How Do You Use the Space in Sidebars on Niche Sites?

[online_wizz]

What are your thoughts on sidebars for traditional niche sites? Do you use them? How have you filled them up?

I have a sidebar with an author bio, newest posts, and a newsletter form. Planning on doing some changes there, but dont know exactly what.

What's the best way to fill up the space? I'm guessing it would be a great place for ebook/course/product CTA's, and getting newsletter signups/social media follows. Anything else?

 

[mikey3times]

What are your thoughts on sidebars for traditional niche sites? Do you use them? How have you filled them up?

This might be a good topic to separate out into a thread.

I’ve been thinking about this recently. Are sidebars even relevant in 2019 as we shift to mobile and use our phones as our primary browser?

My main site has a sidebar that includes an ad block, a similar articles block, and a popular articles block. Obviously, those sidebars shift below the content on mobile. I think my next redesign (probably next year) will go to a single column layout so I’m curious what others think.

Another site has a block with info articles about the review, a similar products block, and a sticky TOC. I like the sticky TOC for long articles. I have it set up to be a sidebar sticky TOC on desktop, but the non-sticky TOC shows up under the intro paragraph on mobile.

 

[Cash Builder]

What are your thoughts on sidebars for traditional niche sites? Do you use them? How have you filled them up?

I have a sidebar with an author bio, newest posts, and a newsletter form. Planning on doing some changes there, but dont know exactly what.

What's the best way to fill up the space? I'm guessing it would be a great place for ebook/course/product CTA's, and getting newsletter signups/social media follows. Anything else?

I only use sidebars on my informational content, and even then I'm thinking about removing them. As @mikey3times said, over 60% of my traffic now comes from mobile and sidebars get pushed to the bottom of the content.

Sidebars are useful for showing more ads per page, but for other stuff like related articles, I just try and direct my visitors where I want them to go in the main content. You can have email subscription boxes and ebook download sections placed throughout the main content, and an author bio at the start or end of the content.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I think my next redesign (probably next year) will go to a single column layout so I’m curious what others think.

I did this for the past 5 years on one project and just spent a chunk of time last week adding in a sidebar. I'll explain why below.

Are sidebars even relevant in 2019 as we shift to mobile and use our phones as our primary browser?

Yes, they're relevant. It always goes back to user psychology. People on mobile are usually in a certain state of mind. They're on the go, they're in bed, they're on the couch in front of the TV, they want quick information, they want to fill a 5 minute gap with some entertainment.

Sure, real stuff gets done on mobile too, but a lot of people wait until they get home and can whip out their big tablet or laptop or sit down in front of their desktop. And you can show a sidebar on a larger tablet and up (though I drop it out for all tablets).

Also, though a sidebar is considered supplementary content, it doesn't mean you can't still use it to flow page rank juice and users where you want them to go.

A sidebar doesn't even have to slide to the bottom on mobile, either. I built a short one that injects itself inside the content at one point, which ended up making the bulk of the CPC display ad money on that site.

What's the best way to fill up the space?

My point above is... think about what's relevant to a user in a serious mind state that's on desktop. They're often zoned in, on the hunt, focused on information, trying to make a purchase, etc. What can you do to aid or manipulate them? What are they going to engage in that a mobile user won't even if both were to see the sidebar for the same amount of time?

The most common stuff is:

• Author Box
• Social Media Profile Links
• Social Media Share Links
• Display Advertising
• Newsletter Magnets / Opt-ins
• Popular Posts
• JS Sticky Units at Bottom that Auto-Scroll

I don't think it needs to get more sophisticated than that, really. I think of the sidebar as a way to get impressions and actions taken on things I want. They can increase time on site, lower bounce rate, make money, generate leads, get people into your social ecosystem, whatever. You can split test positions too.

 

[Darth]

No one looks at sidebars IMO and most traffic is now mobile. I don't have them and have full page layouts.

 

[Calamari]

Sidebars are easy to hide on mobile if you prefer that over collapsing them to the bottom. If your desktop visitors use your sidebar as much as mine do than put your best and most relevant content to the page that they are on in it as well as any offers you want to show them.

On my newest site I did eliminate sidebars completely and put more relevant internal navigation within the body of the page. The site has no traffic yet but once it does I will introduce a sidebar to see how it affects my metrics, but I would never just eliminate a sidebar completely just because it's the cool thing to do.

I'd recommend using a heatmap to see if your desktop visitors are using it. If they are then keep it for desktop and hide it on mobile while putting links to more relevant content or an offer at the end of every article.

 

[online_wizz]

Thanks to everybody who chimed in.

I read additional articles/forums about this subject, and I decided that I'm going to leave the sidebar. As of right now, my sidebar accounts for 15% of my total ad revenue, and 35% of desktop ad revenue.

But I'm going to optimize it in a similar way to what Ryyzaki suggested. Essentially, I'll optimize it for engaged desktop users.

Here's what I'm going to do:

• I'll remove the sidebar from mobile. Right now it's pushed down to the bottom. Instead, I'll display author info, related posts, and a newsletter form in different, more mobile-friendly ways.
• I'll leave the author bio on the top for building rapport/trust.
• I'll swap the "recent posts" to "popular posts" because it makes more sense to send traffic to posts that perform/convert well.
• I'll leave the newsletter form in the sidebar, but I'll also add another in-content form.
• I'll also add another section "ways to connect with us", where I link to my social profiles, groups, e.t.c.
• In the future, I plan on making a longer 10-20-page guide for beginners which will be monetized with ads/affiliate links. I'm guessing showcasing it in the sidebar would be a good idea.
• Oh and I'll also add a heatmap, as Calamari suggested.

 

[Samwise89]

As of right now, my sidebar accounts for 15% of my total ad revenue, and 35% of desktop ad revenue.

Yep. Be wary if you catch yourself saying "in my opinion" or "I think" instead of consulting the data you (should) have at your fingertips.

We are not like normal internet users. Everything we've trained ourselves to be blind to still works on normal people, smart and dumb ones.

I had this same thought, mainly because I like Medium's layout, and checked my Adsense data across several sites (thankfully I made custom ad blocks and channels for this at the start) and my sidebars are doing some real damage. I get email optins every day and only have the lead form in the sidebar. They get used for sure.

 

[mikey3times]

The hard thing to test (without going through a design process) is whether the new design would improve overall from a well performing sidebar design. Using a CSS grid layout would make this possible/easier to test, but I have an old theme.

I have a lot of people who visit while at work on their desktop so I know the value of the sidebar. I just need to find a way to better test things.

 

[Calamari]

The hard thing to test (without going through a design process) is whether the new design would improve overall from a well performing sidebar design. Using a CSS grid layout would make this possible/easier to test, but I have an old theme.

I have a lot of people who visit while at work on their desktop so I know the value of the sidebar. I just need to find a way to better test things.

Have you tried this? It's awesome and free.

https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/optimize/

You can keep testing as simple as A/B testing your way to a killer sidebar.