Everything you need to know about excellent blog design. Part Two.

In a previous post we started outlining the essential ways in which you can improve your next blog-style project. However, we just don’t feel like we covered enough of the bases, leaving you much too much wiggle room to effectively design the best blog since PerezHilton.com. However, we’re back again, bringing along yet another round of excellent blog designing and optimizing tips. So without further ado, jump on beyond the break to grab a full peek at our top ways to improve your blog design from the ground-up!

1. Don’t be Unorthodox: The principle is still there: Don’t take the road less traveled where blog design is concerned. We don’t mean you shouldn’t try to be original and engaging, but try your damnedest to avoid anything that’s just plain wonky. Use the standard Facebook, Twitter, and RSS buttons. Keep the header at the top, the content in the middle, and the sidebars at the side. Your viewers won’t be tickled with some kind of upside down cake website. Give them the tried and true basics, and we promise you won’t regret it.
2. Sidebar the Sidebar: We mentioned this above, but we feel it’s worth exploring just a little more. When including a sidebar filled with article tags and other assorted features, be sure to actually put it at the side of the page. We’re serious about this. There’s nothing worse than not being able to find a navigational utility. Likewise, make sure this bar is at the righthand side of the page. Our culture reads from left to right, and no matter how you feel about the matter, putting this bar anywhere else just doesn’t work with the English-reading mind.
3. Consider the Adverts: Lastly, give a lot of very serious consideration to the placement of your advertisements. We’re deadly on this point. When designing your page, treat a banner advert like any other element that needs arranging. Consider a spot where it can be seen, but won’t be invasive. Likewise, ensure it doesn’t detract from the overall flow of the website, or cloud the content itself. Adverts should always be secondary to media, but that doesn’t mean they should be afterthoughts, either.