Blog Design Secrets From A Blog Designer / part 2

Ready for part 2? If you missed the first 4, stop by HERE to catch up!

SIDEBAR: this might seem controversial… but it’s not. this is how I think; you can take it or leave it! but what i do know from over 5 years of designing websites and working with 100’s of bloggers & website owners:

#1: we still read from left to right

#2: we get distracted easily

#3: if there’s something going on in the LEFT column, we’ll click on it and stop reading your post

#4: if there’s flashy ads, pop up boxes, drop down junk, pop up from the bottom junk, we’ll click on it OR get annoyed and stop reading your post

#5: quickest way to remove distractions – REMOVE both sidebars and just have a good ol’ fashioned blog

#6: but since that’s not going to work for 95% of you, i recommend:

CONTENT: use a classic sans or sans serif font. 12px-16px tall. add some white space between, typically 50% of your font height is good! use bold, and italic, and larger sized fonts for headings, sub-headings and more. add some color — but stay within the tones of your color palette.

there is no reason that everything has to be centered anymore. use your align left and sometimes your align right. have fun with it!

just don’t be boring.

CATEGORIES/SEARCH FUNCTION: a very important feature to any blog is ensuring your new readers can find your old posts, especially the topics that you write about frequently. most site designs begin with a bit of thought development about the topics you intend to write about; therefore forming categories. by choosing categories, you can add them into the navigation bar like shown here at Small Anchors & Ma Nouvelle Mode:

a search box is very important as well. keep it near the top 25% of your sidebar so your readers can find it and use it quickly!

COPYRIGHT & GIVE CREDIT: whether someone designed your logo or site design, or you borrowed a graphic from a source that allows for that, or you use images or quote content — give credit. if a design seen on every page, credit in the footer. if someone on a post or a page, credit in the footer of that page.

giving credit keeps your blog honorable and gives you Internet credibility.

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thank you for making the time to read this post today. you can find me designing graphics, writing about friendships that suck, mom & son date ideas and much more on my personal blog, on twitter or pinterest! please be sure to introduce yourself!!

have any questions? feel free to comment below and i’ll respond back!!