
Photo by LA Wad*
Introduction
This is a guest post by Skellie from http://www.skelliewag.org. Check out her blog for articles on how to use blogs as platforms for profitable online businesses and a great reputation.
Blog footers have traditionally been neglected by designers, usually home only to the obligatory copyright line. Times are-a-changin’ though. Creative footers have become one of the hottest trends in web design, and blog footers are no exception.
It’s not hard to see why. A visitor who reaches the bottom of a web page and finds themselves without anymore content left to browse is at the point where they are most likely to wander away. Blog footers help capture and maintain the interest of the visitor who thinks they’ve seen everything. But they have to be done well. Here are three key things to remember when designing a blog footer.
1. Attention decreases from top to bottom
When a user visits a website, the first thing they see is the top area: the header, the top of the sidebar, and usually some of the content. This is the highest attention area of any design. As the user travels down the page, they need to be kept interested. The likelihood of boredom or distraction increases as the user travels downwards through the design.
They might see a blog post they want to read, or a link they want to follow. They might just decide that the blog isn’t for them. Because of this, most visitors to a blog will never make it to your footer. This means that if there is something you want every visitor to see–whether it’s your navigational menu or the icon for your RSS feed –it should go in the highest attention area of your site: the top area.
2. Your footer is not a navigation bar
Following on from section 1, you should not put ‘must use’ elements of the design in its footer unless they also appear in a high attention area. For example, if your ‘Contact’ page is only accessible through your footer–one of the most common usability errors you’ll see in modern web design–you’re drastically increasing the chances that someone who wants to contact you will lose patience trying to do so. They may never think to look in that area and simply won’t see the link. This can lead to missed opportunities and frustration for blog readers.
Putting a ‘Contact’ page link in your footer is fine, however, when you’ve linked it again in a high attention area. Having navigation at both the top and bottom of your blog will improve its usability, since putting links at the bottom of your page makes sense–once a reader has reached the bottom, they’ll probably want to explore another part of your blog.
3. Keep it interesting!
Blog footers are a great opportunity to surprise and delight those who find them. For years the website footer almost had to be boring. At most, you could expect to find copyright information and a contact link. The nether regions of a blog were to be avoided.
Now, designers are beginning to appreciate the opportunity to go against expectations. I’ve seen blog footers featuring funny quotes, interesting links, portfolio items, illustrations and top posts. These are the best kind of blog footers because they keep users entertained at a key point when they would be most likely to navigate away from a site. Don’t use a blog’s footer as a place for basic features like navigation. Instead, do something interesting and novel that will keep visitors interested!
Conclusion
As a designer, the best way to develop your skill with blog footers is to bury yourself in examples that work. Here are a few great places to start!




258 comments
I put there trust seals, banners for charity causes stats and license.
Great post. I wrote something a few years ago on a similar topic:
19 gorgeous website footers:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/put-your-best-foot-forward
I think that I will start putting my blog networks in my footer.
Thanks,
Nate
Good tips. Guess what, I just redesigned my site and I have contact link in footer only! Its purely depend on how designers present the things. Isn’t it?
In my footer I duplicate navigation plus display my latest tweet and stumble. None of these are very important but they give reader opportunity to either dig deeper or wander away (but in a way related to me).
I know a lot of blogs use quite thick footers, take for example this one. But I see it more of a way to express yourself and increase information within that page. A lot of e-commerce website’s are now starting to push this.
@ Matthew - Thanks for that link
Often I find my blog footers are quite bland, because by the time I get to that area of the design - I’ve already spent so much time creating the header & rest of the design layout, that I just want to get it done.
Never really put much thought into footers before but this all makes sense. *grabs pencil and jots it all down* Thanks so much for the informative writing.
Thanks for those links. I would like to do more with my footers besides have my e-mail addy and copyright info. It’s hard to be creative with an area where everybody is using it for the same thing. And it’s true, as you get to the bottom of the page (at least on the home page) a website gets more and more boring and it doesn’t have to be that way)
I know a lot of blogs use quite thick footers, take for example this one.
I too never really do much with my footers, but looking at the examples you link to it does seem an opportunity missed to neglect them.
Great Tips. I do completely agree with you. Yes attention decreases from top to bottom but footer is one of the most important part of the website.
Thanks for the links to the most impressive blog footers
Good article. Key point: be creative w/ it.
Note to self: redesign footer
I think, footer as important as the header. This is where eye CATCHING
nice article. I learn how to use footer at effectively.
Best post.Thank you
hi, Nice post.thank you for sharing. “Putting a ‘Contact’ page link in your footer is fine, however, when you’ve linked it again in a high attention area. Having navigation at both the top and bottom of your blog will improve its usability” i agree your points.
“Blog footers help capture and maintain the interest of the visitor who thinks they’ve seen everything” this is true.
best tips.
Thanks Skellie, three key things in designing blog footer did helped me.
The information given is really worth and this helps my page appear better.
I too agree with your tips.
Great blog. keep on going,
Thanks for your wonderful tips
Thank you for thsi posting
i will bookmark this blog now. In this blog have many information.
Great post.Thank you
有才人。
this is a nice post
this is a nic epost
Nice tips, i just bookmarked your site.. wil come back for more such tips !
This is a test comment
The above post are very nice.
Awesome article! Thanks for the post!
Thanks for this post - some great advice.
BTW, I think your footer design should be added to the list.
Thanks! Nice article about footer…
Sure thing! Make sense.
Great ideas. Lists like this are a great thing t bear in mind when working on a design.
I work regularly on different design and different patterns. For that i do like the wordpress plugin, and get most of help out of it. Here, I do like to write as your tips are really valuable. And so i do have forwarded your points to my friends and professional ones. And i got many thanks to do so… So just to let you know about it.
Good information, that everyone who develops websites can use. Good writing once again
Thanks for sharing useful tips
Thanks for sharing the information about how we should present the header, footer and to keep the visitors entertained in blogs
Thanks for sharing that .
Your footer isn’t a navigation bar - good tip! Some are too busy.
tesekkurler
And some things you expect to find in the footer, like contact details (snailmail), sitemap, terms etc. So don’t forget the basics.
It’s interesting that you should have brought it up. I’ve been doing some research and what you have mention does work, to a certain extend.
Really useful link this is…..
Thanks for the informative post. I will definitely take these pointers into consideration. Once gain thanks for the good tips..
Thank you for this post and these tips. You gave me the envie to set up my own blog. Thank you !
Great guest post by Skellie, thanks for sharing the links, they are good starting points.
I always try to put in the footer “Related Topics” or such, since the reader may want more once they reach the end of the page. Whatever you can do to make the reader stay on your site is the goal.
Thanks for the useful advice Skellie! I think a lot of blog designers just end up using their footer as another navigation, it’s a shame they don’t do more with it.
the details make all the difference! this is one i havent thought about. Guess Im off to create a new footer!
The split is of course awkward at best. ,
It is concerned with the size of organisms, more particularly with the size of our own corporeal selves. ,
I like This blog design nice work
i never really do much with the website footers i design for clients, but after seen this i might.. do you think it affects the serps?
Great tips, i will keep them in mind when designing my next footer.
Also, some really nice footer design in those links.
Thanks.
Really great tips! Thanks for sharing…
By the way, keep posting!
Ovi Dogar
AbsoluteCovers.com
thanks very very much for this great information
There more very good information on this site…!
Thanks for sharing that.
There more very good
Thanks for your gr8 information it will help me a lot
excellent stuff here, thabk u, will use this advise
I really like the concept of new Blog footer of Links. I really like to design my Blog or Website footer for a relevant Links. Which i consider as a user friendly concept.
i always screw up footers… whats the trick?
Very informative, thanks for the good input!
Thanks for the informative post. I will definitely take these pointers into consideration. Once gain thanks for the good tips..
Always something to be considered when designing a blog-the footer gets more attention than you may think, the people who find theier way there the majority of the time may be looking for the author or designer-so making first impressions count can fall into play here.
Some fine examples listed here matey. Keep it up.
i never really bother with the footer of website, do you really think its that important?
some good examples to think about.. Also before you do a site do you produce a mock up for you client?
Footers are becoming so useful these days, especially for all the social media bits - too often people fill it with keyword links.
Great article though -
Ryan
nice post
Great Post. I would agree footers are becoming important. A lot of people scroll through the page quickly and end up at the bottom… so that may be your only chance to visually capture someone again.
Yes, you are right. footer as important as the header.
Great tips, i will keep them in mind when designing my blog footer.
Thanks for sharing.
You are right. The footer is an important port of a website that is often neglected. Until now, I mostly wrote links to my other sites in there.
Really informative post special this point “Attention decreases from top to bottom”. Thanks for sharing
Nice post you have touch some much ignored points of blog designing.My question is does it really need a good footer? I just mention Google’s suggestion of posting adsense they have given least importance to footer.In general visitor does not pay much attention at footer.
While I do believe there are valid points I think its important not to lose sight of the overall design also. I have seen some websites where too much emphasis has been put on the footer, making the whole page off-balance design wise.
I think that I will start putting my blog networks in my footer. Thanks
My opinion is tat you should keep the design of your new blog simple and clean. This way you can have more visible call-to-action titles, which are the most important thing in order to generate some sales from a visitor.
First, you need to design an attractive header design which attracts people, second, and most important, you should creat great content and third, build a list. Those must be included in the new blog design, if you ask me…
Cheers,
Cartobias S.
Often I find my blog footers are quite bland, because by the time I get to that area of the design - I’ve already spent so much time creating the header & rest of the design layout, that I just want to get it done.
incredible, i saw something like tahat in http://www.todaybestdesigner.com, very good
Two big thumbs up :-), thanks for the good input!
Well good tips mostly people dont give consideration to footer.
We always see wrong build footers (full of some legal crap, for example). I bookmarked Skellie`s blog.
Great points that you have listed. I agree with most of them. When I design sites from now on i will make sure I follow some of these guide lines
Very short, sweet and straight forward tips… I think its all about quality from look and content vise we maintain while creating blog..
Very nice Article!
Really Nice!
Thanks For this post…
Very Nice Post…
Very simple and nice article!
Very Sweet and short Article !
Really Gr8 !
Very helpful write up!
Yes i agree with you. footer is as important as header. Thanks for sharing this informative post. keep it up, guy!
it looks like a good source of information. i ll bookmark this page so i can access later and i will share it with my friends. thanks for sharing with us
one thing i find useful is to use no follow tags on user friendly tags such as “roller banners” and then i pay presence to the same link to the same page on the footer using a target kyphrase which is less competitive e.g. “roller banner stands” - its good for seo - but search engines do now pay less preference to footer links
Evident but helpful tips. Also I think there are more much than “3 things to remember”.
It was nice reading the article. We many a time miss on these essentials. Thanks for sharing the same.
Yes, I agree with you. footer is as important as the header and content part in blog. I will keep them in mind when designing my blog.
Thanks for sharing.
The footer is good to post some links to inner articles. YOu get the PR of the whole site to those articles, and therefore you can rank better in the SERPs.
Web development services - we offer cost effective web development services in India and all over the world. Also we offer cheap web design services in India and all over the world.
Wow, something I never paid much attention to but after seeing those designs I certainly will!
Brilliant post! You think of everything
I need directions on how to embed an amazon store into my wordpress blog. I want to use my own header and footer and have it be part of my site instead of linking to it..
thanks for sharing the information..well it is very useful.. i think i need to upgrade my blog..many thanks to you
I will notice this!
Footer is the hardest part to design.Thanks for nice tips.Really help me out.
I know a lot of blogs use quite thick footers, take for example this one. But I see it more of a way to express yourself and increase information within that page. A lot of e-commerce website’s are now starting to push this.
Excellent post, thanks!
What you say is perfectly true, and I feel like I already knew it, but you had to write it to realize the importance of the footer.
hey
Good information
I agree with all three points you mentioned and i must say they are very beneficial. Thanks for the info
Just read this again, still a top notch article
This is so elaborate and detailed. Useful for almost everyone who is into blogging. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Very important thing you said in that blog. I love to read that all important point to remember when designing.
Really nice suggestion.. thanks for sharing
Put it at the bottom of the page
we have no words to thank blogdeisgnblog
footer is really an important part of website that helps in navigation and of course in seo too…
My skills in designing a blog footer are limited so thanks for the help on this matter.
Nice article, what would you say about having ‘related topics’ in the footer?
hey really helpful… thanks…
Really it’s good article i’m suggest another one
Thanks
thank for this article
Great tips.
These do also apply to general website design.
Thank…
Really nice suggestion..thanks!
Very nice article, thanks. Some really helpful info here. Good links here too.
great footer tips.
iPhone Apps are really getting engaged in market and many developers are focusing to developed quality iPhone Apps.
some very nice designs here. i often tend to change the style of my blogs, too. never ending story…
Some interesting post
Thats one thing I hate especially with some wordpress blog templates when they have navigation in the footer.
At the end of the day one people are at the bottom of the page they are probably there because they have finished looking at what they wanted, why put naviagtion at the bottom?
A simple copyright and credit to the design author is all that is needed, plus perhaps a disclaimer / privacy policy etc. if they do not fit into the existing page structure of the blog.
For me all my main site elements/links are in the footer so that anyone who has scrolled down the page doesn’t have to go all the way back up to the top links to get somewhere new.
Not everyone uses navigates a webpage the same so i try to include numerous options….especially on the home page.
Footer is one of the most underestimated things of a blog. i think the footer is very good to link usefull stuff for the reader or to do linktrade with other blogs.
Thanks for this post - some excellent advice.
VPN
Parabens pelo conteudo
Thanks for share this. Interesting one.
thx for sharing. the footer is often fogrotten and a usefull tool for sharing links.
I agree with you. footer is as important as the header and content part in blog.
Interesting Post …. I liked It i think this is very useful tips in our web design blogs
Yep i agree.The footer is a good part to round up the impression of your site.I have a blogspot.com blog.I have customized the template myself and the first thing i redesigned was the header and the footer.
You are true : every important link you have in the footer, should be visible in a high attention area as well.
Thanx
WB
Hey! you have shared such a nice post. I think you are right. blog footer is as important as header and content area. This post will help us to create a nice blog design. thanks for this post.
Thanks for sharing, this guide is realy useful!
thank you for sharing your tips
Thanks for all those advices. It appears that i neglected my footers… I’m going to fix that : D . Thank you again, it was really interesting.
Really lovely headers. It gave a nice edge to the blog I designed. Thanks a lot.
Awesome posting,very informative as well. thanks for sharing…
We really thank you for your wonderful article. You have created your page, I believe really helped us.
Yeah, this segmentation idea is easy to handle, gives much better concentration to the different areas of a blog. Thanks
its a great source for the bloggers, to get all the required info they wish to design their blog,,thank you
Nice informative article.. Keep the good work one…
nice.thanks
Found it much informative. Keep it up.
Great piece of info. Thank you. I’m just starting to learn the basics of web design
Great tips, really a useful one. Thanks.
the example is interesting
This is awesome. Thanks for sharing great info
All are very helpful. The heading is very important. It must be appealing to readers to attract readers on your blog.
Another important thing is the keyword structure, you must build your keyword density in order for serch engine to index your artwork the most.
thanks for your tips, good day.
thx for the insight. I usually include recent posts, tags, and search in footer
Thanks for great tip … my favouries footer is link to most important page in my site … make footer more clean and easy to find out …
Thank you for beautiful post and idea!
I like the top-to-bottom attention issue. I never considered the issue with the contact link as well. Good suggestions.
It’s always good to be aware of how the eye moves throughout any composition, whether it be a painting, photograph, print ad, or website. Back in design class that’s one of the things we learned about - how the lower-left corner is called the “dead corner” because it’s the most often overlooked.
I do agree with your tips. It is always good to learn something new from these type of good article
Who the hell looks at footers anyway for navagation purposes? I can’t say I look there unless I can’t find something as a last resource.
I think, footer as important as the header. Thanks for your ideas.
Brilliant tips mate, really informative!
really like it, great post, thanks.
. i think i need to upgrade my blog..many thanks to you
I totally agree with this post, it’s great to read some informative writings like this. Thanks!
Why not make the footer look funny? This way it’ll be not only impressive but very memorable as well
thanks for sharing.very useful for me i will bookmark this for my future needed. thanks for a great source.
Thanks for telling about designing the footer, nice ideas
Footers generally help like alternate navigation for users, so nice that it receives some attention from blog designers
Thanks for the valuable post and I totally agree with your post. I think your tips will be useful for me
Thanks for the info guys really interesting stuff, maybe we could do with moving some of our information around regarding our footer. Cheers
Hi, good post there thank you for publishing
Nice, i must keep this blog in mind
I’ve actually made a few changes according to your post. Thanks!
The information provided here will definitely helpful to persons who are using their footer as link farm. I have seen many person who placed many links in footer.
Thanks alot, a great little read if I do say so! Good Work!
Very Interesting! Thanks I will take it!
I follow a simple rule when designing footers - I make them memorable and clean
Very nice article. Key information I think people need to hear!
such a nice article about designing good blog footer. at point of view, footer is as important as header and content area in the website and blog.
Thanks you for sharing this information.I have seen many sites where blogs footer are not well designed and sometimes missing footers.
nice pots, thanks for taking the time and effort
it’s so easy to miss the importance of the footer but from both a design and seo perspective it can be invaluable.
The catchy website with the interesting posts. You give the nice information that many people don’t know before. most of your contents are make me have more knowledge. it is very different. I was impressed with your blog. Never be bored to visit your blog again. Have the nice your time.Keep enjoyed your blogging.
Very Nice and clear view of footer. Thanks for sharing
cheers for the tips about this, something I thankfully have done with my blog lol, cheers
Great job.I like all post in your blog. Its very useful from blog maintain person. I have one blogger site.archaeology excavations
Great post
Thanks
There seems to be a design trend at the moment for taller footers. Can’t be a bad thing, it’s often the last place you look when leaving a page, and putting calls to action down there isn’t a bad idea…
I know a lot of blogs use quite thick footers, take for example this one.
you have shared very nice post about describing the importance of footer in blog. i will keep it in my mind.
tıbbi cihazlar,biyomedikal,kalibrasyon,teknik servis,tıbbi cihaz tamiri,medikal teknik servis,kalibrasyon eğitimi
hi, sales@wonbon.com , good day
woow, sorry, sales@zooly.org , bad news.
Very good footer practices, thank you for sharing! Will keep in mind for the next blog I make.
Thanks for sharing this post. Agree with what you mentioned and will keep in mind for my future designs.
thanks for sharing
Keep it interesting

Nice advice
Yes attention does decrease. But your right many might just scroll through the page fast to see if anything is different. So eye catching web site design in the footer is almost the last chance message area.
great tip! thanks for sharing
Though we would all like to be able to do website designing for own website, we all aren’t able to, whether we just don’t understand the various elements or we just don’t have the time or don’t have the required expertise; the use of a top website design company is a must have. Just any website design company will not do; there are various things that can make a web design company a best web design company who will provide the exact services you need to meet the exact specifications you provide and request.
Great article!
Description about the footer is very good…
Started think about footers.. After reading your blog i came to know how good a proper footer design have to be for grab returning visitors i,e .. clients and also it will be very attractive for new visitors…
Venkatesh - Gulfwebstudio.com
I am making a new blog today. So, i keep all the tips in mind and i really start putting my blog networks in my footer. That is really a great idea.
nice info, thanks for sharing the post.
Thanks for sharing this useful information.
It is very interesting blog post
Designing a blog requires a sense for art but also there are some rules which has to be followed and these can be learned easily if we read this article. The artistic sense depends on us!
good
Started think about footers.. After reading your blog i came to know how good a proper footer design have to be for grab returning visitors i,e .. clients and also it will be very attractive for new visitors…
Description about the footer is very good…
What you want to say…
Thanks for sharing this useful information.
Thanks for sharing this useful information.
It is very interesting blog post
I am making a new blog today. So, i keep all the tips in mind and i really start putting my blog networks in my footer. That is really a great idea.
Great tips. I never cared about my footer much. Will keep an eye on it
Yeah, I completely agree with this post. Footer part is as important as the other parts of the page. Many thanks for uploading this stuff….
When a user visits a website, the first thing they see is the top area: the header, the top of the sidebar, and usually some of the content. This is the highest attention area of any design. As the user travels down the page, they need to be kept interested. The likelihood of boredom or distraction increases as the user travels downwards through the design.
In most of cases blog footer is useful in providing privacy policy, copyright and owner’s information and this information must need to be very clear to see. And yes don’t use footer for link placement.
Show…
Thanks for the article. I’ll keep my footer interesting enough.
make a website
wow, teach me more. I am a newbie and very thankful for this article.
None of these are very important but they give reader opportunity to either dig deeper or wander away (but in a way related to me).
Thanks for the links. Visit this link on how to make your own website
Very important but they give reader opportunity to either dig deeper or wander away!!!
1. Attention decreases from top to bottom
2. Your footer is not a navigation bar
3. Keep it interesting!
Blog footers are a great opportunity to surprise and delight those who find them. For years the website footer almost had to be boring. At most, you could expect to find copyright information and a contact link. The nether regions of a blog were to be avoided.
So, i keep all the tips in mind and i really start putting my blog networks in my footer. That is really a great idea.
I have seen the footer design examples, and it is really helpful.
I am very guilty of producing ‘boring’ footers, think its the only part of my web design that really lets me down. I put all the correct details in them: site pages, co detaisl etc but maybe a dose of humour or visula aid would bring them to life. I’ll check out the examples hopefully I’ll get some needed inspiration for the footer of the future.
nice post
thank you
Excellent tips!
A very useful posting, Specially i like the line “Footer is not your navigation bar”
we can show links to external pages. It let user to understands more about website.
I have seen the footer design examples, and it is really helpful.
Hi Skellie ,
Thank you very much for such a wonderful post. I am a newbie web designer and I am collecting more information about web design tips. I hope I can see more and more articles like these from you.
Regards,
Webdezine Blog
Helpful info there you have,will “steal” this to benfit my own projects.cheers! Will check back soon for more
I think the footer is the best way to keep the user in your site. If the footer is weel designed, than the user wil not leave your site.
Thanks.
Good information about blog footer , found this blog very useful
The footer is the last chance you have to capture a users attention in some scenarios and keep them on your site a benefit being a reduction in bounce rate on your site.
yeah! I remember it!
Great post … I´going to implement your suggestions … and thanks for the link to some examples. Well done ;D!
That will be a good reminder. That will really help.
Todd
oh cool blog design
Excellent information.. Very informative too!
I will post you in my blog!
Add a comment