Good blog layout and design is very important. It’s easier than you think to have a beautiful blog with a great blog layout. So here are 5 blog tips so you can have the best blog layout in the blogosphere!
It’s nice to look at, and clean, and easy to navigate, and leads to people clicking around on a site, which is the ultimate goal. But bad blog design? Bad blog design is just plain awful. Who wants to visit a site that’s painful to look at? Not me. Here are some important things to pay attention to when creating a blog that people actually want to visit…
1. Header. Your header is the first thing people see when coming to your site, so make it great.
It should be unique and give people an idea of what your blog is about. Like this one:
The “rules” say that a header should be no more than 250 pixels tall, but you do have wiggle room on that. However the larger you choose to go, make sure the space you are giving up is worth it. That area above the fold is the most valuable space you have.
2. Color. The color of your blog is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. The background color should be something light, so that black type can be easily read. (it’s really distracting to try and read anything on a dark background and you want to make it as easy as possible for people to read you.) Pick a color or two that you love and work a color scheme around it. Color Scheme Designer is a great resource for finding complimentary colors that may not be obvious to you.
3. Type. I love fonts. I spend hours and hours looking at beautiful typefaces and imaging the perfect use for them. They’re just so much fun! But, don’t go too crazy with them your blog. Using more than two or three is just too much and please, make sure your body text is at least 11 points. Anything smaller is just too hard to read.
4. Sidebars. One of my biggest bloggy pet-peeves are jam-packed sidebars containing every button under the sun. Use your sidebars to promote posts of yours or other sites. Show off a few communities you’re a part of. Advertise. But, be aware of how much you keep there. They can really distract from the most important part of your site… your content. See how clean this one is?
5. Footer. People often overlook this space at the way bottom of a site, but it’s a great place to put your static information without junking up your sidebars. A few great examples:
Great blog design isn’t rocket science– you know what you love to see in a blog, just give people that on yours!
More Blog Tips:
- Choosing Effective Color Palette For Your Blog
- 5 Online Color Palette Tools {blog color picker}
- Blog 101: How to Start, Make it Cute, & Succeed Blogging
Jill Smokler blogs about motherhood; the good, the bad and the scary at Scary Mommy. She would love it if you follow her on Facebook. You won’t regret it, she swears.
Thanks for the Great tips! I love new ideas on how to improve the overall look of my blog. 🙂