Give your nerd lair a routine check-up

I bet these guys are headed home to their nerd lair.

Your site/blog is there for a reason (or it should) whether you like it or not. You either set it up yourself or paid someone to have it up and running for you - either way, it's there.

Showing up for class just isn't gonna cut it anymore. so you have to do your homework.

You should do a routine website audit to see what you can improve on.

A site should grow and evolve according to your present goals and reflect your current pursuits and identity.
If you choose to put ads and affiliates on your blog then be sure to do a trial run and reassess if it's really working out for you or not. If not, get rid of it. Don't just slap it up there if you haven't put any thought to it.

I'm sure you've heard about your site as being your virtual real estate, everything you place there should have a clear purpose. Otherwise, it's all just clutter that distract away from your content. You ever bought a CD or downloaded an album and there's one or two good songs and the rest is crap. Yeah, You don't wanna be that guy. You want your site to be all killer no filler (and no I'm not a SUM 41 fangirl)

From the color scheme, the overall tone, font, banner design, writing style, navigation, positioning of content - it all matters. It's all overwhelming if you try to attack all the individual components. So stick to the basics first then build up as needed.

A few basic tips:

• Simplify navigation. You don't need a ridiculous amount of tabs with tons of subcategories. Really, don't. 
• Limit the widget. We all like cool looking buttons, icons and apps but don't hoard it. You don't have to join every single social media site that gets invented. Stick to what you like to use the most and brings the most audience to your content. The next time you want to install a new widget or script on your site, ask yourself if you really need it.
  
• I really shouldn't even have to say this but....Don't use flash intros. I'm begging you. It was cool for a little while back in the day but not so much anymore. Would you believe I still come across sites with crappy flash intros and matching crappy animated gifs? Let it go, it's ok.
  

Sometimes simple is the best way to go when you're just starting out. There are essential components that I think every site needs.

At the very least you should have:

• An RSS subscribe button somewhere in your page.
• A place to capture email (newsletter sign-up)
• A way for people to share content (Stuble, Digg, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook)
• Social media links where they can follow you (I prefer Twitter)
• Proper title tags (you know, those seemingly random words on top of your site)
• Contact info (seems like common-sense but I've been to sites where not even my basset hound could've sniffed the contact info location out)
• Traffic analyzer. I use Google Analytics.  Stat Counter is pretty good too.

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I practice what I preach - so this is how I've recently applied the website audit thingy to my very own nerd lair.

Things I've eliminated:
- I had a Network Blog (facebook badge) over to the lower right side of the page. It was useless, so I took it off.
-Same deal with Blog Catalog badge, didn't really help out much so I killed it.
-I removed podcast page - it took entirely way too much time to put together an episode and right now, it doesn' contribute to my overall shift of focus.
- Got rid of Facebook Fan page and left the profile page - I don't need two links to my Facebook. Hell, I don't even really like using Facebook.

Things I've added:
- Media page - I need a place to post interviews and written articles for guest blogs. I just did this a few days ago and is still in disarray but it's there for viewing/listening. Just needs to be better organized.
- Very important: I've added more of myself in the mix. Letting my personality, my humor, the way I talk. what excites me, my passion, my interest, what bugs the shit out of me. It's not easy. But if I'm to make something out of this, I have to make the first step.

Be an action figure. Do something.
1. Leave a comment - tell me what you would do if you gave your nerd lair a makeover. What would you change?
2. If you enjoyed this post - share it with others.
3. Subscribe to my RSS and give it a test ride.
4. Join The Hooligans