Many blogs are “born” daily as many take to blogging online to express their thoughts and socialize. There are millions of blogs around in the blogosphere. How then can you make your blog unique and not just another cookie cutter blog?

The look of your site is very important. When a visitor surfs up your website it must be able to captivate their interest or else they may click away in less then 2 seconds.

How to make your site appealing?

There are some elements you need to take note of for your site to be found appealing.

1. Template Design

A personalized header with clear graphics make a great difference to your blog. It reflects your personality and also gives you the “feel” of what the blog is about. Also if your blog template is clear and allows easy navigation it would definitely be captivating for your audience. Use fonts that are legible and in a dark colors to make easy reading.

2. Linking within and out from your blog

One of the most annoying things would be to have broken links in your blog. I personally find it irritating to click on something and find that it reads 'page not found'. You can easily address this matter by installing the 'Broken Link checker' plugin if you are using a self-installed Word Press blog.

Linking to key posts or other related posts within your site will make it easier for readers to find other related reads. You can use the 'Link Within' widget or the 'Related post' plugin for Word Press blogs to enable this feature. Installing such a feature will tempt your readers to stay longer on your site as they may be interested in reading other articles which you may have.

3. Make it easy to contact you.

Have your contact form visible on the tabs on your blog. Sometimes you may have readers who may like to contact you and it can be frustrating if they are unable to find a way to do so.

4. Make it easy to find content on your blog

Have a search function and also categorize your blog by using topic categories. You can also list your most recent posts on the sidebar so that your audience gets a feel about what is happening on the blog.

5. Declutter

Remove unnecessary videos, links and buttons on your sidebar. It not only slows down the time taken to load up your site but also makes your site look messy.

- Dominique Goh is an elementary school teacher, Mommy to 2 active little boys, cake decorator, internet consultant and the life behind 'Learning with Dominique' and her parenting site 'From Dominique's Desk'