5 things you should know abut blog design
So part three of my blogging guide is going to focus all about design. You have most likely read elsewhere that blog design is the most important thing to focus on (after content of course). The truth is, with a new blog being created every second, you're going to need a way of standing out from the crowd.
Just like a job interview, readers will make there mind up about your blog in the first few seconds, so it needs to get their attention. The other key concept to think about is how your design reflects your personality and writing style. So here are my top tips that you NEED to make your blog better overnight.
5) Make it load fast
Complex widgets and gadgets can look professional on your blog, but having them load like shit certainly doesn't. It won't take long for users to get frustrated, and quickly find an alternative source for content.
This tip is absolutely crucial when it comes to gaining traffic from social bookmarking sites such as stumbleupon and Digg. When users are 'stumbling' they won't even stop to look at what you have to say if your page won't load.
A great way to see how you compare to other blogs and websites is by going to http//www.whichloadsfaster.com
If you feel your website is on the slow side, try getting rid of necessary widgets, resizing photos and reducing the number of posts per page.
4) Work out what message you want to give out
Do you want a minimalistic style for your fashion blog? Social optimisation for your humour blog? Or is it all about the content?
What I recommend you do is prioritise what the most important features of your blog are. Content is obviously going to be top, but think about whether you need a gallery style design to show all your post thumbnails, or a featured slider at the top of the page. Another thing is to think about is
the general feel of the blog. Do you want it to look professional and business like, or simplistic and personal? These decisions have to be made in order for you to get anywhere in terms of design.
3) Try and be original
Great design is difficult to achieve without some help, but do try to avoid just completely copying a template found on successful sites. At the end of the day, you can't really copy people and still stand out as a blog, so it's a bit pointless to try and do so. What I would recommend doing is using a template and then changing it more and more until you've made something unique. For a start, changing HTML is much easier than just writing it, and if you keep at it, you should have something that is completely suited t what your blog needs to succeed.
2) Be a perfectionist
Glitches and bugs are inevitable when playing around with HTML, especially as a new blogger. The last thing readers want to see is broken links and dodgy formatting. When designing your blogs it's often hard to see a solution straight away, and therefore it's very tempting to just find ways around the problem without actually solving it. It really does pay to be a perfectionist. If something doesn't work, stop at nothing until you've fixed it. Your blogs success can only get so far with a glitchy design, so it really is beneficial to sort it out.
1) Keep it
Finally, the last thing that many bloggers do is to change design every week as soon as a new idea pops int their head. This sort of happened to me. I've changed design twice before arriving at what you see before you, but luckily, that was in the early days of The Idle Scribe, so wasn't a major issue (and this design won't be changing for a while). What I'd recommend doing is get the entire design sorted to perfection before you really start posting frequently and publicising your blog. Readers don't really like change, so it's best to create a string design early and and stick to it.
So have I helped? What are you thoughts on blog design? Comments below!
Just like a job interview, readers will make there mind up about your blog in the first few seconds, so it needs to get their attention. The other key concept to think about is how your design reflects your personality and writing style. So here are my top tips that you NEED to make your blog better overnight.
5) Make it load fast
Complex widgets and gadgets can look professional on your blog, but having them load like shit certainly doesn't. It won't take long for users to get frustrated, and quickly find an alternative source for content.
This tip is absolutely crucial when it comes to gaining traffic from social bookmarking sites such as stumbleupon and Digg. When users are 'stumbling' they won't even stop to look at what you have to say if your page won't load.
A great way to see how you compare to other blogs and websites is by going to http//www.whichloadsfaster.com
If you feel your website is on the slow side, try getting rid of necessary widgets, resizing photos and reducing the number of posts per page.
4) Work out what message you want to give out
Do you want a minimalistic style for your fashion blog? Social optimisation for your humour blog? Or is it all about the content?
What I recommend you do is prioritise what the most important features of your blog are. Content is obviously going to be top, but think about whether you need a gallery style design to show all your post thumbnails, or a featured slider at the top of the page. Another thing is to think about is
the general feel of the blog. Do you want it to look professional and business like, or simplistic and personal? These decisions have to be made in order for you to get anywhere in terms of design.
3) Try and be original
Great design is difficult to achieve without some help, but do try to avoid just completely copying a template found on successful sites. At the end of the day, you can't really copy people and still stand out as a blog, so it's a bit pointless to try and do so. What I would recommend doing is using a template and then changing it more and more until you've made something unique. For a start, changing HTML is much easier than just writing it, and if you keep at it, you should have something that is completely suited t what your blog needs to succeed.
2) Be a perfectionist
Glitches and bugs are inevitable when playing around with HTML, especially as a new blogger. The last thing readers want to see is broken links and dodgy formatting. When designing your blogs it's often hard to see a solution straight away, and therefore it's very tempting to just find ways around the problem without actually solving it. It really does pay to be a perfectionist. If something doesn't work, stop at nothing until you've fixed it. Your blogs success can only get so far with a glitchy design, so it really is beneficial to sort it out.
1) Keep it
Finally, the last thing that many bloggers do is to change design every week as soon as a new idea pops int their head. This sort of happened to me. I've changed design twice before arriving at what you see before you, but luckily, that was in the early days of The Idle Scribe, so wasn't a major issue (and this design won't be changing for a while). What I'd recommend doing is get the entire design sorted to perfection before you really start posting frequently and publicising your blog. Readers don't really like change, so it's best to create a string design early and and stick to it.
So have I helped? What are you thoughts on blog design? Comments below!