What Makes A Great Header? Help Me Pick My Next Blog Header

My blog header has gone through quite a number of iterations. I used Screenshots.com to look back to 2009 and view the evolution of my header over time. Initially my blog was on TypePad starting in 2007, then Domainvestors.tv, and then in 2009 to MorganLinton.com. Before I merged the two blogs MorganLinton.com was being run as a personal blog as you can see from the image below of the blog when it was still separate from Domainvestors.tv:

Next came the integration of the two blogs into one and Domainvestors.tv began forwarding to MorganLinton.com which then became the new home for my blog. This was a very hard decision, I had over ten-thousand readers all of who knew my blog as Domainvestors.tv, would they all leave if I went to MorganLinton.com? Would people not be able to find me? I had to start the whole SEO process over again as well.

Well everything worked-out very well, everyone quickly adapted to the name. The first inception of the new blog looked like this:

For this header I took a photo that I liked from a recent trip to Australia along with a focus on my tagline. I liked this photo because it really captured me, not some guy sitting behind a desk, but an inspired entrepreneur traveling the world. At this time I was literally traveling the world! I also always liked the idea of having a beautiful landscape photo on the site, I feel like there’s something soothing or relaxing about it.

That’s just me and some people like this header, others didn’t. The #1 complaint was that I was squinting too much in the picture, well hey it was sunny that day!

Traffic and revenue started to really grow and with it came more emails, comments, attempted and successful hacks…I think some would say that was the tipping point for me. I had some strong recommendations to update the header and make it more professional. So I went for my first real Web 2.0 look and released this in 2011:

I liked adding buttons for my book twitter, facebook, and my newsletter – those are all important things for people to find easily. What really bugged me about this design is the page just looked too blank and plain. So a new design was born and you’re looking at it!

I choose teal as my primary color, I’ve been getting very into the meaning of colors over the past couple of years. As we’ve been building more and more brands color really does play a role. Teal is associated with trustworthiness, devotion, and healing. Then the yellow underneath represents joy, happiness and wisdom. I liked the balancing of Teal and Yellow so picked those colors.

While I like the colors I picked I think the design looks fairly boring and generic. Also I think it’s time for me to find a top-notch header designer to really do it right. So I wanted to reach-out to all of you, my readers, and give you the chance to provide your feedback on what would make a great blog header.

I am hoping that this will not only help me make a better header but everyone else that is developing sites and building brands. Your feedback will directly impact the look-and-feel of my blog because I’m doing this for all of you! Comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton