Designing Your Blog Layout

You only have a few seconds to catch a web surfer's interest with your blog.  You want to make your blog design attractive, to get the reader's attention, and easy to navigate, to get the reader to stay. Susan Getgood, in Professional Blogging for Dummies, (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7947250-professional-blogging-for-dummies) outlines a few points to remember when designing your blog.

Masthead

Your masthead, which includes your title, tagline and/or a graphic, is the first thing that readers see. It doesn't hurt to devote some time and effort to it.  Consider which colour scheme you would like. Should it match an already existing website?  My blog masthead does not have a photo or picture per se, but my background does include a world map.

Talbert Talks Travel incorporates a beautiful photo above its masthead at www.miamibeach411.com.

Logo

If you decide to include a logo, you have the option of making it yourself or hiring a professional. You can go to www.istockphoto.com to find free photos.  Similarly, you can obtain a Creative Commons license to have access to free graphics.  If you have your heart set on a unique, professional look, hire a graphic artist to design your logo ($500-$1500).

Kitchen Girl has a professional looking logo at www.tastydays.com.

Other Imagery

If your blog is a business one, you will want to include product photos, graphics and logos.  If you have a humorous blog, you might include cartoons.

A little humour never hurts courtesy wordpress.com.

Format

How many columns do you want?  Where will you place your main post:  to the left, to the right or in the centre of the blog?  My blog home page shows my blogroll at the top left, my top five posts at the bottom left.  To the right, I have a blog counter and my blog followers under which I have my blog archives.

This Beauty Blog has a neat, easy to scan layout at advicesacademy.netdna-cdn.com.

Widgets, Buttons, Badges

Buttons are the small, clickable graphics that link to web content.  Badges are bigger buttons which are used as promotional tools.  Widgets have functionality ex. search features, blogrolls, recent visitors, Twitter posts, RSS feeds.

Good use of widgets, buttons & badges at May Dreams Gardens at 

http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/.

Advertising/Sponsors

Decide whether or not you would like to provide advertisements on your blog.  You can advertise through Google Adsense.  What types of advertising would you like and what size will the ads be? You have to remember:  how will ads affect the overall look of your blog?  Typically, the blogs that I read seem to have two or three ads running at a time.  Too many can crowd out the blog posts and turn readers off.

Bakerella incorporates ads into its blog nicely at www.bakerella.com. 

Surf the Internet and look for blogs that you find attractive and that you find easy to navigate.  Try to imitate their designs.

For more information, visit http://www.successfulblogging.com/16-rules-of-blog-writing-which-ones-are-you-breaking/.

For a blog setup tutorial with Wordpress. Visit https://www.siteground.com/tutorials/blog/wordpress.htm.

Advertising Your Blog

"The importance of your site is based on how many other sites link to yours and how important those sites are." (Professional Blogging for Dummies)

Now that you have set up your blog, it's time to get the word out.  Start by telling your family, friends and business associates.  Make a business card with your blog address.  My card says "Writer" with a picture of a typewriter in the background.  Send a mass e-mail sharing the details.  Include a link to your blog in your e-mail signature.  Advertise your blog on your website.  If you have a business blog, give a brief description of it in your company boilerplate (a brief description at the end of a news release).

Set up an ego search online which lets you know when your blog is mentioned or linked to other blogs.  Set up a Google Alert search of a topic that you blog about.  You can even do a Google Alert for your own name.  Link to other blogs regularly.  Leave comments on other blogs to identify yourself as part of the blogosphere.  Remember to keep your comments relevant and new, rather than just repeating what other readers have written.  Make sure to mention if you have a personal interest in the topic.  Comment on topics that have no interest to you twice as much as topics that do, thereby showing you have no immediate value in doing so.  Remember to reread your comment for errors and tone before your click Send.

Social media is an excellent way to promote your blog.  As of 2010, Facebook already had five million active viewers.  You can set up a like button on your Facebook page.  Similarly, you can set up a Like button on your blog which can link back to your Facebook page.  Read Facebook for Dummies (http://www.amazon.ca/Facebook-For-Dummies-Carolyn-Abram/dp/1118633121) by Leah Perlman and Carolyn Abram for more information.  You can also share your blog on Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Google Plus as I do when I write a new post.

Try writing a guest blog for someone else.  A one time deal might only drive your traffic up temporarily but if you do it on a regular basis ex. once a month, you'll likely see a lasting increase in your blog hits.

Another way Internet surfers can find your blog is through keywords.  Google analytics can tell you the keywords people use to find your blog based on algorithms, proximity, frequency and page rank. Sometimes, the strangest keywords come up ex. kosher clowns, ghetto chicken head, pregnant man or yellow balloon cake.  It is a good practice to get into to include keywords at the end of your blog. However, remember that people read your blog for its tone, not for its keywords.


For more information, visit http://www.thesitsgirls.com/make-money/30-ways-to-grow-your-blog/.

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