Help! How Can I Make This Blog Better?

March 14, 2013
523 comments

Help! How Can I Make This Blog Better?

I have been thinking of ways to improve my blog, and then I realized I’m asking the wrong person. Your input will help me much more than anything I think up. It would mean the world to me if you take 23 seconds to tell me how to make my blog better.

Administrative

Jeremy Floyd

Jeremy Floyd is the President at FUNYL Commerce. Formerly, he was the CEO and President of Lirio, Bluegill Creative, a marketing and communications firm in Knoxville, Tennessee. In addition to managing the digital strategies, Floyd was an adjunct professor for the University of Tennessee Chattanooga MBA program teaching digital strategies and social media. Floyd blogs at jeremyfloyd.com and tweets under the name @jfloyd.Â Jeremy is licensed to practice law in the State of Tennessee and holds a law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from MTSU in English and Philosophy.

RogierNoort

23 seconds, ey? Brave question Jeremy.

– Reorganize your sidebar (http://www.reviewzntips.com/improve-sidebar-effectiveness/). The Facebook comments takes up precious real-estate, for instance
– Promote “other content to read” better (with ngage?) and promote your content, not other peoples content
– Narrow the focus of the blog

Didn’t quite made the 23 seconds, but hey, who’s counting…

So, that’s just top of my head, and I guess plenty of work should you choose to accept the advice, which, of course, you do not need to do.
Rachel Bodenbender

Please let me preface this with I feel bad for not taking the time to balance my all my critical comments with positive ones, but it’s just a matter of being in a hurry. (You have to ask for 46 seconds if you want that LOL.) Just don’t let it translate into me saying there aren’t good things…because chief among them that your blog seems to be current, frequently updated, fresh, and relevant…and abandoned blogs are my pet peeve! I even have one myself lol.When everyone is fighting for attention online, I become more interested in those with whom I feel a personal connection and/or whom are not just out to make a buck off me. I think the info you offer in your “About Me” could be just a little more personalized – “who are you? what do you do? why are you doing this?” – and that IMO includes a few more photos. I realize that if this is a business-driven initiative, then including more personal stuff might seem seem to be one or more of the following: unnecessary, conflicting with your goals / intent, too invasive (for you)…but, you asked 🙂 . Also, don’t hate me, but that panorama-ish photo of you on your connect page is kinda creepy….and you’re not a creepy person at all. When I saw that I imagined a scene where I’ve been hearing noises around my house late at night, and I turn on the porch light to see you malingering there. Something a little warmer maybe? Thanks Jeremy.
Jeremy Floyd

Man, Rogier, thanks for the thoughtful advice.

I REALLY struggle with narrowing the focus. Some of my readers/friends really like the “stories,” but I can’t write with enough frequency to keep stories with any frequency. I have a professional and academic interest within the digital marketing arena, but I struggle to find a unique voice in that community, and I also find that many of my online friends get bored with so much social media blogging. I am willing to consider any advice based on your observations.
Jeremy Floyd

That is great feedback! I have spent the least amount of time on the about section of the whole site. It is really quite embarrassing.

I spend most of my time telling clients to build sites with purpose and crafting a purpose-driven, goal-oriented websites, but when it comes to my own it’s sort of a hodgepodge. I imagine that is why the general information pages are not very focused. Great advice.

While the site is “business driven,” I always like for it to be personal too, but that ends up looking unfocused and overly broad. My blog is having an identity crisis, which by the way will be the title of my next post. 🙂 I really need inspiration of someone that blends both on a single site. Maybe that’s Mark Schaefer, but his is 95% focused social/digital content and maybe 5% personal. Would love any recommendations here.
Michael O’Dwyer

Hi Jeremy,

A tweet from @jonbuscall led me here and I can’t
cover everything in 23 seconds 😉 However, I think it’s a case of
different strokes for different folks. If I was looking for a
professional provider, I would be more concerned with academic qualifications and demonstrated knowledge of the area rather than an idiotic smile or cuddly persona. I myself hate cameras and always look as if I’m after suffering a recent tragedy or about to murder the photographer if I force a smile etc. In my opinion, for what it’s worth, content and site layout/design are far more important than additional personal details. I’d be happy to discuss further if you’re interested and provide all my observations, in the hope that they will be of practical benefit.

Bear in mind that this is not a sales pitch but an invitation to a forum for sharing skill sets, no money is expected or requested for advice, although I may ask for a recommendation – I’m seeking clients too ;-). Just join my LinkedIn Group ( a small yet focused group) – and you will have access to multiple opinions in one area – if you want to do this privately (no search engine placement) – no problem – I have a private subgroup. Information on the main group can be found at http://goo.gl/xplzE BUT we will need to connect before I can invite you to the private group – limitations of LinkedIn platform and not a ‘forced’ connection.
Michael O’Dwyer

Good point – avoid encouraging visitors to leave your site or if you
must recommend other content – link them within your content (and in a way that opens a new window). I would remove the footer content “Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress” and put in your own info and copyright protection notice. Avoid displaying flickr footnote by using the share HTML code for inserting pictures from Flickr and put in your own caption if you need one.

Colour scheme is a bit muted – too many grey shades involved and using an archive widget may not be the best option. Perhaps categories and latest post widgets would be less distracting? I wouldn’t display tags either as these are for search engines – visitors will not care.

I would also question the benefit of ads – another opportunity to leave your site.
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