Trying to come up with the most amazing blog layout ideas and design features to wow your visitors can be a frustrating task at times.
Trust me; I get it.
I get that the best thing about designing the look and feel of your blog is that you’ve got an infinite number of possibilities in terms of layout, features, and aesthetic qualities.
I also get that the worst thing about designing the look and feel of your blog is that having those infinite possibilities can make the whole process feel so overwhelming that you just don’t know where to start.
Why do I get it?
Because I’ve been there.
Over the last several years, I’ve worked hard to grow a successful content website portfolio from $0 to several million dollars in revenue.
In the early days, I found that the biggest challenge was simply coming up with the most effective and attractive layout. That was until I started looking around and taking inspiration from the 10 blog design examples I’m about to share with you today.
Below, I’ll explain exactly what makes these the most amazing blog layout design ideas. I’ll also outline everything you need to keep in mind when coming up with your design.
Top 10 Most Amazing Blog Layout and Design Ideas to Get Inspired by in 2023
1. 9to5Mac
As you may have worked out from their name, 9to5Mac posts a fairly constant stream of Apple-related news right throughout the day.
Some blogs (especially, but by no means exclusively, in the technology niche) would choose to put as many of those stories right in your face the moment you land on the homepage.
The biggest advantage to this is that it gives visitors an instant overview of all the latest posts so that they can click on whatever interests them without scrolling.
The biggest disadvantage, however, is that if it’s not done well, it can lead to a blog design that feels cluttered and overwhelming.
9to5Mac solves this problem by taking a less-is-more approach.
When you land, you’re greeted by a header that focuses on just the top four stories, each one taking up an amount of space according to its importance.
Scroll down, and you find a simple, one-column design in which each post takes up the majority of the screen with sufficient white space around it.
This draws your attention to each individual post rather than having multiple posts all competing for your attention at the same time.
I also like that it shows you how many comments have been made on each post so that readers get the idea that this is a topic worth talking about.
Meanwhile, the addition of the author’s Twitter handle (and link to their Twitter page) is also a nice touch to help readers connect with bloggers, ultimately building up the kind of relationship that leads to long-term reader loyalty.
2. Dan Flying Solo
When visitors land on your blog for the first time, you only have a few short moments to capture their attention, let them know what you’re all about, and give them a reason to stick around and read what you have to say.
While doing effective keyword research to discover what people in your niche want to read and coming up with awesome blog post ideas to meet that demand are essential, one other way of immediately capturing your reader’s attention is to follow the example set by top travel blogger Daniel James.
His Dan Flying Solo blog features a sizeable static header that tells you who he is, what he writes about, and what value he hopes to offer readers.
Moving past that, Dan’s latest posts are neatly organized in a three-column grid with beautiful, eye-catching imagery and simple-yet-effective headlines.
Elsewhere, Dan draws attention to his pillar posts and most popular content by putting them in their own “spotlight” sections on the homepage, where he combines a captivating hook with a button leading you to his posts and a related video.
3. Pinch of Yum
If you’re going to start a successful blog, you need to effectively organize your content so that readers can find exactly what they’re looking for with zero fuss.
Look no further than one of the web’s most famous recipe blogs, Pinch of Yum, for a great example of how this can be done with your blog design.
There are a few good reasons why this is one that is frequently helped up as a great place to start when looking for amazing blog layout ideas.
First of all, there’s the navigation menu.
There’s a lot to be said about the simplicity here. Along with the obligatory link back to the homepage, the menu offers an about page plus a link to all of the recipes and a helpful “Start Here” page that helps new visitors learn more about the blog and navigate their way around.
Back on the homepage, visually-attractive boxes help organize the recipes by key ingredients (spinach, carrot, etc.) and by type (vegetarian, vegan, soups, salads, etc.).
This ensures that when visitors land on A Pinch of Yum, they’ll have no problem finding exactly the kind of recipes they’re looking for.
This approach helps to make Pinch of Yum a go-to destination for millions of amateur chefs and foodies as they know this is a site they can trust to get great recipes in a matter of moments.
4. Cookie and Kate
Sticking with the food theme, for the time being, Cookie and Kate prove that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to come up with a fantastic blog design idea.
The two-column layout, with posts and post feed taking up the wider left-hand column and various widgets on the right, has long been the classic blog layout from the early days of blogging.
Though the number of blog design options has positively exploded since then, Cookie and Kate prove that the traditional layout format can still be effective.
In the left-hand column, blogger Kate offers stunning photography of her mouth-watering creations, which combine with a generously-sized post excerpt to entice readers to click through to the full recipe.
On the left, she manages the not-always-easy task of cramming a lot of information into the sidebar without making it seem cluttered or overcrowded.
A basic introduction links to her social profiles and her preferred blog monetization methods (selling a cookbook and incorporating Google Ads) can all be found here, with each component surrounded by plenty of white space to make sure they stand out.
5. TED Blog
Everybody loves a good TEDTalk, but I’m also a big fan of the way TED organizes their blog posts with a smart, clean, professional layout.
The minimalist layout focuses on a single full-width header comprised of an enticing visual, strong headline, and post excerpt, underneath which you’ll find a Call to Action button encouraging readers to check out the latest post.
Below that, the basic two-column layout features social icons and a newsletter sign-up in the sidebar to improve engagement and build their following, while the main content on the left features the same title/image/expert layout as the header.
These posts can also be filtered so that readers can quickly find the kind of content they’re interested in the most.
If you’re running a news site, a corporate blog, or anything where a professional appearance is of paramount importance, the TED Blog layout is a great one to get inspired by.
6. All Pro Dad
Eschewing the minimalist approach that we’ve seen elsewhere in this guide, All Pro Dad focuses on a bold, colorful approach that hits readers right in the eye with a clear and powerful call to action:
Be A Hero to Your Kids.
This dominates the header, with the navigation tucked away in a mobile-optimized menu next to a donate button which helps All Pro Dad monetize their work.
As you move through the site, you’ll see that their blog layout is optimized to boost email sign-ups and get people engaged in their events.
Having used a top email marketing plugin, the newsletter sign-up remains prominent as you scroll down the page (unless you sign up or get rid of it), while the “Start Here” button at the top takes readers to three more options for engaging with the brand.
The bold visual style continues with three featured posts, moving down to the blog content itself.
This is followed by links to specific categories, all of which are image-based.
If you want to use your blog to inspire readers to take action, the All-Pro Dad layout should give you some good ideas on how to do that.
7. The Satorialist
Suppose you’re a photographer, designer, or artist trying to determine the best way to showcase your work in a visual-heavy blog layout. In that case, it might be worth paying a visit to The Satorialist for a hefty dose of inspiration.
Run by renowned photographer Scott Schuman, the fashion photography blog features infinite scrolling rather than breaking content into multiple pages while using a minimalist approach using large images for each post.
Clicking each of those images takes you to a dedicated page for that image, with tags, location, and more images.
This combination of basic blog design with elegant font types and imagery makes for an attractive, easy-to-navigate portfolio that showcases Schuman’s work.
8. TechCrunch
We’re all used to having a navigation menu at the top of the page, but as TechCrunch proves, there’s no reason why it has to stay that way.
Visit the popular tech-industry blog, and you’ll find that they’ve moved the navigation to the far left.
Initially, this creates a three-column layout, with the menu on the left, a featured story in the middle, and other top posts on the right.
As you scroll down, that menu stays locked in place so that readers can browse the latest stories while also keeping quick and easy access to the various navigation options.
9. Jess Ann Kirby
Jess Ann Kirby runs a lifestyle, travel, and wellness blog for women, which offers a large variety of well-organized, engaging content.
There’s no denying that the blog’s header is a thing of beauty in itself, with a stylish logo positioned next to a neatly laid-out menu that arranges all content according to the blog’s main categories.
A prominent “Shop” button also directs readers to Jess’ affiliate marketing products.
The main header draws attention to the latest post, after which Jess once again neatly categorizes her content. This time, it’s according to action, with options for reading blog posts, subscribing to the newsletter, or shopping.
Finally, I love the way the latest posts are organized with a large, bright thumbnail and a left-hand menu to sort through them.
10. Fansided
Here’s another fantastic blog layout design that should provide plenty of ideas and inspiration for news bloggers or anyone running a large-scale site that features lots of content across many different categories.
Fansided is a sports-related website covering the whole gamut of professional sports from the NFL, NBA, and MLB to international soccer and even gaming and professional wrestling.
The site features two menus.
The first menu lists most of their main categories. Hovering over any of these categories brings up the latest posts and any sub-categories within that main category.
The second organizes content by the most popular content types within that category.
Elsewhere, there’s a lot -and I mean a *lot*- of content on Fansided, but it’s all very neatly arranged with plenty of white space to not look crowded or confusing.
If you’re starting a sports blog of your own, this is definitely one to look to for blog design inspiration, though really, any large-scale site could learn a thing or two from Fansided’s excellent layout.
5 Top Tips for Designing the Best Blog Layout for Your Site
If you scroll through the 10 amazing blog layout ideas I’ve shared with you above, you’ll probably notice that each one is almost entirely different from the other, meaning that when it comes to blog design, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach.
That said, there are certain blog design best practices that it’s worth keeping in mind no matter whether you’re designing a news site, a personal blog, or a profit-generating niche website.
Of all those best practices, the following five are the ones I consider to be the most essential:
1. Keep it Simple
When you’re building your WordPress website, you’ll find a host of excellent WordPress plugins that you can use to add dynamic functionality and a full range of exciting features to your site.
From pop-ups encouraging newsletter sign-ups to animations that may look impressive but provide minimal benefit via unusual typography choices and a plethora of bells and whistles.
Yet as the old saying goes, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Getting carried away with adding too many features to your site only hinders the overall user experience, creating distractions that draw readers’ attention away from what’s really important:
Your content.
2. Implement Effective Navigation
When we talk about navigation in terms of blog design, we’re talking about the menus and other features that your readers will use quite literally to navigate their way around your blog.
If you want visitors to stick around and engage with the content that interests them most, it’s a good idea first to arrange your content by key themes or categories.
If you’re running a sports blog, for example, you can categorize content by each individual sport that you cover, by the team, or by whatever major competition you happen to be covering at the time.
Your navigation menu can then be similarly arranged so that if people want, say, general NFL news, they click the NFL button, whereas if they want specific news about the New England Patriots, they might select “teams” from the menu to bring up a drop-down menu where they could choose that particular team.
3. Grab Attention From The Start
Thanks to the plethora of excellent WordPress themes currently available, there’s very little you can’t do to design a blog.
As such, you may be tempted to experiment a little, placing visually interesting yet ultimately pointless elements at the top of the page and forcing readers to scroll down before they get to the real value of your website.
Trust me when I say:
Do not do this under any circumstances.
When a visitor lands on your website for the first time, you only have a few short seconds to make a good impression.
So, when you’re designing your blog header, make it clear, simple, and abundantly obvious what you’re about.
Ideally, you’ll want an attractive and relevant image, a heading, and a description of your blog, perhaps with a compelling Call to Action button drawing people into your content.
Alternatively, you may prefer to put your content front and center at the head of your blog.
There’s no problem with this, though. Again, I’ll stress the importance of making it very clear what kind of topics you cover.
This isn’t the time for creative wordplay in your headings or featured images that look clever but don’t make it obvious what your story is about.
It’s the time to do all you can to ensure that your readers know precisely what you have to offer and whether or not it’s for them.
4. Focus on Readability with Your Colors and Fonts
This is another area where the “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” rule definitely applies.
In theory, there’s nothing to stop you from making your blog’s background solid black with a grey font color, just as there’s nothing to stop you from picking out some fancy Google Font just because you want your site to be different and stand out from the crowd.
To be fair, you’d achieve your goal.
Your site would certainly be different, but not in a good way.
Look:
Certain color schemes just don’t work well together. For example, if there isn’t enough of a contrast between your background color and your font color, all those words you spent hours writing will be so difficult to read that visitors just aren’t going to bother.
Likewise, while fancy fonts may stand out, they do so not because they look cool but because they’re hard to read.
Think about it:
There’s a good reason why most of the websites you read will feature a white or another white-colored background with black or other darkly-colored text written in a simple, basic font.
That reason is this:
It works.
It makes it easy for visitors to read, enjoy, and engage with your content and ultimately, isn’t that the whole reason you started a blog in the first place?
5. Keep it Mobile Optimized
One of the best things about using WordPress over other top blogging platforms is that most WordPress themes come mobile-optimized.
As such, you can enjoy a certain amount of confidence that your blog will look great and function flawlessly regardless of whether visitors check it out on their desktop, mobile, or tablet device.
Still, just because a theme promises to be optimized for mobile doesn’t mean you should necessarily just take the developer’s word for it.
Once you’ve designed your site, spend some time exploring your posts and pages on different devices to ensure they look and function as expected.
Frequently Asked Questions About Blog Layouts and Design
What should a blog homepage look like?
Your blog homepage should feature clear navigation, a compelling header that lets people know exactly what your blog is about, and your latest or most popular posts with thumbnails and excerpts.
Adding a newsletter sign-up or other Call to Action may also be a good idea.
How do I make my blog visually appealing?
Using attractive, relevant images, keeping the number of colors and fonts you use to a minimum, and employing lots of white space to make elements stand out are all some of the best ways to make your blog more visually appealing.
How can I organize my blog content to make it easy for readers to find?
In WordPress, adding categories and tags is the most effective way to organize your blog content.
The Final Word on Finding Amazing Blog Layout Ideas to Get Inspiration from in 2023
The ten examples of amazing blog layouts that I’ve shared with you above cover a broad cross-section of different niches to start to get a good idea of what’s possible.
However, if you’ve been through all of those and still aren’t quite feeling like you’ve got the perfect idea for a theme, allow me to offer one simple yet very important piece of advice:
Check out what the most successful blogs in your niche are doing.
If you’re a sports blogger, look at the top sports blogs. If you’re a foodie or a travel writer, find out who the big players are in those genres and spend some time examining the features and layout ideas they have in common.
After all, if they’re the biggest names in the game, they’re doing something right when it comes to appealing to the very same audience you’re trying to attract.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t sign off by reminding you that while blog design is important, it’s nowhere near as important as creating relevant, high-quality content.
Don’t know where to start with that? Here’s my guide to creating a winning blog content strategy to help you on your way to blogging success.