So you’ve written an awesome post, and you want people to read it.
It’s not all about your reach – how many people you’re connected to, and how many people are sharing your content. That’s more to do with how you’re getting people to your blog in the first place.
But once a reader starts reading your post, they need to zero in on your message and not get distracted by other things.
If a reader is partway through your post, and there’s this little animation in your sidebar that they can see in the corner of their eye, it’s drawing their attention away from your content.
Wrecking someone’s concentration while they’re reading your post isn’t a good idea. You may as well write any old junk and throw a popup in their face, as that’s about as effective as your awesome content is going to be.
How do you ensure you’re maximising your content by making it the top priority on your blog?
Size Does Matter
Your posts are the substance of your blog. They should be given the space they deserve. Make sure your blog design has a wide content area.
You can have a sidebar, but keep it narrow, and don’t have multiple sidebars. Left and right sidebars can make it feel like you’re “boxed in” when reading posts.
Use Complementary Colours
Thinking about the colours to use in your blog’s theme isn’t the only stage in designing a great colour palette.
Once your blog design is up, you should aim to choose widgets or ads that fit in with the overall theme. Jarring combinations or colour clashes can detract from your content, and make your colour scheme look amateur and badly thought out.
Avoid Animation
Remember those cute little animations you used to see all over the web? They were pretty distracting if they were merrily flashing and bouncing away in the sidebar when you’re trying to read a post.
But the days of animation aren’t over. If you’ve put ads on your blog, watch out for animated images or Flash ads. They can take people away from your content – and they can also slow down your blog.
Homepage vs Post Page
You can do a lot more with your homepage that you might not do with your post pages. Your homepage serves a different purpose to your post pages: its aim is to draw readers into your latest and greatest posts. On the other hand, your post pages should keep readers interested from the start of the post to the end.
On your homepage, you can improve your content priority with strong post titles and intros, along with striking images. The approach is quite different to that of a post page.
Discussion
How much are you thinking about content priority? Are you distracting readers with unnecessary movement or irrelevant content in your sidebar?
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That’s great advice Ben. I have been thinking a lot about this, and especially regarding what my number one priority is when it comes to my blog. I have some ads, and I do want people to click on them, but if they click, it might mean that they won’t read the content or join my newsletter, and it’s more important that they join my newsletter (because that means that they are interested in my content and want more of it). It’s a tricky question, but I try my best to focus on the content even though I am testing various ads as well.
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Hi Jens
Thanks! Splitting your focus means you’re diluting the effectiveness of your call/s to action. But what if one CTA doesn’t work out, do you change to a new one? How long would you give it? That might be another topic all of its own… I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Animation is one of the worst distractions that make me run away from a website. I don’t care if the content is of top quality, if the site’s design is disturbing and doesn’t allow me to actually enjoy the content, I leave the blog right away!
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Hi Jane
I don’t like animation either. Thanks for your comment 
Ben,
I agree 100% that your blog or any website for that matter shouldn’t be cluttered with too many banners or crazy animation. I think it is okay to have a few discreet banners on the side but not more than that. I hate going to websites where there are 15 banners running!
David
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Hi David
Agreed! Thanks for your comment, and welcome to QBT 
The new site I’m building won’t have a sidebar
The planned layout is logo, breadcrumbs, article, related posts…
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Hi John
Interesting idea! Drop me a link when you’ve got the site up…
I have cleaned up my sidebar a lot since I started. I just read John’s comment about having no sidebar. Wow! I wonder how that will look too. I don’t like pop-ups either. What do you think Ben of the HomePage with blog posts on them? That’s how mine is now. Curious.
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Hi Lisa
I think the homepage should have 4-6 recent posts, with images and excerpts. You and I both do this currently. I think it works. If I were to change anything, on your blog I’d suggest maybe reducing the number of posts shown. I counted 12, and I think you might be better off with half that number.
Thanks Ben, I cut it down to 8 from the 12 – I hope it will make the speed better. Maybe I’ll go to 6 tomorrow. Have to get used to seeing it like that
I appreciate your feedback!
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Great points! I absolutely agree. The sidebar should not detract interest from the content and should be the reader’s second port of call after they’ve read the post.
I think it’s really important to clearly distinguish between the sidebar and the content too. Sometimes blogs are so busy and jumbled that I have a hard time finding the posts!
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Hi Emm
Agree 100% about contrast between sidebar and content. Colour and borders can help here. Mind you, so can a simple declutter. 
I think you’ll like Monday’s post.
Good job Ben, I completely agree with your points, although I thought that the animation days are over enough that noone has to mention it again. Ever
The point about striking the right balance between the colors of your layout and the distracting ads is a very important one and needs more attention – I get discouraged momentarily when I see something distracting on the website.
Hi Anna – welcome to QBT
Contrast is something I go on about quite a bit – I come across a lot of sites that don’t seem to be aware of it, or don’t care about it. This isn’t just for layout vs ads but also for readability, e.g. whether you choose a text colour that’s easy to read on your background. Sounds obvious but I find that designers can focus a bit too much on how it looks, and not enough on whether it’s actually legible. Thanks for your comment!