A blog's website design is the most important factor for this industry, as it is the main platform of the business. It needs to have a strong design that draws readers in and encourages them to click around the site to other articles. As such, it's a good idea to have your blog posts organized into categories and tagged with clear keywords for SEO.
Interactive elements, such as reader comments, also help people to invest in your story. Zarla's blog AI website builder can help you to create a standout blog website.
Zarla checks that sites meet basic web standards for mobile and desktop. We also use Google's PageSpeed Insights, and WAVE, a service that evaluates accessibility for individuals with disabilities. PageSpeed scores and accessibility are important factors for search engine rankings. PageSpeed scores may not match user experience and can vary substantially.
https://www.adventurouskate.com/
Boston, New York, U.S.
Adventurous Kate is a travel blog aimed at solo female travelers and, as such, Kate focuses on writing about safety tips and city guides. The site is well-organized, with blog posts organized by category and by destination, and includes travel resources for booking accommodations, flights, insurance, and more.
This site stands out by highlighting the well-known news sites it has appeared on, as well as by including customer reviews. The "Work With Kate" section highlights the site's audience profile, traffic and social media stats, and advertising campaigns for serious collaborators to peruse.
An in-depth author bio tells visitors exactly what type of blog posts to expect. A good use of CTAs leads the visitor around the blog, and the plain white background doesn't distract from the colorful images.
The site is only semi-compliant with assistive technologies and WAVE reports a small yet significant number of empty links, missing alternative text, and contrast errors. The advertising banner at the bottom of the page may feel intrusive for some readers, and the site lacks a "start here" CTA or page.
The home page of the desktop site is beautifully organized, making great use of white space. However, the other pages can be overwhelming, with lists of blog posts interspersed with ads, and the author's bio and other lists along the right-hand side of the page. However, the social media links are prominent, and the site has a performance score of 89/100 on Google's PageSpeed Insights.
The mobile site immediately highlights Kate's introduction and the customer reviews, but while the text has been resized for mobile, the hero image hasn't been and is cut off. The category pages feature a much better layout than the desktop site, making it easier for visitors to see the different blog post options.
However, there is still a bottom ad banner that takes up space on the small mobile screen. PageSpeed Insights awards the mobile site a performance score of 60/100.
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Whatveewore is a lifestyle and fashion blog, based in Australia, that offers readers styling tips and outfit inspiration. The site is neatly categorized and includes links to buy the items that Vee wears, creating a personal link with the author. This link is reinforced through the blog images that feature the writer herself.
Social media links are included, and the addition of an FAQ section that includes the writer's measurements is a great touch for readers who want to recreate her looks.
The site features high-quality images and a cool black-and-white color palette that works well with the fashion theme. The different styles of posts, from long-form articles and YouTube videos to quick outfit lists, keep users engaged.
The site is not compliant with assistive technologies and WAVE notes a number of contrast errors, empty links, and missing alternative text. The contact details could be more prominent and the lack of a newsletter is noticeable.
The desktop site has a great grid layout that makes it easier for visitors to scroll through older posts. With the social media links available both in the floating top menu and on the left-hand side, the site ensures that visitors will see them and continue their fashion journey. The contact link is only available in the bottom menu, where the text could be larger.
The mobile site is well-optimized for the smaller screen and makes great use of white space to create an easy user experience. The social media icons are highlighted in the sticky top menu, while the bottom menu fits the screen but also has smaller text, which might make it difficult to click on the different links. The mobile site scores 38/100 on PageSpeed Insights, due to slow loading times. This was confirmed in real-world tests.
Northern Virginia, U.S.
Jason's Movie Blog offers readers YouTube links to trailers for upcoming movies and blog posts about the author's thoughts on older movies. The site is well laid-out with great use of white space to aid in legibility. Bright images shine with great quality, and prominent CTAs invite visitors to watch trailers or read the attached articles.
Visitors have the option to sign up for notifications of new posts, which will increase readership, and they can also submit guest reviews to be featured on the site, enhancing user engagement.
The site has a strong layout that is highly legible and well-categorized for the visitor. The CTAs are prominent, and the site invites comments and guest reviews to increase user engagement.
The site is only semi-compliant with assistive technologies and WAVE reports a number of missing alternative text and contrast errors. As this is a relatively new blog, the writer has not solidified his "voice," leading to some rambling reviews and grammar errors. The lack of social media links is noticeable.
A rotating hero banner featuring the latest posts and an invitation to follow the blog via email welcome visitors to the desktop site. The right-hand panel features links to recent posts, recent comments, categories, and the community, but is repeated twice on the page, rather than just floating with the visitor. On Google's PageSpeed Insights, the desktop site scores uniformly in the low 80s for SEO, best practices, and accessibility, with an overall performance score of 73/100.
The hero banner on the mobile site doesn't rotate automatically, but there are arrows for visitors to scroll through the featured posts. The menu is different in that the link is contained in the whole top bar, which says "Menu" on one side and has the more common hamburger icon on the other.
Users must scroll down to the email notification sign-up, and there is no back-to-top button for ease of navigation. On PageSpeed Insights, the accessibility score for the mobile site drops to 77/100, while the overall performance score is 32/100 due to slow loading times.
Pembroke, Ontario, Canada
Simply Stacie is a food blog written by mother of two, Stacie Vaughan. It features food and beverage recipes for different styles of cooking, and the site is well-organized according to these different categories. High-quality images and videos are included with all posts, as well as some links to branded merchandise and downloadable cookbooks and planners.
While there are several distracting pop-ups and ads on the site, the recipes are well-written and easy to follow and the comments from readers who've tried the recipes make them all the more enticing.
WAVE reports only a handful of missing alternative links and contrast errors on the site. The website is well-organized with prominent social media links and enticing images. The enticement of a free recipe e-book encourages visitors to sign up for the newsletter.
According to accessScan, the site is only semi-compliant with assistive technologies. The home page is packed with recipe links and would benefit from more white space to create a less frantic design and not overwhelm the reader.
The desktop site welcomes visitors with a busy home page, slightly covered by a bottom ad banner and a pop-up video ad. The subscription CTA in the top corner catches the eye, as do the social media links, and the images shine against the white background with enticing food pictures. Confirming real-world tests, PageSpeed Insights awards the desktop site an excellent performance score of 98/100.
The mobile site offers a calmer browsing experience than the desktop site by subtly rearranging the layout of the home page. The signup CTA is even more prominent, but the video ad pop-up is just as distracting as on the desktop site.
The hamburger menu maintains easy navigation and highlights the social media links, although they are sometimes covered by the video ad pop-up, depending on the length of time spent browsing the menu. The mobile site has a performance score of 70/100 on Page Speed Insights.
South Coast, England, U.K.
Hannah & Fitness started as a fitness blog to document the writer's fitness journey but has since grown into an online diary of the blogger's fitness, health, travels, and lifestyle. The site is organized into the different categories Hannah writes about and features a prominent logo, which takes up a lot of space on the home page.
The writer highlights some of her awards and includes high-quality images of herself in different settings in her posts. Due to the sheer number and wide range of posts on this site, it may benefit from a "Start here" page.
WAVE reports only a handful of missing alternative links and contrast errors on the site. There are clear social media links in the footer menu and contact details in the floating top menu, which aids navigation on the site.
The site is not compliant with assistive technologies and lacks additional resources to show readers how the blog is written. The site also does not display information relating to the author's qualifications. The author's intro repeated on every page may become too repetitive.
The desktop site is simple and modern, with a large logo that takes up a lot of space on the page. The contrast could be improved by using a darker color for the text, which would enhance legibility. Google's PageSpeed Insights test scores the desktop site 83/100 for accessibility and an impressive 92/100 for performance, which confirms smooth real-world experiences.
The mobile site has a very clean appearance, as it is mostly the logo, hamburger menu, and search icon that is visible when opening the site. While the social media icons are included in the menu, they are very small, which may cause issues in selecting them.
The images and text blocks have been well-optimized for the smaller screen. PageSpeed Insights notes slow loading times on the mobile site, leading to a performance score of 70/100.
We've curated a collection of five blogging website examples for you to browse, including a review of each site with pros and cons. Our favorites are Adventurous Kate and whatveewore.
Blog websites are platforms for writers to convey their thoughts, feelings, or expertise on a certain topic. It creates a type of online diary for like-minded people to read.
Some of the most popular blog types in 2024 include food blogs, travel blogs, health and fitness blogs, lifestyle blogs, and fashion and beauty blogs.
Try Zarla's AI website builder to create a website with AI-generated content in less than a minute. You can customize and edit your website for free for up to a month, and only pay a small fee to launch your site.
Take a look at our curated list of website examples for ideas of crafting effective, creative blogs on a variety of subjects.
whatveewore and Hannah & Fitness are strong examples of lifestyle blogs.
Read through our curated list of blog website examples for some top-notch examples of blogs that span a range of topics.
If you have little to no experience creating a website, you can use a website builder to get you started. These programs typically provide you with a template to customize and will host your website for a small fee.
