One of the best parts of using WordPress is the ease with which one can add things to the sidebar. Sidebars have become so popular as a result of this ease of use that it is an expected feature in almost any blog.
Unfortunately, most persons abuse that ease of use by adding every shiny widget they stumble on to their sidebar.
Don’t know what a sidebar is? It is the column to the left (and more often) to the right of your WordPress content area.
What is your sidebar status?
Is it a vanity showcase of your crap or a useful resource for your readers? Most bloggers add so much content to the sidebar hoping for random clicks only to end up with nothing.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not perfect. I have had sidebars that look like a junk shelf before, and my current sidebar is still far from perfect. It is however important that we know these things as knowing the right thing to do is the critical first step towards actually doing the right thing.
When adding items to your sidebar you ideally want one of two things:
- A sidebar that would gather clicks
This kind of sidebars actually converts. By that I mean that it the items in the sidebar are getting click attention and readers are using your sidebar widgets to navigate around your site (which is what they should be doing). - A sidebar that is generally ignored
These sidebars are generally overcrowded and include adverts to as much offers as the blogger feels he can get away with. The blogger is hoping for some impulse clicks on some of those offers; the reader is getting sidebar-blind because he or she has learned to treat it as a commercial space.This is not the kind of sidebar you want on your blog, trust me.I know if I ask you at this point, you may all say that you have the first type of sidebar, but before you jump to that conclusion, wait to review your sidebar in the light of the rest of this post. The question now is: What do you add to your sidebar to make it strategic and increase conversions?
What to add to your side bar
Author Bio
People no longer just take advice offered online without a second thought about who is giving the advice. If you look to my homepage sidebar, you will notice my brief bio box which contains a photograph and a snippet of the content of my about page.
That way, first time visitors have the opportunity of getting to know you as they interact with your content. Adding a mini bio to your sidebar is as easy as using a text widget.
If you want a little more control, maybe you want to add a head-shot photo of you at the beach in one of them Caribbean islands, you have the options of using either HTML inside your text widget or you may want to install a plugin like the About Me 3000 Widget.
Newletter Optins 
If you have read the stories of bloggers like John Chow and of course, the account of my friend Chimezirim Odimba, the value of having an email list of your readers becomes quite clear. I have heard bloggers who have called their email list an ATM machine that they go to withdraw money whenever the feel like it. If you make a review of top-grossing blogs across any industry, you will notice that the sidebar email signup form is a constant feature.
If you don’t have a signup form on your blog yet, work on something urgently. It is best to create an offer (also known as ethical bribe). This is what you give to your readers in exchange for an email. Being able to contact your readers mean you can drive traffic to your blog on demand whether Google likes it or not.
Recommended/Popular Posts
Having popular posts in your sidebar shows readers a snapshot of content that has really resonated with your audience. This one extends the social proof theme and demonstrates the reach you have with your readers.There is however a small catch to using the popular post widget.
Your most read or most commented posts are not necessarily the best you have to offer, which is obviously the position of the popular posts widget.
A post may have got popular because of a lucky tweet from a power blogger, while the posts you bled over for nights may make a little more than a ripple with your audience.That is why I prefer using recommended posts plugin since I get to hand-pick the very posts that get the sidebar treatment.Ultimately, the choice of which of the two plugin types to use is yours to make.
Popular post plugins are “plug and play”, you just install them and they dynamically update the listings, while recommended posts plugins require that you manually track posts you feel your readers should get to see and add them to the sidebar. One is easy, the other demanding.
What not to add to your sidebar
Tag Clouds
At a time these used to be very popular. For now, however, they are long gone out of fashion. Truth be told, no one clicks on tag clouds anymore, so if you are still dedicating prime sidebar property to those legacy widgets, get them out of there pronto before I unleash the blogging police on ya!
Blogroll
If you still have blogrolls in your sidebar, then I really have to refer you to my post Why I Don’t Have a Blogroll and Why You Shouldn’t Either where I voiced very strong opinions on why blogrolls have practically rolled away.
Adverts
I have nothing against making money with your blog. You will notice that I have recently added more adverts around my site – yes, I love making some money too. However, that should not be the sole object of your blog if you are seeking to establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
Exercise restraint when adding adverts to your sidebar.
I have seen blogs where ads line the sidebar from the top of the page right to the footer.Big mistake!Do not overload your sidebar with ads. If you have too many ads in your sidebar, your readers will learn to go “sidebar-blind”, completely ignoring your ads and reducing conversions.
Search Form
Providing a search form on your blog is not a bad idea if you have tons of content. If your blog readers are not finding the information they want, a search box may make searching easier for them to zero in on specific topics. However, it is wise to be careful in deciding when to use this. If your blog is new, a search form may have a negative effect on your readership.
You do not want a situation where readers completes a search and comes up with zero results, as that may well send the reader away to a more resourceful site. So, a search box, while a time saver for your reader, can also significantly increase the bounce rate of your blog.
Recent Comments
You know how I value your comments, so I hope this will not be misconstrued as meaning comments are not so important. When was the last time you actually followed comments in a sidebar? People are generally not interested in this kind of stuff, so having it in the sidebar shows lack of creative utilization of limited space.
Recent Posts
Some bloggers have said that including recent posts in your sidebar makes it easy for your readers to find your recent blog posts. This one is another huge space waster if ever there was one! The homepage of your blog is most likely listing your recent posts in a chronological manner, so what is the point repeating that listing in your sidebar?
Monthly Archives
This one should have been at the top of this no-no list, for it is the biggest of them all! What is the use taking all that space in your sidebar for a list should have a page of its own? If your theme did not ship with an archive page, please create one and link to it from your navigation area.
Social Media
Most bloggers use their sidebar as a way to promote their various social networking and social bookmarking activities. Ideally, I think social media should be used to promote blogs and not the other way round. Engage with your readers on your blog, capture their emails and keep them coming back.
Minimize occasions where you have to send traffic out of your site. Building your blog means getting traffic into your blog.
When to Remove the Sidebar
A sidebar, no matter how well designed and useful, is always a distraction from the main content of a page.
That is why on single purpose pages like landing and squeeze pages, product review pages and so on, it is often advised that you take the sidebar out completely so your readers can be focused on the action you desire them to take.
Whenever it makes sense to remove your sidebar, do not hesitate to take the sidebar out. Removing your sidebar is a great way to optimize your for blog for subscribers op-tins.
Here is what I want you to do
I want you to critically assess your sidebar. Remind yourself of what every item on your sidebar is there for.
If you can’t recall why anything is in your sidebar, then cut it out.
If the usefulness of any item is uncertain at this time, cut it out.
If no one is clicking on an item on your sidebar, cut it out. (To tell if a sidebar item is getting clicks, you may use Google Analytics outgoing links tab or maybe run Crazy Egg on your blog).
Yes, cut, cut and cut until your sidebar is reduced to a strategic part of your blog.
It is going to be difficult to take the knife in. I know most of those sidebar items have contributed in giving your blog the distinctive look it has, but if it is not working out you must agree that something has to give.
Better to let a few widgets die than kill your entire blog.
Over to you!
What do you have to say to this?
Do you agree that a cluttered sidebar can be a huge conversion killer? Is there something important I have missed here? Do lend your voice to this discussion. You know, nothing pleases me more than a good yarn. 
About Yeremi Akpan
A good post. It’s so nice of you to not only share your perspectives on the elements which should or should not be included into sidebars, but also offer weighty arguments for supporting your position. I absolutely agree with you that visitors can get sidebar blind if we overload sidebars with doubtful options and adverts. I also liked the term “ethical bribe”)))
Thank you for sharing and guiding us in our blogging journeys))
Hi Julia,
So sorry to be going down this route again.
Somehow, for reasons I can’t explain, my spam filters trapped your comment as spam. I went in to my spam folder just before emptying it to day and I felt bad for all the friendly faces I saw trapped there.
Ah, the term “ethical bribe”! I fell in love with that one too when I first .
Thanks for your kind words…
Another timely post, Yeremi!
Bloggers are particularly wasteful — I say this with all gravity: Why would you work so hard to get people to your business and then distract them with a thousand and one options (Simply because technology allows you)? I have encountered blogger who have readership in the thousands (in very lucrative niches) but don’t make 4 figures — That’s embarrassing!
Don’t forget this: If you are NOT running your blog as the front end of your business (your customer acquisition funnel) then you are doing something wrong (unless you are blogging for fun and don’t intend to make enough revenue to live life on your terms).
If your blog is a business then each page should have a specific MWR (most wanted response). You will get a better response (that is, a higher conversion rate) if you have just one MWR on each page. Each additional option you give them on your page increases their confusion. Give them too many and you’ll increace their confusion to a point where they’ll do nothing.
Now the question is: How do the widgets in my sidebar add to my most wanted response on a particular page? Am I interested in getting more ad revenue or am I interested in getting more subscribers? Don’t aim for both — Grasp all, lose all.
If there’s something we can all learn from those “ruthless” internet marketers it is that they focus on one MWR at a time. Then if you don’t deliver that and attempt to leave, they present a second level MWR.
Summary of all the talk: De-clutter your sidebar. Keep for elements that help you achieve your MWR.
Hi Chimezirim,
Very well stated! I think the high wastages we see on blogs can be traced to the fact that bloggers do not pay for space per metre square.
If we did, I am sure we would be paying more attention to our space utilization.
If there is a widget, most bloggers want to use it on their blogs not withstanding the resultant clutter and reduced speed.
I have always favoured a minimal and purpose driven approach to blog design. If something is not absolutely needed, I take it out.
Thanks for the comment…
Ah, the trusty old sidebar Yeremi! The thing that some people love to load up.
I visit some blogs only to shake my head wondering what on earth are they thinking. How in the world are people suppose to concentrate on their content when they have so much “stuff” in their sidebars. Oh and they have two of them, not just one.
I had my blog looked over last month and he shared with me to test things in the sidebar. Now I don’t have a lot of stuff and way back when I first started I had my About Me section there but I soon moved that over to a page of it’s own.
I have some ads up as well and they say to only do that after you have a decent following. I’m testing them to see how well they perform.
Other then that I think mine is pretty clean and I definitely have the things there that I’m more interested in.
Great post and one that I’m sure some people may appreciate while others probably no so much.
~Adrienne
Thanks for stopping by, Adrienne,
I had a good laugh reading your comment. Indeed, the ubiquitous sidebar! So useful, yet so potentially damaging. A crowded sidebar seems to say: this is where the action is, forget the content area.
Surely that’s not the communication we want to get across to our readers!
The tip on saving the adverts until one has an established audience is a great one. People should be able to see that it is not all about the money for you. That is where you gain credibilty before your audience.
Ok, confession time: I admin that when I first set up my blog, and I saw all those widgets that I could put in the sidebar, I was very excited and put a lot of them in. I had the calendar and the tag cloud and just about everything you could imagine. It was like a grown up toy, playing with all those widgets! Then as I “grew up” a bit I started to wonder why I was using all those things and what the point was.
Now I have only a few things – an ad block, a few things that I support (which probably nobody notices anyway!) and I confess, I do keep the search box but I have several hundred posts so it’s not terrible. I actually think the search functionality is terrible but I have heard from many people that nobody uses it anyway. The only reason I really keep it is because I use it when I’m trying to find specific posts to link to.
You gave me some food for thought about that recent post list… I have one of those but I don’t put it on my home page because you’re right, the home page IS a list of recent posts. But now that you mention it, it might be a better idea to list Most Popular. My only concern would be that those would probably not change much and it would always show the same posts. And of course, the more attention they get, the more popular they get and the longer they stay there.
I have one suggestion, there is a plugin called Widget Logic if you haven’t heard of it, that makes it easy to change which widgets show up in the sidebar on different pages. So as I mentioned, I show Recent Posts everywhere except the home page. So if you want to customize sidebars per page, it’s a good addition. And it’s free
Thanks for the great tips here, I have to go reconsider my whole sidebar now!
Hi Carol,
Your confessions were a breathe of fresh air.
I mean, in a web that is covered with webs of pretences and make belief, it is always a relief to hear someone own up to having made some mistakes in the past.
The highlight is, you started as a newbie, but as you grew up, you dropped the traits of infantile bloggers.
Thanks for bringing Widget Logic to my attention. I had it installed once but removed it for reasons I cannot recall. Maybe I forgot why I installed it in the first place.
The default WordPress search does a very poor job of returning relevant search results. A friend of mine recently recently pointed out Relevanssi to me. Just install it and it transforms WordPress search to Google search: just like that.
I am pleased this post has been able to raise some questions. That is just why I wrote it!
Hey Yeremi, Thanks for clarifying it here bro. Well, sidebars is the most important aspect of a blog and one should make it good enough to grab first time visitors attention.
Well, I try to make my sidebar simple and clean and I don’t almost half of those things which you mentioned in this post, Just a newsletter optin, 125×125 banners and popular/recent posts.
Enjoyed reading this post Yeremi
Thanks for stopping by, Ehsan!
I could not agree more, the sidebar is very important and I know better than treat it like trash. Yeah, I noticed, your sidebar looks soooo clean, man! You are doing a good job and I must say I have learned a couple from you.
Thanks for your kind words, always a pleasure to see you come home.
Yep bro,
.
You said good points about the sidebars but truth is there is no formula. Whether left or right, it’s best to split-test and come to settle on what works best. However, there are a few things that are old-schooled
I’m currently running some tests on my blog and I tell you, some of the stuffs on my sidebar will be kicked off before next week because of poor results. Testing is the best way to know what yields best results for your blog
Hi Enstine,
Truly said, there is no hard and fast rules, just some general principles. If you find that some of what I asked you take down are actually high converting, ignore this post.
Generally speaking though, a lot of what we add to the sidebar is just clutter.
Thanks for stopping by blog and leaving a comment.
You know how much I love having you around!
Hi Yeremi
I did have a lot more in my sidebar than I do now but I recently went through it and removed quite a few things. I moved my archives and my bio info to their own pages.
I used to have a blogroll in the sidebar too but it never got clicked so I removed it. Supposedly the blogroll is possibly going to be removed from WordPress in the near future in any case.
I do have some ads up and am currently testing their effectiveness. If they don’t work, I’ll rethink them in a few weeks time.
Thanks for the tips Yeremi and I hope you have a great weekend.
Tim
Hi Tim,
Great to have you stop over.
I think we are at the same point in the evolution of our sidebars. I just added ads too and I am watching out for the conversion figures. If the convert, they stay. If they don’t, they die.
I am glad you found this post useful. It is one that I would refer to on an ongoing basis.
Thanks for your kind words and a great weekend to you too!
Hey Yeremi,
You know, I’ve been advocating a simple sidebar now for a while now and talking about removing all the clutter, but I never came up a phrase as solid as “Vanity Shelf.” Great work with this post.
-The Blogger
The Blogger,
Very happy to see you join us!
It took me a couple of days to finally settle for the phrase “vanity shelf”.
I am glad you found it solid. You can trust a crowded sidebar to get readers sidetracked. We can all do without the clutter…
Great tips here – I would have to say I’m guilty of having the Tag cloud in my sidebar right now – only because I am still finishing up a redesign and figuring out what else to put in my now much more stylishly light sidebar (say that ten times fast!).
Something I like using is the NRelate Related Posts Widget along with the plugin settings to configure related posts in the sidebar. Right now I have those on every page, as well as another set under single post pages – I plan on refining that, but I hadn’t found a recommended posts plugin I liked, and didn’t feel like coding it myself *grin* (I’d love to know what recommended post plugin you are using, by the way)
Hi Katrina,
Thanks for leaving your first comment on my blog. I am glad this post has made you do a blog review
We get better with each iteration.
For related posts, I use Contextual Related Posts which can be found at http://ajaydsouza.com/wordpress/plugins/contextual-related-posts/. It does a good job, but I feel nRelate is an even better plugin.
Will be stopping over by your blog soon to see things for myself.
Aw thanks – happy to have a visit anytime. I’m just a small blog
I like NRelate, but I work with client sites and like to have an idea of other plugins for them, so thanks a bunch for the suggestion – I’m going to look it up!
Hi katrina,
All blogs are small for a start. With your great personality, though, I am sure you will not stay small for so long.
Thanks again.
One thing I’ve noted here is that unlike most of the bloggers you did not add Facebook like box here. It is like we are promoting Facebook rather than our blog. If someone wanted to like us on fb, they do have an option on the topbar where all the icons are present.
Another thing is about popular posts. Popular post on sidebar would be a nice option but I think recent post would be a total space waster.
Kudos for great post Yeremi!
Hey Shazhad!
Your observation is dead on!
As I said in the post, our social media engagement should be used to drive traffic to our blogs, not the other way round.
Good to have you here. Really!
Hi
Information suggestions. I did so possess a much more inside my sidebar compared to I actually do right now however Recently i experienced this as well as eliminated numerous points.I moved the archives as well as my biography details to their personal pages.I did previously possess a blogroll within the sidebar as well however it in no way obtained clicked on and so i eliminated this. Apparently the actual blogroll is actually perhaps will be taken off Wp soon regardless.
I actually do possess some advertisements upward as well as feel presently screening their own usefulness. When they do not function, I can re-think these questions couple weeks period.
Hi Shan,
Glad to have you here!
Blogrolls deprecated? That’s news for me! Well, they are generally ignored these days so few persons will miss them.
I have added and taken down a number of ads myself. The key is measuring what is clicked and what is ignored.
It is rewarding to step back from time to time and give your blog a look-over. If something seems redundant or is just not converting, it is best to get it out.
Very interesting post, the blog I work on for my day job has loads of social media guff and adverts which I think is too much and simply pointless. My own blog does have the ‘Recent posts’ and ‘Categories’ apart from that I have email opt in and an advert for one of my own services then that is it… oh and a search bar.
I don’t like to see too much in a side bar and often question whether adverts all down the side are actually a good idea. I recently signed up to Yaro Starak’s CrankyAds network but haven’t yet placed any ads on the site. As it is early days I don’t want to ruin the growth of my blog.
Oh and thanks for telling me about the plugin ‘About Me 3000 Widget’ that’s a new one on me. I like the sound of that one, going to test it a out soon.
SI,
Always a delight to have you here!
I signed up for Cranky Ads network too but I am yet to add it to my sites. Hopefully will do soon. The key is moderation so monetisation does not crowd out information.
About me 3000 was a time saver for me. But if you are not so eager to add more plugins to your blog a text widget can do a great job.
Hi Yeremy,
Nice posts. I like to share something about it since I am developing my sidebar blogs to reach my goals. Related to sidebars use for adverts, it’s not a matter of too crowd or not, but it’s a matter of meeting visitors needs.
Visitors will click on adverts (where ever you put it) as long as the offers meet their needs at the time.
Thanks
Hi Okto,
As my friend John Chow would say, put as much ads as you can get away with. If the content is good, they will come. But then, as you say, it depends on the audience. Newbies will ignore anything, because they don’t know any better.
Glad to have you here!
Thanks for sharing this great article. I agree with all your 5 points which you have mentioned in your post
Thanks Sofiya!
I am glad you found this post useful.
Good stuff Yeremi, I have work to do. Thanks for all these insightful ideas. I think I have every item you do not recommend. I have work to do.
I’m with you Yeremi. I myself have come a LONG way with my sidebar. Yup, did the adverts, and the tag cloud, and of course, the recent comments. LOL. I probably trim down a bit more still … can do without the Twylah widget. But have it more there I think to support Kelly. Plus it’s fun and gives ME quick access to the pulse of what’s happening on Twitter with those I’m connected with.
It’s all a work in progress.
I think adverts are fine if they are relevant to the page that person is on. I am all for in-content linkage, but people can go way overboard with that and every other word becomes a highlighted affiliate pop-up ad (ugh). I experiment with my sidebar pretty regularly and test, test, test. I also use different sidebars for different sections, so for my WordPress section, you’ll see WordPress-heavy sidebar items; for my service areas, you’ll see more about me. I love the suggestion to test with CrazyEgg, I’ve headed over there and will be giving them a try. Wonderful article and reminder to always keep optimizing that piece of real estate.
Totally agree with you, as you mention use newsletter option, Popular posts in sidebar gives awesome results, because when people visit a page they firstly go through the content and then comes to the sidebar, But who makes their sidebar full of things like ads, Facebook recommendations their side bars can be ignored due to lots of things.
Thanks for the Tips!
hey ya buddy, please help me out your post title attracted me,
my sidebar is fucking my blog
i want popular posts with avatar pic of every post in my sidebar
but i hv nt get suitable widget for my blog, some plugins are not even working, kindly help me i need it…
do you know any plugin?
Hey Yeremi Akpan..nice post..i never thought about my sidebar..but after reading your post, it looks i should spend some time to in…i think i have a lot to learn..