Is your blog design attractive? 
You need to know that content marketing is more than writing. A good design is also vital.
Many blogs need to be redesigned after a period of time in order to accommodate new content or adjust to new priorities.
Before getting into the redesign process, you need to consider how you can make the blog more effective.
Therefore, planning is very important. The aim of redesign is to have a blog which is not only attractive, but also user-friendly.
The following are some factors you need to consider when redesigning your blog.
1. Conversions
Most people who run blogs would ultimately want their readers to take some kind of action.
This could be buying a product, signing up for membership, subscribing to the RSS feed, downloading an eBook signing up for a newsletter or connecting via social media.
You need to determine what kind of conversion is vital for your blog.
Once this is established, you can then place relevant calls-to-action in prominent positions in your redesign. This could be in the sidebar, above or below the post, or in the blog header.
2. Design style
Many people who redesign their blogs maintain the existing look and feel. This enables them to retain the identity established with their audience.
However, some choose to go for a complete transformation with new logos, color schemes and overall design style.
Therefore, you need to decide if your blog redesign will involve a new design style or retain the existing design. Think about how the redesign will impact the blog’s current audience.
3. Front page approach
The front page of a blog is very vital since it is where most visitors land first. There are many different ways of redesigning your blog’s front page. Most people use it to display their excerpts from recent posts.
However, for blogs which publish multiple posts, it would be advisable to display recent content by category.
Another alternative would be to have a static front page. Instead of only showing recent posts, you could use the front page to display a specific call to action. The design of your front page should be determined by your blog’s priorities regarding conversions.
4. Content prioritization
When redesigning your blog, you need to decide what content is most important. Most blogs prioritize the most recent posts by displaying them on the homepage. Other blogs use categories to prioritize content.
For instance, the homepage might list recent posts under categories such as health, fitness, finance, technology etc.
Other blogs have a ‘featured’ category which prioritizes posts. Besides the front page, content can also be prioritized by placing links in the sidebar. You could also place links to specific pages in the footer or within your blog posts.
5. Readability
The main aim of a blog is to offer content for visitors to read. Therefore, readability is a very vital aspect of blog design.
Some of the factors which affect readability include text color, fonts, whitespace, spacing, background color and contrast. Ensure that all the elements in your blog make it as easy as possible for your subscribers and visitors to read your content.
6. Monetization
Nowadays, most blogs have paid text links and banner ads. Therefore, the number and sizes of ads need to be factored into your blog redesign.
In addition, you need to think of where to place these ads. To ensure that your blog appears attractive and professional, make sure the ads fit well into the design.
7. Ease of navigation
When redesigning your blog, you need to ensure that your visitors can find what they need fast and easily. Most blogs have navigation menus which classify content according to categories.
If your blog has too many categories, it would be advisable to use tags and tag clouds. For content which is chronological, you could arrange your content in monthly archives.
When it comes to navigation, you need to consider elements such as the primary navigation menu, related content links, footer links, a secondary navigation menu (rarely used), a site-wide search and author links. In addition, you should consider the future of the blog.
For instance, if the content of the blog changes later, it might require extra categories. Therefore, you need to ensure that navigation menu is can be modified to accommodate the new categories. A good example of this is one of MotoCMS templates that make navigation & readability super-easy.
Your turn…
Are you going to redesign your blog in 2013? Please tell us why you think it’s important in your business. I wish you A Merry Christmas and Lovely New Year in Advance!
Photo Credit: www.bignbest.com