Here are the specific details of what belongs where on a WordPress page. Placement is very important because making it easy for your new visitors to quickly find what they’re seeking can turn them into repeat visitors who can quickly find posts to share with others.

These tips specify the optimum place for each of the items used on an optimum Web page. They are not the only place they could be; there are secondary locations that may be used. Once you understand why usability experts recommend specific layouts you can make the decision to alter them. Until then it is best to use what has been tested and known to work.

HEADER

• Logo in left corner…business name next to logo… tagline under or next to your business or site name.
• Tabs under the logo for Home, About, Reference, Glossary, Contact (optimized to not affect SEO)
• Links or tabs at very bottom of template for About, Contact Us, Privacy Policy, Copywrite. You may also want Sitemap, Hosted by ________, and Advertise links.
• Two columns, posts on left, sidebar on right

Order of Information in Right Sidebar Column:
• Site Search (Enhanced site search is very important. More research is required before recommending the best solution. In the meantime, see SearchTools. Search must be clearly labeled with the word SEARCH – either using the word search to start the process OR having SEARCH before the box and a button with some other word after it.)
• Subscribe multiple RSS feed options (by category, w/ or w/o comments, links only?)
• Reference – static pages that have the latest information and links to all posts on a specific subject
• Categories – rename header to customize. I prefer “Blog Topics”
• Recent Visitors (MyBlogLog, Blog Catalog, etc.)
• Social Networking Links

IMPLEMENTATION:
• Use tabs to more effectively display more info in less space in the right column. Use for Recent Posts, Most Popular aka Popular Posts. Most Commented is another option to consider.
• Use tabs for Recent comments, Top Commentators
• Blogroll (I may change that to “We Recommend” links)
• Have category descriptions show on mouseover (as they do now in this blog)
• Have descriptions for Reference pages show on mouseover the way category descriptions do.
• Tabbed display of MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, other?
• Dates added to each post but not in the urls.

NOT NEEDED or DESIRED:
• Archives by date (Who remembers when something was posted or finds it again that way?)
• Tagcloud (More useful for diary-like blogs. Not necessary for sites with clearly defined topics.)

TO USE OR NOT TO USE; THAT IS THE QUESTION:

• WordPress XML Sitemap
  

CHANGES I WOULD MAKE TO THE DEFAULT WP CSS (or make sure the designer did NOT change):

• Bulleted items – solid bullets instead of arrows
• Hyperlinks standard color; visited links change to standard color
• Ability to use outline format (Roman numerals, capital letters, numbers, lower case letters)

If possible I would have the CSS correct the spacing issue that occurs when a bulleted item appears on more than one line. If you know a fix for this, please share it in the comments. Thanks.

ONE UPGRADE MORE IMPORTANT THAN MOST OTHERS:

A Glossary plug-in to automatically link any word used in a post to the definition present in the glossary. Definitions should be editable / controlled by the blog writer. Every blog or Web site uses words that are specific to their niche. A glossary that auto-links your preferred definition to those words whenever you use them would greatly benefit every site:

• Save time explaining them repeatedly
• Shorten posts for easier scanning and readability
• Please your advanced readers who already know what they mean without losing those who may not have come across that word or phrase before.

RELATED POSTS:

• Defining The Perfect WordPress Theme
• Perfect WordPress Theme Design Part 1: Backgrounds, Style, Number of Columns

I have an extensive background in how site design affects ecommerce sales and usability, so I have some very specific ideas about what makes the perfect WordPress design. Using WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS) allows a blog to incorporate the best features of any Web site.

These ideas include where something should be on the page and what it should look like. As time allows I will link in additional posts explaining exactly why I (and those I learned usability from) recommend specific placement of certain important features. I will also explain what each of the items mentioned below is for the benefit of those new to Web design. For now I’ll make this more concise:

Best WordPress Design Tips:

• Clean, simple and uncluttered
• Header with rounded edges
• Two columns
• Posts in the left column
• One sidebar to the right side
• Additional navigation at the bottom
• Backgrounds that have clearly defined areas for the header, posts, sidebar, and footer
• Tabbed navigation
• Rounded corners on backgrounds, text areas, images and logos
• No more than three text colors and three fonts
• Great plug-in functionality
• Matching Logo, Avatar, and Favicon

Unpleasant WP Design Features:

• Too little contrast between background and text making it difficult to read
• Backgrounds that don’t fit the area that contains content
• Too blocky with square corners
• Excessively long pages
• Cluttered – too busy
• Ads everywhere
• Too many colors
• Use of more than three fonts or type sizes
• Sections on top of other areas
• Aesthetically unpleasing to the eye

NOTE: These are my idea of optimum based on years of experience. That experience includes tracking the effect changing Web sites had on sales. You may have a specific reason for breaking the above “rules” as rules are only guidelines. It is always best to know the guidelines before you decide to “break” them!

Let’s continue with Perfect WordPress Theme Design Part 2: Headers, Search, SideBars, Footers.

RELATED POSTS:

• What is The Perfect WordPress Theme? (First in this series; this post in the second.)
• Perfect WordPress Theme Design Part 2: Headers, Search, SideBars, Footers (Next post in this series)

Creating an exceptional online presence requires an enormous amount of specialized knowledge. A blog is only as usable and useful as the template it is built upon. I have been doing research, thinking about, and reading up on better blog design. While some bloggers do learn to make WordPress themes do you really want to invest that much time in something you only really have to do once?

I’ve visited hundreds of blogs in the past few days making notes on what I like about each one – and equally important what I don’t like. This exercise is highly recommended for anyone who will be creating a new site – especially if you’re going to hire someone to design it for you. If you are not clear on exactly what you want, how will your poor designer ever please you? You don’t want to be a clueless client.

First I stopped in on all the most influential Internet Marketing bloggers because they use the most cutting edge plug-ins, usually know Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and use Social Networking heavily. Their blogs are useful for deciding what to put in the sidebar – and when there is just TOO much there.

Would you believe I visited every one of the sites mentioned in Top 50+ Graphic Design Blogs? Who is more likely to have a beautiful blog design than a designer? Although I am graphics challenged, I have a lot of expertise in usability and Best Web Site Design so I was checking for specific layouts as well as design.

Surprisingly, it turns out I also have some very specific ideas about design.

I did not find that perfect design yet – much less one with sporting all the features I want to use. What about the blogs that receive the Best Blog Design Award? That could be the way to find the perfect layout to share with my Web Designer. Fortunately I didn’t have to visit all of them as the thumbnail images allowed me to pick out those that had the right general design. Although that seemed like a good idea I quickly abandoned it as too time-consuming and non-productive.

My quest for The Perfect WordPress Theme (for me) continues. Come along as I define precisely what that perfect Wordpress site would look like:

Perfect WordPress Theme Design Part 1: Backgrounds, Style, Number of Columns