5 Widgets You should not have on Your WordPress Blog Sidebar

This is a follow up on the article 5 things you should have in your blog sidebar.

1)         When you first go into your blog theme, there will certain widgets already in the sidebar. The RSS Links to your feed is not needed there. Go to your widgets and drag it down to the Inactive Widgets area. If you put them there, you can always change your mind later and drag them back up to the active area. This can be really important if you have coded a complicated widget and would hate to have to do it again but just don’t want it there right now.

2)         The category widget is a good one to have there but make sure you use the dropdown function which is right there in the widget as a box that you can tick. The same thing with the archives widget – don’t fill up your sidebar with a long list of dates. That’s a waste of space and just boring.

3)         If you only have 200 likes on Facebook, don’t use one of those Facebook widgets that show how many likes you have. Ditto with a Google+ widget. You can have an icon for all of those without the number of followers you have showing. It’s all about social proof that you are worth spending some time on and reading your posts. Wait until you get to triple figures, then go for it.

4)         The Meta widget is usually already there when you start with your new theme. Take it away into your inactive widgets area or just drop it over to the left. You can always find it there again if you have some epiphany and decide it is invaluable.

5)         10,000 ads of all sizes and colours in your sidebar scream desperation. And look plain ugly. Don’t put ads on your site until you have a solid group of a 1,000 or more subscribers who hang off your every word. And make sure you have the traffic to warrant the downside of the ugliness and unpredictability of ads. If you have around 30,000 views and can earn over $100 a month, then go for it. If not, wait.