You may notice a few things missing from WeBlogBetter.com’s design. I’ve eliminated the Facebook fan page widget, the Twitter list widget, the two remaining banner ads, and some other odds and ends. Why? Well, partly because of yesterday’s post and the discussion that followed in the comments.
I think there are different styles of blogs. Some are clean, white, and minimalist. Others are busy, noisy magazines. I wanted this blog, in particular, to resemble the style of the average personal blog, primarily because that’s for whom I’m usually writing.
What I did with my design, I’d encourage you to do with yours… look at every element and ask these simple questions:
- Why is this element here?
- Does it fit with the purpose and vision of my blog?
- Does it distract from what’s more important?
- Does it blend well with my design?
At the end of those questions, start deleting, especially if you haven’t done this review in a while. Your blog may need more than mine. You might need 26 widgets to give voice to your overall purpose. My purpose is simple… to help us all blog a little better. So I left the list of recent links on the left, the blogroll on the right, and some easy subscription links at the top right. The stuff on the top of the left is just here for navigating the blog.
Hopefully, at the end of such a review, you’ll be left with a blog that meets needs the way you intend. Happy (and simple) blogging!
About Brandon Cox
Glad to see the changes! I think your blog is cleaner overall and allows me to get straight into the content that will make me a better blogger.
Well done, Brandon.
Thanks Kevin – usability and readability are still #1.
Hallo Brandon,
Happy New Years to you – and this is, as usual, a very interesting post … that follows up nicely from “Why Not Blog Unselfishly”.
I very much like the way you concentrate on content rather than dollars here – and your intent on having a clean, minimalist design … but why remove the Twitter/FB widgets? Don’t these show me , the reader, those who are also interested in your site? I personally find them a good way to source other quality sites/contacts & start to build a community of people interested in my own project. So I’m a little bit surprised that you’ve removed these. Don’t they also in some way add some instantly visible credibility that will encourage new visitors to take a deeper look at your site/make return visits etc??
The other thing I wanted to mention was the Feedburner chicklet … which if I was to add it to my site would currently show/claim that I had 1332 readers. However this number includes 1282 Friend Feed followers who are ( almost certainly) not reading my blog. The chicklet, to me, is misleading (at best)so I keep it off my site … and wish others would too until feedburner starts to present more honest numbers ( not sure what your opinion is here?!)
By the way, finally, it’s a great blogroll that you present – and many thanks as it has led me to several very interesting sites/resources
Cheers
Will
.-= Will´s last blog ..Sites Of The Month – December 2009 =-.
Will, while I do agree about the Feedburner count, I’m not sure that there is a good metric for “readership” that can exist. There will always be those who do read via Friendfeed and those who don’t read the RSS feed itself even though they subscribe. I was honest enough to write about the Feedburner / Friendfeed issue a few posts back.
For me, about 1,500 are Friendfeed subscribers… I think.
Those are some great questions I should ask myself before tweaking my blog in a few days. No matter how much I change it, something always seems to be bugging me. Thanks, nice post!
.-= Gordon´s last blog ..Getting Your First Traffic Spike =-.
Gordon, if that nagging feeling goes away, we’re probably done blogging. Thanks!
I am constantly checking over my blogs to see if they seem over crowded, but I also consider that blogging is an income for me, so I have to still have some advertisement or list. It definitely comes down to moderation.
.-= Tom | Build That List´s last blog ..Squeeze Page Tips For Better Conversion =-.
Yes, moderation and purpose – ads and emails can be very valuable to your readers. It’s just a matter of respecting the reader in the process.
It’s certainly difficult to decide on a single layout for a blog. I find that I’m constantly playing around with ideas, and re-asking myself design questions frequently. I think its important to engage in this activity though. It helps in developing your own style and approach to blog design.
Personally, I don’t object to tasteful ads on blogs. If you can attract the right kinds of advertisers, banner ads can contribute to your content. For example, a lot of people read fashion magazines to look at the ads. Besides, if being able to monetize your blog helps you to continue to develop your content, more power to you!
.-= Will@nyc laser hair removal´s last blog ..6 Laser Hair Removal Myths Busted =-.
Good point – it is the ads that make the good content possible.
Personally, I thought it was fine before too. I don’t mind ads on blogs, because I manage several and I know how time consuming it is, why not monetize it? The ones clicking ads will be coming from SE results, not other bloggers that try to tell everyone what their blog should look like.
Personally, I think it should be done in moderation and with good taste (something I am not always good at!) and the ads are fine as long as it doesn’t look like the fender of a NASCAR car (as Darren Rouse put it in a a few months back).
Just my opinion, I come here for the content anyway…
.-= Keith´s last blog ..Using Categories and Tags =-.
Ads can be good. They can even add to a blog’s value (I love clicking the ones on Smashing Magazine, for example).
Brandon, I love the way it looks now. It looks really clean and simple, yet the design is elegant and attractive. Nice work,and way to blog more unselfishly and for taking the advice of your readers. :)
.-= Design Informer´s last blog ..Wallpaper of the Week – Colourful Universe =-.
Seems like I’ve read somewhere that readers are pretty important to blogging. ;)
I think the idea of stripping out everything that distracts readers (or detracts from your content) is a very good rule to try and follow.
As I found during the recent redesign of my blog, it’s a difficult balance between making it easy for readers to find their way around a site and overwhelming them with options. I think you’ve achieved that balance well here; hopefully I have too!
.-= Mark Bell´s last blog ..Jean Coulon =-.
Mark, I love your site! I’ve gone for clean and white at my personal blog and the artsy-fartsy at my design blog. I think I like variety and you’ve hit the nail on the head – awesome design!