Sidebars are kinda outdated, they don’t convert people as they used to (that’s what you might read online, and that’s what is total bullshit)… and no, this article will not be about moving it on the left because it converts better there (some say it does, though I don’t think so, have tested it and it is a lot better on the right).
I want to talk about something else no one talks about – your sidebar about section… and, of course, the fact that your sidebar is vital for your blog, but mostly about the about section.
The other day I read a blog where they advised people to better remove their sidebars.
I was like:
“boy, these guys ruin lives, there should be a law against blogging dumb shit”
I know this sounded a bit too harsh, but there’s just too much crap online… you have to be extremely careful, I wasn’t when I started and wasted a few years following such crap, I don’t want you to go this way.
I’ve been around for quite a while, have tested a lot of stuff and have noticed the sidebar about section is possibly the most important section on a blog, and not so much the text in it, but the picture.
Take a look at my sidebar, can you guess why it converts that well (it gets half of my leads to be more precise)?
It’s not because of the great copy, or the giveaway, it’s mostly because of the picture. A sidebar picture makes a blog more personal, people get to see and know who you are… this makes them feel comfortable and want to do one of these three things:
-subscribe
-comment
-read more
I’m not going to advise you anything, you can go for no sidebar if you want, you can test it on the left, whatever you want, I’ll only share with you my results since I added a picture (and now the next level shit – a book cover) and which kind works the best for getting leads, that’s what I care about the most and have optimized the blog for leads only… but I’ll tell you what picture works well if you want to get more comments or time spent on the blog, too.
I’ve only used three pictures ever since I added an about section in my sidebar (the book cover is my about section now, it uses the third picture), all three of them are different styles and are liked by different types of people, yet all of them have done a pretty awesome job.
One thing is for sure: you can’t be liked by everybody, but I’ll tell you which style is preferred by most and hopefully save you the headaches.
1 The subconscious promotion type
This was the first pic I used and it is great if you want to be subconsciously recognized as an authority online.
As you can see, it is a casual pic (hadn’t even shaved) that says:
“fuck it, don’t care how I look since I’m huge (the internet celebrity sign helps too)”
This makes people want to get on my list since they know I’m too huge to spam them.
On the other hand, people who know marketing will recognize the “internet celebrity” sign is actually too much and people who self proclaim themselves are in most cases wannabes.
It’s a type of picture that should be used with caution, it gets mostly the people who have no idea about business and marketing online, those are perfect for network marketing.
I know giving away this information is kinda stupid, but when I started this blog I had only one goal – to actually write about something that matters and not just for traffic and leads (like most do) and have been doing my best since… and will keep doing it for as long as I keep getting emails like this:
Message Body:
Hi Vladi
I am a fan of your work. At the same time I have learned many great lessons from you. You have done a great job with this blog.
These days I am working on a book on the topic of dealing with anxiety. I would like you to give a quote of your choice or some advice on anxiety and fear from your side for the readers. So that they can be benefited.
Just reply me with some cool insights of yours.
And keep up the work 😀
Hitesh
Hitesh, if you are reading this, you rock my friend, keep being awesome and you will start getting the same emails. 🙂
Imagine what I’ll send you when you get on the badass marketing list after you use the form to your right (below the article on mobile).
2 The being a douche type
Being a douche sells a lot… I know a guy who has made millions marketing himself as a douche, you could be sure it works well for getting leads too.
90% of all people seek to be told what to do, maybe more.
Actually, I have no idea what the percentage is since I don’t care about statistics at all… but I can tell you it’s most people.
When you show them you are the boss, you show them you can give them instructions what and exactly how to do it.
I have no idea why, but human nature is like this, people just like to be guided, they want to be told how to make 10k a month… and they want step by step instructions how to do it most often by the biggest douche in the building LOL (human nature, have nothing to do with it)
3 The smart casual type
This is the one I’ve been testing lately and it seems to work the best… but here’s Wikipedia’s definition of smart casual first:
Smart casual is an ambiguously-defined dress code that is generally a neat yet informal attire. The locality, type of event, context or culture constitutes the various interpretation of the dress code and therefore the designating of certain clothing pieces as smart casual is disputed—for example, jeans.
This dress code seems to attract all types of people… I actually took this picture because of a friend of mine who has been telling me to put on a shirt since 2011 LOL.
The truth is I don’t like shirts, coats and that kind of uncomfortable clothing, but I wanted to test and see how it would work.
As i said, this is the best picture of all… if you want to get more leads, you can put on a shirt, maybe a tie, take a pic and post it in the sidebar.
If you want even more leads, write a book and post the book cover in the sidebar.
That’s how you turn your sidebar into a lead generation monster.
Let me know if you liked this article and stay awesome.
Vladi
PS wondering why I left the article kinda open?
cause now you will see the form down below and enter your email for more (only if you want to be huge, though).
Read this article if you want to see what I mean first.
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