Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge: Sidebar Help...What do you REALLY Need?

Welcome to the Bloggiesta mini-challenge for sidebar help!

This post may seem a bit ironic, seeing as how I don't even have sidebars on my blog to begin with, but I got rid of the sidebars on my blog for a very specific reason (which I'll reveal to you later). For this mini-challenge, I want you to think about one thing:

Let me tell you something about myself: I am super lazy. If something is even remotely hard to find on a blog, I'll usually give up and click away. I also have problems keeping my attention in one place. If I'm reading a post and see something more interesting in the sidebar, I'm not reading that post anymore; I'm off exploring the sidebar. The same goes for blogs that have too many ads, buttons, and widgets in the sidebars; I most likely won't stay very long, because I feel like I'm getting an overload of information.

I can tell you, this is the way the majority of people respond to these situations as well. Simply cleaning up your sidebars can do wonders for your blog. It can also ensure that those who visit your blog are able to focus on the right content, and find things easily. 

Here are some steps you can take to clean out your sidebars, and make them start working FOR you.

Disclaimer: Keep in mind that these are my own opinions, voiced for the purposes of this mini-challenge, and your opinions may differ. There are many different views on sidebars, and this is just one of them. 

If you don't like what I have to say, you are free to clutter your own sidebars as much as you'd like. :)

Step 1: Think About What You Want Your Visitors To See First

Really think about this, because the top 1/3 of your blog is the most important part of your entire blog (in my opinion). This is what visitors see first, and it gives them their first impression of your blog. And for the visitors who click away in under 30 seconds (which happens more than you think), this is also most likely the only part of your blog they will ever see. Are all those ads and buttons at the top of your sidebars that lead to other blogs and websites really the first thing you want your visitors to see? Because whatever is displayed first will be seen the most. Make sure it's something worthwhile to you, and beneficial to your blog.

Step 2: Think About How You Want Visitors to Interact With Your Blog

So they've come to your blog. What now? What is the next thing you want your visitors to do, aside from reading your content? Do you want them to subscribe, or do you prefer they find you on Twitter? Do you want them to read more about you, read an important note, or do you want them to take a look at the new set of reviews or tutorials you just posted? The answer to this question will provide you with the the links, buttons, and widgets, that you want at the very top of your sidebars. THESE are the things you want your visitors to focus on, therefore they have to most importance. 

Step 3: Determine How Your Visitors Can Follow You, Or Find You In Other Places

This usually goes along with step 2, but some may have different priorities, and that's fine. I'll just say that is VERY smart to have an easy way for people to subscribe/follow you, and a links to other social media sites (at least one), towards the top of the sidebars. Make it easy for visitors to follow you and find you in other places, and your readers will grow. If people have to search for more than a few seconds to find out how to subscribe to your blog, you're losing followers.

Step 4: Think About What Your Visitors Are Looking For

In most cases, I would say that's all you REALLY need in your sidebars. But there are other cases where it's beneficial to include other things that your visitors may be looking for. An example would be banners for tours or hops you're participating in. These are useful to have, so people don't have to search through a bunch of posts to find the right one. These are only beneficial if a.) the links are working correctly, and b.) the banner/button is only up while the tour or hop dates are still valid. Otherwise, it's just more clutter in your sidebars. 

Step 5: Utilize Pages To Get Rid of Clutter

So where does all this stuff go now? How am I supposed to get rid of all these things I love? I'll tell you: pages. By grouping like items together, pages can be utilized in a way that will clear clutter from your sidebars. 

An example would be a links page, with links to your favorite blogs, favorite authors, affiliates, and the blogging directories and groups you belong to. 

A contact page can hold the other social media sites you belong to, that didn't make the cut for top sidebar space, or made things look too crowded.

A reading challenges page can host the buttons and progress bars for all those reading challenges you signed up for.

A favorites page can host your love for all your favorite books you've read.

You can make a page for just about anything that is cluttering up your sidebars, but can't bear to part with.

Step 6: Be Ruthless. What Do You REALLY Need?
Now that you have your most important items up top, and most of your clutter cleared away, it's time to think about your sidebars one more time. Is there anything left that you really don't need, but just can't let go for some reason? Is there anything that doesn't fit with your blog content? Any old buttons or banners that you never got rid of? Anything that detracts from your main content? This is where I suggest you be ruthless. Yes, it's a hilarious comic strip, but do you really need it if you already have two other comic strips in your sidebar? No. Chances are, there are just a few more items you can stand to get rid of. Be Ruthless towards that clutter! ;)

How This Fits In With My Blog

If you take a look at my blog, you'll immediately see where the points I want my visitors to focus are: my blog posts (the main content), subscribing via email (something I decided I wanted to push), and a little bit of social media. I got rid of my sidebars because after thinking of an answer for step 2, I decided that I wanted the main--and for the most part, the only--focus of my blog to be specifically on my blog posts. When you visit my blog, there is hardly anywhere to go but down--straight to the post. If you continue on after that, you'll hit some other goodies, but until then, you've got nothing to do but read. Devious, I know. 

It's not a perfect system, and there are definitely some cons to it, but it works for me. It's given me the results I wanted, which were more commenting instead of passive reading, and a longer first glance from new visitors. 

How It Will Fit In With Yours

I hope you'll at least give this some thought, and find what works for your blog. It's been proven: cleaner pages are more attractive to the eye. It's just up to you to decide whether a cleaner page means one or two less items in the sidebar, or the dismissal of sidebars altogether. :)

Your challenge is to complete at least one of the items below:

• Get rid of at least 3 items from your sidebar
• Re-arrange your sidebar so that the most important items for your blog are at the top, AND get rid of at least 1 item
• Add one item to your sidebar that you didn't have before, but feel is important to have (social media button, subscribing button, search tool, etc.)

It may be hard to part with some of the items in your sidebars, but let's be honest; sidebars are really accents to the important part of your blog: your actual posts! Remember where you want the focus to be, and go from there.

For reference, these are widely considered some of the most important items to have in sidebars (maybe not all together, though). It may be useful to check this list when deciding what to keep/get rid of in your sidebars.

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