guest post: Great Blog Design by Apple Blue

Hello, new friends! My name is Amanda and I blog over at Apple Blue. But my blogger hat isn't the only one hanging by the front door. I'm also a blog designer, future shopkeeper, small business consultant, sushi enthusiast, part-time Passionfruit intern, and all-the-time comedian.

Today I thought it would be fun to share three of my top tips for having a great blog design. These tips are my own personal opinion but they're also pretty widely accepted aspects of good design. Hopefully they're helpful to you!

1. Don't go font crazy! Learning Photoshop has opened me up to a whole new world of fonts and I am a bit obsessed. It would be so easy to plug in a million different fonts to my blogs design but doing that distracts from the actual content that I work really hard to create. When designing your blog or website, I generally recommend that you limit yourself to 2 or maybe as many as three fonts. You also need to give careful consideration to the colors and styles you choose. Many of them can be challenging to read and just because bright yellow is an option doesn't mean you should use it. It's so important that your text is readable and not too "out there."

2. Keep that sidebar in check! Aside from the sponsor ads you may or may not offer, be careful and selective when it comes to what else you add to that section of your design. You don't want to add things that really aren't relevant to your everyday readers. If nothing else, make sure it is well organized. For instance, if you have a lot of buttons representing charities you support or projects you're involved in, then create a separate page and only have one button that says "Projects" etc. This still makes the information available while de-cluttering your design.

3. When in doubt, keep it simple. You can't really go wrong with a nice, clean, simple design. It is much, much better to have a pretty normal blog design that it is to have one that has way too much going on. Focus on the header. That is your "first impression". A unique, fun, well designed header is a great place to start. Take your time to develop the rest.

I hope you'll pop on over to my little corner of the internet and say hello! Fun things happen over there. : ) Thanks so much to Emily for the opportunity to share this guest post! You can find me right here on my blog or we can be friends on Twitter under @applebluetweets!

You want MORE from Amanda, you say?  I don't blame you!  Check out her post about 101 ideas for blog posts over at Apple Blue.