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When seeking to improve the design of your blog, keep one key factor in mind: Simple is better. As you design, work towards a clean-but-attractive appearance.

The first thing this means is minimizing or eliminating all but your favorite gadgets. Choose a fond that is easy to read rather than one that "looks cool" - for the love of all that is holy, do not use Comic Sans.

Loud and obnoxious backgrounds should be avoided - most viewers prefer text on a white background. Nondescript, non-distracting colors such as black, gray or beige (as used by Helium) typically work best for filling additional background space.

Remember to keep helpful navigation available, such as your blog archive or a subject search.

Take a page out of Google's play book. The world's number one search engine, the Google home page consists of:

-One medium-sized image
-17 links (The majority of which are small and unobtrusive. One is actually their logo which, today, is celebrating the birthday of the late Luciano Pavarotti. No scrolling is required.)
-One text entry field
-Loads of white space.

The key here is that they are highlighting their most important work with little additional items. For Google, this is the text entry field. For your blog, it is your writing. Always keep your writing central and you can't go wrong.

Learn more about this author, Matthew Christopher.
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