Skin Natural : designing your blog

Showing posts with label designing your blog. Show all posts

Friday, July 10, 2015

Blogging Series Vol. 18 - Why is it so wrong to make money from a blog?

I have been blogging for a really looooong time, so long that I feel I am an ancient now!! But, one thing, I have been always wary in all these years is how I earn money and get readers. Yesterday, yet another adwords coupon came along in my mail and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to make use of it while it lasts!!

But, then, I remembered all the flak around certain beauty blogs promoting their pages on facebook and getting likes. I mean, what is so wrong about paying to make facebook promote your page. It is not like you are forcing the people seeing your ads to like it, right? It is entirely their choice to like your page or not. And, paying to promote your page is a business decision which is absolutely sensible. Look at all the brands in the world!!

Why is it that when it comes to bloggers, they seem to get a huge share of criticism if they do one effort to earn money. If you think money is gonna decrease the quality of content, it is entirely justified and then you have a choice of unsubscribing. But, till that time, I think it is fair to give the blogger time and space to experiment with monetizing options.

Blogging full time is a job and bloggers also need food and shelter, just like the rest. And, making money through blogs is not exactly easy, especially if you want to get home loans and such. So, people do whatever they can. May be readers, I know most of you understand these issues and this post is targeted to only few who choose to be exceptions, could be more supportive of that fact and give sometime to your favorite blogger to figure out options.

From my personal experience, I can say that in these four years I have tried many ad networks and blog designs and have stuck to this minimalistic one since almost two years because I found out a balance between ads and content which satisfies me. Similarly, your favorite blogger will also learn. Just give it sometime. Money is very alluring in the beginning.

What do you think? Is making money really so wrong?

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Blogger Series Vol. 7 - Should you give feedback to your blogger?

This is not for the bloggers but for the readers! So, you all have your favorite blogs and not so favorite blogs. No assumptions over there. But, no blog is perfect. Sometimes, you might have some readability issues or slow loading issues or some other issues with any blog.

Now, many of the readers don't even bother to give any feedback. If they like a blog, they continue reading and if they do not, they can just move on! Well, that sounds very practical. But, what if your favorite blogger has some real issues with her/his blog?

These issues can be technical in nature or may be in her/his writing skills or in pictorial representations on the post or may be a lack of detail in the post. The issues can range far beyond what I have stated. So, have you ever thought that by letting the blogger know about your issues, you might help her improve the blog?

Your feedback is extremely important to any kind of blog - big or small. As a reader, you would be doing a favor to the blogger. Now, how the blogger reacts to your feedback is something which lies in their jurisdiction. So, do not take it personally if they do not respond back or do nothing!

Many readers or rather I would say it is a problem in real life that we never think of reporting the problem. We just love to sit back and crib. So, take some action. Go ahead and report your issues. But, yeah, one more thing is do the thing gently and diplomatically because some times your wording may sound very rude, whether you want to or not.

And, whatever the blog, if it is made for the readers, they would DEFTINITELY listen to you! So, do not be skeptical. Aah..let me also add that please, PLEASE do not expect the answer immediately. Very few bloggers are full time and they might also not get time to reply to your suggestions or in general any query immediately. Please give me them time and if they do not, it is quite possible that they have missed your message as much as is possible that they have ignored your message!

So, how many times have you helped your favorite blogger improve her blog?

Friday, February 27, 2015

Blogging Series Vol. 6 - How to design the layout of the blog?

So, layout is something which you would have seen a lot of changes in if you have been reading this blog since quite long. And, I am quite proud to say that I am happy with the current layout.

I have definitely received many comments saying it is not girlish enough or its too bland and not colorful or some other things. So, let me acquaint you with the first rule of design.

Some Pointers

white background, preferably!

minimal elements

ad placements should be not very obvious

font size should be decent (18 is the new 12)

It is good to have a really intricate design but when it comes to blogs, there are varied kinds of people, who would be reading it, with various tastes. And, it is not easy to make everyone happy. But, the least you can do is come up with a design which would be easy on everyone's eyes.

Readers are fickle. Trust me! If they would not find your blog easy to read, they would happily go to someone else's. So, try to keep the design layout of your blog as simple as possible with minimal elements.

Also, there is an issue of page loading and page speed which contributes to the user interaction in a major way. If your blog takes forever to load, people would be tired of waiting and not open it again!

If you keep a lot of widgets and gadgets on your blog which might be fun but take hell of a time to load, it can make anyone testy. So, try to keep the elements in your blog simple and as less as possible.

And, also, the design or layout of any blog is not perfect. You can only try your best. There can be thousands of things which can do with bit of improvement. So, always be patient with your blog and learn to play around. And, always remember, things always evolve over time and so will your blog. You wouldn't get it right the first time!!

Blogging Series Vol. 4 - How am I able to try out so many products and its affects on my skin?

Blogging Series Vol. 3 - Don't forget to buy the domain first!

welcome