Congratulations! You have created your first blog. You have probably already chosen your theme and maybe have already written your first post.

You may be wondering, what next?

There are a few beneficial elements to incorporate into your blog that will help you be successful with whatever blogging goals you may have. This is not one of those posts that says “do this or else!” Rather, it is to give you other things to consider when building your blog.

Here are five things to include in your blog.

About Me Page

Creating an “About Me” page is a way to add your personal touch to your blog. It gives the reader a taste of what your blog is about while introducing them to your writing style. Whenever I find a blog post that I like, one of the things I like to do is to visit their “About Me” page to get a feel of who they are.

Contact Page

A page where others can contact you is imperative! My “Contact Me” page has been where I have received many opportunities that range from guest writing to promoting a movie. A contact page gives people a chance to connect with you.

How you go about creating one is up to you.

When I first started blogging, I had no problem putting my email on my website. I began to receive spam emails and emails without the sender’s name or blog.

Nowadays, I use the WordPress contact form that is customizeable and retrieves all the necessary information in an easy to read and respond format. I also seem to receive less spam emails and while getting the information I need to respond such as their name!

An Easy Way to Follow You

Over the years, WordPress has toyed with the location of the “follow” button. The most recent update seems to have it fading in and out of the blog page. This is why it is important to create another way for users to consistently identify how to follow you. It is even better if you get them to follow you and receive email notifications for your post.

There are several ways to accomplish this such as:

• Setting up an email list and placing it on your blog
• Using the WordPress widget to set up a follow button

Widgets are the pieces of content that you can add to customize and enhance your blog. Every theme has different widgets so you’ll want to play around with the ones available for your theme to see what is most beneficial for you.

Enable Comments 

What’s the fun in blogging if you can’t get any feedback? Comments are where you can get to know who your readers are and what they like in a personal manner. It is also a place to meet other great bloggers!

When blogging with WordPress, the comments are usually not automatically enabled. You will know if yours is active by going to your blog and clicking on a post. If it there is a comment box, then you are good to go, if not, follow these steps.

Even if comments are enabled on your site, you can customize your comment experience by following these steps.

1. Go to your dashboard
2. Click Settings
3. Go to Discussion Settings
4. Make Your Selection

You can also use these instructions to change the comment prompt that viewers see.

Make Your Categories Public

Clearly posting the topics that you write about serves two functions:

1. It allows the reader to easily choose what they want to read
2. It gives readers a feel as to what you post about

This is especially important if you find yourself blogging about many categories. When I visit a blog, I like to explore the writer’s mind especially if they have been blogging awhile. Our lives change and so does our writing. As a reader, I love to see how the blogger approaches different topics and I am not always interested in all of them. By allowing us to see your categories, you are giving me the choice to read what I am most interested at that time.

Learning to create an effective blog is a journey that you don’t have to do alone. What are some other elements that you think are important to include on a blog? Leave them in the comments, below!

Also, if you have any blogging or writing questions (and even suggestions) click here. We’d love to hear from you!