Blogging is a very important part of any business. When creating a website for your company, you should take into account its need to approach this issue as carefully as possible. A blog page will help you attract new users for relevant queries, spread information about your product and highlight its benefits, help you grow, get feedback and gain exposure across the web.
Four Elements to Focus on When Designing a Blog
What is important for a blog? Of course, these are visual components, and aiming for maximum readability. If you care about your users, then you’ll find some useful tips in this article that will be a great help to your business. We have outlined 4 elements that are most important for a blog and we will tell you about them. It is very important to pay attention to each component separately, since they mark the quality of the content, ease of reading, and desire to stay longer on your page and browse more of your website. Also, do not forget that these kind of simple tips apply not only to blogging issues, but also to the design of the web page as a whole.
Table of Contents
- Homepage
- The Sidebar
- Article Pages
- Categories and Article Organization
Homepage
The main page of your blog is the “face” and the main visual that your regular customers will pay attention to. It will be important for them to see how the articles are arranged and how you organize the reading process for them. We advise you not to publish large passages of text on the home page, make it more concise and attractive. It would be appropriate to place the title of the article along with a suitable picture, as well as a small descriptive paragraph. So users will be able to understand that this article is interesting for them and carries a certain value.
Moreover, an excellent option would also be to create a system that will mark the titles of articles that have already been read in a separate color. This way, customers will avoid confusion and save their time.
What about users who go to your article not from the main page, but from other sources? It is important for them to include in each article the opportunity to go to the home page and see more articles. If a random person likes your material, most likely he will want to read other examples, so give them this chance.
The Sidebar
An important part of your page’s visuals is the sidebar. It is not only a tool “to be”, but also useful territory. This is where you can place the “homepage” button, search by categories, add search restrictions, and so on. The main goal is to make the sidebar useful and not over-saturate it.
Sites often face the problem that the sidebar is too busy and distracts users from reading. Don’t repeat these mistakes, highlight only useful functions and add them there. Important links may also include:
- link to the list of authors
- links to the most popular articles
- links to the product you are selling
Please note that you can place the sidebar wherever you find appropriate. And although everyone is used to seeing it on the left side of the screen, you can stand out and come up with your own location.
Article Pages
The article page is the main body of the blog. It will be seen by both regular users and those who change to it by accident, through social networks and advertising. It is important to do everything for the reader to stay on it and spend as much time as possible on the site.
Of course, you have to make the text readable, edit it with a suitable visual – a picture or video, add links to similar articles that may interest the user, and make the site navigation clear as a whole. A great collection of suitable font bundles, images and visuals can be found at Master Bundles, and it is also a treasure trove of tips on web design, page layout and blogging in general.
It is a good idea to add the ability to share the article on social networks: having a dedicated button for this function increases the chance that the article will be shared with other users and you will be able to attract an even more audience.
Categories and Article Organization
Correct organization and classification of proposals is an indicator of a well-formed blog on the site. If you have a large amount of articles and information in your arsenal, then it is very important to sort and organize it for the convenience of users.
On the sidebar, you can place a special hyperlink that will open access to all categories and show all the topics that operate on your blog. Now each reader will be able to choose the part that interests him and spend time with useful and comfortable reading.
You can also apply design elements to page structuring. For example, select a specific color palette for each section so that the user associates this color with the given question and visually distinguishes the information he needs more quickly. Another useful option is to add signal symbols to each section if you want to stay in the same color and not oversaturate the visual. These icons can be quite simple and concise, it all depends on your creativity and the scope of your ideas.
Conclusion
These seemingly simple tips really have a positive effect on the appearance of your blog and on its readers. As you can see, the main task for developers is to pay maximum attention to the client’s comfort. Put yourself in the shoes of your readers, and you will understand what exactly is missing in your blog. Take a little of your time to organize this part of the site, and you will receive incredible feedback in the form of new customers and grateful users. We wish you success!
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