Let's Get Engaged: Open Blog Surgery

This is the third article in the social media strategies series "Let's Get Engaged"

Doing a blogsite makeover was like doing surgery or even entering into a volcano.........there was preparation  before, during, and after the actual event. Being well versed in blogger, a decent amount of preparation and good communication with the other party on what they wanted makes all the difference between a good well done makeover lasting several hours or a disastrous makeover that could last several days or weeks.

The day before I did the makeover, I began preparing in little ways. I looked at all the blogsites I normally use and I went to articles on how to do tricks and hacks and I saved the ones I knew that I would need. That way when I was actually doing the changeover, I had bookmarked everything I wanted to do or changed so when the time came, I could quickly refer to it while in the midst of doing the makeover itself.  I also had to be prepared and have a backup plan because when you deal with HTML and codes, it goes one or two ways....either it works or it was SUPPOSED to work.

Every blogsite is a little different but there are certain things that should be consistant in every blogsite. On my check-list of things to make sure are there were a favicon, numbered page navigation, a search bar, and some kind of widget that will give easy access to twitter, facebook, rss feed etc. There has to be a counter and a share button. I get all my share buttons from addthis.com. Not only that I am signed up to their twitter and facebook so that the moment there is new news on social media or sharing tools, I know about it.

And don't forget that in addition to all those changes, you have to add some things as an added benefit to those who come. As a general rule of thumb I like all all my blogs to feature the feed of another blog and I arrange it so that when people click on the link to another blogs feed, it will open up another tab. That way people don't actually leave my blogsite when going onto another blogsite.  Having made all my preparations, it was then time to enter into the mouth of the volcano,  in blogger terms we call that the HTML!!!

When I uploaded the template, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the blog had a search bar already installed as well as a customizable navigation bar where I could customize a mini menu where people will have access to the store, fan site and where I could arrange it so that people can subscribe to the RSS feed all in one place. I actually wound up saving time because the template was so well designed that I didn't need to add a search bar manually or a widget for access to different social media sources. In addition, the two colums to the side give plenty of space for me to add widgets to stream in twitter, flicker, and feeds from other blogs. The best part is that there is still lots of space to add more widgets in the future.

After the changeover, it was important for me to check in and follow up on the blog to make sure that everything is working right. When working with codes, you never really know how things are going to go.  The basic changeover had been done and now it's just to make sure that the blogsite has been maximized for the highest level of engagement. Little things like having a good commenting system installed like Intensedebate can and will make all the difference in future. I use Disqus too and recently I updated some of my other blogsites with Disqus.

The whole blogsite may seem like a beautiful cake but the cherry on top definitely has to be the installation of  twitter anywhere.  It's a neat hack that makes user twitters profiles show up when you hover the mouse over their twitter account name. From there users can follow that person on twitter or they can click on the account name and go straight to that person's twitter page. A big thanks to @rahuljrark

Bamboobino is the name of the blogsite that I madeover and here you can see the example of all the hacks and widgets as well as the template that I installed. If there is any doubt in anyone's mind about whether any of the changes I made to the blog made a difference, I'll let you know that on the first day after the makeover within a 24 hr period there were more than 40 subscriptions to the blogsite's feed.

One of the biggest challenges of trying to make a name for yourself through the internet is that people can neither see you, nor hear you, or interact with you face to face. This is why good design is a fundamental on a blogsite....it is where people are going to get their first impressions of you.  And what a well done blog design can do for you is tell your site visitors alot about you even before you've type one word on a blogpost.

Check out this page with 100 inspiring quotes on design.....