A new blog always displays a default theme that is usually made available by the blogging service provider. As your blog grows in stature and popularity over a period of time, a default theme may not usher your blog in a proper direction. There is also the case of lost identity as that specific theme or template has already been put into use by countless bloggers. A more user friendly and search engine friendly blog theme is the need of the hour. The rest of the article will guide you through some of the essential elements that you must ponder while designing your new blog template or theme.
The first thing you can do is to enhance the visual appeal of the theme. In order to make your task easier, blog software or blogging service providers offer the thumbnail views of wide array of blog themes. You can choose one that best represents your blog ideas and posts by going through their visual appearance gradually. Do not limit your attention to visual cues only. There are so many other aspects of blog design.
Secondly, your blog template must have the able support of an adequate and efficient navigation system so that your esteemed visitors will have fewer problems in accessing your various posts and other blog details. This is one aspect which has been persistently overlooked by many blog sites till now and results in their quick demise. Do not confuse your readers regarding where to go once they land on your blog page.
The third important thing is to create an 'archive' section where your old posts are stored and organized according to their publishing month. Many blog systems provide you this option by default. Even if you don't have an archive section, you can find a perfect substitution in the form of 'categories' and 'tags' for your blog posts.
Moving on, a 'search box' must be present at the top or side of each blog page so that visitors can look for their desired posts quickly without browsing through each and every page. However, a problem lies with the search option as searching for blog posts can consume your server resources. If you've plenty of visitors, it may exceed the maximum resource limit specified by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) hastily. Still, you must make space for a search box on your blog for the larger interest of your readers.
The home page of your blog contains the summary of various posts. If a user finds the summary intriguing, he or she then clicks on the 'permalink' to read the full post. Most seasoned web surfers are aware of the permalink option. But, the same thing can't be said about new or average users. For their convenience, you can place a 'read more' link colored in blue and underlined below the summary.
Last, but not the least, your blog side panel must be compatible with the rest of the blog theme in terms of color scheme. It is the center of all activities as it boasts precious information such as post titles, links to recent posts and links to the archives and tag clouds. Make this section fully transparent and understandable for the benefit of visitors.
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