Blogs Get Facelifts to Fit Mainstream Roles


Inc Technology columnsIn my column this week at Inc Technology I write about the very latest in blog layout and design. 

New blog layouts feature better navigation, allow you to highlight more content,  and make better use of space on the page.    The new designs compensate for the limitations inherent in the traditional blog page layout:

” … [M]uch as I love blogs … I have been frustrated by their limitations.
You see, most blogs are NOT set up to allow users to easily move around inside them or find information. What tends to happen is that after a few weeks older blog articles that you’ve written get buried. The way most blogs are set up, older articles may rarely if ever see the light of day again. Sometimes those can be your best work — what a waste!”

Now that blogs have stopped being online diaries and have become mainstream business tools, as business owners we expect more from our blogs.  So do you, as readers. 

Read:  The Venerable Blog Gets a Facelift

11 Comments ▼

Anita Campbell Anita Campbell is the Founder, CEO and Publisher of Small Business Trends and has been following trends in small businesses since 2003. She is the owner of BizSugar, a social media site for small businesses.

11 Reactions
  1. Hi Anita,
    Great timing on this article!
    I just re-did my blog..colors, design, and the way I link to things.
    So far, the response has been positive.
    Sometimes, I think I put too many links in my sidebars, but I think it is because I am used to looking at my own blog. I feel that the links are added value, and my readers appreciate them.
    If you or anyone else would care to look at my design, any tips would be great!
    Thanx again.
    Joel Libava
    The Franchise King Blog

  2. Hi Anita,

    Your article turned out wonderfully. As a business blogger, integrating with my company website is always on the forefront of my mind. And I haven’t stopped adjusting and tweaking my blog since we launched (nor do I intend to for quite some time).

    Your article provides a lot of insight as to the specific problems that are inherit to blog designs, and it is something I will be referring to when updating the design of my website and blog.

    Thanks,

    – Mason

  3. My blog is getting a little facelift too. Going to modify it from time to time until it looks perfect.

  4. HI David,
    Love your logo!
    Joel Libava

  5. Hi!

    It’s the first time, i visit your blog. The bost is very nice, and i put your blog into my feedreader.

    Max

  6. Hi Anita,
    Great site and information. I have been considering a complete makeover of my blog and am also considering moving off of blogger. Do you have any suggestions as to template and hosting/engine, i.e wordpress, expressions engine? Thanks
    Mark

  7. Hi Mark,

    Congratulations on deciding to take the jump. I personally recommend WordPress http://www.wordpress.org. In my view it is world-class blogging software, especially for business blogs.

    Mason Hipp, one of the commenters above, said he uses ExpressionEngine and he says it really rocks. But I can’t say I know much about that one.

    The one advantage WordPress may have is that you can get access to a huge amount of open-source help and resources. With so many people using WordPress, you’re more likely to be able to find plugins that add functionality for WordPress, open-source templates, and service providers who specialize in setting up and extending WordPress blogs.

    For information about moving from Blogger to WordPress, you might check out the following post by Tom Sherman, who helped me when I moved from Blogger to WordPress. In the post he also links to a post of mine where I wrote about my reasons for moving from Blogger to WordPress, but Tom’s post is a good how-to tutorial for making the big move:

    http://underscorebleach.net/jotsheet/2006/05/move-blogger-to-wordpress

    Good luck!

    Anita

  8. Thanks Anita. The thought is rather daunting and I appreciate all the help I can get. I’ll certainly look at Tom’s post and I’m sure there’s good advice in there from both of you.
    Mark

  9. That good article Congratulations!