Comments on: Blog Sidebar Basic Reconstruction Tips [Part 1]

By: Wayne Liew

Wayne Liew — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:40:34 +0000

Glad that it helps. Some bloggers suggested that it should be totally removed since all the recent posts are on the home page. However, they should think of the situation of a reader is arriving directly to the single post page.

By: Flimjo

Flimjo — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:22:13 +0000

Wayne, I think you made a good point about a recent posts widget being on the bottom footer. I think I might do that. Mine is at the top right now, but I know I should move it either to the side or at the bottom.

By: Wayne Liew

Wayne Liew — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:37:07 +0000

Well, no. A recent blog post list serves different purposes with a popular post list. A popular posts list contains posts that most readers like but a recent post list is just outlining the chronological order of a blog which a reader can find out by scrolling down.

Also, the popular posts list somehow is acting as a section that wonders that can be pulled out by you on your blog. They can be the ones that impress, even though the current article that they are reading is poor or below-par.

By: Louis Liem

Louis Liem — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:09:00 +0000

uhmm… how about the best blogging tips you have on the sidebar? does it serve a similar function to the latest post list?

By: Wayne Liew

Wayne Liew — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:03:45 +0000

@ Louis
I am somehow skeptical about the use of a recent post list on the sidebar as I don’t want readers to sway away while reading my contents. It would be great if the list is placed in the blog footer.

@ Ian
Do you mean that you like my blog?

Ads cause some stress to blog visitors like me. Also, it causes slow loading time to blogs.

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:28:27 +0000

Great tips, Wayne. I like 2 sidebars, and on the right. On my blog, I use one for bloggy things like most popular posts, archives, comments, top commentators, blogroll etc, the other for some personal touches I like to show, and advertising. What I don’t like in blog sidebars is scrolling down the screen to find ads, ads and more ads.

By: Louis Liem

Louis Liem — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:44:49 +0000

I’ve got 2 sidebars and my rightmost sidebar contains ads, a searchbox and a tag cloud. I prefer 3 columns theme so I can separate blog element links on one column and external ones like ads on the other column. However, I still have a feeling that my sidebar needs more improvement.

The most important element is definitely not ads . But something that supports the content column to help readers figure out what your blog is about. Supposedly today you’re posting about ‘A’ and then readers see your recent posts are about ‘A.1′ or ‘B’, then they conclude that your blog is about ‘A-B’ topic

By: Wayne Liew

Wayne Liew — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:15:19 +0000

Set yourself an aim of what you want to achieve with your blog. If it is your authority or portfolio, an About Me widget which seems to be a bad inclusion on the sidebar of other blogs can be a nice inclusion for your blog.

By: Ruchir Chawdhry

Ruchir Chawdhry — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:34:48 +0000

I try to keep my sidebars as clean as possible but sometimes it gets hard when choosing what to keep and what to throw out…

By: Wayne Liew

Wayne Liew — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:43:48 +0000

I tend to see sites with a lot of banner ads as splogs and frankly, I will not punish myself to read through all the ads to find out myself whether the content is good or not.