What's Above the Fold?

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! I know you're all excited that tomorrow's Friday, but I'm still bringing you a little tip today that may or may not explain a few things and/or make your life a hair easier. I hope you brought your coffee, pen, and paper! Let's goooooo!

So, today is all about that little thing in bloggerland known as a fold. What the heck? Nothing on the web folds, Jo!

Yeah, I know things don't literally fold, but let's think of a blog like a newspaper for a moment, shall we?

Everything a reader sees before they have to scroll down is considered above the fold. Now that we have the terminology down, let's get to what should be there and why it matters.

Examine my blog. You're looking at it right now, and you may still be where you haven't scrolled yet, so take a moment and really look. If you've moved down, scroll all the way back up.

What's the first thing you see? My name, right? Then a description of what you'll find on this blog.

After you see that, you notice I'm involved with utopYA con and INDIE Books Gone Wild. Now it's time for pages on my blog I think everyone who visits should become familiar with.

Awesome. Now you know where you are, why you are, and what kinds of things you can expect to find, right? Stopping here for a moment to talk about why those things matter and do a short comparison.

Remember when I talked about your blog as a newspaper? If you have one handy, grab it. Leave it folded in the middle, please. If you don't have one, use your imagination (or the picture below) to recall what they look like.

Now, you see a description (All the News That's Fit to Print), a title, a date, a price, and a headline, yes? Move on down and see the author's names and the good stuff.

Basically, everything above the fold on a newspaper is to tell you who, why, and what. It's the same with a blog. People need to know what they're getting into at a glance. Period.

But bloggers have extra stuff that should be above the fold:

• Date of most recent post
• Headline of most recent post
• Some way to share the post (or the blog)
• A way to subscribe to updates

I'm a thorough believer in less is more. Load time matters as much as aesthetics. More than fifteen seconds and folks leave. But the four items above are essential. Why?

Date: So people can see at a glance you're active now
Headline: So folks can be attracted to your writing
Sharing: Do I have to explain this one? Mine's buffer, but you can use anything.
Subscription Method: So people don't lose your awesome blog

Folks might look around for a way to subscribe or share if it's not in their faces, but don't bet on it. Make it easy to keep up.

I'm not going into other things you need to have. Everyone chooses differently. I used to have my bio, all kinds of widgets and banners and things, but my blog took forever to load. I cleaned house. Confusion does not encourage repeat visits.

Do you love it here? Why? Why not?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

lOOk at YoUr fAceBoOk

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about FaceBook pages. No, not your personal page that you add your best high-school buds to. Your business or fan page.

Go grab those pencils and paper and let's dive right in. You know the drill, right? First, let's see how you measure up.

Answer these questions about your FaceBook page:

1. Is your cover image all about you or your titles?
2. Are your links easy to find?
3. Do you know who you are at a glance (without clicking around)?
4. If a visitor leaves FaceBook after a glance, do they know what you're selling?
5. How many posts do you make per day?
6. Where can visitors find your promotions?
7. Does your cover image fit or is it cropped?
8. Is your FaceBook page branded to match your blog/website/twitter? 
9. Are you using Timeline?

Based on your observations, answer the following:

1. Can you rebrand your cover image and icon(s) so people know more about what you do?
2. Where can you put your links so they're easy to find?
3. How many places can your name go?
4. What kind of content could you include to let visitors know what your products are?
5. How many posts could you make per day?
6. Are your images the best quality they can be?
7. Why aren't you using Timeline?

Now, go check out this post by Liberty on how to add things like cover images for your tabs, install apps, and size requirements. Then come on back and let's implement those ideas.

A few tips on fixing the above:

1. Upgrade to Timeline. Please. It will give you a million more options.
2. Design your cover image in some kind of software (Liberty mentions Gimp and it's a good alternative) that allows you to specify size. Create a new image per the requirements and brand that puppy. On a side note, I've heard authors say their book covers are their brand and they couldn't be more correct. However, what happens when you have more than one book? I strongly suggest branding yourself with either: your face, a logo, your name in a specific font, or a font + a color scheme. If you use your face, have a professional photograph taken, please!
3. Put your links on your about page or add your url to your cover image in a way that's not annoying. For example: If you use YourName in large letters, you can add .com in smaller letters on the end.
4. Make sure your name either appears in your cover image OR your icon. Even if your icon is your face, add your name to it. Won't hurt, will help.
5. Make sure folks know what books you've written or what you're selling at a glance. You have ten seconds to make an impression. Please make one that lasts.
6. How can you add valuable content via posts to your timeline? When you see something you like while browsing with your personal page, share it on your business page as well.
7. Add apps or icons with your promotions. This can be as simple as a rafflecopter embed. Trust me, just do eet!
8. Make sure your images are at least 72dpi. No one wants to look at a blurry photograph.
9. Once you have your name, book covers, and logo or image on there, consider your branded color scheme and add elements of those as well. Remember your icon will overlap your cover image a bit on the lower, left-hand side. Design accordingly.

Remember, you can get tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book. For just $2.99 I talk branding, formatting, and design for indies.

Don't forget to enter the blog party giveaway! There's three copies of The Indie Author's Guide in there just waiting for you to win!

If anyone noticed, I added ten signed Mystic/WSTW bookmarks to the giveaway! Enjoy and good luck!

Question of the day: Did you know everything above? Are you interested in learning more about branding?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

lOOk at YoUr bLog

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about a scary trend I'm seeing in blogs: too much CLUTTER and not enough Legibility.

Do you visit your own blog? Do you pay attention to the clutter/continuity/legibility? If I click on your blog, do I know instantly who you are and where I am? Is your blog well organized? These are questions we're going over today so grab that pencil and paper and let's get going!

Go take a look now and write down the following:

1. Number of Ads (count them)
2. Size of Font (large, small, decent?)
3. Contrast (red on black? purple on black? yellow on white?) of both posts AND sidebar matter.
4. Legibility (how many spelling errors do you spot?)
5. Ease of Navigation (search box or link list?)
6. Recognition of Name (is your blog title and url the same?)
7. Busyness (how many elements do you see before you scroll?)
8. Ways to Follow (how many, and how far must you scroll before finding one?)
9. Easy Links (count them and where do they point?)
10. Imagery (does it match your content?)
11. How many other blogs are you linking to?
12. Can I contact you or connect with you in an obvious way?
13. Does your blog title match your URL?

Got all that? Excellent! Let's really take a look at your design and work on making it user/reader friendly. Answer these questions based on your observations:

1. What do those ads do for you?
2. Can a large number of people read your blog easily?
3. How's your contrast? Contrast is how well your type shows up on the background.
4. How can you reduce spelling errors?
5. What links or content can you ad to help your readers find what they're looking for?
6. If you didn't know who you were, would others if they found you from an outside link?
7. Do you see your name right away or a way to find/follow you? How does that impact your readers?
8. Can you improve upon letting interested readers find you elsewhere?
9. Think about your photo for a minute. Is it relevant?
10. Of those blogs you link to, how many link back?
11. Where do your contact links lead me?
12. How can you fix the consistency?

Now, take these steps to improve your blog:

1. DELETE 9/10 of the ads. I don't need to scroll longer than your post. Bottom matter does not get my attention and clutters up your blog. Keep your ads relevant. If you want to promote your book, GREAT! Make a new page and link me to it. If I find your writing interesting, I'll click it and buy.
2. If your font is small or curly or grungy, go to a larger font size and do away with the "cutesy" elements. You don't need them and it irritates readers.
3. Please, for the love of all that's good in the world, make your font black and your background white or some other color combo that's high in contrast (no purple or red on black, PLEASE). Make sure there's a background for other elements, as well. I hate it when I can't read what you've posted.
4. Give me easy to find ways to follow you on every platform you appear on. Make it easy to find. Don't hide it in a barrage of ads or other crap I'm gonna have to sift through.
5. Be consistent. If your blog doesn't match your FB, Twitter, LinkedIN, and website, change it to match, please. Your readers and fans need to be able to identify you at a glance.
6. Break your blog down into topics and give me a handy link list or go tag your posts with relevant key words and provide me with a search box.
7. If your picture is your book cover, that's great and all, but what happens when you have fifty books out there? Are you gonna use them all? No. Make a decision. Either brand with your face or a logo along with your color scheme and font choices, please.
8. Are you promoting other people more than you're promoting yourself? Yes? Well, if they don't return the favor, STOP. Work with people that work with you.
9. Change either your blog title or the URL that goes with it. They should be the same.

I hope this helps in some small way. If you look at my myriad of sites, you'll see consistency of imagery, colors, and style. You won't see a ton of ads to distract you, the urls and usernames are synonymous, and you'll have a pleasant experience overall. Check them out:
writejomichaels.com
facebook.com/writejomichaels
twitter.com/writejomichaels
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114811793830742823838
http://www.amazon.com/Jo-Michaels/e/B0088XK8JE
http://pinterest.com/writejomichaels/

Note the URLs of all are either jomichaels or writejomichaels. You'll know, by the consistency, that you have the write one when you find me.

Remember, you can get tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book. For just $2.99 I talk branding, formatting, and design for indies.

Don't forget to enter the blog party giveaway! There's three copies of The Indie Author's Guide in there just waiting for you to win!

Question of the day: Did you find your blog needing a lot of changes? Did you implement them as you went?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo