How important is design in blogging? (18 posts)

Topic tags: design
  • Profile picture of
    Explorer
    Jeremy Shuback said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    I come from a heavily design influenced background. I used to work as an illustrator, and then a designer, and later a matte painter, and now I run my own business – and I’ve always considered design incredibly important. But I’m curious what others think – if good design actually helps the ROI or is it just me being OCD about loving things that look good.

    I know I prefer to look at things that are beautifully designed, but for many getting good design is a major investment. Is it worth it for individual blog posts to be designed really really well or does it not make a major difference?

    Are there people who have gotten the same level of feedback with bad design that they got with good design?

    @jeremyshuback | # | Top
  • Ian Blair Hamilton
    Explorer
    Ian Blair Hamilton said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    I think the answer lies in the site we are on. A great, funky, friendly design that had me coming back. It’s really all about what we have in kitty and the plethora of WP templates make it diff. to justify the $$ on original design… which in turn makes those who do spend the lucky winners in a rarified atmosphere.

    @ianhamilton | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Innovator
    Dewane Mutunga said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @jeremyshuback

    I don’t think design is the end all be all but it is very important.

    Good design is like the beat to a song. It sets the tone for everything. It make you feel the song. 

    Good design helps improve your overall experience. And user experiences are important.

    Good design is necessary and worth the investment.

    @mutunga | # | Top
  • Karen Naide
    Explorer
    Karen Naide said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    I think good design is important for all the reasons stated above, but also, it’s critical for SEO too.  If you don’t have your site laid out properly, then you’re missing out on an opportunity for the spiders to easily crawl your site.  Here’s a blog post I wrote about this subject!

    @projsocial | # | Top
  • Don Purdum
    Sage
    Don Purdum said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @jeremyshuback

    I think it is extremely important. I tell my prospects and clients are there two issues on the web:

    1. How do you get them to your site / blog?
    2. What will think of you when they find your website / blog?

    You have 1/20th of a second to make an impression. That decides the next few seconds and if they go back from where they came from or go deeper into your site.

    So, in my opinion design is critical to creating a strong first impression about your brand and website.

    @donpurdum | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Explorer
    Jeremy Shuback said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @donpurdum – I agree completely and say the same thing to people. But I’m betting there’s plenty of companies out there with horrible design that are getting results so feel they don’t need good design.

    I’m curious if there are any examples of companies that have done tests on whether or not good design pays off and discovered that no- it does not.

    (Without wanting to get into the debate of define ‘good design’)

    @jeremyshuback | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Adventurer
    Srinivas Rao said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    I think design is actually far more important than we might realize. It’s the first impression people have of your site. I’ve seen blogs put together by people who are really impressive in terms of their credentials, background, and knowledge, and I don’t end up subscribing because of their design. The web is highly visual and we make snap judgements.

    For a person who can’t afford to spend a fortune on design, I would aim for simplicity. These days most wordpress frameworks are easy to use. IF you don’t know much about design, I recommend the new Headway framework. They’ve done a really amazing job with their visual editor which makes it really easy to design great looking web sites. 

    @srinivasrao | # | Top
  • Don Purdum
    Sage
    Don Purdum said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @jeremyshuback – I understand, and you’re probably right about those companies. But here is another way of looking at it:

    How much business may they be losing because of the design?

    They may not be tracking it, and they may not even know?

    Metrics are a great indicator, and if they don’t know them I recommend installing Google Analytics (if they don’t value the design they may not value knowing the metrics), tracking it for 3 – 6 months and evaluating it.

    They may realize after analyzing the data that they are missing out. The key then is to determine if that’s true and if so, why?

    I also recommend they put a survey on the site and ask their site visitors their opinions/observations via a survey that only comes to them via email and that the public cannot view.

    It’s just a thought, but everything is test and measure.

    If they don’t value it, then I don’t push it and don’t worry about it. It isn’t personal and at that point it isn’t my problem. Uf they feel it’s working for them as it is, I’m good with it.

    However, personally, I take a lot of pride in my work and I want my website to reflect that as much as possible.  But I realize that not everyone feels that way.

    @donpurdum | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Explorer
    Jeremy Shuback said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @projsocial I grabbed my own blog‘s design from ThemeForest as well. I would say your own site is well optimized for search engines, but does that make it a good design? Maybe my question isn’t between bad design and good design, but rather between good design and great design.
    And when I say great design, I mean sites like this one here or Drawar or Smashing Magazine or even something simple. That’s as apposed to something like http://linkedintobusiness.com/ (Run by Viveka Von Rosen, a fantastic marketer who I worked with a couple weeks ago) which looks pretty awful. And yet, she gets plenty of work. Which brings me back to the question – does good design actually matter?

    @jeremyshuback | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Club Leader
    Kristi Hines said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @jeremyshuback I think that a lot depends on the purpose of the blog. Business blogs should be professional, designers’ blogs should be well-designed, and artists’ blogs should have a creative design.

    No matter what type of blog you have or its purpose, I would suggest it has a clean design in the way of visitors being able to find what they need easily. Also, make sure your ads, whether they are for your own products or AdSense, are not invading your content in an obnoxious way.

    Overall, I would suggest thinking about a blog design like your clothes. Dress well to make a great first impression!

    @kristi-hines | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Firestarter
    Glen Gorham said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    Design is a vague term. What type of design are you asking about. How visually appealing and functional is your site or how systematically smooth flowing is it in the back end?

    These are two grossly different questions that have equally different and similar answers. What are your goals? That will determine how important design is for you. Personally I tried to focus on work flow. If the site operates smoothly for users (i.e. design centered around users) then it will draw more people in to use it (still working on that part) and the more people use it the more the SEO and back end design matter. The better your SEO design is, the more people will find your site and use it.

    So there are several different ways to go about answering your question, once we know what that is.

    @glengorham | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Pioneer
    Dave Doolin said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @jeremyshuback, I read somewhere that good design fulfills its purpose, bad design does not. Thus, Craigslist and Slashdot, which are visually notso hotso might be considered really “well designed”, while any number of sites which are visually attractive – and don’t fulfill their purpose – are poorly designed. I wish I could remember where I read this.

    Rereading @glengorham, I think we’re stating more or less the same thing.

    Having gone through several design convulsions with decidedly mixed results, I can say, for fact, that high (time consuming) presence can go a long way to overriding crappy design. 

    I can’t say that superb design reduces the need for maintaining high presence. But it might.

    @doolin | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Explorer
    Jeremy Shuback said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @glengorham & @doolin – you’re right. It’s a given that the site needs to be well organized and structured. That there’s a site map and clear links leads to SEO happy times. I suppose I was saying going from that bare minimum to a point where it’s considered great design. And your question (what do I mean by design) crystalizes the point: There’s a point of diminishing return – a place where the lines on the graphs cross. One line is time it takes, the other is amount it helps the target.
    Berkshire Hathaway and Craigslist are great examples of perfect site organization with zero frill looks, while a site like Social Media Examiner has quite a ridiculous amount of frills.
    Which means the answer is as long as the site is well structured (which normally takes a designer) and isn’t visually offensive, good content (or as you call it, ‘presence’) will carry through.
    Beyond that, design doesn’t hold too much importance in most industries, and incrementally improving a site over time is the way to go.

    Thanks – that helped.

    I’d still love to hear examples of people who tried improving their design and it accomplished nothing, but now I feel that it will just emphasize they improved their look, but not their structure.

    @jeremyshuback | # | Top
  • Jessie Springer
    Pioneer
    Jessie Springer said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @jeremyshuback, I think @kristi-hines was the first to touch on the importance of navigability. Like you, I tend to place more value on design coming from an artistic mind-set. However, when on the web – whether a professional site or personal blog – I get very frustrated when it’s difficult to find something quickly. Presenting your information in an organized manner goes hand-in-hand with “good design” in my opinion. 

    That’s not to say that I don’t agree with  @srinivasrao when the matter of first impressions came up. If a site rubs you the wrong way in the first thirty seconds of your visit, you may be more inclined to seek the information elsewhere. For example, take a look a various local PBS station website. (Maybe I’m partial to this example because I work at a local station in Ohio…) But I’ve found in my search that some emphasize navigability and other are all about the first impression through design (and not so easy to navigate) – nothing crazy, it’s PBS we’re talking about – but still, I feel it a valid example. 

    So I guess if you can find a way to balance easy navigation with an appealing design, I think you’ll most likely have a good ROI. 

    @jessiespringer | # | Top
  • Heather Wright-Porto
    Guide
    Heather Wright-Porto said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    I definitely think blog design is important. Not that you have to spend thousands or even hundreds of dollars on it, but your blog should be

    - organized so people can easily find what they are looking for
    - uncluttered (not too busy where it becomes unattractive and overwhelming)
    - professional looking (but have your style, personality and color)

    There are so many professional themes that can be found on the web for Blogger and WordPress.

    Blogger:


    WordPress:

    Here is a section from my book, Creative Blogging, where I mention some free designs and themes:
    In TypePad you only have a gallery to choose from.

    So there are many freebies you can choose a design from that suits your style and business.  Red is not a big color for most people to use on their blog, however for a toy store or kids play house (BounceU), it’s a great, vibrant color choice.  So color is very specific to your type of business and personality as well.

    I think it more important for it to be organized well.  If people can find what they want, they will come back :D

    Hope this helps,
    Heather :D

    @blogsbyheather | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Explorer
    Jeremy Shuback said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @blogsbyheather Oh wow. Thanks for the meaty response. Just checked out your book on Amazon – looks like a great read.

    Here’s what I’m hearing:

    Amazing structure is crucial.And good eye candy helps, but all it takes is a template 95% of the time.

    Going beyond templates, while nice, is only worth thinking about once the content speaks for itself.

    For bloggers, it’s only worth going beyond the standard templates (Free – $79) when

    1. Good Content
    2. Good Navigation
    3. Cross Promotion elsewhere
    have already been taken care of. Otherwise time is being poorly focused.

    The only people/businesses that should focus on unique design from the very start are design and art companies.

    Everyone else just needs a base level of professionalism, amazing structure, and let the content speak for itself.

    @jeremyshuback | # | Top
  • Profile picture of
    Explorer
    Jeremy Shuback said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    A lot of this debate has been between terrible design and mediocre design, as I define the terms. Obviously terrible design will turn people away from your site. Most people here are arguing that a solid template (mediocre design) is enough. 

    Beyond that, good structure is a given, so my question hung more on the eye candy side of things. 

    So here’s my answer:

    ——————-
    ‘Good Design’ is a meaningless term.

    First we had to define ‘good‘ and then we defined ‘design‘.

    Good    : Going far beyond the looks of a standard template
    Design : Half structure. Half eye candy.

    What’s needed for any non-art/design oriented blog is

    • Great structure 
    • Relatively Professional / Passable eye candy

    Spending time on great eye candy for most blogs is a poor use of resources.

    Meaning the answer to my question, believe it or not, is : No. Good Design (as the words are defined above) is not important.————–

    I’m happy to end the discussion there, but the insidious direction to move this conversation to is: Is it possible to separate structure from eye candy? I would argue no, in that good eye candy is good because it helps the structure.

    @jeremyshuback | # | Top
  • Heather Wright-Porto
    Guide
    Heather Wright-Porto said
    1 year, 5 months ago:

    @jeremyshuback You’re welcome!Yes…I agree….a nice blog too look at is a plus :D Great content is a must.And good organization and structure is needed :D

    Heather :D

    @blogsbyheather | # | Top

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