New year, new look.

Inspired by a recent post from Jane Friedman of Writer’s Digest, I did a little cyber redecorating again. Her guest post, “5 Things That Make Me Stop Reading Websites and Blogs” appeared on the blog Writer Unboxed.  In it, she outlines a few easy blog fixes that can help ensure an online reader will stick around long enough to read the good content.  And I always trust her advice.  As she explains,

“I’ve been compiling best tweets for writers for half a year now, and have scanned tens of thousands of blog postings and homepages, all by following a Tweeted link.

Just as I have a sense about whether a manuscript will be any good in the first few minutes, now I have the same gut feel about blog posts. Only it takes seconds.”

Online or in print, there is just that moment to… at best, set that hook and at worst, make them turn away before they even see what is dangling there.

OK, good point.  I do want people to stick around long enough to hear what I have to say, at least when I am posting something other than ridiculous dog pictures.  Although I know my dear sister will always read to the end no matter what, I want to make these pages easy to read for everyone — even those with floaties, bifocals (oops, that’s me), web browsing smartphones, and yes, even those with illicit webpage access from your work computers (you know who you are).

Consider this bloggy change the equivalent of a new haircut — one that looks a little too much like my girlfriend’s haircut —  but if it suits us both, I’ll just wear a different barrette.

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So, New Year, here we are.

What is out there that we have not paused to dream of yet?