Must-Have Pages for Your Blog

Are you starting a blog in 2021? 

Well, I sure hope you are! And if you are undecided about starting a blog, here's a post I wrote about why you should.

One of the most important elements of a blog, aside from actually creating the blog posts, is having the right sort of pages on your blog. Today, I wanted to review a few must-have pages that you should create, whether you want to make a career out of blogging, or simply want to blog for the fun of it. 

• An About Me Page 

The purpose of an about me page is to give readers a chance to know you. You are basically answering a couple of the most basic questions: who are you? and why did you create this blog? 

Of course, this is often easier said than written, so here are a few simple steps to write this page:

- First, describe who you are. In a few sentences, write a little bit about your background, your life (as much as you feel comfortable), your personality, your interests, and any fun facts about you. 

- Second, describe your blog. Why did you start this blog in the first place? What do you want people to gain from reading your blog? Why should they follow you in the first place? And you know, it's okay if your sole purpose is to simply use your blog as a way to talk about day-to-day life (I actually love those types of blogs). Or to talk about gardening. Or your favorite movies. Or a mix of all three. Just let people know. 

- Give people some next steps. So, after people find out more about you and your blog, what do you want them to do? Leave some actionable suggestions, whether it's subscribing to your blog via email, follow you on social media, or read your latest post. 

Need some inspiration, here's the about me page I wrote for my writing blog.

One more thing - don't forget to update this at least once a year. Things change! You'd be surprised how quickly outdated this page can become.

• A Contact Page. 

Please, please, please create a contact page. As a Blog Tour Manager, I am always on the lookout for new bloggers to invite to tours, and it's so disappointing when I can't find a way to reach out to a blogger. 

So, if you ever want to hear directly from readers via email (I LOVE when people write me directly about my blog posts), or hear about potential partnership opportunities (such as blog tours!), you need a contact page. 

Here are a few basic pieces of information to include: 

- Your email address 

- Your social media sites 

- Other important links (such as other blogs you may have. Or a link to your writing portfolio. Or a link to your podcast. Or where people can buy your books.) 

• A privacy policy. 

Basically, a privacy policy is a way of telling people you aren't a total creeper. Okay, that's not exactly the purpose, but in all seriousness, there are lots of privacy laws out there, and you want to be as compliant as possible. So, even if you don't plan on advertising on your blog in any way, you'll want to have one in place. 

Having to add this element can deter a lot of people, but there are plenty of free privacy policy generators you can use that will do just fine. 

Here are a few places that make this process really easy: 

https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/free-privacy-policy-generator/

https://getterms.io/

As you get into the groove of writing and creating blog posts, you may think up new pages to add. For example, on my writing blog, I have a page dedicated to authors who may want to feature their book. On my work-life blog, Lady Unemployed, I invite people to share their unemployment stories on one page or be a guest writer on another. I've seen many bloggers that review books have a page specifically dedicated to describing the types of books they want to read (usually called a "review policy" page).

Overall, if all you do when starting your blog is create these three pages above, you'll be way ahead of the game already. 

Do you blog? What sort of pages do you have on yours?