Marketing

The Four Do-or-Die Design Elements That Could Make or Break Your Blog

Despite popular belief, blogging isn’t all about your chops as a writer.

In fact, the elements of design are incredibly important when ensuring that your blog drives traffic and revenue. Despite being so often overlooked, consider the impact that design has the following elements of your blog:

  • Metrics such as click-through rate and bounce rate, as visitors who struggle to find what they’re looking for are more likely to hit the “back” button
  • Aesthetics: the more attractive your site is, the more likely your traffic is to trust what your site has to say and sell
  • Originality: you need a unique layout to stand apart from your competitors, as don’t want your site looking like spam, do you?

In short, you need to keep the following checklist in mind when designing your blog that could ultimately make or break your engagement and conversions amongst your traffic.

Pick a Proper Color Scheme

Color plays a huge role in the behavior of our traffic. While obviously you want to pick a color scheme that is aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t clash, consider also the psychology of color as you design your site. For example:

  • Blue signals trust, good for sites trying to boast their authority (think: lawyers, marketing firms)
  • Green is associated with money and signals growth (perfect for blogs on the subject of making or managing money)
  • Neutral colors, such as off-whites, represent balance and can be purposed for any site, albeit your colors may not “pop” as much

On the flip side, ignoring your color scheme is a dangerous game as incredibly loud scheme with lots of bright colors could turn off a first-time visitors. When in doubt, pick a color scheme congruent with your current marketing logo and keep it subtle versus in-your-face.

Highlight Your Headlines and CTAs

How can you possibly expect your visitors to take action if you’re hiding your headlines and calls-to-action?

Simply put, you need to do everything in your power to ensure that you grab your visitors’ attention and make your most important text stand out. Bolder, larger fonts coupled with an orange or red text, for example, ensure that nobody misses your links and breaking news.

Stop Using So Many Stock Photos

It’s been proven time and time again that imagery increase engagement on any blog. That being said, try to incorporate fewer stock photos on-site as such pictures become commonplace and may seem spammy to your visitors.

Whether you take your own pictures or simply snag royalty-free screenshots, strive to use unique images whenever possible.

Simplify Your Site Architecture

Chances are, your landing page doesn’t need dozens of links or tabs to be effective. In fact, a simpler approach to site architecture gives your visitor fewer choices in terms of actions to take (think: clicking a link, opting in to an email list and so on).

Besides, having massive, bloated designs and plug-ins can lead to serious site slowdown. Given that today’s users expect sites to load in two seconds or less, you simply can’t afford to have a bulky blog. Think “less is more” when it comes to design, which will also help you in the realm of mobile visitors.

There are so many choices to make when it comes time to design your blog. Instead of getting overwhelmed, start by focusing on the most important elements of design outlined above and move forward from there as your blog grows.

If you have any questions, please ask below!