It’s a question that many beginning internet marketers tend to ask.
With the right design, it is possible to make money from the very start!
On the other hand, a blogger could create content for the next 5 years and barely see any monetary results from their effort.
When you’re creating a blog, you’ve got to work smarter instead of harder so that you have the perfect design that works with your content.
It all begins with the content that you create.
Without viable, valuable content, no one is going to bookmark your blog or subscribe to your RSS feed.
Focus on creating content that adds to what your marketing efforts tend to be.
Compliment products, write informative articles for advertising clicks, or provide a realistic view of the affiliate products you’re representing so people can get a glimpse of how their life can change.
#1. Social media comments are going to do you any good
In the world of blog design, social comments are good for engaging your audience, but they’re not very good for how you rank on search engines.
Threaded comments are recognized right now as actual content on your page and longer content tends to have more value.
It can be discouraging at times when you don’t get any comments, especially when you’re first starting, but stick with it. Eventually people will comment and you will eventually benefit.
#2. Allow people to preview the content in your post instead of forcing them to read the entire content
The introduction of your content is the most valuable piece of content that you’ve got.
Not only does it introduce your subject matter, but it acts as a thesis statement for the rest of your thoughts.
It brings about your point of view in a way that can relate to your reader.
In a preview setting, you’ll then encourage people to read more by clicking a link.
This also prevents your blog from creating duplicate content.
#3. Include videos that you’ve produced to add to the value you’re able to provide
Video content is surging on the internet because people feel like they can connect better to the information.
If you can produce your own videos for your blog design, then you’ll be at a tremendous advantage!
If you can’t do it, don’t have time to do it, or can’t afford to pay someone else to produce a video, you’ve still got options.
YouTube has a number of videos that will add some value to your blog and keep your visitors engaged for a longer period of time.
#4. Make it very easy for people to share your content with their friends in their preferred manner
Not all social sharing buttons are created equally and some can even hurt your blog’s design.
Look for scrolling social buttons that stay out of the way of the reader’s view of the content, but still stay easily accessible if they feel like they want to share the value you’ve just provided.
The type of social buttons are also important. You can’t ignore sites like Reddit or StumbleUpon as a method of social sharing.
#5. Keep your color scheme nice and simple
Have you ever noticed that every word processing software program has a white background and black text as a default setting?
That’s because this color contrast is the easiest for the human eye to see.
Don’t monkey around with a bunch of different text colors to provide variation.
Bold text provides variation to emphasize a point more efficiently.
Keep the colors simple and those colors won’t distract from the value of your content.
#6. Keep the sidebar at the end of your sentence thoughts instead of at the beginning
The placement of the sidebar in the English language, for example, is better on the right because it allows the blog visitors to focus on the content in a natural way and then see the follow-up content in your sidebar ? like advertising.
It works in reverse for languages that read from right to left.
#7. Use a font that’s at least size 11 and has traditional components to it
It might be cool to have a Rock Salt font on your blog, but can people actually read it?
Most people would find it difficult. Focus on using serif or sans-serif fonts for your blog because these are the easiest for people to read on a consistent basis.
#8. Your bio is more important than you think it is
This is a guarantee! In order for your blog to be considered valuable, it must have some level of niche expertise incorporated with it.
This means you must establish your reputation to each first-time visitor and that can only be done effectively through your bio.
Think of it like you’re filling out a job application, but instead of trying to get an interview with an HR manager, you’re trying to show readers that you’ve got the experience to lend them critical advice that can help them ? you know, like this post is doing right now!
#9. Add an opt-in form to the bottom of every blog post you create
What is the best blog design? It’s a design that encourages people to sign-up to receive even more of your valuable content.
In the time that it takes for someone to scroll back up from the end of a blog post they found valuable to the opt-in box that’s typically above the fold on a blog, you’ll lose up to 50% of the people because they’ve changed their mind in that short period of time.
By adding the opt-in box at the bottom of each post, you’re providing each reader with a natural conclusion that enhances the value of the experience instead of detracting from it.
#10. Guide people to where you want them to go on your blog
It surprises a lot of people, but the most popular places on a blog aren’t the posts filled with valuable content.
They’re instead the guideposts that the blog design establishes to help people better navigate around a blog.
When you provide people with the tools they need to find the information they want, then you’ll get a better conversion rate.
This is also a good place to add additional links or provide people with easy access to your most popular posts.
#11. Let people remain anonymous
You might have an awesome ebook that is filled with a lot of value that you’re willing to offer to build an email marketing list, but to build that list you need personal information.
It’s easy enough for people to offer a simple email address when requesting free content on a squeeze page, but it isn’t as easy for them to offer up their real name to you.
Then use this list not necessarily to sell, but to notify them of new blog posts and provide them with exclusive content that can’t be found on your blog.
#12. Make sure you know your SEO
Long value content is a premium today.
Most blog posts are 800 words or less because the focus is on the attention span of the average reader, but these shorter posts will actually penalize your SEO if you have enough of them.
Longer content between 1500-2000 words that is authoritative in nature, provides structure to your blog, and offers valuable links to other content in your blog AND the internet at large will boost your SEO like mad crazy.
You’ll automatically rank for long-tail keywords and your subject matter because there’s more content available to be crawled and you’ll stand out as an expert too.
That’s a win/win/win for blog design!
#13. Focus on the user experience above all else.
If your website doesn’t provide a good user experience, then the UX will drag your design down all of the time.
Keep navigation simple, don’t force people to visit 70 pages to see a full pillar article, and make sure your message is clear.
When you accomplish this and test it before going live, you’ll begin to see better results through your improved blog design.
#14. A picture is worth more than 1,000 words.
The data is clear and proven.
Blog posts that have at least one image associated with them will get almost double the traffic of blog posts that don’t offer any images.
Every additional image you put onto a post increases your chances of a visit even more and you’ve also got the chance to have your image show up in search engine results because of the content, giving you another way to attract traffic.
#15. Keep it simple.
You don’t need to have a complex blog design to be effective.
If you confuse people, then you’ll make them feel bad or worse ? stupid ? and they’ll leave your site.
Be straightforward, be authentic, and show your expertise. That’s ultimately what you’re going to need to do.
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