Making your blog appealing is about much more than just the visuals: in addition to a well-thought-out design, care should be put into your written content, how your blog is laid out and your communication strategy itself. Keep reading to find out the most important factors to help you making your blog more attractive to visitors.
A template is a model that includes a structure, a design and the programming you’ll need to build a blog without any knowledge of IT whatsoever. There are all sorts of templates out there, some of which you’ll need to pay for, others of which are free, so you have no excuse for an out-dated or boring-looking blog!
An attractive template is essential to make users feel good when they find a blog for the first time, and it works as an incentive for them to explore more of its content. Even though “attractiveness” is relative, if in doubt, opt for more moderate, minimalistic templates that won’t undermine your content.
Once you’ve chosen your template, you’ll want to work on creating or perfecting the layout, or “skeleton”, of your blog: the header, spacers, theme colours, font type and size, etc.
This phase can take some time, but it’s absolutely crucial to making your blog more intuitive and organised, which enhances the user’s experience and increases visiting time. Try to keep the information properly divided into themes, taking advantage of the resources provided by the website engine.
When you’re choosing the colours and types of font, remember that all the visuals on your blog should reflect the brand/project’s identity.
Images are a way of adding another dimension to the article and breaking up the text. They help the reader to better understand the subject explored in the article, making the blog more visually attractive and allowing readers to take breaks while reading. The digital world is filled with stimuli, from notifications to ads, so readers will be grateful for content they can consume in bite-sized chunks.
Small blocks of text interspersed with images are generally a good strategy, to which you can add emojis or GIFs, if the communication style of the blog allows you to do so.
If you don’t have your own images, you can use royalty-free stock images, which you can find on several online image banks that offer free material. However, not all images allow for the same type of use, so when you’re choosing your images, make sure you read the small print carefully before you publish them. Don’t forget: it is illegal to use content you don’t have the rights to.
Blogs are, primarily, a way of sharing information, used as a tool to reinforce a brand’s image and so much more. However, if the text on a blog is confusing and/or full of mistakes, whether grammatical or in terms of the subject matter and flow, it won’t fulfil its main purpose.
Written text is the basis of a blog, so it really does deserve some special attention. The writing style will depend on the identity of the brand or on who writes for it, but it is important to define a style guide in order to maintain consistency throughout the articles and authors, if there is more than one.
Remember that a poorly written text, or text that has incorrect information, will have a huge negative effect on the readers’ perception of the brand.
The posting frequency is also a factor that influences the attractive nature of your blog. If readers visit a blog several times and don’t find anything new, they’re likely to give up, assuming that the blog has been abandoned. This is why you should maintain a consistent rhythm of publishing. It could be daily, weekly or monthly – it doesn’t matter as long as the people who are interested know what it is.
Keeping up with regular posts will help keep visitors coming back. However, it is also important to keep the material you post relevant to your audience. If you don’t have anything appropriate to share, it may be more harmful to create “hurried” content that is not relevant, than postponing a publication.
Without readers, a blog is nothing but a diary. If you want to reach other people, you will have to share the page and your posts with third parties.
If you want to learn more about advertising your blog, check out our article “6 tips on how to share your blog content effectively”, where we tell you all about the importance of sharing your virtual space and give you some tips on how to increase the reach of your blog.
Just like in the real world, being referenced online can be very positive for a business or individual. This means that if your blog is mentioned online by an influencer or by another digital channel (blog, website, social network, newsletter, among others), that action will increase the reach and enhance the SEO of your blog, which will improve how it ranks on search engines.
The reference must, of course, be positive.
To benefit from this type of strategy, start by developing a network that will help you promote your blog, both online and offline.