Blog Design For Dummies

The average blogger does not typically have experience with design or coding, but that shouldn’t deter them from having a professional-looking blog design. This friendly and easy-to-understand guide provides you with the tools you need to establish a creative, unique, and aesthetically memorable blog without having to learn how to code beyond some basic CSS. Whether you’re looking to write for a major brand, become a brand ambassador, sell a product, acquire new clients, advocate for a cause, or simply tell a story, you’ll find design tricks, helpful techniques, and invaluable advice for creating a great-looking and functional blog.

• Provides the tools you need to understand what makes a successful blog from a design standpoint
• Teaches you CSS coding that can be used to create an effective blog design that gets noticed
• Helps you make design decisions regarding colors, fonts, and imagery
• Places special emphasis on providing your readers with a site that is easy to use thanks to smart navigation

Blog Design For Dummies empowers you to make smart and creative adjustments to your blog so that you can be the proud owner of an effective blog design that gets noticed!

Table of Contents

Part I: Getting Started with Blog Design
Chapter 1. Recognizing Components of a Well-Designed Blog
Chapter 2. Applying Core Design Principles
Chapter 3. Getting to Know Your Blog (Even Better)
Chapter 4. Establishing a Style Guide

Part II: Choosing the Visual Design Elements
Chapter 5. Gathering Design Ideas
Chapter 6. Selecting Fonts and Colors
Chapter 7. Developing Your Overall Blog Layout
Chapter 8. Customizing Your Header, Footer, and Background
Chapter 9. Customizing the Design with Coding Basics

Part III: Designing for Easy Navigation and Interactivity
Chapter 10. Navigation and SEO Basics
Chapter 11. Laying Out Your Navigation Menu and Sidebars
Chapter 12. Making Content Easy to Find
Chapter 13. Increasing Ability to Share and Interact

Part IV: Creating Design-Friendly Content
Chapter 14. Designing Main Pages of Content
Chapter 15. Working with Images
Chapter 16. Incorporating Design into Your Blog Posts

Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 17. Ten Places to Extend Your Blog’s Design
Chapter 18. Ten Well-Designed Blogs