Inside: 5 ways that you can give your blog branding a quick refresh today. Advertorial collaboration.
Maybe you’ve taken a break and want to come back with a bang. Maybe you feel as though your blog needs to look more professional to attract more sponsors. Or maybe, like me, you get bored every now and then and like to give your blog a makeover.
A blog needs to have personality while maintaining a fresh and clean look. The page shouldn’t take the attention away from the images and words but should allow them to jump off the page in their own right. A blog should also be easy to read and have clear sections to help readers navigate their way around.
5 easy ways to refresh your blog branding
If you are looking to refresh your blog, there are 5 easy changes you can make today that will make a big difference.
Create a new logo
The very first thing someone sees when they land on your blog is your header. So you need to look at your current header and logo objectively and ask yourself:
Is it easy to read?
Is it cluttered with unnecessary elements?
Are the different fonts compatible?
I personally use Canva to create my header and logo as it is easy to edit the font size, colour and design. There are lots of fonts online that you can download to give that extra wow factor and you can use a logo maker to put everything together.
You may want to incorporate an image into the design, but only do this if it enhances the brand in some way. Adding random flourishes or ‘quirks’ will just detract from the name and make it feel cluttered.
Update your theme
With Google rolling out Core Web Vital updates in the coming months, it is more important than ever to have a theme that is both aesthetically pleasing to readers and compliant with Google’s metrics.
The key is to choose a theme that doesn’t have too many elements to it. The more a page has to load, the slower it becomes and the worse you’ll fair in the long term.
I personally use Trellis by Mediavine and it ticks all of the boxes. It has lazy loading images, does away with unnecessary css behind the scenes and puts function above all else.
Putting Google aside, you want to have a theme that loads swiftly so as not to annoy your readers. Nobody likes waiting around for pages to load! So, if you’re thinking of adding a slider or carousel on your homepage, use a slider plugin that doesn’t overload your website.
Create a static page
Latest studies show that people like sites that have a static page. This simply means that you create a page with categories and key messaging and then set that as your home page instead of your blog roll of latest posts.
Lots of people will land on your blog via a specific post rather than the homepage. However, if they should decide to click ‘home’ they should be met with a friendly welcome page that helps them to work out what your blog is about. Check out my homepage as an example.
Have a think about how you could organise your posts and then set up your static page accordingly. Perhaps you are a travel blogger – set up your page with categories for each continent, or perhaps by type of holiday (family friendly, couples retreat) etc. If you are a food blogger then have sections for each food group, or meal type etc etc… Make it easy for your reader to find what they are looking for and they will stick around longer.
Choose a colour palette
Certain colours evoke different feelings so it is important to choose a colour scheme that reflects the feelings you want your readers to feel while on your site. You want to create blog branding that attracts your ideal customer, so have a think about who it is you want to attract.
As a general rule, a white background is preferred for its clean feel. So save the colourful element for things like titles, hyperlinks, headers and other highlighting elements around the site.
Colours and their associations:
Red: Passionate, aggressive, important
Orange: Playful, energetic, cheap
Yellow: Happy, friendly, warning
Green: Natural, stable, prosperous
Blue: Serene, trustworthy, inviting
Purple: Luxurious, mysterious, romantic
Pink: Feminine, young, innocent
Brown: Earthy, sturdy, rustic
Black: Powerful, sophisticated, edgy
White: Clean, virtuous, healthy
Grey: Neutral, formal, gloomy
Beige: Accentuates surrounding colours
Upgrade your photos
If I land on a site that has poor photos I immediately doubt the validity of the content. Imagery is everything and so you need to make sure that yours is up to scratch.
With smart phones having great cameras these days there really is no excuse for a bad photo. You just need to be mindful of lighting and the background of your subject.
If you take a lot of product photos then invest in a backdrop prop that will ensure all of your products have the same background (I use these by Capture by Lucy). Always always always take photos in good light. Place your subject by a window to get the best light.
Editing can improve photos after the event. I use PicMonkey for my quick editing, increasing the brightness and editing out any blips. I also use Photoshop for any heavy editing as it is great for creative photography projects.
Make sure that your visuals are up to date and visually appealing. To elevate your website design easily, you might want to use the best free templates available online, offering a wide range of customizable designs that can give your blog a professional look.
If you write a lot of content that doesn’t require personalised photography then it is definitely worth investing in a stock photo subscription. With no effort at all, you can turn a standard post into something amazing with a few stock images. My favourite site is Deposit Photos as they have such a wide range of amazing stock images. You can also find great free images on Pixabay although these are limited.
I hope this has inspired you to make some changes on your blog branding. It is hard to let go of old logos, colour palettes and layouts but remember, if you want to attract more readers you have to make it as pleasing to the eye (and to Google) as possible. If content is king, then visuals are QUEEN and we all know that the queen tells the king what to do!
Good luck!