Dear Bloggers, Remember to Edit Your Blog Pages and Sidebar Text

Before we tuck in for the weekend I wanted to give some quick heads up to those who may either be new to blogging or still trying to find your way around the WordPress platform.

If you are at all serious about blogging, whether that is to build an author platform or just to share your thoughts, be sure that your pages are all filled in and that your sidebar is as well. What do I mean “Fill in?”

There is nothing that screams amateur more than:

“This is a text widget, which allows you to add text…” and so on.

You would want to ban these words from anywhere on your blog! GET RID OF THEM. Why?

To put this as nice but as real as I can, it makes you look lazy. It only takes a few minutes or maybe even a few hours to fill in the text on your blog.

There aren’t rules to blogging exactly but there are things that are common sense. This is one of them.

To get rid of those dreadful words, you will need to be sure those words are replaced with images or text. No, you don’t have to get super fancy but if your blog theme is one that requires you to fill in an area, such as an about page, you may want to go ahead and do that. Or else these words will speak to readers before you do. When I see them I think maybe that blogger just started out. If you started your blog a year or more ago, that’s not exactly the impression you want to give.

Go to your WP Dashboard. To edit a page, go down to Page > All Pages and edit the pages you have there. If you don’t want to show pages then it is best to delete them, although I am not sure why anyone wouldn’t want an About page. Either way, it is your prerogative. If you want the page to show to viewers, please fill it in with something. Do not leave it blank.

This is especially  important if you are an author looking to grow your audience through blogging. I mean, come on. You are a master of the written word (Yes, you are! Say it and then believe it). Anything that has to do with words should be taken seriously, even if it is text on your blog! If there’s no effort put into these words, then what are we to think about your books?

To edit sidebar Widgets, go to: WP Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets

This will show you the widgets that come with your blog’s theme and give you the chance to add more if you like.

You don’t have to be extra fancy. (We actually prefer you be your relaxed and funny self), but do put something there. Unless you don’t want your blog to grow, in which case, leave it how it is.

Now, run along now and enjoy the rest of this beautiful day.