Looking for help...

[MiloandMolly]

Or comments, critiques, opinions, I'm not sure what to call it!

My blog is roughly two months old. When I started it, of course, I knew nothing of blogging. Not that I know much more now, but I've got a list of blogs going that I follow and I really like to read. A lot of them have a more plain, muted style to their background design, and I was thinking of maybe doing something like that myself. I don't currently have a lot of widgets, no nav bar, no button- I'm still somewhat of a blank canvas.

Would you mind taking a look and maybe suggesting (kindly!) things that I might benefit from having/taking away/changing etc. I don't want to lose readers with making unnecessary changes that people like, just make it better in general!

http://bythebookpaper.blogspot.com

Thanks in advance! :)

[Former_Member]

i definately think you should have a navigation bar. people like those... even if you keep your links to the side of your page.
i like the plain look of a blog... gives it a more professional feel.
also... i think you could really benefit from a banner.

when i clicked on your blog.. the first thing i noticed was that i was indeed reading a blog... i feel that it's important when linking shops and blog to keep the same theme, and keep it professional looking =)

google can be your best friend when it comes to revamping your blog =)

http://www.kristanlynn.blogspot.com

feel free to convo me or email me if you have any specific questions... i'm glad to help =)

[MiloandMolly]

Ok, thanks! I see what you're saying. Let me ask you this: To make it more shop/blog consistent, is it totally super annoying to add Etsy "stuff" to the blog, like those widgets that say "In my store"? I've never found that I really enjoy that.

[Former_Member]

I find the font really hard to read. The style of the font paired with the style of the background (which can be seen directly behind the font), makes the page almost look like an optical illusion. It almost looks like everything is waving.

I do prefer clean, light-colored blogs and I like that yours isn't too cluttered. As AdelynStone said, a header would be nice.

[Former_Member]

hmm... i have the shop listings on the side of my blog .. and i have been debating on taking it off... it seems to add clutter.. and i don't think i get that many click to etsy through it anyways
i started my blog as a place to share my personal life... so while i want to make a brand for my shop... i also don't want my shop to run my blog.

[Former_Member]

I'm absolutely no expert, but as a reader, I really like plain, clean and simple blogs. I like that yours is simple and the content is awesome (I just followed). As previously mentioned, I do think that the background fights your font a little and it would look nice to have a really simple banner. That's my opinion. :)

[Former_Member]

I follow your blog and like that it is simple and clean - however, I've thought since day one that your font should be changed since it is a little difficult to read. Also, your background is fighting with the actual test space.

If I were to give you one piece of advice it would be to move your "follow" button higher so your readers can find it. Overall you have a very good beginning and I wish you loads of luck with it.

I wrote a blog this morning about blog design and layout that you might find interesting...although I don't claim to be a blog expert.

http://queennmyownmind.blogspot.com

[MiloandMolly]

Thanks everyone! You've said lots of things that I was already thinking, so that just gives me ammo to go ahead with fixing it.

Creme- I read your post this morning and noticed that about your followers comment. Was thinking I should move mine farther up. I actually just read a blog that removed the followers button and she explained why, that either they could subscribe to her blog or just bookmark her site, but I don't think that's the best advice. If someone wants to follow, I want to make it easy!

Once I get this re-vamped (in my oodles of spare time- ha!) I'll ask you all to check it out again. :)

Anyone else?

[MiloandMolly]

I made some changes to the layout today. If anyone has time to pop back in and take a look, I'd appreciate it. What else am I missing?

Thanks!

[Former_Member]

That looks awesome! :)

[Former_Member]

Hey By the Book-

I didn't see it before you implemented changes, but I have some thoughts (keep in mind, i've been blogging for two months so i'm no expert either).

-I think it could benefit from a bit more visual interest. I love the clean look you have right now; i much prefer that to a visual stimulus overload of widgets. but i tend to stay on blogs that attract me visually. Maybe some pretty colors in your banner? you have some pretty papers in your shop, maybe scan and use one of those? if you think it is too dark to read the print, you can use photo editing software to lighten it a bit.

-i put a shop widget on the side of mine. the point of my blog was supposed to connect it with my etsy shop, so i wanted an easy way to visually display my work. some of them out there are kind of gross. i really like the mini-etsy option here on etsy. you can choose how many items you want to show and what arrangement (2x2, 1x3, etc). I think it's the cleanest i've found

-one more thought-i think it's really great to have the google follow button on top; when i read a new blog i like and want to subscribe to, i want the subscribe button to be upfront and easy to find. if you want to make it even smaller, you can add an rss feed button that takes up less room. i have something like this on my blog (linking below) and if you like it, i can show you a really great blog post on how to set this up.

i hope some of this helps, but don't worry about it if it didn't. everyone has different artistic opinions. i actually think you have a really great blog so far; it's easy to read and see what's going on. keep up the good work!

Jenny
http://abirdinthehandart.blogspot.com/

[MiloandMolly]

Thanks! I know I've got some stuff to add to it, so your ideas help. I'm going to have to play around with it when I have more time. The previous background was a busy pattern, so I was trying to eliminate that, so I'm glad you said it looks nice and clean. I'll work on some of the other stuff! :)

[Former_Member]

I have to say - I love this new banner!!!

My only suggestion would be to tie in the colors of the fonts and the background - to stick with either blues or greens.

[heathercashart]

Awesome, love it!!! So many blogs these days are just cluttered with a kazillion things - I absolutely LOVE that you kept it clean and simple. I'd probably put the etsy shop link above the fold, but if that is less important to you then maybe it doesn't matter. Anyways, great job, I love it!!

[MiloandMolly]

MissMeghan- Thanks! I did look at the blog on my parents' computer today and the background looks a lot more green on theirs than on mine, so I see what you're saying about that.. I'll blue it up a little more.

raspberryh- Thank you! I have a problem with the kazillion things, too, so I don't want to muck it up too much! :)

[Former_Member]

I'm coming into this a bit late, so I don't know what your old design looks like.. but in terms of your new design, its very bright, happy, and fairly easy to use.

Here are some suggestions (some of which may have already been mentioned):
- Having a central navigation for easy access to (targeted) information, e.g. navigation horizontal bar, or if you choose to put it in the side panel to have it be obvious and noticeable.
- Adding the etsy widget to the side of your blog as well. Blogs are essentially marketing tools, and you should make it easy for any potential customer to buy from you. Etsy has the Etsy mini widget that you can get here: http://www.etsy.com/mini_generator.php
- Tip: Have at least one picture in your blog posts. It just makes it more interesting visually.
- Someone mentioned having the google reader/rss up top which indeed is a good idea. However, the top part of the site ("above the fold") is prime real estate so you might want to minimize your google followers list to maybe just one or two rows and use the available space to stick in an RSS subscribe button. Keep in mind, not everyone follow blogs via google and use other readers to follow blogs (like me). Don't make it harder for them to follow you!
- Similarly to the point above, not everyone who visits your blog is on blogger or has a google account. To make it more accessible, you should open up your comments up to allow people to add a name and URL. I wrote a short how-to guide here: http://amazingminiatures.com/blog/letter-dollhouse-miniaturist-blogger-blogspot-open-comments/
- Lastly, you're already doing this right with a clutter free and easy to read blog layout and design. Widgets are great and all, but they can be distracting if there are too many!

Hope this helps. Feel free to convo me if you have any questions!

Cheers,
Ann
http://amazingminiatures.com

[Former_Member]

I think it looks nice. I think the background suits your avatar quite nicely.

[MiloandMolly]

Jenny and Ann- I added the Etsy min shop widget. That was quite easy to do and I like that it's still plain enough to fit in with my layout.

Ann, I also fixed up my comments to allow all uses as suggested. Thank you- your post link really helped. I'll work on the RSS thing soon enough. I'm only able to do one or two things at a time around here! :)

I do see how to make the horizontal nav. bar, but I don't have any other pages to list, and I'm not sure how to do that, so if I enable it, all it says is "home" and that's no fun!

Thank you all!

[MiloandMolly]

Ok, one more thing. Does anyone know how to change the number of followers it shows on the blog? The only thing I can make it do is change the color.

Thanks.

[MiloandMolly]

Hi there, still looking for help regarding the followers gadget mentioned above, and if anyone has a link to a good article on setting up and RSS feed, please link to me. Slow and steady. :) Thank you!