For this weekend, narrow down the number of categories that you use on your blog, unless it’s a general blog that covers a wide range of topics.

How does deleting categories benefit you? Plain and simple, your blog needs to stick to its niche, focused on its main topic(s), so your list of categories need to reflect that. A short list of categories makes it easier for wandering visitors to determine what your blog is about, just like the title, blog description, main navigation links, and etc.

Regardless of what it’s about, your blog needs to look the part, say the part, and most importantly be the part. Every little thing reinforces the fact that your blog is bout a certain niche. The more you make it clear that your blog is about a certain niche, the more likely visitors will come back for it.

While narrowing down my own set of categories, it was clear to me that I was wandering away from what my blog is about, WordPress themes. Instead of ignoring miscellaneous categories with few posts that didn’t have much to do with WordPress or WordPress themes, I moved the posts under those categories to the Uncategorized category and deleted the now empty miscellaneous categories.

Another benefit from shortening your category list is spotting your strengths. For some blogs, it’s easy to see what their strengths are. For example, you can clearly tell that WPDesigner’s strengths are WordPress Themes and Tutorials. For some other blogs, it isn’t so easy to determine. Deleting miscellaneous categories will help you determine your strengths.

So, go through your blog to determine whether you need to re-focus and get back on track. If you can, delete miscellaneous categories.

Have a great weekend!