Great Find: GraphicPUSH
Filed Under Blog Review, Content, Design, Great Finds, Successful Blog | 3 Comments
Since this week has been about Design, I thought you might enjoy exploring this Great Find over the weekend.
Great Find: GraphicPUSH by Kevin Potts
Target Audience: Everyone who’s looking for or learning about design
Site Type: Design Site
Content: The quality of Kevin’s work shows in his own site’s design, in the relevancy of the topics and transparent, well-thought, well-written content of his posts. He markets his work with generosity by providing a quality free offer–three sets of beautifully-rendered free icons to spice up your own blog’s design or your desktop.
Notes: Don’t cheat yourself by jumping straight down to click through to the free icon sets. There’s plenty to see, and to learn about, if you go exploring on this site. Be sure to read the 9 rules that he wrote. No I didn’t realize this was a 9rules network member when I found it. I went there for the free icons I could get for you–and was delighted to find so much more.
More Great Blog Designs to Discuss
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Blog Design Checklist
Filed Under Audience, Blog Review, Checklists, Design, Successful Blog | 11 Comments
A successful blogger is always asking the question, How does this serve my readers?
To many of us design is the fun and “creative” part of building our blog, talking and tweaking design can take up more time than writing content–if we let it. A checklist can help keep my creativity at uptimum levels and keep my focus on how my choices will ensure my readers enjoy their stay well enough to return again and again.
Blog Design Checklist.
- 1. Title and Subtitle: Are they here? Are they clear? Could any reader understand what they mean? Turn off the blinkers, the sliders and slinkers. They distract me when I’m trying to read your post.
- 2. Bio: Can I find it? Does it tell enough about you that I feel a connection with the person behind the screen? Did you give me a way to contact you, if I have a genuine reason to? Is there a photo, or at least a visual, there to represent you?
- 3. Fonts/Text: Are they readable? Are there too many? too few? Are they in readable colors? Is there moving, blinking, twinkling text to distract me and annoy me? When it comes to color, size, and number less is always more.
- 4. Comments/Permalinks/Trackbacks/Email: I expect to find these after the post? Please don’t get creative and make me look all over to find them.
- 5. Navigation: Can I find my way around in a glance? Can I find your Classic Posts? Do your links really work? Is it easy to get back to the home page? I don’t like feeling lost.
- 6. Sound/Gadgets/Plug-ins: Do they really need to be there? Are you sure they won’t irritate me? When in doubt, take them out.
- 7. Technical Issues: Does the blog load fast in my browser? Does it load accurately? You may hate IE but most folks still use it. If you pretend they don’t exist. You can be sure for you they won’t.
- 8. Images: Are they clean, clear and crisp? Are the files compressed so they load quickly? Fuzzy pictures hurt my eyes.
- 9. Organization: Does the page feel in proportion? Do things seem where they belong? Is there enough white space and a lack of clutter? I like a little room to breathe.
- 10. Marketing: Is the presentation of subscriptions, ads, and other marketing integrated into the design? Do ads become too interruptive? Are there pop-ups or pop-unders? Ads that make themselves too annoying will drive me from your blog forever. No pop-ups or pop-unders–they break your trust with me.
Use this checklist to remind yourself not to let too much design creativity take the “fun” out of reading your blog. Then get started. Have fun tweaking.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
And don’t forget the other checklists in the set:
Blog Review Checklist
Editing for Quality and a Content Editor’s Checklist
Checklist for Linking to Quality Blogs
A Blogger’s Personal Narrative Checklist
Checklist for Starting a Directory Listing
More Blog Designs to Discuss
Filed Under Blog Review, Community, Design, Successful Blog | 110 Comments
Successful bloggers are constantly trading ideas and talking about things.
Remember tonight is Tuesday Night Successful Blog Design Discussion Night.
Here are some more blog designs you might check out.
Living with Music about collecting music and all that goes with it.
I Remember about brief experiences and feelings.
A Venture Forth about venture capitalism.
Come if you can. If not it will be just Javier and me, figuring out how to comment on everyone’s blog.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles:
NEW————->> Cool Designs April 2006
Call for Designers
Blog Promotion: Checking Out Curb Appeal
GAWKER Design: Curb Appeal as Customer-Centered Promotion
Turning Reluctant Readers into Loyal Fans
Blog Design Checklist
SEO–Five Traits of Relevant Content
Filed Under Blog Review, Content, SEO, Successful Blog, Writing | 27 Comments
Practical SEO for Every Blogger
Five Traits of Relevant Content
Relevant is the keyword. Content without “relevant” is less than content. Who would want to post something irrelevant? Here are five traits of relevant content.
Relevant content is text.
Search Engines love quality relevant content. They love quality content because readers do. Content here means text, not graphics or photos. That’s where search engines and readers see pages differently. Readers “read” photos and graphics; search engine spiders crawl right past them. So under that photo or graphic include a caption explaining what’s in it.
Relevant content is fresh and free-flowing.
Search engine spiders are demanding creatures. They want original, relevant content to list for their readers–and lots of it. Provide original content with accuracy and frequency about topics readers search for, and your posts will be born relevant.
Relevant content is formatted.
When your document follows a structured format, a search engine can follow how topics relate. Relationships between topics establish that keywords aren’t just mentioned–they are connected and relevant.
- title
- h1–subhead that relates
- paragraph(s)
- h2–subhead that relates
- paragraph(s)
Relevant content is linked–Links in, links out, and links to yourself are relevant.
Spiders crawl the web by following links. Links draw spiders to related pages from blog to blog and within your blog. Connections in content are inherently relevant.
Relevant content is error free and accessible.
Open HTML tags, gross errors in spelling, and unnecessary plugins trip spiders. Enough said.
Relevant content is what readers are searching for, what spiders are crawling for, what bloggers are blogging for–right?
I’d rather not blog than be irrelevant.
I think there’s a t-shirt in that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Next Week–Interview 2: The Reign of Ellen
Filed Under Blog Review, Community, Interviews, Successful Blog | Leave a Comment
An Interview with ELLEN who’s been blogging since 2003, and
The Reign of Ellen where you’ll enter the Blogdom of Royalty.
Click her picture. See the blog that crowns readers Kings and Queens.
See you then!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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