Happy Wednesday everyone! I wanted to go into a little more detail about my new blog design/feedback series I’m starting. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook (which if you’re not, you are totally missing out!), then you’ve probably already seen this announcement, but I wanted to make sure that I brought it home to the blog and explain more about it.
As you all know, I’m super passionate about web design and actually freelance as a designer and developer. You can check out my Portfolio to see a few of the pre-made, ready-to-download themes I’ve created. I need to seriously update it, as I have a few themes that I haven’t added as well as designs I’ve done as custom work and others that are robust customization of some of my premade themes, ala’ the Bliss & Faith site. I absolutely love building and designing sites, and it one of the reasons I’m redoing my entire design services page and rebranding them as a part of Bliss & Faith. More on that to come, but in the meantime, I want to serve and help you!
Why Design Matters
A lot of bloggers have sites that contain wonderful content, but the design doesn’t give way to that. Your site design should complement your content at the very least, but it should really highlight it. When someone lands on your site they should get an immediate feel of who you are and the potential quality of your content. Your site design gives all of this away almost immediately, because its what people see before they even start delving into your content. I can’t count the number sites I’ve visited that did not have site designs that complemented or highlighted their content. Nine times out of ten, those site’s numbers and engagement isn’t where that site owner wants it to be. The engagement piece is essential for any blogger that wants to grow and maintain their audience and the visual piece of their site is a huge part of this.
Just like on social media platforms like Instagram, people like to see pretty things. If your site is visually appealing, people visit it, even if its just to stop by and check it out, because it makes them happy. It may seems shallow, but I’ll be the first to admit that I visit many sites, because they’re pretty and have great content. However, the overall feel I get when I and on the site has everything to do with the design and branding, and not the content right off the bat. This is why those two, branding and design are so important. Of course, you need great content to back it up, but with a great design you already have one major things crossed off the list.
[Tweet “If your site is visually appealing, people will stop by and check it out, because it makes them happy.”]
When it comes to design, everything from the layout to colors to fonts must be considered, and this has a lot to do with the branding. Branding and design need to work hand in hand together to insure that your message, mission, and purpose is properly conveyed when visitors land on your site. This is yet again another reason why I am so passionate about helping others with their design and branding. Its my mission to provide you with feedback on your site’s design that will help you to grow your engagement, convey your message and make your site the purposeful place it should be. Its nothing like doing all that work to maintain a site and having no one appreciate it. I want to help you have a site where your content is appreciated, shared, and raved over.
[Tweet “Branding and design need to work hand in hand together to insure that your message, mission, and purpose is properly conveyed when visitors land on your site.”]
On the first Friday of every month I’ll be offering free blog design reviews and feedback. I originally offered this service as a weekly offering, but have since changed my mind in order to insure that I gave ample time and energy to the sites that are submitted. It will be a first come, first service offering, so the earlier you submit your site to me, the better your chances are to be reviewed and get that valuable feedback. I’ll also feature all of the sites that I review and provide feedback for here on the Bliss & Faith blog, in order to share the valuable information with others who can benefit from it.
The reviews will be in the form of either written feedback or possibly a screencast. I’m still deciding on which one is the better format, but either way there will be a thorough post here on the blog containing the feedback. Just to be clear, I will not be emailing the feedback personally to those who submit their sites to be reviewed. While I would love to do that, I feel as those everyone would get more out of the feedback if it were housed here publicy on the blog. Additionally, I offer extensive feedback on design and branding within my branding packages, so I want to insure that the integrity of it is maintained in offering this free service. Any one-on-one communication that is desired can be done so by reaching out to me via my Contact Form. I would love to talk with you one-on-one if you feel like you need guidance or just someone to run ideas by and brainstorm with!
So just to recap, the review/feedback offering will give you general feedback on what I think about your design and some tips for how to improve it. I will hit major wickets like layout, colors, and fonts. Content will not be assessed or reviewed, but if you would like for it to be, again please reach out to me on a personal level and we can absolutely discuss it and anything else you would like in regards to your site design.
To get your site on the list to get reviewed, you can submit your site url to me using the form below:
Blog Review & Feedback Submission
[contact-form-7 id=”6724″ title=”Blog Review & Feedback Form”]
You can also submit your site URLs to me via Twitter, whichever one you feel most comfortable with or that’s easiest for you! 🙂
I’m super stoked about this new series and would love for you to be a part of it! Don’t be shy, I promise only objective and constructive feedback that will be meant to help improve your site. Can’t wait to see your sites!
[Tweet “Bliss & Faith is offering free blog design reviews and feedback! First come, first serve…submit your site today!”]
I can not wait for this! Thank you!
Yes a good design is beneficial. Someday I will have cool characters and designs on my page.
Absolutely! As long as you have a clean and inviting design, you can go wrong. The bells and whistles are just extras to add to your already amazing content. 🙂