David Risley: Getting a Great Blog Design For a Brand New Blog [#22]
Chris
· 11 months ago
I agree that you should work on content first, but I also think that if you're not at least somewhat happy with your blog design, you're not going to want to come back to it yourself.
I found my blog layout (click my name above) after hours of searching the hundreds of free WP theme sites. It struck me right away because it has a crisp, professional design, with a lot of features. The scrolling Featured Posts in the upper right adds a nice visual element to the layout. It all works well without being advanced for the sake of being advanced.
But yeah... I'd agree that you shouldn't go overboard right away, but you should have a theme that you like and that you want to keep looking at; if you don't like it, neither will your readers.
Sharron Field
· 11 months ago
I'm still working on customising my theme as an ongoing process. I started with a free theme and am adding to and changing little bits of it as time goes by.
I have to admit that, when I started out over 6 months ago, I had almost absolutely zero idea of css and php, despite knowing a bit about html. - I could build a computer and install/optimise the relevant software with very little if any problems; but I had almost no ideas about blogging. (A huge percentage of what I know now has been gleaned from this site as well as PCMech.)
As time goes by I'm analysing my theme's code and working out what does what, where, and why. This enables me to make a few improvements from time to time. I understand that David will be covering css and php over on PCMech at some point in the future, which will be really helpful.
As suggested here, I've spent the early months concentrating on content, also its presentation style - which I hope has improved over time.
My visitor count has progressively increased overall over that period, and I'm now attempting to monetize my blog to some extent.
There's one heck of a long way to go; and it'll always be a work-in-progress, but I certainly intend to stay tuned and keep watching this space: Thank you for such a good and informative blog David.
Blessings.
Jon
· 11 months ago
There are some great free themes out there that just need a few images changed to go from good to great... it takes some time to find the good potential ones but well worth it in my opinion.
Strangely, I don't think I've ever met a theme I've liked.
I've noticed a continuum though. Some blog themes I dislike less than others. At this point, I'm happy with any theme that just feels like a soft landing and has the basic features: feed, archives, categories, contact, about.
I agree focusing on the content first, but it's also good to make sure that the first reaction to the blog isn't "how fast can I get away?" ... or "wow, that was scary."
WKennedy
· 11 months ago
Thanks for the advice David, I'm definetly gonna work on great content FIRST and then design. Keep up the wonderful BLOGGING!
Tony Teegarden
· 11 months ago
Daivd, Great point! Content content content! My New Way of Wealth blog started out a very basic basic theme and for months now all I have focused on is "content" with the idea of upgrading themes and such later.
I've noticed your theme is ever evolving and has gone through several layouts especially since you're incorporating so much video.
Again though I notice you STILL focus on providing content content content yourself.
Great leaders lead themselves day in day out. You my friend continue to lead!
Antti Kokkonen
· 6 months ago
I created my own custom theme, and it looks awfully lot like your site David. It was partly intentional, as I really liked the top right box to feature articles and add social network links to it. Like said, I tuned the whole theme myself, based on the WordPress Sandbox theme and wrote the css (stylesheet) from the ground up.
I guess I just like black & green (looking for just the right shade of yellow, so I can go black/yellow) like you do! Check my design out and tell me what you think. Don't send your lawyers behind me without a warning thou :)
All Comments
I found my blog layout (click my name above) after hours of searching the hundreds of free WP theme sites. It struck me right away because it has a crisp, professional design, with a lot of features. The scrolling Featured Posts in the upper right adds a nice visual element to the layout. It all works well without being advanced for the sake of being advanced.
But yeah... I'd agree that you shouldn't go overboard right away, but you should have a theme that you like and that you want to keep looking at; if you don't like it, neither will your readers.
I have to admit that, when I started out over 6 months ago, I had almost absolutely zero idea of css and php, despite knowing a bit about html. - I could build a computer and install/optimise the relevant software with very little if any problems; but I had almost no ideas about blogging. (A huge percentage of what I know now has been gleaned from this site as well as PCMech.)
As time goes by I'm analysing my theme's code and working out what does what, where, and why. This enables me to make a few improvements from time to time. I understand that David will be covering css and php over on PCMech at some point in the future, which will be really helpful.
As suggested here, I've spent the early months concentrating on content, also its presentation style - which I hope has improved over time.
My visitor count has progressively increased overall over that period, and I'm now attempting to monetize my blog to some extent.
There's one heck of a long way to go; and it'll always be a work-in-progress, but I certainly intend to stay tuned and keep watching this space: Thank you for such a good and informative blog David.
Blessings.
Jon
http://Buzvia.com - Where's Your Traffic Going?
I've noticed a continuum though. Some blog themes I dislike less than others. At this point, I'm happy with any theme that just feels like a soft landing and has the basic features: feed, archives, categories, contact, about.
I agree focusing on the content first, but it's also good to make sure that the first reaction to the blog isn't "how fast can I get away?" ... or "wow, that was scary."
Great point! Content content content! My New Way of Wealth blog started out a very basic basic theme and for months now all I have focused on is "content" with the idea of upgrading themes and such later.
I've noticed your theme is ever evolving and has gone through several layouts especially since you're incorporating so much video.
Again though I notice you STILL focus on providing content content content yourself.
Great leaders lead themselves day in day out. You my friend continue to lead!
I guess I just like black & green (looking for just the right shade of yellow, so I can go black/yellow) like you do! Check my design out and tell me what you think. Don't send your lawyers behind me without a warning thou :)