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5 Blog Layout and Design Tips
When most businesses think about blogging, content is their only focus. And while content is obviously important, design and user experience (UX) matter as well. Ignore this element of the equation at your own risk.
People don’t read. This might sound like an odd admission in an article discussing blogging, but it’s the truth.
Then what do they do, you may ask? They skim, observe, and make immediate judgments about your brand, credibility, and trustworthiness based on how your blog looks. More specifically, they care about how it makes them feel.
Will some people read your content and sink their teeth into the meatier aspects of each post? Certainly. (After all, you’re reading this article right here.) But the majority will form their first (and lasting) opinions based on how the blog looks and feels.
If your blog looks unprofessional, chaotic, or inconsistent with the rest of your brand, you’ll experience a laundry list of negatives, including:
Low engagement. Roughly 90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual. If a visitor finds your blog visually unappealing, then it’s automatically going to suppress their overall engagement. They’ll be less prone to actually read the content and evaluate the blog from an objective vantage point.
High bounce rate. As you likely know, your bounce rate is simply a measurement of the number of people who enter your blog and then click away very quickly before clicking any other internal links or pages. If your blog layout looks like a hot mess, your bounce rate will be significantly higher than usual.
Low rate of return. When someone leaves your blog because of a bad user experience, it’s very unlikely that they’ll return again in the future. This means your blog is actively and permanently repelling potential readers/customers.
On the other hand, if your blog looks professional, appealing, and consistent, people will engage with the content, stick around longer, return more frequently, and show a willingness to follow through on your calls-to-action (like subscribing to your email list, downloading a lead magnet, or purchasing a product).
Your blog’s layout and design are important factors that deserve more attention. But if you take the time to perfect this individual element of the big picture, it’ll only amplify your results.
Here are a few tips for effective and high-converting blog layouts:
Clutter is the enemy of focus. If you want to increase engagement and get people to actually interact with your content, the layout has to be simple and clean.
Generally speaking, a minimalist blog post layout is the way to go. This means lots of white space, simple contrast, and absolutely no unnecessary content, flashy graphics, or disruptive elements.
Minimalist blog design is not the only option. There are other ways to achieve a clean look – so long as you’re strategic about how you do it. There’s a fine line between being creative and creating chaos. If a reader visits your blog and can’t find the content they’re looking for in a matter of seconds, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
If you’d prefer to have your own custom layout coded and designed, more power to you. However, as The Blog Starter mentions, there are much simpler and more cost-effective ways to achieve a clean look. WordPress bloggers, for example, can download a basic WordPress theme and install it on their blog.
Social media has trained people to be scanners rather than readers. Scrolling is now second nature. If you’re developing content and designing your blog with the expectation that people will read in a linear fashion, you’re missing an opportunity to engage your visitors. The key to successful blogging in 2021 and beyond is to design for scannability.
A scannable blog is a blog that allows visitors to quickly scroll and still get a feel for what the content is all about. The best way to achieve a scannable blog is to incorporate a variety of elements like subheadings, bullets, pullout quotes, graphics, tables, and charts.
The right typography can make all the difference in the world. And like everything else, this element has the ability to either help or hamper your overall blog engagement.
When it comes to typography, there are a few factors to consider. First off, consider the side. Generally speaking, you want the font size to be big enough to read without having to squint, but not so large that it consumes the entire screen. Somewhere between 16px and 18px is ideal for body text.
As far as fonts go, avoid anything that has a novel feel (like cursive and exotic fonts). Good options include Arial, Georgia, and Helvetica Neue.
At the moment, the most popular (and effective) blog layout is card-based design. A blog card layout uses digital “cards'' or containers to organize each individual post in the blog’s main navigation. It makes it easy for visitors to identify and separate different pieces of content for clarity. (Almost every major website, including Pinterest, Twitter, and Google’s search results now use some type of card layout.)
When designing cards, the key is to include as much relevant information in the card as possible – without overcrowding or overwhelming. Some elements to consider: featured image, headline, author, post date, category, blog excerpt/preview, and a “read more” button.
If a reader makes it all the way to the end of a blog post, it indicates that they’ve been hooked. Don’t miss the opportunity to capitalize on their engagement. Always offer somewhere else for the reader to and/or a specific action for them to take. This may include downloading a lead magnet, opting into your weekly newsletter, checking out related posts, or purchasing a related product. Just make sure there’s something for them to do. Otherwise, you risk having them leave with nothing to show for their time.
Your blog’s layout will either help or hinder your blog’s copy. And while you certainly don’t need to be a world-class web designer, implementing a few of the tips outlined in this article will give you a massive head start in the right direction.