How Graphic Design Can Help Your Blog Attract Visitors

Everyone seems to be blogging these days. That, or vlogging. And with each passing year, there is a new website design trend everyone seems to be using. It can be hard to keep up with all the changes that sometimes take the internet by storm. Remember a few years back, when there was so much going on on a page, and when designers were trying to outdo each other with their talent? Today, there is much more of a minimalist design trending, and websites mostly have that smooth, clean feel to them.

We are also slowly seeing a shift from the written word to the extensive use of images, graphics and video, as attention spans keep getting shorter and shorter. Pretty soon, we will be talking to goldfish.

If you are looking to start a blog, or want to redesign your existing one, there are many things you need to consider. First of all, you will need to take into account the most typical of SEO rules, loading speeds and navigation. If you get that right, you will increase your chances of attracting visitors. As UX gets more and more emphasis, graphic design is what can help you get more and keep more readers interested, alongside your clever wit of course. Here are some graphic design pointers to keep in mind:

Bear your goals in mind

You blog is simply one point of contact with your business. As such, if this is the first thing your potential customers see about your business, it needs so speak volumes about who you are as a business, and not tick them off or send the running. Your menus and navigation need to be clear and intuitive. You graphic elements and color schemes need to not be too garish. It all needs to feel professional and well thought out.

It also needs to be functional, well connected, and the graphic elements need to drive your message across clearly. The first question you need to ask yourself is why do you have a blog in the first place. Is it meant to drive traffic to your store, and other converting pages? Or are you using it for lead generation? In both cases, the blog needs to serve as a guide and direct your visitors in the way you are hoping to have them move.

The graphic elements need not to be a distraction, rather a helpful aid in accomplishing your goals. Don’t let them take your visitors’ attention away from the main parts of your page.

Increasing brand awareness

You are trying to establish a brand people will recognize, because that increases your chances of completing a purchase. Your blog needs to tell the story of your brand, and become recognizable in the online world. To do that, you need to work on both your blog’s design and marketing it properly.

The design you use on your blog needs to help you brand yourself – use your logo and company colors, and make sure you use a custom design, you don’t want to look like some of your competitors. You should also not make it look like one big sales pitch. You are going for recognizable, not tacky.

If you are not an expert in design and web UX, you should hire professionals to do it. There is not much worse than amateurish graphics, that can easily put your customers off.

Take your blog offline

While we are on the subject of design, you should also make it a point to craft some promotional and branded merchandise that will serve as a pointer to your online world from the offline one. You can do this in numerous ways, from attending conferences, doing a pop up, or simply setting up a booth so your customers can get to know you better. Even if you operate solely online, you should venture into the real world at times. Get some fabric pop ups made and use them to spread your message and get more people interested in what you have to say.

Optimizing for success

Your graphic design needs to be in line with the latest trends in responsiveness as well. This means you are not using huge images that are impossible to load on a mobile device. This is the absolute worst thing you can do today. As more people surf on the go, and as mobile is taking over desktop in every aspect, you need to be mobile friendly and you need to be responsive.

Your blog layout needs to be able to adapt to different screens, and not only that, look good on all of them as well. You also need to find the best ways to navigate and zoom on different screen sizes, and make the use of your page as easy as it can be.

You also need to make sure your images are well optimized from an SEO standpoint. Use alt tags and make sure your custom images can be traced back to your site. This will also boost your traffic.

To sum up, the graphic design you use on your blog can help you boost traffic and conversions, if used correctly. Even if you are not a fan of minimalist design, you can still find a way to express yourself and get your message across. Don’t think that words are more important than presentation. After all, humans are visual creatures, and good visuals can get you quite far.