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A Short Piece on Categories [And a Great Vid]

Welcome. I write for church leaders on topics like strategy and communication. Since this is your first visit, don't forget to subscribe to my RSS feed.

I was talking with a new friend earlier this week about setting him up with a Wordpress blog and helping him make the switch from Typepad. He only had a few questions, but one of those questions was about categories and how to use them effectively on his blog.

It’s one of those things that I hadn’t given much thought to since I don’t put much emphasis on them. As you can see from looking at my blog’s homepage, categories take a backseat on my blog.

So, let’s get into a few principles about categories and what role they should play in your blog.

• Most bloggers have too many categories. My rule is 10 or less. If you have more than 10, what’s the point of having them? It makes things more confusing for you and your readers.
• Most bloggers place more value in them than they deserve. In most cases, they do less for your blog than you think.
• Categories are most useful for blogs that act more as news sites that have tons of information and post several times a day.
• If you have tons of categories, listing them in your sidebar adds to the noise. Again, try to avoid Info Smog. And they should never, ever be listed above the fold.

How I Use Categories

I use categories mostly for my two purposes.

1. Internal organization. I use categories as a way to keep track of where my posts have been focused in the last few months. It gives me a good idea of where I’ve been, where I should go, and what my readers are finding most useful/interesting.
2. External previews. The only place you’ll see categories listed on my blog is under the header for the post itself. In this position, they act as a preview for the reader to know what’s coming in the post. Many times, my titles are meant to intrigue or pique interest, but not necessarily describe in detail what the post is about. The categories under the post title serve this purpose.

Do you have any interesting ways you use categories (besides Info Smog)? If so, let me know in the comments.

###Extra###

As an aside, here’s a great little video of a kid shredding on a guitar.

Yuto Miyazawa - 8-Year Old Japanese Guitar Phenom! from Metal Edge TV on Vimeo.

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