Written on April 19th, 2009 at 08:04 pm by Darren Rowse

Update a Key Page on Your Blog [Day 14 - 31DBBB]

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 133 comments

This post is an excerpt from the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook

Today your task is to update some of the key pages and posts on your blog.

What are the most important pages on your blog?

This is an interesting question to ponder for a few minutes…. in fact, why not do that before reading on.

What pages or posts on your blog do you see as most valuable?

I sat down and asked myself this question earlier in the week and identified 10 or so pages on my blogs that for one reason or another were more important than others.

The reason I did the exercise was because that day I’d had the realisation that while every page on my blog is important – there are pages on most blogs that are more powerful than others at helping you to achieve your goals as a blogger.

However it also struck me while thinking about it that some of these important pages need updates from time to time.

So today your task is to spend time identifying key posts and pages on your blog and to give them an update.

Let me explore a few of these pages and suggest some ways that they might need an update:

Let’s start with the most obvious page first….

Your front page

This a fairly obvious one – most blogs get more traffic to the front page of their blog than any other. Here at ProBlogger my front page gets a little under 20% of all traffic on the site.

It’s the page I usually promote on business cards, in my email signature, on profile pages of social media sites and the page that others mentioning my blog on their sites refer people to. It’s also a page that people landing on old posts on my blog often head to next to see what the site is about.

Update it - there are a variety of ways that one can update the front page of their blog. These range from complete makeovers through to tweaks. The makeover/overhaul end of the spectrum is a little beyond the scope of this challenge so let me suggest a few smaller ideas:

1. First Impressions – what first impression does a new reader coming to your front page get? Do they know what your blog is about immediately? Does your blog’s title tags, header, tagline etc strongly communicate what your blog is about? Are their eyes drawn to any one important element or are things cluttered?

2. Sidebar - most blogs have a sidebar on every page – but it probably gets looked at more on your front page than any other. Over time sidebars tend to become cluttered with lots of buttons and links – perhaps it is time for a spring clean with the objective of only leaving useful and important information there.

3. Headers/Logo - one way that you can give your front page (and other pages on your blog) a refresh without doing a full redesign is to develop a new logo/header for your blog. This is not something to rush but perhaps today is a day to begin thinking about a new look and brand for your blog.

4. Think about Objectives and Call to Action – one question to ask when looking at your blog’s front page is ‘what are your objectives?’ What do you want people to do when they arrive on your blog for the first time (remember your front page is a logical place for new people to be visiting)? Do you want people to subscribe to an RSS feed or newsletter, click an ad, tell a friend, drive them to your best content, buy a product, hear your story…. what do you want them to do? Once you’ve identified your objective you can then position a call to action in a prime location on your blogs front page.

The front page of your blog is very important – but there are others. Let me suggest a few:

About Page

The about page of a blog may not get as much traffic as others – but it is one of the most important ones that you can spend time developing. The reason I believe this is that it can be a very influential page.

Think about who might read an about page. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that those reading your blog’s about page are going to be people in ‘investigation mode’. My suspicion is that those clicking on ‘about’ links are going to be:

  • first time readers wanting to know whether this is a site for them
  • potential partners/advertisers/collaborators/journalists/PR people/other bloggers etc wanting to know if they should invest time in building a relationship with you

It stands to reason that it’s a page you’ll probably want to have spend some time on recently to keep up to date, to think about how you call people to action etc.

Probably the biggest two mistakes that you can make when it comes to an about page are:

  1. Not to have one
  2. To leave it as the ‘default’ about page

Contact Page

During the last week I had an email from Becki who is doing the 31DBBB challenge. She wrote:

“I read all 700+ comments to the day 2 post and searched for people who have blogs in a similar niche as me. I was hoping to get a link on their site and to cooperate in some way, and am amazed that most have no method to directly contact the author.”

Becki was actively wanting to reach out to other bloggers in her niche with the hope of working with them in mutually beneficial ways to build their blogs. But due to the fact that many bloggers didn’t have any way to be contacted they missed out on a potentially fruitful relationship.

Do you have a means of being contacted on your blog? If so – is it up to date?

High Traffic Pages

Most blogs that have been around for a while have at least a handful of posts in their archives that generate a higher number of page views than other posts. This can be the result of search engine traffic, the result of another site linking to you, a social media site making a page popular etc.

This is an important page on your blog as it is a gateway where potential new loyal readers are entering.

The problem that many blogs have is that those entering your blog in these gateways often turn right back around and leave again.

Spend some time today identifying the most visited posts on your blog using a blog stats program (Google Analytics is one that I use and recommend – but even using a blog platform like WordPress’s native stats package should reveal what pages are getting visited most).

Once you’ve identified some key pages – make sure they are up to date and as helpful to readers as possible – but also think about how you can make that post more ’sticky’. You could do this by:

  • adding some suggested further reading links at the end that point to other key posts on your blog
  • adding an invitation to subscribe to your blog at the end (or even at the start of the post)

Other key pages

Many blogs have other key pages on them that often go for months and months (if not years and years) without an update. These include ‘advertise with us’ pages, ‘recommended reading’ pages, ’subscribe’ pages etc. Almost any page linked to from your navigation menu probably fits as these will be links people looking around your blog for the first time will probably be visiting.

Enough talk – go update some pages! Once you have – share with us how this exercise went in comments below. (Update – You can also share your results and exchange feedback with others in the challenge over at the forum: Day 14 – Update a Key Post or Page on Your Blog)

Want More?

This task is a sample of one of the tasks in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook – a downloadable resource designed to reinvigorate and revitalize blogs.

Join over 14,000 other bloggers and Get your Copy Today.

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133 Responses to “Update a Key Page on Your Blog [Day 14 - 31DBBB]” - Add Yours

  • Roseli A. Bakar

    April 19th, 2009 8:35 pm

    A lot of bloggers will miss this including me.

    Gone updating…

  • HazardousPaste

    April 19th, 2009 8:35 pm

    Changing my front, about, and most popular pages is always a work in progress. Adding snippets of code, fixing spelling errors, making things more concise… all very important.

  • Fred

    April 19th, 2009 8:44 pm

    A kick in the b*tt… thanks Darren, on my way.

  • shrewdcookie

    April 19th, 2009 8:50 pm

    My “About Me” page is one of the most visited – I am therefore going to rehash it and place some internal links on it to other pages on my blog.

  • Raju

    April 19th, 2009 8:51 pm

    Thanks a lot Darren. Another useful tip.
    1) I did few tweakings with my blog homepage – http://techpp.com
    2) have contacted a logo designer to redesign my logo
    3) Updated my about page: http://techpp.com/about
    4) added 2 new pages under about – Privacy policy & Disclaimer
    5) Updated advertise page – http://techpp.com/advertise

    I would love you or someone here to evaluate my ABOUT page specifically. Thanks all.

  • Chris

    April 19th, 2009 8:57 pm

    This is definitely a good strategy. Funnily enough I was just working on this as your tweet arrived. It’s time to give my top-traffic page a makeover, and hopefully a refresh will lead to more links from other sources in the future.

  • Melinda

    April 19th, 2009 8:58 pm

    Ugh…. I’ve had updating my About page on my to-do list for ages…. Ok, will definately do it now.

    Well, I’ll do it tomorrow as I’m not on my computer now.

    Promise! :-)

  • Mario

    April 19th, 2009 9:02 pm

    Hi Darren,

    I rewrote my About-page when you assigned us the elevator-pitch task. During the assignments that followed I investigated the most successful post and put re-tweet banners on the end of them.

    I’m pretty much done for today, I see. Maybe a logo would be a good one. I’ll think about it.

    Half off-topic:
    There is one thing that amazes me with Google Analytics (I use Statcounter and Analytics). It shows something mathematical impossible on some days: there are less pageviews than visitors. You could say that a page had not been totally loaded so the pageview isn’t counted, but than the visitor wouldn’t be counted as well. However, I wrote Google a note to think about this. For now I rely for a long time on Statcounter.

    Have a lovely day!
    Mario

  • Otba Mushaweh

    April 19th, 2009 9:18 pm

    Hi darren
    good post ..
    what about the categories of blogs..? did you think it should be also update ?

    thanks

  • Baker @ ManVsDebt

    April 19th, 2009 9:19 pm

    Since, my blog is relatively new I don’t really have nay posts that are tearing up the search engines.

    However, I was recently linked from a major blog in my niche. This provided a nice spike in traffic. I was thinking about changing the beginning of that specific post to a welcome message for readers of the larger blog!

    I could always take it down after the traffic subsided.

  • Joella Molson

    April 19th, 2009 9:22 pm

    Oooooh you’re good. I’ve been tossing around an update for a week or so. Decided the layout even needed a good tweaking. Of course all I’ve been doing is thinking. Perhaps this is a sign? Little spooky, but I needed that. Great article.

  • Steen Seo Öhman

    April 19th, 2009 9:23 pm

    Great tips,

    The sidebar cleanup is a very good idea. Also recommend nofollow of some of the links on the sidebar, to channel and preserve the link juice on the important pages.

  • Sire

    April 19th, 2009 9:28 pm

    Gee, I don’t think I even have a front page, but I do have a contact page and about page so I suppose that is something. Normally if I see a spike in traffic to any particular page I will have a look at it just to see if there is anything I can do to make it more presentable to my new visitors.

  • Hummerbie

    April 19th, 2009 9:31 pm

    Very good idea, after my recent template change this is the next thing on my list now.

    Thanks for this insight, great series..

  • Hisham

    April 19th, 2009 9:37 pm

    Thank Darren for today’s task, I was working yesterday on changing template for my auto blog, but still need some work on the about page and advertising page as well!

    nice tips!

  • Broderick Allen

    April 19th, 2009 9:52 pm

    Very good info on the About page. I went a long time without one and I felt like something was definitely missing.

    *Declutters sidebar*

  • Sjay

    April 19th, 2009 9:57 pm

    lot of things to change from header to popular pages ….How about the footer. In my case I think it need attention on footer as well.

    Useful tips …thanks darren

    Sjay

  • Vicki@collegeparentcentral

    April 19th, 2009 9:59 pm

    Thanks once again for such useful information.
    My blog is so new (still in its first month) that I’m not ready to update just yet, but the advice you give here is perfect for new bloggers to consider. It is forcing me to look at my blog, new as it may be, with fresh eyes.
    I’m considering carefully all of the questions you suggested.
    I still have a long way to go, but my blog is so much better because of this challenge.
    Thank you!

  • JustBlogz

    April 19th, 2009 10:12 pm

    I definitely need to updated my about page. A lot of things have changed. And i don’t have a very good contact page so i think i will change that too.

  • Parth

    April 19th, 2009 10:13 pm

    Thank you very much, Darren for this amazing post.

    I am going to update my blog right away…but is it really necessary since it has been only 2 months since I started my blog?

    Awaiting your advice on this,
    Parth

  • Greg at Live Fit

    April 19th, 2009 10:17 pm

    Good tips. Easily forgotten in the shuffle.

    Two questions. First, what’s your opinion on the use of social network buttons and banners? They can be a small source of traffic, but I’ve read the cluttering is a negative.

    Second, I use a form on my contact page. I get several visits to the page, but don’t often actually get a message from the person that visits the page. Do you suggest a form, or are you better off to include an email address?

    Thanks for the tips.

  • Harsh Agrawal

    April 19th, 2009 10:22 pm

    Nice tip dareen, usually we avoid make over of the blog and we loose making search engine traffic to our loyal readers
    I redesigned my blog with new look.
    Now its time to get a logo and banner. :)

  • Melissa

    April 19th, 2009 10:32 pm

    So funny that I read this today because I just tweaked my blog late last night. I changed things around a bit with Google Adsense–made sure everything is above the fold, and I added a new revenue stream as well. I also was looking at what posts get the most views and am definitely going to add some things to them like asking viewers to sign up for my newsletter or RSS feed. Thanks for the post!

  • Charlie

    April 19th, 2009 10:35 pm

    Great tip! I have been putting this off for a while, but today’s the day. I think it will help me on so many levels.

    Thank you!

  • mohan

    April 19th, 2009 10:41 pm

    Hi Dareen,
    again real helpfull post for all,this imformation again help all,
    Dareen i have problem that i am confiuse about the selection of templets, i am using Blogger.Com but i want wordprees them . Ples help me,
    any reader can help….

  • mohan

    April 19th, 2009 10:43 pm

    again real helpfull post for all,this imformation again help all,
    Dareen i have problem that i am confiuse about the selection of templets, i am using Blogger.Com but i want wordprees them . Ples help me,
    any reader can help….

  • Hollie

    April 19th, 2009 11:03 pm

    Okay I did alot of work on this, had been thinking about this since the challenge began..

    So my blog has a new header, I changed the main page layout and design, and finally added a subscribe button.

    I also redid my All About Me Page.

    If you care to stop on by and let me know what you think.

  • delicate flower

    April 19th, 2009 11:08 pm

    perfect assignment . I just added a contact email on the About me page.. never dawned on me to do that!!
    Lots to think about.. I have spent a little time this morning reviewing my sidebar options, I did a little rearranging and looked at my most viewed blogs.
    One of the things I’m enjoying most about this is the ability to check out other’s blogs.

  • Samuel

    April 19th, 2009 11:19 pm

    Great post!
    I actually updated my header logo/title yesterday… to ‘Emphatic Relationships! Proactive Dating!’. What do people think of that?
    I could definitely do with redoing my about page… I wrote it up in a hurry when launching my blog and failed to actually mention the famous dating companies I’ve worked with, which is what most of my reputation is based on. :)
    Thanks,
    Sam

  • Joel

    April 19th, 2009 11:21 pm

    I think a lot of us who are participating in the challenge have been thinking about these kinds of things quite a bit lately. I’ve made some pretty substantial changes to my blog in the last couple of weeks:

    I just learned a couple of days ago that WordPress now allows me to make posts sticky. I spent a few hours yesterday morning learning how to make that work out and playing around with it some. I decided to feature one post at a time (currently 20 Blogs I Wish Were Around When I Started Teaching), threw together a little “Featured Article” header thing, followed by a “Latest Articles” thing below.

    In fact, when I threw it on the top of the home page, I began to see a resurgence in the traffic that it received. It was almost as if I posted it again!

    While I was at it, I also learned how to make the images in posts into thumbnails to give the page a more uniform look and clean things up a little bit more (faster load times are always good).

    I added my page list in the footer, so that I could remove some tabs at the top and just leave the most important links up there.

    I added a Privacy Policy and FAQ as well as deleting some outdated and redundant pages.

    I also have switched from full posts on the main page and searches. I’ve noticed that a lot more blogs are moving to that kind of idea, and I also see a decrease in load time for my blog as well. Any thoughts on doing that?

  • Sharon Hurley Hall

    April 19th, 2009 11:34 pm

    I’ve actually just given my blog a facelift, using a theme that allows me to highlight more of the content. I’m going to include my new elevator pitch in the about page, and have added a new ’subscribe’ page this week. This is a great exercise – I know which pages are important to readers because of the Popularity Contest plugin, so it makes it easy to identify those in need of an update. I’ve also used this to help spark new post ideas.

  • venkat

    April 19th, 2009 11:49 pm

    Updating key posts is a valid point ,I have to check them and do them now.

  • Midwest Guest

    April 20th, 2009 12:04 am

    Updating my About page ( http://midwestguest.typepad.com/about.html ) is on my list of things I wanted to do this year for Midwest Guest (other goals included getting more involved with SM like Twitter–which I’ve done–and considering monetizing options–I’ve investigated a bit, but the jury’s still out on this one).

    Good point about having some way for people to contact you directly. Fortunately for me, one of my travel blogging buddies pointed out my lack of a way of direct contact early on. I added a direct email link from my About page at that time.
    Subsequently, a couple of people have contacted me that way…and one of those contacts resulted in a paid writing opportunity for me. The fact that my About page also listed a few of my prior professional writing gigs with local newspapers also helped me get that particular job.

    I recently did a bio elsewhere, so it’s been at the top of my mind to finally get into my About page and expand/update my info there. I’ve still just got the original short bio I put up the first day I started the blog 8 months ago. Thanks for the timely post!

  • Annkur

    April 20th, 2009 12:04 am

    This is very relevant … I had recently realised that my contact form was not working and no mails were reaching me. The thought of how much I lost there is killing me. Need to keep a good check on the static pages.

    For the moment I would update what the About page and a few others today …

  • Cyza

    April 20th, 2009 12:27 am

    Thanks for this information. All this while I have not thought about using my strongest post or article and updating it from time to time. I believe I have several articles that generates traffic to my site and I’ll update it from time to time…

  • Brian Meagher

    April 20th, 2009 12:46 am

    Just updated my About page. Now to work on some popular posts. Thanks everyone.

  • Terry Freedman

    April 20th, 2009 1:00 am

    Great post, as usual, Darren. I often update my sidebar and front page, but hadn’t thought of updating the most popular posts. I’ll do that next.

    I think sometimes it’s a good idea to tweak the site from time to time even when it doesn’t NEED it as such, as it keeps long-time readers on their toes!

    I absolutely agree with Becki: I often have the same experience. It’s very short-sighted, because sometimes I like a blog so much that I want to have the option of discussing reciprocal article-writing or other things, and so subscribing to an RSS feed isn’t always enough. Also, it always leaves me with the impression that the blog owner doesn’t actually want to engage with readers in some sense.

  • Laura Brandau

    April 20th, 2009 1:37 am

    Great trigger for a productive Sunday morning. I separated my “hire me” page from my “contact me” page to hopefully encourage more contacts not related to my consulting services. I also spiffed up my eNewsletter sign-up page and included a sign-up form.

    Best,
    Laura
    http://www.bridging-the-gap.com

  • alone

    April 20th, 2009 1:46 am

    gosh. i feel relieved i have one. i use my header as the place for ads and it’s working.

    nice info, sam =)

  • Ruthan Brodsky

    April 20th, 2009 2:03 am

    This was really helpful information. I can’t recall anyone taking this approach before.It’s diagraming a sentence. Puts the structure in perspective. Thanks
    Ruthan

  • blog4movie

    April 20th, 2009 2:06 am

    I have updated my blog by added ‘the related post widget’, since blogger doesn’t give the tool, so I have to googling it, thanks God finally I found it. :)

  • Jennifer Blanchard

    April 20th, 2009 2:41 am

    Oddly enough, after reading one of the “further reading” posts on the editorial calendar assignment, I spent almost my entire day (yesterday) updating all my posts. I went thru and took out bad links, fixed up posts where the text was wonky, etc.

    This was also helpful to me because it forced me to read thru every post I’ve written and so I was also able to develop a stronger editorial calendar.

  • Karen Chaffee

    April 20th, 2009 2:49 am

    Hello all

    I have a “videos” page on my blog that include videos relevant to my theme. I was surprised to see how many people visit that page! Thankfully, I updated it just recently.

    Learning so much from this challenge, Darren. Thank you.

    Karen

  • Matt freeman

    April 20th, 2009 3:02 am

    Since my blog was being developed I took the time to make sure there were not any last minute tweaks before launch this week. I am super excited to have a blog that I think is worth promotion. Thank you again for all your tips. They have been invaluable.

  • Angela Mills

    April 20th, 2009 3:03 am

    Amazing, that I am so excited about this class I got on my computer on a Sunday morning…which I NEVER do!

    I have been browsing lots of blogs due to these assignments and I realize mine is so plain. I would love to add pictures to the beginning of posts, for one.

    I am also realizing that there’s so many blogs similar to mine, which I was not aware of! Kind of makes me think…why bother?? But, I do have a whopping 17 subscribers, so I guess they are getting something out of it!

    My new goal is to save up enough to have my own site, with no ads! I don’t want to have to worry about making money, I just want to write and share ideas with other moms. But I am going to begin a little piggy bank because I can see that my own site would be much more pleasing in terms of design!

    I am off to update my About page!

  • darya

    April 20th, 2009 3:27 am

    I have actually been doing this a lot lately. When I first started my blog I had no idea what it would become and knew nothing about presentation. Subsequently my first few months have a lot of horrible pictures.

    Since I started taking it more seriously, I got some better photo equipment and lately my photos have been the single biggest draw to my site (who needs Digg when you have Food Gawker and Tastespotting?). But I am scrambling to update my older photos, particularly my popular tutorial posts that I refer to regularly. I have also gone back and added watermarks to my most popular pictures, like my all-time most popular olive oil photo.

  • Gordon

    April 20th, 2009 3:35 am

    I have two pages that intruduce Avira antivirus program in another blog http://gordon168.tw , and these pages was good at SERP. So I update these pages when a version updates.

  • Adele

    April 20th, 2009 3:38 am

    Just curious, wondering if you will be creating another book from all these great posts? Seems like a logical thing to do. Thanks for the great posts.

  • Nicole/MadlabPost

    April 20th, 2009 3:50 am

    I did a small update to the homepage which involved moving an adsense section up and moving the search bar down on my sidebar. I will be updating an old post that seems to still get a lot of traffic to my blog but it features a type of celebrity gossip that I don’t really want to be a part of, so instead of keeping the post, I will write a new post in that place that does not involve celebrity gossip.

    When new visitors enter the blog from that old web post through search engines, etc. then they will see the new and updated post instead of that celebrity gossip piece.

  • Shantanu

    April 20th, 2009 4:30 am

    Hi Darren,

    I was not able to comment on the last post. But that idea of visiting a shopping mall(or chetan’s idea of reading a magazine) were really out of the box.

    The importance of updating a post or a key page are really essential when:

    1. a service you wrote about is down or changed
    2. a link expires
    3. to add value to a post which is receiving good traffic

    I have written a different type of an About Us on our website: http://www.threetipsaday.com/about/ – I’d really appreciate if you can review ir(or someone else would like to comment on it)

    Also,

    We are celebrating Twitter Week on Three Tips a Day I would love to invite all Problogger readers and 31DBBB participants to have a look.

    Best.

    Shantanu.
    http://www.threetipsaday.com
    @threetips(twitter)

  • Shantanu

    April 20th, 2009 4:34 am

    I think I made a grammatical error:

    “The importance of updating a post or a key page becomes really urgent when:”

    The effect of typing while talking on the phone.. :D
    (and couldn’t delete a comment awaiting moderation..)

  • Clara Mathews

    April 20th, 2009 4:35 am

    I was planning a redesign of my blogs within the next few weeks anyway. I plan to change my theme to Thesis. Until then I am updating the About Me Page. There are also a few posts that I was not totally happy with and I am updating them as well.

  • Elaine at Lipstickdaily

    April 20th, 2009 4:40 am

    Good suggestions . . . hadn’t thought of having a contact us page. Pretty obvious.

  • Rita

    April 20th, 2009 4:41 am

    Hi Darren,

    I added my e-mail address to my about page. I didn’t include it when I created The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide in January 2008 because I thought I’d be flooded with e-mails. Ha, ha.

    I also may rewrite the About Me page. I may use the same one that I have on my other blog the Boomer Consumer on the Seattle PI Web site. I wrote that one after reading an article from you on how to write one. It’s friendlier and more interesting.

    Thanks again for the great workshop. It gives a blogger a lot to think about.

    Rita

  • Robert Bravery

    April 20th, 2009 5:06 am

    Hi Guys,

    My blog, is part and parcel of my business site.
    So the front page does get update every now and then.

    Although the about page needs some work. But the about page is all inclusive, being the blog and the business. But mainly the business.

    I have contact information on every page, including every post.
    I also have a contact form on the about us page.
    I am wondering IF I should have a separate contact page, with contact information

    Amy thought anyone?

  • Mike CJ

    April 20th, 2009 5:07 am

    I was surprised by this. My blog is only four months old, so I didn’t think anything would need changing, but it was amazing to revisit old stuff and:
    1/ See how much my style and tone has changed.
    2/ See how poor my formatting and linking was in the early days.

    Took me a long time, but think I’ve put things right now.

  • CGabriel

    April 20th, 2009 5:22 am

    Hi Darren,

    I’d love to get your take on this (and that of others!)… though I’m not hopeful with so many things on your plate.

    Several weeks ago I added a few new pages to better group the various offerings at Blog Harbor. Namely, individual pages for the audio satires – The Farmland Almanac and Gabriel Theatre on the Air. Plus, it was my readers who had been asking for a Best Of page. Done. They speak. I listen. :-)

    Finally, the About page on my blog is not about the blog itself, it’s called About CG – as in, yours truly. The reason is this: When people land on the blog, the elevator description is right there for all to see in the sidebar – clean, crisp and clear (at least I think so!). The blog is a direct extension of me and my radio program. And, it will be absorbed by the new release of my website (as it was before…new site coming soon). So, it seems to make much more sense for me to give a bio on me. Yes? No?

    I hope this all makes sense. :-)

  • Matt Cheuvront

    April 20th, 2009 5:40 am

    Keeping your pages fresh is always important. I try to keep the about page fresh and adapt it to reflect things that are currently going on with yours truly. Good advice. Loving this series.

    http://www.lifewithoutpants.com

  • Donna Hull

    April 20th, 2009 5:44 am

    Darren, I must have read your blogging mind. :-). About two weeks ago, I did some spring cleaning at My Itchy Travel Feet, then I wrote about it in a blog post to tell my readers about the updates.

    http://myitchytravelfeet.com/2009/04/06/spring-cleaning-at-my-itchy-travel-feet/.

    On my calendar I schedule a blog “update” for every couple of months although I don’t always accomplish it.

    One glaring omission on my blog. I need to add a “contact me” on the front page. It’s on the “About” page but that is probably not obvious enough although I do receive email from viewers so they are finding it.

    As always, great information. I’m enjoying this class.

  • Becki

    April 20th, 2009 6:27 am

    This was a good homework assignment and one I needed. I added a Contact page, cleaned up my About page, added a Most Popular page, got my Archives page working, and added links to my RSS feed to the footer of posts.

    I’m glad that is done and I know my site is better for it.

    Thanks so much for this challenge. I have learned a lot and have meet some good people too.

  • Gayle

    April 20th, 2009 6:47 am

    I had done this very thing before I started your challenge. I didn’t have any contact information, and didn’t have a very good profile page. I created a separate profile page after I downloaded a new template. It has worked well in giving me more credibility as an artist.

  • Tiffany

    April 20th, 2009 7:19 am

    I just wrote an about me post, nearly two years after beginning blogging. I think it’s important in my niche to build a community, and build trust and I totally forgot to let people get to know me!

  • Nikhil

    April 20th, 2009 7:34 am

    Great Point,
    Thanks
    I am working on it, will let you know after completion…

  • Steven Hanks

    April 20th, 2009 7:35 am

    Hi Darren (and Becki),

    I have created a contact page, updated the About page and I’m really happy with the end result. Thanks Darren for helping me evaluating the blog.

  • Make Money Online

    April 20th, 2009 7:45 am

    I thought of a better design, with the header being more appealing. Had to hire a designer. Some more cool changes to enhance user experience.

  • Dominique

    April 20th, 2009 8:21 am

    I update my about page and advertising page frequently to keep the information relevant.

  • Vanessa

    April 20th, 2009 8:31 am

    Another great lesson in this series.

    Thanks.

  • Keith Jenkins

    April 20th, 2009 8:39 am

    Another great post. I revamped the design of my blog and cleaned up my sidebar just last week so it’s a bit of a coincidence that this is today’s lesson.

    I keep looking back at my ‘About’ page as I think it can be better. I make small changes now and again (the last one was just an hour ago!).

    Great tip about the Contact. I don’t have a separate contact page but I’ve added some text of how to contact me on my ‘About’ page.

    I’ve noticed quite a few times that certain people don’t state their e-mail address as it is but instead spell it out, e.g. me[at]mysite[dot]com. I figure it’s to deter spam. Is this correct? Anyway, based on my assumption, I’ve done the same.

  • Ark Lady

    April 20th, 2009 8:48 am

    I just updated my blog last year into a new look. Added a photo in February and at least every other month tend to move things around and update any links/photo links that have gone stale.

    Good ideas that you shared. I have a fairly new about page and update the advertising page every quarter or so…but I also made a Twitter about page for the heck of it–don’t remember it it was you that suggested it but I really liked having the customized approach.

  • needmoney.com

    April 20th, 2009 9:27 am

    On it…

  • Andi

    April 20th, 2009 10:41 am

    This pushed me to get my About page done…finally!

    http://budurl.com/32xv

  • Maddie Grant

    April 20th, 2009 11:05 am

    Hehehe – I obsessively change stuff around on my blog (my husband hates that fact that I also constantly rearrange the furniture around the house too) so this one’s easy for me.

    I have a question, though – does anyone have any recommendations about where to put badges and widgets so they don’t clutter up the sidebar (I can’t do pages in Blogger, as far as I can tell)? I love trying widgets, and change them up all the time, but I’d love to have a place to put ones I still like even if they are not permanently on the sidebar (which makes my site slow to load, probably). And badges too – I’m part of a whole ton of communities and projects and aggregators and whatever, which I do want to help promote, but I’d love to move all that stuff somewhere else.

  • Ranjinap

    April 20th, 2009 11:22 am

    After this comment, I straightly go to update or create above pages to my blog.

  • Miss Cal.Q.L8

    April 20th, 2009 11:25 am

    My blog is on blogger, http://misscalculate.blogspot.com, and I don’t really have an “About” page. There is a link to about me, but it’s more personal than about the blog. I posted my elevator pitch on my sidebar and I also post my e-mail and twitter name for contact purposes. I don’t have a navigation menu or anything like that. Is there a way on Blogger to create these things?

  • Janis Krums

    April 20th, 2009 11:29 am

    Great one… Am actually doing this as I saw this post.

    Glad that I was on the right track.

  • Amanda Steinberg

    April 20th, 2009 12:12 pm

    I spent 3 hours last night doing this — including the rewrite of my elevator pitch: “DailyWorth is a free daily personal finance
    email for women. We deliver practical tips, empowering ideas and the occasional kick in the pants.” I also added a blogroll (finally!) and included a link to you. Next, I am going to add a Be a Guest Blogger page. I can use that as a way to further fulfill this assignment — it’s long overdue.

  • Tian Chad @ 永遇乐

    April 20th, 2009 12:33 pm

    I always wonder what widget I should delete because almost all of them looks important to me ;p

  • The Small Business Web Design Man

    April 20th, 2009 12:47 pm

    Am just in the process of updating my About Me page with all my relevant content details and elevator pitch etc.
    I also like the idea of a guest blogger page so I am working on that as well.

  • Charlene @ A Virtuous Woman

    April 20th, 2009 1:41 pm

    I can relate to the issue about no email or direct contact information available on many blogs–I’ve run into that trying to respond to comments via email, only to be unable to find an email address anywhere on their site.

    I need to do a separate “about me” page, as well as update links to special posts and de-clutter the sidebars.

    http://www.avirtuouswoman.info

  • Kayla

    April 20th, 2009 1:55 pm

    I actually already redid my main pages a few weeks ago. I do need to make some more tweaks though to my front page, and update some older posts that I often link to. This is a great tip and great practice to keep up on from time to time.

  • Patricia C Vener

    April 20th, 2009 2:51 pm

    This is very timely as I am planning on redesigning both my blog and my website. I do have a questions, though. At the moment my “about me” type page is not a blog page but is a pagr (file) that is part of my website and is linked to from my blog. Is there any reason why that would not be acceptable?

    Patricia

  • Neville

    April 20th, 2009 4:34 pm

    These posts of your have been really helpful! Considering I started my personal website up last Sunday, I’ve learnt a lot from your blog! Take a look at it when you get a chance:

    http://nevillelobo.net/

  • Lee Ka Hoong

    April 20th, 2009 4:39 pm

    I’ve been putting the most viewed post in my sidebar, to show my readers which post is popular, so they can read them as well. I just think that sometimes readers lazy to search your archives page to find some post, but it’s a must-have page.
    I still have to edit something in my blog, I just want to make a perfect view and easy to be read by my readers. :)

    Regards,
    Lee

  • Nicolas Prudhon

    April 20th, 2009 4:45 pm

    I’m glad I just give a fresh look to my blog not long ago! But I have to admit that despite the fact that I have a Contact page, this one is rather dull and more work should be done on it.

    That’ll be my task today, I guess!

  • JT

    April 20th, 2009 5:57 pm

    Thanks for that very precise and valuable insight. Most of the time we miss out on this things. I am thankful that you pointed out that aspect in blogging.

    Again thank you for that lesson.

    JT
    http://www.stepbystepblueprints.com

  • Eight

    April 20th, 2009 6:13 pm

    Thank you for the reminder. I updated our Inspiration page which is a series of videos that helps inspire us to keep working on our dreams. I added a theme song video, then realized the page really should have and intro telling readers why we have the page.

    So thank you for this.

  • Ricardo Bueno

    April 20th, 2009 7:31 pm

    You know, sometimes we’re just so critical of ourselves… And in the striving pursuit of perfection, we hesitate to put information out there. Like me for example, I used to struggle with my about page because I didn’t know “what” to say and “how” to say it. Then it hit me…just say what you want to say. Be transparent…be yourself. And let the words come out. And if it becomes a piece that changes over time, that’s ok. Because that’s what a blog is. An ever evolving piece of you. At least, that’s kinda how I like to think about it…

  • Andrew Mason

    April 20th, 2009 9:20 pm

    Nice lesson. I have taken inspiration from this and created a ‘contact me’ page as well as an ‘about me’ page.

    I am not happy with the look and feel of the site but as my blog is only a few weeks only I am more concerned with getting decent content, otherwise I will spend valuable time deliberating over colours instead of writing!

  • Tasha

    April 21st, 2009 12:37 am

    I feel the same ANDREW MASON – just got my new blog going and trying to improve me before the theme.

    Wanted to say THANK YOU DARREN for being such an awesome teacher.

    I worked on the home work and I feel tons better.

    Tasha
    http://www.theeangles.com

  • Jaye L

    April 21st, 2009 2:57 am

    My blog can be found at http://artquiltmaker.com/blog. It is about creativity and design using fabric and quilts.

    I recently updated my Creative Prompts page: http://artquiltmaker.com/blog/aq-prompts/ to include another source of inspiration, which I found on another blog! Anyone interested in creativity and inspiring yourself or looking to create a creative habit can participate in the creativity prompts. Everyone is welcome and I want to encourage people to feel welcome.

    My blog on WordPress is fairly new. I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress in February and just yesterday updated the theme to a new 3 column theme. Now the blog has a different look and feel and I am not sure how I like it and whether I will keep it.

    I do tinker with various pages periodically, but I don’t normally update posts unless I can add a link or change spelling and grammatical errors. One thing I do is to write a follow-up post and link heavily to the previous post.

  • Mandy

    April 21st, 2009 3:03 am

    I have a small “About Me” section as one of my sidebars so this appears on every page. It also includes my email address and a link to my online portfolio, which is a separate website. I do need to add a full “About Me” page – thanks for the reminder. I was also thinking about adding a Be a Guest Blogger page but have held off doing that – I was concerned about how to handle offers from people I didn’t think would be a good fit. For now, I look at commenters and at other blogs and then approach them proactively.

  • Jon Buscall

    April 21st, 2009 4:16 am

    The point about “contact” is a good one. It wasn’t until I had a client talking to me on the phone, looking at my website for my email address, that I realised how I’d messed up on this one.

    In the end I decided to go with a contact-form plugin for my WP blog. It seemed the best way to keep spam down. Plus I’m not a fan of the jon at jontusmedia dot com model.

  • Michelle

    April 21st, 2009 4:22 am

    Oh boy – I am glad you suggested this. Turns out I had a link to a defunct page in one place and needed to update my About page too!

    Also, I am learning from your blog and others in this challenge where to put RSS subscription link (not where I had it, by the way) and how to really be focused and try to move people around the blog with links to related articles.

    Time to pick some popular pages and link elsewhere to the blog from there.

    Again, thanks for the great class,
    Michelle

    What’s Cooking Blog – Cooking with Kids for a Better Body, Planet and Community: http://whatscookingblog.com

    What’s Cooking – Healthy and Seasonal Cooking Classes for Children: http://www.whatscooking.info

  • eGruve.com

    April 21st, 2009 4:41 am

    Thanks , I updated my contact info and please free to send over your post . You will note that my blog is a Online Magazine Blog which was started in October 2008 and thus far i have made steady progress. Sine I am more savy on the marketing side my challenge is to get any changes done
    technically on my site. Check out my contact page
    http://egruve.com/contact-us

  • elizof

    April 21st, 2009 6:38 am

    Finally! I’m catching up on to your excellent suggestions. On my front page, I modified my blog name, added my 15 sec elevator describer, placed an add this icon and I hope I placed my “subcribe to” in a prominent place.
    Next, I need to either figure out how to move my tags because someone mentioned they couldnt find my “comments” button or delete most of my tags… too many anyway.
    I have more changes to do that are beyond my html abilities… I must add that I tried reaching out to someone in our forums to hire him for a small project and couldn’t reach him… I will go back and check to see if he has made changes so I can contact him again.
    By the way, are you psychic Darren? Thank you!!!

  • Brook Lenox

    April 21st, 2009 6:40 am

    This post really got me thinking. I’m going to spend some time on my home and about page this week. Thanks!

  • Tara

    April 21st, 2009 10:03 am

    I totally changed the layout of my main page! I don’t know if I like it yet, but will see how traffic responds. I also moved my 52 Books in 52 Weeks Resolution Info from a sidebar to a separate page so that I can elaborate and allow comments from readers… I am going to keep that separate even if I revert back to the old page style!

  • Elena

    April 21st, 2009 10:05 am

    My blog is created from a basic template so I am going to have to check to see that it offers an option for my profile. However, if not, then I will find a way to leave a signature as a way to be contacted. This article was especially helpful.

    Elena

  • Jaye L

    April 21st, 2009 12:48 pm

    My blog can be found at http://artquiltmaker.com/blog. It is about creativity and design using fabric and quilts.

    I decided to update the very first post I ‘wrote’ with a bit more information. I only put an avatar up back in the day!

  • Anne Maybus

    April 21st, 2009 2:45 pm

    Because I have merged 2 blogs I have to go over a lot of the pages to make sure that they match in terms of content and of style. Must be time to do it now!

    I have yet to finish the colours and header, too. I need to get rid of that teal. ANy ideas what colour to replace it with?

  • themaphabit

    April 21st, 2009 8:24 pm

    I recently updated my About page and would like to get some feedback on it (the good, bad and the ugly):

    http://themaphabit.wordpress.com/about/

    Also if anyone has advise on tweaking the Contact page I would appreciate it. I have noticed a number of hits on the contact page but few Contacts.

    thanks

  • Marvin

    April 21st, 2009 8:53 pm

    Thanks for the reminder! I’m planning on repeating this 31 day challenge at least 4 times a year just to make sure this momentum never stops.

    My traffic has doubled since day one!

  • Inchirieri Masini

    April 22nd, 2009 12:15 am

    Hello people! This article was very usefull to me. I will come back frequently.

  • Jennifer

    April 22nd, 2009 3:19 am

    Fantastic! I’ve been tearing my hear out over a site redesign that’s been taking longer than normal, and just went live today! I’m glad it also completed today’s task! Woo woo!

  • Inchirieri Masini

    April 22nd, 2009 3:22 am

    I like this idea. I will recommend this article to my friends. Thank you

  • Heidi Richards Mooney

    April 22nd, 2009 8:27 am

    I am in the process of updated two of my blogs so this is a great exercise. I am also adding new plugins and widgets and changing things up a bit.

    I think it also helps to add interest to a blog reader because sometimes familiarity becomes boring or stale.

    I love the way you updated problogger and think the two exercises together are very powerful.

    Heidi Richards Mooney

  • bettina

    April 22nd, 2009 10:40 am

    How funny, I have been doing that since I started with the 31day challenge.

    http://www.bettinasettlesrealty.com/Blogspot.htm

  • Kat Rice

    April 22nd, 2009 5:47 pm

    This was one of those duh moments. Most of my business site is getting updated but I hadn’t thought about my sidebar in forever.

    All clutter free now!Thanks!

    (Oh! And I wanted to say, I’ve run into the same problem as Becki, and the other thing I have trouble finding is RSS feeds!)

  • Naomi Trower

    April 23rd, 2009 2:05 am

    Contact Page is HUGE! I didn’t have one for a while until someone sent me a post on a forum saying they were trying to contact me via my blog and couldn’t find any contact info. LOL I love the Contact Page wordpress plugin featured in both of my blogs

    http://www.fatlossbyeatingwhatuwant.com/contest-rules

    http://passivecashmentors.com/?page_id=25

    I do need to work on updating a few posts! Thanks for all of the great ideas!

  • Miguel Wickert

    April 23rd, 2009 4:15 am

    Updating key pages and posts is a task that I’m constantly aware of. As you change, so should your blog. :) Funny, I was actually doing this task before I received the email.

    -Mig

  • Patricia C Vener

    April 23rd, 2009 4:20 am

    So many aspects need updating it’s impossible to choose where to start! This is really overwhelming me.

  • Karen, author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"

    April 23rd, 2009 9:02 am

    I am in the process of uncluttering my sidebars now. Some of the things there really could be included in the “About Me” section and some could be made into posts so that is what I’m doing. Also, I have rearranged some things, trying to put things with more value to my readers up higher.

    i also recently added the link within widget which recommends three more posts for further reading after each post. I got a lot of positive feedback from my readers on that.

    I have Facebook and Twitter badges up but will make sure I have an email address too on my About Me section.

    Appreciate all your tips! Thanks!!

  • Mrs Green

    April 24th, 2009 6:02 am

    this is great and it’s very valuable to do a little ‘housework’ on the site and keep it up to date.

    I’ve just revamped my total site, so there is no need to update things at the moment, but on my other site: http://myzerowaste.com there is some serious updating to do. It’s reaching it’s first year so there are pages to bring into the moment :)

    Thanks for the reminder!

  • Gina

    April 25th, 2009 1:52 am

    What a great reminder. At work, I’m constantly working to update our most visited pages – not sure why I didn’t think of doing this for my blog.

    I did recently update a few things and add some new features since I feel that our blog is pretty basic. Sometimes I feel that the simple nature of the design allows the stories to stand out – but other times I see it as boring.

    Any thoughts???

    http://www.changebecomeschange.typepad.com

    I’d love some feedback. I think there’s still more updating to do. THANKS!

  • Steve

    April 25th, 2009 5:15 am

    My blog is my front page. Does anyone think it is imperative to have a stand alone front page or can I leave it the way it is. I have a coaching page that I was thinking about adding as the front page or take part of it and make a front page. If anyone has an idea let me know.

    Steve

  • ExcitedByLife

    April 25th, 2009 8:25 pm

    We have been putting off doing an about us page and contact page for so long. I must say it was a rewarding experience to finally complete this exercise.

    To us
    * your elevator pitch says “what you do” but
    * your about page says “why you do it”

    and as the saying goes
    “if you have a why the how is easy”.

    Our about us page will be something for us to refer back to if we ever lack motivation to continue blogging.

    TIP
    Look at the recommended about us page from one of the recommended resources back in Day 4 — http://chris.pirillo.com/about/. It is a great about page model to follow.

  • MeredithElaine

    April 28th, 2009 1:51 pm

    Finally working on catching up on the challenges – today I updated my “About M.E.” page. I still don’t love it, but I put a little bit more thought into it. It’s better than what it was originally…

    Any suggestions as to additions/improvements would be greatly appreciated!

    http://meredithelaine.wordpress.com/about/

  • Sheila Atwood

    April 29th, 2009 8:29 am

    Redid my about page, added some pictures to give a little more mass as to who I am.
    http://www.newbielifeline.com/your-guide/

    Because I am a guide for newbies I have used the term “Your Guide” instead of the “About”.

    Anyone- does that work? I would appreciate your comments.

    Sheila

  • Jen

    April 29th, 2009 2:27 pm

    I really don’t have anything on my about me page because I never assume anyone will really care about me. I will have to fix it.

  • Patricia C Vener

    April 29th, 2009 11:21 pm

    Sheila, I like it! :)

    Patricia

  • madafan

    April 29th, 2009 11:43 pm

    well, this one was an easy one for me (hehehe…) mainly because I have a brand new blog and most didn’t need updating. But I do have to remember to get to this exercise periodically once my blog runs for a while …

  • Joe Garvey

    April 30th, 2009 2:47 pm

    Mr. Rowse,

    This is probably my favorite of your posts that I have read, if simply for the fact that I’m a beginning blogger and have had NO idea how to approach the tasks at hand. I have a lot of work to do…

    Joe

  • gabybali

    May 1st, 2009 1:00 am

    I’m BACK!!11 days behind the challenge..Been too busy at home and also prepare a new culinary blog about Bali, coming very soon this week!

    Darren,my header,logo, tag line,etc,will not be changed, simply because I received many comments from my readers that they like my blog theme specially the tag line of “Learning from mistakes project” so much it has now become some sort of http://www.beeamazing signature :) (thanks to WP).

    My About page was the first one I wrote when I started make this blog as I know how importance it is to let the readers know about my profile and what the blog is all about.

    I have however do a little “clean up” on the front page by removing the Calendar widget as I think is not really useful and relevant anymore with my latest traffic to my blog. People coming to #Beeamazing tend to read the latest post or directly to the page they’re interested in when they got the link either from social medias or google search, and not by date of archives.

    I haven’t intended updating some old posts yet as I think it looks all fine :)

    Terima kasih!

  • gabybali

    May 1st, 2009 1:01 am

    Hi Darren, I could not log in to 31DBBB Forum, the password didn’t work, it used to work. Did you change the password I might not pay attention? As I haven’t read all emails from you?

    Thanks!

  • Kimberley Payne

    May 2nd, 2009 9:47 am

    I got a little crazy and updated my entire blog look! I suppose it was due for an update. Have a look and let me know what you think:
    http://www.fitforfaith.blogspot.com

  • Cougar

    May 2nd, 2009 11:43 am

    This post was extemely useful for me because I went back and tweaked some popular posts on the site and thought about the way I was presenting information.

    Most importantly I updated the my about page which was previously both pompous and bare. I think it looks much better now.

    Thanks Darren!

  • Heathen Mom

    May 4th, 2009 8:16 am

    I worked on a contact page for my site. Still needs a little tweaking, but it’s a start.

  • Clare Flynn

    May 8th, 2009 7:50 am

    Respect!
    Every day I think nah I won’t get anything from this one – and then I do the exercise and get so much from it.
    This was great on several levels -
    - I didn’t even know which pages were the most popular (I use analytics – but had not looked at that bit of it – enlightening!)
    So far I have revisited 2 of them and have found ways to make them more useful/ push people deeper into the site via relevant links/ sharpen up the copy.
    I do feel Darren as if I am like Sisyphus – the job is never-ending – however the difference is that unlike Sisyphus this one is interesting and rewarding. I have come to the conclusion though that I need another 24 hours in every day.
    Clare

  • Prince Sioni

    May 10th, 2009 4:19 am

    Darren,
    I do update my blog almost every week. It’s a very good idea to update pages and posts on your blog regularly.

    http://princesioni.com

  • Louise

    May 10th, 2009 2:50 pm

    I agree, Intresting to know that at the moment my about page is my most visited page. Just did a major overhaul added more personal details and pictures and it’s making a difference.

    I’m a travel blog and wasn’t giving any indication as to who I was. Now it feels more personal and leads to trust.

  • KDL

    May 13th, 2009 3:39 pm

    I updated my “about” page – aka “my complete profile page” on blogger. I was amazed how much I wanted to change it in just a couple of months of blogging. I was also amazed how many other people have momming as an interest on their profile. Here I thought I invented a new word…

  • Albert

    May 16th, 2009 2:33 am

    I updated my About page to include an e-mail address… I used to have a link to a profile page with an e-mail address :( Too many clicks.
    Unfortunately my blog is still to new to have any great key pages just yet… I think all the posts are pretty neat :)

    Pop by and let me know what you think.

    Cheers
    Al

  • Patrick Fritz

    May 19th, 2009 11:23 pm

    Updatet 20+ pages for my blog about project and process management: http://www.jahooda.org/

    Hopefully it will work!


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