BABB-25: Custom Blog Design
Today is Day 25 of the Be A Better Blogger series. We’re using the outline offered by Collis Ta’eed in an article titled 31 Days To Becoming A Better Blogger, and our topic for the day is:
Day 25. Design a custom logo for your blog, or get someone to do it for you. Blog branding is essential. If you’re using a free theme without any distinct branding, your blog will probably end up looking like at least a dozen other blogs using the same theme. If you have any ability with image editing software, design a custom logo. Even using a distinctive, free font to write your blog’s name in big letters can do the job adequately. If you want to go the extra step, you can pay a freelancer or logo design company to brand your blog…
While a custom theme is ideal, Skellie is right – you do at least need to customize your blog theme to include your blog name and tagline, and tweak it a bit to make it stand out from other blogs using the same theme.
Here at ClickNewz I am using the Presscut Theme, which is a modified version of the Cutline Theme. I created my own header graphics, and added a custom opt-in box in the sidebar, which gave it a unique look.
If you dont feel comfortable creating your own header graphic, or editing your blog theme, you can outsource that task to a blog designer. You might check out Lara’s Portfolio for some affordable options – she is very reasonably priced.
You can also usually find someone willing to help you on popular discussion forums. If you ask around you can get a great custom graphic created very inexpensively – or even find someone willing to barter with you. You are welcome to post your request (free) on the Job Board at the SSWT Forum.
- Blog Design Photoshop Tutorial
- How I Redesigned My Blog [by Ben Yoskovitz]
- Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Blog’s Usability
- WordPress Codex on Blog Design & Layout
Best,
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The 31 days to becoming a better blogger is an awesome series. And it is true that blog design is more important than ever. I think they did a great job of covering it and you did a great job of expanding it.
I agree, this has been a great article, and has made for a terrific series! Thank you Vinh
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Hi Lynn, just wondering, are there other comparable sites like this?
Hi Steve,
What are you looking for specifically? You might browse my Blog Roll if you’re looking for other blogs you’ll like:
http://www.clicknewz.com/blog-roll/
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Oops…was thinking more of custom design sites like the designedbylara site.
Good question – I dont know of any personally other than Lara’s… anyone else have recommendations to share?
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.