So, You Want to Start a Blog? is a step-by-step series that will guide you through setting up a new blog, so you can Blog Awesome. If you’re new here, be sure to subscribe so that you don’t miss a post. Look for series’ posts every Tuesday and Thursday.
You can find Part 1: Choosing a Title and URL here
And Part 2: Choosing a Blogging Platform and Hosting Company here
You have a rockin’ title and URL for your blog. You’re blog is self-hosted and set-up on the WordPress platform, and you’re well on your way to Blog Awesomness. Now it’s time for what I think is one of the more fun aspects of blogging, choosing a look or design for your blog.
There are a few ways you can go about choosing a WordPress theme and design:
Hiring a Blog Designer
Hiring a blog designer is the simplest route to take. Your designer will handle all the graphics, html, CSS and theme installation. If you haven’t set-up your hosting account and installed WordPress yet, they can even help you with that usually.
Yes, hiring a blog designer will cost you some cash, but prices vary. You can pay anywhere between $100 and $2,000 or even more. In this case, you don’t always get what you pay for. I’ve seen some great blog designs that cost $100. I’ve seen some terrible ones that were much more expensive.
Google blog designers and check out their portfolios and sites they’ve worked on. Ask other bloggers for references. There are many, many blog designers out there these days. Do your research and you’re bound to find a good one that will work within your price range.
Use an Out-of-the-box WordPress Theme
WordPress is popular which means a lot of developers have created ready-to-use themes you can buy and install on your site. You’ll need to make a few customizations like adding your title and a header image. You may want to tweak the colors, and of course add links to your twitter and Facebook accounts. The WordPress dashboard and plug-ins make all of that pretty simple.
WordPress ready-to-use themes are available for free up to a few hundred dollars. Again, this is something you can find with a simple Google search.
When it comes to companies that create WordPress themes, Studiopress is my personal favorite and the one I recommend. First, you purchase their Genesis framework, which is a very basic layout. Then you choose from one of their many themes to get the look that’s right for your blog. Basic customizations are very simple with Genesis, and it comes already search engine optimized.
Once you purchase Genesis you receive lifetime upgrades free. Studiopress has incredible customer support. You can learn to do just about anything with your theme through their support forums. You get the Genesis framework and a theme for under $100. If you can’t make up your mind, you can purchase Genesis and all their themes for under $350. I could go on and on about Studiopress, but I’ll let them tell you more about it.
Design Your Blog Yourself
Believe it or not, designing your own blog is something you can learn how to do fairly easily there days, especially if you start out with a good framework like Genesis. Other frameworks to consider if doing your own design are Thesis and Headway. There is a learning curve, but being able to design your own blog is priceless. You can change the look whenever you want, however you want.
If you’re just learning blog design, I recommend buying a framework and pre-desgined theme. Then start learning how to work with the framework by making changes to the theme. You can find a tutorial out there on the web for just about any change or addition you want to make. I know people who taught themselves how to code a blog from scratch just by reading free tutorials. Eventually you’ll be a pro, and able to make any adjustments you want to your blog design.
Whatever route you go, there are some definite dos and don’ts that will help your blog design appeal to your readers. We’ll talk about that in Part 4 on Thursday.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
You can find Part 1: Choosing a Title and URL here
And Part 2: Choosing a Blogging Platform and Hosting Company here