The days when a simple worldpress template was good enough for a succesful blog have passed. Now, to stay be the first in your niche you have to follow the trends in blog designing.

When it comes to designing your blog, be sure you use all the methods you know to make a cool and, in the same time, a clear design. Your content may not be all that counts. If your blog looks old fashion you'll lose your visitors in an instance. Make sure your design in unique by creating it by yourself.

If you're not designing the blog by yourself make sure you know what to ask for. A easy to read blog is what a internet user is searching for.

I'll start by sharing some ideas about certain elements of a blog.

a. Dimensions for the page

Make sure your blog displays corect on large screen resoltions, alot of users use large screens for their computers. Be sure your page doesn't take the whole screen width on small resolutions and, in the same time it's not displayed in less than 70% of the screen in large screen resolutions. Use CSS stylesheets for that!

b. Navigation

Try to use horizontal menus with large butoons, easy to read, and don't forget to add some text with informations about the the page near the button or inside it.

Use hoover effects for your vertical navigation menu (the archive of the blog) and don't forget to add some cool animations (javascript, jquery, css)

c. Images

Use images with the same size in the posts. It's a mistake to use large pictures for one blog and then use small thumbnail for another.

Add transparent watermarks and borders with shadows to the images. This watermarks should match your blog general design.

d. Tags for the articles

Use tags for your articles. Display the tags in the article and somewhere in the sidebar. Use visible fonts and different colors for every tag. This way the user will find a tag easier.

e. Add a large search box in a very visible place.

f. Don't display more than 10 article's summary on one page.

g. Use a different font for the first letter from an article. This is proved to be a success method that helps your readers find the articles.

Using those methods your page would be easy to read and will let your users know that you care about them. The chances to be revisited by lots of users are higher if your design in clear and fancy in the same time. Try to think outside the box, write cool articles and your blog would be on the top.