Simple Tweaks To Make Your Blog Design Better Than Ever
Hi guys! I get questions about my blog design and my tips for bloggers all the time, so today’s post is going to help you guys out. Of course your blog is yours and all about what you like, but I’ve found certain qualities to be the best and most effective elements of a great blog design. Keep reading for six simple tweaks to make your blog design better than ever!
If you’re wanting to draw in more people to your blog and increase your page views + reader count, implementing the best design possible insures that people won’t be scared away simply because your site is confusing, overwhelming or doesn’t look pulled together. If you have an eye for design, these are things that may come naturally to you — but for others, these are small, easy adjustments you may not have considered yet.
Alright, let’s get into it!
Left-aligned body copy
Of course this comes down to personal preference, however I do have a graphic design background and find left-aligned text to be so much cleaner and easier to read. I feel like I have to try harder to read center-aligned text and always have to look where the next line starts since it doesn’t align with the previous one.
Full-size images
Your images should either be full-sized (the same width as your body copy) or integrated within your copy. Small images makes the overall look a little less professional, so when you can, use high-resolution images and full scale for a sleek design. If you’re a WordPress user, you select the size you’d like your images to display when you insert them in your posts — however, if the image file is too small, it won’t give you the option to fill the page.
Color matching
Colors can be random I suppose, but a simple way to make your design look cohesive throughout is to pull one of the colors directly from your logo or any other element of your site and implement it in other areas. For example, match your link color with one of your logo colors.
High-resolution logo
Your logo is the first thing people see when they come to your blog, so make sure it’s as high resolution as possible for a professional look. Along with that, make sure your logo is an appropriate size — scrolling to see the whole thing on a desktop computer is too big and too tiny to read is too small… you catch my drift.
Less is more
A clean, simple design is better than a busy and overwhelming one. Stick to the basics and maybe avoid implementing every single feature your WordPress theme offers, especially on the home page. It’s important that people see:
- The name of your blog
- Your name
- Where to read your posts
I’m not going to get into overall navigation and what you should include in the menu, but I can do a separate blog post on this if you’d like!
The date each blog post was published
I feel totally lost when people don’t include this because I don’t know if their most recent post was from today, last week or six months ago. Implement this (especially on your home page!) because it helps people to figure out how often you post so they know when to check back for new content, plus it makes your blog design 10 times better simply because it’s easier to navigate and understand.
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That’s all for now! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in a comment below. I’m looking for more blogs to read so I’d absolutely LOVE if you shared yours with me in a comment too! If you enjoyed this post and are looking for some more tips, check out some of my other blog-design related posts below and all of my other blogging posts here. Happy designing!
