Are you guilty of making blog design mistakes that could be costing you visitors? Hopefully not, but if so, this article should help you fix anything that might need adjusting. It’s always a top priority to make sure your blog works well and looks good if you want to impress! Even if you have great content, your site’s appeal could be turning people off. Here are some common mistakes and how to avoid them!

Too many fonts and colours

I know that it can be exciting when you finally sit down and start decorating your blog, but don’t get overly enthusiastic! Using too many different fonts and colours can definitely backfire. Excessive use of these things tends to lead to an uncoordinated look which can really turn visitors off. Instead, start off with a specific colour palette and work from there. Any great design usually uses a maximum of 3 different fonts, for a cohesive look.

Cluttered pages with little white space

White space is like the air around your content that gives it freedom to breathe. Without much of it, you run the risk of your content blending together. Keeping clutter to a minimum and separating important sections of your blog with generous white space will help a visitor’s eye easily flow throughout your page. Imagine you’ve just walked into the home of a hoarder. Where would you go? What would your attention be focused on? It’s tough to focus on a piece of great content when it is surrounded with other things.

Forgetting to include social media links

If you’re a blogger, you should already know how important social networking is, but sometimes these things can slip from our minds when creating a blog design. Remember to include icons or links to your social pages in a prominent place so that others can find you easily.

Failing to put your contact info in an easy to find place

This rule is essential, especially if you are blogging for a business. You will want to make sure that your contact information is clearly displayed somewhere easily accessible by the visitor. A good majority of people are not going to play detective and try to locate your business information, so make it easy for them!

Poor legibility and readability

All fonts on your site need to be easily readable. That means proper font choices and sizes. There’s simply no point in choosing a post title font that is fancy and cursive if one cannot make out what it says. Keeping your title fonts and text fonts as simple as possible makes it much easier for the visitor to read your content. Leave the fancy, curly, script fonts for your accent graphics.

Unfit screen resolutions

These days, there is no “proper” screen resolution as there are so many monitors on the market. As a general rule of thumb, I use 1100px as the width for most web designs. Anything over 1200px is pushing it and your site may only display properly to those with larger resolutions. Keep this in mind when creating your layout as you want it to fit on both smaller and larger screens without the need for a visitor to scroll horizontally to view the rest of your pages.

Poor navigation

Navigation plays a super important role in any website. If your menu is non-existent or in a place that does not attract attention, it’s time to fix that major mistake. Your navigation menu is the one common way that people will bounce around your site. Without one, there is nowhere else for them to go, besides to another blog that isn’t yours! Your menu should include only the important links or pages that lead people to other areas of your site or provide additional information. It should be visible on all pages.

Untested for errors

Launching your blog can be exciting, but without testing for errors ahead of time, your big day might disappoint. Browsers tend to handle some things differently, so the first step is to make sure your blog works and looks proper in each browser, including Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. If things look “off”, fix them before launch. You can also have some friends test your site for you. Links should also all work and not be broken, so give them a click during your testing phase. I hope this provided valuable information about your blog design and mistakes to avoid.