Is your weblog doing what you set it up to do? Are we at One Degree following best practices? Given that blogs are now being credited as news sources, it’s timely to review some tips in weblog usability, courtesty of usability guru Jakob Nielsen.
Have you committed any of these weblog usability fauxpas’? Let’s see how One Degree fares:
1. No Author Biographies – no, we’ve got ’em.
2. No Author Photo – most contributors have a photo (see chairman Ken)
3. Nondescript Posting Titles – let’s see, looking at last week’s top 10 list, we were 10/10. Nielsen’s article includes good tips for article headings, important for getting the attention of your target audience and for search.
4. Links Don’t Say Where They Go – no, we do this well.
5. Classic Hits are Buried – other than the previous week’s most popular articles, these are not easy to find… yet.
6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation – you can navigate One Degree browsing backwards, or by author or topic in the left navigation bar.
7. Irregular Publishing Frequency – there is always something new here, so not a problem! Except if you are not Canadian and it’s Thanksgiving Monday.
8. Mixing Topics – we’re all pretty good at keeping on topic with online marketing, and providing topics in major and subheadings.
9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss – this one is about making sure what you write you won’t regret. I can’t answer that one for my fellow contributors, but seeing as we are Canadian, even Canadians living abroad, I’m counting on our inherent politeness to check that off.
10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service – absolutely not, or how would you find us? That’s why we’re at OneDegree.ca, not onedegree.blogcompany.com. And even if in Canada it might cost $50 for a domain and hosting for a year who wouldn’t say it’s worth it?
Overall, for a blog that is 7 months old, getting 9 out of 10 is more than acceptable. Congratulations Ken!
For the list of tips with explanations visit Useit.com.