Friday, February 1, 2013

Mini Bloggiesta, Mini Challenge: Clean Up Those Sidelines!

Let's kick off this weekend right with a Mini Bloggiesta!  I have the honor of hosting a Mini Challenge this weekend, to help you all get your blogs in order.  So, while we all get to watch on the sidelines for the big Superbowl game this weekend, bring out those computers and work on cleaning up your blog sidelines as well!

As you scroll through the blogosphere, you will see a variety of things haunting the sidebars.  Some items help with connecting.  Others help with navigating.  And yet others, are flashy, sparkly, and take forever for readers to load.  This weekend, I challenge you to determine what items you should and should not keep on your sidebar, as well as share a few resources to help in cleaning it up a bit.

Personally, I prefer my sidebars de-cluttered.  In fact, I recently updated mine to ensure that there was no out-of-date material and to clean things up even more.  On the left side, I feature a little bit about the site and ways to navigate it.  On the right, are ways to connect, whether it may be via email, Google Friend Connect, social media, etc.  That's it!  Others, however, like to feature more, including challenges, button art, etc.  What is right for you?

I did a little survey of my fellow bloggers (HUGE thank you to all you shared your thoughts and opinions!) and came up with this list to help you in determining what should stay and what should go . . .

DON'T

  • TOO Much Clutter (via banners and/or widgets, making it hard to navigate and determine what is important)
  • Widgets/Countdowns/Animated Art/Music/Advertising (some take way too long to load or result in pop-ups, resulting in a loss of readers before they even get to your content)
  • Scrolling Blog Rolls (again takes too long to load)
  • Facebook/Twitter Feeds (many prefer to connect via these sites ON these sites)
DO
  • Contact Information (listed or linked)
  • Search Bar
  • Social Media Buttons
  • Subscribe Buttons
  • Archive
  • Topics/Tags
  • Upcoming Reading (optional)

To help in cleaning up your sidelines, you can also refer to these links:

Want a second opinion?!?  I also recommend that you check out The Reading Fever's take on sidebars for additional food for thought (hosted for a previous Bloggiesta celebration!).  

CHALLENGE:  Review your sidebars.  What should stay and what should go?  Make the cuts, add missing content, and report back in the comments section.  For those who do, I have a set of signed bookmarks from Antony John (Elemental) and Fiona Paul (Venom) for three lucky players!

To view all things Bloggiesta this weekend, be sure to check out their site!

22 comments:

  1. Oh, I will def join in! I've heard of the Bloggiest before, but never get to hop in. And cleaning the sidelines is just what I need to do. I will report in the end of the weekend! :D

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    1. Topcho ... Can't wait to hear how it goes for you!! :)

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    2. http://topchochanbooks.blogspot.com/2013/02/late-with-bloggiesta-but-still-ole.html Here is how the Bloggiesta ended up for me! I used the advice mostly on my craft blog (since the bookish was empty - hard to remove things, lol), but worked on the right side line in the book place too! Maybe adding fav series banners isn't the smartest thing, but they are so pretty, I couldn't resist. And I gathered all the challenges in one page on the side line, their buttons are cute too, but with 40 challenges, I don't think it would be a smart idea...

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    3. Topcho ... Yeah!! I will check it out and comment over on your site later today!!

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  2. I love the do and don't lists. Perfect! Thanks. I'm already pondering my sidebars, and there're a few things that are so OUT!!

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    1. Suey ... I can't wait to see how they change!! And, I'm glad you like the lists!

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  3. I did this--updated my sidebar and added archives per your recommendation. Thanks for the help!

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    1. Too Fond ... You're welcome! What would you say was the most helpful piece of info?

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  4. HUGE help!! Thanks :D Both yours and Reading Fever's posts. Mostly already knew what needed to go but went a little further than intended and it's much better now. May need future fiddling but much happier, yay.

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    1. Hannah @ Once Upon A Time ... Yeah!!! I'm glad you found it so helpful! What did you think was the most helpful piece of info of all?!?

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  5. Fortunately my sidebars are fairly well organised due to my WP move but I did update a few things from them :-)

    Thanks for this post :D

    Faye @ A Daydreamer's Thoughts

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    1. Faye (Daydreaming_Star) ... A move will definitely help to clean things up! What things did you end up updating after reading this? (I love getting feedback!)

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  6. I think I'm going to work on decluttering my sidebars. I do this occasionally anyway, but I like the whole group effort thing.

    I'll be working on An Interior Journey today at http://laurelrainsnow.wordpress.com/

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    1. Creations by Laurel-Rain Snow ... Best of luck to you! I'm curious what you will be doing with the sidebars this time around!

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  7. And... I've chopped out a few sidebars things! Some stuff, I just can't seem to do without though!

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    1. Suey ... That's okay!! The point was to really think about was was needed for you!! I'm glad it was at least a little helpful!

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  8. Thank you for this mini-challenge and the associated article! I have been working on my sidebars for a long time now. For this challenge, I updated them with "Feb" stuff since I have pretty much gotten rid of the clutter!

    Hope your Bloggiesta weekend was productive!

    Create With Joy
    http://create-with-joy.com

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    1. The Paper Princess ... You're welcome! And, yeah for getting things done!! :)

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  9. What a great mini-challenge. I cleaned up the sidebars on my blogs and have a plan for graphics that need to be made soon. Thanks!

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    1. Kassiah ... You're welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful!

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  10. I don't have any of your social things on your Do List, but I think my situation is a bit different. I'm not trying to get an audience. A handful of friends is a perfect size for me. :) Couldn't keep up with more...lol.

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    1. Amateur Novelist .., Totally understand! You've got me thinking that maybe the next challenge should be determining what you really want out of your blog/the purpose of it?!? This can help in determining what is really needed and help you figure out what/who you are really writing for!! :)

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