Five ways to a better blog design

There is no denying that having a blog is a good way of promoting your website and a way of regularly adding new content. All have something to say, however useful, but with so many, they are all too easy to forget. While the quality of your content will influence the popularity of any blog, the site design will have a greater influence on whether anybody remembers you or not.

With an internet full of blogs, how can you make yours stand out from the crowd?

1. Take one design feature and wring the life out of it. When you have the basic structure of your blog sorted and an overall design, take on element of that design and maximize it. Make it the focal point of the design and as eye catching and memorable as you can.

2. Further to this, make your blog design unique. It is tempting to just buy a template or even worse, download a free one off the net. Try not to if you can avoid it, as you will be joining one of potentially thousands with the exact same theme. If you do buy a mass market one, then try and optimize it for you own needs. Change the color, design element or whatever you need to do to make it your own.

3. Increase the functionality of the design. A blog is not only a portfolio for your work but an interface between you and your audience. There are plenty of plugins for Wordpress or Joomla that can add instant functionality and cool tools for your audience to play with. If you use other platforms then you can code something if you have the skills, and buy it if you don’t.

4. Pay attention to the boring bits. Footers are often overlooked by web designers, but are an excellent opportunity for you to make your site stand out from the crowd. Admittedly there isn’t a great deal you can do with them, but pay them some attention and come up with something special to make the site really stand out.

5. Be different. This is the one thing that encapsulates all others. In a sea of ordinary, makes yours the one extra ordinary. Stand out from the crown and do something different. Originality is one thing that everybody seeks, but few find. This can be through use of color, design, layout or whatever. As long as the site works as it is supposed to, play with it and do something to set yourself apart from the crowd. However, don’t do something different just for the sake of it as you will compromise your design. Try to keep the differences positive ones, because they will generate positive responses.

Following any or all of these tips will get you well on your way to popularity if not notoriety. Making your blog original as well as readable is the only way to make your site memorable and unforgettable.