7 Ways to Make Reading Your Blog a More Positive Experience for Blind Readers

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It may come as a surprise to some people that blind people read blogs, but in the age of visual information, blogs can be a great source of information for blind people, because they don’t rely on images as much as social media sites such as Instagram and Pinterest. For example, I have software on my laptop that reads the text of the webpage aloud to me. Other people use a device that makes the words appear in a series of dots (known as Braille) on a raised display, whereas others have some vision, so they use software to enlarge the text.

Related: 16 Tips on Blog Writing and Formatting

In theory, the experience of reading a blog shouldn’t be any different, but there are definitely things that people do in terms of their blog design that make me click away after a few seconds. I’m pretty sure they aren’t doing it to exclude blind readers, it’s just that they don’t know what’s unhelpful.

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Have Writer’s Block? Try These Content Ideation Tools for Marketers

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It’s 2017 and content is still king. But now more than ever, marketers are pressured to produce content that adds value and differentiates their company’s brand online. That’s a tall order, especially when stacked against other challenges, like finding time to create content, making it engaging, and measuring its effectiveness.

Writer’s block is another issue marketers face in the age of content marketing. It’s seemingly more and more difficult to find relevant ideas and put pen to paper. A recent study found that 75% of marketers plan to increase their content marketing investment in 2017, but only 29% use content ideation tools – the exact thing marketers need to beat writer’s block and share valuable content with their audience.

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Getting Known – How To Make Your Blog Into A Brand

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These days, it seems like everyone has a blog. In fact, when you take into account the fact that most students are taught to design one before they finish middle school, it’s safe to say that, indeed, everyone really does have a blog. But when you blog professionally, the key to success is moving your site from being “just a blog” to a full-blown brand. That means becoming recognizable in terms of voice, visuals, and products that keep your readers coming back. [Read more…]

How to Build a Sustainable Business Out of Your Blog

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Blogging was once viewed mainly as a nice hobby or creative outlet. Bloggers across niches and interest areas would upload posts and pictures to share with friends and family and, potentially, individuals outside of their circles who shared similar interests. Fast-forward to 2017, however, and blogging has become a bonafide career.

Today the popularity of bloggers like The Blonde Salad and Love Taza have encouraged a new generation of hopeful creatives to put their passions and digital talents on display for the Internet at large. Although many bloggers spanning many niches have amassed large followings that have enabled them to land sponsored deals and opportunities to pay the bills, this is not the scenario that every blogger experiences. For many, blogging is not a full-time job (even if they would like it to be) simply because in today’s saturated blogging environment, it’s difficult to command attention and carve out a unique and loyal following. However, if it is your dream to launch your own blog-driven media conglomeration, don’t lose hope – it is possible! [Read more…]

5 Reasons to Add an E-Commerce Section to Your Blog

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Blogs on their own are a great way to curate a customer base and get people interested in your company. However, once you capture their attention, are you fully monetizing it? If you don’t have an e-commerce section on your site, then the answer is no. You can find plenty of reasons to integrate an e-commerce platform with your blog, such as the five below. [Read more…]

7 Legal Snares Every Blogger Should Avoid

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Blogging may seem as easy as sitting down, typing some thoughts out, and hitting publish – but as you get deeper into the practice, you can run into some legal issues you might not expect. Knowing what they are can help you avoid any missteps. Some issues are common sense to people with publishing experience, but others may be a surprise. [Read more…]

5 Inspiring Blog Design Examples that Improved Readership

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The blog’s design can impact how a visitor sees the business. While high traffic can be what every blog owner wants to achieve, user-experience should first be the priority.

UX, short for user-experience, is how a person feels when using or visiting your blog. To provide a great UX is to have a fast loading site, great design, and an opportunity for engagement. Also, users who find that a blog is giving them a great experience will return and maybe create a blog about it which will then increase your blog’s organic traffic.

While there’s a premium placed on your blog’s SEO performance, you shouldn’t rely solely on optimizing for search engines to get the most out of your blog. Even if you do drive lots of traffic to your blog thanks to your SEO efforts, you won’t be able to convert visitors into customers or subscribers if you don’t provide a seamless way to showcase your content to them.

“If there is no one interested in reading your content then you are not producing any thing but mere text,” according to Umair of Shout Me Loud. “You should be targeting converting those one time readers into regular readers.”

In fact, a small design tweak can make a world of difference between getting your visitors to stay in your blog, if not convert them into regular visitors!

These things stated should be part of the designing process and the final output of your blog’s design. With so many things you have to take into account, here are some design examples to give you more ideas:

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