11 Simple Design Tips to Make Your Blog More Interesting

By: Karan Goel | 23rd February 2010

Your blog doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated to be interesting and attractive. Sometimes it’s the simple things which make your blog great. While this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t spend time and effort on making your blog site successful, sometimes there are easy things that you can do to draw followers to your site and make your blog easy on the eyes. If you are looking for some quick tips to make your blog pop, here are ten design ideas that may assist you in keeping your blog interesting.

1.Keep Your Blog’s Name on Topic

When people keyword a topic like ‘NASCAR racing’ that’s what they are likely searching for, not a blog that deals with women’s clothing or something else completely unrelated. Avoid picking a name that’s popular just to draw visitors to your site. While you might win visitors in the short term, you will likely lose them over the course of time, plus, those who really are interested in your blog topic probably won’t find your site when they do a keyword search on that particular topic.

2. Choose Images Wisely

Try to pick your pictures wisely. Pictures, banners, video clips, and graphics, if not chosen carefully can clutter your blog and make it difficult to navigate. Don’t overstuff your page making it so crammed full of graphics that it turns off your visitors.

3. Fortify Your Titles

A good title can grab followers. It’s somewhat silly to spend the majority of your time creating an informative blog posting to have no one read it because it has a boring or uninformative title. Consider your titles carefully as they are often the hooks that will pull in your readers.

4. Proofread

There are few quicker ways to diminish the expertise or professionalism of your blog than to fill your site with improperly worded or grammatically error-filled writing. Be sure to give your work a good going over at least once before you post it for all to see. Typos can be embarrassing and turn readers off.

5. Differentiate Your Blog

There are so many blogs out there that it is important to understand against whom and what you are competing. View other blogs of similar subject matter to yours and look for ways to make your blog unique.

6. Do Your Homework

It’s a rarity these days to find internet subject matter that differentiates itself from the rest of the crowd. By doing your homework and really understanding the subject matter upon which you are blogging, you can make your blog stand out from others.

7. Consider Contests

Conducting quizzes, contests or polls can be a fun way to keep your blog interesting and your followers entertained and coming back for more. Consider awarding prizes if you can afford it. Even small freebies can be appealing to your visitors and might keep them faithful to your site.

8. Make it Personal…but not too Personal

Your readers will likely want to know a little bit about you, your background, and your personal history. While you don’t need to get into things that are too private (unless you want to), knowing about the person who is writing a blog can help readers get a feeling for the personality of the site.

9. Controversial Content

A little controversy can spice things up, but too much may be offensive. If you choose to throw a controversial topic out there, pick your material carefully, and don’t go overboard. Keeping things exciting can be good, but going too far with controversial material can be a detractor to your site.

10. Keep it Lively

People usually don’t visit blogs for dictionary definitions and encyclopedia type entries. Try to add a little personality, humor, or pizzazz to your blog entries. While you don’t want to make your entries frivolous, having some fun with your topics or graphics can add some life to your blog.

11. Give Props

Throwing your readers the occasional bone when they make astute observations or informative contributions can make them feel good and show that you are paying attention and listening to their posts. While you don’t have to agree with everyone, letting them know that their opinions are appreciated and giving them respect when it is due can help keep your blog interesting and make followers more devoted to your site.

This is a guest post by Tom Walker. He writes and designs for a UK based provider of Epson printer ink, toners, paper and accessories. You can read more of his posts on their blog.