9 Essential Principles of Blog Design
In recent years, blogs have become a popular way for people to share their interests and lives with others; whether they feel like sharing what they had for lunch or reviewing a movie they just watched, there is sure to be an audience who reads it. But a blog is more than just words. In order to truly be successful, the blog should also practice good design.
Consistency
Consistency is something that cannot be dismissed. If the blogger has chosen to go with a certain font for the text, then they should not change it from entry to entry. Not only does this appear unattractive, but should the blog be for a company, it can show lack of professionalism.
Good Navigation
It should be easy for any visitor to navigate their way through the blog. Although dipping into one’s creativity and imagination is never a bad thing, if nobody can figure out where the links are that spells trouble. Everything should be clear and obvious about their location.
Space
There is little reason to be afraid of white space; this refers to the extra space that is not being used in some way by the blog. It does not need to be filled up with content. In fact, too much content can overwhelm a person, no matter who they are. With pictures and text all over the place, the eye will not know where to go. Keeping everything in one area, while leaving the extra space alone, conveys style, thoughtfulness and professionalism.
Functionality
A blog should be more than something that is pretty to look at. No matter what layout one may go with, it is important to think about why somebody would go there; and with that in mind, it should be easy for them to find what they want. Keeping in mind the previous principle of keeping the blog navigation friendly, it is also essential to understand the habits of the visitors. Where would they want to go first? What might they be looking for? Adding a search engine, if possible, is one solution for the idea.
Avoid Noise
Music should never begin to play as soon as people click on the link to the blog. Not only does it prove to be distracting, but some people visit these sites in public places, and may not appreciate the sudden noise. If music is an absolute must, the blogger should make it so that the blog guest can activate it themselves.
Accessibility
Nobody should be forced to read a message or watch a video before they can truly access the front page of the blog. Unless for an emergency that one does not want people to miss, this is seen as obnoxious and a waste of time for many. If this is done, people will quickly grow impatient and choose to spend their time online somewhere else.
Avoid Distracting Images
Animated images are not something that should be included in the layout of the blog; whether wishing to use one or a dozen, whether they are big or small, these can prove to be distracting and thus are not encouraged.
Interaction
Anyone who comes by should be allowed to comment on blog entries. This may seem like something that should be standard, but some blog owners opt to keep people from sharing their opinions. If one wants to maintain attractive blog design and help others feel included, comment enabling is something to consider.
Reliable Hosting
Finally, a web hosting site that will provide reliable hosting for the blog should be chosen. There are many cheap web hosting sites out there to fit any budget, and there will be little need to worry that the blog will experience a lot of down time.
Author’s Bio:
Rebecca Wright has a knack for details on website hosting and anything about it. She works full time as a Senior Web Copywriter for one of the country’s leading provider of web hosting reviews.
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Alex Sysoef is an IT Consultant, Internet Marketer and ProBlogger who shares his passion and knowledge of WordPress, SEO, Social Media and traffic strategies on his blog WordPress Howto Spotter. Connect on Twitter or Facebook
Reading the principles outlined above I think I do well by most of them. When it comes to comment I decided to moderate them as this helps greatly in the fight with spam and its more or less essential when one has a blog with focus on youth. Not I agree with you that reliable hosting is a must. I am content with mine for now even trough it gives me some problems which I know can be solved by moving to a private server – which for now is unaffordable to me. Thank you for the tips.
Thanks for sharing this great post. I believe another essential principle of blog design should be adding unique and fresh content on regular bases as well.
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All great tips, Rebecca. Design is far more important than most people realize. It doesn’t have to be jaw-dropping… it just has to work and be appealing and inviting to visitors. Thanks for the reminder!
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I always go for the simpler look. Since the content is the one that mostly needs pimping to grab the reader’s attention. Though design will always play a great part, it’s best to base its looks depending on your targeted audience.
A productive and an active look will sure do make it more interesting, seeing more interaction from users as well as regularly updated blog entries. But the main point is to just set the brand of the blog through its design, and let everything fall into place
regards,
Jason
It’s not as difficult as most lead you to believe.
Easy on the eyes, easy to navigate.
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THANK YOU, FOR THIS POST, I have a blog with a video in the first post, which starts automatically, will be changing it, lol thanks again, Kathy
Some additional points with reference to your interaction point- If commenting is turned on and/or comments are moderated, make sure that it is functioning properly, and always answer comments you receive, as this is one of the most important things a blogger can do to encourage conversation and dialogue on their blog. This will give your readers the impression you care about what they have to say, and it increases your comment count which will help demonstrate to new users you have an active community.
Excellent tips. It’s amazing to me the number of sites that don’t pay attention to these basic rules: space, consistency, and allowing comments in my opinion are bare minimums. There is nothing worse than visiting a blog where it’s difficult to find and/or get to the content due to “disco effect” which includes flashing graphics, pop-ups, and 10 different fonts all in different colors.
I prefer the less is more strategy and when I find I don’t like a blog design I’ve put together, I just begin removing things. Generally the problem is that there is just too much!
Glad I came across your blog.
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“space, consistency, and allowing comments” – fantastic, really loving that little phrase, very true, and very useful to judge a blog against.
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Music is a huge distraction on blogs, another thing that i find distracting is the popups telling people that if you subscribe you get a free ebook. They are quite useful but can be very annoying when they appear on every single page.
Actually I have a personal dislike of any sound on a website that is served without user request! Although probably my fault as I always surf with about 100 tabs in Chrome and it is quite a job to work out which is causing the disruption.
Liked the article – nice to remind people that good design is part of good funtionality.
@Peter – I agree. I’ve almost stopped visiting sites that have those pop-ups. I know the stats are really good for growing subscribes, etc….I just really question the longer term impact.
Great point too about it not being an issue with just once site but when everyone does it, it’s just too much.
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Twitter: KathleenGresham
says:
Black text! Gray type makes your blog or newsletter harder to read. It’s a fad right now, and it’s a bad one.
Making your text harder to read loses you a certain percentage of readers. Blogging is competitive. Why risk losing readers?
Kathleen Gresham recently posted..Making Graphics for Fun and Relaxation
I agree Kathleen, gray text is a fad which will pass. Solid webmaster always concentrates on what works always
Good article with sound principles
The principle I fall over with is font consistency – something I have been meaning to put right but not got round to yet.
Regards
Pete
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I deleted the music in my blog. thanks
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Whilst working on your own website and editing your own template can be a good option, unless you’re a professional graphic designer it’s often worth shelling out the 50-100 on a premium template, there is some absoluetely fantastic designs out there.
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I always insist on a good navigation, thats very important to reduce even bounce rate. reliable hosting is the other most critical aspect a blogger must care about.
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