Personal Blog Design: 10 Essential Elements

Blog design is addictive. You can tweak pages endlessly, striving for perfection – which you’ll never reach. Don’t worry, it’s a fun addiction. Better than heroin, so to speak. Therefore, I’ve made a list of elements that are essential for a personal blog. Let it be the next shot you’ve longed for and get inspired. Grab a notebook, some other addictive stuff – like a beer -, and jot down some ideas for your next redesign. And please, do share them in the comments. Let’s enjoy this addiction together.

1. Go over the top

The first one is actually a mind-set. Your personal blog is your little slice of digital heaven. It’s all yours, and you can do with it whatever you want. So go wild! Go over the top! Show your readers who you are. Here are three examples. From a flash-based rich application to the LSD trip of Matt Mullenweg. The third one is by a datavizualisation guy, as you can tell by the background.

2. Hire a professional for your brand

Unless you’re an artist yourself, I advise you to hire a professional for your brand. Whether that’s a cartoonist (see Yoast) or a designer (see this blog). He or she will give you that look can’t be beaten by some fooling around with Photoshop.

3. Work that header

It’s all about first impressions on a personal blog. You want to present yourself, and just like in real life, other people will make their first – and terribly important – judgment in seconds. So seduce them above the fold and work that header. Here are some examples:

Chris Brogan, right in your face

Don’t know Chris Brogan? Don’t worry. His name, his expertise and his face are the first things you see when visiting his blog. Nice to meet you too. Brogan has also included a list of pages on which you can get to know him better. You wanna know his life story, contact info, best articles, or would you like to spend some money on him? It’s all there, right in your face.

Same goes for the blog of cartoonist Hugh MacLeod. Those four things make him interesting, so take action!

4. Smashable elements

According to Danish marketeer Martin Lindstrom, logos will soon be obsolete. In his book Buy-ology, he advises marketeers to work on smashable elements. If you threw a Coca Cola bottle on the ground, you’d still recognize the brand from the fragments. If you took away the pack of cigarettes, you’d still recognize Marlboro from the cowboy. This also goes for blogs, Lindstrom once told me over lunch in Belgium.

If you read online marketing blogs regularly, the magna image of the right will probably remind you of a specific blog. Right, Dosh Dosh. It only has one article every week or so, yet this blog by Maki, a Philosophy student in Toronto, is hugely popular. Partly because his style is so recognizable. For example, he adds a magna illustration to every post. That’s some really smashable stuff.

5. Show off that book for instant authority

Have you written a book? Please bring it under the attention your reader right-away. Don’t be modest. It gives you instant authority. Ebooks count as well, as long as you have a cover and testimonials, a little switch in people’s mind will tell them that you’re an author, and thus should be taken seriously. Learn from Tim Ferriss:

Read more: Geek to Live: Turn your blog into a book, part I

6. Can’t live without the bio

Sure, tell those readers who you are. Better yet, tell them why you’re interesting. People see so many Twitter profiles, LinkedIn invitations and whatnot every day, so you’ve got to stand out. I work for a well-known quality newspaper in Holland, so that’s one of the first things you’ll see in my bio. And don’t forget to make it look good:

7. Popular Posts

In the last bio-part I mentioned that it’s important to convince folks you’re interesting. Another way to do this is showing your popular posts. Even if they don’t like your avatar, people might click on a popular article. In the end, thousands of other readers did that as well. So why not giving it a shot.

Read more: What Every Blogger Needs to Know About Categories

8. Facebook Fanbox: these people love me!

A Fanbox gives your blog a soul. In one glance, new readers can see that they’re actually not alone. There are at least ten pictures of smiling people in there who love the stuff the blogger writes. How about that? So start one, promote it, and give it a good spot in your sidebar.

Read more: Give your blog some soul with a Facebook fanbox

9. Get a second look with your picture

Your blog is personal, so why not revealing your face to the crowd. Use a stunning pic and people will either feel connected or aroused. So find a friend who happens to be a professional photographer as well and get your picture taken. Here are some examples:

10. Time to connect

Assuming you want as many readers possible, you’ll need to connect with the guys and gals who pay your blog a visit. Like Kevin Kelly said: all that it takes to make a living out of your passion is a thousand true fans. How do you get them? Well, by connecting with them. What’s the easiest way to do that these days? Twitter! Yes! So, show a tweet, or two.

Read more: Develop a Twitter Landing Page

Have I missed an aspect of personal blog design? Please let your fellow readers know in the comments!

Some other posts you might be interested in:

• Give your blog some soul with a Facebook fanbox
• Pick your medium. Every day
• Blog Your Bar Stories to Get Comments