Have You Tested the Usability of Your Blog?

When you design your blog using a template from a web provider, it is easy to overlook the concept of web usability. This concept means that the user's experience is important. The bottom line for a blog used for self-promotion is that the blogger feels that the content is king. However, this article explains how to promote yourself while making the visit to your blog more convenient for readers.

Web site usability on the most basic level means looking at the site design and considering all aspects of the user who interfaces with the blog. As a fix for web site usability problems, you can spend time rearranging elements, including how fonts and sections are displayed, for the ease of the user.

Because you want to build the best blog to optimize your income and promote yourself, you need to dedicate some time (at least every few months) to brainstorming how to improve the blog's usability. One expert who offers more insights on this subject and has been published widely on the Internet and in print is Jakob Nielsen. You can Google his name and read his advice on web site usability.

Here are some quick questions to begin brainstorming about your blog's usability.

1. Is the overall display of the content easy on the eye? You don't want your blog to be too busy, too loud, too flash, or too boring? Making a site easy on the eye is important. Many content sites (including Associated Content and Constant-Content) have gone to a light blue theme like Microsoft Word. One reason that light blue works for blog and web design is that reading in this muted web environment eases eye strain.

2. Why do users want to come back to your site? Users will be attracted to your site for various reasons. They might like funny videos you have posted or quality, interesting articles you've written. The point is that you can gauge what users like about your site through surveys and polls.

3. Have you responded to user complaints about your site by revisiting the blog design? Now many bloggers will never hear from their readers about how to improve the design or to develop more engaging content. If you don't hear from your blog readers, the survey is another way to get this type of feedback.

4. Do you even care about usability? Some people don't even give usability a moment of consideration throughout the life of the blog. Usability is important if you want to make money from your blog.

Consider a blog's usability to strengthen your site. For your purposes, content is still king, but you can maximize how content is displayed for user convenience.