How Important is Design to a Blog’s Success?
March 5th, 2008Those of us that read and visit tons of blogs everyday have grown to expect certain designs and styles. In many cases blog design tends to be less attractive and less innovative than website design in general. Part of this obviously is because of the emphasis on content rather than appearance. There are certainly plenty of blogs that stand out as being beautifully designed, but these are the exception to the rule. Just how much of an impact does a blog’s design have on its ultimate level of success?
Frequent Changes
First of all, it’s important to remember that most blogs change themes more frequently than traditional websites experience re-designs. So a poorly-designed blog can quickly improve its look.
Part of the reason blogs tend to change themes fairly frequently is because of the availability of thousands of different themes (especially for WordPress), and most of them are free. I think another contributing factor is that blogs have more to gain from a fresh look than traditional websites do. When compared to most other types of sites, blogs experience much more repeat traffic. Many readers come back day after day, and as a result a blog can grow stale much quicker.
Because of the frequent theme changes, a blog that has a great design didn’t necessarily become successful because of the design. Many bloggers have built their blog using free themes of lower quality and then upgraded the look after the blog had already become successful.
What Contributes to a Blog’s Success?
A high-quality design will no doubt help a blog, but there are obviously other factors that play a significant role in a blog’s success. While design can help or hurt a blog, it certainly has far less impact on the long-term success of the blog than the quality of content. Blog readers like to see a nice design, but content is what really keeps them coming back.
Marketing is another important factor for blog success. Some bloggers spend a lot of time, effort, and money of promotional efforts, and some others create the content and wait for others to market it for them. Regardless of what marketing strategy a blogger chooses, gaining exposure and receiving, links, referrals, and buzz are important.
When looking at long-term blogging success, consistency is also crucial. Most bloggers don’t make it very far and those that do have been willing to work through the ups and downs, the disappointments and setbacks that are involved with blogging.
So, if Design isn’t that Important, What Role Does it Have?
If you look at the top blogs in any niche you’ll primarily see blogs with custom theme designs. The question then becomes “Is the blog successful because of the design, or is the custom theme a result of being successful?”
With so many blogs out there and so many themes, a good blog design will help the blog to stand out and be easily recognizable to visitors. This, in my opinion, is the most important benefit of a custom theme. As readers keep coming to your blog several times a week, they’re increasingly less likely to pay attention to your design. They’ll know what to expect after a few visits, and the content will have to keep them coming back. On the other hand, the blog’s design can have a huge impact on the first impression of new visitors. Part of branding a blog includes the image that its appearance creates in the minds of readers. These factors should not be ignored, because they mean that the blog’s design and appearance can have an impact on its level of success.
The blog design can also seriously help or hurt the level of success of the blog by how it emphasizes or de-emphasizes the content. Readability is key. In order for visitors to appreciate the content, the design should emphasize it and not distract visitors away from it.
What Are Your Thoughts?
How do you see the impact of design on a blog’s success?
March 5th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Absolutely yes.
Guess it also depends on your definition of ’success’ (high traffic? subscribership?)
March 5th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
I am still contemplating whether I should make any changes to my food blog design….
March 5th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
A big differences with high profile sites is that the tend to have more content.
If all you have is your posts then then the design, at most, will help cross promote, and so there is limited upside, and limited downside to a particular design.
If, however, you have articles, tools, galleries, multiple posts per category each day, then a good design is essential for success. Frustrate visitors and they won’t bother.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I certainly belong to the camp that says design is quite important. In end Dec 2007, when I switched from a rather amateurish free wordpress theme (minimalist design) to a premium design with images and saw my bookmarking ratios jump by 20%. SEO and RSS signup rates improved too. There wasn’t much change in my writing style or content nature. And I know of a couple of sites that uses that
No matter how superb one’s content is, it’s certainly don’t hurt to for a image overhaul. I did and I certainly didn’t regret!
Cheers,
Ellesse
March 6th, 2008 at 12:40 am
It depends on what aspect of the blog you are discussing. When it comes to attracting and keeping blog readers I would say that the impact of the design is negligible because how many people actually go to a blog’s web page every day to read it? Not that many - we all use RSS now and even that is becoming unmanageable!
On the other hand if you are talking about a blog’s success in terms of income, then blog design is usually far more important because a certain amount of income would come in the form of ads which have to look good on the page and sit well with the content.
So if you’re blogging for readership then your design doesn’t matter too much. If you are John Chow and pulling in $15k a month purely from private Ad sales then it matters a lot!
March 6th, 2008 at 1:45 am
I believe design in blogs is very important, some designs are very professional and readable yet some look very untidy. Ok, usually they have to follow a template design yet isn’t it valid for all of web sites.
March 6th, 2008 at 2:12 am
While I believe that good design deployed anywhere is no doubt a great help. I think its particularly true if your blog has very little or no followers.
Although its clear to say that your writing is the most important aspect of any blog, you do need to give people a reason to return. And a good looking easy to use design is one of many reasons why people may return.
It’s interesting that you chose to say that you need to make your blog design stand out. Because I don’t think thats true with blogs. I’ve always felt that a blog should let the content do the shouting rather than the design. In my opinion your blog does not need to stand out (in terms of design) but it just needs to give the feeling of a comfortable and inviting place for people to be in.
Nice post overall!
March 6th, 2008 at 2:19 am
I think design is very important. Let’s take an extreme example. What if ProBlogger used the default WordPress theme. Would Darren’s blog be as popular? I don’t think so.
It is true that once readers become subscribers they tend to visit the blog less often. But, the blog’s design played a strong role in determining whether or not they subscribed.
Also, the impact that a blog’s design has on long term search engine traffic is rather significant as well. First impressions are everything. Bad design equals bad first impressions.
Having a good blog design is like your house having great curb appeal. If your house’s curb appeal is horrible then that is what people will think of your house and vice versa.
March 6th, 2008 at 7:06 am
Simple, easy-to-read and navigate designs are what attracts me (besides the content of course).
If a blog had great content, yet the design was black with small white text, I’d probably never leave a comment.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:28 am
To me, design is a huge key element that creates a nice blog, if you look at all the popular blogs out there, they stand out for each other, and they should be. Blogs are more dominate now then ever and for the web to stay nice and clean… designers, blogger should be designing to create excellent blogs. FreelanceSwitch, ProBlogger, Web Designer Wall, all amazing designed sites.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Hi everyone,
Thanks for all of the great, thoughtful feedback. It is very much appreciated.
Ellesse,
Thanks for sharing your personal experience. I’m not surprised that the new design did have some impact. You’re right, it certainly doesn’t hurt.
Caroline,
Your comments are my thoughts exactly. In the long-term aspect of retaining readers I don’t think it matters as much as many other factors. On the other hand there are some definite areas where design is important, as you pointed out.
Liam,
I think your opinion and mine are closer than you may think. I certainly didn’t mean to imply that the design of a blog should overpower the content, quite the opposite. What I meant by saying that a design should stand out is that when a visitor comes back to a blog a second time, he or she should remember being there before. With many of the common free themes you could visit a blog a few times and still be wondering if this is actually the blog you visited before.
Beau,
I agree, ProBlogger wouldn’t be as popular with a basic free theme. I don’t really think of the design as being important for search engine traffic. To me that is separate from design, although somewhat related. You could create a really ugly and unattractive blog theme that is very search engine-friendly. Nice analogy with the curb appeal, I like that.
David,
That is typically the type of blog design I prefer as well (and that’s why yours is one of my favorite blog designs).
Chad,
The top blogs do tend to have nice design, which makes sense. Some of them have really improved since their early days though.
March 7th, 2008 at 7:33 am
More important than the design is the freshness of the content. Users will make do with a crumby design as long as the content is up-to-date and useful.
Although there is an important place for good design. Good design is pleasing to the eye and can attract repeat visitors IMO.
March 7th, 2008 at 8:43 am
I think that the design of a blog is the most importan because it is the first thing that a visitor will see on your blog. A blog must be an attractive webpage. If you have a nice design you will have more succes. Now I am referring to the design generally,for example,if you have a blog with a free template ,it will be very simple.I admire personal templates made by the owner.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
How Important is Design to a Blog’s Success?…
Those of us that read and visit tons of blogs everyday have grown to expect certain designs and styles. In many cases blog design tends to be less attractive and less innovative than website design in general. Part of this obviously is because of the e…
March 7th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
the design is one of the most crucial parts of keeping views on your blog. if they find it too hard to navigate or if they see it as an eye-sore, you can count on them never coming back
March 7th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
A blog’s design is so important that I focus pretty much all my time on writing about it, helping others design their blogs better, and improving my own skills in designing blogs. It is a careful balance between being innovative with your design in terms of breaking the mold yet still being highly usable and functional.
March 8th, 2008 at 11:00 am
According to me designing the blogs is very necessary as it creates attention of the viewers. For success the modifier should continue with frequent changes in the blogs.
March 8th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
It is not the design that makes the blog, it is the content.(Confusius- 551 BC – 479 BC )
March 9th, 2008 at 6:07 am
I’ve updated my blog theme a few times, partly due to my new skills in graphics and design that I want to give certain things a try.
I’m always willing for change but think you have to let a theme last quite a while or your readers will get confused
March 9th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Design can change many thing.It is the first look.If the first look of your blog is not good then the success rate will decrease.Thanks for the post.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:00 am
[…] How Important is Design to a Blog’s Success? - Another good article from Vandelay Design. […]
March 11th, 2008 at 8:22 am
I really like what you say in this article, I think that all the gurus have put so much stress on good content, that design has kind-of been left in the cold.
I think some blogs over-do their design, but I do agree that a blog should have some design and I thank you for the article.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Well I would have to look at this question from a business standpoint than a designers, because a designer I am not. With that said I used to think that the design or look of your blog was very important to its success. Lately though, I have noticed a lot of blogs and websites in general that have, how do I say this nicely, a really bad design, and they are souring through the serps making a fortune. So I am starting to change my beliefs on the “must look good” idea. I think that in the end it all comes down to content, that is what the readers want, that is what they come there for, so I would place more focus on that leading to your success in the web business.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I appreciate your perspective from a business standpoint, that’s what I’m interested in. The designer’s standpoint that I have is obviously biased, so it’s good to step outside that little box and look at the big picture.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
[…] week I published a post that posed the question, How important is design to a blog’s success? I am really pleased with the depth of the comments that have been entered on that post by readers […]
March 12th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Hey we really appreciated your message about how blogging and good blog design helps your business/blog. We recentlty launched our site
http://www.performancelogo.com
We feel great about doing what we do well, but are really struggling with driving traffic to our site.
Hence I’m blogging!
Is this really how it works?
Thanks - Tom B. Rochester, NY
March 12th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Yes, I’ll have to say when I first saw http://www.FreelanceSwitch.com and http://www.NorthxEast.com it had that WOW affect on me. I couldn’t stop going back.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
A website design is more than just assorting few good looking images with HTML pages. A professional website design process can influence ones’ web presence in a great deal and detail.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:37 am
[…] is not a magic potion, but it will certainly increase the chance of your blog becoming successful. Vandelay Design made a post about this topic just a couple of days […]
April 26th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
[…] Autor: Vandelay Design […]