Don’t make things unnecessarily complicated.
It does no one any favours.
The blog posts you create need to be easy to read and be accessible to anyone.
After all, you’re creating the content for others to read, so have their best interests in mind.
Know Your Audience:
Before you even think about designing your blog layout, figure out your target audience.
Are you catering to professionals, hobbyists, parents, or tech enthusiasts?
Knowing this makes all the difference, you can tailor it to their needs.
Choose the Right Theme:
WordPress offers a large selection of themes, and they give you the foundation for your blog layout, including our Toast Theme.
Choose one that complements your content and brand identity.
Look for one with responsiveness, as your layout should adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes.
Simplicity is Key:
A cluttered and complicated layout can overwhelm users.
Aim for a simple design, keep the navigation menu clear, use readable fonts and maintain a consistent colour scheme.
Remember, less is often more in design.
Clear Navigation:
An intuitive navigation menu is KEY for helping users find their way around your blog.
Categorise your content logically and make sure it’s accessible:
Try and keep it at the top of your page.
Using dropdown menus can streamline navigation, and make searching quicker.
Prioritise Readability:
Your blog’s goal is to share information, so people need to be able to read it.
Choose fonts that are easy on the eyes and maintain an appropriate size font for comfortable reading.
Contrast between text and background is also important for legibility.
Featured Content:
Highlight your best and most recent content using featured posts or a slider.
This helps draw attention to important pieces and encourages readers to explore your posts.
Just remember to keep it balanced, don’t overwhelm the page.
Whitespace and Visual Hierarchy:
This, aka negative space, is the empty space between elements.
It helps create a balanced and clean layout, allowing your content to breathe.
Establish a visual hierarchy by using larger fonts, bold headings and contrasting colours.
Responsive Design:
More and more, people rely on their phones for pretty much everything.
We cannot stress this enough, Make it responsive!
Optimise Images:
Visuals are an integral part of a blog’s appeal.
However, large and unoptimised images can slow down your loading speed.
Compress images without compromising the quality and use descriptive alt text for better accessibility and SEO.
Engaging Call-to-Actions:
Get people moving!
Incorporate clear and enticing call-to-action buttons.
Whether it’s subscribing to your newsletter, leaving a comment, or sharing a post, well-placed CTAs can enhance user engagement.
Final Thoughts
It’s important to acknowledge that blogs aren’t just for show: you want people to learn something or take away an opinion.
But if your blog isn’t laid out overly well, your work’s probably not going to have the impact you imagined.
Write imaginatively and for your target audience: Works like a charm.
