This is the seventh in a very exciting series we’re bringing to you on IFB in anticipation of the upcoming #IFBcon. Each day in the month of August, we’ll have a different post designed to help your blog become – you guessed it – bigger, better and bolder!
This topic may feel a little “back to basics,” for some of you, but creating a solid foundation of pages for your site is essential to your infrastructure – and if you’ve already got them set up, a little polish and shine before #IFBcon never hurt!
Your “Home” page is arguably the most important of all, but since it’s pretty self-explanatory, we wont discuss it here. Just be sure that your header clicks through back to your main page, and that along the top of your blog, where your pages are listed, “Home” is first on the far left.
It’s up to each individual to decide how many pages you feel you need on your blog. You may want to put your “about” information and “contact” info on the same page, and do the same for your FAQ and disclosure. Just be sure that if you’re combining that information, it’s clear and visible with headings.
About
Oh you guys, the About page is so important. This is likely the first page that new visitors will check out, and brands will always go there as well. As Ashe mentioned back in January, writing the content for this page is both difficult and vital. The text you provide should be informative, to-the-point, and chock-full of personality. You may want to include a bit about your background, where you’re located, how you define your style and what people can expect to find on your blog. (And possibly indicate these topics with headers.) Keep this page brief and entertaining – consider breaking it down into a bulleted list!
Contact
There are some varying schools of thought when it comes to how to let readers, followers and brands get in touch. Some are very pro “contact form” and some are very anti. From our viewpoint, it’s better to create a separate email for your blog, that you can then feed into your personal inbox. Contact forms can be a huge deterrent because they can feel like they don’t lead to a real person, and create an impersonal relationship between you and your readers.
FAQ
Also known as “frequently asked questions.” Here’s the page where you can cover a whole myriad of topics. Think about all the things you’ve been asked about your blog, by everyone. Where does the name come from? Why did you start blogging? What kind of camera do you use? You may also want to answer questions about photo credits and content sources here, as well as sponsorships, gifted items and advertising. An FAQ page is your sounding board to field common inquiries and hopefully minimize tedious email exchanges.
Policies & Disclosure
If you want to get more in depth than FAQ when it comes to how you work with brands, your advertising policy, and sponsorship details, you may want to devote a whole page to “disclosure.” This way your readers and potential partners have access to all the information about your policies. If you accept gifted items, post sponsored content and host giveaways, you’ll want to have this.
As your blog grows and you develop a strategy with your content, you may need to add more pages, but these four should get you started. Eventually you may want a page that directs to your press coverage and collaborations, your outfit photos, video tutorials, etc.
They actually help me moving forward everytime!
Great tips! After reading this, I’m definitely considering re-vamping my blog to include these pages. I’ve got “about” and “contact” pages, but not the rest.