“Dress makes the man” and in blogging world “a well dressed blog makes the blogger”
A Blog is an extension of the personality of the blog authors. It kind of reflects the thoughts and the persona of the blogger. So a well dressed blog is as important as a well dressed man. So that brings us to a discussion what makes a well dressed blog.
Content definitely is what makes ultimately a blog to be noticed and stand out but also important is the other elements that goes into making a good blog. Let list out some major elements that goes into a blog.
So what makes a well dressed blog ?
1. Templates / theme: It’s the first thing one has to decide while making of his blog. Blog themes vary like our dressing options. Formal wear, casual wear, party wear – we choose our dress according to our personality trait and the occasion. Same holds true with your blog template. One has to choose the right theme that goes with the personality trait of the blogger and the nature of the blog.
2. Layout: Short sleeves or Full sleeves? With pockets or without pockets? Normal dress or short dress? Options are many. So is with your blog template. You have to figure out the number of sidebars you want, the size of sidebar, the site resolution etc. At times your options could be limited depending on the template you are using.
3. Header: First thing that holds our eye when someone visits your blog is the header. A header can be just text or highlighted with a photography, logo or nice graphics. Choose a right header.
4. Footer: It is one of the often neglected areas of a blog. Still, it could be made interesting as well as functional. Check this 40 creative blog footer designs.
5. Sidebar: Sidebar is one of the most used/abused parts of the blog. Widgets, badges, banners, links vies with each other for this particular vantage point of your blog. Some people over populate it and rarely you will find people underutilize it. Find the right placements for all pieces of decorations and utility in this space.
6. Widgets and Plugins: This is something every blogger finds spoilt for choices. It’s simple, easy to add and does wonders for your blog decoratively as well as functionally. Some Plugins are like invisible stitches of a dress but vital and very functional. Understand your blog, research the various available widgets and plugins and choose the right ones. You don’t have to add up every widget you see just because they are available free.
7. Ad placements: It’s all about money, honey! Most bloggers do dream of making money out of their blog. Nothing to be embarrassed about! Quiet natural but then it should not be the only focus at the cost of the passion for blogging. Don’t make your blog an eye sore with Ad banners screaming from possible nooks and corners. Make money smartly by placing the advertisement at vantage points.
8. About me: I bet most people can write great content in their blog but scratch their head when it comes to the “About me” section.
9. Font selection: Keep it readable, simple and universal font. In fact, I should thank one of my friend who is a regular reader of GingerChai as well as my best critic who made me realize the importance of the font. (For readers information the font used here is Verdana)
10. Color scheme: One may tend to become adventurist when it comes to coloring their blog but do give a thought from the perspective of your readers. Make it pleasing and readable if you want readers to return.
Having said all this let me emphasize again the one important point. Dress makes the man but all important is how sensible and intelligent he is. So no matter how well dressed your blog is, at the end of the day your blog needs a good content. So get dressed well and create wonderful content.
Happy blogging!
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Nice analysis
Good analysis after the time allocation analysis you did a while early.
I guess you have a very nicely dressed blog. Because, I come to it again and again.
I guess I should make a few amends on my blog!
Thanks for shedding some light!
Great set of tips. Please advertise this post on Indibloggers.
That is hell lot of useful info. I liked it will help me I am sure.
[...] : Lakshmi Rajan What : How to dress up a blog? Tangy : The Visual appeal of the blog is very much important. For any good blog, the way you dress [...]
it will really help me to write an attractive blog.thanx
congratulations. yours got selected for tangy tuesday picks on blogadda
@ Bharathi:
Thanks ! It was a surprise for me too !
Very useful information.
Very valid and useful information!!
really helpful article, but i think you must add some free blog templates, or must have given some Links for these free templates both for blogspot and wordpress this add more life to the article.. but anyways its a nice effort, i really liked it…:)
Thanks Rohit ! You have a point, may be I will come with another article listing links to some great free templates and their features…
thanks..:)
i will be waiting for your post..:)
Superb article. Am new to blogging and hence these tips have made me vary of the presentation as well as the template to be as pleasing as possible. I may need some help here. Thanks anyway.
very good tips!!!
Thanks for this post Lakshmi! It was very useful and was just using this as a check list for my blog, and seemed to be doing prety okay
I had another point, and that is the usage of tags, search buttons, categories and clouds where applicable. The propser usage of these makes blog very reader friendly.
Cheers!
Vasu
http://vasusworld.wordpress.com/