Part of the guide: Blog Traffic
I honestly think design is the most important aspect of any kind of website. If your design isn’t attractive, people won’t stick around. And… The sidebar is probably the most important element of blog design.
Your sidebar is displayed on almost every page on your blog and it’s seen by everyone. Your sidebar is great for capturing leads and monetizing visitors. It’s what makes or breaks your blog and influences conversion rates like nothing else.
The problem is most people don’t know what you now know. So they stuff their sidebar full of crappy banner ads promoting dodgy clickbank products and whatever else they get their hands on. I decided to reveal the 3 vital elements of a high converting blog sidebar:
1. Strong Call To Action
Whatever your blog, it needs a strong call to action. Every blog should have 1 clear call to action. Maybe yours is to get visitors to join your email list, download a free book, like you on Facebook, or buy your e-course.
The first call to action you should have is an opt-in form at the very top of your sidebar. It’s the best way to capture subscribers since the top of your sidebar is what gets more attention than anything else.
Even if you didn’t plan on building a list, you should just do it – you’ll thank yourself 6 months from now.
2. Link To Posts
Every blog needs a popular posts widget. If a visitor has landed on one of your posts and thinks it’s not for him, what would you rather do: have him close the page or checkout another one of your posts?
The latter, obviously. By popular posts I mean the posts with the most comments/views or shares. Maybe your visitors are unsure of what page to visit next – so they exit leaving your bounce rate sky-high.
Not good, by having a popular posts widget you can greatly influence those people to visit your popular posts. When people are unsure about anything, they look at what other people are doing. So when they see that 203 people have left a comment on one of your posts – they’re going to want to check it out.
3. Resource Pages
Resource pages are essential if you want to boost subscription rates and keep visitors physically glued to your blog. They are pages that list all the posts you’ve written in certain categories. For example, in the online marketing niche you might have list building, email marketing, SEO, and blogging.
If you’ve written a load of posts in those categories, you can create resource pages for them. In each resource page, you can list the posts you’ve written for the category from A-Z so visitors can start with the first post and educate themselves fully on an entire subject by the time they read the last post.
Create resource pages and plonk graphic images or hyperlinks to them in your sidebar! They literally keep people glued to your blog.
What Not To Include In Your Sidebar:
1. Links To All Social Profiles
I’ve talked about this many times before because it’s just so stupid. Many bloggers link to their Facebook, their Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Flickr, Youtube, and whatever other social networks they’re active on.
We were all told to build our followings right?
WRONG
You need to focus on 1 social network and 1 only. By sending your blog visitors off to follow you on 3+ social networks – you’re just scattering your following which makes it look like you don’t have one.
2. Lots Of Ads
No surprise here, just don’t do it. Lots of ads always result in worse conversions, a higher bounce rate, and less money in your pocket. Instead, focus on promoting 1-2 premium products in your sidebar and use the rest of your space to build your email list/keep visitors engaged in your blog content.
3. No Facebook Or Twitter Stream
You were never meant to do this alone
Reading this changes nothing. Doing it with people who show up changes everything. That is the whole difference between the people who transform and the people who keep starting over.
Start free →Again this doesn’t really need explaining if you have half a brain. Who really gives a shit about your Facebook or Twitter updates? Most people don’t.
Sure, your loyal subscribers may do and they might account for a substantial chunk of your blog’s traffic. BUT – all of your new visitors who land on your blog every day just don’t give a damn about you or your social updates.
In fact, it’s a total and utter waste of sidebar space that could be better utilized to put more money in your pocket. Displaying a like/follow box is ok – streams are not.
In Prosperity,
David Wood
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments, and questions in the box below.
Comments
Sarah Thompson, July 30 2024, 21:20
Thank you for sharing these insightful tips, David. The advice on focusing on one strong call to action and avoiding clutter in the sidebar is especially helpful. I’ve been looking to optimize my blog’s sidebar, and your post provides a clear roadmap. Keep up the great work!
Michael Lee, July 30 2024, 21:25
Great insights, David! The section on linking to popular posts is something I hadn’t considered before. I appreciate the practical advice and will definitely implement these tips to improve my blog’s sidebar. Thanks for the valuable information!
Emily Richards, July 30 2024, 21:30
Could you provide more examples of effective resource pages? Your insights are always so practical, and seeing specific examples would be incredibly helpful. I’ve tried a few of these strategies before with mixed results, so I’m curious about what has worked best for you. Thanks for another great post!
John Peterson, July 30 2024, 21:35
This post is very informative, David. However, I’d like to hear more about the potential challenges and how to overcome them. For example, what are some common pitfalls with blog sidebar design, and how can they be avoided? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Daniel Kim, July 30 2024, 21:40
Hey David, great insights as always. Let’s catch up soon and discuss these strategies over coffee. I find the idea of resource pages particularly intriguing. It seems like a smart way to keep visitors engaged. Looking forward to hearing more about your experiences with this approach. Cheers!
Laura Martinez, July 30 2024, 21:45
I’ve had success with some of these strategies in the past, especially focusing on a strong call to action. Your tips are spot on and very helpful. One thing I’ve found effective is maintaining a clean and uncluttered sidebar. Thanks for sharing these insights; I’m excited to implement more of them!
Mark Johnson, July 30 2024, 21:50
I recently started implementing some of these strategies, and I’ve already seen positive results. The method of linking to popular posts has been particularly effective for me. Your advice on what not to include in the sidebar was very helpful. Thank you for the valuable insights, David!
Rebecca Lee, July 30 2024, 21:55
I’m still skeptical about the effectiveness of some of these strategies, especially the emphasis on avoiding multiple ads. Do you have any case studies or concrete evidence to back up these claims? It would be helpful to see some real-world examples of these methods in action. Your posts are always thought-provoking, and I appreciate the effort you put into them.
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The one-clear-call-to-action point is really a focus exercise disguised as design advice – most of my clients dilute their offer the exact same way this dilutes a sidebar, one goal split six ways so all of them limp. Try writing your sidebar’s single ask on a sticky note before you build anything else. If it doesn’t fit on the note, you don’t have one yet, you have five.
Playing devil’s advocate: visitor intent isn’t uniform, and collapsing every sidebar to one ask optimises for the average visitor at the cost of everyone else. Not necessarily my own view.
Simone, this is basically a stakeholder alignment problem wearing a blog costume. Every insurer sidebar I signed off on in twenty-two years had eleven ‘priorities’ bolted on because nobody senior would let their pet widget go – the social icons, the newsletter box, the award banner nobody remembers winning. David’s one-CTA rule is the design equivalent of telling a committee no, which is exactly why almost nobody does it. Anyone can add a widget. Taking six away is the actual skill.