How to Make a Blog as Sexy as a New Leisure Suit

How to make a blog is easy.

Yeah, you just read that here.

You definitely heard it here.

Any ol grandma can get online and create a blog.

How to make a blog is point and click with all of the blogging platforms out there. Everyone from WordPress, Blogger, HubPages, Squidoo, Tumblr….

Oh, don’t forget my favorite in the monetized area, the Kalatu WordPress powered blogging system. I had to list the best monetized one last.

I have articles about how to make a blog already published, so after you read this article then get over and read all about the blogging.

This article is about the next most important thing, and that is making your blog as sexy as a new leisure suit, baby.

Check this out, stat.

Read on, my man (or lady), read on…

How to make a Blog Doesn’t End with the Publish, it Ends with the Sexy…

You might be thinking that old Tom has really lost it this time. Why the heck is he going on about leisure suits and that sexy stuff. Well, I can’t blame you for wondering about that. I have been known to be a bit eccentric at times.

It’s my nature.

I’m real though and I’m shooting straight here. I tell it like it is and you’d have to search far and wide to find as honest info as you get on this site, with some fun mixed in and minus the runaround.

Oh, where was I?

Oh, the leisure suit.

You know that the sexy leisure suit is a metaphor, right? It’s the metaphor for your sexy blog.

What is a sexy blog, you might ask? Does it have sexy girls on it?

No. Well, I do have some photos with what some people might think are sexy girls here and there, but it’s not “about” that. But that does up the sexy factor and that is what I am getting at. Sexy can be many things, but it’s placement of objects, columns, thumbnails… all that visual stuff.

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Still not clear?

Okay, let me figuratively draw a picture for you… but we’re gonna keep it groovy.

Your blog has to look good. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are certain things that you should know, so I’ll rattle off the top of my head and try to help you out. I may not get everything, but I’ll tell you what. I’ll come back and update the post with anything else that comes to mind later, so bookmark this and come back occasionally.

Get a real theme – Don’t mess around with garbage free themes. Many aren’t SEO friendly and when you get down ot it they’re all very similar. The coolest features usually are on the paid themes, and customizations are many times built into the mix. Take Thesis, for example. It allows you to do custom fonts and font sizes that the free themes just don’t have. You can even tweak it with custom CSS and functions. It provides those custom files that you can add your custom code to if you want even more than what the built in settings provide. It has a cool feature called a Feature Box, which can host text, pictures, or even video. Thesis even has skins that you can use. The features and teasers are great too. See all those little square boxes down below on the home page that shows older posts as little teasers? Who wouldn’t want that on their home page? It’s neat and clean, and just looks so much more professional than what the free themes that are out there provide. I tried to get away with free themes. I tweaked them to the limit, and still couldn’t come close to the look that I have now. Do yourself a favor. Get Thesis. I love it so I have no problem or conflict in recommending it. Check it out through that link. It’s not just a theme that you get, but an entire user community and forum access. If you need it for multiple blogs, get the license that supports that. It’s well worth it if you are wondering how to make a blog sexy. I’ve never looked back.

Custom HTML for navigation – Learn how to put some custom HTML code into your footer for easy navigation to key pages of your site. As per Google terms you should have a Sitemap, Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, About, and perhaps a Disclaimer page. This is the perfect spot for it and you can use the custom functions that were mentioned in the point above.

Google Authorship – (update: Google sort of canned this authorship thing. Thought I’d mention that while updating some articles.) Set up Google Authorship to demonstrate to Google that you are a real person providing real solutions so that you can build your Authority and use that to do well in the search rankings, AND it increases click through in the Google search results. People are just more likely to click on a search result with a little mug shot next to it. It gives the warm and fuzzies that this is a serious author and a serious site. Google endorses this so that alone is reason to play along. (but take it serious) Using this is the answer to how to make a blog look more trustworthy and clickable. Listen to Nike and JUST DO IT.

Sidebar random post thumbnails – You can use a plugin or custom code, but having random posts with captivating images in your sidebar is a good thing. It sexifies your blog and increases clicking through eye candy reflex. Hey, I just made that up, but the click through part is true. Why does it matter? Well, part of your Alexa rank and things that Google sees is your bounce rate. That is when people come into your site and bounce away. If they click on more posts and spend more time on your blog, they are more likely to take the desired action, and at the very least they spend more time on your site thus decreasing your visitor bounce rate. How to make a blog less bouncy is a good thing.

Use pictures and/or video in your posts – Yeah that’s it. Text is great, but all text can be boring. Spice up the blog posts with photos that convey ideas and concepts, or help illustrate mood or the overall meaning of your post. The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words isn’t just a cute saying. It’s true. Video is another winner. If you are teaching something, sometimes video can help out. I guess it’s our TV culture, but many people would rather click PLAY than read. Some people are better on video than others. I am a better writer than I am a speaker. WAY better. Do I use video? Sure. Not as much as I wish or as some of my more video friendly peeps use. Whatever your issue is, don’t let it stop you. Don’t let a lack of a video prevent you from publishing a post because you can always add it in later. Many times I publish with text and photos and add the video later. Do what makes you comfortable, but this is worth mentioning. At any rate, don’t skimp on the photos. It’s important. If you want to know how to make a blog pop and draw your reader in, add the rich media experience that photos and/or video provide. I wouldn’t pull yer leg.

Social Sharing is Sexy – Yup, that’s right. Something that is sexy and getting sexier every day while those who know how to make a blog not only sexy but publicized, is having social sharing icons and buttons somewhere on the edge of your post. People who like it might share it to Pinterest, Flipboard, Facebook, Google+, or Twitter, etc. Data is showing that social signals can help your search ranking and Google has that in their algorithms, so why not increase the sexiness while also upping your chances of being shared, getting syndicated, and who knows, going viral? It can’t hurt.

No leisure suits on John Travolta, but hey, he’s cool in that wide collar and bell bottoms, and the ladies think he’s very sexy.

So go and do that, and take your blog from this:

To this:

Do I REALLY need to say more about how to make a blog as sexy as a new leisure suit?

Giddy up and get to it. Add some feedback below if you feel so inclined.

Later…

Tom