Horrible Blog Design Mistakes… Are You Doing Them?

On a sunny day in my city of Tampa (which was soon overpowered by some much-needed rain),  I was sitting back in my extra comfy office chair looking at my blog and realized, I have something real nice here.

See my blog didn’t always look like this; I had a, what I thought at the time, pretty cool theme with all these unnecessary bells and whistles that took away from the content.

I actually got this blog post idea from another blog and after going to a blog (I won’t say their name) and witnessing first hand just how bad a blog design can be, I cracked my fingers, opened up my MacBook and got to typing this. Can’t have people creating these HORRIFIC blogs and expecting people to read their blog.

Here are 35 blog design mistakes that you should avoid at all costs

1. The user must know what the site is about in seconds: Put yourself in the readers shoes and take a look at your blog. Also have friends take a quick look at it. Ask for some feedback on what your blog is about and was it easy to navigate. This simple step forced me at one point to change my design of my blog due to my blog not being easy to navigate.

2. Don’t use fancy fonts that are unreadable: This is one of a few blog design mistakes I don’t see too often but it does happen. Remember that you’re producing content for a million different eyes; not just the two that are focused on the screen right now. You have to what works best for everyone.

3. Never use tiny fonts: the last point applies here. You want to make sure your readers are comfortable reading your content. If I go to a blog and have to have to use the zoom feature on my MacBook to view the content, chances are, that will be my first and last time there.

4. Opening new browser windows: This is a subject that is debatable. Outbound links on your blog opening up in new tabs or windows seems to be a something that will help reduce your bounce rate. This is why I do it and it helps keep visitors on your content because it’s there waiting for them when they close the new window.

5. Don’t ask for email registration unless it is necessary: Building an email list is a great way to make money online, but it’s not necessary in all online situations. Unless you have some **EXCLUSIVE** content that you want rationed out, don’t ask for email registrations. Most browsers just want to browse the internet and get content. Let them choose, after reading what you have, if they want whatever you’re giving away.

6. Never ever subscribe anyone for something without their permission: I don’t know anyone that does this but it is definitely a blogging no no.. Don’t do any type of sneaky designing (because there are ways and i’m not telling) to make people sign up to your email list without their knowledge. You take a chance on hurting your brand and more importantly, violating CAN-SPAM laws. You don’t want those guys on your case.

7. Do not play music: Not sometimes. Not maybe on this site; NEVER! You have more than just your 2 ears listening to what you have playing. Just because you like The Beatles doesn’t mean that your visitors will; cater to your visitors because they decide whether or not if your blog is successful or makes money. Now if you insist on having some audio play, let visitors choose if they want to play it. Direct them to the play button with a shiny arrow and leave it at that. NEVER play music as soon as the visitor gets on the page.

8. Don’t clutter your blog: This applies to everything from Facebook buttons, network badges, signup forms, popups and so on. Having too much of this stuff will take away from the content. Right before writing this blog post, I was on a blog that had too much bold font, different colored backgrounds behind the font, a sliding social media sharing button that was interfering with their content and badges. I got a headache and just left. Didn’t even want to read the post to leave a comment. That’s how bad it was.

9. Never use blinking text: This was a feature that was fun right after someone figured out how to do it. It’s cool for the first 5 seconds and then it’s annoys the heck out of you. Just make the text bold or a bigger font to draw attention. NO BLINKING!

10. Make sure your website is cross-browser compatible: You can check this by once again having some friends check out your blog on some of their browsers. I personally don’t put too much thought into this but it’s worth taking a look at. It will required some coding to fix if need be.

11. Make sure to include contact details: This is one of many blog design mistakes that could cost you connections with serious like minded people. Have you ever wanted to contact the owner of a site and they have no contact details whatsoever? Yea that sucks so make sure you add some contact details on your blogs. I suggest using plugins that place a contact form rather than putting your email address. There are spammers who look for email addresses out in public and they send you all types of spammy mail. I’ve been left wondering when did ever I sign up for a free sample of a male enhancement drug.

12. Make sure users can search the whole website: This is something I’m bringing to iblog4Dollars.com soon but it’s a must have on your blog. Give visitors the ability to search for specific content on your blog. There are plugins that will give you detailed information on what visitors are searching for so you’ll know what content to write about.

13. Use text navigation: Don’t always depend on pretty images to point visitors in the right direction. Using text is faster due to no image having to load. Some internet surfers actually browse with images turned off; I don’t’ know how they do it but  remember you have to cater to everyone.

14. Don’t blend advertising inside the content: Some think if they hide ads inside their content, it will make all their making money online problems go away. It’s a fact that this may increase CTR (Click through Ratio) but it will damage your brand. I only do this on blogs that I could care less what the reader thinks; as long as they’re on there.

15. Avoid too many drop-down menus: For some blogs, this is impossible but it in your best interest to keep drop-down menus to a minimum. You want the visitor to be able to navigate your site an easy as possible. If it means having 2 navigation bars, then get it done. Also use your sidebars to showcase important blog posts and pages.

16. Use a simple navigation structure:  This piggybacks off the above tip. Never put more than is needed. I’ve seen blog with page navigation, then category navigation and so on all in one place. This is too much. Think about what’s important and make a way for it to be easily accessible.

18. Avoid “intros”: When I launched one of my other blogs, I created this intro that I thought was simply amazing. Truth is, no one wants to see a video about me and what I went through. They wanted to see CONTENT. Never make your homepage an intro (unless you’re only selling a product). A blog is a blog and it should show content. If you have a video you want to showcase, direct attention to it via the sidebar. I’ve since moved that video to the “About Me” page. Now visitors can watch it when they want to.

19. Make the content scannable: the internet has changed the way we do things; one of them being read. Most people do not like to read and now huge blocks of text will almost bring about a migraine. Break up your text every 2 to 5 sentences. Do whatever it takes to make your content a quick read. You can use bullet points, headers, sub-headers, lists etc. Anything that will help the reader filter what they’re looking for.

20. Use anchor text on links: When I first started blogging, I would throw up a click here link in a heartbeat but as time went on, I learned that it’s a call to action with no call. Just include what their headed to once they click the link. It will produce more clicks.

21. Don’t always cloak links: I only cloak links in my emails. If I do it in my blog posts, it’s to keep stats and stay on top of dead links. Trying to hide affiliate links from visitors is not a good way to win them over. I let them know freely that I usually get paid from any link they buy from on this blog. I have to get paid for spending my time putting together content to guide them on their road to success.

22. Make links visible: Make sure clickable links are visible. The default royal blue on most websites is good enough as it’s easy to spot amongst black font.

23. Don’t underline or color normal text: I never color my text unless it’s red and it’s somewhat important that they read that specific text. Only underline in the same manner; on text that you want to stand out.

24. Don’t use animated GIFs: No matter how cute they are; don’t put GIFs in your content. I only use GIFs for advertising banners. They can come off as unprofessional and will take attention away from your content.

25. Make sure to use the ALT and TITLE attributes for images: besides this step being great for SEO (Search engine optimization), it will work great for visitors that have images off. Shows them what the image is about.

26. Don’t use bad color schemes: This has to one of the worst blog design mistakes one can make. When it comes to color schemes, don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Extremely bight colors and dark colors are not good at all. Some blogs get away with it but I wouldn’t try it. With colors, you want to deliver a mood; let the user focus on the content, etc.

27. Avoid JavaScript links: Only and I mean, only use these links for squeeze pages and sales pages. There is no place at all on a blog for JavaScript popups.

28. Include functional links on your footer: people are used to scrolling down to the footer of a website if they are not finding a specific information. At the very least you want to include a link to the Homepage and possibly a link to the “Contact Us” page.

29. Watch blog post lengths: if this post wasn’t so scannable, I would not publish it in its entirety. Keep blog posts to a maximum and a minimum. I like to stay between 500 and 2000 words. If it’s over 2 thousand  words, break it in half and make 2 separate posts.

30. No horizontal scrolling: while some vertical scrolling is tolerable, the same can not be said about horizontal scrolling. The most used screen resolution nowadays is 1024 x 768 pixels, so make sure that your website fits inside it.

31. No spelling or grammatical mistakes: this is not directly considered when discussing blog design mistakes but it will affect how visitors looks at your blog. Luckily, WordPress has spellcheck that kicks in once you try to publish a blog post. I also use the Safari web browser on my MacBook that auto-corrects as you type. Talk about convenient.

32. Never use ALL CAPS: This goes with the above. It makes font harder to read so unless you really want to draw attention to a certain word or phrase, don’t type in all caps.

33. Don’t use CAPTCHA!: several blogs use CAPTCHA filters as a method of reducing spam on comments or on registration forms. There is just one problem with it;  most users need X-ray vision in order to solve these little riddles. Don’t use them. Just set some time aside to manage your spam comments. Most people, when they see this, don’t think twice about NOT leaving a comment.

34. Do not use a homepage that just launches the “real” website: I remember this setup on porn sites to ask if the visitor was 18 or older. If you’re not running a porn blog, don’t do it.

35. Don’t make a messy sidebar: The Sidebar is an area where you can see most blog design mistakes. You shouldn’t forget that readers are also used to search some specific items in the sidebar. If your blog’s sidebar doesn’t display those items, visitors can easily get frustrated. That’s why it’s crucial to design a blog in a way that the sidebar looks clean while featuring the most important items.

In Conclusion

Boy was that a long post. Hopefully you got some great ideas from this post and won’t be making the blog design mistakes anytime soon.

If you have some input, please feel free to comment and let us know. I appreciate any and all feedback.

Make sure you check out my 8 blogging mistakes you should not make. After reading this, you shouldn’t be making any of these awful blog design mistakes any time soon.

This post was written by

Dennis Marshall – has written 59 posts on .

Dennis Marshall aka the SEO Menace, is a totally cool up and coming entrepreneur dedicated to living life mentally, financially and spiritually free. He started blogging not having a clue where he was going with it but now, here he is, blogging for dollars, taking names and loving every single minute of it. You can follow him (me) on twitter @Dennis_Knows and follow this blog @iblog4dollars. Also, if you're new to blogging, check out the iBlog4Dollars Academy (coming soon..). You will not regret it!