Your Blog Is Missing...
A Focus
Take some time to write an informative yet catchy tagline for your site. Once you’ve settled on your slogan, place it under your header (Tools>Settings>General>Tagline). Create a new page under Pages>Add New and call it “About Us” or “Mission.” Expand on your tagline by adding a few paragraphs of well-written copy to this page. Now when new readers visit your site, they’ll have a better understanding of who you are and what topics you’re covering. Without this information, they may only see your latest few posts and click away before they realize how great your site is. The “About Us” page is often one of the most-visited pages on a website, so you don’t want to disappoint potential new readers who expect to find one.
Multimedia
Images are a must for every post – especially if you’re talking about food – but videos are even hotter right now. It doesn’t mean you have to create a video yourself. You can embed someone else’s video into your blog. Search YouTube for key words that are relevant to your audience. Embed a video by clicking the “Share” link beneath the video and choosing “Embed.” Choose a video size (I like to include the largest size that will fit within my blog). Highlight the HTML code after you’ve made your selection then hit “control C” (on a PC) or “command C” (on a Mac) to copy. Go back into WordPress and choose Posts>Add New>HTML. Hit “control V” (on a PC) or “command V” (on a Mac) to paste. If you want your video centered, type <center> in front of the HTML that you copied and pasted. When you click back to the “Visual” tab, you’ll see a gray space where the video will be embedded into your post. To learn more about finding free images, read this post about Flickr.
Other Ways to Read Your Content
Not all readers will visit your blog every day to see your latest post. But they will follow you on Facebook or Twitter to stay in touch. Don’t miss out on the opportunities social media gives you to connect with your readers on a daily basis. Tweet or Facebook every post you write. Search under Plug-ins>Add New for tweet buttons or Twitter widgets that will embed your Twitter feed within your blog and that will let readers tweet your post directly from your blog. Do the same for Facebook – a ‘Like’ button can make your posts go viral... at least among your friends.
4. An Easy-to-Read Design
Even if you’re not a graphic designer, WordPress gives you many options on how to tailor your page from headers to columns to plug-ins. Free themes or paid themes (Appearance>Themes) are a great way to give a professional look to your blog. Or even simple changes like a new color or a more legible font can create a big visual impact. Don’t underestimate the design of your site.
5. Great Content
I saved the best – and most important – for last. Some say that you’re not writing great content until you feel like you’re giving away too much for free. Readers need a reason to keep reading. The content better be helpful, powerful, inspiring, creative – it better be something! Most importantly, the content needs to be sharable and searchable. Use key words in your headlines and throughout your post and be sure to include those ‘Like’ and ‘Tweet’ buttons so readers can help promote your posts. It doesn’t matter how great your content is if no one is reading it!
