After researching, writing, gathering links, and cropping images, optimizing a blog is usually the last thing a blogger thinks about. But the truth is, all that hard work could be going to waste if your blog isn’t being seen and the appropriate action isn’t being taken.
Slow blog load times can discourage visitors from digging to deeply into your content. If a page doesn’t load fast enough, your reader might assess that the rest of your blog is probably slow too and they may not be willing to wade through all your hard work.
Also, it’s important to evaluate the placement and dimension of essential elements of your blog like navigation options, rss feed chicklets, email list sign up forms, popular post lists, etc. Depending on the structure and purpose of your blog, you might want to experiment with headlines, size of content areas, or ad placement. Finding the right place and size of these elements can make a positive or negative impact on your conversion rates and that’s something worth testing.
Recently, I came across two tools for optimizing your blog that I’d like to share with you here:
- WebSiteOptimization.com offers a free web site speed test to help you evaluate the performance of your website, or in our case a blog. Just enter your blog URL to calculate page size, composition, and download time. The script calculates the size of individual elements and sums up each type of web page component. Based on these page characteristics the script then offers advice on how to improve page load time.
- Google’s Website Optimizer - “Website Optimizer, Google’s free website testing and optimization tool, allows you to increase the value of your existing websites and traffic without spending a cent. Using Website Optimizer to test and optimize site content and design, you can quickly and easily increase revenue and ROI whether you’re new to marketing or an expert.”
The first resource from WebsiteOptimization.com is pretty straight forward to use. The real trick is knowing what to do with the information it returns. Some of the common point to consider are reducing large images sizes, combining script files to reduce calls to extra files, and eliminating or reducing requests to external sites like tracking sites or widget services.
The second resource from Google is a tool that can help you test various parts of your site to see what types of content and design variations can help you achieve your goals. Watch this short 5 minute video to get a better idea what the tool is about and how it can help you.
Optimizing your blog may not be the top priority, but it is a very important part of making sure that your hard work gets viewed by as many people as possible and that you ultimately can convert those readers to sales or some other action that is beneficial for your online business.
Optimizing life,
Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com
