Posted 6/12/08 - Kellex
The category list is something I'm on the fence on and hopefully that fence doesn't have razor wire. My category list currently has 22 categories that I'm sure need some defining. This is the first time I've used an actual category list since Le Basketbawl has a mind numbing 176 categories!
With that being my first attempt at blogging, I made some initial mistakes like using a new category for just about every single post. Smart huh? Some day I'll take on the task of slimming that down but until I have 4 extra hours on hand, I doubt that'll be happening any time soon.
How do you all feel about a category list? Do you like it listed on a blog? Do you ever use a category list? What is the max number you like to see? 5? 10? 20+?
Ours will definitely be minimized since I've already noticed a couple of categories that are technically the same thing or could be merged, but I think I like using it. It definitely gives readers looking for a specific thing a nice way to browse a site, but after looking at some of our tools I can tell it also rarely gets used. (Maybe once our traffic goes up?)
Let me know what you think!
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How's the Category List Coming?
Thursday, June 12, 2008Posted by kellex at 10:35 AM
Labels: blogging tips
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4 comments:
I don't use the category list, if I want to find something here, I would use the search bar.
Most likely I have already read what I am looking for, but if I missed some Sports Dollar, I would use the category feature!
i rarely use the cat. list here, but then again I'm here every day so i see article as they happen. for any new visitors thou they could be a help, only problem i'd say is where they are positioned on the sidebar.
on my site, i do use a cat. list. It's relatively long as my list is pretty much every team i've written about.
Oh the category list. I would never ever use it on a sports blog because it tends to get way way too long and waste space and have since taken it off of my sports blog.
On my marketing blog though I plan to utilize the category list for now. Here is the key (I think) before you even start blogging you should have sketched out your categories based on what you intend to talk about and only expand them when you come up with another broad area you plan to cover extensively. Also, if you think of it as another navigation tool for visitors you can create a more useful category list as well.
Rule of thumb around the web (SEOs preach it) only use one category per post (duplicate content issue). I try to stick to that and I never use more than two.
Oh when you are first starting out category list is pointless because people can probably get to all the content without the help of deep navigation devices.
My NBA blog will likely never have one, but I've found this one pretty useful. I plan on maintaining this one and hopefully fine tuning a bit. I do like category lists and use them on most blogs that have them.
When I browse blogs, I like to do it as efficiently as possible and a category list really helps. Not all blogs have a search bar.
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