When was the last time you browsed through a few blogs and thought about the way their page design impacted your experience as a user. If you’re doing your job as a blogger, you may have already thought about this quite some time ago. If not, it’s time to make sure that your blog design is working for you, not against you. There are many different elements that go into a user’s experience while reading your blog, and your page design and visual aesthetics can make a big impression. In fact, one of the best ways to create a better experience and, hence, garner more traffic, is by streamlining and clarifying your blog’s visual purpose. Not only does your design need to be nice to look at and catch the user’s eye, it also needs to be an effective part of the overall experience you wish to create. Read on for some tips to make your blog design the best it can be:

1. Follow The Visual ‘F’ Pattern

Online users scan the homepage of any website in mere seconds and can make the decision to keep reading or click away in the same amount of time. To make the most of your blog design, you want to place your most important elements in the areas that users will most commonly look. One of the most common ways people scan a webpage is in an ’F’ formation. Users will scan the top part of a page fully from left to right. Then, they will drop down a line, and scan about half the page from left to right. Then they will quickly scan down the left part of the rest of the page. Because of this, putting the most important content in these areas will garner the best traffic results.

2. Choose Color’s Wisely

Color should support the purpose of your blog. Simply choosing your favorite colors, or hues that you find exciting or interesting, is just not enough. Color can bring out different moods for consumers, so it’s important to think about what type of experience you are trying to create on your blog and choose a color scheme that will help support that goal.

3. Limit Text On The Homepage

One of the quickest ways to make a blog feel too busy is by allowing too much text (especially small text) to be visible on the main page. Even if your blog consists of long published articles or creative writing pieces, try to limit the text on the homepage to small blurbs. It’s a good idea to use an image to represent the content and include only a sentence or two from the beginning of the article to get users to click for further reading.

4. Invest In High-quality Image And Video

High-quality photos and video take an investment of either time or money, but it is an investment that absolutely needs to be made. Instead of uploading any old photo you find on the web to represent your content, take the time to source the best possible images and make sure that you can legally post them on your site. Or you take the time to make your own, or pay someone to create original work for your blog. Either way, having professional, crisp and beautiful images will help differentiate your blog from the amateurs.

5. Monetize For User Efficiency, Not Just Profits

When you think about SEO tactics and design monetization for your blog, it is best to do so with efficiency in mind. Your end goal should be to create the best possible web experience for your readers. This means that, if you have to choose between making a chunk of money the easy way by placing an annoying ad on your main page or making money slowly by gaining organic traffic from high-quality experiences and content, it’s much better for you and your users to go the second route. Your blog design should indicate your level of dedication to your blogging endeavor. If you design your blog in a way that looks like you’re after nothing but a quick buck, your users will surely get the same impression.

Written by Carol. Edited by Aritra Roy.

Carol Wilson has spent a good majority of her life working for insurance agencies and calculating business insurance quotes, so if anyone knows a thing or two about insurance it’s Carol. But aside from sharing her knowledge to readers, she also enjoys sharing her thoughts and opinions on other business-related topics such as marketing techniques.