A guest post by Shirley Brown. 

You’ve focused on writing an engaging blog for your target audience. You hit ‘Publish’ and wait for your website visitors to comment.

But what happens? Nobody reads it. No likes or comments. No sharing on social media.

You’ve put your heart and soul in producing this content. Is it time to refurbish your writing skills again? Instead of rewriting the content all over again, spend some time perfecting the design of your blog.

According to Crazy Egg, most people stick around blogs for less than 15 seconds. This means you have only 15 seconds to grab the attention of your target audience and persuade them to read your content.  Check out these proven blog design tips to make people stop to read your content.

Reduce the loading speed

A recent study shows that the average attention span of website visitors is 8 seconds, which is even lower than a goldfish.

Site users will abandon your blog if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Test the loading speed of your blog before publishing contents. Speed things up if the load time of your blog exceeds 3 seconds. Implement effective steps to fix the load time of your blog.

Some of the essential steps to decrease the website’s loading speed include the removal of unwanted plug-ins, upgrading your hosting plan, picking a better theme, etc. If you use images in your blog, keep a check on their size. Make sure images are properly optimised before using them in your blog.

Simplify navigation

I write blogs for students to help them with assignment writing. One of my existing clients asked ‘How do I find posts from a specific date?’ That made me realise how important simple navigation is for website users.

Make sure your target audience is able to get everything they are looking for without hassle. Use blog design tips to help visitors to find relevant posts, list your categories on your sidebar. This will help them find content quickly and easily in the subject they are interested in.

Flaunt the best content

Are there certain pages that particularly attract a lot of traffic? These pages are most likely to contain contents your readers will find useful. Find ways to promote these popular pages by linking to them on your homepage, a new blog or even in the sidebar.

When a new visitor stumbles upon your new blog, they are more likely to stay if they find links to other interesting contents. Allow them to locate this content and share it on different platforms.

Make your blog mobile-friendly

Nearly 60% of Google searches are from mobile devices. If your blog is not mobile-friendly, it will look absurd on a small screen. Your target audience may easily be put off, as it’s a complete pain to view your blog like this on their mobile phones.

One of the simplest of blog design tips is to change to a theme that is optimised for responsive use.  There are plenty of examples to choose from, or you could contact a friendly web designer to change it for you.

Steer clear of design clutter

Do you like to drive on a road that’s full of potholes? I assume the answer is no. A cluttered website is like a bumpy road, usually avoided by readers. This could easily prevent visitors from reading your content. Also if you are use ads on your blog, make sure they suit your website.

In 2016, I noted a sharp rise in the Bounce Rate of my blog. After digging deeper, I realised unwanted ads and banners made my potential clients abandon my website. As a result I used the KISS rule to simplify my blog design and improve the quality of my website.

Make your content appealing

People change how they select readable content. High quality content is not enough; its presentation is just as important. Make your content stand out by checking out the image of Neil Patel’s blog below:

It has clearly defined headings, sub-headings and images to help you follow. Remember most readers skim and scan content before reading it. If it appeals to them, then they will read through the entire post.

Avoid blocks of text by using short paragraphs. Relevant sub-headings make your content look simple and informative. These blog design tips will make your content more fun to read.

Write evergreen content

Nobody likes outdated information. Backdated information will make your visitors leave immediately. Make sure you write in a way that stays relevant in the future.

Take this guest post for example. Even if you visit this post after 6 months or a year, you will still find its content relevant. Why? It is because my points are factually correct and will be interesting even in the future. Writing evergreen content means never running out of visitors again.

Keep a check on the bounce rate

The Bounce Rate is the amount of time your visitors spend on your website. A high bounce rate shows your target audience clicked away just seconds after viewing the page. A lower bounce rate indicates your visitors have been happy to stop to read your content.

Various types of sites have different standard bounce rates. Keep a check on your bounce rates to manage your website’s usability. The bounce rate graphs help you to understand whether the blog design or the content is at fault. You can then make the required changes.

Can you use these blog design tips?

It’s important to deliver engaging content and use eye-catching blog designs to make your target audience stop and read your content.

Apart from the blog design tips mentioned above, analyse your competitors and take inspiration from the ideas they use for their blogs. While reading a blog on someone else’s website, figure out what hooked you in to reading it in the first place.

Implement the same strategies in your blog designs. Do you have other tips for improving your website’s bounce rate? Let me know in the comments below.

About the author

Shirley Brown is a part-time blogger and a full-time teacher at a primary school in the United States. She provides CPM Homework help to students. Apart from teaching and writing, Shirley loves to cook desserts in her spare time.

The post 8 blog design tips that make people stop to read your content appeared first on Fairy Blog Mother.