Do Your Blog Readers Need a Better Map?

Something has been troubling me lately. With 450+ blog posts and counting, I want to make sure that both new visitors and regular readers can easily find the answers they're looking for.

This may be the only downside to evolving into a content master and building a mountain of content.

It's not the first time I've had this concern. Last time, I solved the problem (temporarily) by bringing my blog posts together into a book, Write Your Way to More Clients Online, a linear guide through the five steps of the content marketing process.

Since I finished the book last fall, I've written many more posts that I want you to see. I've put together tips, resources and information that will help you with your blogging and content marketing. But only if you can find it!

Sure, I've organized my posts into categories, and there's a search box on the sidebar. You can always find the titles of my most recent posts, and I even brought in a third-party "widget" that shows you my most popular ones.

But is that enough? Especially for someone who might be so new to blogging that they're not familiar with how blogs work? And aren't those some of the very people I would like to help with my blog editing and consultation services?

Here are some of the options I've been considering:

• Write another book - Yes, absolutely! I do plan to write another book, but probably not in the next 12 months.
• Create a "New Here" page - For example, I really like Charlie Gilkey's version.
• Add static links to the sidebar - Instead of relying on Typepad's list of ALL my categories (some of which I'm not using anymore), I could select the most relevant categories and/or posts and link to those.

For now, I've decided to go with what's behind Door #4 - I've created a new post called How to Find Your Way Around the Content Mastery Guide Blog. It will always display at the top of my blog, with suggestions that help my new and returning readers find what they're looking for.

Please check it out and let me know what you think.

In the meantime, if you've been blogging for awhile and building your mountain of content, is it time for YOU to create new ways to guide your readers through it?

Comments

[Linda Dessau]

My pleasure, Barbara! Nice to see you :)

Best wishes,
Linda

[Barbara Whitt]

Linda, for some "Go ponder..." reason, Google/Blogger's "technology" "misplaced" your very nice comment following my Sunday, June 12, 2011 post on my A Summer of 1961 Diary blog. I located it earlier this afternoon, Sunday, July 24, 2011. Your comment and those that Angela Atkinson, Barbara Swafford, Ron and Bill left following that day's diary entry - "Hay is Pretty - were all very nice. I have restored your delightful commentary to its appropriate place following that June 12, 2011 (June 12, 1961) diary entry. Linda, thank you for your kind words about my blog.