I’ve designed quite a few blogs over the last year or so, and I recently worked with a client who I thought did an extremely thorough job of planning for her new site, Remarkable Parents. The process she went through provides a good case study to look at, as the preparation for a blog launch can make a big difference in your success both in the early days and long term.
First Steps
Before Vicky even got to the design process, she consulted the experts in how to prepare for a blog launch. There are many great articles out there to help with the planning process, but Vicky chose to go straight to a master blogging authority and consult with Chris Garrett. As a result, when she came to me, she had many of the pieces in place which made translating her vision into a blog design enjoyable.
Ready to Design
So, what are these pieces that made my job so much easier?
Concept – she knew what her blog was going to be about and she had an idea about how that might translate into visual terms. She didn’t tell me exactly what she wanted the header to look like of course. Rather, the concept she gave me for designing the header was somewhat abstract, but provided guidance enough for me to work with.
Target Audience – she knew who she was going to be writing to, and knowing this made my search for images that would work well in the header much easier. She even had an age range in mind.
Look and Feel – she had scoured the web for sites that appealed to her and had elements she thought would appeal to her target audience. She didn’t just have one inspirational site and color scheme, but several and she described what she liked about each.
The result
So much thought and preparation time made the design process go very smoothly, and the final result is a site we’re both very pleased with.
If you visit Vicky’s site, you’ll see that her first post is up and she has received 35 comments on it! Not only has she put a lot of time into the preparation for her blog’s launch, she is following it up by networking, the use of social media sites like Twitter and even some offline promotion using some MooCards that have her blog’s header on them.
Even if your budget doesn’t allow for professional consultation and design, taking the time to be very thorough in planning and preparation before launching a blog can make all the difference.
Absolutely agree that time and research are required for every website. Just had a client (law firm) who couldn’t see any use for market research, planning, etc… took a while but I think they finally see the value. What methods do you use to get customers to see the value of research and planning for website design? Some customers just think it’s all about a quick design and I can’t figure out where they are coming from.
Thanks for the mention Randa
I am sure Vicky is such a smart and driven lady with or without help she is destined for good things 
Wow! Thank you so much!
Vicky H
It’s always a pleasure to work with such clients, isn’t it?
Very nice and clean design, though the burgundy text on a white background is a bit hard to read.
Yes, I agree that this is a very clean and extremely user friendly design and layout. I personally liked the color scheme and think that they compliment each other quite nicely.
Great work and the blog looks like it will be a success!
Well done both. It certainly pays to put at least a little bit of planning into a blog launch, something the team here should perhaps heed for when they launch their blog. 35 comments is amazing for a first post on an unestablished blog.
Beautiful site. I’m sure it’ll be great and hopefully I’ll remember it when I become a parent
Anyone who puts enough thought and effort in is worth listening to I think.
Thanks good read!
Site looks amazing by the way!
That’s a really nice looking website. I would say blog design is greatly overlooked by many. Reason being it requires both artistic and technical skills to deliver that perfect look and feel on browser.
That is a great looking site! Amazing what a little advanced preparation will do.
Thanks for this post, Randa. Knowing who you are and who you’re going to write for , and visualizing all the details can truly make a difference in the success of your blog (initially, at least). Beautiful concept, great execution. Congratulations, ladies.
Wow, Vicky rocks. I havn’t had 35 comments total and my blog is about 2 months old. I have tried the social networking but have not drived much traffic this way. I still love to hear success stories.
When I created my first site I did not take the time to do market research, explore a range of avenues or generally get the information I needed to succed. For my latest site I compared what the competition was doing right and wrong. It is true that putting the time and effort in to establishing a well structured design idea can make all the difference.
Well I agree. If you have a nice theme that people can remember and that they will like, they will keep comming back to see how much better it is doing. Also, I believe that if you have a theme or template or whatever that goes perfectly along with your niche, your website will get more visitors and more comments. That is because people will like it, and more visitors means that you could get more potential revenue off of it. So keep up the good job, and Randa, keep making nice templates.
I was thinking of starting a blog too, but was not sure as to what to start of with or where to start. I used to ask a couple of my friends about it but no body could give a proper answer or help me. Thanks for the information.
I think perhaps the two most important factors that you mentioned is the concept and the target. You have to determine what you wanna talk about, and who you wanna talk to. That makes up the basic identity of the blog, and determines the direction it’s gonna go in. Look and feel make the blog all pretty and is secondary– although it can attract a few visitors as well. The colors make them come, content makes them stay.
What a great article. I’ve been neglecting my own blog somewhat, and this has defiantly made me think about it with a fresh perspective. The main reason for me creating it in the first place was to promote my digital paintings, which I have lost sight of. The moocards look like a great way to do this as well.
Great article. I’m a designer, but I don’t have a blog. If I try and create one I’m rereading this. Thanks!
What methods do you use to get customers to see the value of research and planning for website design? Some customers just think it’s all about a quick design and I can’t figure out where they are coming from.
I agree totally with you. Preparation before a blog launch can make a lot of difference. Do it right and things will go well.
I like the particular phrase ” taking the time to be very thorough in planning and preparation before launching a blog can make all the difference.”
Preparation is very important. The small things that other people forget about add up to be a huge difference. Very good read as a blog owner myself.
you have stressed it well.. preparing for the launch is the key thing there…. and in vicky’s case it obviously worths it..
I’m considering starting a new blog. And have been putting a lot of thought and effort into the design. Thanks for the insight and help in direction. Good stuff!
What a visually appealing site. I think marketers sometimes forget how important it is to the human users (vs the SEs) to have an athetically pleasing site. Plain or spammy sites are just at turn off. It’s that simple.
Another well written article. It’s always a pleasure to visit this blog, and I always learn something. Keep up the good work.
And the blog looks good you have done a good job with the design.
Whats crazy is you can spend more time promoting your blog than actually writing content for your blog. So many newbs end up in that death trap. No doubt every blog needs a carefully planned launch as it will take google months to send your any noteworthy traffic.
The blog looks great. I love the colors & layout, very user friendly. I have to agree it is always great working with customers that know what they want.
Looks really good… but I’m not surprised! As I’ve been a fan of your work for some time now – Randa. Keep up the great designs!
Great read on the aspects of a great layout. A poorly designed website can ruin even the most thoroughly informative content.
I love the banner across the top, and it looks like the site has already had great success. Looks like all of the planning and other hard work is paying off!
She sounds like an excellent client! Clients who have done their homework and know their desired outcomes are a joy to work with.
Sincerely,
Meg Meyer
This design was so beautifull! really really professional!
The colors and the images was well chosen!
Congratulations!
I think this post has been really useful and to be frank, I like what I have seen on Vicky’s site.
For some time, I have actually been thinking about a professional redesign of my blog but haven’t put it into action.
My blog is mainly on soccer-content and I need a web-designer who knows what he is doing. Will be interested in a collaboration with you.
Its fantastic that you have a client that knows what they want, something we can all aspire to desiring. Makes our job/s so much easier and rewarding.
I tried some by seeing some design contest but it really need much patience and vast knowledge. I don’t have that.
I just started to design and on my second project and have started to research the niche i am creating it for.
The issue being though for generic templates it is hard to cater for all niches, even if you make a niche specific templates, in niches as big and varied as on-line marketing, make money on-line etc. it is hard to effectively research it.
No doubt the site in question is remarkable! However, I think professional help has made a difference too.
Absolutely agree that time and research are required for every website. It is a remarkable website and it shows what professional help can make a difference to a website.
I admit that i was really attracted by this design. Simply perfect, very honestly.
Everything is perfect – colours – pictures – the slightly swinging layout. And nicely fitting to the topic.
One of the best blog designs I have ever seen.
That really is a great designed blog.
It is very important to plan a project and not just dive straight in as I and many other people will have done in the past.
I completely agree that a thorough planning and a good groundwork, before launching your blog, would always help you in getting the right kind of results. But its not only before you start, you need to continue with the same research and planning even after the launch.. for better results!
I love this design! You have created a really slick and usable blog. I’ll have to remember your work when I muster up the funds for a custom design.
Very beautiful site. It’s much easier when the client knows the answer to ‘what audience’ and what ‘feel’ the site should have.
nice design structure though i don’t recommend adding text on the search box if not using javascript effect. From the design, you have to delete the text in order to use the search box which i think is not good.
I disagree with MyFinanceButler on how the look and feel are secondary. Imagine this scenario: you have the right concept and target. You market, people come to your site, and they find it to be ugly and it gives them a lousy user experience. They leave quickly and don’t plan on coming back. Unless you’re the ONLY site that caters to your niche, users will go to a site that provides a better experience.
I battle this all the time where I work. Look and feel (and even more important, usability) are treated as secondary. Look and feel is not necessarily about attracting visitors (as MyFinanceButler says), they are about KEEPING them.
If every of our clients is like Vicky, then the I.T world will be so much easier
Its amazing how well a good planned out launch can bring a persons thoughts together, look forward to following this.
Yeah, I really want to follow this and watch the site’s PR.
I’m a designer and according to a designer’s point of view I can say that this design is very beautifully blended. Kudos!
I’m not designer, but i like the design. Just simply awesome. Bravo!
wow ! just look at the design… it’s really nice.