Blog Tips to Help You Make Money Blogging - ProBlogger
Time for a new Poll.
Who designed your blog?
I’m sure there will be other options to those that I included. If you don’t feel your situation is covered feel free to leave a comment below and tell us your answer.
I’d also be interested to hear about your decision to design your blog the way you did. Why did you choose the option and template that you did?
About Darren RowseDarren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter at , Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.
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My name is Darren Rowse and I’m a full time Blogger making a living from blogs like Digital Photography School and TwiTip - Twitter Tips.
In 2002 I stumbled upon an article about ‘Blogging’. I didn’t know it at the time but that moment changed my life. Read more about Darren or contact him. Connect with me on Twitter at , Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.
I tweaked a free template because I’m still new at all of this and can’t afford anything fancy.
“I use a Free Default Template”
But I’m thinking of modifying this free template because I want to show my pictures in a larger size and therefor I need to alter some code. That’s something I’m going to check and test later this week (off line of course before it goes online).
Tweaking was how I learned all about Typepad and WordPress and I already knew HTML.
I have several blogs, so use a combination of these options. My Blogger blogs I designed myself completely, yet for my WordPress blogs I heavily customized free (non-standard) templates so they barely resemble the original themes.
I also design custom Blogger templates for free download, and though I have designed a few unique premium templates for other people, I now refrain from doing so due to the vast work and time involved in doing this.
It’s interesting to see just how many people would pay for a custom design, as well as those who have created their own themes. Honestly I thought these results would be much lower!
Right now I’m using a highly modified version of a free theme, but I’m in the process of designing my own. I’m almost done with it.
I’m using a customized theme that came with the Static Blogging course (click my name above for the link). I’ve built several sites with this approach, and it has made WP my choice for a variety of kinds of sites, not just blogs. The course has an excellent manual and comes with a number of themes and a number of good widgets to provide the tools for very good combinations.
I’m using a tweaked free template. Just changed the theme yesterday, as a matter of fact. Once I decided it needed to be done, it took me a grand total of about 3 hours to find the theme, implement it and make a smattering of changes I needed. It’s a work in progress.
For my work site, we’ve hired a designer to create us a theme from scratch.
Hi Darren _ I did a hybrid for my blog. I tookthe design of my Web site for my business and adapted it to the blog. It worked for now, but down the road I will be redesigning the blog from scratch.
mp/m
We’ve used a few free templates. It’s time to move into the big leagues, so we’ve hired Brian Gardner to work on our new design.
I’m still with my first blogger blog, a professional blog design for me is not happening anytime soon, i think the free templates are enough for a newbie blogger like me. So more than the fact that i cannot afford a paid blog template or a pro blog design, i just feel i don’t need it right now.
And with free templates and a new blog i can always afford to keep changing my design every now and then, that i think is better than being stuck with a single blog design just because you paid for it..
Our blog design ws don by Weborithm.com, great company to work with!
I completely designed it myself. I think this is the way to go because you know all the in’s and out’s of your design.
If “designed” is even the word for mine, yes, I “designed” it.
Or more accurately my first concern was getting content on the Net and any consideration of looks came long, long after that.
My site just grew – I hacked at it now and then, but basically it just happened..
The danger with coding your own template is by the time it’s ready, you might be too drained to actually post anything.
Having said that, the DeckConstruct website was coded from scratch. I was in charge of getting the site ready, and there wasn’t an existing template that satisfied me. So, rather than trudge through template sites, I thought sod it, I’ll roll my own.
Whoops, that should be “the DeckConstruct template was coded from scratch”. The website runs on WordPress, and I certainly didn’t code that!
(Note: Time-delayed edit buttons are very useful).
Due to Christmas season (a lot of work), I have used free template and tweaked it a little a bit.
But it is a temporary solution, after I finish work I have planned for my clients, I am going to Photoshop the hell out of it :D
I checked “did it all myself”, but I have several blogs that all are a little different. A couple use a slightly modified theme from plaintxt.org and a couple use themes that I totally wrote from scratch.
I’m OCD enough that even if I start with a stock theme I’m going to have to tweak it just a little to make it fit me.
I did it all by my self!! :D
My main concern was my header, and I’m really proud of what I came up with .(It’s Christmas themed right now) I actually hired a designer who was supposed to be working on it, but I think she dropped me, because she won’t return my emails. Isn’t that weird? (Don’t worry, I didn’t pay her yet)
Oh, well, I can do a decent job myself, but there are definitely changes I want to make, and don’t know how.
My choice is NO.1, because no free theme fits me, and I have no money to buy a theme–joking, I think the default one is good.^-^
By the way, I find out that there are some bugs on your theme, which can be seen on Blog Design(http://www.problogger.net/archives/category/blog-design/).
I tweaked the Cutline theme considerably.
I hired a company to build a completely custom blog, but I designed it myself. RSSPieces.com
I not only designed my site I also coded it from scratch! nor many people can say that can they? I like being able to tweak certain aspects of it while also using my site as a learning tool.
I grabbed my 3-col template from Courtney Tuttle because I trusted she would place the H-tags in the proper order and place. From there, I tweaked the spacing and line sizes, as well as added my own background photos, etc.
I liked the template because it was extremely clean and gave me adequate adspace that did not intrude on the content or navigation sidebar. I believe it is pleasing to the eye upon first visit.
AL
I based my template off of the minimalistic Pop Blue wordpress theme.
http://themes.wordpress.net/columns/2-columns/4387/pop-blue/
I use a free template, but i would like to learn how to create my own templates so i don’t have to paid anyone to make design for me.
free template is good ..for newb ..me too……i like that
I designed and developed it myself, although I plan to launch 2 more blogs in the next few weeks, both of which will use WordPress with purchased templates.
Toni x
i used default template as i don’t know programming or installing.by the way happy new year and merry christmas.by the way i am giving out free domains at my blog for the ocassion.interested anyone.
I design it myself. For me, the main reason is that I can make changes/improvement when needed easily. Reading/understanding someone’s else work (sometime) takes more time…
Other reason, because I want to make design that really suits my need (and my taste)… :)
I’m one who takes free themes and changes them to suit. Right now, my main site is using a paid theme, which I had downloaded long before it went paid, so I guess it’s a free one (was at the time). I changed it color wise and slightly style wise. Plus added little tweaks here and there.
The one I did the most to was for a different site, however. The server I had was using WP 1.5 (!?! – php and MySql was out of date, couldn’t upgrade) and I found a theme that fit the look of the main site. I changed it considerably, making it look identical to my main site, fixing little bugs, and eventually widgetizing the sidebar when I changed to a different server. It still works great, but I have now changed it for the moment.
I have local copies of WordPress installed, and believe me, it’s the best way to learn WP. Or how to tweak your blog theme without destroying your site. I highly recommend doing that to anyone that wants to learn how to change things in your theme.
I am using Typoxp theme but i done some modifications on that http://www.vhxn.com
I’ve only paid for one theme so far which is in use on my main blog. I have a few other niche blogs though that use free themes that I tweak to look a bit different and/or fit the niche better. I have nothing against purchasing themes per se but typically the authors want more for the theme than I can afford honestly.
I use a free one, but I will either purchase one soon or learn how to make my own. Or I was thinking of buying one and still learning coding, just so I can be more independent. No pun intended.
I used a free one that I heavily Tweeked. I wanted to learn how to create my own so I found one I Liked and dissected it. I have leaned a lot about it and may use it a base for my own template.
Free WordPress templates with a little tweaking of my own is what I do…
designed my theme myself – and it usually gets regular updates once every one or two months.
I basically just use a basic theme and then flip it upside down with tweaks.
I took an already tweaked (H20) version of the at-the-time visionary Hemingway theme and modded it within an inch of its life. I’ve made so many changes that I’m afraid to even look at a new theme!
I found a free wordpress theme and converted it from 4 collumn to 3 collumn. I am very happy with its layout.
At the moment I am currently using a free template for my blog. I’ve got it like it is because I like the way it looks and I think it works well. Willing to take any comments on improvements though :D
I prefer to tweak out free themes while I learn more about wordpress. Especially since what I usually want has been done a million times before. Maybe one day I will learn to build my own theme.
Hard question. Usually I tweak free themes, because I just don’t have all the sophisticated WP trickery memorized, to recreate all the subtle nuances of a well-made theme. Sometimes I do create themes on my own, but these are usually for weblogs that have simple needs (update blogs for fan-sites, simple archives or article posting, etc.)
I webdesign professionally, and I’m asked more and more frequently if I “do WordPress themes” — I do say yes, naturally, but I can’t, say, pull a K2 out of my hat. I know nothing of AJAX so I generally stick to simple themes, no widgets, where I can tweak the CSS, PHP and XHTML to my heart’s content.
I used the Silhouette wordpress theme and tweeked it because it was a nice simple 3 column layout and easy to tweak.
I tweaked the default template a bit. I would like to learn about more ways to tweak my standard Minima template from Blogger. If anyone knows where I can pick up more tips on how to further do so I would appreciate it.
I liked the Digg theme that I used at WordPress.com and, for now, I’m using it on my new version of the blog.
RIght now, I’m using a template that I found off of http://www.fresheezy.com. They have quite a few professional looking templates and their site has a good splash to it so it’s an aesthetically pleasing site to go and browse WordPress templates.
I would like to pay a designer for my template (especially a designer who can also make me a title banner) but I just haven’t gotten around to doing the research on who would do a good job, etc. If I’m going to be paying for a template, I would hope it to be nothing less than perfect.
I am currently using Simplicity 1.0 , but finding it very slow loading and too cluttered.
I have found some of the comments in this thread useful, thank you for sharing .
I just went live with a redesign based on the Blogohblog theme “Big Blue” which I chose for its three column format and its integration of the nav menu to the right of the logo design. In looking over my previous layout, I was most unhappy with the logo and nav menu so these became my starting points.
From there, I took the theme apart stripping out unneeded graphical elements and code, reworking the overall style and adding SEO related code. Not being a graphical designer, I contacted designer Gary Simon for a logo and he did not disappoint.
I chose to do it myself because I was ready for it. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to accomplish. And, I had learned quite a bit about WordPress and SEO since moving to a hosted environment earlier this year. The time was right and after much hard work and testing, I’m very happy with the results.