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How does your blog template's design affect your blog traffic and appeal?

Posted by Drew • 9/03/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blog appeal, blog design, blog traffic, blogger templates, blogging resource, blogging tips, Layouts, templates, useful article

When we read about blog money making tips or "how to" articles of increasing our blog traffic, we usually get the "CONTENT IS THE KEY" tip. Yes, I definitely agree that what makes readers interested in our blogs is its content; how important are the things we say to actually affect how our readers live their lives or at least a part of it. However, have we ever considered how our blog designs or templates affect our blog's appeal, and how it can possibly turn on or turn off the readers' interest? Well, I have, and I hope my article at templatize.blogspot.com/search/label/articles or simply templatize.blogspot.com can also enlighten you on how important our blog designs are in improving our readership.

User Comments

9/03/08

dosox

It shows my simplicity.

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1. 9/03/08
  
  rakhisabant
  
  comment removed by the community.
9/03/08

qelqoth

My current site theme is a very minimalistic black on white template which I got from some WordPress theme directory. It's been modified a lot since I first installed it, to further ease of use and navigation.

Sure, it's not brimming with aesthetics and pretty pictures but I'm an old school net user and flashing graphical interfaces generally don't do anything for me. I'm just happy that my page is easy to navigate around.

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9/03/08

HelloAnnie

Your thoughts are clear and it took me only less a minut to read. It is worth a visit as a reminder. As you have mentioned, there is greater pressure to perform for successful bloggers; there is always room to improve.

Blogcatalog itself is making minor changes here and there to help members browse and interact better. And how powerful this medium

I have changed my template, done all the basics and hits doubled overnight.

Content is still king - every king cannot rule without a queen - would you say, template is the queen?

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1. 9/03/08
  
  qelqoth
  
  I agree although mine is a very bland queen yet one fairly easy to navigate around.
  
  I guess you could say my king and queen are like the Amish of the blogosphere, lol.
2. 9/03/08
  
  HelloAnnie
  
  Your words rule! I wouldn't dare start an argument with you.
9/03/08

Drew

Thanks for replying and for reading my article! I agree with all of you. I dropped by your blogs to see your templates. qelqoth's template as he mentioned is minimalistic and easy to navigate around, HelloAnnie's is simple but cute and dosox' is a paradigm of simplicity.

We all need templates to match our content as well as our personality, because more than anybody else, we're the ones who see our templates/blogs the most often, and if we don't like or feel the way it looks, we probably won't be inspired to blog.

My blog's template is a bit colorful for my blog is about design and arts, and I think my personality is as colorful as my blog.^^Others prefer simplicity and functionality, because that's what they are and because that's the kind of template that fit their blog. Business blogs for instance are not advised to have templates as colorful as mine, so it really depends on a lot of factors, which I will write about next time.^^

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9/03/08

suburbqueen

Your template is just as important as your content. If the reader cannot easily find what he/she is looking for or cannot read your content because of poorly chosen colors, they will not likely return.

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1. 9/03/08
  
  qelqoth
  
  That's why I've opted for a very minimal layout.
  
  Less is often more, or so they say.
2. 9/03/08
  
  fairchildonrage
  
  i completely agree with you. it shows a bit of yourself, of how organized are you. but no matter how nice your site looks like if its contents were should i say so, so, it won't get traffic that much. for us people in the media we refer it to "overly hyped with no substance" just like in a movie. it should be balanced.
  
  choosing your target audience is also to be considered. i blog out the kid in me so most of my readers were the youngsters! XD
  
  ah, i hate 3-colummed templates really!
3. 9/03/08
  
  qelqoth
  
  I'm not really concerned with getting large volumes of traffic or appealing to a target audience or any other marketing buzz word. I write for my own personal amusement. If people enjoy it, they enjoy it. If they don't, they don't. Doesn't bother me either way.
4. 6/07/09
  
  trailofpen
  
  I was hesitant at making my blog a 3-column blog at first, but it's hard to have a seperate nav area that's not built into the header (which is what I didn't want) and also have an secondary content/adspace without a 3 column layout.
9/03/08

CreativeJunkie

I'm hoping my blog design compliments my content. I started off in digital design and my designs were always pretty clean and simple and linear. I approached my blog design the same way.

I'm not one to have a lot of "fluff" going on and I really wanted the main emphasis on my content.

I love to see other people's blogs and how they design them and I'm always drawn to those which are clean, simple and linear.

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9/03/08

okcrazy

I always leave a site or blog immediately when it isn't designed well or uses a bad template. I know I shouldn't judge, but it's just more fun to read a well-designed blog, particularly one that has been designed to focus on the content.

I think a lot of people are tempted to put every ad imaginable all over the place, but I would bet strategically placing ads on a site that someone wants to stay at, continue visiting, and trusts is more effective.

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9/03/08

actionneeded

simple seems best. I have always played around with different outlines, and never get better results than when its simple to look at.

but the design does make a huge difference.

luculent
web-justice.blogspot.com

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11/05/08

kkchoon

It is very true, I changed my theme and my traffic seems to stick and the bounce rate drop till below 10%!

That proves a good theme and content do helps...!

www.ultimate-iwealth.com

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11/05/08

XanthePat

I have been very happy with my blog at Wordpress.com. I have just launched my new blog at typepad (its for selling my fashion items) I have enjoyed being able to create my own colour schemes etc. Having gone from being a complete blogging bimbo to being able (with typepads help)to design my site makes me feel amazing.
Now Im gonna start on my .com.
Perhaps you could have a look and tell me what you think?
marrakechxanthepat.typepad.com

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11/06/08

Drew

Hi XanthePat! I dropped by your blog. I think the posts are very interesting. However, I'm not sure why there seems to be a big blank space at the upper right portion of your blog. Is it really supposed to be there? (I'm using google chrome at the moment so I'm thinking if it's because of my browser.)I think it will look even better if your header will cover that area as well instead of the header being only at the left side.^^

The template is simple which is good because the readers can focus on your posts. Perhaps you could just add a little more contrast of colors between the background and the other parts of the blog?

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6/07/09

bizmashups

comment removed by the community.

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6/07/09

MissSuzie

I created my template to reflect my whimsical personality. I tried to keep the readers in mind when it came to readability and ease of navigation, but when it comes down to it -- my template reflects me.

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8/14/09

moonheart

comment removed by the community.

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