At the end of the day, it’s my readers (you guys) that make PPC Ian the blog that it is! As such, I take feedback from my readers extremely seriously. What’s been the most overwhelming feedback that I’ve gotten over and over again? Basically that I make the background color of my posts white (with black text) versus the black background (with white text) that I’ve had for the last year and half (since my blog launched in October, 2009). Well, I finally took everyone’s advice and made the change last night! In sincerely hope my change makes reading PPC Ian a lot easier on your eyes.
Please Let Me Know What You Think
For the next few weeks, I’m going to test the new white post background. I’m going to closely monitor my blog stats (to see if my visits go up), blog comments, and also emails. If you like (or dislike) the change, I highly encourage you to speak up. Your feedback will really help me out. Right now, I’m very much leaning on the side of keeping the new white post background because I personally like the change and am hopeful it will help take PPC Ian to the next level in terms of visitors. My friend Owen Frager who operates one of the most visited domaining blogs on the Internet and who’s featured me several times provided some really helpful info from his own testing that suggested the white background with black text should really help me drive more visits (and happy readers).
Aside from the posts themselves, everything else here on PPC Ian is staying the same. I’m a huge fan of my overall blog design. After all, PPC Ian sports a custom design from Unique Blog Designs (the same people that designed John Chow dot Com). In an effort to preserve my overall site feel, I left everything else the same (including the post comments). Thanks again everyone for the feedback and I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Image of blueprint © iStockPhoto – doram
It looks better…. I like it. 🙂
Gao,
Thanks so much for the feedback! I very much appreciate it!
All the best,
Ian
Ian, I like it a lot!
Obviously, it’s pretty similar to my new layout 🙂
Keep it up!
Jeremy
Thanks, Jeremy! Good stuff, really appreciate it. Great minds think alike! 🙂 Keep up the great work on your end too, your new layout rocks!
I’m a fan of the white, Ian – I say keep it too! Hope all is well with you.
– Eric
I like it. Are you planning on any other color experiements? Maybe a gray to mix both the black and the white? I like the white though.
Hey Ian,
I read your Blog in my Google RSS reader. It’s white background Black text the Green highlights and Orange text is all the same and it looks great to me there. I’m a big fan of the black and think it’s really cool but unfortunately when I have read your blog for the day it leaves my eyes in shock sometimes when I look around or jump to another screen lol.
Not sure but is there a way I can view this new look on site?
Scratch that last past. It’ came out black when I arrived the first time but after I left my comment it turned White??? Weird 🙂
Thanks and it looks great!
It’s better for sure!
I’m a fan of the new design, I think it looks great! Well done 🙂
Wow! Thanks so much everyone for the feedback! I truly appreciate it. Darren, thanks for pointing out the background change after your comment. I have found that you need to refresh your browser to see the new white post background. Nick, I’m thinking for now I’m going to keep my changes to a minimum (I’m not super skilled on the design front so I’m trying to keep my personal changes to the PPC Ian theme limited while enhancing readability as much as possible), so probably just testing the white post background for now. Nicole, thanks! 🙂 Thanks again everyone!
Hey Ian,
Glad to see the new changes. I can actually read articles now without them burning my eyes!! The same cant be said for reading the comment though so I hope this sections follows suit 🙂
Ian I like the white post background. It looks very clean and goes great with your site. I think you should keep it 🙂
I would say even more white on the page. I white page looks more professional to me and
Thanks again everyone for the comments, feedback, and suggestions! I take all of this really seriously and will taking all of your feedback (positive and also areas for further improvement) under advisement. 🙂
All the best,
Ian
Continuous improvement! Just like refining a PPC campaign. Looks much better. Thanks for the great content and reduced eyestrain. 🙂
Donald,
Thanks so much for the feedback! I truly appreciate it. 🙂 You are absolutely right, it’s just like refining a PPC campaign. Awesome analogy and thanks again for your support.
All the best,
Ian
Hey Ian,
I find the blog posts much easier to read now that it’s black text on white 🙂
Chun,
Thanks so much for the feedback! This is incredibly helpful. I have decided to stay with the white background, as the feedback in favor of it has been overwhelmingly positive. 🙂
All the best,
Ian