Followed by the content area, a blog sidebar is the most seen part of a webpage and it is necessary to spice it up with few good items in it to make the most of it, make it look attractive and to help you reduce site bounce rate, increase time a reader spend on your site, increase engagement and also earn money through it. So, here below I am listing down those 15 popular items I found common on blogs which should be included in a sidebar.
1. Short Bio About Yourself
Most of the blogs have it and it is good to have a short introduction of yourself on your blog because it establish your existence and your expertise. You can also share a link to your about me page.2. Contact Information
If you are using your blog to generate business or sell your services then you might want to include your quick contact information in your sidebar.3. BlogRoll
One of the most common item you will notice while visiting any other blog. Blogroll is a kind of a gratitude you give to the other blogs you like around you by providing links to them.4. Links Of Your Other Blogs In Network
If you are having more than one site and you’re running a blog network then it is necessary to share those other blogs’ links in your sidebar so that they can be easily get navigated through and generate some traffic as well.5. Picture Of Yours
There will be many visitors wanting to know who you are and how you look. So having a picture of your own in your sidebar will help you doing this. As you can notice that in my footer, it will let readers know who you are.6. Archives
A small and simple drop down menu list can be provided containing your archives or whichever suits your theme styling. This can help you reduce your bounce rate and snatch readers’ attention.7. Categories
It makes things easy for the readers to quickly navigate through the articles they are interested to read in.8. Latest Articles
I don’t consider this to be very important as your latest articles can easily be found on your home page if it is not a static one. So not so necessary but good if you have it.9. Popular Articles
Yes, this is a kind of an important item which you can include in your sidebar. It highlights your best content of the day/month/year whichever you prefer and gets the readers’ attention to it.10. Search Tool
A must have for any blog because it makes easy for the blog readers to find your older articles through a keyword or a search term.11. Feed Subscription
It is necessary to have feed subscribers in order to build quality traffic which is trustworthy and to get that, you will need to highlight your feed links or buttons. As you can see in my sidebar, subscribe to my feeds here.12. Recent Comments
This can increase readers’ engagement in your articles by showing up your latest comments and articles on which they’ve been made.13. Advertisements
It is always said that a blog should not be flooded with advertisements but it is fine to have some light amount of advertisements in your sidebar. You can use Google AdSense banner or BuySellAds banners to monetize through your sidebar.14. Facebook Fan Page Widget Or Other Social Links
Many blogs do have their Facebook Fan Page as a part of their blog promotion method and it should be included as I’ve got over 4500 fans through my Facebook Page and moreover, Twitter, Digg, Stumble Upon links can be added to it as well.15. your Addition?
Do you have any other addition to the list or have any item which you think should be included in this list? Do drop in your views about this article and let me know if you have any other addition to it.
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