Importance of Blog Layout Design

[kmcgiveron]

In the world of design- appearance is everything. If you put that on a scale with one being the lowest and ten being the highest, this would rank at 9.5. I have browsed through many blogs during my two years in the blogosphere, and I have noticed that I will generally skip over a blog if it is generated blog layout made by wordpress or blogspot. The content may be full and well written but if the layout design is generated or poorly made then I will continue right out of the blog. It is like walking through an art gallery. You can just walk around and not see anything you like. The artist’s job is to make the audience stop and look; draw them in and keep them their for a few moments. As a blog owner, that is your goal. Keep them there and get them interested. I find that the biggest problem with new bloggers is that they have full content, but their header is just text, and they usually choose that blogspot layout with the black background and disgusting white font.

Once I am attracted by the layout, then I choose to read an article. If I like what they have to say, I will most likely visit again. Before asking people to visit and critique your site, save them the time of telling you that your ‘layout sucks’ and fix it before you open it up to the world. After you can have your blog critiqued, and you’ll see that positive feedback is posted, and you’ll notice an increase of traffic to your blog.

So save the audience time! What you have to say will not matter unless your cover is beautiful! So when starting up a blog make sure your layout design is amongst the first things you do!

Check out this site for basic HTML and CSS information:
HTML Code Tutorial - Free Reference Guide for Help with HTML Tags Including Form, Frames, Tables, and more!

[Upton]

so... do you have any advice on how to sprice up the layout?

I don't really know anything about design, although I hope to know something about politics (my blog's topic). How can I best use very limited skills to get a layou that would grab attention as you suggest?

[kmcgiveron]

I would definitally upload a image for the header instead of having the text. Text is boring. I would choose a political image that inspires you a lot, then using a basic image program (find one on the internet if possible) change it and imbed the text into the image. On blogspot on your layout design where you move everything around, click on header and click image rather than the text and upload your image.

If you read on the site that I posted in my previous post, the one about HTML and CSS, you can learn some much needed basics that any web owner should know. Read up on CSS, and some of the basic tutorials and that will allow you to change the color codes in the html of your layout to make it more personal.

[Upton]

I will get to work on it, thanks!

[Upton]

I put a little something together - feel free to let me know what you think

[kmcgiveron]

Looking a lot better! I think I would change the background to a steel blue color perhaps to unify it further

[mdamin76]

Layout design is perhaps the image of a blog.

[kmcgiveron]

well....yes.

[tordon]

Blog design can make or break your adsense revenue.

[msjohal]

While I do agree that having a well designed and visually appealing blog gives you a better chance of attracting and keeping readers, having good, regularly updated content is still more important.