Hello, I'm Mervi!
An artist, nerd and business sorcerer, dedicated to make world more beautiful and strange with art, illustrations and logos + to help you figure your sustainable business out.
4 things your blog and small business website can't go without
Are you serious about your blogging or do you want your business site to be effective? Do you want new customers or people to come back to your blog again and again?
While I have been browsing around blogs and business sites I've noticed that sometimes a couple of very simple things have been forgotten. These things are very essential for making sure your blog readers or potential customers can connect with you.
1. Easy contact
This may seem obvious, but I keep seeing lots of blogs and small business sites that lack of an easy way to contact the author/owner. Very often the contact is hidden somewhere, behind a "Work with me" or the link is hidden small in the footer of the site.
If you wish people to contact you for job offers or other business reasons, making contacting easy is extremely important. And even if you just blog for fun it's good for your blog readers to be able to tell you if there's any problems with your blog, commenting it or so. Or if they just want to say hi.
Add a link that says "Contact" to your main navigation. Don't hide it.
On the contact page you have different options. You can add there a simple form, which is the most usual way to do it. I also recommend to think about adding some of these:
- Your (additional) email address(es)
- Link to your Twitter feed
- Link to your Facebook profile/page
- Link to your Google+ profile/page
- Links to your other social media profiles
- Your Skype contact
- Your other VoIP/IM contacts
- Other contact information
Obviously there's always the chance of spam and other trolling. That's a thing you just must deal with. Sorry.
2. Social Media links
Another obvious one are the social media links. It's extremely frustrating to go to someone's site and look for the link to their Twitter feed without ever finding it. Believe me, it is.
Add links to your Twitter feed, Facebook page (or profile), Google+ profile, Pinterest and others to be easily found on your blog or small business website.
Place them somewhere near the top of your site so they will be easy to find. That way anyone visiting your site can follow you or like your page.
Don't hide these in sub-pages or way down to the footer.
3. About
Who are you? What is this blog about? Why would I want to work with you?
Add an about page to your (main) navigation. Again, don't hide it behind some obscure title, in the footer or under the "Work with me" section.
When a new visitor enters your blog or your small business site, they are likely to want to know who this person is or what this company is about. Don't make it difficult to find that out.
4. Your photo
Unless you want to be totally anonymous, make sure there's a photo of you on your website.
In case you want to use your site for business reasons or making money in a way or another (including advertisement) you won't want to be anonymous. Why? Cause anonymity may be interpreted as spamminess.
Add the photo on the About page and, if possible, to the sidebar of your blog. Give a face to your words.
