A successful blog presents content and visual elements that complement one another and contain clear messages for readers. In order to communicate with your visitors in the most direct manner possible, it is important to consider some design features that will make your blog a more comfortable and exciting place to visit.

Here are some design features that make your blog more accessible, unique and engaging:

1. Simplicity A cluttered blog full of unnecessary visual elements or columns will pull your at your readers’ attention. This may cause confusion and will definitely detract from your blog’s main message. Try and keep your design concept simple and tailored to the needs of your audience. People will come to your blog looking for specific information so attempt to make it easy for them. Add a search tool, a list of popular posts, your recent posts, or place any other content that you want people to notice out there in the open.Always place functionality and navigation as top priority and try to find the simplest solutions to your design problems. Use decorative elements and details economically so their purpose is clear, noticeable and effective. Remember: visual aspects should add another dimension to your content. Too many visual details will distract your readers and detract from your message.

2. Have a clear `top section’ Immediately capture your visitors’ attention and create a unique visual impression by separating your main content with a top section or banner. This provides a distinct area to place navigational buttons and your blog title, logo and/or tag line. Aim to summarize the tone, attitude and style of your blog with your top section and distinctly separate it from your content with a bold line or color scheme.

3. Use color and/or space to highlight different blog sections Careful use of color and white space will draw attention to specific areas of your site. You have to be economical about how you use color of course, as you don’t want your visitors’ attention to be overwhelmingly dedicated to one section while the others go less noticed. Using white space to separate sections and columns is highly recommended. It is the cleanest way of directing the attention of your readers and is a comfortable way of attracting the eye.

4. Experiment with different text sizes To make your blog more scanner-friendly, you can enlarge your text according to purpose and use. Having size variety in your content also adds visual interest to your blog and calls attention to specific headlines, tables, charts and diagrams. By organizing your content (see #1), it will free up space on your blog by removing unnecessary clutter. This way you can go for larger and more attractive fonts. Use this technique wisely, however, because it can backfire. Remain consistent so if you increase the font size to 14 point for a title, carry that over to other titles. And avoid overuse as it creates visual chaos.

5. Try subtle visual flair to add interest to your blog Strong colors, reflections, gradients, 3D effects and icons are key design elements that can be used to cleverly divide sections of your blog and to indicate the purpose of various links and headers. Visual effects, like shadows around tabs and menus, flesh out the navigational areas of your blog and establish their importance. Icons (like tiny cursors, word balloons, stars or compasses) can be used to draw your visitors into your blog, encouraging them to spend some time searching through and commenting on your work. They can also be used to highlight articles or features that have just recently been posted, like a “New” or “Special offer” seal. You may be surprised by how subtle little additions like these add to the overall impression and accessibility of your blog!

6. Design according to your content Let your blog’s content help dictate your design scheme. How do your blog’s colors, background, font, text size, menus and layout reflect the general mood of your work? Do these elements work together or do they overwhelm each other? Your design should help your readers navigate and understand your text by making your content more approachable. For example, if you blog about the environment, a natural color scheme of greens and browns would be most effective for capturing people’s attention and setting the tone and purpose of your blog.

7. Brand Yourself! Add to your blog’s uniqueness by crafting a nifty logo or image that best represents your work at the very top of your page. This will become a central identifying feature that readers will associate with your work and eventually be further developed into a promotional tool, as it can featured on Facebook messages (for syndication), email watermarks, stationary and even t-shirts! Don’t just settle for default templates and boring, solitary titles. Put some thought and effort into branding your blog and build on its recognition.

At Apollo Media, successful blogging and web design are central to our internet marketing strategies, as we push companies to fully realize their potential online through social networking and brand recognition. With these design features in mind, you too can develop eye-catching, accessible and unique blogs that accentuate your content!

Take a look at your favorite blogs and see how they utilize these visual principles. While these blogs may vary in content and tone, these basic design principles can be applied almost universally, as they work to enrich and organize the flow of content. Good Luck to you!