Designing Has To Be In Uniform With Blog Content.

Designing a Page That Complements Your Content

Many of us dream of going boldly where no man has gone before.  In the blog world, that’s done with content – creating a unique contribution to the blogosphere that readers will return to again and again.

In some areas, however, it’s safer to follow the well-worn path, sort of like following the Oregon Trail across the Old American West.  Someone found the best way to cross the plains and many others succeeded only because they followed in those muddy ruts.  The hard work was done, and the important stuff lay on the other side of the mountains. It would have been foolish for a greenhorn to try to seek a new pass through the mountains simply because others had already established one. So it is with developing the look of your blog, at least when you are getting started. Of course, once you are a seasoned explorer, you’ll want to seek out the newer and better paths that others overlook.

Earlier you chose the kind of Blog Empire you were going to establish, so now it’s time to take a look at a few other blogs that have successfully made the trek you’re setting out on.  We’re only going to look at the best (i.e. most successful) blogs to start with, though you’ll eventually want to follow a few blog rings to snatch up ideas that can help you build your site into all it can be.

If you haven’t already done so, do a web search using you favorite search engine, looking for the Top 100 blogs.  It doesn’t really matter how you search, just that you find blogs that have proven themselves in the eyes of readers and other bloggers, because there are many ways to measure the top: by traffic, by number of other blogs that link, even by awards.  You’ll eventually want to search them all.

Now take a look at their layouts, their colors, their images.  Focus especially on blogs that resemble yours in content.  How do they deal with long posts?  How do they link documents?  Do they have a list of previous entries?  What does their masthead look like?  How many columns do they have across the page, including links? These questions are important, not because you’ll be copying (you won’t), but because there are certain layout standards your readers will expect to see, just like you expect that all daily newspapers will share a similar format.

Artwork

As much as your blog resembles others, there are ways in which your blog will be – must be – unique.  The first is, obviously, your title.  The second is going to be artwork that complements it.  On a blog titled, “The Privateer,” a ship would be a complementary masthead.  A German shepherd dog would not.  But whether your title is relevant to your content, your artwork should be relevant to your title if possible.  The image and title are part of your brand, the image you want your readers to remember and come back for more of.  They should send a single message to your reader at first glance.

That means professional quality artwork.  It does not have to be professionally created, but it must be of high quality. Create it yourself only if you’re good enough at it that people would pay you to do theirs.

A couple of examples from political sites will illustrate:

Power Line has its name, literally in lights, with lightning striking from each end.  Could it be any more powerful?

Red State shows a map of the United States with red from sea to shining sea.  It’s not only their masthead, but their goal.

Daily Kos goes for a more artistic look, with an orange-and-black picture background and the name in bold white. The picture need not relate directly to the title because the title is a personal name, but it must (and does) look professional.

What they have in common is professionalism and uniqueness.  Your Blog Empire should exude the same professional seriousness as the best blogs.  After all, you’ll be joining them! 

Figure 4 - A blog's header art illustrates the theme

Fonts and Colors

Blogs come in all fonts and colors, and there is no right way to handle them except that they ought to say something about your site whenever possible.  Red State, for obvious reasons, goes heavy on the red and light on the blue. Gizmodo, a blog dedicated to gadgets, uses a more “techno” color scheme, with soft blues and oranges.  Daring Fireball does the opposite of what you’d expect: there’s not an orange letter on the page; just unadventurous shades of gray. Each of them has a consistent scheme that makes it stand out from others, even while respecting the layout standards readers expect.

Less can be said on fonts, as most blogs use the popular fonts that come with blog software.  The only warnings are to be sure your font is of a readable size for most screens (from 800x600 to 1024x768), and to avoid using comical or whimsical fonts on serious material.  It’s also a good idea to stick with fonts that most people will have on their machines, because most browsers will default to a popular font anyway if they don’t have yours installed. Unless there’s a good reason not to, you should stick with a font that will not detract attention from your message.  That normally means Arial, Times New Roman, Georgia, or the like.  

The Construction Of Your Blog

Blog Construction Process

If the idea of sifting the news 20 hours a day for blog material gives you the willies, don’t panic: get a partner.  One of the most popular blog formats (or rather, the format of many popular blogs) is the multi-contributor blog.  I mentioned the Volokh Conspiracy earlier; it’s written by several legal experts who contribute in their areas of expertise to the blog’s main theme.  National Review’s “Corner” follows a similar format: NR’s columnists answer reader mail and contribute quips and opinions, making the page a lively read.  Creating a multi-contributor blog means that you’ll be sharing your Blog Empire with co-regents, and as history illustrates, this has challenges of its own.  But if you share a love of your subject with other experts, you’ll be doing your readers a favor by sharing divergent opinions with them.

A second possibility is to join a site that has multiple blogs on it, drawing traffic that may come to read others and stay to read you.  A number of newspapers like the Lawrence Journal World feature a stable of bloggers on their site and may even feature some of their bloggers in print or on their paper’s front page online.  For the blogger who wants to build an audience quickly, this may be an option.  Be aware, however, that writing under someone else’s banner means you will be giving up significant creative control: it may be a good starting place for you to build a name, but you’ll soon want to strike out on your own.

Well, What Do You Now Know About Blogging?

Now that you know what you can build, let’s take a look at what you want to build.  The first step in that process is looking at who you are, what and who you know, and what you love.  What do you have to offer the millions of potential readers who will join your Blog Empire while they sip their morning coffee?

To find out we’re going to answer the most important question for your future success: where you’re going to build your capitol, the headquarters of your own Blog Empire.  Basically, we’re going to brainstorm and free associate.  There are no right answers, no wrong answers, and nothing is too crazy to write down at this point.  Remember, if you love it, someone else probably loves it, too.

Take out a blank sheet of paper and get a nice, tall drink.  Then answer the following questions as best as you can. Some, like your age, may seem silly or irrelevant.  Some you may simply not have an answer to.  That’s perfectly all right. Just be as thorough as you can.

Question 1: Who are you?   What is your age?  What is your gender? What is your race? Are you religious? Are you a dazzling urbanite, a laid-back rural, or something in between?  Do you think about these issues every day?  Do they matter to you or to your friends? HOW do they matter? What languages do you speak? If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Try that last one again, honestly this time.

Question 2: What do you know?  What and who do you know? Where have you gone to school?  Where do you work and what do you do? In what areas are you an expert?

Who else shares your love, your passion, your expertise? What work, education, or hobby-related areas could you be said to have a reputation?  What do you have a reputation for? 

Question 3: What do you want to know?  When you log onto the internet, where is the first place you go?  What are you looking for? What do you expect to find? How long does it take you to find it? Is everything in one place? How many sites do you visit before you’re satisfied? What do you WANT a reputation for?

Question 4: What are you passionate about?  What makes your blood boil? What makes you jump up and click your heels?  Have you ever written a letter to the editor?

What was the subject? Did you check the paper every day for responses? What politicians or issues do you love enough to walk door-to-door for? Why? If you were king, what would be the first thing you’d do? If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you’d buy?

Introducing The Most Powerful List Building Secrets. Lesson one

List Building Secret #1 - Making Your Content Relevant Keeps Your Subscribers Happy And Boosts The Amount Of People Who Will Recommend Your Newsletter To Their Friends.

One of the biggest problems I see newsletter and ezine publishers having online is that they write about subjects no one in their market is interested in. They just write about whatever they think people want to know about without doing any of the research, which is a huge no no.

Another problem is, publishers who have a market well defined don't then write the content in their newsletters that interests their readers. There is no use having an ezine on coin collecting and running articles on stamp collecting just because you couldn't be bothered finding the right content for your ezine.

This is easily overcome. Just send out an email asking your readers what they want to read. Also sign up for other ezines in your market and see what they are writing about.

List Building Secret #2

List Building Secret #2 - Add More Subscription Boxes To Your Website

Sounds simple enough, but few people actually do it. If you have a 100 page website, you should have 100 newsletter subscribe boxes on your website.

You can integrate a subscribe box just about anywhere in a website. You could add one just before an article starts, in the middle of an article or even at the end of the article.

As long as you have good content on your website, you won't have a problem getting people to subscribe to your newsletter.

An interesting way to do this for a content site is as follows.

Have a look at this website and see what he does to get subscribers, it's very clever.

http://www.associateprograms.com

Using Your Blog Links Wisely

Using Your Blog Links Wisely

The vast majority of blogs feature a section or two that contains nothing but links.  They may be links to the bloggers’ other blogs or to related sites; they may even be links to every syndicated columnist online - such a scheme makes up a good portion of the Drudge Report, Matt Drudge’s headline news portal. If you feature links, you’ll be following the grand tradition of successful bloggers and doing your readers a service. We’ll talk later about using your links as an assets to increase traffic, but for now we’ll just talk about how they are laid out, and in layout, there are two rules to follow: use your links purposely and organize them effectively.

Everything on your page should contribute to your page, and your links are no exception.  They should be organized in a manner that helps your readers navigate them, whether alphabetically or by subject.  They should also each contribute something to your blog’s content.  Aunt Mabel’s cat blog may be really nice – and you may really love your aunt - but the readers of your open-source software blog will not be terribly interested in it.  Your links are an asset: distribute them in a way that maximizes your blog’s value, and organize them in a way that ensures your readers can find what they want.

Layout

Fonts, colors, links and artwork are all produced on the page in a layout, a format which ought to resemble the newly-cleaned bedroom of a small child.  There will be a place for everything and everything will be in its place.  There will be no toys shoved under the bed where a curious grandmother will find them and tut-tut.  The closets will be neat and well-organized.  The floor will be swept.  In other words, you’ll need to combine all the elements of your blog into a format that makes people feel relaxed and impressed rather than distracted by clutter. But how do you accomplish that if you have no artistic ability?  It’s not as hard as you would expect.

Most blog software comes with a series of templates, pre-formatted layouts that will put things where your readers expect them to be.  These templates will allow you to set fonts and colors, decide if you want one gutter or several, and place your own artwork on the page.  They will allow you to set up an archive, start a mailing list so your subscribers can be notified every time you post, and provide a standardized structure into which you can add the codes and features that will make your blog unique.  Just remember that every blog host and package offers different features (some are simple but don’t allow imported art, some require HTML knowledge but offer great latitude in design). If you don’t want to design the page yourself, professional blog designers, like Hoyt Station, can create an inexpensive layout to your specifications.

Objects

Objects are small pieces of code that will be added to your site to make it unique and to provide useful content for your readers outside of your own writing.  They can be as simple as a page counter or as complicated as an online poll or a RSS feed, but all will be laid out on your page with two ideas in mind: visual harmony and usefulness.

Your page, when viewed for the first time, should speak most loudly to your theme.  Whether your theme is artistic or political or technological, every object on the page should do its best to illustrate and reinforce that theme in the mind of the reader. 

Some objects, however, will not relate directly to your theme as much as they will to the operation of your site.  A traffic counter is a perfect example.  While bloggers are excited when their traffic grows and want to tell the world about it in capital letters and bold fonts, most readers are not terribly interested.  Therefore it’s good practice to feature objects that directly relate to your theme and content close to the top of your page where the reader will see it first.  Operational or structural objects, like a list of blogs that have sent you recent traffic, belong closer to the bottom of the page.

Remember, your objective is to catch the first time reader’s attention and to illustrate, in as little time as possible, the theme of your site.  Every object on your page should be placed with that in mind.