Did you know there are over 600 million active blogs across the internet? But, most of them fail to impact the audience’s decision to take action. No wonder the data shows that 38% of users stop engaging with poorly designed websites.
Hence, the blog design decides how your audience will interact with it.
A blog is not just about sharing valuable content but also about offering the reader a wholesome experience on that page. Professional bloggers and marketers believe in designing such user experiences with visual content. This gives your website a positive first impression, ensuring visitors decide to explore further and not bounce to a competitor.
Keeping it in mind, we have curated the ultimate blog design checklist that will help you publish blogs that make your reader click that button. Take a look.
What is Blog Design?
Blog design is the art of deciding how your blog will look, feel, and function in order to increase visitors, engagement, and interactions on your website. You can design blogs with images, consistent colors, easy navigation, and more that provide visual experiences to the user.
A well-designed blog does the branding for your business and ensures user engagement through comments, social sharing, and subscriptions.
The Ultimate Blog Design Checklist
We have skimmed through top-performing blogs on the search engine results page (SERP) and combined our findings with years of blogging experience to create this blog design checklist. Have a look.
Clear Navigation (Menu and breadcrumbs)
Easy-to-follow navigation with a precise menu and breadcrumb links are crucial elements in a blog design that guide users through the content. This enhances accessibility and user experience. Use customizable plugins available on platforms like WordPress or Wix to tailor navigation structures.
Check how this website wpbeginner has designed the layout with a horizontal menu bar and breadcrumbs showing the exact location of the visitor. Also, you can add a vertical navigation bar, dropdown, hamburger, or side menus according to your blog's design.
Table of Contents
Table of contents (TOC) allows your visitors to quickly scan the information they are about to get from your blog. So they can easily read the specific sections of interest from the TOC.
Long-form blog posts must have a TOC to help the reader understand all aspects of your blog. You can manually create a TOC with a custom code, or automatically with plugins like Easy Table of Contents for WordPress.
Here is an example of an interactive TOC that Hubspot created for one of their blogs. Clicking an entry from this TOC opens that particular section of the blog.
Proper Headings
Structure the blog content with relevant and interactive headings. It improves the overall readability and on-page SEO of your blog.
Use hierarchical heading tags (H1 to H6) to denote the importance of each section. Whether you are drafting the blog on a word processor or directly on your website, you can use the built-in formatting options to add heading tags.
Check this example from Clickup's article on 10 Typeform alternatives. Here they have added heading tags as per the importance of each section maintaining hierarchy.
Typography
Right typography settings improve the congruity of the blog. All blogging platforms allow you to personalize blog typography on theme settings. If not a theme, add it to your CSS stylesheet. Select web-safe fonts that are easy to read across different devices and screen sizes.
Optimize the blog topography as per W3C guidelines:
- Font Type: Use web-safe fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana for compatibility.
- Font Size: Optimize font size with a minimum of 16 pixels for body text.
- Line Spacing: Maintain adequate spacing of at least 1.5 times the font size for improved readability.
- Paragraph Spacing: Ensure proper paragraph spacing equivalent to one blank line to enhance visual clarity and organization.
- Here is an example of the topography Semrush uses on their blogs that engages so many visitors.
Mobile-friendliness
Your blog design has to be mobile-friendly to engage and retain mobile users.
As per Statista, 58.67% of blog readers are mobile device users. So, develop a responsive website that loads faster on mobile devices and add interactive buttons on blog pages. Website builders like Squarespace or Shopify provide responsive design templates or plugins.
Social Share Functionality
Word of mouth plays a major role in boosting traffic on a website. So make sure your blog pages include easy sharing buttons that will help the users share the content on social media or other platforms. This way, you can bring more organic traffic to your website.
Basecamp's blog articles include social sharing buttons for 3 widely used social media platforms.
Author Bio
Information about the author makes the blog more credible. You can add an author bio/box at the beginning or end of a blog. Share the author's expertise and relevant experience.
Also, add links to the authors’ profiles to connect with your audience at a personal level. All CMS platforms like WordPress offer certain themes that automate author bio insertion.
Check this author bio section at the end of Kinsta's blog article. It includes buttons for visitors to connect with the author on social media.
Published and Last Updated Date
Both of the published and last updated dates add an extra trust quotient to your published content. The visitors can understand the relevance and timeliness of the information provided on the blog. It improves the transparency of your brand offerings.
Most blogging platforms automatically display publication dates. Use plugins or custom code to add last updated dates.
As a practice, Scribehow displays both published and updated dates in the hero section, below the title.
Blog Imagery
Interactive images supporting the content make the blog more impactful. Add high-quality and relevant featured images for the hero and other images throughout the content.
Stock photo websites offer copyright-free HD images and an abundance of relevant options to add to different blog topics, but they should not be overused. Else your blog will appear just like a thousand others.
Better, create custom graphics using design tools like Canva or Adobe Spark. However, make sure the image quality doesn't hinder the page loading speed. See how Eleken's articles have custom graphics and illustrations that add vividness to their content.
Call to Action (CTA)
Strategic calls to action (CTAs) throughout your blog encourage interaction. Whether prompting readers to subscribe to your newsletter, explore related content, sign up for a free trial, leave feedback, or request a quote and demo- CTAs facilitate conversion. Incorporate clear and compelling CTAs aligned with your blog's objectives and audience preferences.
Check this example of a CTA placed at the bottom of a blog article on Semrush.
Email Newsletter Subscription
Provide an email newsletter subscription option on your website to capture leads and nurture relationships with your audience. Email newsletters are an effective way to deliver valuable content directly to subscribers' inboxes. It keeps them engaged with your brand over time. Offer incentives like exclusive content or discounts to encourage sign-ups.
Semrush uses a text box on all pages to help the visitor subscribe to their newsletters.
Correct Use of Whitespace
Optimize whitespace to improve the visual hierarchy and readability of your blog design.
Proper spacing between elements enhances content clarity and organization, reducing cognitive load for users. Maintain a balanced layout by leveraging whitespace effectively throughout your blog.
For instance, check the use of whitespace in this blog article by Ahrefs. The whitespace highlights the important sections of the blog while enhancing the user experience.
Color Consistency
Ensure consistency in color schemes to maintain brand identity and visual coherence across your blog. Harmonious color palettes create a cohesive and polished aesthetic, reinforcing brand recognition and user engagement. Establish a style guide or use design tools to maintain color consistency throughout your blog.
For example, check this screenshot of a Justinmind's blog. Everything from the fonts to the colors used in the blog images and buttons is part of the brand color palette.
Final Thoughts
Blog design is the key factor that makes your blog stand out from competitors. Use all the elements mentioned in this guide to make your blog a perfect one. If you have anything to add to this checklist, feel free to reach us!
Key Takeaways
1. Your blog's design directly impacts how users interact with your content. Prioritize clear navigation, proper headings, and mobile responsiveness to enhance the user experience.
2. Incorporate high-quality imagery, maintain color consistency, and optimize whitespace to create an aesthetically pleasing design that reflects your brand identity
3. Update your blog content regularly and display publication and last updated dates to establish credibility and transparency with your audience.
