In our last post, we mentioned a few quick ways in which you can build a better design blog. We’ll be continuing that train of thought, as we think it’s absolutely vital that the modern graphic designer have a comprehensive knowledge of how to build a bloody brilliant blog for their client. The medium has expanded beyond belief, and more and more we’re seeing clients requesting them. Surprisingly, building an above-average blogging design isn’t nearly as hard as you might think.

We’ll be continuing our comprehensive guide to building an incredible blogging experience below, checking up where we left off with:

  1. Make Sure The Site is RSS and eMail Ready: We don’t care what the blog is about: If you have any readers at all, they’ll want to be tuned into every single update, and they’ll want it the minute it comes out. With that in mind, be sure your site is both ready for eMail and RSS, as these are both monumentally popular ways to receive content on-the-fly. If you’re hesitant about the coding involved here, just do a quick search for how to implement RSS into a design. There are a lot of guides out there that can get you started, and understanding how to integrate this kind of functional coding is vital to your success as a designer. The same goes for eMail, so get hopping, Soldier!
  2. Be Social!: Once RSS and eMail are out of the way, focus on the easier though equally as important social networking sites. Say your reader really likes an article they find, and they want to immediately post it to their mother’s Facebook wall. Have you provided an easy way for this digital exchange to happen? Include social networking buttons for all the big hitters (Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, Twitter, etc.) that way your readers are happy and your site is well integrated. Again, the coding may be out of your area, but in this case, most of these sites will supply the needed lines for you.
  3. Archive Everything: The last thing you’ll want to do is ensure there’s an archive page for readers to stroll down memory lane with. As mentioned, the blog will be collecting a lot of content, so make doubly sure there’s a way for dedicated fans to check up on old material. This shouldn’t take long, and your readers will really thank you for it in the long run.