When it comes to blog design, proper organization of categories is very important. Most blogging platforms, including Blogger, WordPress and TypePad, allow you to organize your blog posts into different categories. Before starting your blog, you need to consider what kind of blog category structure would be appropriate.
The following are some general guidelines for efficient organization of categories.
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Think from the reader’s perspective
Make sure your blog category structure is simple and can be easily understood. Your visitors should be able to navigate the categories intuitively. You can get ideas for your won blog by visiting other related blogs to see what kind of blog category structure they have used. The bottom line is to ensure that your structure meets the expectations of the readers. For instance, most visitors expect to see the categories listed in alphabetical order in the blog sidebar.
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Don’t have too many categories
You need to limit the number of categories in your blog. When you have too many, your blog will look cluttered and visitors will have a hard time finding what they are looking for. Have broad categories which contain several related posts. So, how many categories should a blog have? This varies from one blog to another. However, whatever the number, you need to ensure that they all fit in one screen.
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Place posts under relevant categories only
Many people make the mistake of putting posts under as many remotely-related categories as possible. Instead, you need to select not more than three of the most relevant categories for each post. This will ensure that visitors don’t come across the same post repeatedly as they browse through the different categories.
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Use descriptive keywords
Category titles which have descriptive keywords make it easy for people to navigate your blog, especially those visiting for the first time. Visitors should know exactly what they will find when they click on a particular category. Using relevant keywords in your category titles can have a significant effect on your search engine rankings. Carry out some research to find out what popular keywords people are using to look for content through search engines. Having such keywords in your category titles will increase the possibility of web users landing on your blog pages.
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Show how many posts each category contains
If possible, you need to show the total number of posts each category contains. This will give readers an idea of what is contained under each category. In addition, it gives an indication about which subjects are most popular on your blog.
