How a blog looks can have such an influential effect on how much money you make. You can make more money online with a better design. Unfortunately it’s true that people judge books by their covers – and also websites. You can draw readers in if you have a nice, attractive layout, and you can keep them coming if your site is easy to navigate and user-friendly.

Here are five basic things you should consider when designing your page:

• Banner & Background
• Readability
• Relevancy
• Usability
• Ad Location

Banner & Background

“Use original content” goes for both your words and your images. Readers will be more impressed if you can create your own top image. Don’t go too crazy over it though; it doesn’t have to be too extravagant. If you want a more clean, functional look, then you can just include your logo at the top.

Your layout can look nice with really any type of background, whether it’s just a solid color, a simple design (ie: stripes), or an image. If you do use an image, then I would strongly recommend that you use a solid color background for your posts. Text is usually impossible to read on top of an image. If your readers can’t read your content, they’re not coming back.

Try to spice things up and keep it exciting by including at least three different colors. Colors should match and complement each other – not clash!

Readability

What good is good content if your readers can’t make out the words? When ensuring that your text is readable, you should look at three things: font color, font type, and font size. Your color should contrast enough so that its readable, but it should not contrast enough with the background so that it hurts the eyes to look at. Bright red can be difficult to read on a bright blue background, for example.

As far as font type and font size go… keep your audience in mind. If you are writing for an older audience, you should probably stick with a larger font. If you are writing a humorous blog, comic sans, for example, would be fine. But if you are writing a more serious blog, you might want to go with Times New Roman or Georgia.

Just remember, if they can’t read it, they’re not sticking around. Easy text to read will encourage your visitors to return and increase blog readership.

Relevancy

Your layout should be appropriate to your content. If you are writing about food and cooking, then you could have a picture of food in your top banner. But don’t have a picture of soccer players.

Taste and style is going to depend on you, and your viewers. Keep your subject in mind when creating a design. For example, you will not want a pink background and bubbly text if you are writing about wrestling, cars, etc.

Usability

One of the most important things is that your site is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Put some tabs at the top to help guide your readers throughout your website. If you write about multiple topics, include a sort of “Table of Contents” type of list in a side bar. For instance, if you have a Food & Cooking blog, you could have a link to “recipes,” another to “recommended cooking supplies”. Make sure that these are visible across your website. A user might not access your site straight through the home page. He might find a link or have been directed by a search engine to a particular.

Also keep in mind that cluttering your page with a variety of ads, widgets, buttons and banners might make it harder for readers to find their way around. You can still incorporate these things into your layout, just make sure they do not interfere with your reader’s ease of navigation. Swamping your page with all these can also slow down how fast the page loads – and if it takes too long, a visitor might turn back.

Ad Location

If you have ads, try to make them unobtrusive. Of course they are going to have to be noticeable (that’s their purpose), but work them into the layout so that they fit. Sometimes I see ads that literally do not fit into a column, and it makes the page look sloppy. If a page looks sloppy, viewers might not want to come back. Furthermore, and this is crucial if you are just starting out, do not over load the page with ads.

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While we do want to impress our readers, we also do not want to overwhelm them. I’ve seen websites with music, pictures everywhere, and even little pictures that trail after the mouse as it moves around the screen. This is over kill! And probably much worse than a simple, “boring” layout. Whereas a boring layout might not necessarily give a warm welcome or invite, an over the top design can scare the reader away. I certainly have no interest in searching for the real content when I’m bombarded by too many images.  For more great tips on layout design, read this article about designing effective layouts.

If you aren’t good at web design, you may want to hire someone or, if you can’t afford that, start with a template. The free blogging sites usually come with one and they are somewhat customizable.

Some final tips…

Do… make your layout attractive, clean and functional.

Don’t… depend on your nice layout

Don’t focus all your time on making your layout perfect. Yes, it’s important, but don’t forget to update your content! There are many different ways to increase blog traffic, and the layout is only one!

Need some inspiration? Struggling to think of clever or catchy ideas to name your blog?  Here are some brainstorming ideas.

Try this exercise: write down ten domain names off the top of your head.  Which ones did you think of?  Why did those names stand out to you?  Were they unique, made up words?

You can also write down a list of various keywords related to your blog topic.  Try writing down a list of topics you’d want to include.  See if anything unique pops out.

Fun Domain Name Ideas:

Alliteration: the first letter of two or more words in a row are the same.  For example, “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers…”  Of course, you wouldn’t want your domain to be that long.  If Peter Piper wanted to sell his peppers, for instance, and wanted to use alliteration in his domain name, he could use this: “PetersPeppers” or “PickledPeppers”, provided of course they were not already taken.

Rhyming: Especially good for websites for kids or silly websites, rhyming can be a fun thing to do and rhymes (I think) are always easy to remember.  There is also something called “assonance,” which is the use of the same vowel sound in a string of words – almost like rhyming, but not quite.  For example, “he took joy in hearing her voice”.  So going back to Peter’s website, maybe he could instead use the name “BetterPeppers,” if he wanted to use assonance.  The assonance in this case would be the repetition of the first “e” in Better and the first “e” in Peppers.

Acronyms: You can use a four letter domain name if it is an acronym for your blog or company.  But I probably wouldn’t use an acronym more than five letters.  I’ve read that dyyo.com is a good place to go for four letter domain names.

Brandable: One thing you may want to keep in mind is being a brandable/memorable domain name. Way back when, generic keyword domains were hot, but they didnt really convey a brand like “ebay” or “google” does. Coming up with a brand will help your readers remember your site, however make sure its easy to spell too. Also, its quite often true that some advertisers want to place their products and advertisements on strong branded blogs. Some brands although sound cool when you pronounce them, their actually spelling is difficult to remember and type in.

If you still can’t think of anything, there are also some websites you can go to that help generate domain names. A few I’ve seen are BustAName, NameStation and Nameboy, but there are plenty more out there if those don’t fit your needs.

Just be creative with it!

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Creative domain names are fun, but remember, you still want something memorable that makes sense for your blog. Be sure to refer to the previous entry, Choose a Good Blog Name, for more tips.

A good domain name can help your blog in two ways.  First: if it is easy to remember and perhaps a bit clever, visitors can remember it, and therefore are more likely to return to your website.  Second: you can use keywords in your name to help it get searched.

Of course, you’re starting this blog to earn some cash, right?  So you might not be able to afford your own domain.  If you can’t afford to pay for one, you can set up a free blog on any of these websites:

• Blogger
• TypePad
• MySpace
• LiveJournal
• BraveJournal

If you are looking to include ads and sponsored reviews on your website, however, you have to be careful because some advertisers may not want to use bloggers on these sites (for example, some advertisers might request no blogspot.com blogs).  Additionally, some readers might not take these blogs as seriously.  However, they are still a great place to start, and if you have quality content, an attractive layout, and credibility and authority on your subject, then having a blog on one of these sites won’t be a huge issue.

If you can afford a domain, I suggest you get one.  Here are a few basic tips:

Keep it Short, Straightforward and Simple

You want your readers to be able to remember it easily.  Staying straightforward will help readers know what your blog is about; it will also help search engines understand what your blog is about.  By straightforward, I mean something relevant to your topic.  A short phrase could work too, as long as it is easy for readers to remember.  Don’t go with anything too long.

Use a Keyword…

If you want to boost traffic to your site you can try to use a good keyword (this might help people find your blog through a search engine).  Google has a keyword suggestion tool you can refer to if you wish.

…but don’t stuff it with a long string of keywords.

This will strain your credibility among readers and among search engines.  For example: “cheap-discount-phones-cellphones-telephones.com” is a terrible domain name.  It sounds spammy so the search engines will discredit it, will additionally look suspicious to readers and has no way of staying in the minds of readers.  Another example of what not to do is “homemade-cooking-recipes-kitchen-blog.com”.

Never use Hyphens

They make it harder for readers to remember your URL and it looks unprofessional.  There may be some exceptions to this, of course, but I would just not use them.

Make up a word

A lot of businesses create their own word as well for their websites (for example, I’m sure you’ve heard of Google, Yahoo, etc).  You can do this for your blog as well.  Just make sure that its pronounceable and easy to spell.

Use a .com extension

Generally people suggest “.com” as the best one; it is the most common and the one that every internet user knows (or ought to know).  If you can’t get a .com, then you could also try .org and .net.  Good advice that I’ve seen is to include these extensions in your logo to help users remember it better (otherwise, they might mistype your address and use a .com extension).

Regardless of whether or not you are buying a domain name or using blogspot.com, take these tips into account.  If you are starting with blogspot, one day you might buy your own domain name – and by then, you’ll be known and will be stuck with your blog name.  So when you name your blog, think ahead and choose something you can use as a domain name later on.

Need some inspiration?  See the next post on creative domain naming ideas, or check out this list of domain generator tools.

So you want to make money by blogging… Here’s the hard truth: most people do not start off making loads of money blogging.  If you want a large income, it will take time and patience, but it is possible – you can earn money by blogging.

If you start blogging and its obvious all you care about is money, you probably won’t be successful.  But if you wait and put in the necessary time, it will pay off.  A good foundation is essential.  This is the time when you want to increase your blog traffic.

I recommend focusing on setting up a good, appealing blog from the beginning, especially if you want to make a larger profit in the long run.  Here is an overview of things to look for; I’ll go more in depth with each of these topics in later posts.

Choose An Interesting Topic

Pick a subject that you not only find interesting, but inspiring and exciting.  Your passion for the topic will bleed into your writing, making it appealing to readers.  Good content will attract readers and keep them coming back.  Passion will also give you motivation to keep writing regularly, and when you have authority on a subject, readers will trust your “expert opinion”.  Even if your main goal is to make money, I still suggest finding a subject you like and enjoy.  Everyone has some expertise.

Pick a Memorable Domain Name

This is actually a very important step.  If you can’t afford to pay for one, you can set up a free blog on any of these websites: Blogger, TypePad, MySpace, LiveJournal, WordPress.  If you can afford a domain, however, I suggest you get that one, as it will increase your credibility.  Try to pick something short, simple and memorable, and try to use a keyword. You can make up a word if you want, but make it easy to spell and pronounceable.  Need more help?  Read Choose a Good Blog Name to go more in depth.

Keywords are the “Key”

Think of some keywords related to your topic and incorporate them into your blog.  You can do this by using them in your article title, headings in your articles, dispersed in your content and in your meta tags and description.  You can also make sure you use a keyword in your page title.  Include a description or “about” section of your blog and use keywords there as well.  Don’t go overboard though!  Too much won’t read write – with your readers, or with search engines.

A Layout is Like a Book Cover

A good layout can do a number of things.  A viewer on your blog is going to see the layout first, before they even start reading your words.  A layout is like a book cover, and if it is attractive, you can hook the visitor.  If you aren’t good at web design, you may want to hire someone or, if you can’t afford that, start with a template.  The free blogging sites usually come with one and they are somewhat customizable.  Make sure you keep your subject in mind when creating a design.  For more information, read about how your blog design can attract readers.

The basic idea here is that you want to set up your blog in the beginning so that down the line you can earn more revenue with your blog.  The first steps you take with your blog will be influential so that down the line, you can make money with sponsored reviews, earn income with ads, and profit with PPC Campaigns.  So be sure to keep this in mind when you decide to start a blog!

Hello!  I am Liz, and I’ll be writing about blogging, how to make money blogging, increasing traffic with your blog, etc.  I’ve been blogging for a few years now, and I majored in Creative Writing in college.

It may sound a little corny, but I think much of the future for writers is online, on the blogosphere (and some of my college professors have recommended to myself and my classmates that if we want to make money writing, blogging is one of the new and important avenues to explore). Since the economy isn’t doing so well, and with the amount of people using the internet these days, a lot of magazines and newspapers are struggling.  Blogging is becoming increasingly popular, and so the big question on everyone’s mind is “How can I make money doing this?” and “How can I reach people and obtain an audience?”  I’ll be trying to answer those questions.

Blogging might seem easy to some; to others, it may seem daunting.  Technically, anyone can set up and write a blog.  But if you want your audience to grow, and you want to make money, more effort is required.  To those who may seem overwhelmed, I offer this: everyone has something on their mind, everyone has something to say.  The main key to writing, and the most important lesson I’ve ever learned as a writer, is that practice is essential.  Write and write and write, and soon you will find that blogging is easier as time goes by.

This blog will cover topics such as how to make money blogging, how to increase traffic, how to promote your blog, how to use ads on your blog, how to increase your income using a blog, etc.  Stay tuned!  Next time: Blogging Basics: Getting Started.