Wayne Liew Dot Com

Photo by Delgoff [collateral damage]

Many people vow for a complete blog makeover or a total theme change to get more traffic because of the buzz generated if your new theme has the WOW factor. What if bloggers like me who don’t have enough resources to get a $799 unique blog design or don’t feel that it is worth it?

Is there a need always for us to do major change for our blog? The answer is no and you will find out why and how small tweaks can be done with the positive effects that it can bring to you through this article of mine .

What can be tweaked on your blog?

Use your imagination and you will find some elements that can be tweaked. I am always trying to find what can be tweaked on Wayne Liew Dot Com and here are a few of my ideas.

• Blog CSS scheme  - This can be easily done. If you have no knowledge in this, you can check out your style.css or Stylesheet under Presentation –> Theme Editing. The codes boxed in the screenshot below are CSS codes that modifies your blog colors. Refer to the CSS Color Chart to modify it according to your favorite.

  

  Other things that you can change through the stylesheet are text formatting and some tweaks on your theme. You can check out some CSS basics here before you carry out the modifications. Be very sure that you have saved a backup copy of your theme before the modifications!

• Ad types and placement - Tweaking ad type and and its placement can avoid visitors’ ad-blind. Loyal readers might be curious about what the new ads will lead them to. Sometimes, moving ad panels around the blog tend to get attention from visitors because the ads are not in places which they expected and they can’t "intentionally" skip it.

• Widgets - Some blogs have widgets on their sidebar, footer or even the header. Try adding in some fresh widgets which your visitors have never seen before. When adding widgets, be sure that they are useful and don’t clutter your sidebar with it.

• Content - How contents can be tweaked? Easy! How about reading your post to your readers instead of words? How about making a personal blog appearance with a video tutorial? Also, how about having a different writing style by invite other bloggers to guest blog for you? All of these will give the special post more attention because it was an unexpected item.

• Header Image - This is what I can’t do until my next theme is ready. Some blog themes have customizable headers but bloggers using it don’t optimize it. Change it occasionally. If you find it hard to produce your own banner, hop over to deviantART to find yourself tonnes of creative images. All you need to do is just crop it, add in your blog name and your blog banner for the week is done. Giving the feeling, "Am I at the wrong place?" will certainly keep the readers from coming back to get more surprises.

• Comment Section - Customizing your comment section is like renovating a meeting or discussion room. When you are in a new environment, do you tend to talk more because you feel more energized? This is the same case here. Tweak your comment place, especially the comment editor and the "Submit Comment" button to make it attractive for readers to comment.

  

• Icons and Buttons - I am sure you have RSS feed buttons on your site right? Well, why not change it today. You can get 51 RSS Button For Your Blog and 51 Email Button For Your Blog compiled by Kenneth. As I said earlier, changes will get you clicks. A change on your RSS feed button will mean more RSS feed subscribers!

I am sure with your creativity, you can find more stuffs on your blog to be tweaked. What more do you think you can tweak on your blog?

Blog Tweaking Is a Recurring and Repeating Routine

I know that with limited resources such as colors that match and relevant ads, it is hard to always tweak by adding fresh stuffs. To make things easier for you, follow the two simple steps below.

1. Choose your tweaking frequency - Weekly and fortnightly will be a good choice but daily will be too much to ask for. Choose yourself one and stick to it.
2. Repeat what you have used - Who says you cannot use the same banner twice? After a long period, say, two months of different ad banners, maybe it is the time for you to repeat the whole cycle one more time. It might be the same round of ads but with such a huge time gap in between, your readers might have forgotten it by then.

What You Have to Say About Blog Tweaking?

After reading my article above, what will be the first thing you feel like tweaking on your blog? Do you have something something to say about blog tweaking such as disagreeing with me by saying it will chase your readers away or you are always my supporter?

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Other blogging tips that you might be interested in:

• Blog Sidebar Basic Reconstruction Tips [Part 1]
• Blog Sidebar Further Enhancement Tips [Part 2]
• 5 Tips for Show Top Commentator Plugin Usage
• Spread Traffic Within Blog: Fake Popular Posts List
• 10 Reasons You Are Not Getting Comments