In a blog, so many factors come together to form a unique material and the design is one of the major factor. Another major factor in this scenario is the content of the blog. Blog Design is a major one because it gives the first look, the first expression. And first impression is all you need to attract visitors. The attractive design will take the reader to notice the content and other elements of the page and your work there will be done.
So today I have brought you 10 important traits and qualities that make a great blog design. These are not the only ones but these are certainly the most robust ones and you can benefit from them.
Easy Readability:
When you look at a website, you look at its readability; whether the web page is easily readable, whether it requires zooming in or narrowing your eyes for a better vision. The later ones are a turn off for a reader. What you have to make sure is that the contrast between the background and the text should be in a balance so that it’s easily readable.
The text should be pleasant to read and it can come from providing sufficient spacing between lines and paragraphs so that the ext doesn’t jumble up at any point. Though it is not a difficulty for readers to change the text size according to their preference but it can become a turnoff if a reader finds it an effort to do so. So keep your text size of standard size for all browsers for which a size between 12-14px is good enough.
Having a Strong Content:
If you ensure that readers do not get distracted by the design of your website alone and if you also put your focus on the content, there are increased chances of readers subscribing to your blog without difficulty.
To make it better, you shouldn’t make the header section so tall so that readers with smaller screens have to scroll down to read it full. Having distracting stuff in the background can hinder the readability. So make sure that it doesn’t happen. You should know that content is the center of a blog, so it should get the attention it deserves.
Easier to Use Navigation:
A blog which is designed in such a way that other content or posts on a blog are easy to find for a reader. This is related basically to a strong navigation design which allows user to navigate easily on the blog because this is factor which will entice a reader to look up more stuff. A multi-level navigation menu can bring a sure short success to your blog as it is a feature which helps users finds their way through the blog quickly.
For increasing page views of your blog, you can take help of the sidebars by posting recent or most popular posts their so that it’s upfront for a reader.
Design with a Comment Section:
The comment section is like the place where all action is centered. You are allowing a reader to speak his mind about the post, making it a good option for him. And with other people commenting and wanting to look what people has to say further, a thread begins and gets it going for your blog. This is also a way of showing that you care about what your readers have to say and gives them a good place to share their own opinions.
A Memorable Header and the Title Design:
Common sense implies that the first thing a user is bound to notice on your blog is the header and that is your chance of creating the impression you were aiming for. If your header is memorable, it will leave a mark on your reader and will help branding your image.
The next thing which serves the purpose of first attraction is headline or title of the post. And for a headline, it is not only the words that helps creating the impression but also how it is designed, for example, its font and size should be distinctive enough to make it stand out from the rest and makes the reader go through the entire page. To give readers more to know about what they are about to read, you can add the author name and the date of publish with the header.
Incorporation of Social Networking Icons:
This is the age of social networking and so there is no reason you shouldn’t incorporate social networking or media sites in your blog. Through incorporating direct links to the most popular social networking sites in your blog will allow your reader to share the post directly to his desired destination instead of doing a hasty process of doing that for which he might have second thoughts. Many people like sharing what they find interesting on sites like Facebook, Digg and Twitter etc. So you have to make sure that you provide your readers just what they want.
A Systematic HTML Structure:
It’s true that energy is invested in a blog to make the design look perfect; having a semantic HTML structure should also be kept in mind so that it brings better search engine results for your blog and can lead to better maintenance of your blog and more exposure to the properties your web is holding.
Final Thoughts:
You might have noticed that for a blog to be robust and successful, design and content goes hand and hand and compliments each other. A good blog design is the one which has all the elements distinguishable from each other, yet are equal in weight age. Each element on a web page plays its role in providing the blog that one final look you are aiming for. From the header of the blog to adding appropriate visuals with the posts; from adding comments section to incorporating links to the social networking sites; and from properly organized content to making the content coherent, all these traits make a blog successful, increasing page views and eventually the ranking.
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