What kind of first impression does your blog make? And do design + usability matter...?


I'm going to answer the question I just posed. Yes. Design and usability matter.
Why am I so confident about this answer? Because in addition to common sense, communications design has been my world for close to 14 years. Blog design these days reminds me of where Web design was five years ago. Some bloggers put a great deal of effort into what kind of user experience their blog will offer, while unfortunately many others don't even give it a second thought. And aside from things like usability–some people succeed at making their blog a unique fingerprint through how they write combined with the way the blog looks and feels. Is one better than the other? Hard to say–but chances are, you will remember a "customized" blog vs. generic template that you've seen a hundred times before.
So back to the user experience of your blog. Isn't good content enough? Yes and no. People who want your content will most likely suffer through bad design–but you have to ask yourself this question. If you respect your readers, why would you want to make anything unpleasant for them?
So what are the hallmarks of a "blog experience" that is less than ideal? Here's a short list of what you might want to avoid.
Blog Roadblocks: Try to avoid advertising, promotions, or other distractions in the main body content area of your blog. It's the equivalent of turning your back to your readers in the middle of a conversation.
Bling Binging: Blog Bling such as search, swiki's etc. can be useful as long as it's not overwhelming. Carefully decide how much bling you really need and what purpose it serves. And also try to keep these away from main content. Too much bling and you risk coming off as a "Gansta"–or even worse, Liberace.
Blinking Spinning Rotating: It was bad in 1996 and it's still bad now.
Noise: Try to avoid background images–especially behind copy.
Multi-colored Madness: Stick with 2-4 colors maximum and try to be consistent.
Legible Lunacy: Don't sacrifice legibility for a cool design effect. People are coming to your blog to read it–not to admire your "black" concept.
Convention Tension: Stick with basic web conventions like clickable logos etc.–unless you have a really good reason to mix things up.
So that covers basic usability. But what can a blog say about your personal brand? Design and how you write can differentiate your blog from others and help you define your own personal brand. Take Diva Marketing, for example. Now there's a great first impression. It's unique, fun, consistent, easy to use and the theme is simply delightful as is the writing style. They go hand and hand. Diva Marketing definitely has "blog brand".
Now let's take a look at a commercial example. Nuts About Southwest also blends a wonderful visual design style that is on brand and consistant with the casual writing style that feels totally Southwest. But again, it's also usable–uncluttered and easy to peruse (a professional design firm was behind this). Both are solid blog experiences. But both examples are also not the norm. Many blogs suffer from some of the ailments mentioned in the previous list. Or if they are usable–they may simply come across as bland, generic or not in alignment with the writing style that gives it personality.
First impressions count. It's why design, marketing and PR firms stay in business. Companies realize that their sites are often times a primary touch point with consumers who often go to the website first. So wouldn't these principles also be true for blogs?