YTP’s 10 Tips to Keep in Mind Before You Get Your Blog Designed

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In the past year, I have launched five websites for myself and two for YTP Spouse. In the process, I have learned a lot, most of it the long, hard way. Here are a few tips I hope will save you some of the hours it took me to figure these things out! So with no further ado, I give you….

10 Tips to Keep in Mind Before You Get Your Blog Designed

1. The Blog Design Comes Last: Like the summary of your college thesis or the title to your blog post, your blog design should be the thing you pick last. Ironically, it is often the thing new bloggers pick first, and the build their site around the strengths and weaknesses of the design. If you really want your design to work for you, you have to do some work yourself first.

Ok, ok, you say. I’ll wait on the design. Then what am I supposed to focus on?

I’m so glad you asked.

2. The Color Really Matters: This is one instance, unlike in car shopping, where you really can think about the colors first. Think about what colors pop on a web page (orange, dark reds, yellows). Visit the top websites and look at their color schemes, and how they use color to accent, to highlight, and to set the tone. Check out the competitors in your niche, and see what colors they are using. Then visit this link and figure out what colors you can use to distinguish yourself from the competition. Put together a palette of three colors (base color, accent, and highlight) and sit with it for a few days. Doodle images, think of objects and characters that have those colors in them. If it feels right for you at that point, move on.

3. The Images Really Matter: The next most important thing you need to build a unique site is logos and images that work well in representing your blog and its message. You don’t want to come to a blog designer empty handed: bring them clippings and snippets that get their creative energy rolling in a direction consistent with your message and character. One of the best ways to do this is to visit a stock photography website (I like istockphoto.com) and start typing in keyword phrases that represent what your blog is about and what it is trying to convey. You can buy a photo for one dollar or less. I usually buy six or seven for each website: one to use in the “Subscribe to the RSS By Email” link, one to use as a button, one to use in the header, one to use on the welcome page, and a few more give me some variety or have on hand for other projects. a

4. The Title and Tag Really Matter: Use that research about your peers and competitors to figure out a catchy, unique title. If you already had one picked out, double check it. Conduct a poll among your friends; get some feedback from them. Then work on the tagline. The best advice I ever read about a tagline was that it should be as recognizable as the brand itself. Seth Godin‘s example is the iPod Shuffle’s “1000 Tunes in Your Pocket” tag. I like to come up with several tags, wait a few days, and then work with them again. That way you can put some perspective between yourself and the language so you can see it fresh, just as your new readers will.

5. The Keywords Really Matter: Wordtracker.com offers an unbeatable seven-day free trial that every blogger should use before jumping in. If you are trying to take on a flooded market, as I did with my parenting sites, keyword research is a must. You can cancel before the seven days are up and pay nothing, yet the payout to you for having a strong set of keywords will be huge. It is useful to do this before the design because it may affect the kind of content you wish to write. For instance, I ended up writing a lot more about pregnancy on my parenting site because of what my keyword research revealed. If I had designed the site after the research, I would have been able to highlight the pregnancy portion of it more prominently by creating a split post format that put pregnancy and parenting posts side by side in the site.

6. Give Yourself Some Creative Resting Time: When you have a new idea, the temptation is to rush it to fruition before your enthusiasm and motivation run out. However, with blogging, like building a house, you want to take some time to step away from the foundations so you can be sure you are creating things logically and correctly. Once you have made all these major decisions, it is a good idea to let it rest for a week. Think about what you’ve chosen in the shower, during your workouts, or while stuck in traffic. Jot down notes, new ideas, or small changes. This way before you get ready to pay someone or barter with them for their work in designing your site (or before you sit down to do it yourself) you will have had a chance to mull over the concept as a whole.

6. Determine What You Are Connecting: Seth Godin always emphasizes that a good blog or online business is really about connecting. Make sure you know what your project is connecting people to before you start a design. Are you connecting parents with parenting information and tools? Or are you connecting them with each other? Are you connecting photographers with photo-taking stories? Or are you connecting them with tips on photography? Make sure you spell out what you are doing before you do it.

7. Dream Big: Take a moment to imagine that your site gets blogged by one of the top 100 bloggers, and you suddenly get thousands of subscribers and launch to the front page of Digg for weeks in a row. What do you want it to do then? If ad money starts rolling in, where do you want the site to go? Think about what it could be, and make sure you are not limiting yourself into a design, a hosting package, or a concept that has a hard line that can’t be expanded if the opportunity presents itself. You want to be the best you can for each level of development, but you don’t want to prevent yourself from being able to develop.

8. Know Your Priorities: Are you trying to write for the sake of writing, and hope to make a little money on the side? Are you really all about making some cash to supplement your family income? Is this site going to be the sole income stream for your family (meaning it has to perform and perform well quickly)? Be honest with yourself about what your site is really for. Some of my sites are for me and my love of writing, science, and history; some are for keeping in touch with friends and family. Others are solely to provide income streams for me to live on. The purpose of your site will determine a lot of its features, which features are placed most prominently, and which aspects of your site should get the most attention.

9. Pick Five Sites You Want to Be Like When Yours Grows Up: You need to be able to give your blog designer an idea of your tastes in layout, structure, format, and capability. You may not know all the technical words to describe features you like, but you can always show the designer what you like. Be clear that you are not asking them to copy these designs (unless you are), but that the sites you pick are intended to give the designer a sense of your style and tastes in the technical and creative terms that they speak.

10. Write It All Down: Nothing clarifies your thinking like the act of putting fingers to a keyboard and getting in the writing zone. Describe all of the aspects of your blog discussed here: from the colors and images to its priorities, future plans, connections, and keywords. Give your blog designer, even if that person is you, an overview of your site. This will provide a clear guide for your designer and for your future decisions about your blog down the road.

P.S. This post is a contest entry for the Blog Design Contest, hosted by Blog Design Studio. The winner will get a free custom wordpress theme (which I dearly need). There are also some amazing prizes from Daily Blog Tips and Blogging Tips. Check it out!

Tagged as: blog design, blog layout, blogging planning, blogging tips, site design