You know it seems that the longer I have this blog and continue to write business blogging tips and blogging tips for beginner bloggers the more emails I receive asking for more tips on blogging. I enjoy all of the emails I get even if it seems like it takes me forever to get back to you, I answer every single email just like I respond to just about every comment here on my blog. Last week Stephan emailed me and asked me my opinion about just how much “stuff” is too much stuff to display on a business blog, Stephan will be launching a small business blog using WordPress with Thesis Theme.
Stephan attached two links in his email, one of the links was to a sports blog that resembled a very clean web 2.0 layout and the other link was to a sports blog that was loaded with information, pictures, banner exchanges and links… lot’s and lot’s of links.
Since I seem to be getting this question more and more I figured it might be a good idea to just post my thoughts here for Stephan as well as anyone else that might be interested in blogging and find my opinion useful.
I’m not into trashing other bloggers in the community so I won’t be posting any screen shots or links to the two sites that I looked at or any other blog for that matter, I know how much time and effort this takes and respect anyone that does it. Now with that being said I will say that the sports blog was a train wreck, the sports blog had enough banners, buttons and link exchanges in the sidebar to throw someone into a fit. Every single area of the blog that could possibly have an advertisement or link did, not to mention you had to scroll a half a page just to get through all of the Google AdSense ads in order to see the first post title. Bottom line, there isn’t a chance I would stick around and click anything on this blog.
The other link that Stephan sent over took me to a sports blog that was clean, very simple to read and easy to navigate. There were also Google Ad Sense ads and a few banners in the sidebar, but nothing like the other sports blog I mentioned above. One of the things that really stood out to me was the fact that even with less banners and ad’s I managed to remember the affiliate programs and products that were being sold on the site, meanwhile I can’t remember a single advertisement or link on the over aggressive heavily linked blog.
There is an old saying that I think bloggers need to consider each and every time they decide to copy and paste something new in the sidebar or add a new massive banner area under the header, the saying is simple and easy to remember….. “Less is more.” Stop making it hard for your readers to find your content, using the smallest font size possible then loading up your page with ads, banners and exchanges isn’t going to add any more money to your bottom line.
Clean up the crap on your blog that really serves no purpose, and remember always keep in mind that just because you know where something on your blog is, doesn’t mean that the average reader or first time visitor does.
6 Tips to a Clutter Free Blog
1. Don’t add things to your sidebars that you don’t need.
2. Don’t make your visitors scroll to find the post content.
3. Avoid plugins that add clutter, example: floating toolbars.
4. Track stats and remove unproductive ad’s.
5. Avoid trying to “fill space”.
6. Purge monthly to reduce dead link exchanges and banner networks.
I hope this answers Stephan’s question and who knows maybe it will help a few of the bloggers that subscribe to my rss feed.
Now I’m curious what your thinking, leave a comment and give us your two cents on blog clutter or share a few additional tips that might help a few beginner bloggers out.
Cole Stan (2)
KyAus @ Those.Tips (2)
SafariDave (2)
{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
Yeah, it sure is refreshing to see someone come out and acknowledge the elephant in the room when it pertains to blogging… the countless ads and monetizing systems.
While I would hope that my blog doesn’t cross the line of too much information, I acknowledge that there’s more that I can do to make my blog more user friendly… but that goes for everyone. We should all concern ourselves with the matter of user friendliness. After all, we want people to ENJOY visiting our site, right?
Trey – Swollen Thumb Entertainment´s last blog ..Top 10 Twitter Links of The Week #2
yes, it is always good to have clean Blog with less Banners.
Kevin S @Free Vector Graphics´s last blog ..Popular Brands That Are Using WordPress
@Kevin S @Free Vector Graphics, some of these sites I see out there have header toolbars, footer toolbars, double sidebars and a half hour to scroll before you reach the content. Hate it.
@Extreme John, lol, we too
Kevin S @Free Vector Graphics´s last blog ..Funny Emoticons
Offtopic: “I answer every single email” … I’m still waiting for a reply on my Tweet Adder mail I sent you 10 days ago
Ontopic: You’re right about the 6 tips. I really need to apply some of them to my blog and do a spring clean now that Spring is just around the corner!
Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Avatar 3D – The Hardware Behind The Movie
@Klaus @ TechPatio, haha.
“Off topic” I get something like 300 emails a day, way more then I have a chance to get to, if it’s in there I will be answering you
As for your blog it def isn’t packed with a bunch of crap thats for sure.
OK John, I’ve had people tell me I have too many ads on my blog. What do you think. You can be perfectly honest John, you know it won’t make a bit of difference to the way I do things cause I’m a stubborn Aussie, but I wouldn’t mind your opinion.
@Sire@WassupBlog, nothing wrong with a little constructive criticism… or at least another view.
I think as a reader of your blog the most frustrating thing is the half page scroll before reaching the content, I understand why you do it and know the top ad’s can be very profitable. However I do think you might be surprised about how that effects your internal clicks, bounce rate and a few other things. However if it’s paying off big then you need to do what’s best for Sire
If the reward from that top header or ROI isn’t worth it I would be ripping it out. I already hate how large my header is because it causes an extra scroll before you see the second post title.
@Extreme John, No sweat John. I reckon I’ll leave it for now, seeing as how I’m used to it and all and no-one has really complained about it. Also it is producing a lot of click, some of which is converting to sales, and seeing as how the blog seems to be getting busier I reckon most people are fine with it.
I could probably shrink it some by reducing the font and removing one of the links. I’ll sleep on it some and maybe look into that tomorrow.
@Sire@WassupBlog, sounds like you have a plan bro. Another option and one that will improve CTR is if you work that same ad that’s getting sales in to your blog posts with text links etc as a natural part of your article, it will allow you to target your traffic at those specific ads you want to make money off of.
@Extreme John, The thing is John the majority of my blog posts aren’t targeted at ads at all.
Sire@WassupBlog´s last blog ..Where The Bloody Hell Are You…….
It is always good to have a clean uncluttered interface. It makes it easy for user-navigation! Being user-friendly attracts a lot of crowd!
Rohit Sane@Tech-Freak Stuff´s last blog ..How to Make your Blog/Website more User-Friendly?
@Rohit Sane@Tech-Freak Stuff, your blog is super clean, I can see how that works for you.
Hi John,
I’m in total agreement with you … it’s something I’ve been preaching for quite some time. Especially on a “social” type blog, throwing up a bunch of flashy banner ads is just not very effective. Most bloggers would actually probably make More money if they were to pick one or two programs that have a history of working well on their site, and get rid of everything else. When people are presented with too many choices, often times they end up making no decision at all.
Todd Morris´s last blog ..Tequila + C130 Flight = Very Bad Day
@Todd Morris, it’s that initial urge that EVERY square inch of space needs to be packed and full of text links, banner ads etc.
Amazing insight John, I love the part that less is more. I am curious about your opinion on my site. Though i use ads to make money. I think i can camouflage ads in a better way so that it is not intrusive but still earns for me.
gautam hans´s last blog ..How to get more retweets for your post
@gautam hans, your blog couldn’t be more clean then it is brother
haha, sound like tips for a spring cleaning. I’m so glad my two little blogs look pleasant enough.
scheng1´s last blog ..Reflection on stock market correction
@scheng1, doing a little spring cleaning is never a bad thing.
Hey John,
really timely post. There seems to be quite a bit of clutter out there that only serves to distract from the content. All of those flashing banners and such often take up valuable above the fold real estate, while returns can be less than desired, unless you have boatloads of traffic.
Of course, everyone is the King or Queen of their own castle, but this post will at least give pause for some serious thought. :-)
Jimi Jones´s last blog ..Completely Off Topic – Seth Rollins
@Jimi Jones, if anything I hope it teaches new bloggers or beginner bloggers that they don’t need to rush in to having ads all over the place, there is an art to making money online.
Sure, it is great to have clean blogs so the readers can understand easily what our blog about. Overwhelming our blog with advertise or other un-related thing surely can miss lead the readers.
Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..My English is Poor Enough, Therefore I Blog
@Dana @ Blogging Update, great points Dana, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.
I can’t stand clutter or messiness. There is so much info on the internet that if your blog or website looks like a hot mess then people are just going to hit the back button and move on. I love new websites that look good and are easy to navigate.
@Anthony @ Jumpness, you certainly have nothing to worry about Anthony, your site design is awesome. I haven’t seen your blog yet (do you have one there)? I’m sure that’s super clean too.
I completely agree with this and all 6 steps, especially the toolbar, I see way too many blogs with that toolbar either at the top or the bottom and I never use it at all. Also people “SHOULD” find your content without having to scroll, imagine what an ad cluttered blog looks like to someone with a laptop with a 15″ screen or a mobile phone running Opera? They would never see your content at all and most likely move on.
Great article.
Dragon Blogger´s last blog ..Compete: Analytics at Your Fingertips
@Dragon Blogger, you make a great point by pointing out mobile phone users, they are growing in droves if your blog isn’t friendly on the web it won’t be friendly on the cell either. GREAT POINT!
I’m starting to take this personally. This is the second time in a week and the first one said she was talking to me, at least in the sense that I’m a blogger and I should take the time to see my blog through my visitors’ eyes.
No problem, I’m not perfect and there is always room for improvement. 
Good advice as always!
@Anne, thank you Anne. I wrote a post a while back discussing the very topic of taking off those blogging blinders check it out.
http://www.extremejohn.com/10-tips-for-removing-your-blogging-blinders/
All though I will say that I wouldn’t take this personally it’s not aimed at any one specific business blog or person. hehe.
@Anne, P.s. Anne your site is hardly cluttered with ads.
@Extreme John, Thank you, John.
I am never one to think I am not without need for improvement. I was 99.9% sure it wasn’t aimed at me.
Anne´s last blog ..Trash It, Sell It, Recycle It, Reuse It ~ Whatever You Do, Just Un-Clutter It
Drives me nuts when site owners make you have to absolutely hunt down the content. Sad they don’t realize that the only button their visitors will be hitting is the Back button.
Don’t know if it’s a new trend in design but I’ve been seeing more and more blogs where there is no navigation to earlier posts. They don’t have a categories menu either. Just the silly calendar showing how many posts they’ve done each month. Again, just another reason to hit the Back button – makes no sense.
Michele´s last blog ..Long Time, No Patterns
That’s the main reason I don’t look at the sidebar of any blog unless I’m looking for the archives section. Whatever happened to archives anyway? They do not seem to be used much anymore.
The “advertise here” blocks drive me nuts as well. I can understand one but if you have 7 squares that say advertise here wouldn’t that tend to mean you have no advertisers?
Dwippy@DoFollow Blog List´s last blog ..Comment Surfing
@Dwippy@DoFollow Blog List, advertise here blocks drive me nuts especially when there is more than one present. Wouldn’t you be better off having maybe 1 advertise here block with a few other ads in place?
@Extreme John, I couldn’t agree more John, check out…
http://www.directsaleswebmarketing.com/blank-blog-advertisement-slots-bad/
The comments are closed due to all being moved to a new blog, but it’ll resurface again eventually.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..The Time Has Come. The Deal Is Done. It’s Time To Move!!
excellent advice John! It’s something I need to do—I think Iremember saying to you last night that my xmas banners were still up on my site! Ah….someday when I have a lil free time I will!
Stiletto Sports Jen´s last blog ..NFC Championship Matchup & Pick: Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints
@Stiletto Sports Jen, haha thanks Jenn. It’s really time to kill those Christmas banners
i agree with you John,people don’t go to a blog to click on ads, ads are just secondary to the visitors and should be used with care.
let your visitors read content then they might stick around long enough to click on ads…
@mk akan, you make it sound so easy. Typically the best ways are easy ways right in front of our eyes, your writing the content anyway you might as well let people read it
This is very good advice. I don’t have any ads on my humor blog but I have to be careful about embedding anything on a page. Even innocent-looking sidebar links can make a page load slowly. I know no one outside my immediate family is going to wait to read my stuff. (Maybe not even them.http://www.extremejohn.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
kathcom´s last blog ..My Problem with Twitter and Facebook
The way I see it, communicate with your readers about what they want and then based on what your intentions are with your blog and with what they have explained they want, do that.
This isn’t rocket science but does take some consideration.
And yes, less is more. Always.
@Eric, great point Eric it’s def. not rocket science by any means.
I love this post! There’s so many times where I’ve been to blogs where the content isn’t the focus and the sidebar is cluttered with so much crap that it takes ten minutes to load it all!
Mike @DailyShotOfCoffee´s last blog ..Coffee Grounds And Filter
@Mike @DailyShotOfCoffee, I have been there too Mike and it’s annoying. It’s also the easiest way to get your blog removed from my feed reader hehe.
As far as keeping your content easy to find/read and above-the fold, where appropriate, GoogleLabs has a Browsersize tool, which will overlay a template on top of your website, so you can easily see what’s viewable inside of different monitors of different resolutions. Def check it out, if you’re playing with your layout.
Will@laser hair removal´s last blog ..Hairy Celebrity Slip-Up: Guess Who Bared Hairy Legs on the Golden Globes Red Carpet
@Will@laser hair removal, that’s a great tip Will thank you. You should write a guest post here about it
I didn’t know John Chow owned a sports blog…..
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..The Time Has Come. The Deal Is Done. It’s Time To Move!!
@Dennis Edell, what are you talking about?
@Extreme John, Aww, I so thought you would get that, lol, just a dig at JC and his endless barrage of ad crap…
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..The Time Has Come. The Deal Is Done. It’s Time To Move!!
Really good stuff. I had the same problem when I started out, having a lot of adds and features that were never looked at or clicked on. I am probably still a little guilty of placing too many ads on a page, but I have gotten better.
Steve @ TurboTax´s last blog ..The Making Work Pay Tax Credit
@Steve @ TurboTax, nothing wrong with some baby steps ;)
Plugins slow down blogs also and I was amazed @ the boost in speed I got after flushing over 12 plug-ins that weren’t worth my time.
Udegbunam Chukwudi@Work Online Nigeria´s last blog ..Facebook Naira Free Report Analysis
It really depends on the niche, IMO. In some niches, lots and lots of ads are almost expected. Of course, you can have the same amount of ads and work the layout to look less (or more) cluttered.
I usually prefer uncluttered, and that’s what I tried to achieve on b6s (easy when I don’t try to monetize the blog ;) ).
BTW, John, sorry about not having your comments show up earlier on my blog. Askimet decided you’re a spammer for some reason, so I had to un-spam them all.
Anne @ b6s.net´s last blog ..Managing the Content on Multiple Blogs
@kim@clean up credit history, haha anytime.
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