Let me tell you a little secret: readers like pictures. I know, we're all grown ups and our books don't have pictures anymore, but we are still drawn to reading material that has color. That's why advertisers are willing to pay more for a color listing. That being said, it's a natural conclusion that adding color (pictures, variety in font color) to your blog will also draw people to read your posts. But here's the catch, when I say add color and pictures in your posts, I don't mean to your background.
If your background is too colorful, it will draw the attention away from the post - remember, the color should be where you want your readers to look. A background with a minimal amount of color isn't bad (like the one on this site, though this is even a little more color than ideal) but when you post a detailed picture in the background of your blog, a snapshot, for example, you really risk losing your readers. Yes, it looks cool. But did you bring people to your blog to look at pics or read your writing? Just sayin'.
The best tips for adding color that draws your readers:
- Stick to using color in your posts, not your background.
- Add a picture to every post...
- ...but try to only add ONE picture unless absolutely necessary (too distracting!).
- Use one or two primary colors (or dark colors) to liven up longer posts or draw the readers eye to important bullets.
- Don't just add color arbitrarily. Make it mean something or your readers feel like they were cheated. You told them "Read this, it's important" with the color and if it isn't then you kinda lied.
- Don't add too many colorful badges and ads on the sides of your blog. It gets cluttered and the eye doesn't know what to do.
How do you use color in your blog? Do you like to use pictures? What draws your eyes to a post?
