How to Launch Your Blog Quicker By Creating a Simple Design

by | Blogging | 15 comments

The idea of starting a new blog is exciting! This initial enthusiasm quickly turns to frustration when we realize the many details involved. Designing and customizing a blog is often a challenge for many beginner bloggers.

In this post I share how you can quickly start, create, and launch a blog that looks pleasing to your readers. One that is easier for you to manage when completed. Using a simple start design that works. You can easily build on it over time. It doesn’t have to be perfect! 

I remember starting my first blog. As a writer all I wanted to do was write. I didn’t know the first thing about how to begin designing my blog. Visitors would see my site disaster then quickly run for the hills! All I’d seemed to accomplish was a ton of mounting frustration, overdoses of discouragement, a site that looked awful, and nothing was working right! 

In this post I provide tips starting a blog with a simple clean design.

1. Why begin with a simple and clean design?

 

Creating a simple design is the best way to start. In the beginning less is more. Nothing fancy. Especially if you don’t know what you’re doing yet. 

Of course we all want great looking blogs. It’s easy to look at the big picture. When we do this we fail to understand the importance of the small steps that lead us where we need to be.

We have to simplify our mindset. If we don’t do this then we can’t enjoy the process of starting a blog. Instead of enjoying the process of starting a blog we can become overwhelmed and stressed.

First impressions count. Have you ever heard the saying, ” You never get a second chance to make a first impression?”When someone visits your blog for the first time they will formulate what they think at first glance.

This is another great reason for a creating a simple start design. By making your blog pleasing for everyone you will be sure your visitors will appreciate it. You’ll have succeeded at making a great first impression!

 

[bctt tweet=”“Simple blog start is the best way to begin. You can always add to it little by little as you go.”” via=”no”]

 

2. Choose a Responsive Theme

 

Themes come in so many styles and layouts. With so many to choose from it is often difficult to decide on which to use.

  • Will you use a free or premium theme?
  • Choose responsive themes so they show up well on any device.
  • Check how the site appears on desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones.

 

3. Decide on Your Theme

 

With so many themes to choose from this is not always an easy decision for many of us. Out of the box whether free or premium things don’t look good until you design and customize your chosen theme. If you don’t want to hire a web developer than I suggest you use a You Tube WordPress theme tutorial.

I recommend you check out Greg Narayan’s You Tube channel. There you can explore a variety of WordPress theme tutorials. He has many other helpful tutorial videos there about many other WordPress topics.

 

4. Best Practices For Choosing a Color Scheme

 

A two color scheme always works best with 3 at the most. Only one is a more vibrant color. Use the chosen colors throughout the entire site. Too many colors create clutter and distractions.

Written content should stand out with less vast array of color. More vibrant colors make for great accents. Muted and light colors provide for a clean look. The reader should see lots of white space between the splashes of colors. Adding images and other content will bring in some color as well.

 

5. Home Page

 

Decide whether or not you want your home page to be a landing page. If you don’t simply set reading to latest posts.

If you do want the homepage of your blog to be a landing page it is wise to keep this simple to start.

  • A short scroll- This encourages people to not get stuck on your homepage. Instead they go to about, blog, and other places you have great content on your site. This will help to reduce your bounce rate. 
  • Make sure to have an ‘about’ button and a little description of your site. 
  • To dress it up you could have a post carousel. I have that on my home page to feature my latest posts.

 

7. Blog Page

 

You’ll need to choose how you want your blog page to be laid out. You can do this by going to your WordPress dashboard and selecting appearance > customize. Once there you can find the options for blog layout.

I have mine currently set with the sidebar showing on the right. When a visitor chooses a blog post the layout opens up to default with no sidebar. I’ve done this to make it easier to read and responsive for all devices.

Set your desired individual blog post layout format to show how you want it to on the blog page. To do this you’ll need set the page layout to either default, with or without sidebar, full width, with or without sidebar.

 

8. Blog Posts

 

Many people have asked me how much content they need on their site before launching it live.

Begin with an about page.

A minimum of 3 blog posts.

Create an easy to manage posting rhythm.
It is easier to start small with a consistency you can commit to.

Your readers will appreciate a regular posting routine.

Add an attractive featured image for every blog post. This is better than adding it to the body of your blog post itself. Setting a featured image is excellent for SEO.

 

9. Header

 

If you want to design a header it is best to keep this simple also.

Not too busy or cluttered. It should reflect your logo, title, tagline, and caption.
Anything more than this will look too busy.

I use Foto Jet to design site headers, Facebook covers, and Twitter headers.

 

10. Logo

 

Should you decide to have a logo for your site; First you’ll need to choose whether to design it yourself or have someone else design it for you.

Logo Makr is great for those of you who wish to create your own logo for free.
Video Tutorial by Greg Narayan  Create Your Logo in LogoMakr

 

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Nirodha Abayalath
Nirodha Abayalath

Hi Cori,

First, thank you very much for sharing this excellent checklist and you have explained everything clearly.

Most newbies think that they should design a blog with complicated animations and expensive graphics. Even if I found this article after I launched my blog, I’m really happy that I have followed almost all the points you’ve mentioned here. I love simple and clutter-free design.

My blog theme (AVADA) has a ton of features and I think it is one of the most feature-packed themes in the market but, I designed the simplest blog with it.

If you could, please visit my blog and let me know what do you think. Thanks again.

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Cori-Leigh
Cori-Leigh
Reply to  Nirodha Abayalath

Hi Nirodha,

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. I too love simple and less cluttered website design.

You have a nice and simple blog with a super clean look! Your blog content stands out as it should! Find that sites too design heavy detracts from the content. Avada is a nice theme.

Reply
Nirodha Abayalath
Nirodha Abayalath
Reply to  Cori-Leigh

Thank you very much for your time and comment Cori.

Reply
Lee
Lee

Hi Cori,

I’m interested in setting up a simple blog. Where to start is confusing

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Cori-Leigh
Cori-Leigh
Reply to  Lee

Hi Lee, thank you for your comment. Yes, it can be very confusing starting a blog at first. I remember when I started my first blog several years ago. Greg Narayan the founder of Dear Blogger has a large number of YouTube WordPress tutorials for how to start a blog. I’d recommend you check out his YouTube channel. If I can help at all don’t hesitate to reach out.

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Salt Lake City, Utah Web Developers
Salt Lake City, Utah Web Developers

Thanks for sharing this great information

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Cori - Leigh
Cori - Leigh
Reply to  Salt Lake City, Utah Web Developers

Thank you! I appreciate your comment. Have a great day!

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Nicole Akers
Nicole Akers

Cori, These are fantastic tips for one who is new to blogging! It is easy to get wrapped up in the details, and let them hold you back. It is better to start simply and add the details as the blog progresses.

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Cori-Leigh
Cori-Leigh
Reply to  Nicole Akers

Hi Nicole! Thanks for your comment. I learned the hard way when I started blogging. As a result, created many design disasters!

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Voni Pottle
Voni Pottle

Excellent! Simple and to the point. I’m putting it into Evernote so I can use your info.

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Cori-Leigh
Cori-Leigh
Reply to  Voni Pottle

Hi Voni. Thank you for your comment. I’m so glad you’ve found this post helpful.

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Diana
Diana

Cori thank you so much, will definitely check out the You Tube video on themes as this can save so much time…and it’s exactly where I got stuck. Great post thank you

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Cori-Leigh
Cori-Leigh
Reply to  Diana

Thanks for your comment Diana. It’s easy to get stuck on all the things we have to do in setting up our blogs! Glad the post helped you in some way.

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Frank McKinley
Frank McKinley

Cori, this is an excellent checklist for anyone starting a blog! You’ve covered all the important points in a simple, clear manner. I would recommend this post to anyone who wants to set up a blog and doesn’t have a clue how to make it look good.

Great work!

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Cori-Leigh
Cori-Leigh
Reply to  Frank McKinley

Thanks Frank! I appreciate your comment! I remember when I started out and how frustrating the blog building process can be! When we don’t know how to accomplish setting up our blogs we struggle to enjoy the process.

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