3 Things that Visitors Should See on Every Page of Your Blog

Assuming someone comes to your blog, how do you make sure that they enjoy their visit?

In a comment last week, Lewis LaLanne suggested that I write this post to answer the question, “what needs to be present on every page of your blog in order to have the best chance possible of getting first time visitors to do what you want them to do?”

I’m convinced that there are only three things that need to be on every page of your blog. If it’s not part of these three things, it’s a distraction.

1. A First-Thing-They-See Headline

When you’re lost in the mall and you walk up to the mall map, what’s the first thing you see?

“You Are Here”

Your headline is the “You Are Here” circle for your web page.

How to Emphasize Your Headline

It should show people where to start and get them excited to consume your message.

1. Make it big, bold, and colorful. A lot of sales page headlines are big, bold, and red because, scientifically, that is the best way to attract your eye.


2. Include a post image. A good post image attracts your eye immediately and subtly summarizes the main point of your blog post. I chose the post image for this post because it highlights “3 points” while emphasizing that everything else is ticky-tacky.

But Nick, all of my blog pages have headlines? Really? Because I saw 50-60 of your websites and very few of you have non-blog post headlines on the homepage. And even fewer have proper headlines on your “About” page.

2. A Valuable, Persuasive, and Trust-Building Message

Once you nail down the headline, it’s time to deliver what it promises.

Every page on your blog is an opportunity to give something while building trust with your audience. Too many people clog up their blogs with content that doesn’t do either.

How to Effectively Communicate Your Message

As far as I know, there are four ways to deliver a message through your blog.

1. Text – Most popular because it’s the easiest and it indexes properly in search engines. But since so many people simply write, you need to do an extraordinary job in order to stand out.


2. Images – A series of photos, images, or an infographic is a great way to creatively and uniquely communicate your message. Plus, if your blog has lots of fancy graphics, people will perceive you as an authority because it takes dedication to create those images.


3. Audio – If you want to run an interview series or a podcast, post the audio. The Audio Player plugin works well for this.


4. Video – Outside of talking with someone face-to-face, video is the most effective channel for building trust with someone. Why do you think people like celebrities?

3. A Call to Action that Accomplishes Your Goals

Your call to action should always be at the end of the post, but you need to decide what it is before you write a single word.

How to Accomplish Your Goals through a Call to Action

Is your goal to:

1. Keep someone on your site? List your related posts. The popular posts in the sidebar also helps keep people on your site.


2. Get someone to comment? Ask them a question and make sure that they know that their response is meaningful.


3. Get someone to click an ad? Put your ads there and make sure that they’re relevant to the content.


4. Get someone to opt-in? Place an opt-in box and tell them why they should subscribe.


5. Get someone to buy a product? Put a link to your sales page or someone else’s sales page and make a final recommendation on why they should purchase.


6. Get someone to take your advice? Tell them exactly what to do and emphasize the importance of taking action immediately.


7. Get someone to trust you? Add an author bio with a mix of personal and professional details.

My goal here is almost always to get you to comment. One, I enjoy learning more about you. And two, if you comment, I’ll typically reply. When you see that I reply, you’ll comment more often. Then, every time you comment, you’ll return a day or two later to check your comment.

Pretty soon, Income Diary becomes part of your browsing routine. You read more articles, subscribe, begin acting on the advice, see the results from taking action, and eventually buy a product.

That’s how it works, my friends.

The Final Word

When you first clicked to read this post, you probably expected me to tell you, “every page needs to have an image, some content, and an opt-in.” That’s the crux of it, but more importantly, you need to understand why you need those things.

Everything else – your author bio, comments area, social media links, popular posts sidebar widget – should all work together to accomplish the goals of your blog. If they don’t, why are they there?

What’s something on your blog that’s probably distracting people from doing what you want them to do?

Photo by: warein.holgado