This is a guest post by Alia Haley. She is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and luxury. Beside this she is fond of cell phones. These days she is busy in writing an article on Luxury yacht and Burberry Handbags.

Let’s nod our head to the inevitable fact that ‘yes, I have erred at times in my own blog designs’. Though some may find it picky to accept, but blog designers do tend to stumble or pull a boner whilst instilling appealing layouts to their blog. However, if you happen to belong to the same clan, then here’s some help.

Listed below are certain significant aspects that you must avoid in order to latch onto your flawless blog designing. Take a look over the facets that indeed need to be sidestepped for a better blog understanding and an enriched reading experience.



1: Cluttering the sidebar

More often than not, the sidebar of a blog generally tends to foul things up. Unfortunately, categories, widgetsm social linking and ads muddle the sidebar to render an unclean appearance. Worse than that, you may end up looking unprofessional to your potential clients and visitors. Thus, make sure to structure and style your blog neatly without adding any unnecessary links or widgets.


2: Using too many advertisements

Bring this into your notice! If your advertisements surpass the blog content, then there’s something seriously wrong with its direction. Though big blogs happen to incorporate a bunch of ads, but drawing a wider base of audience gets feasible through the inclusion of a lot of content. So, ensure that you are not embedding a vast space for ads but giving utmost attention to adding content. This won’t only perk up your blog’s appearance, but will also make you look professional.


3: Putting in too many of social buttons

Alright, we do understand your need for sharing the blog content but there are certain factors that you should opine of. Since ‘too much of a good thing’ is not always great to settle for, make sure your blog layout refrains from integrating many social buttons. Try not to include several mini-share buttons under 3 large buttons on the page’s left side or under the post title.


4: Not ensuring cross-browser compatibility for your blog

Internet Explorer 6 may be bereft of its life but that nowhere means you still need to hang onto Firefox. Therefore, ascertain that your blog lends support to cross-browser compatibility and does not encounter errors on Google Chrome, Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer 8 or 9. For which, you can visit and check your blog through other browsers in order to ensure the proper blog functioning. This will certainly add convenience to you as well as to your blog visitors.


5: Using image-heavy website designs

Since people are always in a hurry and do not have time to waste on a website to load, make sure your blog does not integrate the same issue. If you want your website to load smoothly and quickly, then focus on using the cleanest code for the blog. An influential blog designer should learn the ropes about how to employ HTML5, CSS3 and J-query in order to make their design pop without gulping down seconds to load.


6: Integrating those ‘additional’ pop-ups

Ok, we have glanced through the current rage where several websites heavily rely upon frequent pop-ups to attract the visitor’s attention. But it may throw a curve to realize the effect could be entirely opposite. Yes, you read that right! Though it is absolutely fine to include pop-ups in your blog, but including those additional pop-ups which show their face on regular intervals might turn off the visitor. In particular, pop-ups such as 'wait, do not leave yet’ can seriously fret people and compel them to never return to your blog.


7: Using awful color combinations

Another common mistake that blog designers make is – deciding upon an interesting, awful color combination. Now, you may wonder ‘how does that actually influence?’ But, in real, it does influence in a significant manner. Thus, make sure your blog layout doesn’t leave anyone with a headache after the visit. For that you can seamlessly benefit from the color tools like Color Lovers and perk up the overall design and structure. Not many designers would know but it’s extremely important to choose right color combinations as they tend to invoke certain emotions in visitors. Therefore, zoom on using the tinges that give off the right vibes.


8: Ignoring the comment styles

Any guesses if we ask ‘which is an incredibly big component in a blog?’ Well, you are quick-witted if you really whispered ‘comments’. Given that comment styles can significantly make your blog appear impressive or outdated, you must pay attention to properly designing the comment section. You can embed a threaded comment feature, which is quite popular these days, and enable people to view original comments. You can even outline your blog comments a bit distinctly and differentiate with a neat structure.


9: Using 100+ plugins

Hands up if you were really aware of this one(though no brownie points for that). Many developers do not realize that adding a lot of blog plugins to the footer or header can indeed slow the blog down. Including a horde of plugins which is not so necessary can seriously cause the page to load slowly, thereby putting off the page visitors. Nevertheless, if you do not have any other option but to incorporate many plugins, then make sure to use a plugin like the W3 Total Cache. The stated tool helps one create an HTML version of a blog for faster loading and an enhanced experience.


10: Using light text on dark backgrounds

Lastly but equally importantly, opting for light color text on dark backgrounds may make it operose for your visitors to read the blog content. It not only strains the eyes, but also augments the discomfort factor by making it difficult to read. This may end up losing out on potential readers. Thus, to avoid such unfortunate episodes, ensure that you are keeping the content area of the blog in white if the background has a dark hue. By doing this, your readers will be enabled to conveniently flip through the blog content without causing stress to their mind and eyes.

That wraps up the common mistakes which are generally done by many blog designers. If you were committing any one of them, it might be the best time to change. Hopefully, the above mentioned tips will contribute to better blogging and better reading.