Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to some common blog features. If you decide to purchase these plugins through these links, I’ll receive a small commish at no cost to you.
Starting a blog is exciting, isn’t it? You’ve got all kinds of feels like excitement and nervousness because you can’t wait to share your content with the world!
But before you launch your blog and publish your first blog post, there are some things you want to doublecheck before you go live.
Your checklist of things to do before your launch date can get pretty long. And in all the excitement of publishing your first post, it’s common to overlook certain blog features you need to grow your blog and engage with your audience.
Common Blog Features That Are Missing From A Website
I’ve done blog reviews for new bloggers. I noticed three key blog features that were missing so I thought I’d share what those are with you and how you can fix these common newbie mistakes.
No Social Media Share Buttons
Believe it or not there are still some blogs that have no share buttons. If you want visitors to share your awesome content, you have to have social media share buttons. Another common mistake is the buttons are so small that a visitor can miss them altogther.
I love the Social Warfare Plugin*. Their free plan offers placement features and standard color icons. But their premium plan lets you customize the icons to your brand’s colors. And there are other perks too like click to tweet options.
No Comments Section
This is another blog feature that is missing from some blogs. If you want to build an engaging community you have to give your visitors the means to communicate with you and a comments section is one step.
Your theme already includes a comments section but if you want more bells and whistles you can check out commenting plugins like Jetpack*.
No Gravatar
There are a lot of bloggers who want to keep their privacy so they’ll use a logo or in some cases leave their profile pictureless. But folks like to put a face with the name. I know, it’s a tough decision. I’m naturally a private person but the decision was an easy one because I want to build a loyal following and gain their trust.
Not only that, there are a lot of bloggers who will not publish a comment without a gravatar. Instead they push it to their spam folder, which is the last place you want your comment to be.
To create your own gravatar, click here.
No Graphics
I also noticed there were no featured images set for blog posts. You might not think it’s important but when someone shares your content, you want to make sure the image you created for it is pulled.
Without a featured image, Facebook, Twitter even Pinterest may pick up any image within your web page and that includes banner ads. Remember, you’re representing your brand so you want your blog posts to be on point.
Final Words On These Common Blog Features New Bloggers Miss
I sure hope you found this post helpful. It’s always good to view your website from a visitor’s point of view. Browse around the posts and pages to make sure your site is eye-catching, inviting and user-friendly and take note of anything you want to improve.
Over to You
Have you ever had a blog review? What was the experience like? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
Please share this post with anyone you know would benefit from these tips.
