Blog Categories – Organize Your Blog

Need some help organizing your blog?  HandmadeMarketing.org is excited to share ideas we came across for creating effective blog categories!

“Because of the way they are misused all over the Web, categories have grown to become something that we regard in a purely user-centric light,” said Chris Pearson, from Pearsonified.  Chris Pearson is a Web developer who specializes in building WordPress themes.

More than a navigational tool for users, categories can play a powerful role for your blog.  Pearson compares a blog’s categories to DNA.  Categories form the organizational framework that houses all of your website’s information.

Pearson believes that giving your blog visitors a list of categories to choose from ends up leaving them with what he calls “a severe case of analysis paralysis.” This occurs when visitors to your site are presented with too many options, and actually end up selecting nothing at all.

Darren Rowse, from ProBlogger agrees.  “Most bloggers would benefit from using as few categories as possible,” Rowse writes.  “This avoids blog clutter in your sidebar, and avoids presenting readers with a forbidding list of dozens of different topics.”

When using your blog as a marketing tool for your handmade items, Pearson thinks you can benefit from playing into basic human psychology.  Interestingly, he finds that incorporating great categories on your blog that play to natural human behavior will also help your site’s SEO strategy.

Rowse says a common problem among bloggers is keeping categories at the same level of granularity.  ”Some of your categories are probably very broad and others are very narrow,” Rowse writes.  Blogger who do this will oftentimes find it ends up being a disaster later down the road.

Although time consuming, Rowse thinks it’s a good idea to sit down for an hour or two and think though your blog’s categories.  How many categories you want?  How broad or detailed will your categories be?

Another area Rowse says many bloggers miss when creating categories is the power in a name. “I’d bet good money that, at some point, you’ve come across a categories list on a blog and wondered what the heck some of the categories meant. You came across “Special” – Special what?” Rowse writes.

For example, blogs from handmade sellers are oftentimes focused on a niche.  This means these blogs will most likely have narrow, specific topics, as readers are likely to be looking for expert advice in particular areas.  This can give you an opportunity to really cater to the “average reader” of your blog.

If you are blogging about selling handmade jewelry online, consider the audience.  Because you are likely marketing to a specific niche, your categories must reflect the reader’s interests.  Generic categories like “Home”, “About”, and “Contact” may be replaced with more interesting categories such as “Newest Line” or “Fashion Trends”.

Not only should the name of the category tell the reader what is contained in this section, but the blog’s categories should be consistent with each other.  A neat list of one-word categories, Rowse writes, should not be interrupted by a five word long category name.

“This is a tiny point – but be consistent with capitalization. One of my favorite blogs, capitalizes all the categories except two – to me, this looks a little odd,” Rowse writes.

Do you have a plan behind the categories you use on your blog? Where have you seen great use of categories?  Is there anything you wish you had done differently with the way you’ve organized categories on your blog?

Tell us your ideas for keeping your blog organized!  Submit your tips under our “Join” tab.  If our editors like your tips, we’ll publish you – and link back to your shop or blog as the source!