10 Design Tips That Will Take Your Blog to the Next Level
Anatomy of a Successful Blog:
Most new bloggers don’t understand the difference between a professional looking blog and an amateur. So I’ve outlined below 10 of the most common design changes you can easily make that will help you to improve your blog and join the ranks of professional bloggers:
1: Make your borrowed template your own.
There is no such thing as a completely original template. All are variations of one theme or another so you don’t have to start from scratch. The most important place to start with is your top banner because that is the first thing your readers will see. When making a banner consider your blog’s niche and design something that is relevant to your topic.
2. Change your template icons.
Most blogs come out-of-the-box with icons in your sidebar. They are usually common images that we’ve all seen more times than we care to admit. So why not get rid of them and make your own images or grab these fantastic icons for free. Or, consider dumping the icons and use white space, shades of color or borders like I have. It makes for a cleaner looking template.
3: Make Your Post Titles go Click.
What I mean by that is your post titles should also be a clickable permalink. So when it’s clicked it will take your readers to the post page. This is not only advisable from an SEO perspective but it is also the logical choice that your readers are going to click.
4: Make your Blog Title and Logo Click.
Meaning, your blog title should be a clickable link that will take your readers to your blog home page. Again, this is important for SEO purposes as well as from a user’s perspective. Be sure also to include ALT and TITLE attributes for your home page.
So why not make your own logo? Instead of just words for your blog title, use an image that will give your banner a more professional look. For Blogger users the easy way to make your blog title image clickable is to put code into the “Description” section under the dashboard “Settings” menu. Here is my code that I use:
<a title=”InstaBloke Home” href=”http://www.blogbloke.com” mce_href=”http://www.blogbloke.com” ><img border=”0″ src=”http://www.myimagehost.com/myimages/InstaBloke-logo.gif” mce_src=”http://www.myimagehost.com/myimages/InstaBloke-logo.gif” alt=”InstaBloke Home” hspace=”0″ vspace=”4″ /></a>
Of course don’t forget to change the src=” “ and href=” “ so that it points to your own address, and while you’re at it why not put a slogan underneath your Blog Title.
You can read more about it here if you like: Create a Clickable Logo and Banner for Your Blog
5. Put your descriptors first, and your blog name last.
This goes for both your blog and post titles. This is a common mistake that most newby bloggers make. Why? Because when a user is searching for information they are looking for specific keywords that you may have written about — not your blog’s name. This will make a huge difference from an SEO perspective.
It’s easy to do for your blog title but it’s another matter trying to make it work for all your post titles. Wordpress users can install a plugin to do this but New Blogger users need to change the blog title tag in their template.
Just look for the following code near the top of your template:
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
and replace it with this code:
<!– Change the Blogger Title Tag –><b:if cond=’data:blog.pageType == “item”‘><b:section id=’titleTag’>
<b:widget id=’Blog2′ locked=’false’ title=’Blog Posts’ type=’Blog‘>
<b:includable id=’nextprev’/>
<b:includable id=’backlinks‘ var=’post’/>
<b:includable id=’post’ var=’post’><data:post.title/></b:includable>
<b:includable id=’commentDeleteIcon’ var=’comment’/>
<b:includable id=’feedLinks’/>
<b:includable id=’status-message’/>
<b:includable id=’backlinkDeleteIcon’ var=’backlink’/>
<b:includable id=’feedLinksBody’ var=’links’/>
<b:includable id=’postQuickEdit’ var=’post’/>
<b:includable id=’comments’ var=’post’/>
<b:includable id=’main’ var=’top’><title><b:loop values=’data:posts’ var=’post’><b:include data=’post’ name=’post’/></b:loop> your blog descriptor</title>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>
</b:section><b:else/><title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title></b:if><!– End of Change the Blogger Title Tag –>
Don’t forget to change “your blog descriptor” to whatever you want.
*Warning: As always, be sure to make a backup of your template before fiddling with it. I also recommend commenting out your changes rather than deleting them so you can easily revert back if necessary.
6. Put your RSS newsfeed link somewhere prominent on your site.
The best place for that is near the top of your template as well as at the bottom of each post. Use a nice image and make it a clickable link.
7. Clean up the clutter and you can start by getting rid of those useless widgets that slow down your blog.
I realize that widgets are all the rage right now BUT widgets use scripts which make calls to other sites, and if that server is down or slow it will also slow down your blog’s performance. New readers are impatient and will only wait a few seconds for your blog to load in their browser. Anything beyond that and they will move on to the next link.
8. Make a menu near your top banner with links to your faq file, your profle page, email, newsfeed, home page, important posts, etc.
9. Make your blog look B-I-G-G-E-R.
What I mean by that is most users today are using large monitors. Chances are your blog has been designed to fit the old small monitors and so it will look like a teeny-weeny spec on anything that is 19 inches or larger.
The easy way to make your blog look bigger is to increase the size of the post body area (that’s where all your posts go) and your sidebar. Once you have done that you can also increase the font size a little, but don’t go overboard because most modern browsers today already have a feature for making fonts larger.
10. Some website design purists will tell you to use little (if any) images.
White space is your friend and don’t distract from your content they will say. The funny things is most of those sites are also wallpapered with blinking ads. Go figure. 
So … I’m in agreement with that to a point, but like all things moderation is usually the best policy. As the old saying goes “a picture is worth a thousand words“.
Don’t go to extremes and make your blog look boring, but neither should you make your blog look like a neon billboard in downtown Tokyo either. Finding the right balance is not easy but is well worth the effort.
If you are a fan of famous sayings like I am then here is one (or two) more for you. Try this on for size:
“There is no accounting for taste“, but “beauty is in the eye of the beholder“.
So what does that mean? Apparently “you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time“.
Ok, enough with the clichés Bloke! I hope you find this post helpful and cheers!
P.s.: This post was recently updated
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great post blog bloke… what I don’t get is how do you keep churning it out?
One post at a time
Bloke, you forgot the most important thing that separates pro bloggers from the rest of us — wallpapering your page with ads. Hah!
How could I forget
Great post. Thank you.
I am using Blogger and found tip 5 fascinating. Can you show me what the HTML code looks like in my Blogger template that I need to replace?
Thank you
No problem Mauibob. I changed the post, so read #5 again and it should answer your question.
Wow as usual another great post. Design is no doubt, one of the best stuff and the tips are just perfect
Thank you reviewsaurus.
These are all very good tips - especially #1. There are so many great templates out there that you can easily tweak to make your own. That has to be one of my favorite features of WordPress.
Thanks for the great tips!
Hi char and gnomeynewt. Thanks for the comments and drop by again soon.
Good article. A little long, though. A lot of info to process for newbies. You should break this up into a series and republish. I bet it would be a great success!
Hi Elaine.
This post is already a hit getting hundreds of page “hits” each day. The number of comments just don’t seem to reflect that for some reason.
Yes, it is a little long and I’ve thought of making some items into separate posts. I just might do that.
Thanks.
I disagree about the length: it’s nicely broken up by the different bullet pints, so it is very maneagable.
I’m a complete newby, and very keen to learn. I’ll have to start working on a banner- though i’m not perticularly artistic in that department…
Dan
Dan, here is a post I recently wrote that will help you to create a banner and logo.
great tips i will use some of them
Your blog is cool. You insipred me
I also use the structure theme and did some tweaks.
BlogBucks [dot] net’s last blog post..BlogBucks is DoFollow
Yes, Justin Tadlock’s theme is a great starting point to work with. It’s a little more complicated than most themes so I wouldn’t recommend it for newbies but it suits my needs very well. I’ve made so many changes to it now that I feel that it’s become my own.
Blog Bloke reply on May 24th, 2008 11:53 am:
That’s what I’d call a killing post. Thanks BB.
It was my pleasure.
Blog Bloke reply on May 24th, 2008 3:00 pm:
Hello,
I tried copying from your code about title, but it show error when save:
Please correct the error below, and submit your template again.
Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly.
XML error message: The content of elements must consist of well-formed character data or markup.
gofree’s last blog post..Scooby Doo: Mystery of the Fun Park Phantom
It’s true that Blogger has become very picky with its XML compliance but it accepted this code before so why not now for you. Hmm… let me think on it and maybe someone else can help figure out the problem. Any takers?
Blog Bloke reply on May 25th, 2008 1:01 am:
I did some Googling and discovered that Blogger has now depreciated this hack and you can’t use Blog2 widgets anymore.
So take a look here for the solution:
http://www.prasannatech.net/2008/05/blogger-changing-title-for-blog-posts.html
Let me know if it works for you so I can update this post.
Blog Bloke reply on May 25th, 2008 1:24 am:
Your blog is looking very good! I like your reply in the box.
Could you tell us again how to save a blog? I want to put it on a cd, is that possible? Thanks for being here for us. Teri
Tica Macha (Teri)’s last blog post..Fit to be Tied
Thanks Teri. Kudos are always welcome
Here is an older post talking about using WinHTTRack Website Copier:
http://www.blogbloke.com/backup-your-blog/
Here are some other software that I’ve found:
http://www.codeplex.com/bloggerbackup
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to-backup-blogger-blog.html
If you don’t want to use software perhaps the easiest way might be to just create a free Wordpress.com account and import your Blogger posts directly into it. After creating your new account you can find the “Import” button under “Manage”.
Easy-peezy!
Let me know if you need any help with it.
Blog Bloke reply on May 25th, 2008 12:39 pm:
Excellent post my new found friend
For those WP users that may not already know, #5 (among other cool stuff) is nicely taken care of with the All-In-One SEO plugin…one of the most important plugins I have
Just put that all into Google and it should spit right out
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..ATTENTION RSS SUBSCRIBERS! (and everyone else) Testing Testing 1…2…3
Yes Dennis, I also use the All-In-One SEO plugin and highly recommend it.
Blog Bloke reply on May 25th, 2008 6:19 pm:
What free wordpress themes can you suggest? It’s hard for me to decide what to use. There are a lot of nice design and can’t really decide what to use.. any suggestions?
Hussein’s last blog post..Does Changing Host Affect SEO
My advice is don’t worry about how pretty the theme looks. These are just superficial things that can be easily changed with CSS. Scalability is what you need to keep in mind when choosing a template. That means choosing a template that will grow with you as you mature as a blogger.
Look for a theme that has the features you need right now as well as what you think you will need in the future. It’s like when you go shopping with your 3 year old child. You don’t buy shoes that will just fit her right now. You buy her shoes that she can wear now but with a little more room for her to grow into.
It’s the same thing with choosing a theme.
That was very deep answer :D. Anyway, it’s nice. Because I used to change my design. It’s just that I’m a free wordpress theme addict.
Hussein’s last blog post..Amit Bhawani Tech Updates
Just be careful not to dilute your brand. Your blog’s visual presence should reflect your brand (or your niche topic). Or in other words, your blog is your online presence that defines you. If you are constantly changing the look of your blog it will confuse your readers and dilute your brand. Make sense?
Blog Bloke reply on May 27th, 2008 4:42 pm:
Hussein reply on May 26th, 2008 7:41 am:
Blog Bloke reply on May 25th, 2008 10:10 pm:
I really need to get around to re-designing my blog. Sadly, I’m too lazy.
Blogging Tips and Tricks’s last blog post..How To Effectively Comment On High PR DoFollow/CommentLuv Blogs For Backlinks
I agree with your tip to remove widgets, If you consider things like google analytics or other external scripts that a blog may be running in addition to the widgets you can really stall up your page load time. If you really need some of these services I would look into php scripts that cache the data on your server to increase page load. This also keeps your site from stalling when the external service crashes.
Zinni’s last blog post..Establishing Criteria for Good Internship Experiences
That’s true Zinni. PHP is far superior to java scripts for many reasons and not just for performance. Unfortunately for Bloggers users they don’t get PHP which is another good reason to switch over to Wordpress.
Blog Bloke reply on June 8th, 2008 10:14 am:
Great post indeed, I am a new comer here. I look forward to visiting often and getting more great advice and tips!
Danny’s last blog post..Sex In The City Playing Now
Thanks Danny and welcome to the community.
Blog Bloke reply on June 16th, 2008 8:13 am:
May 27th, 2008 at 11:39 am
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