Three Steps to a Cleaner Blog Design / by Kory Woodard

When you first started blogging, did you go a little wild with your design? Maybe you had all sorts of fonts all over your graphics. Maybe you had a new header every week. Maybe your background was an eye-sore of a… I mean pretty pink floral background. 🙂

No matter who you are, when you first start blogging you tend to be a little loose with your design. Yes, all of us were like that at some point. It usually takes time and loads, and loads of reading posts about blog design or design tips and tricks before you finally start on a path of a more cohesive look, a path which may or may not have you hiring a designer along the way. Unfortunately, not everyone is in the shape to hire a designer, especially when you’re just starting out. So, today I wanted to share three simple steps to a cleaner blog design so that you can straighten things up a little without forking over your shopping money!

Full Width Photos

If you’ve been in the blogopshere for a little while, you probably know that this is one of the major things that people recommend. When you’re just getting started, you don’t really care about this, but having full width photos makes your entire blog look a little cleaner and nicer. A simple way to get started doing this to see what the full width size is that your template allows and begin sharing graphics that are that size.

Fewer Ads

Another decision that bloggers find themselves making is whether or not to host ads on their site. Ads are a great way to help promote your blog friends and favorite brands, as well as make a little extra cash. However, when you first start taking ads, you may find yourself getting a little crazy with how many you take. Having tons of ad graphics in your sidebar (and even below your post) is distracting to your reader. Pick a somewhat small number of how many you host (this may also help them seem more exclusive, which may help you when it comes to selling them).

White Space

Even if you’re not a designer, I know you’ve heard of this one. People just looove white space now-a-days, but how do you accomplish that? Well, one major is to take a quick look at your blog template or overall design. Is it squished all the way out to your computer screen’s edges? Do you feel a little claustrophobic just looking at it? If so, you can always remedy this by resizing (very easy to do on Blogger) or finding a new template (you might have to on WordPress unless you know some coding).

Those aren’t the only things you can do to clean up your design, but they’re definitely a good start!

About the Author

Kory Woodard is the lady behind the blog and brand korywoodard.com. She’s a 23 year old recent college grad, who loves watching her favorite shows on Netflix, spending time with her husband, and helping passionate bloggers and small businesses get designs that make their brands shine!