyone.

Extend a post

Check out older posts that had lots of comments, views and interest. Try adding a second part, updating it with new information, or making a spin-off version. For example I saw how successful this post was:  10 Quick Tips to Boost Your Blogging Skills and decided that extending the post would provide another great article which led to 10 Quick Tips to Boost Your Blogging Skills (Part 2).

Use Your Personal Experiences

Connecting my personal experiences has helped me come up with ideas on many occasions. For example, reading AM New York on the train to school everyday led me to writing a post on why the newspaper and magazine industries need a makeover. Take time to think about experiences you could write about that took place offline or online.

Have any other suggestions or tips?

PS: If you have any posts that you’d like to see here, please share below. I’d appreciate any idea!

Here are some things to consider when working on your blog’s navigation.

Use Numbered Page Navigation

The standard “Next Page”, “Previous Page” links sort of work, but they aren’t the best way to do it. If you have many pages at your blog, and a user has been browsing through them for a while, it can be easy for them to get lost.

WP-Page Navi

Using numbered navigation can help your users to quickly get an idea of where they are, therefore greatly improving usability. If you’re using WordPress, a good plugin to achieve this is WP-PageNavi. There is also a guide to integrate this in a theme from Cats Who Code.

Focus on Categories

Most blogs are focused on posts, not pages. Apart from possibly your “About” page, the first place users are going to look for information is in the categories. If you think you’ve got a decent category setup, it would be a good idea to draw the user’s attention to them, helping them to find what they need.

Of course, there are always some exceptions. For example, at FWebDe, very few people clicked on, or seemed to care about the category links. So, I decided to take them out in the new design.

It’s important to monitor your site, and possibly even do usability testing, to make sure you are making the right decisions.

Provide Helpful Search Results

When your users are searching for something, keep in mind that they are searching for something. Okay, that was fairly obvious. But you need to keep in mind that search results are important. A common mistake is to neglect your search results, resulting in users not being able to find what they want.

An even worse mistake is to not even have a search form at all. If you don’t have one, take a couple minutes to add one in, right now.

Don’t Rely on JavaScript/Flash for Navigation

One thing that really annoys me is when I come across a site using Flash for their navigation, sometimes only to achieve a cheezy hover effect.

Remember that not everybody has Flash. If you rely on Flash for navigation, your site will be completely useless to those without it. The same applies to relying on JavaScript, which can be disabled. Always have a fallback for those with JavaScript disabled.

Link to Other Posts Within Your Content

If your blog is about a certain topic (which it should be), you’ve probably mentioned something in one post that you’ve written another post about, before.

If a reader is interested in your post, they’ll probably be interested in a related topic mentioned in that post. After reading your post, they might even hop on over to Google to learn more about what you mentioned.

So why not add a link right there for them to follow? It is a great way for your users to find the information that they want, and it helps them to find out more about your site, possibly with them even subscribing to your posts.

Keep the Navigation in Standard Locations

This is a very simple one, but it is very important. The most important thing in usability is to keep everything where users expect it. Users will first look in the same places with the navigation in other websites, so you can keep it in those areas to help speed up your users’ interaction with your site.

The most common areas for the main navigation are across the top of the page, or in the sidebar. Pretty simple, right? It’s something easy to remember. Just make sure you don’t have a bunch of links swirling around the page for your users to chase after (kind of like those Flash tag clouds).

If you have any suggestions, or opinions please let me know below.