8 Design Elements Your Blog Should Have

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Thanks Mark for the tips, I would also include an element for freebies/giveaways/contests etc… the more interaction and value your site can provide to your readers the better.

Thanks for the tips!

That is one huge footer. I guess with twitter and RSS adding a mailing list to the design would be overkill.
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Basics.
Every designer should know this stuff.
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Nice article and great tips.
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Thanks Marc I would agree with Craig – increasing the user interaction is the only way to go – cheers
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I have not laughed more recently.

Sponsored sidebar? Seriously? Plus share this post icons on 10 social media networks no one have heard of? All of this will result in a slow loading time plus you will be still displaying adds like the billboards do – alongside the road, and NOT on it.

You should seriously reconsider at least these 2 points.
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They are all good points except sponsored spots. A lot of people are blogging for the sheer pleasure of it. I myself don’t use advertising on my second blog. It is purely a personal choice thing, it doesn’t have to be there. Good article, thanks for sharing
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Nice post, I agree
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Hmm that’s very interessting but frankly i have a hard time determining it… I’m wondering what others have to say….

Great article. I’ve implemted most on SOCFX apart from the easy commenting bit.

Lou
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Hi, thanks for share…
I just wanted to add (for more user experience), you also have to separate trackbacks from comments and give back to top button.
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Thanks for the tips. Perhaps some more discussion on how to effectively integrate some of these elements would have been useful.
Cheers!
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Thank you guys for the comments.

@Craig: You added valuable point of giveaways or freebies

I just finished adding my footer! Great post and great points. I agree with you on every single one of these.

I would also add a retweet button as a must. So many people use it. Another great addition is a gravatar and customized commenting. It just makes for a better, more visually interesting layout.

Anyway, nice post.

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@Sneh: Thanks for the feedback Sneh.

@Setiawan: I think time to separate Trackbacks from comments

@Duane: Thanks for stopping by and leaving your feedback. Hopefully we can bring something this as well on the wall.

I like the inclusion of standard graphic size. For some reason, alot of early bloggers seem to miss that.

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Great Post you have include every essentials things. It should have also included the featured post slide bar.
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Although my blog does not have even half of these things (for now…) I made this page one of my three featured links on my Design Thought for the Day blog:
http://designthoughtfortheday.blogspot.com/2010/03/03-10-blog-needs-google-index-tutorial.html

All the best, Ted

Really good post! I will redesign my blog soon so I need lots of tips, advices and idea.

Thanks!
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“I would assume that at some point everyone would like to monetize their blog, by adding banner/sponsorship ad space.”

that’s not yours to assume. I’m glad there are still people that blog just because they enjoy it and they want to share their expertise or stories with others. Not just because they want to make money..

I’m with aDeeb, Sneh, and (without laughing myself) Marfi… this is all either REALLY basic or questionable opinion.

What defines a ‘custom header’? Sponsored sidebar makes the short list? What purpose does a custom footer serve (other than being a link dump that might not even be clicked?

These all sound like ingredients for another cookie cutter design blog (not unlike this very one). Sigh, sorry for being so critical, Mr. Smashing Share. I’m going to ‘submit query’ now, which I guess means ‘post comment.’

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Not sure the ad space is a element all blogs should have. And the social bar is great why do you need more than Facebook or Twitter for 90% of your readers?
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I think displaying too many Social Sharing Icons is an overkill. Many people only really use 3 – 5 of them. But if you are like me and don’t want to leave out any, you can use sharing widgets like Add This or Share This, which won’t take up too much space on your blog.
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Thank you all for your valuable feedback.

@Ted: You got nice big header for your website. I think the examples shown here are from the most successful blogs and I think they are getting much more from what they have done.
We like big footers “http://www.footerama.com/”

@Matt: We think Digg, StumbleUpon and some others are also important as Twitter & Facebook.

@ESN: “Add This” is great sharing tool. But for sometimes, It might get lost in between your content and readers will not be able to notice it.

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@Waheed Akhtar Respectively, though, I’m not saying that all sites or blogs should have big headers, nor am I saying my own site is any good.

Great list, you basically got everything.

very useful and informative tips give thanks for sharing. i agree we should not have many voting s button, but 5-6 is good.
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I agree with all you said here – good list.

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Hello Great list,

8 Design Elements Your Blog Should Have…

Thank you for submitting this cool story – Trackback from Servefault.com…

8 Design Elements Your Blog Should Have…

There are certain design elements that all blogs should have to keep readers happy and engaged in your content. With the evolution of blogs and social media sites, the expectations for a blog are much higher….

[...] 8 Design Elements Your Blog Should Have [...]

[...] 8 Design Elements Your Blog Should Have [...]

[...] 8 Design Elements Your Blog Should Have [...]

[...] 8 Design Elements Your Blog Should Have [...]

8 Design Elements Your Blog Should Have…

There are certain design elements that all blogs should have to keep readers happy and engaged in your content…

nice article. I should have read it first before designing my blog. need to make some adjustment now..

Nice article and very detailed. The points you hit were good and key to the grow of any website especially to increase readers and attract them.
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I’ve been looking around http://www.smashingshare.com and really am impressed by the awesome content material here. I work the nightshift at my job and it really gets boring. I have been coming here for the past couple nights and reading. I just wanted to let you know that I have been enjoying what I’ve seen and I look ahead to reading more.

I was surfing along to find a good article and thank god i got here. There is no need to reconsider anything as this is a Good One. Thanks
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my friend have created one blogspot. I’ll tell this to him. hope he finds it useful to enhance his blog…
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i think the ” Social Sharing Icons” point should be given utmost attention to increase the traffic in a blog. thanks for this beneficial post:)

Many of the points are really good. I do enjoy these seo blogs, but one of the harder points is making a custom header. I can never seem to get anything to look professionally.
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I quite do not agree with the sponsored sidebar, but hey, it all depends on the blogger and the needs, right?

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Interesting post, since I have only just started blogging more frequently on the matters of website design and SEO Ill be following up on some of your advice

A good roundup of what people should consider including when creating a blog. Personally, I find the comments section one of the biggest reasons to regularly visit a blog, it’s a great way to keep up to date with current thinking. Also, don’t feel you have to include everything, just choose what works best for you, but keep in mind what your visitors may expect to see.
On the subject of blogs, do you think there are too many of them already – I would love to hear your thoughts on my first ever blog post.. Are there too many Design Blogs?

A good roundup of what people should consider including when creating a blog. I find the comments section one of the biggest reasons to regularly visit a blog, it’s a great way to keep up to date with current thinking. Also, don’t feel you have to include everything, just choose what works best for you, but keep in mind what your visitors may expect to see.
On the subject of blogs, do you think there are too many of them already – I would love to hear your thoughts on my first ever blog post.. Are there too many Design Blogs?

I think Typography element is the most important. Because people read our blog.

Very nice post….
Funny though that although it are should haves, you dont have all of them :s… haha
Anyway great post.

Awesome tips on designing a blog this is really quite helpful tips on how to improve the design of a blog you must consider most of those things and apply it.

[...] mine:1. Determine The Homepage’s ObjectiveDesign is the art and science of creating and arranging elements to achieve an objective. On the web, that objective is usually to sell. That doesn’t necessarily [...]

[...] 12, 2010 in Uncategorized This is my library…I lovin it… http://www.smashingshare.com/2010/03/08/design-elements-blog-should-have/comment-page-4/#comment-486... http://www.ikigaiway.com/2009/martial-arts-posture/ [...]

Loved this list, Mark. Very relevant and definitely useful.

I’d have everyone treat this post as checklist and ensure that all the items are checked out – BEFORE – they put a new blog online, or TODAY!

I was talking about social sharing on my own blog, Social Media Notebook, last evening – and expanded the social sharing aspect on this list.

Would you to hear your thoughts on my perspectives.

Loved this awesome list.
Found the website recently, and will follow up

You know I think disqus is not the best thing for blog, why can we use wp comments?

Thanks for the excellent tips. Yes, clean layout is key … when you have a lot to say it’s tempting to place a ton of information on a site, but use restraint whenever you can. Better to master the art of writing succinctly than to risk being too wordy and driving traffic away.

I agree Disqus comment system improves discussion on websites. Please visit this site on how to build a website

Loved this awesome list.
Found the website recently, and will follow up

Awesome tips on designing a blog this is really quite helpful tips on how to improve the design of a blog you must consider most of those things and apply it.

Blog Designing is not about the rules, but knowing the essentials can help you come up with an aesthetically and effective design.

Excellent designs.Web design plays an important role.what we need is a solid and attractive web design for our website and that design must fulfill our business requirements..

Thanks guys for your comments. Glad you all liked this and really appreciate your feedback.

A website can get customers through marketing, but the important thing is the site must designed well and must give useful information in the right place , if you are working with good web designers ,you can earn more profit in business.
adam

It is a different type of web design showcase focusing on specific aspects of web design.

Great article! What do you recommend for the number of social sharing icons? I always used as many as I could, but I am not sure that is the best way to go. Any thoguhts on this?

Great post.The presentation of this post is really good.