Design an Informal, Elegant Blog that Mirrors a Conversation with a Good Friend

StratCRM

The blog is targeted to business managers and business analysts looking to better understand how to get the most out of their business and Salesforce.com software.

The idea is that the tone is similar to sitting down with a close friend who is an expert in a thing you don't know much about. It's an easy conversation over a drink in a nice setting where you share ideas, and they walk through topics that they think things they think you should consider.

http://www.stratcrm.com

The goal of the website is to have a really clean and simple visual layout that focuses on the content. The content is made up of weekly blog posts each about 1,500 words + imagery. The style should be informal but classy. The idea is that the site is roughly equivalent to a conversation at an upscale bar w/ someone who is an expert sharing their experiences. The imagery is almost something that could have been drawn on a cocktail napkin.

Home page - Main image, logo, 3 boxes of content (analysts, leaders, most recent). Below this I'd like a search box, and a sign up to get weekly emails. The rough structure is at stratcrm.com/main.

Blog template - Each page will have an intro quote, image, key takeways and text. You can click on any blog post on the site to get a sense for the desired structure.

Analyst and Leader Page - One page for each analyst and leader. Really intended to be a way to catalog the content for each of these 2 audiences. You can see simple examples at stratcrm.com/leader and stratcrm.com/analyst

About Page - A simple page about the author w/ contact info. You can check out stratcrm.com/about.

My goal is to really use the site to demonstrate expertise in an informal way, and to encourage conversation. A second goal is to have the template for the blog posts nailed down and ultimately require little maintenance to add a new blog post w/ the same structure.

I've included some images used in existing blog posts if you'd like to include or review for reference.

I've also attached the text from one blog post if you'd like some sample content.