Why creating a good Blog Design is Important to Your Blog's Success
Alright so you got a blog, you got awesome content, and you pretty much marketed it to death using all the latest tools such as technorati, digg, reddit, and so on. But how come your readers aren't sticking around? Where are all the comments, glory, and fame for your hard work researching those posts, gathering links, and making sure your spelling/grammar was perfect?
It could just be your blog design.
A blog design is pretty much like the clothes you wear. While you might be the coolest person you know that doesn't mean you can go into an room and expect people to take you seriously when you are dressed in flip flops, got a neon glowing tie on, and haven't washed in weeks. Now why would you dress your blog up in a similar fashion?
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Content of page at a glimpse
Only a snippet of what the page has on creating a blog design...
- Why blog designs are important
- Blog Design 101
- Five Blog Design Mistakes that Make You Look Dumb
- On creating a blog design that works
- Best blog design resources
- Why usability is important
- Why color is important to blog design
- Why creating visual interest is important
- Why typography is important
- Why measuring your progress is important
- Why continual improvement is important
- Blog designs that I hand picked for excellence
- Functionality and why it is important
Why blog designs are important
First impressions are important in creating a blog design
When someone visits your blog for the first time the design of your blog gives it a certain feel, it presents you in a certain way, and most of all it represents who you are. It is your online persona that people see before they read your content. You might have great content, but people won't know if they leave your website after 30 seconds because they decided that you lack credibility and knowledge just based on your design.
It might sound shallow, but we humans have to deal with so much information overload in this day and age that we have developed a system to deal with this overflow of information. We make quick assessments based on rules of thumb we have developed over time from surfing the internet. According to Jakob Nielsen's research, the more experienced a web user is the less time they spend on a page before moving on.
Blog Design 101
Tips for creating a blog design
1. Now you can have a blog and quit your job
Focuses on why blog design is important to your success and backs it up with sound research.
2. The secret of great blog designs
Goes deeper into research studies that can be used to help you build a better blog design.
3. 5 Simple ways to make blog designs POP
Focuses on techniques that can help make your blog design stand out from the rest.
Five Blog Design Mistakes that Make You Look Dumb
...and how you can avoid them when creating a blog design
1. Hard to find RSS button
Now why would you hide it from you readers?
2. Hidden dates
Hiding dates only frustrate users.
3. Ads > Content
This communicates your priority to the reader and they are more likely to leave before reading any content.
4. Sidebar = Link dump
Don't make this mistake unless you don't want people to use the sidebar.
5. Large blocks of text
It's almost impossible to read large blocks of text without crying. Avoid this!
Read more on the five blog design mistakes and how you can avoid them.
On creating a blog design that works
important areas to focus on when creating a blog design
1. Usability
Specifically usability theories/rules that are specific to the area of blogs. Not all web design usability applies to blogs. There are also times when these theories can be bended. It can be tricky at times, but I will help you.
2. Color
Different colors mean different things and certain colors are better at getting a certain message/feel across than others depending on the topic your blog covers or your goals. This is where the color of psychology is important and some graphic design skills is handy as well.
3. Typography
While typography is always important in web design, it is especially more important in blog design, because it pretty much the essential blood to a blog design. Using the wrong type, too many types, or not having any rhythm could ruin the experience of visitors.
4. Visual interest
You can build and design a blog following everything, but one of the keys to a good blog design is visual interest. What is visual interest? It is that something extra that makes it appealing for the eyes to look at, easy to read, and makes people say wow all in one. It is all about the details here, every pixel matters.
5. Statistics
How else do you plan to measure the success of a blog design or where to improve on if you are redesigning one? Just cause it looks nice, doesn't mean it is working nice. This is where you will find what works and what doesn't.
6. Continual Improvement (redesign)
I believe there is no such as thing as a complete design, there is always room for improvement no matter how small. The process of improving little by little over time will produce amazing results as you zero in on the design that works the best for what you are trying to accomplish.
7. Functionality
While blog design is an art, it is first and foremost an interface people use in order to get information. That is why it is important to give more life to a blog design by increasing its functionality through the use of javascripts, ajax, widgets, and the like.
Best blog design resources
latest posts about blog design tips
These are the latest posts from my blog so you can see what is going on right now or see things that are useful, but maybe not ready yet to be added here.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byWhy usability is important
besides making you millions of dollars from your blog design
The basic idea behind focusing on usability in blog design is to create a blog that is easy to use, intuitive, accessible, and makes finding things very easy. It sounds easy, but from the blog designs available on the internet it is not apparently true.
Now if you are new to usability, you might be asking yourself "why should I care about usability when designing a blog?" And that would be a great question to ask. While it won't make you millions anytime soon, what it can do for you right away is increase the number of visitors that visit your blog to be able to successfully find the content they are looking for. This is important because when a visitor finds the content they need, they get all giddy with this feeling called happiness and this translates to a greater chance of increasing your loyal readership by one.
Everyone counts in this case, because word of mouth has a tendency to spread like wildfire on the internet. One person gets what he wants from your blog, then he recommends it to someone else who is looking for something similar, and so on until you have thousands of visitors worshiping you. If that is your sort of thing that is. I prefer millions of dollars, but that is just me.
Links to resources about blog usability
because we can all use help on building better blog designs
- Weblog Usability - Top Ten Design Mistakes
This article is written by one of the leading experts on web design usability, Jakob Nielsen. It brings up important usability issues that pertain to blog design. One of the best reads available on this subject on the internet. Read it, save it, and read it again. We all forget sometimes. - 13 Blog Cliches
An interesting look on issues that seem to proliferate the blogosphere. Read it, save it, and then don't do it. - On designing a better blog
A brief post on the subject of blog usability and why it is important."> - 10 Principles of effective web design
An article that focuses on web usability in general. Great article to get you started on the basics of web usability. - Don't decorate, communicate!
A good article that talks about how you use design to get a message across or to point a person towards their goal rather than making pretty effects on the page. - Got usability? Talking with Jakob Nielsen
The usability guru sits down and talks about what else then usability. A very interesting article that lets your peer into his mind. - Blog Usability Interview with Kim Krause Berg
Kim is not only a blogger, but she offers a service that reviews blog on their usability. It is an interesting interview that provides some insights into how she works.
Books on usability for blog design
make that blog design easier
Don't Make Me Think:
A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
Don't Make Me Think by Steve Kurg
A short book that is straight to the point about usability. Its covers subjects such as how to test for it, examples of the good and the bad, and just great overall information.
[book review in progress]
Prioritizing Web Usability
(VOICES)
Prioritizing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen
One of the most important books on the subject of usability. This book is filled with useful information on how users use the web, common usability problems, and solutions to them.
[book review in progress]
Why color is important to blog design
without it, there would be no rainbows in blog designs
Rainbows are cool and all, but what is even more important than that is to use a color scheme that wraps your message in the best way possible. Color can do this because it can evoke emotions depending on the combination, saturation, brightness, and how long you stare at it.
There are lots of color theories about the reflection of light, absorption of light, and the alignment of the planets. But I'll let you off the hook if you don't know anything about those things. The following list of resources will help you find a color that suits your blog and its message/goals. You can even find an in depth coverage of the color theories if you are interested.
Links to resources about color to help you with your blog design
color for your blog designs
- Common color associations
Wikipedia has a good list of common color associations with no ads or spam to get in the way of your enjoyment. - COLOURlovers
A good place to find some inspiration on colors or themes. It is like a social network for colors. - Web 2.0 colors
A color palette of the popular web 2.0 colors. I found it pretty cool to try out the shades they had used.
Books on color to improve your blog design skills
because blog designs need color
Color Design Workbook:
A Real-World Guide to Using Color in Graphic Design
Color Design Workbook by Noreen Morioka
A pretty exhaustive book on anything you want to know about color. Besides learning how to use color better you will learn awesome conversation starters about color for parties.
[book review pending]
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird
This book just doesn't cover color, but every aspect of web design as well. It gives you a more complete overlook on applying color, texture, text, and pictures in order to create a website. It belongs here more than it belongs in any other category though. Good read.
[book review pending]
Why creating visual interest is important
because it makes it pretty
Visual interest is pretty much what it sounds like, they are designs that are appealing to the eyes whether its the way a comment form is made or how the page is brought together. They are also known to cause fuzzy feelings inside sometimes.
If you take away all the visual interest on a blog design, you would be pretty much left with a bunch of boxes of plain text. Ok, so most blogs aren't that bad, but you get the point.
Links to resources about creating visual interest
because we can all use help on building better blogs
- Creating a visually interesting blog design Part 1 - Getting Started
The first part of a series of articles covering the steps to creating visual interest on a blog design. - Making a blog design visually interesting Part 2 - Adding in the details
The second part of a series of articles covering the ways to add details in order to create visual interest on a blog design. - Squidfinger's patterns
A good list of free patterns you can use in the background of your blog. Don't go overboard though and use it sparingly. - famfamfam silk icons
Excellent free icons, there is over 700 of them of high quality too. They help to add visual interest here and there on your blog. - Stock.xchng
More free stock images than you can shake a stick at. - Best Design RSS Button Collection
A large collection of different RSS buttons from around the internet to make sure your rss button is prominent and easy to find without looking boring. - Spoon Graphics
Tons of good tutorials and free patterns for you to use. Very good stuff here.
Books on creating visual interest
1,000 Graphic Elements:
Details for Distinctive Designs
1,000 Graphic Elements: Details for Distinctive Designs by Wilson Harvey
A book on how a variety of different fields create visual interest. It is great to look at areas outside of the web to get inspired.
[book reviewing pending]
Tutorials on creating visual interst in blog designs
This is a series of tutorials to create a complete blog design.
Designing a blog Part 1 - How to create a clean blog header
This goes over the basics of creating a blog header. The header is a very clean, simple, and yet beautiful header. The PSD file is included as well so you can play around with it. Enjoy.
Designing a blog Part 1 - How to create a clean blog header
This goes over the basics of creating a blog header. The header is a very clean, simple, and yet beautiful header. The PSD file is included as well so you can play around with it. Enjoy.
Why typography is important
not all font are created equal
Typography is important because there are other fonts in this world besides Arial and Verdana. It is also important because it teaches you that using five different types of font on one page is not a good idea. Depending on what font you use and how you use it, it can have a dramatic affect on readability. There is also a certain rhythm that needs to be maintained for reading to be natural.
Did you know there is even a certain amount of characters long that is considered comfortable to read? They figured this stuff out years ago and just because we are online, doesn't mean the rules change. I don't think I need to tell you why readability is important, but just to cover my bases, its important because if they can't read your content without straining their eyes, they will leave your website pretty fast.
Links to resources about typography
because we can all use help on building better blogs
- The Elements of Typographic Style applied to the Web
The information provided on this website improved my typography skills like no other. It made sense of typography for me. I recommend giving at least this one a read if you don't read anything else on typography. - The Anatomy of Web Fonts
The more you read about typography, the more you will understand why it is important so read this. Its good to read explanations from different people because it helps to sink the idea in deeper.
Books on typography
Thinking with Type:
A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students
(Design Briefs)
Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton
Good overview on typography. One of the first typography books I read, it is a good introduction to it.
[book review pending]
Designing with Type:
The Essential Guide to Typography
(Designing With Type)
Designing with Type by James Craig
A really enjoyed this book. I found that it made concepts a lot more clear than some other resources. Its probably just that this one spoke to me in the right way. Thats why it is a good idea to read a variety of resources to get a better picture of typography.
[book review pending]
Why measuring your progress is important
when it comes to creating a blog design
Besides the fuzzy feelings progress can give you, it is the best indicator of whether the changes you made to a design had any effect on getting you closer to your goals. Every blog is unique in that they all have their own goals, idea of success, content, voice, and direction. The fact that no blog is the same (unless you copied and pasted someone's else blog) means that you have to track your own progress.
Without any means of measuring progress, you could be doing all the right things, but you wouldn't know if it actually had any real impact on your readership. So do yourself a favor and check out the resources on how to measure your progress.
Links to resources about measuring your progress
because we can all use help on building better blogs
- Feedburner
Burn your feed and make it easier for people who use different services to grab your feed. It also keeps statistics about your feed so you can measure how well you are doing in terms of the number of hits, subscribers, and what are the most popular items people are looking at in their readers. Its also free. - Google Analytics
It is packed full of features that you can use to track your visitors and figure out whether changes you made to your website have any effect. You can play around with it and try to figure out its more advance tracking methods, but I suggest reading the book because it gives you what you need without the hassle. Best thing is that it is free, thats a steal considering that before google bought it, it was selling for $200 a month.
Books on measuring your progress
Google Analytics 2.0 - Book Review
This is an article that reviews the book "Google Analytics 2.0" and why it is important for not just web designers, but blog designers to pay attention to more than just how many visitors visit their website or subscribe to their feed. It will show you where you can improve your blog design.
Why continual improvement is important
the art of improving again and again
Redesigns happen for many different reasons, sometimes it is due to a change of goals, a change in branding, or the current design just sucks. Generally redesigns aim at improving over the previous design, which is very important, but not always done right.
Sometimes a redesign is focused purely on cosmetics and in doing so end up actually making the blog much worse by decreasing usability or accessibility in a number of different ways. That is why it is important to ask the right questions when redesigning in order to focus on the changes that will bring the best results.
Links to resources about redesigning
because we can all use help on building better blogs
- Questions to ask yourself when redesigning
Ask the right questions in order to get the right answers to your problems. - Redesigning a blog - Improving the sidebar (1)
This article focuses on improving the sidebar in a blog and in the process it breaks down what makes a sidebar good or bad. My blog is used as an example in order to better illustrate the ideas. - Redesigning a blog - Improving the sidebar (2)
The second part in this series breaks down the thought process and how it is actually applied in a practical example with pictures.
Books on redesigning
Web ReDesign 2.0:
Workflow that Works
(2nd Edition)
(VOICES)
Web ReDesign 2.0 by Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler
If you search amazon for web redesign, this is the first book that pops up. While it has received rave reviews, I found the book a bit too much on the cryptic side and slow. If you find yourself in the bookstore, check it out yourself to make sure if its written in a style you like before buying. I don't recommend it, but it is worth a browse at the bookstore or borrowing from a library to get some ideas.
Blog designs that I hand picked for excellence
Because words are just not enough, here are some great examples.
These are designs that I felt represented the best from what I have seen on the internet. For even more blog designs, visit my blog design gallery featuring the best blog designs I found on the internet.
SimpleBits - Blog
Designfloat
Pearsonified
Standards for Life Â...
Ifelse
Freelanceswitch
Astheria
Webdesignerwall
Functionality and why it is important
the art of making your blog do more
If you strip everything from a blog so that all it has left is what defines a blog then you would just have posts and comments. Everything that is added after that should be done in order to improve these basic elements.
Two blogs can have the same design, but the one with added functionality will easily beat the other if that functionality makes it easier to use the blog in order to achieve the user's goals.
What is added functionality?
It is hard to define because it can come in many forms, but the basic idea is to help the users achieve their goal. This can be in the form of giving better feedback in forms, giving the user more control of how the blog is displayed, or hiding information until a user decides he wants to see it and clicks it.
Links to resources about adding more functionality
- JQuery Tutorials for Designers
Some nice tutorials in order to make your blog design do more.
Books on adding more functionality
Learning jQuery:
Better Interaction Design and Web Development with Simple JavaScript Techniques
Learning Jquery
This book is pretty much how I learned to use jquery inside and out. I also followed more advanced tutorials that I found online as well, but this book is essential for people new to jquery.
[Full book review in progress]
Books on blogging better
Learning how a good blog works will help you design to make it work even better
- blogging heroes - Book Review
The book has 30 interviews with some of the top bloggers today, including joystiq, engadget, the unofficial apple blog, and so on. Check out the book review to learn more.
Comments
Aice wrote...
oh i'm giving you 5 stars for this informative lens
thanks for dropping by my lens What you need to know about Blogs
Posted June 16, 2008
Aice wrote...
yeah a very nice resource about blogs thanks for this lens
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dropp by my lens What you need to know about Blogs
thanks
Posted June 16, 2008
Barkely wrote...
You've created an excellent resource. The design part is what I struggle with on blogging, so I'm saving this for later.
Posted May 10, 2008
littlespark wrote...
Great lens. The facts in this lens are very intriguing and informative. Really superb work. The tips and information in this lens will be used as guidelines in designing my blog. Thanks for your good effort and for sharing the information. I come across a good informative and interesting site about Web Design on Web Design Please stop by to know more information about Web Design.
Posted May 06, 2008
makemoneybusinessopportunities wrote...
You have a wonderful Informative Lens. I Now design is a very important in blogging. Check out my Houston Web Design Blog site and can you suggest me about how to improve it.
Posted May 04, 2008
by BlogdesignGuy
I am a web designer who specialized in blog designs. Visit my own blog where I teach you how to design a better blog in order to get more traffic, sub... (more)
