I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time on the design of my blogs. I don't take a template and slap it up on my server, install wordpress and call it a day. One of the more important features of running a blog is making it unique. That is not just the content of the site but the design of it as well.
I believe that a strong header image and a strong layout for the body of content is crucial in how people will look at and remain on your site. If the site is a mess chances are your visitors will leave and look for a more organised website. You should ensure that you have a decent layout. That is to say that you organise your content in a fashion that makes it easy to read for your visitors and easy to navigate to other posts or other sections of your website. Not only that but just as important is your color scheme. I have found that loud and bright colors can attract attention to specific sections of a site. However a site that is of a bright background, bright content areas and links that are bright will lose the confidence of the surfer and he/she will leave.
I stick to neutral colors. Green, blue, white, grey, brown, red. I also think it is critical to maintain the blue hyperlink. So many websites are trying to get clever with link colors. I am a firm believer that people still do not understand how to use links. Try to stick to blue and underlined if you want to maximize your click throughs.
Use the KISS rule and you should be fine. Remember that at the end of the day we want to appeal to the people reading our sites. It may be fun and cool to tinker with features and make fonts all crazy, but if the surfer doesn't like it we are losing money.
Post new comment