Blogging & Social Media Issues (c)

How to Make Your Blog Impressive?

Blog design is a multiple criteria decisions. Well-utilised graphic designs in visual interface add flavours to the attractiveness of a blog, making it pleasant to read (Mullet & Sano 1995). In return, readers' emotional pleasure positively influences reader response - for instance, to be more tolerant of usability problems (Preece 2006; Tractinsky 2006).

Image credit: hongkiat.com

Danny Iny, co-founder of Firepole Marketing, has his content ideas

100 nice and beautiful blog designs

To develop better blog platforms, blog designers can adopt the DEMATEL model - a hybrid of factor analysis comprising Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method (DEMATEL). This paradigm simplifies and visualises the inter-relationships between five core factors that influence blog designs: 

(1) Visual Clarity
(2) Interface and Usability

(3) Content and Searchability

(4) Programming

(5) Sociability

Checklist for your awesome blog content

Visual clarity:

• color arrangement                     
• font arrangement                       
• text-and-ground contrast           
• layout simplicity
• stylistic consistency
• readability
• no advertisement banner
  
  image credit: webdesigncompany.net

*Color arrangement, font arrangement, and text-and-ground contrast are prioritized considerations to enhance readability for an overall effect of visual clarity.

Interface & Usability

• aesthetic layout
• system stability
• multiple layout style choice 
• ease of management
• ease of registration
• storage capacity
• friendliness to beginners

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*Multiple layout style choice and system stability should be the first considerations for overall improvement.

Content & Searchability

• content quality         
• content richness
• writing fluency
• customised website address
• ease of searching
  
  

* Content quality (i.e. specialised field or professional content) is the most influential criterion.                                                                       
Image credit: newsoffice.mit.edu

Programming

• open CSS
• open JavaScipt        

 * Open JavaScipt is the way to go for customising blog appearance using code.

Image credit: pectlegacy.com

Sociability

• popularity of the blog platform
• friends' hyperlinks   
        

 *Friend's hyperlink is the key factor that influences your blog platform's popularity.
(Hsu 2012, p. 190)

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 Still don't have a clue? Check this out:

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References

Hsu, C. C. 2012, 'Evaluation criteria for blog design and analysis of causal relationships using factor analysis and DEMATEL', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 187-193.

Mullet, K., Sano, D. 1995, Designing visual interfaces, A Prentice-Hall, America.

Preece, Y., Rogers, H., & Sharp 2006, Interaction design: Beyond human–computer interaction, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.

Tractinsky et al. 2006, 'Evaluating the consistency of immediate aesthetic perceptions of web pages', International Journal of Human–Computer Studies, vol. 64, no. 11, pp. 1071–1083.