Does your sidebar look like this...?
How much attention you pay to someone’s blog sidebar? Or your own?
The more time I spend online and the more I am set in my ways of searching for information, the more I notice some common mistakes in sidebars and the way people let them waste space on a blog.
Sidebars are prime real estate on a blog and they should be treated with respect 
Let me start with a little story. I’ve read a post by Derek on Socialtriggers.com which boils down to keeping your sidebar very clean, with very little content in it and an opt in box. The goal is to get people to subscribe to your list and not give them too many options that will distract them from that.
Then, Marcus from TheSalesLion.com “challenged it” asking a question of “what a conversion is for a certain blog”. We all want different things, so for each of us a successful conversion means a different thing.
I tried it all… almost empty sidebar and overcrowded sidebar and settled for what I have now. Although I love Derek’s advice about the clutter, I realized that my main goal isn’t to get you all on a list. I just want to connect with you in any way you find it comfortable.
Some will sign up for the list (and get two awesome free ebooks), some will subscribe to my RSS feed and some will just click around to read the posts I marked as “must reads“. What ever you do, I am satisfied. I can’t make you stay and putting you on my list, won’t guarantee I will keep you there.
So now that you know these different views on sidebar, let me tell you about the most common mistakes I see in blog’s sidebars.
Terrible SEO – Link leaks
One thing people seem to forget is that what ever you put in your sidebar and footer, will be displayed on every single page of your blog (in most cases). So if you have 300 posts, that is 300 links going out of your blog. And from what I’ve seen, most of those links are do-follow, which means you are not even (partially) plugging your leaks.
- Read what is a nofollow link and how to set it up.
Tag clouds
This is one of the most common link leaking sidebar widgets. There are blogs with 50 or 150 or even 300 tags. Adding a tag cloud with 150 links is a major link leak.
You have 150 links from each of your pages just from that one widget. The links are going to your tag pages which you aren’t even optimizing for search engines. Most of those tags are too general, so you will see something like “blogging”, “marketing” or something as general and “un-winnable” as that.
I am pretty sure people are not clicking on tag clouds, especially on blogs that are not internet marketing and social media ones.
Remove the tag cloud widgets!
Blog Rolls
Same leak as tag clouds. I am sure there are blogs you want to put in your blog roll. Not saying you should not. But think twice before you put just any blog there.
When you go to a mommy blog, for example, you can see blog rolls with 30+ blogs listed. Major link leak. It would be better to link to a certain post from your favorite blog from time to time and give some real strong link love to it, while not messing up your own SEO.
Remove (or nofollow) blog rolls!
WordPress Admin Widget
Having this default widget in your blog’s sidebar is the worst thing you can have. It makes you look like an absolute beginner which isn’t always the case (I’ve seen it on blogs that have been around for some time). It is also bad for SEO, linking out from every single page of your blog to the WordPress log-in page.
Remove it!
Ad widgets
I am by no means against ad widgets, I have them on this blog and they keep me running But if you have 4 ads in a sidebar widget, or even 10 as some do, and then the same widget on each page of your blog, that is a lot of outgoing links from your blog.
Google recommends no-following your affiliate links so you should always do the same with your sidebar ads.
Badges
There are so many badges you can run into:
- awards
- links to profiles and “blog communities”
- blog graders
- rank counters
You don’t need these badges most of the time. If you are not an internet marketing blog, remove the Alexa widget and Blog grader badges. They are just another way for a visitor to leave your site. Why would a visitor on your dog training blog care that you have a 99 Web grade by Hubspot?
You don’t need these badges in your sidebar. Even if you keep them (I have one myself) at least nofollow the link or don’t even put one. Awards don’t come with the request to link to the site awarding you. Yes, it is a nice thing to do, but when you have 150+ posts and pages, you may want to think about the pros and cons.
This goes especially for awards like “The versatile blogger” where it really means nothing to your target market. Keep it relevant.
Remove the badges and links to irrelevant networks.
Different counters and widgets
One of the widgets I see often is the Networked Blogs widget. I don’t really see the point of it, but I can sort of understand having it on an internet marketing or social media blog. But why would you need it on a mommy or a dog training blog?
To show you are being followed by other mom bloggers and dog trainers? Is your target market another mom blogger or a mom that needs solution for her problems? That type of widget does not add to your visitor’s experience.
Remove the Networked blogs and similar widgets.
Same goes for all the Twitter counters, Feedburner counters and other – unless your numbers are great and you are bragging 
Archives and Categories widget
No one searches a blog by month and year. So remove the Archives widget from your blog. It is better to create an Archives page and list it there.
As far as categories go, if you have a few and they are well organized, and at the same time not accessible otherwise through your navigation menu, I would keep them.
But if you have 25 categories and they are not targeting some nice keywords you want to rank for, don’t put them in the sidebar.
Sidebar priority
Here are some of the things you should put in your sidebar, based on what I have seen on successful blogs and tested myself:
- Opt in box (always at the top).
- List of your most popular posts.
- Links to your social profiles or appropriate widgets, but limit it to the most important. I keep Facebook fan page box and Google+ business page in my sidebar.
- Search box (more on that below).
- Ads if you are monetizing your blog.
- Must read pages, if you want people to pay attention to certain important content.
- Anything really important that leads people to your ultimate goal.
It isn’t only a matter of what you put in your sidebar, it is how you arrange it. Leave enough space for people to be able to scan it easy. Some of the mistakes I’ve seen are putting the blog roll or WP admin widget at the top, followed by Twitter stream widget and then somewhere below you can find the RSS button and opt in.
Search Box
Some say people don’t use it. I use it all the time. If I remember reading a post on someone’s blog and want to read it again, I will use the search box to find it. Also, if I land on a new blog, I will do a search for the topics that interest me.
You can add the default WordPress search box (find it in your widget area) or create a custom Google Adsense Search box, grab the code and paste it in a text widget.
What ever you decide – add the search box to your blog!
How to arrange your sidebar
Write down the goals of your blog. Do you want more newsletter subscribers? More time spent on the blog with more page views? Extra Facebook likes?
Once you have the goals written down, make extra branches listing how you can accomplish them from the sidebar. Something like this mind map:
Once you have a complete mind map or list of goals and what you need to do to point people to them, see how big and cluttered your sidebar would be. Make sure that every widget has a goal and that it adds to your visitor’s experience.
Remove the extra ones… yes, you know there is that one you are trying to squeeze in and you shouldn’t.
Test and track how your sidebar is helping you reach the goals. If it isn’t, just remove the widget that is taking space.
Conclusion
Sidebar is one of the places on your blog you can change all the time without having to mess with the code. It is easy to change it around and see what works. Ditch the things that don’t work!
Let me know what is your opinion on sidebars and how are you using it? Is there something else you would say is essential for a blog to put in a sidebar that I forgot to mention?
Brankica, another post full of gold! I’ve been doing my studying and homework to make my site more effective, and each of your articles (after making my head spin with information:) adds something else to my list of “changes to make”. It’s really quite overwhelming, but so important to review one’s own site regularly.
When I started blogging 9 months ago, the site was structured really as a skeleton to hold my blog. But now that I want to transition to more business from online, changes must be made. Thanks for all the wonderful information you pack into each and every post:) Cheers! Kaarina P.S. I wrote a caption on Roma’s photo:)
Loved the caption
It is interesting to see the evolution of people and blogs from the day they start to the first year or more. Even if you have a plan and follow it, things can change so there are always new goals and then new steps to take to reach them. That goes for you having a bit of different approach to your blog now, same as me compared to a year ago.
Sorry to keep you busy will all the new info but you never know when you might need it
Never say sorry:) There’s so much to learn and so much to do. Life’s a continuous journey, with lots of detours, potholes, resting places and scenery along the way. We just need to keep journeying, enjoying the view and adjusting our route as time, circumstance and need dictate. Glad you liked the caption:)
Brankica, I love experimenting. I saw Derek’s post, too, and had read elsewhere about the link leaks.
I like what you’ve done with your sidebar. I got rid of the Blogroll in favor of a bit of scrolling code (which I credited right in the sidebar!)
I also love your mind-map graphic. What a cool way to make a point!
Cheers,
Mitch
Hey Mitch, thanks so much for the nice comment. I really thought about my sidebar a lot, I know what I want people to do (subscribe to my list and like the FB page for example) but I also want them to dig deeper in the blog cause there are so many older posts that are neglected, that might help them. At the same time, I have to find a way not to clutter the sidebar too much.
This is absolutely great stuff Bran and I agree with you that our sidebar is a “prime real estate” (next only to out valuable content, lol) and that it has to be used to “help” us attain whatever it is we decide to do. For example, for some reason, while I do want people to subscribe to my list, I don’t use a “optin” form anywhere. I am actually going to rectify that soon, but it still won’t be in my sidebar. Whatever the purpose is, I think that the “message” you are sending is what matters. I love it, specially about the “leaks” .. something that many people tend to forget
I have an opt in form on the home page, it works great. I was thinking of having that feature box on every page and removing the sidebar one, but still thinking what to do. I was also thinking of running a test with a pop up, so I keep postponing all of that until I finally make up my mind
Hi Brankica. Great tips I agree with most of them!
On my personal blog I use sidebars only for ads and subscribe form. I also prefer left sidebar placement for my niche sites.
Regards,
Eric
I actually want to move mine here to the left side
but I messed too much with the code so it will take some time to set it all up. I think left sidebars work great, I have them on my niche sites as well.
I am very confused about my sidebar at the moment and fortunately your post answers some of my questions.
My issue is opposite to problems you mentioned above, I have too few widget on sidebar. I have just about 3 widgets on sidebar now and wondering what should I add to this place. I’ve checked out the list above but still have no idea.
You will have to decide what your ultimate goal is. Once you make a list of goals it will be easier to decide how you want to achieve them and what can help you in the sidebar.
Hope that helps a bit.
Brankica,
Absolutely! Everything on the sidebar should have a purpose. In my opinion at least everything on the side bar should fulfill an MWR. (Most Wanted Response)
It should be to
1. Build the list
2. Make sales (like you said there should be a limit of these)
3. Get people to other articles (Keeping readers happy and coming back)
If you can’t make something fall into these three…or another MWR you might have…then it just shouldn’t be there.
Heck yeah
I think you and I have pretty much the same opinion on all things related to internet business, lol
Firstly, I’ve moved my site from Blogger to WP and on my new domain. You wanted to know, so there you go, new link!
At my blog’s old site, the sidebar was the web equivalent of an episode of Hoarders. I had so much stuff on there – ads! About me! Huge archive list! And a bunch of network badges. I knew I needed to clean it up but like any hoarder I just neglected it and let it accumulate.
I hired help with the transition and got rid of a lot of stuff that was just overcrowding my sidebar. Now it’s a lot cleaner.
I will note that I’m a member of a sponsored-post community that requires you add an archive to your blog. I just opted for a drop-down menu, so not only does it save space, it also links only to months instead of every. single. post.
I still have tons of work to do on it, but you and others have really been valuable in helping me have an efficient and interesting blog.
Your new sites looks really nice! I will go and change all your links now
If you have to have an archives in the sidebar, I would always go with the drop down instead of having them all. It looks crazy to see archives on a blog that has been up and running since 2008, lol
Great post, Brankica!
I just implemented pretty much all of your suggestions lol. I used to have a zillion things over in my sidebar and now I only have half-a-zillion.
Bet this is going to make a big difference in my stats.
I still have a couple of kinks to work out but this sounds like great advice (as usual).
Glad if I could help. It is good to hear that you only have half a zillion widgets now, lol. It does look good
This is such a much-needed post for bloggers… including myself. I know mine isn’t optimized like I’d like it, but I’ve been putting off the work. LOL And I’m so glad you mentioned the Archives! Yes, NO ONE searches by the month and year, agree! Great, great post Brankica.
I actually love yours! It may not be bare aimed at sign ups only but I like all the stuff you have there. Your “must reads” inspired mine, such a great way of displaying the most important content.
And thanks so much for the support and this awesome comment
Oh god how can you write these long articles. Its just so amazing to read these articles with so much information. I have now removed Tag cloud from my sidebar, remove the Archives widget. One thing is missing is search box.
Long articles like this practically write themselves once you get into the groove. I have some that are over 1200 words long that started out as a short 500 word piece.
When you truly love what you are doing, you get on a roll and just keep writing.
Agreed, James
I LOVE this. Thank you! I have my homework cut out for me this weekend, LOL. You’re awesome, Brankica.
Thanks so much, Shonali
This post deserves a standing ovation! It is so timely as i spent the majority of today trying to style my right hand side bar on one of my affiliate sites using wordpress platform!
I downloaded a certain wordpress right bar widget plugin but as you can see the list is just too plain.
I am looking for a while to style it properly. I am trying to feature my major category pages…just like a normal website….
Brankica or Lisa or any one got a tip.. i will appreciate it so much!
You are using Thesis, so you drag widgets to your sidebar. You don’t need any plugins.
I agree but how do i make it a navigattion. I am trying to achieve this kind of navigation… http://www.thesistheme.net/
That navigation that begins with “Top Notch Thesis Skin Designers”.
I have been posted in the thesis forums..no good answers..any tips please?
Those are just link widgets, you just need to add links and then add a link widget to the sidebar. Have you read Lisa’s book about navigation links and menus http://live-your-love.com/go/wpstart/
Yes…I have a copy of the book. But the model she used for was top menus. I need my navigation in my side bar.
Like I said those are link widgets
Just check in the book, she explains exactly how to do them.
You add all links to a category and then display them as a link widget. It is the same thing I have in the sidebar, named “must reads”, except the style is different, different CSS.
Oh wow…
I think I was doing everything wrong and then a little bit more.
But then again, I was experimenting a lot (the cool way to say “I didn’t have a freaking clue…” haha)
There are some changes that I’m definitely going to do in my current site.
I, in fact, had decided to not blog anymore in the past when I shut down iSeeSalesPeople but got convinced somehow to do so again (long boring story).
So making ANY changes to the current blog, are done absolutely without any bit of remorse.
Thanks for the heads up Pit, going to get rid of a few things as in RIGHT now.
Sergio
Haha, I have to start saying more that I am “experimenting”
And yeah, it was so hard to “make you” blog again, as hard as it would be making a frog jump into the pond
LOL you crack me up!!
What an eye-opener. And I thought my sidebar was efficient. Will make changes to them right now. Thanks!
Glad if I could help
Brankica,
I was just looking at my blog the other day thinking “OMG! It is too full!” I bet when people visit they simply can’t figure out what to do or where to go. I would!”. And I was also thinking that all this clutter probably slows down my blog.
SO I went to my Google Analytics to actually view where people where clicking. Home, recent posts, popular posts and comments. Posts, posts posts. That’s it!! But now that I read this post I know if I want them to opt in to my newsletter or RSS I need to change a few things around and eliminate. Winter cleaning!
Thanks for the amazing tips!
~Allie
Once you do it, track it for a month and let me know how it worked, I hope you get some awesome results
Would you be kind enough to take a look at my blog’s sidebar and tell me what you think?
Hey Dave, it has waaaaay too many things going on over there. I would definitely re-do it!
Nice Info!!!!
Thanks for sharing this nice info. No doubt in that we can put links in sidebar and i think it can become good option to make money.
Yes, as long as it isn’t cluttered
Hey Brankica, great post and to-do list. Some really good points and clarification. I know that sometimes there are exceptions where category lists can be helpful, but typically they are abused, along with other things your have listed : )
One thing I teach in my workshop is the flexibility of having a theme that allows custom sidebars. That way you can focus the content in the sidebar to compliment specific pages, and even posts. It’s amazing how much more response I get with doing this… your thoughts?
That is an awesome idea. I don’t do it here, but I do something like that on my niche sites so each category has a different more targeted sidebar. What themes do you recommend that have those options?
I agree that categories can work, if just people used them sparingly and with plan. But you can see some having 20 categories that are all over the place
Yep, categories just be limited, I always say no more than 10, even less is better : )
As far as themes that do this, I know that Thesis, which you use, and Headway, both frameworks, allow this. But it’s really easy to do with StudioPress and Woothemes. StudioPress has a free plugin that allows you go create custom sidebars, and Woothemes has it built in.
Both allow you to create sidebars that can be used on single pages and posts, and categories as well. Pretty sweet.
You’re right, this is a great option for niche sites!
That sounds great, I haven’t played much with other themes. But I sure know that a customized sidebar converts way better than the same one on every page
Thanks, Brankica.
First I’ll delete the Networked Blogs pics. After reading what you think about it, it makes real sense. It’s only a kind of bragging and I’m not sure what the Networkers get from it…
I hope I didn’t sound mean about that
I was kinda thinking in the way of “what I want people to do” and Networked blogs comes to the last place for me, I would rather people subscribe to my RSS or something.
Well since I HAD plans to add Networked Blogs (whatever that even is) and now we’re removing stuff, what do you think of adding a Facebook Fan Page?
You just have yours as in a small icon with the rest of your social media platforms.
Do you recommend that instead of adding the common FB widget so people can see some prrretty faces there, we just add a small icon?
Sergio
The reason I have a small one is that I just wanted to see if it would generate “likes” faster. I actually had the box with faces till a few days ago, but tried to keep that clutter down and decided to try this button. With all the faces and what I had in the sidebar it was “too busy”. But I do plan to have the faces back one day
Great nuggets of info that are really spot on for folks like me. A person with no clue as to what should be in the sidebar. Thank you for making it easy to understand.
What do you think about all the Google Friend Connect talk? So is that bad to have on your blog? Since it’s going away in March 2012 should we just give up and get rid of it on our blogs?
This is great stuff I have to rearrange my blog now
Excellent post Brankica. I think this is the first article I’ve read on this subject. I’ll have to pay more attention to the links in my sidebar. I don’t have many but I’m fairly sure I’ve never paid attention to the dofollow tag in it. Thanks for the reminder.
As for the search box, I’m with you. I use them all the time. I especially find the search box on my own site to be particularly useful.