7 Things That Should be on Every Home Page

Before getting to the list, I must say that this is just my view.  And as you all know I am only in my second year of blogging and am still very much learning.

So here is my list:

1.   A contact page where your email address can be easily located – or put it directly into your sidebar.  Lots of people prefer to comment via email (avoids all the ghastly captcha stuff for one thing).  I have posted about this here. 

2.   A search box – people will often want to search for topics/recipes etc that interest them.  Make sure the search box is towards the top of your page.  Go to this post for more on this.

3.   A list of popular posts (including thumbnails) – I use the most popular for the month rather than all time.  Here is a post I did on this.  

4.   Big clear follow me options.  My current fave is Bloglovin but I also have a GFC widget and email etc.

5.   Short blog list of blogs you like – don't let it default to being a list of every blog you follow – that will slow the loading of your page and clutter your home page up.  I select a small number of book and food blogs to feature each week.  (There is no quid pro quo for this – I just like to share blogs I enjoy with my readers) Go here to see more about this.

6.   Restrict the number of posts that will show up on your home page to 6 or less.  Again your blog will load more quickly.

7.  If you are in to Pinterest (and most of us are), put a link to some of your important boards into your sidebar.

Other people will add that you have to have a good detailed About Me page – I don't happen to agree – but it is entirely a matter of personal taste.  I want the substance of the blog to speak for itself and for my readers to get to know the way I think that way.

Finally, although this is not about your home page – I can't help myself.  Please kill the captcha/word verification/prove you are not a robot stuff.  Nothing will put your readers off from commenting more.  If you are on Blogger and want to know how to kill it, go to this post.     

Add a Popular Posts Gadget if you don't have one yet

I do think that having the popular posts gadget in your sidebar is a good idea.  I have put it just under the search box.  It gives people visiting your site an easy snapshot of what your best ie most popular posts are about.

You add this to your blog, in Blogger,  by going to your Dashboard, clicking Layout and then clicking one of the boxes labelled add a gadget.  Blogger then comes up with some to choose from. If you scroll down you will find it is 5th on the list.  Just click the plus sign and make a couple of selections as to what you want shown in terms of time and number - I suggest thumbnails and titles and 10 posts (the maximum).  Then you just click the orange Save button and you are done.

You can drag the gadget around the Layout screen until you have it where you want it.

Cheers