6 Ways To Dress Up Your Sidebar

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I’ll admit, when I was redesigning this blog, I was extremely tempted to opt out of having a sidebar and go for the full width look. After considering the benefits of a sidebar though, I realized how big of a role it plays in grabbing my readers’ attention and making this blog a more fun place! The name sidebar makes it sound like something extra that you don’t really need to pay much attention too, but think about this; that thing is taking up at least 250 pixels of your blog’s width. That’s a lot of space! Your content may be the best anyone’s ever read, but if your sidebar is an eyesore, it might lead them away. Give your sidebar some love, decorate it to your heart’s desire, and use these tips for dressing it up!

6 Ways To Dress Up Your Sidebar

Create A Clean “About Me” Snippet

I don’t know about you, but when I visit a blog for the first time, my eyes go straight to this section. Most blogs have one now, and I think it plays a huge part in making the blog feel more personal and “handmade”. I want to know who I’m reading from, and by simply adding a picture and a short preview of who you are, I gain a bit of a connection to you. Be sure to keep it simple though, because too many fonts and colors can make your “above the fold” layout look a little crazy. Besides, why let a huge script font take the focus away from your beautiful headshot?

If you want to take it a step further, add in a link to your “about me” page under your snippet. Leave your readers wanting more, and make it easy to find that!

Add An Instagram & Pinterest Widget

These can really add some life to your sidebar if it’s filled with text and other flat designs. Not only do they allow your readers to learn a little more about you (because my pins definitely say a lot about me), but they may prompt some to head over to your profile and follow you too! I’m currently using the Alpine PhotoTile plugin for my Instagram and Pinterest widgets, but there are a ton of other options out there, including Blogger friendly options like Snapwidget. Play around with the settings and have some fun with these; I love the hover effects, which you can demo on my Instagram widget where I have the “fade out” effect turned on.

Display Your Best Posts

I don’t know why it took me so long to add a widget like this, because my sidebar is essentially free advertisement space for my own posts! Your readers may not want to scroll through your archive to find an interesting post, so by displaying some of your best work in your sidebar, you’re making it easy for them to click over. I’m using the “Top Posts and Pages” widget that’s provided with the Genesis Framework, but I’m pretty sure there are other similar plugins, and for my Blogger readers, creating your own is just as simple! All you need to do is add an HTML widget with images and links from a few posts. This gives you even more control over what you display here.

Design Beautiful Category Buttons

I’ve seen so many creative category buttons recently and I can’t decide which style I like the most! A few of my favorite looks are the minimalist buttons at Love Grows Design, the gradient-style blocks at Oak & Oats, and the handmade vibe of the categories at A Beautiful Mess.

Create Your Own Buttons

Making your own graphics is crucial for tying your brand together, from blog photos to social media covers to business cards. Another place I’ve seen custom graphics lately is in sidebars, like my button for The Collection or the visit prompt for The Nectar Collective’s design page. Like I said earlier, your sidebar is free ad space for your blog, so make the most of it!

Make It Extend Your Brand

My absolute favorite example for this tip is A Beautiful Mess. Their sidebar is just gorgeous, and every part of it has design aspects that complement their brand. I’m not saying every blog needs bright colors and crazy patterns, but do what works for your blog and give that space some lovin’.

Have you stumbled upon any sidebars that you fell in love with? Link to them below!

Websites That Offer Free Stock Photos For Your Blog

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While I would love to say that I’m a professional photographer who takes every photo I use on my blog, that is definitely not the case. So rather than use my horribly amateur iPhone photos, I look to stock photo websites for the majority of my images. Today I want to share my all-time favorite websites for finding beautiful photos, all of which are free!

free-stock-photos-for-your-blog

Unsplash

This was the first stock photo website I discovered, and I’m still raving over it! They’re constantly uploading new photos, so you can grab a new one for every post. They mainly stock landscape/nature photos, but there are occasionally a few wildcards like the one below. And of course, they’re all stunning!

Gratisography

You never know what you’re going to find on this website, which I think is the beauty of it. There’s an edgy tone to all of their photos, so if you’re looking for a little more than trees and oceans, this website is perfect for you! With more variety, you’re also more likely to find something that works well with the topic of your post.

Life Of Pix

This website is very similar to Unsplash, in that it’s mainly stocked with landscape and nature photos. I’m always in love with their new postings, because they’re just gorgeous! There’s definitely a delicate, warm tone to most of their images, which I think works well within the blog world.

Startup Stock Photos

This website is tech photo paradise. Laptops, phones, desk backgrounds, you name it. These photos seem to be prime pickings for bloggers, so I’m sure you’ll find them useful! Like the websites above, this one is in a Tumblr/grid format, so you’ll have to scroll through the archive to find the photo you want, but that also means you might stumble upon something you wouldn’t have found by searching.

Pixabay

No matter what your blog post is about, you’re bound to find the picture you need on this website. Their inventory is huge, and the best part? A search feature! So rather than scrolling through hundreds of photos hoping for the perfect one, you can just type in a keyword and sort through the ones you actually need. For example, I found the picture below by searching “coffee”. Easy, right? I use this website when I need something super specific because of its efficiency.

Where do you go to find your stock photos?

How To Run A Successful Reader Survey

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Last week I recapped my reader survey and talked about all the information I gained from it, which was a ton! It went so much better than I’d anticipated, thanks to a few guidelines I made for myself before running it. Today I want to share those guidelines with you, and show you how to create a survey from start to finish. By the end of this post, you’ll have all the knowledge you need to run your own successful reader survey!

1. Determine what you want to get out of your survey

Running a survey without much intention won’t provide you with much information, which is why it’s important that you know why you’re making one. Do you want to discover who your audience is? Did you launch a new design and need some feedback? Are you considering making some changes and want to know how your audience will handle them? I ran my survey to figure out what my audience enjoyed about my content, and determine how they were finding that content. Knowing your purpose will help you come up with questions for the next step!

2. Come up with specific questions

Part of the reason I think my survey went so well was because of the questions I asked. I knew what I needed to know, so I asked exactly those questions rather than broad ones. For example, if you want to know whether your readers enjoy your content, don’t ask, “Do you enjoy reading my content?” Instead, ask something like, “What types of content do you enjoy reading the most?” and list out the different topics you post about so your readers can choose. The main point is, avoid asking yes or no questions wherever possible. Your readers have answers, so let them give them to you!

3. Order your questions so they flow well

You don’t want your readers feeling confused when they go through your survey, so making sure your questions flow is important. For example, if you have multiple questions about your content, group all of those together. I also grouped all of my short answer questions together and placed them at the bottom, so it doesn’t look like I’m asking my reader for a whole essay!

4. Create your survey

Now comes the fun part! You have multiple options when deciding where you want to host your survey, but I personally like Google Forms the most. It has an easy to use format, and lots of designs to choose from. My favorite feature is the spreadsheet they create with all of your responses, making it easy for you to see how the survey is going and get a quick glance at what people are saying.

5. Launch your survey

Once you’ve finished making your survey, it’s time to launch it! I launched mine through a blog post, where I explained why I was running the survey and what I was hoping to get out of it. This is also the time to put your social media skills to the test and spread the word. Tweet it, pin it, and share it everywhere! Here are some extra tips for making your launch successful:

- Create a sense of urgency. You want your followers to complete it sooner than later, so by setting a deadline (say 3 days), you’ll get more responses.

- Don’t just tell people to complete it. Tell them why you’re doing this, and give them a good reason to decide on their own that they want to participate.

- Include an incentive if you think your efforts aren’t working. Maybe send a freebie to everyone who participates!

6. Collect and interpret your data

After your determined time period is over, take some time to look at your responses and analyze them. Are there any trends? Surprises? Make a list of these notes. Hopefully they gave you the information you were looking for!

7. (Optional) Create a graphical display and share the results with your readers

Have some fun and put the data you got into a beautiful infographic. This will make it easy for your readers to see how your survey went, and gives you something to look back on! I decided to post about my results too, but that’s totally optional.

If you have more questions, feel free to Tweet at me or comment below!