Blog Tips #2

Earlier this week we looked at Commenting & Following...

today, we're taking a look at 

Design & Layout

 

1. Don't CROWD your sidebars...for so long, I crowded my sidebars with JUNK! It's great advertising for others, and your work, however, it's distracting. You can widen your sidebars to look great and keep buttons and such on them without overwhelming readers. I'm so sorry for the people who have watched me grow over the past year on design, thank you for sticking with me! My design was AW-FUL! You live & learn right?

2. CLEANLINESS...Have a clean design and header. A crazy & loud background is distracting, especially a dark background with white text. I want to read  your content, not squint the entire time reading it. Your header needs to have the name of your blog on it as well, and not in funky text that I can't read. I want to know what your blog is about the moment I get to it. I want to feel invited to stalk your blog the moment I arrive.  The header is the FIRST thing fellow bloggers see, and it's their first impression of your blog. Make it clean cut, and to the point.

3. ABOUT PAGE...everyone needs one, whether its a personal blog, business blog, content specific blog, etc. I want to know about your blog and about YOU! You don't have to give out your name or ANY personal info. But, Oh how I love to see pictures of the authors, their families and pets...It gives me a lovely face to a lovely blog! I want you to OWN who you are!

4. THE MOST IMPORTANT...your content. The above things are simple and quite easy to fix, and really are just about presentation. Your content is so extremely important! I love seeing what people are making, cooking, diy-ing, etc. I want to see your travel pictures, and weather woes. I want to see those cute baby faces, and your weaknesses. I want to know what ticks you off, and what makes you happy! Think about it...why are you blogging? For you right? I hope so!

I have used the following websites, blogs, and programs to help develop my design:

Picnik—AMAZING photo editing program…and it’s FREE!!! You can also become a premium member at a really great price.

 

ColourLovers—see my background. It’s one image that’s 100px by 100px, just repeated. Through this website you can create your own patterns, and designs. Great for backgrounds on blogs, twitter, and scrapbooking.

 

Makin' Cute Blogs...please check them out, they have great tutorials that are easy and effective. Such as: Make a Custom Header with Picnik, Make a Custom Background with Colour Lovers.

Makin' Cute Blogs just posted about seamless pattern resources. It has 12 different websites you can go to. I haven't checked any of them out for myself. However I plan to do so. I love Colour Lovers, so I will probably compare these new sites to them! Enjoy!