designing blog posts that people read

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Designing Blog Posts That People Read Brian Chappell

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Presentation I gave at Search Exchange 2011 in Charlotte NC where I outline best practices for designing easy to read, easy to consume blog posts.

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Page 1: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Brian Chappell

Page 2: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Overview

• Important Statistics and Research to consider

• Tactical Design Improvements

• Blogs Doing It Right

Page 3: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

900,000 Blog Posts Created On A Daily Basis

Src. 2010 Technorati State of The Blogosphere

Page 4: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

“On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely” - Jakob

Nielsen

Src: useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html

Page 5: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Most Visitors Are Using a Screen Resolution Higher Than 1024 x 768 Pixels

Src. W3Schools

Page 6: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Check your analytics to see how your audience is consuming your content

Page 7: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

The average page visit lasts a little less than a minute.

Src: Jakob Nielsen Useit.com Sept. 2011

Page 8: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

What Do All These Stats Mean?

Page 9: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Initial Perception Is Very Important

Blog Post Perception = Content + Look and Feel

• Test Perception with Fivesecondtest.com

Page 10: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Less Is More

• Minimize clutter and utilize just a few call to actions

Page 11: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Clearly communicate your value proposition within 10 seconds.

Page 12: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Play To Peoples Emotions With Blog Post Titles

Don’t Be Ugly By Accident! > What Makes A Great Photo > 4 Ways To Take Great Pictures Of Yourself

Page 13: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Craft a Great First paragraph

• First paragraph should explain what the reader will get out of the post

Page 14: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Pro Tip: Utilize Right Aligned Images in Intro

• Usability standards shows 60-70 characters is optimal

• Hard to do because you dont want the width of your blog to be less than 500 pixels

Page 15: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Make It Easy To Scan

• Headings and Subheadings• Bullets• Images• Quotes• Color• Bold Important Words

Page 16: Designing Blog Posts That People Read
Page 17: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Whitespace is Your Friend

Page 18: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Whitespace in Design: Before

Page 19: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Whitespace In Design: After

Page 20: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Line It Up!

Page 21: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Stick To Standards To Alleviate Confusion

Page 22: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Grid: After

Page 23: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

High Quality Images Can Set Your Blog Apart

Page 24: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Utilize Paid Stock Photo Sites

See Full Chart: http://bit.ly/qn0YQ1Src: SmashingMagazine.com

Page 25: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Typography Considerations

• Choose fonts that are easy on the eyes.

• Bad fonts can take away from the quality of your content

• Read More here: http://bit.ly/nVOYDQ

Page 26: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Avoid YAWS • Yet Another

Wordpress Site

• Creates User Blindness

• Be creative with WP design while applying standard usability practices

Page 27: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Length Of Blogposts Matters Right?

No right answer, but always try to incorporate variety.

Page 28: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

What Does Success Look Like?

Page 29: Designing Blog Posts That People Read
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Summary• Create consistency to set user expectations

• Make it easy to read by following standard usability practices

• Keep It Simple

Page 32: Designing Blog Posts That People Read

Thank You

Find me on Twitter @brianchappell

or contact me at