The Importance of Your Blog’s Design
With recent reports estimating the number of blogs on the internet to be around 70 million, making your blog standout and getting noticed is becoming harder by the day. New readers will judge your blog on a number of criteria to determine whether or not it’s worth reading or just another blog. One such criterion is the design and feel of your blog. The design or theme for your blog is the first thing new visitors see when they visit your blog and therefore it is very important that it is appealing to the user.
Branding Your Blog
In advertising and marketing branding is especially important and the same is true when it comes to blogging. A good theme can either make your blog memorable or make it get lost in the pile. With 100’s of free Wordpress themes on the internet finding an attractive design is easy enough, but will it make you memorable?
John Chow has single-handedly made the Misty Look theme famous because of his success, but now the internet is flooded with look-a-like blogs that get lost in the pile. (See Blogging Tips if you would like to get lost in the pile too)
Should You Buy a Custom Blog Design?
As I’ve said, there are 100’s of free Wordpress themes available on the internet and many of them are clean and attractive designs, but one of the perils of a free design is that it’s free and anyone can use it. As a result a number of blogs all have the same look and branding goes out the window to some degree.
When I started my blog, I didn’t think much of branding or worry much about people using the same theme as me. I picked a theme I liked and stuck with it. Now that my traffic and RSS readership has increased I’m beginning to think that a custom design is in my future. Why? Because like I’ve said, branding is important and although I think my design is simple and clean, it doesn’t stick in your mind and make you remember my blog.
Now it’s Your Turn
With all of this being said, what are your thoughts on custom blog designs? Do you have a custom theme already? Do you think a free theme is all you need? Do you have any recommendations for theme designers? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
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1
August 16, 2007
haha yeh im guilty of using the misty theme
. I am working on getting a new design asap though! lol -
2
August 16, 2007
I’m in the same boat you are. I really want my own theme but I am too busy right now to deal with it. I wish I had done it from the start.
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3
August 16, 2007
Great article, Erik. You are absolutely correct that a unique design can do wonders for increasing traffic and branding the blog. I think this is worthy of a “powerful post” mention.
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4
August 16, 2007
Branding yourself is one of the biggest issues with getting readers to stick in my opinion, (along with awesome content). Sweet post!
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5
August 16, 2007
Awesome post Erik. And yes, having a custom blog design is probably one of the best things you can do. It helped increase my traffic and income by a lot.
Your design at the moment actually looks very nice for a free theme - so well done for keeping it looking clean and professional.
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6
August 16, 2007
I think a custom theme is in my future in the coming months. I’m looking into different designers for the job, so if anyone has recommendations please shoot them my way.
@Nate - thanks for stopping by and the potential for a powerful post.
@Adnan - Thanks, I like the design I have now, but it’s free and I would like to have something to represent me. I hope a new design will improve my traffic as well like you said.
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7
August 17, 2007
Erik,
Yes, it’s definitely all about being unique in the online community - as with any situation in life. I’ve stuck with a very basic layout for my blogs, but I’m having fun creating headers for them.
I will say that I do like those cartoons!
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8
August 17, 2007
Love the picture!
I find it funny you mentioned John Chow. I was thinking the same thing about how everyone is trying to use that.
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9
August 17, 2007
I think that free themes are a good idea if you have amazing content and cant wait another minute to get your blog out into the web ASAP. However, if you are an aesthetically-oriented person, like I am, you may subscribe to the site, but rarely visit the site in person because the view from the RSS feeder is just as entertaining (aka John Chow).
I STRONGLY feel that a custom theme is incredibly important to brand your blog and let the viewing public know that your attention to detail stems further then just the content on your site. You care about every aspect of the site.
Additionally, if you work long and hard on your site’s design and end up with some pretty spiffy HTML and CSS then you can submit your sites to the multitude of CSS galleries on the web. They’ll definitely get your hard work recognized.
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10
August 17, 2007
I completely agree with this and in fact wrote a post about the same topic a couple of weeks ago. Your appearance of your blog is someone’s first impression. Last week I got really frustrated with seeing the same theme over and over again. This might be because I work as a developer so I have different expectations than others. I imagine a lot of people don’t care though.
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11
August 17, 2007
Great Story.
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12
August 17, 2007
When I changed my design, I instantly saw an increase in readership. It should not be overlooked.
My New Hustle | Make Money Online
Be the man, stop working for him. -
13
August 18, 2007
Yes, there are 100s of free themes, but I have not found one that works perfectly “out of the box”. I guess that is good, since it is nice to put your own customization to it, but for people out there with little or no coding experience, it can hard to find a good WORKING theme.
I think I am going to get in the free theme game if I ever find the time.
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14
August 18, 2007
Hi,
This stuff gives the real information one needs. One can feel like reaching the destination.I have a query though – Usual sites like dig.com and muti.com declare “spam” when I try bookmarking there.
I don’t have any spam pages or websites.
Can you help me regarding this matter?
Thanks.”
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15
August 18, 2007
Very true Erik. I think a custom design is essential to the success of your blog. It’s true that you can have a successful blog without it just as John Chow has, but with thousands of blogs getting added to the blogosphere everyday, it’s becoming more important than ever to have custom design. First impressions are the most important impressions to make, and a theme that looks like thousands of other blogs could really hurt your blog.
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16
August 19, 2007
[...] The Importance of Your Blog’s Design [...]
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17
August 22, 2007
Blog design is the branding for your blog readers! It’s so important…
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18
August 23, 2007
I’m still looking at various designers for the job. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Also John Chow recently re-did his theme to a custom one, thoughts on that?
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19
August 23, 2007
Hey Erik. I can tell you some of the designers I have used if you would like. Just shoot me an email
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20
September 3, 2007
I completely agree with the branding. In fact, for a blog I am going to be running, I am looking for someone who does custom blog designs. If you know anyone, feel free to shoot me an email.
I see tons of blogs using the same templates, and I remember those blogs by the design, not by their name. If they had a nice custom design, a nice name, and good content, I believe branding their name into my head would be a whole lot easier.
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21
September 24, 2007
i wouldnt worry too much about a customized design unless u really know what u are doing and it looks attractive. if u are new to blogging then go with one of the free ones, or at least for the time being.
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22
October 9, 2007
Honestly speaking, I’m really attracted to blogs that has a beautiful design. As they say in the blogging world “Judge the Blog by its design”. Well, I guess somehow it’s true. If you want me to stay long on your blog, you must have a beautiful and attractive design. For sure!
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23
October 10, 2007
Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
Given that there are thousands of new blogs posted every day, I have to disagree with you NeXtPaGeGuy. I’m always on the lookout for the next guy who’s going to make a splash on the web, and I try to visit several new blogs a day. If you don’t differentiate yourself immediately, then there’s no reason for me to continue scanning down your page. And if you are running the WordPress MistyLook theme with an exotic sportscar in the header that you don’t own then I’ll stay for as long as it takes for me to move up to the upper left corner of my screen and click the back button.
A blog design that differentiates itself from the rest of the blogosphere is an important piece of your branding. While the content is a great way to get your readers to stay, the design plays an important part in getting them there.
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24
October 31, 2007
hmmm. everyone is now playing the marketing game. how interesting.
a digital goldrush…. -
25
November 3, 2007
Hi Erik I’m Erika! I do agree with blogs having a unique look. I am using a blogspot so my look it not unique. I did have a friend create a logo for me. I do want the blog to take care of itself financially with me only investing time. My goal is to purchase a domain name a custom site once Erika’s View can afford to do so.
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26
September 23, 2008
Полезно.
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27
October 26, 2008
Da, mne nravitsa.
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