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New Blogtrepreneur Design Thursdays and You

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Thursday is such a versatile day of the week. It’s the day after Yahtzee day, for those that follow the fast talking game reviewer. It’s the day before Friday, and right before the weekend begins. Thursday is also now design day here at Blogtrepreneur, although we won’t be sending any American Idols, Survivors or Apprentices home, we will be exploring the world of web design and how it fits in with entrepreneurship.

Introduction to the Column

Every Thursday afternoon you’ll be greeted by some discussion on web design trends, the science of it all and how it all works out in relation to you (yes, you). In the past there has been little involvement with the world of design on behalf of Blogtrepreneur. This could be due to focussing more on the blogging and business element that is so important to this website, but I believe design is important to every website.

I know there must be a good bunch of freelance designers out there, as well as like minded young entrepreneurs, so hopefully on Thursdays we can start some good discussion on the aforementioned topics.

As Blogtrepreneur’s resident designer, me and Adnan have something great in the works. You’ve already read about the new design coming in the upcoming weeks, but this one is separating boys from men. Big to huge. Blog to authority. That’s the power a design can have.

The Relationship: Entrepreneur and Designer

The marriage between an entrepreneur and a designer is very important. While an idea can be great, it must come to life. You’ll notice that many of the great freelance and business blogs have great designs. Always have, and always will. Here are some examples:

FreelanceSwitch
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The obvious choice. From day one not only have these guys pushed out huge amounts of great content, but the site has looked great for every minute.

Problogger
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Problogger has become more of a general blog and has reached a greater audience since its redesign. Coincidence?

Copyblogger
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Same deal as Problogger, where a popular site reaches new heights with a new and improved look.

Those sites all come from some pretty big names in web design. Collis Ta’eed, Ben Bleikamp and Chris Pearson respectively.Whether the designer is a partner, a gun for hire or the go to guy (one of each there), the relationship is important.

Your designer will influence your ideas, as an entrepreneur.

It’s the collective creative process and the creation of idea to website that makes the whole package great. That’s where me and Adnan aim to go with Blogtrepreneur. Taking it from a niche on the Internet to the place to be for designers, entrepreneurs and bloggers alike.

The Ultimate Design

In the end, we all want the best possible design for our site. But what is your goal? Why do you want a great design?

  • Influence others. Every designer has a few other designers they are inspired by. Now imagine yourself on the other end of that for a second- people are inspired by your design.
  • Give your content an advantage. Great content only goes so far on a bad design. Give your content a chance to be seen for what it is, not the design its on (in a negative way, of course).
  • Bring traffic. If not from the “CSS” galleries of the web, a great new design will at least warrant attention from other blogs.
  • Hold traffic. Might as well look around if it looks good, right? I’ve always found (especially on a release day) that pageviews are much higher on a better design.

If you can reach those goals, whose to say you haven’t reached the holy grail of web design? From there you have to let your content take over. A great design can only make you so popular.

By the way, I’m Connor Wilson. I write my own blog on the issues concerning web development and am a freelance web designer and full time student.

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