Easy Blog Design Tutorials For The Blogspot Blogger #2 // Sidebar Edition

Sidebars.

The look of your sidebar is one of the most important things of your blog. (Except for, perhaps, the header.) This is where readers can immediately look for ways to follow your blog, see where you are present on other social media platforms, and learn a bit more about you.

There are SO many times I arrive at a new blog and am overwhelmed with the sidebar. There's just too many gadgets -- and unneeded ones. You don't need that fish feeder or pageview stat counter. Unsure of what to put on your sidebar? Keep reading, and when in doubt, keep it simple. 

I thought of the sidebar as having three main purposes:

1. introduce.

2. follow.

3. promote.

Let's look at the points in more detail. 

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1. introduce. 

Something your sidebar definitely needs is YOU. This is your blog, and readers will want to know quirks or facts about you upon visiting. (Is she a writer? A beauty blogger? Photographer? Pizza-lover?) 

To draw in a reader right away is with a picture of your face. (so we know you're human and not a robot.) Upload this picture with the "add an image" gadget, and add a "text" gadget underneath to share your short bio.

To make your picture a circle like mine, simply upload it to Picmonkey, click "frames," and then "shape cutouts."

And no, do not write out your whole bio. And please don't use the  basic blogger "about me" gadget. Like I said above, just add a text gadget  and type what you want readers to know. (No more than three sentences.) Underneath this small bio you can link to your more in-depth 'about me' page. [Ex. What I did with the read more text.]

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2. follow.

If people like what they see on your blog, the next step for them is to follow it! *confetti* The most popular following methods (for blogspot bloggers): 

Google Friend Connect

Email
Bloglovin'

Google Friend Connect: 

It took me absolutely FOREVER to figure out how to add this gadget. If you're having troubles -- you're not the only one.

Go to gadgets, more gadgets, and then proceed to scroll until you find the followers gadget.

Email: 

Email is the second most popular way readers follow my blog. Here are a few customization tutorials to make it look nice and snazzy.

Customized email gadget for blogger.

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And here's another customized email gadget tutorial:

Bloglovin'

Haven't heard of Bloglovin'? It's another way to follow blogs -- an online reader feed. Each day it will update the new posts from the blogs you stalk (*ahem* follow.) and allows you to save posts you especially love into folders for later reference.

Make sure to "claim" your blog on Bloglovin'. You'll then receive notification when people follow you or save a post. Bloglovin' has tutorials on their site that you can follow.

Social Media Icons:

If readers really want to stalk follow you on all social media sites, social media icons are your next step. They're typically placed beneath your picture or short bio. 

Here's a list of 100 different downloadable social media icons with a tutorial.

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3. promote.

If you're an author, you can promote your books. If you're an owner of an etsy shop, promote that. Keep it simple, keep it small, and there's no need to mention it multiple times. Readers will hunt down what they're looking for if they really want to know. 

Cue the bloggers who say: "But I don't have anything to promote..." 

... You're wrong.

One of the things you can do promote is your own posts! Here are the gadgets that will help you in doing so:

1. Popular posts. 

Once I visit a blog and want to see if I'll be interested in reading any more of their posts, the "popular posts" gadget is one way I can quickly be informed of the types of articles they post. Go to layout > add a gadget > popular posts.

Don't like how the pictures aren't very large or set up? You can enlarge your popular post pictures with this tutorial. (like I did.)

2. Archives. 

It's rare that I go through the archives of someone's blog. But if I REALLY love a blog, I'll take an evening and read all of their posts. Or sometimes I need to reference a post a couple months back. This is where the archives come in handy. 

The default blogger archive is just kind of... blah. But guess what? Just yesterday I found a fantastic tutorial to make the archives look non-blah. :P (example is over on my sidebar -- see the archives) I love the clean look and the easy to navigate panels. 

Here's how to customize your archive gadget for blogger.

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general sidebar design.

Every so often I come across a blog that has the sidebar on the left of the post area. While this is unique and catches your eye, it catches your eye too much. Instead of focusing on the content of the post area, your gaze will automatically travel to the sidebar and can become distracting. While this isn't a huge deal, I personally would recommend keeping it on the right side of the blog.

It's very important to keep your sidebar to one column. You have no idea how insane it drives me when the follow-by-email gadget and the archives are smushed together side by side making it impossible to navigate either of them. Keep your gadgets in a straight line; this will prevent the general look from becoming messy. 

Keep the number of tags you have to a minimum. I've searched countless times for a tutorial to fix this mess below, but I have yet to find one. *disgruntled sigh* So until I come across that live-saving tutorial, keep the number of tags you have to a minimum. I could label this post under: blogging, design, sidebars, link, tutorials, and how-to, but instead I have just one tag I put it under: blogging. Try to insert no more than three tags to a post.

I've actually deleted my tags gadget, but this is what it used to look like. Messy, but better than having 20+ tags. And if you DO have tons of tags, just delete the tag gadget on your sidebar. Readers will still be able to browse the posts under that tag by finding it in the footer of a post.

Notice how my sidebar has a colored background? Here's how to add a background color to your Blogger sidebar.

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- Katie Grace

Phew! That was a lengthy post, but hopefully it was helpful. There's a lot to say on this topic. 
What do you like to see on sidebars? If you want me to check out yours, drop your blog URL below. :)

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