Well, it starts with a deep strategy session of soul-searching for whether you’re down with “missional blogging”… but from the end-user perspective, it starts with design.
Apparently a lot of bloggers are considering a redesign this year. It’s a worthy goal (if you really need it)! I had more than a dozen conversations in the last week (some via TokBox) about how to make sure their next revision is the one that kicks butt.
So here are some things that I always consider when designing a blog:
1. Content – If the design doesn’t make your actual blog posts and content “shine” then get rid of it. Simplicity is always nice, no clutter, no annoying images or other such things. Content should always be the focus. If it’s not obvious then you’ve lost them.
2. Navigation Station – Most of your traffic, long term (you’d hope) will NOT come through the “front door”. They’ll be coming in through the sides, through feeds, natural search, social networking sites, the whole 9. If your user can’t understand the nav everywhere then it’s no good. Get a new one. Sidebars can be good, footers are better.
3. Speed – If it loads slow then it’s a no go. I’ve blogged about this a few times already. I often have to repeat myself… alot…!
4. Ads – Must be reasonably placed and non-intrusive. Guidelines for type, filesize, and visiblity/timing must be set. Standardize foo!
5. First Impression – It should be your content, and should be the first thing they see. If they see the moving graphic first, or the annoying commenting/widgets on the sidebar, that’s not why they came to your site. Clean it up!
6. Browser Warrior – Is your blog tested in the many different browsers out there? Don’t lose a reader because your blog breaks when they use Opera.
7. Typography – The element of style. Easy to read? I had this issue a while back. I bumped up the size of the font and worked it out a bit. Ah. Better.
8. Color – Either make it apparent that your blog is going to look at rainbowy and that’s what you’re going for or tone it down a notch. Color for color’s sake is not good enough. There is a movement back to simplicity… I’d jump on that bandwagon too.
9. Callouts – If you’ve got particular content that always needs to stand out then put it in areas that are obvious. Make it make sense.
10. Rule Breaker – Be ready (and willing) to break the rules that you’ve set and the standards that culture dictate, including this list.
Interesting, especially No. 2 "Sidebars are good, footers better". Until that comment I've never scrolled down below comments. Therefore I've never seen your footer. I'm conditioned to sidebars. I wonder how many other people never make it to the footer?
Or are you hiding it at the bottom on purpose, so that only determined searchers find it?
that's a great point…! i think a lot depends on the demographic you're attempting to reach… a lot of my readers use it… but, a lot of your readers may not.
wow, what a catch… learning quickly!
Interesting, especially No. 2 "Sidebars are good, footers better". Until that comment I've never scrolled down below comments. Therefore I've never seen your footer. I'm conditioned to sidebars. I wonder how many other people never make it to the footer?
Oh man, all these pointers are great, and you could follow then to the T, but it just seems that some blogs just have 'IT' and others don't.
true. that's what point # 10 is about…
gotta keep it open for the crazy!
For #6 use http://browsershots.org/ to check browser compatibility for multiple brownses on Windows, Macs, & Linux. You can also check what it'll look like on different screen sizes. It's a very important tool since I use Safari on a Mac with a 1680×1050 screen size and most visitors to my church's website use IE on Windows with a screen size of 1024×768.
dude, i use that all the time. takes a while, but worth it! thanks for sharing it!
Good list of the necessities. I'm pretty excited that WordPress makes this list much easier to complete than other blog networks do. After 5 years of hiding and not completing maybe 1/2 of this list, I can see how this applies. Sounds to me like ChurchCrunch is headed for a redesign. I'm just getting that vibe, lol.
oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
What a timely post. I just finished redesigning my site. http://www.walton.comYes, it's WordPress. I think I hit all of these tips. The purpose is to sell my services as a web development and WordPress consultant, so what you see is aimed at that, though I do get philosophical sometimes.
I believe in footers and sidebars. When I find some obscure blog through a search and end up on a back page somewhere, I always check out what else they have on the site and maybe look around if it's interesting.