A Blogs appearance
-
What are peoples opinions on a blog and its appearance in relation to a site. The two ways being -
1. A Blog that is fully fitting within the theme of the main website.
2. A seperate entity following a standard wordpress theme
Now I have seen many different scenarios and I wanted to share some experiences and gain insight from other people on here. I once spoke to a web designer who totally frowned upon the idea of it being a separate entity.
"It looks cheap it doesn't fit within the design"
My thoughts are benefits can been found with having a separate looking blog it provides that realistic "student" type look and feel adding a "realistic" angle.
Thanks for your opinions,
-
I guess a pro for a separate themed site is that you wouldn't be stuck with the contraints of keeping things on brand. EG: you could stray from standard fonts for the sake of a 'pretty' design and generally not have to worry about making one thing look like the other. Would likely give you a lot more freedom.
Another pro would be that your blog could also be perceived on it's own merits as well as that of your main site.
EG: Perhaps you have topics and content that you don't want to be directly associated with your original brand.
If it's not directly associated with an established brand then perhaps it might attract a different audience who doesn't see the content as influence by a parent brand.Pro's and con's for both here. Technically of course, there's no issue i can see.I guess it all boils down to brand recognition and best practice UX.
-
hi good questions,
personally I like to have the same colour scheme on the company blog as you do on the company website.
I mean the best practice for blogs is to have them sit within the sub folder on your websites and within the navigation sure enough with .net ASP set ups it is a bit more tricky then other CMS's.
so my advice is: yes make sure the colour scheme is the same, make sure it sites within a sub folder, and also sites within the websites menu.
Regards,
James.
-
both pros for keeping the blog the same theme as the main site. I would love to hear from people who prefer the other angle.
-
I think it all depends on the level of branding/brand awareness you want to have.
If you have a site that you want to be closely related to the blog content, then i think you'd be crazy to not have it at least similar to the main site. For me it's a question about brand recognition. If the blog content can give you brand awareness kudos, then definitely don't stray (to far at least) from the main site appearance.
The other question you might wanna ask is if a completely different looking site would confuse the reader. Jumping from one site to a completely different site may make the web experience for your visitor a little disjointed, which again may affect your brand awareness/experience.
-
Garry,
Personally I let the client decide what type of design they want for their blog; but I always make sure that there is a way to navigate from the blog to the site and from the site to the blog. To me, blogs should be about that clients personality and it should be inviting. I hope this helps!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Could posting on YouMoz get you penalized for "Guest Blogging?"
From my understanding, Matt Cutts hates guest blogging, so I told all of the attorneys here not to write anywhere but on our blog. However, I realized people are constantly "guest blogging' on Moz, and considering how smart these people are, it must not be hurting them or they wouldn't do it. However, what I don't understand is why? Yes, I do get that the quality of what's on YouMoz is high and not spammy, but I got the impression that didn't really matter. Guest blogging would get you into trouble no matter what. Can someone clarify for me? Thanks, Ruben
Content Development | | KempRugeLawGroup4 -
Should I move my blog to my other domain ?
i have 2 ecommerce sites with 2 separate blogs, I m planning to redirect-301 one of the sites to the other. I want to move the blog content from the older site to the other site. Can just copy the content to the new site and combine with the existing blog content.? I would appreciate any suggestions on this topic. thank you nick
Content Development | | orion680 -
Authorship for Company Blog -- What if Employee Leaves?
This question has been sort of asked before but I haven't found any concrete answers. We've never really had a consistent author on our company blog. We had an internal employee writing, and then we outsourced for a bit, and now we're moving back to an internal writer. With all the transientness of our authors, who should we be using for authorship? If the new writer leaves our company, they take all their AuthorRank with them. Would it make sense to post all content under one of the founders or maybe even a fictitious employee? Edit: Orrrr do we get the new author to create a separate G+ Profile tied to their company email address that we can retain control over even if they leave?
Content Development | | RealWisam0 -
Starting a brand new blog today - Is it still Wordpress?
Hi I started a blog in 2006 on Blogspot, then everyone moved onto Tumblr and Wordpress, but in August (just) 2013, what should I be starting my brand new blog on? I dont want to have to migrate in a matter on months.
Content Development | | xoffie0 -
Blog Benefits
I read a very interesting answer by Andy Solo to a previous question in which he replied: "Use your blog to create some Tips & How-To's, optimize those blog entries for the long tail keywords and soon enough your blog will be the gateway into your website. Learn how to target longl-tail keyword searches and how to analyze keyword competition to find the right niche blog posts to create". With my own company site, www.nile-cruises-4u.co.uk which has a long-standing blog attached, www.nile-cruises-4u.co.uk/blog I always felt that the blog content greatly aided our top positions in Google.co.uk. However, over the last 12 months we have slipped right down page one and I wondered if the blog is still helping our site or if the emphasis/value has switched and Google is looking at a lot of other factors where we score badly? Colin
Content Development | | NileCruises0 -
Best Way to Manage Multiple Blogs
Good Morning... I have multiple blogs that all relate to the same industry and products... The blogs all have unique content, they do not have duplicate content... Is there a way to share the information or link from one to the other without being seen as someone trying to manipulate anything? The goal is to keep each blog updated frequently, but I can only write so much unique content... can i somehow share the content? Please provide any feedback or advice... Thanks
Content Development | | Prime850 -
Is it better to have your blog open in a separate window?
I've set up a blog on one of my websites, however it doesn't open in a separate window. I know from looking at other blogs that they usually open in separate windows. Is that good practice? Will it make any difference to your SEO performance?
Content Development | | AAttias0 -
Blogs: Hosted vs. Off-Site
What is the latest opinion on whether to have a blog hosting on your primary domain or on an outside domain (either Wordpress or just another URL). In the past we have done the former and it's been a great source of fresh content and organic traffic. Wonder if there is good argument now for not having it on the domain. With this new site we're working on it logistically would be more challenging given their tech resources, plus they already have thousands of pages.
Content Development | | BMGSEO0