So you’ve written an amazing entry for your blog, one you know will capture the mind of any reader. You publish it, ready to stun your audience, and… nothing. What happened? Well, it’s possible that they’re not even reading your insightful content – many will get a glance of the page and decide, based solely on the theme, whether or not they’ll keep reading. I’ll cover how to give your blog a fresh new look with a nice theme that will draw them in and keep them coming back.
1. Love at First Sight
The first few things any visitor to your blog is going to see are the layout structure and colors you’ve chosen. You want your page to be eye-catching, but simple to follow. Obviously, your colors will want to match the tone of your blog – for a light-hearted blog on day-to-day life, use a bright and vivid palette, or for a more professional feel use subtle colorings. Feel free to experiment with the existing schemes, as well.
2. Layout Structure
Your layout is equally important – you want your entries standing out front and center. Don’t make anyone wonder if they’re missing something. It’s also worth considering whether you want to use a layout that allows for ads or not. For a simple, personal blog, a single column format is likely enough. For a content rich blog, a 2 column structure with multiple slots or a 3 column theme is better.
3. Readability
Your content ought to be easy for your potential readers to follow. Avoid walls of text by breaking up your entries with headers, the use of bold text, and keep your paragraphs short. Your color scheme also comes into play with this – dark text on a light background is easiest on the eyes.
4. Don’t Forget Navigation
Moving beyond the content, keep an eye on how easy your site is to navigate. You want all the relevant information to be quickly accessible – given the option of hunting through your blog or moving on, very few readers will pick the former. Effective use of your sidebars is key to making it simple for visitors. Make sure the sidebars match your theme and present the best way to find what your audience is looking for.
5. Ad Placement
If you’ve taken blogging seriously and want to make some good money then you should definitely place your ads in the best way. Many themes come with well designed ad slots but you have to decide which one will suit your blog’s content. Also, make sure that the ads are in no way disturbing the visitors. There should be a clean blend of content and ads.
6. SEO Friendly
It’s a good idea to go back over your coding, once you’ve put all these elements together, with an eye on Search Engine Optimization. Sloppy structure and code means less traffic for you. You also want to do your best to minimize the loading time of your page – both your visitors and your host servers will thank you. Use discretion when adding any kind of widgets or plugins to your blog, because overuse of these will make it harder to fix the code if something goes wrong, as well as turning off your readers. Once you’ve done all these things, your blog will grab its readers’ attention the way it deserves to, and you’ll be amazed by the results!
