Bloggin Ads

There are many important things to include when you decide to open your blog. Of course you would need a good theme and some content published, but what I’m talking about is that navigation bar usually at the top of each blog. The navigation bar usually brings your reader or viewer to a specific informative page that is totally different from a post. These pages aren’t usually included in search engines or things like that. Usual navigation bars include a couple links such as Home, Archives, Advertise, but the main ones that are absolutely needed are the About and Contact pages.

I really can’t stress enough on the topic of having an about and contact page. These two pages are pretty much the #1 necessities for a blog. I personally have had these two pages since the beginning of my blogging venture, but a lot of bloggers still don’t realize or understand why it is so important. Because of this, I have decided to go into a bit of detail on why each of those two are needed so much for a blog.

Haven’t some of you guys ever visited an website in the past where you loved? Well, I’m sure you have because a huge population of people are on the Internet each day and you’re bound to find something you like or already like a lot just by surfing the net. When you reach one of these websites, you would more than likely seek out who is the person behind the work of art.

A professional website owner knows the importance of providing all the information possible and this includes personal information. Similar to some professional website owners, bloggers surely don’t need to hide anything from the readers and viewers. If you’re trying to hide something from the public, you’re obviously not being your true self.

Being yourself is very important if you wish to pursue blogging. I didn’t realize this until a week ago, but I have since changed the way I act and the way I bring my content out to my readers. Of course some bloggers are afraid of some sort of identity crisis, but the majority of bloggers aren’t afraid to give out some simple information. What I’m trying to point out is that if your readers and viewers don’t know anything about you, what makes you think that they’ll stay any longer as a reader of your blog? A lot of great bloggers have nothing to hide when it comes to giving out a little extra information. So where does a blogger show all this information?

Posting up an about page is where all this information will go. Almost every bloggers has one of these and it allows your readers and viewers to know a lot more about you. If you become a great blogger, your readers would want to know you better and know who is the one that is working with so much dedication on the blog. So what kind of information do you ONLY need on your about page?

• Name, Age, Location – The main things that a reader would like to know is your name and how old you are. I always check the age of an blogger just to know how old he/she is and I compare that to the content he/she publishes on the blog. If you also provide the location of where you live, you don’t really have to be that specific, but only provide city and state or county and state. By providing a small idea of where you live, you never know when another fellow blogger would like to meet up with you
• Picture – Showing everyone how you look like is more important than you think Don’t be shy and just post one of those non-photoshopped, non-edited pictures of you in your about page. Your readers would recognize you by the picture you include on the page.
• Background Information – There can be a lot of different things that relate to your background, but you’re the one that decides what to give. Most bloggers I’ve seen pretty much just includes what school they attended, their hobbies, and their love life. The more information you give, the more you attract your reader to stay longer.
• Blogging Goal – Lastly, you should include why you’re blogging. Every blogger has some sort of goal with the exception of personal diary bloggers. Your readers would like to know what they can learn from you just by looking at what your goal is.

As you see, an about page doesn’t really require that much information, but at the same time, it gives more than enough to allow your readers to know who you are and what you’re trying to do as a blogger.

After having an about page, the next most important page is your Contact Page. What good is there if you have an about page and not a contact page? If your blog doesn’t have this page, it’s almost like a blog without any type of communication for your readers. A huge majority of blogs have these contact pages, but a lot of bloggers are doing it wrong. You don’t want your contact page to just have a simple e-mail. For example: blogger ]at[ website ]dot[ com. As much as this would help you control your spam, it definitely would drive away a lot of leads or valuable messages from your readers.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I highly suggest the Contact Form 7 plugin. With this plugin, you would be able to create a contact form like the one you see on my contact page. With a contact form, your readers would be able to send messages to you privately and ask you questions privately.

Besides adding a contact form, you should also include any other contact opportunities for your readers. This includes social network sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, etc. The more connections you receive, the better your blogging venture will be. Trust me, your readers will go through the links in your contact page and add you as a friend on social networks.

A lot of other opportunities pop out from a good about and contact page too. A lot of huge companies seek great bloggers in the blogosphere and they actually get to know you through your about page and decide on whether or not they should contact you. Once they do decide to contact you, your contact page would be the place where business is done. I have personally received a lot of leads for advertising by having a well rounded about page and contact page.

Do you have an about and contact page?