I got this question for an inquiring young lady that has been following my posts at the Lone Wolf. It was really kind of interesting because she didn't leave me a comment on the blog; but rather she sent me an email and asked about several of the style elements I've incorporated.
She is starting her own blog and I suppose liked what I was doing and wondered what the rhyme and reason was behind my style choices.
Here are my feelings about the style of Lone Wolf Tracks that might be of interest to others that may be wondering as well.
Title preference: quotation marks. Why?
Studies have shown that quotation marks grab attention. They humanize the text as though someone you were speaking with was talking directly to you. They tend to draw the eye to learn what someone is saying about a subject.
One study cited said that titles utilizing quotation marks were read 35% more often than those without them. That is a significant number to me.
Color preference: dark blue. Why?
First let me remind you that Lone Wolf Tracks is part of the Know More Media network of business blogs. As such, there are certain limitations in style that the network imposes.
I noticed at the very outset, before I had been accepted as an author, that the blogs already in the network were assigned differing base colors. I wanted dark blue for my "home colors" but thought it a little presumptuous to make a request of that kind since I was brand new. So what did I do?
I asked (offered) if I could submit several header graphics for management's consideration since this is a chore they would have to accomplish if my blog idea was accepted. The guys at Know More Media agreed.
The graphic you see here at my blog are my own design. I wanted dark blue as my main color so I designed the header with that in mind. The managers liked what I proposed and the rest of the colors on the site took care of themselves.
So why did I choose dark blue? I have researched several web site usability studies and found that in almost everybody's book, that is the color of choice for readability, professionalism, and credibility.
Not only that, but a large majority of the most highly trafficked sites on the Internet utilize dark blue as their major color. These guys have tested and tweaked what they do and they all have come to the same conclusion.
So who am I to run counter to all the research and effort they have gone to in identifying the best color to use on their sites?
In addition, dark blue goes nicely with dark blue text coloring for active links. Again, if you look at all the major web sites, they tend to favor dark blue as their color to identify "click-able" text. My site is no different.
I urge you to visit any of the large Internet sites like Google, Yahoo, MSN, USAToday, Amazon, Ebay, CNN, etc. and notice the overall color of the site and the text linking colors. They're all blue or dark blue.
My friend also asked why I put an image on every post.
I want my blog to be a little different. I like the idea of making it visually pleasing by breaking up the text a little bit. You will notice, I hope, that each graphic I use has some relevance to the article subject. It reinforces the content to have a picture that relates to the discussion.
And it's something that sets my blog apart from others. I try to use small, colorful, consistent images that add to the story I'm telling. I have been pleasantly surprised by all the readers that have positively commented on the illustrations I have employed.
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