Great Blog Design & Why it Can Make or Break your Business
Posted on February 19, 2010 by Melvin
Most of my readers here treat blogging as a business and if you’ve already read my Blog Marketing for Fame report (w/c is free!), you can see how much I emphasized good blog design as one of the keys in blogging success. Just by simply paying attention on the top blogs in any niche, it’s easy to spot that no one in them sports an ugly design. That being said, you can’t expect people to read your content (even if its a good content) if your design is crappy.
As always the best time to get the perfect design is at the start or at the earliest time possible. The reason is you don’t want to waste new readers by leaving a bad impression to your blog.If your design alone can persuade them to subscribe then why not! But what is a good blog design?
Great Blog Design
If you are thinking that a superb design is synonymous with the price tag, then you’re wrong. I’ve seen a lot of custom-designed blogs that sucked while others simply use a free tweaked theme and it looked awesome.
To achieve a good design, you don’t really need to pay for a custom unique theme from a certain company. All you need to do is grab a design and then lay out your brand properly and clearly. The key here is lasting impression and brand awareness. Of course the basic things are important as well like readability, typography, cleanliness and etc but these days one way that people can remember you is through your design.
For instance here in my blog, people (imo) do realize that I am using a custom theme when in fact it’s just a premium theme. Why? Because I don’t think anyone using Colormatic Theme (my theme) has done good branding for their blogs enough for people to realize them. In short, when people see my theme, they know I’m the only one using it.
Importance
Two things I’ve mentioned above is lasting impression and brand awareness. For me design is neither a part of content nor marketing, it’s actually a part of both. People won’t read your content if your design sucks (debatable) and on the other hand I’m amazed to see how a lot of big firms have used attractive design as a major marketing strategy to boost their business! All together it speaks both of content and marketing.
How do I know I have a good one for my blog?
This is actually a pretty opinionated question but all I can say is your readers will tell you. I’m sure you all do forum reviews for your blog. If it’s your first time to hear it, its basically when you solicit reviews on large forums for your blog.
Funny thing is that most people view that strategy as a traffic generator but the real key in there is still the review itself. I, myself seek for tons of those forum reviews and it has really helped me out in improving the design of my blog.
You can also do so by observing the top blogs in your niche and see what they have. Although one can say it’s just a time-waster, you can still gain something because blogs from different niches accomodate different layouts so that may probably be useful as well.
All up to you
Tackling blog designs, how to have one and how to maximize it, is a HUGE topic. In fact there are blogs who are solely dedicated in writing about it. I’m no expert and heck no good designer (I always seek opinion).
What I intend to share here is the importance of good blog designs and how it can make you ahead of those so many lame bloggers sporting stupid crappy designs. 
What say you?
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Discussion: 20 Comments
20 Responses... What Say You?
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uberVU - social comments - 22nd Feb, 10 03:02pm
izzat aziz
- 19th Feb, 10 09:02am
when my design is not ugly and my reader have no problem with it, i think that good enough
izzat aziz´s last blog ..How ‘debate’ could help your blog
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Tom | Build That List
- 19th Feb, 10 09:02am
I find that a ‘good blog designs’ seems to be something that is quite debatable. I think that they key is to have something that is clean and keeps the focus on your content – this can be a unique, premium or free theme!
Tom | Build That List´s last blog ..The Aweber Code….And Why You Need To Promote It!
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Melvin Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 7:17 am
good point. maybe anything that can lead to people reading your content.
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Mathew Day
- 19th Feb, 10 09:02am
Good advice, if you don’t have a nice design and make it user friendly, then you may chase away yours visitors before they even have a chance to find your valuable content.
Mathew Day´s last blog ..The Yahoo and Microsoft Search Alliance – It’s Coming!
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Dana @ Blogging Update
- 19th Feb, 10 01:02pm
The question now : What and how is the good design for blog?
Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..How do I Use Google Buzz?
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Julius Kuhn-Regnier
- 19th Feb, 10 04:02pm
Interesting point. Of course a good blog design is important but in my opinion it also has to be unique. I have myself purchased a premium theme and customized it too look like no other theme.
If you have a theme that most other people have then that somewhat takes away your credibility.
Julius Kuhn-Regnier´s last blog ..How to Make a Great First Impression Through Guest Posts
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IndianCashMaker
- 19th Feb, 10 08:02pm
few of my blog readers have told me i have good blog design
IndianCashMaker´s last blog ..Its Time 2 Get Rich
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Agent Deepak
- 20th Feb, 10 03:02pm
Some of my readers have said I have got a good design. A blog design is good if it has good navigation and less distraction.
I have never tried to get Forum Reviews. Guess I should.
Agent Deepak´s last blog ..My 4 Golden Tips for Google Buzz
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Melvin Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 7:18 am
that’s one good factor as well deepak. Superb navigation is a key
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Christopher Anderson
- 21st Feb, 10 09:02am
I tried my best to make my clean and easy to read, mostly focusing on the content itself. I highlighted with some color. I haven’t had anyone give me an opinion yet so hopefully I have a decent design. Good tips.
Christopher Anderson´s last blog ..8 How Phrases That Can Hold You Back
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Arafat Hossain Piyada
- 22nd Feb, 10 03:02pm
I usually never drop twice on a site which design look bad, no matter how useful its content is because in internet you always have second place to seek. Good insightful article Melvin.
Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..Use ProcessKiller when desktop freezed to make your desktop normal
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Young
- 28th Feb, 10 08:02pm
Yes, blog design is important, I like beautiful blogs.
Young´s last blog ..4 Ways to Sync Google Buzz to Twitter
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Shravan Suthar
- 1st Mar, 10 10:03am
i m new in blogger so my blog traffic is now only 20 to 30 people and tehy haven’t commnted yet
Shravan Suthar´s last blog ..ALL CLEAR: FeedMedic Alert for Keep2enjoyblogspotcom
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mk akan
- 1st Mar, 10 08:03pm
blog designs can affect a blog or business. i sometimes visit some blogs and immediately click back because of the bad design…A good looking and functional blog design is essential for success.
no doubt
mk akan´s last blog ..The Magic of giving Free Samples, Free Downloads, Free Chapters And Free Information
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Syed Balkhi
- 2nd Mar, 10 12:03pm
Melvin, you have an interesting article here. I personally think that a Great Blog Design can either make you or break you. From a sole business perspective, first impression is what matters.
If you have a good design, you will automatically be considered credibility on the first impression. You can have an OK content and a great design and still get by.
If you have a crappy design and great content, you cannot get by because most of the time, users will leave before reading
Just speaking from experience. That is why, now I always try to launch things with a custom design. But if you are jumping into a new niche, then using something simple like Thesis would work. But you must be credible.
Example: Darren Rowse – Twitip site << Started on a Thesis site which was a clean design, but nothing really spectacular. But Darren is a high profile blogger, so he can pull things like that. The site literally got 10k subscribers in less than a week, but most bloggers can do that.
Syed Balkhi´s last blog ..How to Install and Setup WP Super Cache for Beginners
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infopediaonlinehere
- 8th Mar, 10 01:03pm
design should make people stay longer…increase in average visit length is the true success
infopediaonlinehere´s last blog ..Google App Engine technologies, Google App Engine SDK, Google cloud computing google app engine
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Arun Basil Lal
- 17th Mar, 10 03:03am
I am a total fan of free themes. In fact, one can easily customize any free theme and make it their own.
The theme has a lot to do with your blog, just close your eyes and think of the blog – The theme is what comes to your mind.
I had written a tutorial on how to customize a Free theme here – WordPress Theme DIY
Nice post
Arun Basil Lal´s last blog ..Must ‘Do List’ for Successful Blogging
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Gagan
- 3rd May, 10 11:05am
i love a simple minimal theme with white background … I’ve been using minimal themes for so many years and this is the reason my bounce rate is also low .
Gagan´s last blog ..Inspirational & Attractive Header Designs : Blog Design Series Part 2
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Adie
- 8th Jun, 10 05:06pm
Your blog design is as important as your content itself. With new visitors it is the first aspect of your site that they will notice. If the design and layout is poor then some visitors may not even get as far as viewing your content.
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