
Yangon Myanmar
Blogs grow or die via the user experience.
Think about that for a moment. How users perceive your blog determines your success or failure.
If no one visits your blog, you have a cyber diary. Being your sole reader does you no good.
But crafting a pleasing user experience accelerates your success. Happy readers make for happy bloggers.
Do you stick your blogging head in the cyber sand regarding your blog UX? Do you stubbornly cling to how YOU want your blog to look? I did. For many years I pictured the ideal blog design for me but rarely pondered what worked for my readers. Fast forwarding a few years created a more seamless UX on Blogging From Paradise.
How do you know if your blog user experience rocks or stinks?
Check out this video:
The turning point: ask yourself this question and wait for an honest answer.
Waiting for an honest answer opens you up to reader feedback. Readers may point you in the direction of a more helpful UX. Readers know what they want. Readers can freely share how you can help them through your blog design.
The ego hates getting feedback. Park your ego at the curb. Honestly assess whether or not your blog UX needs some work.
A few ideas to keep in mind:
- Is it easy to read your blog content?
- Is it easy to scan your blog content quickly?
- Is it easy to comment-engage in response to your blog content?
- What type of content do you publish for readers with varying preferences? Video? Text-only posts? Podcasts?
- Can readers search via a search bar for what they want and get it, quickly?
- Does the search bar yield accurate results?
- Do you give readers easy access to your premium products and services like courses, coaching and eBooks?
- Do you post ample images to spruce up blog posts with pleasing eye candy?
- Do you read and reply to blog comments?
Put yourself in your reader’s shoes before planting yourself firmly in your ego’s desires.
Put yourself in your reader's shoes before planting yourself firmly in your ego's desires.Click To Tweet
Your readers will offer helpful feedback but seeing your blog through their eyes – via your imagination – opens your eyes swiftly. Prepare to feel an ego sting, in some cases.
I recall visualizing a visit to Blogging From Paradise through the eyes of my readers. Imagine if a reader wanted to get specific information fast. Unfortunately, I embedded no search bar up until that point. My ego intended to force readers to:
- read content I had recently published
- buy my eBooks
- buy my courses
- comment on content I had recently published
However, readers do not do what your ego wants them to do. Readers do what readers do.
Accepting this truth, I added a search bar to my blog sidebar because I saw my blog through their eyes. Heck yeah readers want to be able to query a search term and get blog posts, ASAP. I created a more pleasing UX by honestly seeing my blog through the eyes of my readers.
Other friendly UX updates over the past few years:
- I opened blog comments
- I removed links from blog comments to improve the UX by vastly cutting down on spam comments which bogged down my server and littered my blog
- I included more pictures of my world travels to add a more playful vibe to Blogging From Paradise
- I added more valued links in and links out to publish through blog post resources
Everything changed the moment I asked myself: does the BFP UX rock or need some improvement?
Ask yourself a similar question. Wait for an honest answer. See your blog through the eyes of your readers.
Improve your blog UX to create a more pleasing environment and to accelerate your blogging success.
Your Turn
How did you improve the user experience on your blog?
What can you do now to improve your blog UX?