When you start a blog, you plan for great content, tons of traffic and for a nice income. It is all attainable starting with sharing great content that others appreciate and want to read about. The thing is, plenty of bloggers that have great content are making it hard for readers to realize just how great their content is due to design issues.
It is a beautiful thing when you write content that leaves the reader wanting more from you, sharing your content with others, subscribing to your list and ultimately becoming a recurring customer. You should be making your content the main focus of your website. Nothing should be in the way of your visitor being able to completely engage in your post. Yes, there are other things associated with your blog that you want your visitors to act on, such as Social Sharing buttons, Subscriptions and how ever you are monetizing your blog.
That is all good but you must realize that your content is what will move your visitors to action.It will build your Authority proving you’re an expert in your niche. It will also build trust, leaving your readers feeling that your information will help them move forward in a positive way.
Authority + Trust = Action
This formula is the key to achieving your goals online. Both Authority and Trust begins with your content.
Here are some common design flaws that can change the dynamic of your blog.
Having too many Ads!
Who Doesn’t Want More Money? Many people start blogs for the purpose of making money. There are many ways to monetize a website. These methods make some a lot of money and some never make a sale. This one I’m sure you have seen if you have been browsing online for any period of time.
For some they feel the more ads they have surrounding their content the more clicks they will get. The thing is that browsers have developed “Ad Blinders”. When they are reading content that they need, they completely overlook all the ads. No Ad Hoarding! Let them go. If you must have them, keep the ones that are converting and let the others go.
This brings me to the next section…
Decrease The Clutter
Your website needs “White space”. White space is where you leave a portion of the page unmarked. This help your readers from many different levels, easily understand and navigate through your content. Make things as clean, clear and as efficient as possible.
The easier you make things for our visitor, the more likely they will be to move forward with your Call To Actions!
Use Nice Quality Images
I think a large part of the reason many blogs disappear after a short period of time is because the don’t realize all that goes into building a blog. Having great content is just the beginning. You have to learn at least simple photoshop, basic coding, SEO, basic web design and more. Your images are the sidekicks to your content.
A nice picture can draw the attention of your visitors before they read a single word on your website. Be sure to learn how to shrink photos without losing quality if you don’t already. Having images with large files can begin to make your site run slower.
Images should be of good quality. Having out of focus images also lowers the credibility of your website. If you don’t have the resources to create original images, search online for free, royalty free or public domain pictures. Try to find images that are visually appealing and related to your post. “Visually Appealing” leads me to the next section…
Multiple Font colors
In a nutshell Leave the multitude of colors to Crayola When it comes to your website and fonts, choose two or three colors and build your site around those. Too many colors can strain the eye and make it difficult to read certain colors. A general rule of thumb for your content is to have a dark background with light letters or light background with dark letters.
After going through plenty of websites, I personally feel where your content is concerned that your best bet will always be Black and White.
Use An Easy to navigate Menu bar
I was actually on a site today, where I actually had to hunt to find the Contact page. What if I was interested in a purchase and gave up because I didn’t feel like searching etc.
The navigation menu is an important part in guiding your visitors to parts of your site that will be of most interest. Make navigating through your site easy. Be sure to have any page of importance at a glance. If your visitor decides to contact you, make sure they can figure out how with ease.
Is Duplicate Content Bad For Seo
Google’s algorithms are always changing, so it’s tough to accurately predict what will happen if you have duplicate content. Is Duplicate Content Bad For SEO? The best way to find out how Google ranks your site with both unique and duplicative pages would be to perform an experiment by creating a few variations of the page yourself. Is Duplicate Content Bad For Your Website Ranking In Search Engines Like Google & Bing? If you’re still unsure about whether having multiple copies of the same website on your domain would affect its search engine ranking, there are plenty of third-party tools available that can help answer this question for you in real-time.
Conclusion
It all really boils down to creating a “Distraction Free” experience. It takes work to drive traffic to your blog. Don’t let your hard work go the waste by not giving your reader what they need. Just focusing on a few simple tweaks (if needed) can go a long way. Make it easy and your visitors will appreciate you in the long run. Maybe even with a share, subscription or sale!
Have you come across other blog design’s that completely distracted you from the content?