6 Blog Design Tips And Mistakes To Avoid

For a blog design, no matter how unique your design is, it’s always not recommended that you forget the basic. Lately, I have come across a few blogs that have great logos and headers only to have bad basic design. Use these six tips and mistakes to make the most out of your blog.

1. The user must know what the site is about in seconds – Attention is one the most valuable currencies on the Internet. If a visitor can not figure what your site is about in a couple of seconds, he will probably just go somewhere else. Your site must communicate why I should spend my time there, and FAST!

2. Use a simple navigation structure – Sometimes less is more. This rule usually applies to people and choices. Make sure that your website has a single, clear navigation structure. The last thing you want is to confuse the reader regarding where he should go to find the information he is looking for.

3. Make the content scannable – This is the Internet, not a book, so forget large blocks of text. Probably I will be visiting your site while I work on other stuff so make sure that I can scan through the entire content. Bullet points, headers, subheaders, lists. Anything that will help the reader filter what he is looking for.

4. Add visual interest with photos – Humans are visually stimulated, and let’s face it: reading is much more fun when supplemented with pretty pictures. Even if you don’t fancy yourself a photographer, it is a good idea to include images now and then in your blog posts to help up the “good-looking” factor.

5. Place key information “above the fold.” – Place important information such as more about you, your e-mail, search functions, RSS feed subscription link, and any calls to action on the top half of your blog page, where readers will be able to see it as soon as the page loads into their browser window.

6. Make sure to include anchor text on links – I confess I used to do that mistake until some time ago. It is easier to tell people to “click here”. But this is not efficient. Make sure to include a relevant anchor text on your links. It will ensure that the reader knows where he is going to if he clicks the link, and it will also create SEO benefits for the external site where the link is pointing.

Although I won’t deny that most blogs can get away with bad design as long as they provide good content, it’s always a good thing to provide good user experience to your user.

Nik Imran is the creator of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog, your step-by-step guide to setup blog. You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.