How to Design a Blog That Converts – Expert Tips & Tricks

Create a winning design for your blog isn’t as easy as installing a WordPress Theme, learn how to design a blog that converts here.

How to Design a Blog That Converts

Wrestling with the creation of a blog design?

Have no idea of what to focus on? You are not alone. 

One of the initial stages in the launch of any business project on the Internet – be it a blog or a corporate website – is design development.

The success of your business will depend on how attractive, scalable, and easy to use your site or blog is.

That is why it is so important to pay attention not only to the content you publish on your blog but also to the way it’s visually presented. So what should you keep in mind when developing a web design for your blog?

Let’s take a look at the key blog design elements to get your visitors converting!

Key Features of a Blog Design That Converts

Web design is very different from conventional print design. Apart from the visual concept, it also addresses some technical needs and user behavioral patterns. As a rule, web design and development is carried out in several stages:

 

  • Development of an attractive, easily perceived look of the front page, as well as other sections and subsequent pages of a blog;
  • Development of an informational architecture and structure of the entire site;
  • Creation of the convenient and easy-to-follow site navigation;
  • Development of a mobile site view taking into account UX/ UI of the platform.

 

In order to ensure top design performance for your blog, you will need to run A/B tests on different design variations. How else will you be able to understand what page layout performs better and which elements convert at a better rate?

In a blog, conversions may not necessarily be measured in sales. For example a common goal for many blogs is a registration or successful sign up in order to gain access to added value. Interested users are a huge benefit to the success of your blog so running tests on landing page design as well as understanding what content your audience is interested in is a massive benefit.     

Web Design Is All About Functionality

When creating a design for your future blog, it is important to focus on the functionality and the tasks that the future site will have to solve.

You should always think about those for whom you create a blog – its future users. In short, if your blog’s menu, design or functionality isn’t intuitive and convenient — your viewers will be less likely to return.

 

Online users do not care about how cool the design is; they do not think about the skills of a programmer who has implemented non-standard navigation on the site. A site visitor has come to your blog for information. And it is important for you to make sure that people get what they are looking for without spending too much time and effort. 

 

Of course, your blog should look appealing and be scalable. However, it should also provide a great customer experience as well. Your main goal here is to hit that sweet spot when creating a web design that performs the following functions:

 

  • Engages the audience;
  • Corresponds to both your key tasks and interests of your target audience;
  • Increases the awareness and image of your web project;
  • Introduces you and your project from the best side.

 

Of course, it takes some time to create such a design, and a graphic design company won’t be able to do it overnight. Therefore, if you are going to launch a site soon, make sure that you have enough time to develop and test different designs properly. 

 

There is another way to engage your audience apart from implementing a UX/UI-friendly design for your site. Offering fresh, interesting, and authentic content, you can easily win the sympathy of your readers and make them your fans. At this point, we recommend that you combine different types of content in your blog – texts, infographics, videos. All these should work in a cohesive way, supporting the key message you strive to deliver. 

 

It is way easy to make a video and produce creative content if you have specialized software, such as Movavi, Pinnacle Studio, and Shotcut, at hand. All the video editing software solutions boast powerful features and allow even novice bloggers to create top-notch multimedia content easily and fast.

How to Design a Blog: The Stages

As a rule, creating a blog design is carried out in different stages, and you should in no case skip any of them:

 

  • Development of a prototype, which involves defining the type and structure of webpages, drawing semantic blocks, and placing the main elements in the page grid;
  • Deciding on the corporate visual identity (CVI). According to the thematic and business direction of the site, the style of the platform is determined. This refers to the brand colors, fonts, logo, favicon, key visual assets, etc.;
  • Development of website design, which begins with the choice of a color scheme and ends with drawing page layouts based on prototypes;
  • Creation of a responsive design version for master pages. Design adaptation helps to adapt the site to the screen size of any gadget.

 

The web design process requires answers to some key questions about graphic elements, animation, supported color schemes, etc.

#1 – What Color Palette to Use?

At this stage, designers create a corporate identity for the resource. It includes color solutions for both text and background, contrasting shades to highlight the main information, separate selection of buttons and CTA’s.

#2 – What Content Layout to Follow?

Website design development involves the correct placement of blocks on the page. Design elements should be attractive, practical, and functional. Various design techniques can improve the perception of the site.

#3 – What Font to Use?

You need to spend a lot of time developing aesthetic typography. The thing is that visual elements are just as important as the words on a web page or blog post. And fonts serve as a visual marketing tool for bloggers to leverage when compiling their stories. The font you pick ultimately plays a hand in delivering the message you want to send your readers.

#4 – Should You Use Effects and Animation?

Animation is also a way to create a connection with a client; it grabs attention and makes the visitor interact with the site. When it comes to animated effects, you have different options. You can use photo editing software to create simulated hitting the screen, flash, swing, ripple, shift, parallax effects, and many more.

#5 – What Background to Choose?

Bright thematic images, icons, backgrounds attract attention and endow the resource with “individuality.” Get people pumped about what you write about. The background of your site sets the stage for the rest of the look and feel, so it’s important to choose wisely. A colorful background can provide the foundation for a balanced palette, but one color too many, and you’ve got a chaotic mess. Strong contrast can help make a bold statement, but the text can easily get lost if the contrast is too high. So your main goal is to find a perfect match balance for your site.

Make Your Blog Design Convert to The Max!

In order for a blog design to bring the maximum value, you need to ensure user comfort. The site structure and the algorithms for interacting with it should be simple for intuitive understanding. Add branded graphics to web pages – they will make a website memorable and will increase brand awareness.