Get Your Blog Archives Under Control!
Most blog archives are structured to be a total waste of web real estate. They just go on and on and on and on and on.
For example, a blog started in July 2004 which has been posted to every month typically now has a list of 24 links in the navigation bar.
Next year there will be 36 links. In 2008, there will be 48 of the little devils, and in 2010 …. well, you get the picture.
Do yourself, and more importantly – your visitors – a favor.
Have your blog archives converted into a drop-down menu. I had the NPT blog archives re-structured by a web designer through Elance.
It took him all of ten minutes and the work only cost me a few bucks.
Of course, in a few years that drop-down is going to become pretty unwieldy too.
So, better yet, get an Elance web designer/programmer to stop the insanity completely, by listing only the last 3 months then include both a link to “Recent” and “Older” posts.
The “Older” link will direct your visitors to a page that lists individual post titles under the name of the month in which it was entered.
That makes it easier for your visitors to search your blog, which encourages them to stay longer.
The longer they stay, the more opportunity you have to turn them into customers.
Search engines will notice your increased ‘stickiness’ and reward you with MORE free traffic… and all for a couple of bucks paid to a deserving designer at Elance.
Cheers,
Ros
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Posted / Revised on August 22, 2006 under Build Your Site  |
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Rosalind Gardner is a Super Affiliate blogger, author, speaker, and Internet marketing consultant. For more info, subscribe to her No-Hype, No-BS, No Spam NPT newsletter and join Affiliate Blogger PRO to get answers to all your affiliate marketing questions. Thanks for visiting!
The dropdown list looks great to visitors but removing all your archive links is bad for the search engines so I guess you have to weigh what is more important to you.
Ros,
I have just registered for this blog because I found a couple of your posts very informative.
The points about archiving are really interesting. I have a blog built into my SBI site which works well.
If I wanted another stand alone blog for a different subject, would you suggest say typepad or wordpress and why?
Thanks
Hi Persephone
Glad to hear you find the NPT blog informative and interesting.
Re your question. I can’t recommend either for or against Typepad with any authority as I have not used it myself. I have heard the comment that it is much more difficult to set up than WordPress, however. This blog is a WordPress blog and it is very easy to set-up and use.
Hope that helps!
Cheers ~ Ros