Good Blog Design – Everything You Need to Know!

Blogging to drive website traffic and build brands is essential, but what is the role of good blog design in this type of message delivery?

 

good blog design

 

If you’re not blogging for your business, then you are missing out big time.

In fact, you’re already missing out on website traffic and it is only a matter of time before your website loses all relevance.

More users are now going online to search for important information about products and services they would like to buy. According to a 2014 Google Report, millions of websites are being indexed but out of these, only 52%make any revenue. You might have the most fantastic-looking website but with poor or no return on investment (ROI), does your fantastic website really matter? A blog can change all this, especially if you are able to choose the right layout.

To appreciate the importance of blogging, take a look at these numbers;

A HubSpot study shows that 79% of online shoppers use 50% of their time reading blogs and other helpful resources researching products.

A similar survey shows that 77% of all internet users read blogs for various reasons.

According to Future buzz, over 346 million people throughout the world read blogs and this means more traffic if you are blogging.

 

Research also shows that more marketers are relying on blogs for brand message delivery and to build website traffic because of how effective they are.

In 2016, a Statistic a Report showed that 36% of Fortune 500 Companies had a public blog. All these numbers highlight the importance of blogging in the modern business environment. If you have tried your hand at blogging without success, here is a simple guide on how to create a blog.

 

The Role of Good Blog Design

If your business is struggling to make a breakthrough in your niche, it is time to consider creating a well-designed blog. There is much more to blogging than just content sharing; the impact this has on your search engine optimization (SEO) campaign is huge. Take a look at some of these reasons for blogging:

  • Brand authority – If you create and publish great content, you will become an industry leader over time. More visitors will be coming to your blog in search of information which they will then share with others.
  • Brand visibility – Great content has a way of finding its way to more people. There are more people on mobile today and in fact, mobile internet traffic now exceeds desktop traffic. Internet users on small screens are fond of sharing good content, which translates to more brand mentions. This is the dream of every marketer.
  • Better SEO – Every marketer is concerned about their site’s ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs). To raise your site’s ranking, it is time to start blogging as this increases the number of indexed pages, boosts traffic to your site and enables you to beat the competition in SERPs for ranking keywords.
  • More conversion – You can have a beautiful website but if it is not converting, it simply doesn’t exist. A blog attracts more traffic to your website and increases brand mentions on social media.

 

It goes without saying that good blog design is a sure way of creating a competitive edge in your niche. You will also get a chance to engage with your target audience by providing prompt feedback and more comprehensive insight into your business.

 

What are the Best Blogging Platforms?

Hopefully, you are beginning to appreciate the importance of not only having a blog, but the role of good blog design as well.

Now it’s time to look at the best blogging platforms. These platforms provide the best design layouts to ensure your blog can compete at a professional level. Take a look:

  1. WordPress – This is one of the most popular blogging platforms powering a fifth of all websites and blogs. You can easily create a new blog without paying a dime and the great thing about this is the ease of customization. Whatever design you want, there are thousands of templates to choose from and it only takes a free single-click installation.
  2. Jekyll – This is a popular alternative if you want to avoid technicalities such as databases and upgrades. The platform takes your raw text files which are transformed into a robust static website. If you are looking for a simple yet beautiful blog design, Jekyll is the way to go.
  3. Yola – If you are looking for a great free blog without the irritating 3rd party Ads, Yola is your choice. This platform offers huge storage and bandwidth with the limit being only on the number of websites and web pages you can have.
  4. Tumblr – Tumblr has grown in popularity as it seems to blend the all too familiar features of WordPress and Twitter. You can post content from a mobile device on the go. It is easy to customize different themes provided in order to own the design.
  5. Blogger – All you need to build a blog is your Google sign in and you will have a running blog in seconds. You can easily customize the blog with available themes. It has beautiful designs which will make your blog stand out.
  6. Weebly – This is a website creation system which can still be used to build a beautiful blog. It features a drag-and-drop component which makes it easy to come up with an impressive blog that reflects your personality.

 

Choosing Your Blog Design

There are many other platforms which you can use to build a fantastic blog. However, there are some factors you have to consider in order to find the right design. Consider the following:

  • Responsive themes – Responsive design makes it easier for all internet users on any device to easily read and share you content. The fact that more internet users are on mobile makes it important to use themes that are adjustable to any screen size.
  • Simplicity is key – A good blog design should be simple. As Leonardo D Vinci aptly noted, this is the ultimate sophistication. The design layout should help you meet your blogging goals. A complicated layout will turn away visitors, which is destructive to your SEO campaign.
  • Browser compatibility – Go for a blog design that can be used on different browsers including Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari among others.
  • SEO friendliness – The best blog design should promote your SEO campaign.

 

While the aesthetics of good blog design is important, it pays to remember that the function of your blog is the priority.

 

Who is your site for?  What are they looking for?

76% of people want it to be easy for them to find what they want.

 

People spend most of their time on OTHER websites, so what type of websites are they used to looking at?

Avoid totally new and never-seen-before layouts. Your car isn’t unique, and your house might not be either.

 

Also the entire purpose of your blog is to a) bring in new people and b) make sure that they come back.

To this end make sure that your visitors can easily find and bookmark the information they are looking for. Use a plugin like Relevanssi to improve basic search functions.

 

If you are planning to start a business blog, make sure you also consider the support options available for the design and platform you choose, availability of page builders, and plugins for customization among other factors. The idea is to build a blog that helps meet your overall SEO campaign objectives.