Tips & Tricks For Brand New Bloggers | Planning Your Layout

This post is a bit like blogception, I wanted to use a photo of my layout but now it looks like when you see the reflection of a mirror in another mirror. But never mind all that, today we are talking layouts, one of the most important aspects of your blog (even though some people will say otherwise). The layout of your blog is the first thing people see when they go to your page, we always get told to never judge a book by its cover but it's in our nature to be attracted to visually pleasing things. Let's go through just a few things you might want to think about when looking for a layout template. 

How many columns? 

The structure of your layout needs to be simple and easy to navigate, a reader doesn't like to have to go on a hunt for what they want, they want to be able to get the info quickly and easily. The favoured layout is the 2-column layout, the main section, which houses the post and then a sidebar with all of your widgets, profile info and social media links. It is completely up to you as to what you think looks best for your blog but I would advise having either one sidebar with all of your info in or 2 sidebars, one with all of your widgets and the other with just profile info. I always find 2 sidebars full of widgets and images is too distracting, we want the focus to be on the posts.

Colour scheme

This really is personal preference but generally people like a blog to be a lighter colour, something that is bright and airy. People usually read blogs to relax and being greeted by a vibrant pink or neon orange doesn't trigger the relaxation feeling. It's basically colour psychology; bright vibrant colours can feel aggressive and can also be too much for the eyes if someone is looking at it for too long. The best way to plan a colour scheme is to pick a minimal white layout and then add colour through headers, banners and widgets. 

Font

Your blog is all about the content so make your font as easy to read as possible. This also refers to the font of your post headings, widget headings and page headings. Look at magazines; they all use a fairly standard sans-serif/serif font to make their content easy to read. By all means use a slightly fancier font for your headings, but you must make sure that it is clear so maybe stay away from the handwritten styles. If you want a splash of fancy font on your blog, use it in your header. Make sure to also use either black or dark grey for your font colour, this makes sure your font stands out from the background, there is nothing worse than having to strain your eyes to see really light grey font that is virtually blending in with the background. 

Header

Your header is where you can really get creative and give a blog its signature style. The best way to create a header is in Photoshop, that way you can test out lots of different font styles and add in splashes of colour or images. There really aren't many rules when it comes to headers, you do have to make sure your blog name is relatively readable though otherwise your readers wont know your name! If you aren't a dab hand at Photoshop you can always ask a friend or buy a custom header package from Etsy, there are loads on there.

And that's pretty much all there is to it. The basic rules are to make your content the focus, keep your font clear and legible and keep the colour scheme non-aggressive. Remember that you need to be happy with the way it looks but always keep your readers in mind; they are the ones that will be visiting after all.