PB071: How to Give Your Blog Design a Spring Clean

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. How to Refresh the Design of Your Blog For Maximum Impact Today's episode is part 6 of the new 'Today, Not Someday' podcast series. The focus is actioning your 'someday' list, the things you've always wanted to do to improve your blog but have struggled to make happen. For details about how the series works, check out episode one here. Part 2 was about why you should sell a product on your blog (and how to do it). Part 3 was about how to increase your subscriber numbers for your email list. Part 4 was about how to get readers excited to join and stay on your email list. Part 5 was about how to use auto responders to drive traffic and profit with your blog. The focus of today's episode is how to refresh the design of your blog to maximise your chances of making people feel what you want them to feel and doing what you want them to do.   In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). In today's episode: Why the design of your blog is so vital 4 areas of your blog design that you should review and update How to refresh your blog sidebar How to tackle your blog navigation How to tackle your calls to action How to work out if you need to upgrade your blog design completely 5 key principles of effective design that you should implement in your blog design Further Reading and Resources for How to Refresh the Design of Your Blog For Maximum Impact Where to find a new blog theme StudioPress has a great range of options for wordpress themes. Check out what StudioPress has to offer here (ProBlogger affiliate link). Other episodes in the Today, Not Someday Series: Part 1: Introducing New 'Today, Not Someday' Series Part 2: Why You Should Create a Product to Sell On Your Blog (and Tips on How to Do It) Part 3: How to Increase the Subscriber Numbers to Your Email List Part 4: How to Get Readers Excited to Join and Stay on Your Email List Part 5: How to Use Autoresponders to Fast Track Engagement and Profit Meet my new friend, Edgar (and a SPECIAL OFFER) Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view I’d like to welcome a new sponsor to the ProBlogger podcast for the duration of this 10 part series, my friend ‘Edgar'. Edgar is a tool I’ve been using since January of this year that does exactly what this series is about. It enables you to make the work you do on social media keep paying off for the long term. You put a little work into Edgar today by adding social media updates highlighting the great content in your blog’s archives and Edgar goes to work to share them to your followers not just once but by queuing your updates to keep delivering to into the future. The team at Edgar have put together a special deal for ProBlogger readers which gives you a free one month trial. Sign up for your free one month trial at meetedgar.com/problogger. Here's a video of how I use Edgar: If watching videos isn't your thing - here's a blog post I wrote on how I use Edgar. Hi there and welcome to episode 71 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and today, we are going to talk about your blog’s design. This is part of our ongoing series of challenges that I’m giving you every couple of days over the month of December, to go away and do something today that you have probably got on your someday list. Design is something that many of us, as bloggers say, “Yeah, one day I’ll redesign my blog,” or, “One day I’ll look at that navigation area,” or, “One day I’ll give my sidebar a spring-clean.” Well, I have got some news for you. Today is the day. We are using the hashtag #TodayNotSomeday” over on Twitter and a lot of you have been sharing the things that you have be...