If you are talking about the appearance of a blog, my own experience with bare-looking blogs doesn’t affect my intention of reading a post. If the post is well-written, I will look at other posts for value in the content. From that point, I will decide whether to bookmark or subscribe.

If, however, you are referring to blog architecture – the use of keyword categories and inter-linking, then I think we can agree that it is vital. Not only do search engines have an easier time indexing and ranking the site, but human visitors have an easier time navigating, too.

A blog’s theme is something that makes all the difference. I had a three column design last time (which I mentioned in some other comments, I guess) that loaded so slow that it was difficult for me to give something useful to the readers. And the result: HIGH BOUNCE RATE!

Now, the design is most optimized for fast content loading, with a lot of tweaks on it. Here is the new Wordpress design post discussing the importance of a theme. I am quite happy that the template is now very useful and the readers can get the content they came for quickly.

Also, in that post, I have some guidelines for choosing appropriate theme for your blog and some advantages of having a good theme. I admire themes by Problogger, Copyblogger, DoshDosh, etc., I have put links to those admirably designed sites, and am proud now that I have one as well.

Lenin

I hate pages with hard to read content and/or ugly graphics/flash/google adverts all through them. I can understand the need to earn income, but income should not come at the expense of a professional looking site.

A blog’s design is an instrumental asset that causes one blog to distinguish itself from among millions.

However, the blog’s design is just one of many factors that sets a blog apart from others.

Content is an example of another substantial contributor to any blog’s success.

A blog’s design and layout are essential characteristics of any successful blog.

With the almost infinite list of emerging blogs, this one fundamental could be the deciding factor for the surfing reader.

I believe, in spite of our technical and virtual advances, we are still a visually stimulated industry.

Please note that I am a regular reader HERE….

That’s the key. content has to be compelling enough to grab and hold interest, and while interested people will overlook poor design, it’s harder to attract new readers.

Also, regardless of how compelling the content, a really bad design may eventually be enough of a turn-off, that readers drift away.

I just upgraded and improved the design on my blog about 3 weeks ago and have noticed a significant increase in the number of page views per visit (lower bounce rate as well). People are more likely to read a few extra pages and read a little longer on my site which definitely helps grow my readership.

According to top US blogs, we can say that design doesn’t matter at all…
Just take a look at Robert Scoble’s blog: No design, and so much readers! And it’s the same for a lot of other famous blogs, such as gizmodo, lifehacker, engadget, etc.!

While you keep in mind that your content is original and good, you don’t really need to have a good design.

Good content is the value but its so much better when its easy to use and attractive. Plain Jane can rarely compete with Elle, its a fact of life.

Free themes are not recommended as they drive people away. From personal experience I do not recommend having a free theme, when I bump into a free theme, it does not matter how good the content is, I typically close the particular tab. I really don’t enjoy going to sites with free themes, because although their content may be good – it makes them look like the rest of the crowd. As a blogger you NEED to STAND OUT from the CROWD as much as possible.

A custom blog theme/design is essential for branding. Branding is a quintessential part of any business model, if you don’t have a uniquely identifiable logo and blog design – your message will get lost…

Think about it, if a site decided to be the next Amazon.com – but their site looked very similar to Amazon’s (but it did not look as good as Amazon’s) and they had a logo and a name – which also did not look as good as Amazon’s…what would happen? They would very quickly shut down their business. Why? The answer is simple, an original is always worth more than a copy and using a free theme to try and compete with a site like ProBlogger, DoshDosh or JohnChow is hopeless. Give yourself a fighting chance and start with a unique theme that differentiates your site from the rest – don’t allow your message to get lost.

A theme gives you the ability to look professional, I say this because people will give you a chance if they see you have taken the time to create a good looking theme and you have some worthwhile content. They will give you more of a chance than if you had a free theme that looked like several others – people are like this, I’m the evidence.

You will be respected if you have a theme that is functional and works well. When people come to your site, they will be interested in your theme, some of them might even want to buy it (I’ve had a couple of offers asking for my theme to be released to the general public…I refused). You will be respected because they see that you can do more than just blog and it shows that you care about how your shop window looks (metaphorically speaking of course).

All in all, blog design is quintessential. It doesn’t matter if some blogs have succeeded to make it big with a free theme (maybe it was a less used one or a modified one). You can become BIGGER with a unique theme that brands you and sets you apart from the rest. JohnCow made a bad turn when he decided to release his theme to the community, I actually don’t go as much now because the uniqueness of the brand was lost the moment the theme was made available for a price.

This was all without any changes to the current way I blog.

Pay for the custom design even if you don’t have the money. If you’re going to get one eventually why not just have it now?

Next thing is if they don’t see your content they atleast need to see a decent design to stay on your blog..

I posted an article long ago about Role of Design in SEO and Indexing … those who think design doesn’t matter shoud look here

http://www.balkhis.com/webmaster-world/should-design-matter-at-all-in-seo-and-increasing-the-indexing-rate/