Why the Visual Appearance of Your Blog is More Important Than Ever
Ever thought of just putting up a blog without giving much thought to how professional it looked?
Well, if you have, you might want to think again in the future after you checked out the new Visual Search Engine, Search Me … it might make you think twice about putting up some ugly template blog with splog content thinking that “if you build it, they will come …”
The Internet is on the change … again, and this time it isn’t about algorithms or keywords, it’s about the way people search the Internet for information …
Welcome Visual Search Engines
Now, rather than just bringing up text each time you search for information online, “Search Me” will actually show up text, images and video in their search results.
Now, this may not seem that important, but according to Person Education Inc, 65% of the population are visual learners meaning that they are more comfortable with either being shown or seeing pictures to help them learn and for you the blogger or website author, it means that 65% of the population when given a choice, will “check you out” (or your site
), based on looks.
Whilst I maintain that you can still make good money with an ugly blog or website, you really have to consider that given a choice, many people will choose to visit your site to get to the important information in it based on “what catches their eye.”
My husband is always laughing at me because I rarely watch the news or read the newspaper … I’m happy with the headlines and, I certainly don’t want my mind and my day to be filled with the prevailing bad news transmitted by the media.
That said, after we drop our daughter off at School, we sometimes go for coffee at our local supermarket coffee shop and, they have a newspaper stand with all of the days newspapers and, as I go by I can’t help noticing the newspapers and end up skimming the front pages. And guess which ones always get my attention … yep, the ones with the picture that tells the story with a clear headline telling me what the story is about.
This is why my husband laughs because even before I read the first two lines or the story, from the picture alone, I’ll ask him “is this the story about xyz?”
Now I’m not suggesting that your site or blog is covered with pictures but there are elements of the design that you need to consider including:
- the professional look of the header and other graphics
- the layout of your site
- the navigation of your site which should be clear and make your blog or website easy to navigate
- some indication, above the fold that will tell the reader what your site is about
In addtion to all of this, the reader can now see a snippet of the content on your site and if it’s filled with links, and looks like you’re desperate to sell them something, you’ll more than likely “turn them off.”
I think you’ll understand more about why these are important when you visit Visual Search Engines and try it out for yourself.
And, if you’re looking for a professionally designed blog, take a look at some of the client blogs I’ve built which, always get big compliments from their readers. You may find fancier looking blogs elsewhere, but these are professional looking, they are easy to navigate and, I encourage my clients to focus on giving the BEST information in their blogs!
Best,

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Hello Trish, I do admire the work you have helped create for your clients after looking over their websites. It looks like you are exclusively using the revolution themes.
I also think that function over form can be more advantageous to the search engines and as you were once a staunt Semiologic Pro advocate , why aren’t you considering using the SP theme again?
mupar
p.s. I also see you are promoting the studio press themes, how do you rate them vs. revolution?
Trish – Thanks for the info on StudioPress and Semiologic. Could you elaborate on this comment:
“You have to do some extra work and add some extra coding to the StudioPress theme to get the same level of SEO but I’m okay with that.”
What do you need to do extra? Upload some and configure some plugins or do you actually have to change the theme code?
Thanks! – Ryan
Hi mupar,
Yes, you are right, I was a staunt Semiologic Pro advocate and there are still elements of the theme I love and miss. However, I just wanted a different look and feel and the Revolution theme gave me what I wanted.
I’m using the Sem Pro on one of my sites but now that StudioPress has introduced their Tubular theme, I may well switch – again, it’s just look and feel.
Out of the box, Sem Pro is much better for SEO. You have to do some extra work and add some extra coding to the StudioPress theme to get the same level of SEO but I’m okay with that.
Just to save confusion, Revolution rebranded as StudioPress about a month ago. The old Revolution themes became unavailable some months ago when Brian Gardner made some of his themes open source so, if you do see the Revolution Theme banners around, they’re obselete now though they should direct you to the StudioPress site.
Hope this helps. And, if you’re thinking about or using Semiologic, don’t let me change your mind! It’s a great theme.
Trish
So sorry about the delay Ryan!
Yes, I do mean additional plugins such as the All In One SEO. Basically, semiologic comes with about 60+ plugins compared to the standard two with StudioPress. All 60+ should never been needed by any blogger, but it can be useful having these plugins as standard.
Prior to the recent updates of the StudioPress themes some coding was necessary if you wanted the best SEO, but that is no longer the case with the current themes – not that I can recall anyway. If I come across something I do in addition to the plugins to give the site better SEO visibility, I will update this comment.
Best,
Trish