When we start our first blog, we usually put widgets as we like. We experiment some of them, trying to find out which one will make our blog look cool. During that time we always think about ourselves.
But, if you wan't to make your visitors stay longer, you got to think about them and not about you
I have here 10 Time and Space wasting widgets that you should remove.
2. Recent Post. Add popular post instead, because recent post can be found easily on your blog archive.
3. Subscription count/RSS. I suggest not putting them on your blog if you only have a handful of followers. If you don't, it could work against you, readers will wonder why subscribing when no one else is doing it.
4. "Hosted by" Widgets. Most visitors doesn't care who hosts your blog. And if they do, they're more likely to respond to a well-written review post about the pros and cons of your hosting service. If you want to make affiliate sales through your hosting provider, it’s a much better way to go about it than a standalone widget in your sidebar.
5. Blogroll/Link exchange. If you have link list of other blogs, I suggest put them on a separate page just like mine. Your sidebar should be reserved for more important things for the visitors to see. Having them clicked is not your priority, you just exchanged links with them.
6. Facebook Stream. Facebook page status update could be distracting to your readers. If you want them to become a fan, just make your own Facebook fan page.
7. Irrelevant Affiliate Advertisement. When I was starting, I used to be putting a lot of affiliate banners. For me, that time having a lot of Ads looks cool and alive. But now, they seems to be annoying, especially if those banners are not relevant to what you are blogging about. Just remember that people won't click on your ads because they're there, and having tons of ads will definitely irritate them not to click more. Relevance is always important and you should stick to it.
8. Blog Ranking. If you have an Alexa or Techonorati rankings widget, I suggest you put them on a separate page, because these rankings doesn't mean to your average reader. It is OK if you are blogging about blogs.
9. A lot of Social Sharing Button widget. I have seen some blogs that actually has social sharing widgets from A- Z.Put only those sites that most people use like Facebook, and Twitter, having Friendster or some unknown social networking sites will just be in display and no one will use them to share you blog contents.
10. Donation button. This widget will usually not work, because blogging is not about begging for money, it is about helping, and entertaining your readers. This widget will probably work if you are blogging for a cause like, animal conservation or you run a site like Red Cross
Space is very important on your blog, just keep it simple and appealing to the eyes if you wan't your readers to stick longer.
