To commemorate the redesign and, more importantly, provide you with an inspirational list, I present to you the 30 best designed blogs of 2011.

The Criteria for Good Blog Design

To remove as much of the subjectiveness as possible, I started with these five good blog design criteria.

• Simplicity – Is it simple?
• Web Design Standards – Does it follow web design standards like dark font on light background, clearly distinguished headlines, use of CSS sprites, consistent lines, and golden ratio compliance?
• Attention to Detail – Is there consistency within the design and otherwise pixel perfect?
• Easy to Navigate – Could I easily find and use menus, links, and other navigational components?
• Memorability – Could I remember what it looked like after exiting the site?

30 Best Designed Blogs of 2011

In no particular order, but roughly grouped by the design styles and subject matters of the corresponding blogs, here are the top 30 blog designs of 2011.

1. Freelance Switch

Big, bold headlines, subtle use of shadows, and practically impossible to see gradients, FreelanceSwitch.com is one of the best.

2. Copyblogger

Copyblogger.com is the epitome of simple, solid, straightforward blog design. You know exactly where to click as soon as you land on the page.

3. Pearsonified

Like Copyblogger, Pearsonified.com is beautiful in its simplicity and alluring with its gentle smattering of bright colors.

4. KISSmetrics Blog

The KISSmetrics Blog does a great job of combining modern design elements while maintaining a sense of professionalism for their mostly corporate target market.

5. AVC

AVC.com is super-clean and, at 16 pixels, it uses a slightly larger than average font which makes it noticeably more pleasant to read.

6. Startup Quote

StartupQuote.com is as elegant as it gets. Their dedication to uniquely depicting the quotes is what makes their site stick out.

7. The Next Web

But TNW does a great job of incorporating the ads without distracting too much from a clean, easy-to-navigate design.

8. Business Insider

If you’ve read an article on BusinessInsider.com, you’ve noticed that the site is designed to keep you hooked on their content for dozens upon dozens of pageviews.

9. Webs Blog

It looks great, but Webs Blog is also seamlessly integrated with the rest of the site despite the blog existing on a subdomain.

10. Go Media

With carefully-placed image overlays, the design simply pops off the screen and it’s hard to forget GoMediaZine.com’s design.

11. Hello Bar Blog

Hello Bar does an impressive job of integrating subtle textures into their design to give their site a vintage, but modern look. Plus, the clouds move!

12. Blogussion

The Blogussion.com design is the first awe-inspiring design I remember finding on the internet.

13. Modern Nerd

Modernerd.com’s logo is simple, the fonts are consistent, and the background image communicates what the blog is all about.

14. I Wear Your Shirt

IWearYourShirt.com does a wonderful job of cleanly packing information above the fold while emphasizing the important content below.

15. Johnny Cupcakes

Consistent with their timeless brand, almost every design element is black and white which makes Johnny Cupcakes’ photos and products stick out.

16. TheOatmeal

With its off-center sidebar and overflowing “Email” link in the footer, TheOatmeal.com’s design has its flaws. But reading between the imperfections, you’ll find that the design is perfect for Matthew Inman’s, “this is the way it is and if you don’t like it, I’ll unleash my army of chastising Facebook fans so you never forget” attitude that makes his site great.

17. DearBlankPleaseBlank

DearBlankPleaseBlank.com is a creatively designed blog with its constantly rotating header image, quaint use of opacity, and the fact that everything in the sidebar is the same exact width, even the ads.

18. Tuts+

Everything about the TutsPlus.com and Envato network is gorgeous when it comes to design (including the aforementioned FreelanceSwitch.com). They have a knack for choosing perfectly-aligned color schemes and their attention to detail is impeccable, even within their posts and tutorials.

19. Build Internet

BuildInternet.com is part of Smashing Magazine’s The Smashing Network rightly so with their uniquely-displayed feature post image and commitment to maintaining their design elements throughout the site.

20. 45royale Inc.

45royale.com is a web design studio that boasts an imagination-capturing header while effectively introducing you to and navigating you through the content within the blog below.

21. Web Designer Wall

As another member of The Smashing Network, WebDesignerWall.com is one of the most widely-recognized designs in the world, with their eye-popping headlines and unforgettable header image.

22. Web Designer Depot

Similar to Web Designer Wall, WebDesignerDepot.com hosts another one of those designs that’s impossible to forget.

23. Ilovecolors

Ilovecolors.com.ar has a similar style but stands on its own with a cleverly designed content area that’s emphasized through the strategic shadowing of the background image.

24. Tut Candy

TutCandy.com’s header makes you salivate which embodies their tagline, “Only the tastiest design tutorials.”

25. Owltastic

Owltastic.com is a beautiful representation of what you can do with different shades of blue. Yet, somehow, all of the important content still seems to stand out.

26. Vectips

Vectips.com does a nice job of maintaining an eventually sellable feel on a personal-ish branding site.

27. The Design Cubicle

The final Smashing Network blog in this list belongs to TheDesignCubicle.com. It looks like a website but feels like a chapter of a book.

28. ThemeBIG

I like the subtleness of the sprites in ThemeBIG.com’s nav menu along with that welcoming feeling you get when you first enter their site.

29. Ecoki

Ecoki.com is an Eco-Lifestyle blog with a remarkably, well-branded design that’s consistent across every nook and cranny of their site.

30. Fiked

Everything from the header, to the content area, to the comments area of Michael’s brainchild is custom designed and in tune with the rest of the site.

There You Have It

I would’ve liked to visit every blog in the world before I made this list, but I was starting to get hungry.

If you know of any great blog designs that I missed, please enlighten me with some of your favorites in the comments area below.

I’m a web designer come developer and a blogger. I do design project, consultation on daily basis. Part of my earning also come from blogging.

Nearly 2 years ago you decided to hand in your notice and resigned from your day job to become a Problogger, how has this transition gone for you?

It has been good and I’ve not regret that decision. I realized I’ve got a more and better time flexibility. I get to do what I really like, it’s like enjoying with your hobby on daily basis and get paid at the same time.

I understand that your friends and colleagues tried to put you off the idea of quitting your day job, do you think it was worth the risk?

A lot of my friends were skeptical with the decision I make. It’s totally understandable, I mean it’s really something risky 2-3 years ago as there’s not too many successful example. I let my heart take control, and it’s worth the risk and totally paying back.

You are now currently living the Internet Lifestyle, what does the Internet Lifestyle mean to you?

To me, you are probably living the Internet Lifestyle when you don’t buy papers any more, and instead you depend a lot of Yahoo, CNN news. You check emails very often, check out prices of stuff online before buying stuff, being very active in social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter. You communicate more in Instant Messenger that you do verbally.

What advice would you give to a new blogger trying to drive traffic to their website? Could you share an example of the effects?

I think driving traffic to a site is not too hard, but keeping them is. So I’ll suggest bloggers to start with writing a good number of quality post (say 30-40) without worrying about traffics. Then continue the pace, be active in social networks and slowly promote the new post. Good entries will hit and when it does, people will crawl deeper into the site looking for more articles to read. And when they do found, you’ve just got yourself a returning visitors.

You are known as one of the authority websites in the Web Design and Development Niche. What advice would you give a new blogger to dominating their niche?

To dominate your niche, you got be part of it, and be really interested in it. I’m a designer and web developer myself, but if I’m not passionate about designs and web developing, I’ll never have good idea for my next entries.

When you first started blogging did you model yourself on anyone? How did you learn how to be a “Problogger” and do so well with your first blog?

I modeled myself on a lot of people, particularly bloggers from my country that had blogged for quite some time – LiewCF, FriedBeef & PaulTan for instance. The good thing I found learning from your locals is – you can meet them up personally and that makes sharing of ideas easier.

“Problogger” is a very subjective term to me. Some defines it as “professional blogger with high traffics”, some say “full time blogger” is also Problogger. I’d say it’s a bit of both, together with some good years of blogging experience. To be honest, I did not learned to be one, but I turned problogging the day I quit my day job and my daily expenses depend on it.

I have been a reader of your blog for quite sometime and notice the large amount of Top Lists you do, what are the benefits of doing top lists over normal blog posts?

As a designer I surfed a lot, looking for free stuff, resources and tips I can adapt. Then I notice I’ll do the same thing again few weeks later on a different project. So I thought, it’d be a great idea if I research once, compile the great ones. That’s the main reason why you see so many “top lists” in hongkiat.com. It’s my personal bookmark of great stuff, and it’ll certainly be useful for others too.

Working less and making more money sounds like a good deal to me, have you got any tips for getting more done in less time?

2 things I noticed that had help me greatly in reducing the amount of working time, and increase in efficiency.

Instruments and setups – I use a Macbook pro and I carefully choose the exactly application that meet my needs. On top of that, I also organize the bookmarks, folders and arrangement of files so they are always easily accessible.

Environment - To be able to focus, I work in room under dim light that blocks out noise.

What advice would you give to people just starting out with an online business?

Study the market and your niche first before jumping into it.

If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what advice would you give yourself regarding making money online?

The thing about making money online to me is – 1 dollar save in expenses is a dollar earned. I’m spending a lot of money on bandwidths and servers. So if I can go back in time, I will want to carefully plan the foundation of the site (images, codes, structures), which I believe will lead to a big saving of money if they are properly optimized.

What is the best advice you have ever been given?

It would be – don’t put all your eggs in the same basket. The “egg” here can mean “traffic”, “earnings’, and even “blog”.

Thanks very much for the interview, Have you any plans (personal or business) that you can share with us about your future plans / goals / lifetime goals?

They are couple of plans in “planning”, mainly I’ll still stick with sharing great resources but something more niche.

Could you describe what you do and how you earn your living Rachna?

I am an Internet Entrepreneur and a web designer/developer.  I am the founder and owner of Entheos, which is a web design resource site.   Entheos has 5 main streams of income:

1. Ready-made Website Templates
2. Custom Web Design Services
3. Low Cost Solutions
4. Adsense
5. Related Affiliate Products

Your website receives 100,000′s of visitors every month, what’s your biggest source of traffic and how can new webmasters do the same?

Entheos gets approx. 30,000 visitors every day and nearly a million visitors per month.  Our biggest source of traffic would have to be Google.  Google accounts for approx. 60% of our traffic.  Most of the traffic from Google is for our free tutorials and resources.

My advice to new webmasters would be to offer something of value for free and promote it in many sites.  You could write tutorials or give free downloads.  The key is that it should be of good quality and it should be free.  This is how you can draw people to your site and also gets other sites to link to you.

With the Internet everyone expects things to be free, how have you over come this when promoting your premium web templates?

Customers who are looking for high quality web designs would purchase our premium templates.  They are usually web designers and developers themselves and need a professional, quick and cost effective solution to design a website and the premium templates fit their requirements.  We also offer free templates but they are simpler templates and don’t have as much variety as our premium templates.

You are now currently living the Internet Lifestyle, what does the Internet Lifestyle mean to you?

The Internet lifestyle to me means that I can work when I want, where I want and how I want.  I am not time bound to work from 9 to 5.  I can work in the night if I prefer, I can work for 1 hour one day and 12 hours the next day.  I can take a vacation for a month and still be in touch with my work. I can work anywhere that has an Internet connection.  I love the freedom of the Internet Lifestyle, working from anywhere in the world at any time!

I understand that last year you traveled to America for two months, how where you able to run your business and make money when you couldn’t go to work?

As most of my site is automated, it is easy to go for a vacation and keep in touch with work.  I would check my email every day and take care of urgent requirements.  My dad also helped me take care of things while I was away.

You are known as one of the authority websites in the Website Template Niche. What advice would you give a new blogger to dominating their niche?

I would say be passionate about your niche.  The reason I am doing well with Website Templates though I am only an affiliate is because I really believe in it and am passionate about the product.  I love the templates we offer on our website and I believe in it.

What advice would you give to people just starting out with an online business?

My advice is to do whatever it takes to make your business succeed, I see so many people try for a few days and give up.  They are not passionate and don’t put in the effort to make it a success online.  If you really believe in the online business you are starting, don’t think of giving up.  Just persevere.  You may not see results overnight but your hard work and effort will pay off at some time.

I remember when I first started the Entheos site; I was in the Google sandbox for nearly 10 months.  This means that though Google indexes your site, you will not show in the search results for a couple of months. As I have been involved in some Internet businesses before, I knew that most of the visitors come from Google and there was never a Google Sandbox at that time.  I was extremely disappointed, but instead of giving up, I worked my hardest to get into Google, I wrote tutorials, submitted it to many sites, got traffic from other tutorial sites, worked on providing free resources etc. When I was finally removed from the Google sandbox, as I had many sites linking to me, I had a Page Rank of 6 and the visitors came flooding in from Google.  Now I am ranked #1 for Flash tutorials, Dreamweaver tutorials and Fireworks tutorials.  When I look back, I am happy that I was in the Google sandbox for those months as it forced me to really work on my site and offer quality resources to my visitors which is why Entheos is doing so well till today. That was the foundation of the website.  From there we started products, templates, affiliate marketing etc.

My advice is simple – Do your best and don’t give up.  Believe in what you are doing, be passionate about it and work really hard to achieve it!

You are an extreme successful Internet entrepreneur and have just started blogging, what’s been the biggest tip you have come across that’s going to help you blog?

I am an amateur blogger, just starting out, but I think posting regularly is a good tip – though I have not followed it just yet.

You are probably my favourite female internet entrepreneur, what advice would you like to give to other women to persuade them to get online and join you?

Being an Internet entrepreneur is ideal for us women, as it gives us the flexibility of time and makes it easy for us to manage home, family and work.  Since I got married, I’ve had a wonderful time with my husband as we’ve traveled and done a lot of fun stuff together which has been possible because of my online business.  Now as I am expecting a baby, we have set up a home office and I’m glad I will be able to easily manage work, family and fun!

The best part about the Internet business is you need very little monetary investment.  You can just invest in a domain name and hosting company, which is available for as little as $7 per month. Unlike a regular business where you need to invest in office space, here you can start from your own home.  You can start a blog website using WordPress which is free and follow Michael’s 7 day free e-course on how to make money blogging.  I would say invest in time and effort rather than money. Even if it is just a few hours a day, start a site and work on it continuously.  Learn as much as you can.  Michael has some great resources and tutorials on blogging, follow it and apply them to your website.  Spend time everyday on your site, don’t worry it is easy and fun!  I love my job and to me it doesn’t feel like work because I enjoy it so much!  Everyday is exciting as there are so many new things to try out, the possibilities are endless with the power of the Internet.

If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what advice would you give yourself regarding making money online?

I would have got into affiliate marketing and blogging.

What is the best advice you have ever been given!

Don’t give up!

Thanks very much for the interview, Have you any plans (personal or business) that you can share with us about your future plans / goals / lifetime goals?

For my site, I’d love to reach 50,000 visitors per day and have a page rank of 8 in Google.

Personally, I’d love to travel the world. My lifetime goal is to start an orphanage here in India.