How To Build An Effective Content Section For Your Website

The heart of any decent website is the content that it produces and while great content will attract users that content must be displayed in a manner that allows users to enjoy and ultimately absorb it.

By properly formatting the content area of your web property you can build a website that users find enjoyable to browse on a regular basis.

Here are several tips that will help your content area stand out from the rest of your websites design, placing the focus on the most important part of your website, the content.

1. Content Area Should Dominate The Website

The content area on your website should be larger than the other combined areas of the site. For example if you feature a left sidebar that is 200px and a right sidebar that is 250px you have already capitalized on 450px of space, at which point your content area should be larger than 450px. [Read more]

How Color Meanings Can Affect Your Blog

Last week, I published a post about applying color marketing research to blog design strategy where I provided a number of statistics that demonstrate how color can help your blog’s success.  The next question bloggers are likely to have once they realize the significant impact adding color to a blog can make is what colors they should use on their blogs.

In a recent study published on Colourlovers.com, it was reported that the online world is dominated by the color blue followed closely by red.  Should you also use blue and red in your blog’s design?  Keep reading to learn what color psychology tells us that different colors mean.

Blue
Cool blues create perceptions of trust, dependability, fiscal responsibility and security.  Blue elicits calm and peaceful feelings and is liked by a wide audience.  In fact, it’s arguably one of the most popular colors.  It’s not surprising so many brands use blue in their logos!

Red
Red has been shown to cause a physical response in people, including increases in heart rate.  Therefore, red is perceived as being aggressive, energetic, provocative and attention-grabbing. It’s not surprising that red is used on stop signs.  It is the go-to color when a reaction is desired (which could be positive or negative).

Green
As you might expect from its connection to nature, green creates a perception of health, freshness and serenity. On the flip side, darker greens are often connotations of money and wealth.

Orange
Orange creates perceptions of fun and excitement.

Yellow
It’s fairly universal that yellow is representative of light and the sun. People relate yellow to warmth and positive feelings.  Studies show that people see bright yellow before any other color.  Ever wonder why yellow is used for road signs that warn you about dangerous curves and road conditions?  Yellow stands out!

Purple
Purple is associated with creativity, royalty, sophistication, and spirituality.

Pink
Pink is typically associated with femininity.  Bright pinks create perceptions of energy, fun and youthfulness, while paler pinks are viewed as being more romantic.

Brown
If you want a color that creates perceptions of stability and durability, then brown is your go-to color.  Just make sure the brown you use doesn’t fall into the trap of appearing dirty.

Black
Black elicits perceptions of power.  It’s bold and sophisticated and is often linked to high-end, expensive, classy brands and products.

White
White is the go-to color to elicit thoughts of simplicity, cleanliness and purity.  Studies have shown that people’s eyes are strongly drawn to white.

Keep in mind as you choose colors for your blog’s design that colors can have different meanings in different parts of the world.  For example, black is considered a color of mourning in the United States, but in Japan white is the color of mourning.  In Brazil, the color of mourning is purple.  If your blog is targeted at an audience in different areas of the world, take a few minutes to research color meanings in those countries to ensure your choices are appropriate.

Image: stock.xchng

Applying Color Marketing Research to Blog Design Strategy

I’m a marketer by profession, and one of the areas of marketing that I find very interesting is color marketing, which focuses on how color affects consumer brand perceptions and purchase behavior.

Did you know that you can apply color marketing theory to your blog’s design?  It’s true.  Your blog is a product, and you should market it as such even in its design.

Following are some statistics culled from marketing research over the years that shows how color can affect consumers, just as color can affect your blog’s audience and their willingness to keep reading your blog after they find it.  If you have any doubt that color can affect your blog’s success, keep reading!

Color increases brand recognition by up to 80%. That means color could have a significant affect on how well visitors to your blog remember and recognize your blog on future visits.  Recognition is the first step to building a brand, so it should be an important part of your blog’ design, too.

Ads in color are read up to 42% more often than the same ads in black and white. This statistic can apply to online content, too.  In other words, if your blog is devoid of color, it could miss out on a significant amount of visits and page views.

Color can improve readership by 40%. If you want to keep visitors on your blog longer and make sure they read your blog posts from start to finish, use color strategically both in your blog’s overall design and within the formatting of your individual blog posts.

Color can improve learning from 55% to 78% and comprehension by 73%. That means if you’re trying to teach your audience something, color can help significantly.  Certainly, highly technical blogs would benefits considerably from the strategic use of color.

Tests indicate that a black and white image may keep a person’s interest for less than two-thirds a second, whereas a color image may hold a person’s attention for two seconds or more. If you want to get your audience’s attention and hold it, use color images on your blog.

So what do you think?  Are you using color in the most appropriate and effective ways on your blog?  It can make a big difference in terms of readability, shareworthiness, and loyalty.  Stay tuned to Performancing for more color marketing theory.  I’ll follow up on this post next week with information about color meanings, so you can evaluate your blog to ensure you’re using the best colors to attract the right audience and meet your goals.

Image: stock.xchng

5 Websites to Learn CSS and HTML

There are many books and websites that offer tutorials and articles to help beginners learn CSS and HTML — both of which can be extremely useful to bloggers, particularly WordPress users who self-host their blogs and want to edit their themes.

However, finding free online resources that are easy for beginners with no CSS or HTML knowledge to understand can be challenging.

Following are several free online resources that I recommend to help you learn CSS and HTML without feeling overwhelmed or intimidated:

Dave’s Site

If you know nothing about HTML or CSS, make Dave’s Site your first stop in learning.  It’s very basic and easy to follow.  Start with HTML: An Interactive Tutorial for Beginners and CSS: An Interactive Tutorial for Beginners.

W3Schools

W3Schools offers both CSS and HTML online courses as well as a variety of other courses.  Start with the HTML tutorials and the CSS tutorials.

CSS Basics

Splashpress Media offers an 18 chapter CSS guide, which you can download or print.

About.com Web Design

Jennifer Kyrnin, the About.com Guide to Web Design, offers a wide variety of articles to learn various aspects of HTML and CSS.

HTML Code Tutorial

The HTML Code Tutorial site includes links to a wide variety of articles, frequently asked questions, and more.  The site also runs a forum which offers more information and enables users to ask and answer questions.

Have you found a free online resource to learn HTML or CSS that was invaluable to you?  Share it in the comments below.

Image: stock.xchng

Bet You Didn’t Know that Site’s Built on WordPress – Network Solutions

Time for another post in the “Bet You Didn’t Know that Site’s Built on WordPress” series where I highlight businesses and brands using WordPress that might surprise and inspire you.  If you thought WordPress and blogging was just for hobbyists and personal blogs, you’re wrong.

Today’s featured website using WordPress in cool ways is Network Solutions.  This is a company that has been around the world of domains, hosting, and more for years, and its most recent site redesign was intended to restore the brand’s position as a leader in the online space.  I’m on the Network Solutions Social Media Advisory Board, so it came as no surprise to me that WordPress would be the tool to bring the Network Solutions website into its new brand era.

Take a look at the clean, easy to read and visually appealing home page of the Network Solutions website built on WordPress:

The interior pages of the site use either a one-column or two-column layout as well as easy to read fonts, colors, and designs.  Take a look at one of the interior pages that is text-heavy but still easy to read below:

The site even includes a page that lists all of the Network Solutions blogs (also built on WordPress) in a single place, including graphics and links, as shown below.

Last time on “Bet You Didn’t Know that Site’s Built on WordPress” I featured a college, Tufts University, and today, you see a mid-size company using WordPress to run its primary web presence.  Stay tuned for another well-known brand using WordPress in the next post in this series, and prepare to be amazed!

What site built on WordPress really amazes you?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Bet You Didn’t Know that Site’s Built on WordPress – Tufts University

This is the first post in an ongoing series I’m writing for Performancing.com called, “Bet You Didn’t Know that Site’s Built on WordPress” where I’ll highlight businesses and brands using WordPress that might surprise and inspire you.  If you thought WordPress and blogging was just for hobbyists and personal blogs, you’re wrong.

Today’s installment of “Bet You Didn’t Know that Site’s Built on WordPress” features Tufts University, one of the leading higher education institutions in the United States and located just outside of Boston, Massachusetts.

Each of the student and administrator blogs sponsored by the Tufts University Office of Undergraduate Admissions runs on WordPress.org.

The main Tufts Blogs site offers links to recent posts from each Tufts University blog as well as a list of all the blogs in the left sidebar.

The Inside the Dean’s Office blog offers insight from Dean Coffin, which is written in his own voice and with a touch of humor that makes it far more interesting than you might expect from the dean of a leading university, as you can see from the post shown below.  You can read his post here if you can’t see it in the image below.

The Tufts Engineer blog is pictured below.  Each Tufts blog is simple in design with the same background and the only change being in the post content and the About page link.  I’d actually like to see better branding at the top of each blog to better identify what each blog is about that makes it unique and interesting.  The consistency in the background is a good idea, but I’d like to see uniquely branded headers or some other way to better identify what visitors can expect to find in each specific blog.

Despite the need for better individual blog branding, Tufts University shows from its blogs and its use of WordPress that is is keeping up with the essential technology and social media conversations that students, donors, businesses, and communities expect to see.  Furthermore, the prominent links to Tufts University Facebook, Twitter and YouTube profiles are done well to maximize community and relationship building opportunities.

What do you think of Tufts University’s use of WordPress.org and blogging?

Five Ways to Tweak a WordPress Theme

Ah, free WordPress themes. I’m convinced they’re one of the biggest reasons WordPress is the most popular blogging platform today. From one-column minimalism to grid-based magazine layouts, photoblogging styles to made-for-Adsense themes, there are free WordPress themes for every taste- just download, install and activate!

But to set your blog apart, you’ll want to tweak that theme- and when I say tweak, I mean make small changes here and there. To make these tweaks to your theme of choice, a tool like the Firebug extension for Firefox can be very handy- but, really, any text editor will do.

1. Tweak your header
   Usually the first place new visitors will look, and a good place to start. Some themes include “theme options” pages that show up when you’ve activated the theme, and others include banner photos or graphics that can easily be replaced with your own. If you’re using the default WordPress theme Kubrick, the aptly named Kubrickr will automatically find photos on Flickr for you to customize your header with. To get more in-depth, I recommend reading through WordPress’ official codex page on Designing Headers.
2. Play with your widgets
   Most WordPress theme designers “widgetize” their themes, and for good reason: widgets are probably the quickest way to personalize a WordPress theme. Built-in widgets, available in every fresh installation of WordPress, include widgets for displaying your Archives, Calendar, Recent Comments and so forth- and And if the theme you love isn’t widgetized, you can do it yourself.
3. Experiment with color
   Even slight changes to the colors on your site can have a big impact. Online tools such as the Color Scheme Designer can keep you busy for hours, or you can check out pre-made color schemes at sites like colr.org and GenoPal.
4. Change your fonts
   We used to have just two choices when it came to web fonts: serif or sans-serif. Today, we have methods like sIFR and FLIR, which replace your fonts using Flash, the newish Cufon, which doesn’t require Flash, and CSS3′s @font-face, which works by downloading the specified fonts.
5. Personalize your About page
   This one, which requires no CSS tweaking at all, just might be the most important way of all. Tweaking your About page, the only page that comes pre-built with WordPress, is where you can truly let your personality shine through. A photo of yourself is always good, but you should feel free to add anything here that shows the world- or your readers, at least- who you are. You can read more about tweaking your About page in a previous post of mine.

Of course, we’ve only barely scratched the surface of the ways you can tweak your WordPress theme. For more ways, the WordPress Codex is an excellent place to start, or look through our previous posts on WordPress here.

Performancing Releases the Herald Theme for WordPress

Considered one of the premier sources of blogging news, commentary and information, The Blog Herald has gone through different iterations since its inception in 2003. Among the most successful designs was Brian Gardner‘s grey-themed three-column layout released in 2007. Performancing is releasing this theme as our latest free WordPress theme as the Herald Theme.

Sporting a grey-dominant color scheme, with red and blue highlights, the Herald Theme looks clean and crisp, with a wide main content area, and two sidebars to the right. The middle sidebar us wide enough to contain an ad block of 125×125 pixel buttons or a 250×250 banner, and supports featured posts which will display only posts from a defined category or tag. Each sidebar block and footer column can be customized using widgets for easy drag-and-drop rearranging.

The Herald Theme is optimized for use with WordPress 2.8 and newer. Dropdown menus use jQuery.

Preview the Herald Theme

For a live preview of the theme, click here.

Download the Herald Theme

To download Herald Theme, click here.

How Important is the Design of Your Blog?

I’ve been thinking a lot about blog design because in the last couple of days, I’ve gotten some compliments out of blue on one of my blog’s designs.  This was surprising because I don’t think the design is exceptional.  The design is based on a popular premium theme, which I modified with my limited coding skills.  I changed the colors, resized the columns, and moved and deleted some of the visual elements.  Also, I hired a designer to create a custom header.  These changes made my design look very different from the original look.

Make It Unique

One key is standing out from the crowd.  No one will talk about your blog design or even take note of it if it looks too similar to other blogs.

Many of the blogs in my niche were using popular free WordPress themes, so they looked like other blogs.   While there are many great free WordPress themes, if you use them, you’ll often find many blogs that look just like yours.  Therefore, you’re not standing out from the crowd and your design doesn’t make a lasting impression.

Takeaway: If you do use a popular WordPress theme (whether free or paid), make sure to modify it enough so it has a fresh look and doesn’t remind your readers of other blogs with the same theme.

Cut Out The Clutter

My design may not win any awards, but one thing I kept hearing in the compliments was the simplicity of the design.  A clean, uncluttered design goes a long way to improving the usability of your blog.

Many blogs have too much going on.  Whether it’s five different ads above the fold or ten widgets on the sidebar, a cluttered design can frustrate and confuse your readers.

Takeaway: If you give your readers too many things to look at, they may miss out on the most important part of your blog, your posts.  Keep your design simple and you’ll highlight your content.

Content Vs. Design

One of the blogs in my niche has uses the WordPress default theme so the blog feels very boring and bland.  However, I look forward to visiting the blog because it’s regularly updated and has high quality content.  The blog has grown quickly and is starting to become one of the most popular blogs in my niche.

This just goes to prove that content is by far more important than design.  Still, that blog could get a big boost from a fresh design.  A custom design will cause it to stand out even more from other blogs.  It will make the reading experience more enjoyable, generate buzz within the industry, and improve the blog’s brand.

Takeaway: Focus first on the quality and quantity of your content, but once you’ve got that down, a custom design will take your blog to the next level.

Performancing offers custom blog designs with our blog launch service.

Why invest in a premium theme for your blog?

There are a whole host of very good free themes for most blogging platforms, which can often be used “as is” or customized just a little to create something a bit different, but is it time you invested some money in a premium theme to really push your site forward?

It’s true that content is very important, but the way that it’s presented is not to be ignored, particularly when you consider that first impressions count a lot, people will initially judge your site on what it looks like, and it takes just a second or two to click on the “back” button.

If you have the time, knowledge and dedication to work out a theme from scratch, or rip out the guts and replace swathes of code on a free theme, then good for you. I know there’s satisfaction in creating your own design that’s completely yours. I also know, now, that I’d rather spend that time creating content than designing from scratch.

How to get a premium theme

There are two routes to getting a premium theme.

The first is to find a designer that sells premium themes. Generally you’ll want to look for designs that are highly and easily customizable, have a degree of support (whether that be direct with the designer or via a forum), offer upgrades/updates to fix bugs or add new features, and offer more than “run of the mill” features you could easily find in a free theme.

The second is to hire a designer to create a unique blog template to your exact specifications. You’ll want to take a look at their portfolio to ensure that they’re creating bespoke sites, and maybe talk to some of their previous clients to see how the process went.

The first option is cheaper and quicker but you still may not own a completely unique theme.

The second option is more expensive and takes longer to implement, but you’ll hopefully get a design that’s truly your own.

Advantages

Look and Feel

Whether you’ve had your blog template designed for you, or you’ve customized a premium theme, the way it looks and operates will be unique and tailored to your blog.

Ease of use

If you’ve picked a good theme or designer, it should be really easy to add new elements without breaking the template or having to get bogged down in the code. This means you have more time for creating content and building community than wrestling with how things work.

Pride

I found that after I’d invested some money in a premium theme, I took more pride in my blog. Though I didn’t spend much on the theme, it was enough to change my mindset and take my site more seriously. Not only did the theme present content much more attractively but it looked more professional and encouraged me to work harder at building it.

This might not work for everyone, but I find that if I’ve invested money (beyond basic hosting and domain name costs that everyone incurs) I’m more likely to stick with a project.

Long term view

Linked to the pride factor, I’ve taken a much longer term view of my blog design, and am more likely to let it evolve over time rather than completely redesign it.

When I was running free themes, I found myself tweaking or even replacing the design more often. After I invested in a premium theme, I left the foundations alone and added things that created more worth.

That’s not to say that I’ll never revamp the design in the future, but I’m far less likely to do so on a whim.

Conclusions

It’s possible to run a successful blog off the back of a free theme, but moving to a premium theme definitely has its advantages.

If you’ve not considered it before, why not take a look at some of the options available. You don’t have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to get something a bit different that could set your blog apart from the crowd.

What do you think? Do you use premium themes and how has it changed your view of your blog? Or do you think free themes are fine?