Trying to create a captivating and effective website blog with an attractive layout and user-friendly design? Well, you are not alone.
According to OptinMonster, a blog increases the chances of your web page ranking higher in search by 434%. A well-designed blog is your best salesperson- it works tirelessly to generate traffic, build brand awareness, and capture leads.
However, if your blog is poorly designed you are leaving your potential customers with a bad first impression and that directly leads to user frustration and lost revenue. Remember, the average human attention span is 8 seconds so all you have is this small time frame to catch the attention and engage your audience.
In this article we will explore website blog design UX, why it matters, how it impacts your users, and how to create a good UX for your blog. We will also share some of the best examples and resources so you land with a perfect and popular blog UX on your website and are 13x more likely to have a positive ROI on your efforts.
Why Website Blog Design Matters?
Good design is good business. If your users love it, so will the search engines.
Think about it, what happens when you open a blog page and you don’t like the experience of it? You go back to the search page and at that moment the search algorithm understands that something is not working for you on that particular page.
And what happens if you like the design of the page? You tend to explore and give it more attention.
Sometimes the best designs are also the simplest. Take for example the Help Scout blog page. It limits the copy, uses featured images for all posts, embraces the negative space, and makes this blog clean and readable.
It might be the page loading time, the responsiveness on the device, or the design. Your search engine understands whether you are having a frictionless experience or not, and that is one of the main reasons that your website blog design matters.
How Does UX Impact Engagement and Conversion Rates?
A substantial 94% of initial impressions formed about a website are a direct result of its design.
User experience (UX) encompasses all the aspects of your user’s interaction with your website blog. UX design can significantly impact user satisfaction, product success, and business outcomes.
It helps in enhancing the usability, accessibility, and experience the user has on your blog and this is how it impacts engagement and conversion.
1. First Impression
You have a strong chance to create a good first impression of your business through your blog design. A well-designed page creates a good impression which directly leads to engagement as a visually appealing page that also loads quickly keeps the user engaged
2. Easy-to-Use Interface
When you have an intuitive interface, it improves navigation and usability, and makes information visible. And when your users are more likely to understand your product or service they are more likely to convert.
3. Mobile Responsive
When you cater to diverse audiences, you need to provide them with a seamless experience across different screen sizes. 58.6% of all website traffic worldwide is from mobile devices. For this reason and more, your blog page design should be optimized for mobile.
4. Content Readability
High-quality, relevant, and readable content enhances user experience. When users find valuable content on your blog they are more likely to engage with your business and that positively affects your conversion rates.
5. Trust and Credibility
When you see a well-designed blog page that is visually appealing with good content and easy to navigate it automatically instills trust and credibility in users. And, when users feel more confident about your website, they are more likely to engage.
Designing a great user experience requires a deep understanding of the problem your visitors might have. Take a look at how the HubSpot blog helps build brand trust by keeping each section of its blog visually consistent no matter what topic, podcast, or video.
What Elements Do You Need To Create A Good UX For Your Blog?
Now let’s keep everything aside and focus on how you can create a perfect website blog design to create a compelling user experience.
1. Content Organization
A blog is all about giving information so the focus must remain on readability within a blog layout.
- Your typeface can make or break your user experience
- Keep your sentence length less than 25 words, a maximum of 4 sentences in a paragraph, and wherever needed supplement the text with a bulleted list as we just did
- Margins and columns layout help with both - reading speed and comprehension
- The golden rule for line heights is 140% of the font size
- Size does matter. Some of the most successful blogs choose large paragraph font sizes between 18-20 px
2. Conversion-centric Design
Your blog is one of your most aware and updated salesperson who work 24x7x365 for you. It informs your customers, solves their queries, and attracts potential, so why should it leave any chance to sell or convert?
Think about where you can soft sell with email subscriptions, newsletters, or white papers and where you can hard sell with a strong call to action such as requesting a demo or contacting sales.
3. Data-Driven
As marketers say, what cannot be measured cannot be managed. A data-driven approach minimizes assumptions and guesswork. When you incorporate data in your UX design process, you can better understand your users' needs and enhance user satisfaction. A few metrics and insights to consider when designing your blog:
- Bounce Rate
- Dwell Time
- Conversion Rates
- Inbound Links
- Page Views
- Page Load Time
- Heat Mapping
4. Remove Unnecessary Elements
When you know what to add doesn’t necessarily mean you know what not to add. A clean, simple, and uncluttered interface is only possible when you let go of the unnecessary elements as it fastens the user action process.
The clearer options a user sees on your website blog, the faster they can use that information.
5. Catch Your 404s
Search engines might not get annoyed by a page not found, but your users might. When they click on a blog link they accept it to lead them to the information they are looking for and encountering a 404 instead can be highly frustrating as it may disrupt their journey.
6. Social Sharing Buttons
According to WPBeginner, 56% of bloggers report that social media is their most important traffic source. Make it easier for your readers to share your blog post on social media channels by including social sharing buttons. This will allow visitors to:
- Easily share your content within their network
- Drive traffic to your blog
- Increase visibility
7. Use Engaging Visuals Wisely
A generic stock image is easy to lead your user astray. It doesn’t matter if the stock photography is high quality, what matters to users today is authenticity and that can come from creating connections with the user.
Look at how Microsoft has humanized its blog with its Work & Life section.
8. Compelling and Well-designed Headlines
Your headline, content, and alt text should be driven by what your customers are searching for. Including keywords in your title helps attract not only the right audience but also the search engines as they typically give more weightage to your headlines than your content.
9. Interactive Content and Elements
Your goal is not only to bring your potential to your blog but also to keep them engaged and convert. And, all of it requires interaction between your blog and your readers. Interactive elements such as polls, comment sections, statistics, infographics, GIFs, and videos can keep a user stay longer on the page.
10. Clear Call-to-Action
Including CTAs in your blog post can encourage your visitors to take action. It could be subscribing to your blog, exploring other content, downloading an ebook, or simply reading next with an internal link strategy that encourages the reader to stay on your site longer.
This is what Veed.io does.
Creating A Compelling Blog Design UX Isn’t Just About Looks
Blogs are one of the most invaluable tools you can use to spread your brand’s voice and awareness.
In this post, we have covered what website blog design UX is and how to perfect it with some great takeaways and examples.
- A well-designed blog can impact- user engagement, search engine ranking, conversions.
- The user experience of your website blog impacts- first impression, navigation, trust and credibility.
- Elements that impact a good UX - conversion-centric and data-driven design, engaging visuals, social sharing, interactive elements, and clear CTAs.
If you want your readers to fall in love with your blog page and keep coming back, your UX should match up to your content and your user expectations consistently.
Time to revamp your blog design to be more user-friendly and create a positive user experience.
