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Blogging Bits and Bytes: Gentle Encouragement

March 4, 2016 by Barb 8 Comments

As part of my Blogging Bits and Bytes series I randomly send quick notes to subscribers containing what I call “gentle encouragement”.

The simple definition of encouragement is:

♥ the act of making something more appealing or more likely to happen
♥ something that makes someone more determined, hopeful, or confident
♥ something that makes someone more likely to do something

Blogging Bits and Bytes, Keeping With the Times, Barb Brookbank

This month I ‘fessed up as to how I was doing on my goals:

TRUTH:
I succeeded on keeping an editorial calendar, but I dropped the ball on my goal of posting every day in February, and you can read about it here.

REVISED GOAL:
I’m now aiming to post twice a week until I get back on my feet (one post will be my Sunday Sundries series.)

Blogging Bits and Bytes: Gentle Encouragement

In times when I’m having trouble blogging, I find doing a bit of blog housekeeping is akin to cleaning my house and putting it in order (which always makes me feel better.)

So here are five things to think about when it comes to blog housekeeping:

  1. Stand back a few feet and look your home page. Examine it on your computer; I use a large screen, and a laptop, so I check both. Now, do the same on an iPad, and a phone … have a friend check it on their devices. Does it fit on the screen? Is it easy to read? More and more people are reading blogs on their mobile devices and if it’s hard to read … well, quite honestly, they are going to move on. As well, Google does not like it. To analyze your blog, try this Mobile-Friendly Test. I’m only asking you to think about this one because to switch to a mobile-friendly theme is not a quick fix, and I had a professional do it for me. He recommended Lifestyle Pro, a mobile responsive Genesis theme. OK! Let’s move on to four gentler ideas!
  2. Spiff up your header. Add a seasonal touch. Last month I changed the colour of my font, and added little hearts.
  3. Check your sidebar! Do you have widgets that are no longer relevant? Old memes that have faded away? Remove them!! They are clutter, plain and simple.
  4. Worse yet, do you have widgets that are too large for the sidebar? Ones that stick out and don’t seem to fit? I’m assuming you knew how to put them there in the first place, so you most likely know how to resize them … take them into an editing program and reduce the dimensions, then add them back to your blog. If you have questions, shoot me an email.
  5. Try a new background! Backgrounds are a personal preference, but they are fun to play around with. Changing them keeps things fresh (but remember, keep it simple).

If you keep your blog clean, and switch things around from time-to-time, readers may not realize why, but when they visit, they know someone is home.

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… lotsa “Ifs” there :)

Have a wonderful day!!

Filed Under: BLOGGING BITS AND BYTES Tagged With: blogging

Comments

  1. Michelle B says

    March 4, 2016 at 12:19 pm

    Such a pretty spring image! I have the ‘In Detail’ book. I really enjoy paging through it…looking at the pictures. Are there any words in that book? :)
    I looked hard at my blog after reading your suggestions. I deleted my ‘labels’ section on the right sidebar. I felt like it was unnecessary and did clutter things up. Thank you for the suggestions! Have a great weekend!

    Reply
  2. jeanne stone says

    March 4, 2016 at 4:05 pm

    All great ideas Barb! Do love your header! Very cute. And great tips on cleaning up your blog which I just worked on yesterday! Hope you have a great weekend

    Reply
  3. jeanne stone says

    March 4, 2016 at 4:07 pm

    All great ideas Barb! do love your header and think it is so cute. Great tips on cleaning up your blog which I just worked on yesterday? hOpe you have a great weekend.

    Reply
  4. Gingham Red says

    March 4, 2016 at 4:55 pm

    Hello Barb and thank you for the fabulous ideas! Love your photos they are all so very beautiful. It’s lovely to see spring coming into them as we are now moving into our fall. Happy weekend to you!

    Reply
  5. Kathy says

    March 5, 2016 at 8:39 am

    Thanks for that mobile friendly test! Something I never thought about.

    Reply
    • Barb says

      May 17, 2017 at 7:57 am

      You’re welcome Kathy!

      Reply
  6. Roxi says

    March 5, 2016 at 7:50 pm

    Great ideas! I cleaned up my side bar last week in fact but my header needs updating for sure. I’ll be checking out the mobil friendly. I did my own website and had to do an iPhone version. But when I did the iPad version it never changed it. I’m sure google (blogger) is already mobile friendly.

    Reply
    • Barb says

      May 17, 2017 at 7:57 am

      Well done Roxi!

      Reply

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Welcome! I'm Barb, and this is where I practice my mantra to "learn something new, try something different". It's my hope that something I do here may inspire you! Read More…

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