Achieving Excellent Blog Design to Make Easy Money Online

The blogosphere is a big venue for people who have a passion for writing and the desire to generate money using their talent.

Deciding on the Looks

Anybody can be attracted to a website because it is very pleasing to the eyes. This is the very reason why bloggers put a serious thought on whether using a premade or custom template.

The design of the website can make or break a blogger’s career. If you are planning to start your own blog, there are a lot of things to consider for your design:

Pre-made Themes

Pros – These themes are great because they are free. It may be the most practical choice if you are just starting your existence on the internet. You can choose from a wide array of designs from popular platforms like Wordpress.

Cons : The downside of these free themes is that they are not unique. Browse the net  and you will find a lot of people using the same blog theme as yours. If you think the design is good, a million others might also be thinking the same way. Using a common theme design may affect the recall factor and impact of your blog to its readers.

Custom Themes

Pros : A custom theme gives your site the unique personality it needs. Designs especially made for you will make your blog stand out from the rest which in effect creates a very effective branding. The identity custom themes bring to your blog will lead the traffic back to your website

Cons- The only downside of custom themes is their price. They come expensive ranging from $300 to $5000.

There are bloggers who have existed online using premade themes but if you can afford custom themes then go ahead. Affordability is the only stumbling block in creating a unique design which will make your blog leave a lasting impression to its readers.

Resolution and Lay-out Issues

After deciding between a premade and a custom theme, you might want to consider how your blog will look from the perspective of a user. You may want to ask what screen resolution should you use? Or how do I lay out the contents of my blog?

The resolution and the lay-out will determine the readability of your blog. You have to determine if your readers are using 800×600, 1024×768, or 1280×1024. Looking at the numbers, you can build the blog for most of your readers.

If most of the readers use a high resolution you have more space to properly place your content. Even with a higher resolution you can make the blog friendly to readers who opt for a lower resolution by doing the following:

The content should be on the left while the sidebar should stay on the right side

The articles must be linked together so users can view them without using the sidebar navigation

Use navigation links in the leftmost of the 2 sidebar columns if your lay-out uses 3 columns. This will allow low resolution user to more effectively navigate your site

RSS links maybe placed under your post so you make good use of the vertical space. The RSS link may not be seen by low resolution users if placed on the side bar.

There are also other solutions like using liquid layout or elastic layouts which adjust itself to the setting of the users in terms of screen width and font size.

You have to realize though that you cannot please everyone at the end of the day. The design should be excellent for most of your traffic and optimized for the rest.

Things to Consider if you are Beginner

When designing your website, don’t jump immediately to the visuals. It will come later. The important thing to do first is build a terrain so you know that the things on your website will work effectively and serve their purpose.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself so you can determine the right approach to designing your website:

What are the goals of my site? How am I going to achieve them?

Who will be reading my blog?

What functions should the website have to meet the demands of my readers?

Should I hire a professional designer? How many adjustments will I need to do myself from time to time?

How do I want to see a webpage if I am the reader? Colors? Images? Fonts?

You must remember that a reader will search and scan your blog to find information that he needs. An excellent design will keep him from jumping off your website or just hitting the x on the corner of that window.