by Brandon Cornett

Most business blogs are created around a certain objective. This objective usually involves visitors taking some form of action – reading, clicking, subscribing, downloading, purchasing, etc.

You can increase the chance people will perform the desired action by making it very easy for them. In web terminology this is known as usability, and it has everything to do with your business blogging success.

Tips for Business Blog Usability

  1. Limit the number of posting categories to reduce confusion. Most business blogs can get by with a handful of categories, if they’ve been properly planned out. More than ten categories on a blog, and you begin to create an information-overload situation.
  2. Add links to the blog’s home page, “About” page and “Contact” page (when applicable). Regardless of where somebody enters your blog, they should be able to find the home page (to get oriented), the About page (to learn the blog’s purpose), and the Contact page.
  3. If you want people to subscribe to your RSS feed, create a “subscribe” button and link it to a page that explains RSS feeds, the benefits they offer, and how people can use them. It might be a good idea to include a subscribe-by-email option as well. You can get a free RSS-to-email program from a company like Zookoda, and there are many paid versions as well.
  4. Reduce clutter any way you can. Some business blogs have so many RSS buttons, graphics, advertisements, and other bells and whistles that they become an absolute mess. You can avoid this by cleaning up your sidebar area, using a supplemental menu area when necessary, grouping things logically, and removing anything that doesn’t need to be there.
  5. Conduct a simple usability test. Ask a friend or colleague to visit your blog, and see how quickly they can (A) find the main menu, (B) determine the blog’s theme and purpose, (C) find contact information, etc.

Conclusion
When it comes to business blogs, usability has a direct impact on profitability. Keep you blog clean and easy to read. Web readers and researches are skilled at hopping from site to site. They don’t need much of a reason to bail out on you, and they’ll do just that if your blog is hard to navigate. Make blog usability a top priority when creating your business blog.

Post Info: Thursday, July 26th, 2007 | Blog Strategy | brandon