I recently came across a photo I’d taken of my blog in its beginning stages and it was cringe-worthy! I had a standard theme from Blogger along with a stock background image and at least four different fonts. While it’s definitely all part of my blogging journey and I appreciate every stage, that look was poor to say the least. My blog has changed a lot since then and I can honestly say I’m proud of its current state. I put a lot of time and effort into picking out a theme, carefully choosing colors and fonts and arranging things in a way that I hope serves my readers and makes them a little happier each time they stop by.
Because I want everyone to feel about their own blog the way I currently feel about mine, I thought I’d share the things I’ve learned along the way. You don’t need to spend a bunch of money to perfect your blog’s appearance (I’m still here for standard Blogger themes!) but there are simple steps you can take to tidy things up, better establish your blog’s brand and create a look both you and your readers will love. Below, I’ve assembled four easy ways to beautify your blog and boost its appearance. Here they are…
Clear Up Any Confusion
While you may know your blog like the back of your hand, your first time visitors – aka your precious potential readers – don’t. Even if your blog has a lot to see and click (I actually love blogs like this!), make sure there’s a natural organization to it and key elements – like your about/contact info, social media buttons, search button/field, newest posts, etc – are easy to find. Your blog has value to offer the world but that value will never reach your readers if they can’t find their way around!
Stay Consistent with Colors
Boost your blog’s appearance and your branding by sticking with two to three colors for your overall theme. This is not to say that you can’t use colorful photos within your posts, but building a consistent framework of colors on your blog will go along way in making it look professional and put together. If you really want to step up your color game, try theming ALL your blog’s photos by editing them consistently. Two absolutely amazing examples of this are the Maria J blog and A Girl, Obsessed!
Focus on Your Fonts
Even if you’re head over heels in love with a super fancy script font, it’s doing you a disservice if your readers can’t easily read it. Likewise, using too many different fonts – especially those that don’t complement one another – won’t be easy on the eyes of your audience. In accordance with the widely-used web design rule, employ two to three fonts max and make sure they’re legible. This will ensure that the text on your blog is reader-friendly and NOT a roadblock!
Watch the Width of Your Photos
Some blog themes automatically adjust the width of any photos within a post to fill the post area but even if yours doesn’t, be mindful of the appearance of the pictures in your posts by making sure they are all the same width. The alternative of having extra large photos mixed with super small photos makes things look a bit unprofessional. I am obsessed with all the smaller width GIFs Mary Lane adds to her blog New York Cliche so there are definitely exceptions to this rule. For the most part however, keep things consistent by watching the width of your photos!
Those are my tips for boosting your blog’s appearance! If you enjoyed this post, please take a moment to share it as I’d appreciate that more than you’ll ever know!! Thanks for reading!
Melina says
These are really great tips for beginners! I was actually looking at some of my older posts recently as well, and I couldn’t believe how terrible they actually were! I feel like now I have more of a “look” and “style”. The way I write my posts are way more carefree and my personality shows through more. I feel like the pictures I shoot or the stock ones I find online fit what I want my blog to portray. It’s crazy how many mistakes we make when we’re noobies! I mean It’s definitely better to start and improve than to be nervous about making mistakes and never want to start in the first place. Great post Nicky xx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
nickyashleigh says
Thank you Melina!! Your blog and photos are awesome and I love your writing style! It’s been fun to see it all progress just in the time we’ve known each other. And I completely agree! If we don’t start somewhere, we never get anywhere and it’s always so fun to see how far we’ve come. Thank you again! xx