Starting a blog can be a daunting task, especially if you want to capture the attention of readers. You need to make a lasting impression, and one powerful way to do that is with an extraordinary custom blog home page design.

Are you tired of feeling limited by the pre-made designs of your blog? Imagine creating a custom home page that not only showcases your blog posts, but also offers lead magnets and products to increase your reach and sales.

Running a successful blog can be tough, but with a little extra control over your design, you'll undoubtedly see increased traffic and more converted subscribers and customers.

As a powerful marketing tool, blogs have the potential to drive traffic and increase awareness of your brand.

Today, we've compiled a list of the top 9 blog homepage design examples that are sure to get your creative juices flowing.

So go ahead, let these amazing designs inspire you to create an unforgettable blog of your own.

A custom blog homepage is a page that displays your blog content and also your lead magnets and product promotions.

Rather than a fixed blog theme layout, you have complete control of the design.

The goal is to improve visitor engagement and conversion rates.

You can create a unique brand design specific to your business objectives.

This includes designs like graphics, images, videos, and calls to action. It helps visitors take action, such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading a lead magnet.

A custom blog home page gives you design flexibility and freedom.

You can create designs that result in more exposure, leads, sales, and customers.

In addition:

Here are a few examples of blog home page designs used in different industries.

We’ve highlighted the key optimisations you can use as inspiration:

hotjar.com/blog/

Hotjar custom blog home page

Hotjar uses different blog listings that organize content into categories.

This allows you to access and read blog articles on topics that interest you the most.

Blogs that don't categorise content make it harder for people to access information.

When visitors can easily find content, it lowers bounce rates and improves engagement.

Using Hotjar's example, improve organisation and give your readers a better experience. This will increase leads and sales in your business.

OptimizePress Tip: Include the most popular posts for each of your category listings. This will maximise the engagement of your blog.

Brit.co

Brit.co custom blog home page

Brit.co's blog homepage features a simple column layout.

Including rows that showcase blog content alongside lead magnets and paid offers.

This design increases the visibility of their offers and helps encourage visitor action.

Using Brit.co 's example, you can generate interest in your products by placing offers on your blog.

Brit.co has third-party advertising banners on their custom blog page. We don't recommend you do this (unless they are affiliate links). Any messages that distract from your content reduces engagement and lowers conversions.

OptimizePress Tip: Target one offer and call to action on your blog. One call to action reduces overwhelm, making it easier for visitors to make decisions. The more choices you provide, the less likely readers will perform the desired action.

As the saying goes.... if you confuse you lose!

Wise.com

Wise custom blog home page

Wise's blog homepage features a clean and straightforward layout. This makes it easy for visitors to navigate and click on the blog posts that they are most interested in.

Wise uses a clear and intuitive layout along with attractive featured images. This creates an engaging environment, encouraging you to explore its content.

Make it easy for people to find the information they need. The more you can help people, the more likely they will return to your blog and share your content.

OptimizePress Tip: Use stock photo images where possible that are eye-catching and compelling. This will make it easier and more cost-effective when producing new blog posts.

post.bark.co

Bark.co custom blog home page

Bark.co's custom blog alternates its the layout between article content and promotions. This pattern repeats throughout the custom blog page. Visitors find the answers they need from the blog post articles and see the paid offers.

This is a smart approach to maximise conversion opportunities.

The alternating layout design works well for you and your visitors. It means they have access to free article content, and you can promote your products.

OptimizePress Tip: Use low-ticket pricing offers to reduce the barrier of entry for first-time customers. This will make it easier to convert them with higher-ticket offers later.

ahrefs.com/blog/

Ahrefs custom blog home page

Ahrefs has a custom blog home page with a clean layout. They organise their content by just showing the post title and description.

The simple design helps people find what they want to read without overwhelm.

Ahrefs promote specific posts they want to draw attention to by including a post image.

A simple layout means visitors are more likely to stay on the site and explore more content.

OptimizePress Tip: Entice visitors with engaging descriptions that share the benefits of reading a post.

helpscout.com/blog/

Helpscout custom blog home page

Helpscout uses an 'Editor's Pick' section on their custom blog home page. This adds credibility to their articles, encouraging visitors to read and engage.

By featuring selected articles, Helpscout highlights its best content. This attracts more readers and builds fans.

By using this approach, you can build a strong relationship with your readers.

Helpscout also includes an opt-in form with various options.

What people select tells Helpscout about their interests. This is a process called segmenting.

Segmenting subscribers into categories means you can send them targeted content.

When you send people content aligned with their interests, they are more likely to click, like and buy.

OptimizePress Tip: Identify 2-3 audience groups to help you create specific lead magnets. This will allow you to segment your customers so you can offer them relevant promotions.

discord.com/blog

Discord custom blog home page

Discord uses vibrant images to create a fun feel for its custom blog page. This aligns with their brand and the audience they are trying to attract. 

Don't be afraid to express your personality with your design. People want to be entertained and excited.

Discord also organise content into categories that are based on the key interests of their community so visitors can navigate to the content that most appeals to them.

By organizing content to specific topics, you can provide a better visitor experience.

OptimizePress Tip: Create 4-5 interest-based categories to help you create targeted segments of your audience. Targeting their specific needs and creating articles that are relevant to their interests.

homerun.co/blog

Homerun custom blog home page

Homerun uses a combination of guides and blog articles. They separate the two into distinct listings on their custom blog page.

This allows visitors to find the type of content they prefer. By offering a mix of short blog posts and longer guides, Homerun can cater to the needs of a range of visitors.

With your custom blog page design, consider the range of visitors you have. Some will be looking for quick "bite-sized articles. While others might want longer comprehensive subject guides.

OptimizePress Tip: A mix of short blog posts and long-from guides ensure your content appeals to a wider range of visitors.

grammarly.com/blog/

Grammarly custom blog home page

Grammarly uses a minimal approach to their custom blog homepage. Prioritising simplicity and reducing clutter. This creates a clean and organised layout that is easy on the eyes.

They also include a “Staff Picks” section that shows recommended posts from their team. This adds authority to those posts and encourages people to read them.

We recommend you add a staff picks or author picks section to your blog. This helps to highlight your most important content. It also gives the feeling that you personally selected the content for visitors.

OptimizePress Tip: Spend time planning your page layout to ensure it is easy for visitors to browse. Things to consider:

• Write benefit-driven post headlines.
• Keep post descriptions short and clear on what people will learn from your content.
• Give space around each post listing to make headlines and descriptions easy to read.

At OptimizePress, we understand the challenge of creating an optimised blog.

That is why we created the Post List Element. This element means you can create a custom page with blog articles, lead magnets and sales offers. Following the examples in this article, you can create your own conversion-optimised page.

With the Post List Element, you can:

With the Post List Element, you can give your visitors a better visual experience. Your custom blog page will increase engagement and improve sales conversions.

To show you how simple this element is to set up, let’s take a look at an example use case. This example should inspire you to come up with your own creative applications.

‘Garden Haven’ is a gardening blog that is aimed at garden lovers. Providing them with valuable content, tips and expert advice on how to improve their garden.

When designing the custom homepage, we had two goals in mind:

OptimizePress Tip: We recommend researching blog layouts used by your competitors to help give you an idea of what’s currently working.

In our example, we added a row in the footer containing details of our lead magnet with an opt-in form for visitors to sign up.

We also included links to our social media feeds, giving visitors the chance to follow us on our social media platforms.

For the post listings, we chose to add a two-columned row. Each column contains its own post list element, with the left column featuring the latest article.

To add the post list element to your page, you will find it listed on the element listings sidebar.

Upon adding the element to the selected area on your page template, you will be presented with an options screen to set up your post listings.

The first options area allows you to customise and set the Post List Criteria.

For this example, we would like to feature the latest article from all blog categories.

In the Content (1) section, under the dropdown, selecting the Related option will allow you to select from all of the taxonomies that are set up on your website. Selecting Categories will display all posts from all of your blog categories.

We left the Filter section blank, but this can be used if you would like to set additional rules on how you would like your blog content to be displayed.

For Order (2), we chose the content to be displayed in Descending order since we would like the latest article to be displayed first.

The second options area will allow you to set the Post Content.

This area contains 2 sections. In the Content (1) area, you can select how many words of your excerpt you would like displayed. This can be adjusted to best fit your page. For this example, we set a word number to 35.

The Taxonomy (2) section allows you to set your display type and how many taxonomy items you would like displayed. We kept this to the default Category selection while leaving the number of items set to blank.

The final options screen allows you to set the Pagination of your blog listings.

In the Content (1) section, we selected ‘1’ for the number of posts we would like with a pagination page limit also set to ‘1’. This is because we will only be listing the latest post in the column.

We also selected the Navigation (2) type to ‘none’ as we will not be providing navigation options.

With the options selected, we clicked the green ‘close’ button to apply the settings.

With the post list added to your page, the next step is to select a preset from the preset listing. Click on the ‘Magic Wand’ tool in the post list options toolbar. This will take you to the preset selections.

In our example, we selected the second preset.

The final step is to ensure that the listing has one column and displays the title and the post description.

Clicking on the Feature List option in the options toolbar along with the Columns tab, you will be able to set the number of columns you would like displayed. For this example, we set this to ‘1’.

Clicking on the Visibility tab, we turned on the selections we would like displayed using the toggles provided.

We then followed the same steps and added a second post list element on the second column of the row while selecting a preset design that best fits the page.

As you can see in this example, we’ve made setting up your post listings as simple as clicking on a few options and making a few edits.

However, what we have shown is just one of the many ways the Post List Element can be used.

Here are a few more ideas to help you get started:

For more information, please see our dedicated Post List Element article for a comprehensive guide on its powerful features.

With the Post List Element, we have made it simple to design and edit your blog homepage. Giving you full flexibility to get exposure to your blog posts.

Here are our recommended guidelines:

We’d love to know how you plan to use this powerful feature in your business!

Will you go for a clean, simple layout? Or, let your creativity run wild with a bold design?

We recommend always promoting a lead magnet to build your subscriber list or a product to make sales.

Please let us know your thoughts and questions in the comments…

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