Your Name: I can’t tell you how many blogs I come across that I can’t even find the name of the author. Readers want to get to know you, starting with your name! {preferably, this should be the first thing in your about section on your sidebar and at the foot of each post}.
Ways To Connect: Make sure to have your email visible via icon or on a “contact me” page. If I want to email you, I want to be able to find it quick. Also, make sure to have all of your social media icons at the top of the page so that people can connect with you. I advise starting social media pages on all platforms. I know that it might feel silly having a facebook page for your blog and only having 1 or 10 followers but trust me, it is better to start early. This is one thing I really regret, I didn’t create or share my social media sites until a month and a 1/2 or so into blogging. Because of this, I missed so much time building relationships. Give your readers more ways to follow you via twitter, facebook, instagram, bloglovin, pinterest and rss. Trust me, they want to KNOW you and it is easier to have a convo via twitter or facebook.
About Page: What is the most viewed page on your blog (besides your homepage of course)? Most likely, it is your about page. I know for me, the first thing I do when when visiting a new blog is scroll through their home page, then proceed to their about page to learn more about them. This means you could missing an opportunity to connect with readers. That is BIG! Read my post here about Tips For Your About Page.
Navigation: I think that it is vital to have a search bar and archive on your sidebar. By having these, it will allow people to stay on your blog longer and give them ways to search through your past posts. I often go back to find posts I have read on other blog and it is really helpful. No one wants to waste time hitting the “back” button 20 times to get to a post you wrote a few months ago.
Easy Way To Comment: I think everyone hates spam. This is one of the most annoying things, however, google does a pretty good job of filtering out spam, so turn off your word verification for your comments. Its easy. Go to settings > Posts and Comments > Show Word Verification & hit NO! I had this on for probably a month without even knowing it! I also currently use Disqus instead of the normal blogger commenting.