The blog sidebar... It is that piece of real estate that is on every blog - and every blogger has to make the decision on what should and shouldn't go in that space. Thing is, most bloggers end up cluttering it up unnecessarily. In this installment of Coffee Break Blogging, we'll discuss the perfect contents of a strategic blog sidebar. It can actually be boiled down to 3 components.

We're now on Episode 53 and today we are going to be talking about what should go in the sidebar of your blog.

Now, this is an important episode for many people because I actually see; when I look at a lot of people's blogs, and I obviously do; given what I do for a living, I see a lot of them that are just simply "overloaded." It is almost as if people are going in there and going to the widgets' section of WordPress and thinking, "Well, there is a widget for that, I might as well drag that thing right into the sidebar" so there will be widgets for Top Commenters, for all their social media links like literally every damn one of them, your categories, your tag clouds, your blog rolls; all that stuff just stuffed into the sidebar and it is just an ungodly site to look at.

So here is the thing... This is called the Blog Marketing Academy. That is the name of my website; that is the name of my company here. So... Blog Marketing. I am all about creating a blog that is going to serve as an effective marketing tool for you. And I am here to tell you that most of those widgets that are available to you inside of WordPress are actually a complete waste of your time and you should not be using them. Just because it is there does not mean it is a good idea.