Deckside Thoughts

Cheryl, from Deckside Thoughts, has been gracious enough to provide a guest post here about a subject that we began discussing a few weeks ago. I can't recall how the topic came up, but I trust her opinion, she is a very honest, yet tactful person. I had asked her to take a look at my blog, and suggest any changes. She did, I cleaned it up, and it feels more like me now.

I then asked her what she looks for when she first visits a blog. The following post is very interesting reading, and spurs you to ask yourself, "what first impression does my blog give?"  I know you'll find this guest post motivating to make some changes that you've been itching to do anyway.  Thank you, Cheryl.
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Alexandra asked me if I'd write about what one's blog looks like to others. I'm visually oriented so the question I ask myself is simple. What am I trying to tell you about my blog with the look of my header and my widgets? What's my focus?

I'll give you the bottom line first. If I'm assaulted by my surroundings before I even get to your post, I'll be less likely to stick with you very long. Anything that makes it harder for me to find your post or distracts me while I'm reading will cause me to stop and ask myself if I want to hang around. If your content is engaging, you know how to use grammar, and you're honest, I'll read around the distractions. Guess what? The more I like what you've written, the more likely I am to check out my surroundings, too.

A simple header is most pleasing to my eye. If a blog's header is a busy picture covered by a detailed explanation of what the blog's all about, I skip over it. I can't read the words because of all the busy-ness behind them. I've tried and failed so often, it's simply not worth the effort.

American eyes tend to look at the upper left-hand corner of a page first. Bloggers whose layouts have their actual posts on the left and all sidebars on the right are easy on my eyes. I went there to read the post and it's the first thing I see. Folks who make their living from advertising or promoting products often have a left-hand sidebar with ads to catch the eye. I usually skip over those simply because I'm not a shopper. Other folks use that left sidebar for a variety of reasons. Some attract me. Some don't.

Some folks put their followers widget right below their header. It's a very nice gesture. Other folks put advertising right under their header. I understand the reasoning for this too. For me, both are just more stuff I have to scroll through to find the post. The more work I have to do to get to the post, the more frustrating it is for me to visit a blog.

As far as widgets go, keeping it simple never fails. The more there are, the less likely I am to look at any of them. The bigger they are, the more taken aback I am. Big ones seem to be screaming at me for my attention. Sometimes, I just want to run away from the blog.

I'm not a faddist. Most of the current blog fads confuse me. I don't quite understand the whole button craze. I'll gladly add links to blogs I adore or simply like to my blogroll, but why would I want to clutter up my blog with a bunch of buttons? And those reels that spin them all like a never-ending slot machine or a very fast slide show? I get nauseous if I don't cover them with one of my hands. Honest. I have severe motion sickness.

I used to display the buttons of the communities I'd joined. When I realized I wasn't even participating in them much any more, I took the buttons down. Keeping it simple, and in this case, honest. How could I promote those communities when I didn't even know what was going on over there any more? I couldn't.

Backgrounds, not outline templates, have become a new issue for me. More bloggers are switching to pictures for their backgrounds. I don't know about you, but I can barely read the words through the trees, clouds, photo montages, pebbles, and raindrops. Same goes for black backgrounds with white writing. Tough on the eyes. Interestingly enough, pale colors on black work really well and look really sleek.

If you visit my blog in July, you'll know a ton about me without ever reading one of my posts. You won't know anything intimate about me. If I've done my job with my blog layout, you'll know enough to decide if my posts are worth a read.

Peace.
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Thank you, Cheryl!!

On a totally unrelated note, if you think that tough mothering is all that, then please click over here and vote for my post for NOT Mommy Of The Year. Thank you! You can vote once a day, every day this week..just so you know, you know? Thank you!