1415 must-have features for modern design blogs
This article was written by nemetral.
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Design blogs are popping up all around the web these times, the newest ones trying to reach a wide audience through long compilation-style posts on all possible subjects related to web design, while already established names hire guest writers to renew their content at a breathtaking pace. Most of these blogs, though, tend to converge towards a similar model featuring (at least) 15 must-have features. Here is an exclusive roundup of what makes a design blog reach the fame.
Presentation:
1. Nice design
As usual, design is key here. A nicely dressed design blog gathers a wider audience: the examples of DesignReviver and WebDesignerWall speak for themselves.
2. The “magazine” style: pictures in posts
Design is all about graphic appearance, and a smart way of enhancing the visual appeal of a design blog is to add custom pictures to each post. Here are some screenshots from OutlawDesignBlog, FuelYourCreativity and HelpDeveloper.
3. These BSA ads on the right sidebar
Modern design blogs seem to be making their money out of traditional Adsense CPC goodness embedded within the posts, usually right under the title, and fixed monthly returns from sexy BuySellAds or PerformancingAds units. Some examples include Woork, OutlawDesignBlog, DesignShard and NaldzGraphics.
Features:
4. Several RSS feeds
RSS is key and must come in different flavors: full feed, comments feed, category feed etc. Although most visitors will subscribe to the full feed, offering the choice is a nice feature demanding readers will surely appreciate. Examples include CSSGlobe and DesignMag.
5. Community links
Cheaper than guest posting, and quite attracting for new visitors willing to promote their own posts, community links are a great way of socializing a design blog. Based on a plain WP commenting system, these links will add content to the blog for free! Famous examples include SmashingMagazine and Abduzeedo.
That’s it for now: parts 2 and 3 of this exclusive roundup will be published in the coming week. Stay tuned to discover these other 10 features that make modern design blogs rock!
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September 22nd, 2008
7:12 am
Looking forward to part 2 and 3!
September 22nd, 2008
8:33 am
A Very nice list here, most I am subscribed to, and have taught me most things I know about blogging, I look forward to seeing part 2 & 3 also.
September 22nd, 2008
10:31 pm
Damn, my site needs some work! Thanks for the great examples. How do you go about making the comment RSS feed and the category specific RSS feed? Mine is only full. Thanks.
- Jack Rugile
Simple Sapien
September 23rd, 2008
2:50 am
Nice post however I think some links to how to do each one would add a lot more to the post. Something to think about in your next two.
- Jacob
September 23rd, 2008
3:06 am
A fantastic collection, no doubt. Some great pointers and things to remember for both new designers and old-timers. Can’t wait for parts 2 and 3!
October 2nd, 2008
3:39 am
Not sure how I missed this post but I did! Thanks for the shout! I’m just catching up on part 1,2 & 3
March 29th, 2009
1:03 am
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
August 28th, 2009
2:34 pm
would like to suggest http://www.clickforwebdesign.com/webdesign-blog.html for this category
October 1st, 2009
1:34 pm
Looking forward to parts 2 and 3!!:)
December 26th, 2009
12:02 am
Just found your blog through neweracaptalk, very nice man. Loving this post about the design elements, I’m thinking about migrating across to a Wordpress design for my own site, just need to find the time.
Cheers
Ryan