What Makes Good Blog Design?

As you surf through the internet you’re bound to come across certain designs that you love and some that you hate. But good blog design has a few unique elements when compared to the design of a traditional website. Here are ten things to keep in mind when designing your blog.

1. Content Should be the Focus.

A blog is nothing without its content. In order to keep your visitors focused on the content, it should be the focal point of the design. Distracting readers with excessive images and extra items can be counterproductive. For this reason, many of the best blog designs are fairly simple. Simplicity is common for blogs that want to emphasize the content.

2. Ease of Navigation.

Readers will come to your blog through search engines, links from other blogs, RSS feeds, social media sites, etc. Only a small percentage of your readers will enter your blog through the front page. This makes navigation even more important. The sidebar typically will include the majority of the navigation with links to categories, recent posts, and sometimes popular posts. Footers are sometimes also used for additional navigation.

3. Loads Quickly

Many of your visitors will have a very short attention span (this is really no different for blogs than traditional websites). In order to immediately catch their attention and avoid having them click off of your site, your pages should load quickly. This is especially important you plan to use social media to generate traffic. Some blogs are weighed down by excessive widgets that really hurt the page load speed. By keeping your blog clean and free of unnecessary items you can really cut down on the time it takes to load.

4. Content Start High on the Page.

This one is more of a personal opinion than a fact, but I believe that more of your visitors will pay attention to your articles if they start higher on the page. Make it as easy as you can for readers to get started with your posts, and then they’ll be more prone to scroll down for the rest. Again, this is especially important for traffic from social media sites. Those visitors will be less likely to scroll and more likely to click off of your blog.

5. Memorable for Visitors.

Most blog readers visit a number of blogs each day, and many of them will feature the same (free) themes. Make it easy for your visitors to remember your blog and standout from all of the free themes by customizing a theme yourself, or by having a blog theme professionally designed.

6. Not Overrun with Ads.

For most blogs making money with advertisements is a necessity. However, even in these cases it’s important to use advertisements effectively by not allowing them to take over the blog. Your readers will feel like they are not a priority to you if advertisements take center stage.

7. Compatibility with Multiple Browsers.

Your visitors will be using a number of different browsers, and if your blog is not functioning well in all of them you could be losing readers. Fortunately, 90% of your visitors will probably be using the leading 3 or 4 browsers. In order to know that you blog is functioning well you’ll need to test it in multiple browsers.

8. Good Use of Color.

The best designs effectively use color to improve the appearance. This can be done any number of ways, and sometimes it’s even a subtle aspect of design. The color combinations don’t have to jump out at readers, in fact, they actually need to make it easy for visitors to read the blog posts. If you’re looking for a good color combination, be sure to check out the resources listed in Find the Perfect Colors for Your Website.

9. Easy to Read.

This is really more about formatting the content of the blog than it is about a theme design. Keep in mind that most readers will be scanning your posts rather than reading them word-for-word. Use headlines, white space, lists, and bold text to make it easy for readers.

10. Important Items Should Be in Prominent Positions.

Effective design will draw the attention of readers to important items, such as subscription information. The most important links, images, etc. should generally go above the fold so that visitors will see them right away. Getting rid of unnecessary items will also help readers to focus on what’s important.

Originally Published October 7th, 2007

142 Responses

TyCat | October 7th, 2007 at 8:00 pm

This not only goes for blog design, but web design in general. Great post.
Karen Zara | October 7th, 2007 at 9:31 pm

I’m glad you’ve mentioned that a site should load quickly. Being a dial-up user, I suffer a lot when I visit certain sites.

I’d love to have a professionaly designed custom theme, if only I could pay for one. Well, someday I’ll be able to afford it.
One issue that might have been addressed by your post is how a good design can make things easier for visitors with disabilities. Maybe in a future article?
pablopabla | October 7th, 2007 at 10:55 pm

I would like to think that I have all the above in place…but then again, it is subjective and reader’s impression is all that counts at the end of the day.
Trip Around the Blogosphere 10-07-2007 | Pajama Professional | October 8th, 2007 at 12:11 am

[…] Vandelay discusses what makes good blog design. […]
Karthik | October 8th, 2007 at 4:41 am

Checking for cross-browser functionality is easily missed - nice post.
Fabio Cevasco | October 8th, 2007 at 6:21 am

Very nice post, I agree on all the points and especially with:

6. Not Overrun with Ads.

I think too many blogs and websites in general use a lot of annoying and obtrusive ads nowadays. I try not to (but it is also true that I don’t care that much about ads revenues).

Regarding speed and cross-compatibility… well, they’re the real challenges I think.
John Lampard | October 8th, 2007 at 8:13 am

“7. Compatibility with Multiple Browsers.” One way to bring this about is to work with W3C (www.w3.org) web standards. Most modern browsers offer a good degree of support for these standards meaning websites should render in very much the same in different browsers.
Vandelay Design | October 8th, 2007 at 8:42 am

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Karen,
You’re right. A lot of people forget about the dial-up users now. According to Google Analytics dial-up users make up a pretty small % of my visitors, so I am more prone to include images than I would otherwise, but I still try to keep things simple.

Pablopabla,
You’re absolutely right, it is subjective. That’s what makes it difficult.

Fabio,
Yes, ads are becoming more common everyday. I don’t mind them as long as they don’t interfere or slow things down. They’re a necessary evil in most cases.
WarriorBlog | October 8th, 2007 at 11:16 am

As long as I think it look good, I am ok. I also tweak all the free theme that I use to make it look better
Vandelay Design | October 8th, 2007 at 12:10 pm

WarriorBlog,
I think making some changes to free themes is really necessary to standout.
How To Create Good Blog Design | The How To Do Things Blog | October 8th, 2007 at 12:12 pm

[…] Read more in this blog post. […]
Karthik | October 8th, 2007 at 1:33 pm

@John
Unfortunately, W3C standards only mean that the site would look “ok” under all browsers - it doesn’t necessarily render the same way you meant it to. I’ve had it happen on one of my sites - looks good on FF, but not so good on IE - and yes, its validated
Karthik | October 8th, 2007 at 1:47 pm

@WarriorBlog
Do you use a custom theme? I didn’t notice a credits link, so I guess it is - it looks pretty simple and pleasing on the eyes, nice work!

@Steven
I noticed you’ve just changed the way the titles are displayed on the sidebar, they look much better now. I remember asking you which plugin you were using to display the popular posts on the sidebar and if it was a template hack or if it was widgetized, unfortunately I don’t remember which post it was in, would you mind repeating it here? (I’m subscribed to this one, so I’ll remember )

Thanks.
Vandelay Design | October 8th, 2007 at 2:29 pm

Karthik,
Thanks for noticing the sidebar changes. I didn’t like the old look, but hadn’t taken the time to get it how I wanted it. When I changed the theme a few weeks ago it wasn’t a big priority, but I realized that it really didn’t look good. I also added recent posts in attempt to improve the navigation.

The popular posts list is actually not using a plugin. I added that list to the sidebar manually, that way I can control what posts are there rather than having a plugin control it based on # of comments or something. For now I like it this way because I can change it whenever I want to.
Karthik | October 8th, 2007 at 2:33 pm

Ok, that’s an idea - I add a couple of them manually on my popular posts page too, funny I didn’t think of adding it directly to the sidebar!

I didn’t know I’d have company when I added them manually! I guess for some reason, some of the better posts don’t get as much attention!
Vandelay Design | October 8th, 2007 at 3:17 pm

I think for me it just comes down to the fact that I would rather choose what I want to be there than to leave it up to a plugin. Plus, I try to keep plugins to a minimum.
Dunder Mifflin Infinity Office Videos | October 8th, 2007 at 5:14 pm

I wish there was more innovation in blog design..seems like we are getting stuck in the same patterns for new themes.
Links Roundup - October 9th 2007 | Blogging Tips | October 9th, 2007 at 5:02 am

[…] What Makes Good Blog Design? - Good summary about the major points of good blog design. […]
Acopic - Web Designers | October 9th, 2007 at 6:13 am

Yeah - I’m a big fan of the less-is-more school of thinking. Sites have to be easy to use. Period.
John Lampard | October 10th, 2007 at 8:00 am

@ Karthik - correct - there will be some variation in appearance cross browser, more so when a particular browser offers poorer support for W3C standards as is the case with IE. Using standards in our work though is a way of encouraging browser manufacturers to offer full standards support
Felix Ker | October 10th, 2007 at 9:33 am

I think I have 1 fault - overrun with ads!
Miss Lingerie | October 12th, 2007 at 9:47 am

wonderful…great and focus points….enjoy reading and trying to observe everything that you mention…thx for sharing your experienc e with us
Wallace | October 13th, 2007 at 7:16 am

thinking of creating a personnal blog, i guess this is a goos article i should read, will apply this to my blog. thx for sharing
Mike C | October 13th, 2007 at 8:09 pm

Do you know of any good resources on fixing errors in different browsers. My site struglles in IE6 but does fine in IE7 and firefox. Any suggestions would be great. thanks.
Vandelay Design | October 13th, 2007 at 8:19 pm

Mike,
I have a post from last month with resources for testing in multiple browsers.
--Deb | October 14th, 2007 at 9:20 pm

Ease of Navigation and Easy to Read . . . amen!
depotsq » Blog Archive » What Makes Good Blog Design? | October 22nd, 2007 at 2:57 am

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Arindam | November 15th, 2007 at 12:57 pm

Nice post. however I’ve categorized the essential requirements from two perspective-both human and technical. Please check 8 elements of a good blog theme or template. Your feedback will be highly appreciated.
oyun hileleri | December 29th, 2007 at 1:51 am

What Makes Good Blog Design? Guide To Promoting Your Blog Through Guest Posts 99 Ways To Promote Your Blog For Free How To Set Up A Domino Effect Of Traffic
Sami | January 28th, 2008 at 12:58 am

Important Items Should Be in Prominent Positions. So why do you have this as #10?
Jim | February 11th, 2008 at 9:52 am

Great article, I definitely agree on #6, if there’s too many ads it destroys the credibility of the site I’m viewing because I feel like they’re just writing for the money and not to make good content.

Astheria has a good article on the subject as well: http://astheria.com/design/the-user-expectations-of-a-blog
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Rob | February 14th, 2008 at 7:11 am

I like your Top 10, I definitely agree that content should be high on the page to stand out to the viewer.

Something I’m tweaking is the positioning and use of adverts. It’s a fine balance to get it right.
Kishore Blog | February 18th, 2008 at 5:23 am

This is must read section for bloggers.
http://www.kishoreblog.com
Todd Daniel | February 18th, 2008 at 9:35 am

Great synthesis of thoughts on good blog design.

I find that many blogs not only get overrun with ads but also with too many widgets and other junk that take away from the focus of the blog.
Karl | February 25th, 2008 at 10:40 pm

The worst thing for me when visiting blogs are adwords! I see a link underlined, so I mouseover, and instead of a link to something I’d consider useful, it’s an ad. I’m not sure why this irritates me so much, but it does…
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[…] What Makes Good Blog Design? […]
ken | April 2nd, 2008 at 12:28 am

Nice post!i love it!web designs are not so important in your blog. The important thing is you should focus in your content because the first thing to when your making a blog, web design is useless if your content is not interesting.
ken | April 2nd, 2008 at 12:28 am

Nice post!i love it!very detailed..web designs are not so important in your blog. The important thing is you should focus in your content because the first thing to when your making a blog, web design is useless if your content is not interesting.
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I think for me it just comes down to the fact that I would rather choose what I want to be there than to leave it up to a plugin. Plus, I try to keep plugins to a minimum.
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DIY Design Optimization of Your Blog | Web Copywriting Tips To Increase Online Conversion Rate | September 9th, 2008 at 1:41 am

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Do you know of any good resources on fixing errors in different browsers. My site struglles in IE6 but does fine in IE7 and firefox. Any suggestions would be great.

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Do you know of any good resources on fixing errors in different browsers. My site struglles in IE6 but does fine in IE7 and firefox. Any suggestions would be great.
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Bill in Detroit | December 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 am

@Karl … those aren’t adsense advs, they are kontera and the double underline is your clue that it isn’t a standard link.

I have Kontera on my blog and I’m thinking of ditching it because it imposes too much on my readers attention span (and irritates them when they accidentally mouse over the links) and it doesn’t pay enough to compensate me for the potential lost traffic.

I think that putting small graphic ads at the bottom of posts makes the most sense. I hand-select ads that are relevant to the posts and fill the space across the bottom of the post with 4 or 5 of them. See my “Fit to be Kilt” article for a recent example.

I’m going to follow up your link to customizing a free theme. Mine pretty much sux … although it is getting progressively better (IMHO).