A great blog design is one of the fundamental factors of successful blogging. Nowadays, blog design is not just limited with the aesthetic features but also has to do on how each blog component works, fits, and complements each other. A blog’s design is not only created to appeal to the eyes of your readers or visitors, but is also created so that your blog can easily be found by search engine crawlers.
To give you a more detailed description of a great blog design, the following are its top 16 characteristics.
1. Simple yet attractive theme. Simple designs exude elegance and attract more visitors than extravagant ones. Just take for example Google’s blog. Very simple yet it’s one of the most visited blogs on the web.
2. Easy to use navigation menus. Give your readers the convenience of using navigational menus that are easy to use. Avoid complicated menus that repel visitors away as they have no time to decipher them.
3. Texts and contents are easy to read and use. Readability is the most important characteristic of a great blog design. Be sure your background color is well-matched with your text color. Make use of bold and large fonts to facilitate easy reading.
4. Search engine friendly. An optimized blog that can easily be found by search engines is another important characteristic of a great blog design. An attractive blog that cannot be found by its target audiences is a total waste of time.
5. Allows users to search for past articles. Always put a search box on your blog to allow your visitors to search past articles and other contents that they cannot see on your homepage.
6. Long posts are paginated. The use of pagination to engage readers to read a long blog post is another characteristic of a great blog design.
7. Faster page speed. No one wants to wait a page that loads very slowly. A great blog design always showcases a faster blog interface.
8. Has alternative options for disabled users. Have you considered the disabled people when you designed your blog? A great blog design puts into consideration all types of readers. For the blind, you can have an audio option for your blog posts. For those who have eyesight problems, an option to enlarge texts should be available.
9. Ads are less intrusive and minimal in numbers. Minimal and well integrated advertisements that don’t intrude with what your visitors are doing. Avoid pop-ups and video ads as they often repel visitors away.
10. Readers are allowed to comment on blog posts. Your comment section is the most convenient way your visitors and readers can voice out their feedback and opinions. Just be sure to moderate them to avoid spams.
11. Relevant photos are used on important blog posts. Photos can make a boring blog post attractive and more appealing. Always make sure that they are properly resized.
12. Better social media integration. Get more visibility from famous social media websites by integrating them on your blog. Install social buttons that give your readers the ability to easily share your contents on famous social networks like Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.
13. Allows readers to subscribe to blog posts. Displaying a subscription box allows readers to read new blog posts in the convenience of their email inbox. This is a good strategy in reaching readers who have no time to visit your blog.
14. High quality content. This is of course one of the major characteristics of a great blog design. High quality content that is of relevance to your target audiences is an essential element of a successful blog.
15. Has a useful footer design. A blog’s footer is an extension of its sidebar. A useful footer design wisely maximizes the use of the total space of the blog as it features other resources that are not featured on the top menu and the sidebar.
16. Well written semantic HTML structure. This is another important factor that determines a great blog design. A well written semantic HTML structure makes blog maintenance easier and more convenient. It also allows search engines to easily crawl your blog site.
Do you think all these 16 characteristics have covered all the details of a well-designed blog? If you still have some more ideas, feel free to contact us.
Photo by Mike Licht and used under the Creative Common License.
This blog post is brought to you by www.oneseocompany.com, a Dallas SEO & Internet Marketing Company.
