A year, maybe more ago, I read ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. I was taking the steps and working through the daily tasks. Not always daily, in bunches here and there. One of the tasks was to create a Welcome Page for your blog. Somewhere you could introduce yourself to readers, show them your best posts and send them in the direction of all the goodness you had on offer. Great idea, I thought. Super.
Then 12 months passed.
It was still a great idea on my list of things to do.
One day sick of not being able to tick it off the list, I did it. I built a Welcome Page and called it, Hi, so you’re new here. And it was done. It had some links to outfits, some post links, some popular posts and some of my personal favourites. And I left it there to do its thing; a sidebar image was the only indication it even existed. But people visited it. I KNOW readers that had been here a while were reading it. New readers too.
There was a trail of comments on old posts.
So this ProBlogger guy knows his stuff.
Apparently.
Wink.
And in the lead up to starting the Confident You series, I knew that I wanted to update the page, I wanted to make it more accessible, and I wanted the content to reflect the recent changes on the blog. I did all that with a few days to spare, phew, and now my little Welcome Page that could is THE MOST visited page on this blog. Ever.
Like, ever.
Most days, it ranks in the top five pages on this blog and continues to sit there. But, it really has given new readers {and the old, still absolutely loved, ones} lots of content to explore and links to posts they might have found on their own. Good posts. Silly posts. Fun posts. Posts that tell my story. And THAT is why having a blog welcome page is essential in my books.
And if you don’t believe me, trust Problogger. Do it, do it now.
Hi! I’m Melissa Walker Horn. Around here, they call me Suger. I’m the Chief Blogger and doer of all the things here at Suger Coat It. Blogging since 1901; I love a casual ootd, taking photos, and writing about things that irk or inspire me. I love wine and cheese, long days at the beach and spending time with my family. I make stuff for the internet over at Chalkboard Digital. You know, living the sweet life.
Oh, and LOVE your new look. Probably ‘old’ now, but I’ve been reading on rss or my phone, so I haven’t seen the pretty. Also, Confident You rocks.
Thank you. It’s not thaaaaat old. But the feedback is always welcome. Haha. And oh yay!! Thaaaaanks.
Love it, love you. Need to go work on my blog now x
Have fun, it’s like a walk down memory lane.
I best be getting onto a we one/proper one with all the changes and new design I have underfoot. I think I’ll call it “I’m great, congratulations you found me”……..ummm well maybe not, I’ll just worry about the page content he he he.
P.S – comments playing up wouldn’t let me connect with twitter or FB.
No, absolutely call it that! Are you kidding, it’s perfect. Haha. I love a good strong name.
PS. Thanks for the heads up. Will check it out. xo
I have info on my “about me” page, I’m hoping that’s enough. I don’t know if anybody ever looks at it. I wouldn’t have a clue how to do a welcome page, or put links on it. Not even what links to put on one.
On blogger you can add a widget that is called pages and it will display either a sidebar menu of top of the blog tabs that show the ‘pages’ of your blog. Firstly it will be home until you add more via pages. I think a good about you page does much the same thing as a welcome page. So I’m sure you’re set. 🙂