We have written many articles dedicated to blog design including a previous post on keeping it simple. With the release of WordPress 2.5 I thought it was timely to look at the basic features of your blog design when it comes to user friendliness.
For whatever reason you publish a blog, the design should focus on the reader and what they need to successfully navigate through your blog. Rather than tell you how to do something, which I will do in a later post, I am going to ask you to review your blog using the following questions:
- Overall Blog Design: Is your design easy on the eyes – some blogs are either far to soft or far to harsh – where would classify yours?
- Navigation: Does you blog have clearly labeled navigation links particularly Home; Previous Posts through either Categories, Archives or Most Popular; and dedicated pages such as About?
- Font Size and Color: Is the font size easy to read and are the colors of the text and links appropriate both in respect of readability and overall color scheme?
- Subscription: If you are offering subscription feeds – are the icons clearly visible, the appropriate size and above the fold?
- Comments: are the comments easy to access with clearly defined icons or text links?
If your blog design does not address these five basic design features then you may find that your readers are frustrated, uncomfortable reading your content and unlikely to return again. Your blog should be a friendly easy to access and easy to use site that not only welcomes the visitors, it encourages them to return again and again.
Get your blog design right and you can spend more time working on the content. Design offers friendship – content earns respect – interaction delivers loyalty. Get your blog design right and you have made the first step towards developing a loyal reader base.
