If you want to be the proud owner of a popular blog, you by no means need to be a web design expert. The wonders of WordPress have all but ensured this. You do however need to know the basics, or in the very least, the basic mistakes to avoid.
One or two design issues doesn’t automatically relegate a blog to failure but there is a line. And when you cross it, you can expect both your traffic and your profits to suffer. For a blog to be popular, it must be both easy to read and easy to navigate.
Should you find yourself in possession of a blog and you’d like its design to help rather than hinder its popularity, here are eight important design mistakes to avoid.
Flashing, Intrusive Ads
What’s the first thing that visitors to your blog see? If the answer is ads, it’s time for a redesign. Trying to improve click through rates is all well and good but not if it comes at the cost of your blogs aesthetics. If you want to be taken seriously, it’s important to monetise your blog with a little more subtlety.
Too Many Social Media Icons
Another way that many bloggers spoil the look of their blog is by using far too many social media icons. Reminding your readers to follow you on Twitter makes sense, reminding them five times on a single page does not.
Include social media icons above the fold on your home page and at the end of every post. Any more than that is pointless. If two reminders aren’t enough, your readers just don’t want to follow you.
Big Blocks of Text
One of the first things that every blogger learns is that big blocks of text are incredibly unattractive. Surprisingly enough, such big chunks of words are still incredibly common. There are two reasons that such content is a problem.
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Many web users are doing two things at once. When their eyes leave the page, big blocks of text make it very difficult for them to find what they were reading.
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Many visitors to your blog are searching for specific information. Big blocks of text make it very difficult for them to find it.
No Contact Information
As a blog owner, it’s only natural that every now and then somebody’s going to want to contact you. Perhaps it will be to congratulate you on your excellent content or perhaps it’ll be somebody who’s outraged by something you wrote. Whatever the reason, no blog is complete without the bloggers contact information. Including your address mightn’t be wise but your email address is a necessity.
Poor Navigation
If you want to drive your readers mad, a confusing navigation system is probably the easiest way of doing so. When somebody visits your blog looking for information on a specific topic, it’s the role of your blogs navigation system to make that information easy to find.
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Your posts should be effectively categorised.
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Links to each category should be present on every page.
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An effective search function should be included.
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Text links should be underlined. No other text should be underlined.
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Breadcrumbs should be used throughout.
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Important links should be included at both the top and bottom of every page.
Font Issues
There’s very little point in crafting killer content if said content is almost impossible to read. Getting your blogs font right isn’t difficult, you just need to follow a few simple rules.
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Don’t use comic sans, it irritates people.
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Don’t use tiny fonts, they really irritate people.
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Make sure that there’s sufficient contrast between your fonts colour and its background.
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Choose a single font and stick to it.
No Clear Purpose
When somebody arrives on your blog for the first time, they should know exactly where they are. Your blogs purpose should be clear within two seconds of a visitors arrival. And because most first time visitors aren’t going to land on your homepage, this rule applies to every page on your blog. Don’t underestimate the importance of a relevant logo and a clear tagline.
Slow Loading Times
Finally, there’s the small matter of loading times. Despite the fact that internet speeds are increasing all the time, many blogs still take quite a while to load. The reason for this is simple, they’ve been poorly designed. To keep your blogs loading times to a minimum, make sure that you do the following.
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Keep images to a minimum.
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Optimise the images that you do use.
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Keep flash to a minimum.
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Don’t include unnecessary code.
About the Author: John Miller is an outgoing person who also happens to be good with computers. He gives you excellent tips on how to create and maintain a successful mobile website in his blogs.
