Your blog’s design should reflect your brand and content while providing your audience with an enjoyable reading experience. From the layout to the color scheme, every aspect of your blog’s design plays a crucial role in engaging your readers and keeping them coming back.
In this article, I will discuss the importance of blog design and provide tips and tricks on how to create a blog that is both aesthetically pleasing and functional.
If you want to learn more about creating a successful blog, check out this article on creating a blog that people actually read.
As Time.com According to reports, 55 percent of users spend money less than 15 active seconds on a website. If you want to capture readers’ attention and keep them engaged, what do you think will work first?
Is this your catchy headline?
Is it your first line of text?
Is it that killer content everyone tells you to write?
While quality content definitely does something for your blog, it’s not the first thing that keeps web users staying on your site.
What is it? The answer is the design of your blog.
Forbes.com says we have all of seven seconds to make a good first impression in business interactions. The concept can also be applied to your blog.
If your blog’s topic seems less than professional, it will immediately turn off readers, just as your clothing might if you attend a business meeting. What if your content is confusing and readers are drawn in all directions and don’t know what to pay attention to first? If a reader can’t find an answer to his or her question or doesn’t navigate your site well, you can bet he or she will evade, no matter how good your content is.
So you know that your blog design is important to make a good first impression. Exactly what techniques can you use to improve your design?
Use spaces
White space is the area around your paragraphs, text and graphics. Essentially, it helps break up your content and draw your readers’ eyes to the page. A generous balance of white space and content on your blog can give it a clean look and reduce the overwhelming effect of too many graphics and crowded text.
Whitespace also creates the concept of “chunking.” For example, leaving space between each section in your sidebar shows readers that each section is separate. This makes it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for.
Format your text for scanability
Let’s face it: most blog visitors won’t read your content word for word. If you’ve made it this far in this blog post, then congratulations! You are a member of a very elite group.
Instead of reading word for word, most people simply skim a page for the most important information. This is where your space can come in handy. it makes scanning different chunks easier.
Other methods you can use to improve scannability – or the ease with which readers can scan and read your text – include:
- Use subheadings to highlight important points.
- Keep your paragraphs short.
- Break up your content with lists like this one.
- Mark important points in your text sparingly.
- Compensate outstanding quotes.
- Use contrasting colors sparingly.
- Enlarges important text in the sidebar.
Minimize your color scheme
Too many colors or too much of the wrong color can turn off the reader. Using all the colors of the rainbow can look great in theory, but how does the reader know where to look first? Too many colors overstimulate the senses and make your website look crowded.
You should also use colors strategically. If you want to draw attention to one aspect of a page, such as a newsletter signup form, it’s best to keep the main colors minimal and then highlight that particular section with a bold color.
It’s best to stick to two to three main colors on your website. Above all, make sure that your text is easy to read. A dark color on a light background is usually best.
Empty your sidebar
An overly active sidebar will only confuse your readers because they won’t know where to look first. Additionally, if you have widgets in your sidebar that you don’t need, it will just clutter your content and make it less visually appealing. Things worth having in your sidebar include:
- A search bar
- A registration form
- Social media links
- Links to categories
- Contact information
You can also place ads in your sidebar, but avoid placing too many where it becomes annoying.
It’s worth removing calendars, recent comments widgets, statistics widgets, and other similar sidebar options if none of your readers use them.
The bottom line is to limit your sidebar to what is most important and useful to your readers to make navigating your site easier.
Organize your navigation tabs
Instead of cramming all of your pages into multiple rows of tabs at the top of your website, organize your navigation tabs strategically. This simple tip makes readers’ work easier and helps them quickly find what they are looking for.
First, select the most important pages you want to appear in your top navigation area. Options you should keep visible include your homepage, about, and contact pages. You can set other relevant pages as subpages that appear in a drop-down menu when a user hovers over that tab.
Remember that not every web page on your site needs to appear in your navigation area. This makes it much easier for users to find what they are looking for without having to search through these pages themselves.
Use a mobile-responsive web design
Mobile technology is growing so quickly that people were already using it in 2014 mobile apps for accessing the internet more often than they used desktop computers. With more and more web activity happening on mobile, it’s time to make your blog mobile-friendly too.
Why? Mobile users find it difficult to navigate desktop-only websites. Therefore, they are more likely to leave your website if they cannot read it or click on links on their mobile device.
A responsive design detects what type of device a reader is using and then adjusts the appearance of the website to work best on that screen. A responsive design can resize images, adjust the navigation bar, and move sidebar widgets, making it easier for the user to read your content whether they access your website from a tablet, smartphone, or laptop.
Setting up a responsive website can be as easy as installing a new plugin – like B. the WPtouch Mobile Plugin – or redesigning your website with a theme designed for all devices.
When you only have a few seconds to make a lasting first impression, it can have a positive impact in directing your readers’ eyes to the right places and giving your blog a welcoming feel.
Start with the tips above to engage your readers not just with your content, but with your blog and your business as a whole.