How Web Design Can Affect Your Blog Branding: A Live Web Revamp Tutorial Part 2

Marketing Tips For Business Success Through Blogging

Posted on November 13, 2007 - Filed Under Branding

In the previous post, I demonstrated how changing your blog banner / header and adding an “About Me” blurb on your front page can significantly add to your blog branding. Now that you have captured your visitor’s interest, what do you want him to do next? Think of him as a kid who has found a new toy, and am waiting for instructions on how to use it. He wants to be guided intuitively through your site, and you should make it easy for him, without having to think too hard. And you can do this using the elements of your layout, without having to tell him “click here”, or “Remember to subscribe”.

Line of Eye
When you land on my blog, the first thing you will notice is the cat, then the description of what my blog is about, and finally my blog title. I’ve enlarged the font size of the description so that my banner does not overcrowd it. The next thing you will notice is my subscription box, following the path of the stars that I have used to guide your eye there. Even if you don’t subscribe right away, you won’t miss it and will constantly be drawn to it whenever you look up.

The sidebar containing my recent posts, comments and archives were a little lack lustre. This is the sidebar I want visitors to notice, so that they can have a quick glance of the most recent articles and click on the ones they are interested in reading. Generally, people do not read past the first article on your front page, especially if its a long one. Furthermore, if your first article is not a topic in their focus area, they will simply exit your blog and not return unless they have followed an inbound link from another site (thus, the importance of link baiting!). However, if you draw his attention to a list of your recent articles before leaving, he is more likely to find an article that interests him.

To do that, I simply changed the color of the sidebar to a stronger color, making it the dominant element over the other two columns. It also helps that my subscription box is in the same column to make a natural eye path down from the box down to where the links are. While use of colors can be an effective strategy to tell visitors what you want them to look at, it is not recommended that you use more than a maximum of three colors with only one dominant color. These three colors should complement each other, and must be consistent with the theme of your blog. For my sidebar, I picked up the color from the bluish purple portion on the face of the cat, so that I am not introducing new colors to my page. I did the same for the star in my subscription box, except that I toned it down to 55%.

Finally, you want your reader to pay attention to your article, and it is always good to lead him in with a photo, which is another visual cue for him to read the article. So if I were to trace the line of his eye visibly, the pattern would look like this:

Be Brand Consistent
The principle of the Line of Eye is an effective one, and basically takes your readers on a persuasive “tour” of your site to lead to a desired action / result. It can be applied to other materials such as posters, brochures, advertisements, newsletters, etc. If you take some time to analyze the advertising brochures or flyers that you receive, you will be able to trace a good Line of Eye strategy in the more effective ones.

If you are running a business which your blog supports, it is important that the same page elements they see on your site is what they see on your brochures or newsletters, or vice versa. They do not need to be identical, but the theme must remain consistent. Your logo, colors and icons must be unified. You deduct from your brand presence when your customers see a different design from your site then what they are holding in their hands. That makes it difficult for them to relate your printed materials to your blog, and creates a disconnect in their minds. However, if you are able to keep your branding consistent both offline and online, it reinforces the key messages and imagery of what your business is about, and conveys reliability. This fosters trust, and you will find that your customers are more open and receptive to your products and services.

For the next tutorial, I will be adding small icons to illustrate how they can draw interest to specific items on your page.

Don't miss any of my posts by