Another way that you can make it easier for your readers to read your blog is to make sure that your categories and tags are created and grouped properly. Categories and tags exist for a reason – so that people can find certain posts under specific topics easily. If your posts are mislabeled, then readers may not find what they are looking for. Oh, of course, if they are patient enough to go through the whole archives they will eventually find the appropriate post. However, I doubt that everyone will want to do this all the time. So, try taking a second – even a third – look at your categories and tags and make sure that they are properly organized.

Don’t make it hard for readers to leave their comments. It is understandable that you would want to set certain measures in place in order to weed out spam comments. However, in your efforts to do so, do not overlook the ease that readers are looking for. For example, requiring readers to sign in is a very effective way of avoiding spam comments. This, however, would turn off many readers to leave their comments. Look for alternatives such as plug-ins or word verification instead.

Make subscribing easy. You want readers to subscribe to your blog so that they can keep up with your updates easily. Place the subscribe link or button on all pages and in an obvious location.

In the previous post, we focused on two general – but major – aspects of blogging that you need to work on in order to optimize your blog for your readers. Indeed, layout and content work hand in hand and should be designed with your readers in mind.

There are, however, many other aspects of blogging which you can pay attention to in order to make your blog better with your readers in mind. They may fall under either of the topics mentioned in the last post.

Easy navigation is a must for any blog that aims to be successful. This has something to do with both content and layout. Blogging is all about presenting content from a more realistic point of view AND it is about finding all the relevant content with minimal effort. That is why you should design your blog with the idea that you will be making it easy for your reader to find relevant posts, links to your archives, and even external links to your sources.

Some practical ideas:

-make sure the HOME button or link is easy to find; the header would be a good location for this.
-your archives should be easy to find as well; upper right or left column would be ideal. The idea is for the readers NOT to have to scroll down to find these links.
-other relevant links such as the About page should also be in a conspicuous location.
-sources or supplementary information to your posts should have links within the posts themselves. This way, the reader just has to click on the anchor text.

I was browsing through one of my blog network forums the other day and I ran across an interesting thread entitled “Describe the reason you blog in one word.” The responses were quite varied but in the pattern that I noticed is that bloggers who wrote personal blogs tended to write for themselves while bloggers who wrote for business purposes tend to have the reader in mind.

When it comes to business blogs, the reader should be the foremost consideration. Have you asked yourself whether your business blog is optimized for your readers? Take a look at some of these considerations that could help you tweak your blog.

Content
I’ve written about this time and again but it wouldn’t hard to do it again (and again and again, if necessary). Your content should be geared towards meeting the needs and expectations of your readers. You want them to keep coming back for more and to patronize your business. Give them what they want.

Layout
Again, content may be king but the layout matters a great deal as well. Try putting yourself in your readers’ shoes. How would you like to keep on reading long blocks of longwinded text? How would you like to get lost in those long blocks? I bet you wouldn’t appreciate that – neither would your readers. Provide them with a pleasant experience – both in terms of content and layout. A great combination of these two factors would give you good results in terms of reader satisfaction.