Comments on: How Do I Get a Professionally Designed Blog?

By: Forward Motion Studios

Forward Motion Studios — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:28:51 +0000

Thank you for posting this. Our manager, Catherine is a huge fan of your site and pulled our company into blog design. We often stop what we are doing to discuss your posts. Your pricing and tips here are spot-on.
H

By: x Miss Corrine x

x Miss Corrine x — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:44:08 +0000

Thank-you for a wonderful and very helpful article – I’m currently obsessing over the design of my blog, and am considering paying someone to design a website for me, as I am completely web-illiterate! This article, however, has taught me a lot – thank-you :)

By: Logo design wiz

Logo design wiz — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:48:47 +0000

I’m actually quite pleased with the free theme I’ve got off the WordPress site.

I went and purchased a premium theme then tweaked it to my likings as well. I must say I couldn’t have done it all by myself.

it’s very versatile for a great featured post area, but avoids the magazine style look

By: Krish

Krish — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:37:57 +0000

Thanks a lot for those theme links. Finally now am able to make up my mind to decide on a theme. Phew!! sometimes its so confusing to decide the theme. I even read the post on Ben’s site about make of Problogger;s new design. I should say this design is really cool and much much better than the first one infact frankly speaking the I didnt like the first one because it was a little boring. I am sure with this new design you will get more readers to your blog. Well I am already a fan :).

By: Kevin Blue

Kevin Blue — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:58:04 +0000

Hello all…A great resource I used for my theme was at http://www.FreeWPthemes.net

They are a great resource for 100% free, legal, and compliant with all standards.

You can check out the one I chose and modified a bit (with my extreme novice html and css savvy) at http://www.freenetworkmarketing.net

If I am any good at this blogging thing I may consider purchasing a premium $$$ theme.

By: Daniel Smith

Daniel Smith — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:19:25 +0000

If you weren’t yet ready to go hosted, Blogger can be a lot better than the crippled Wordpress.com solution, so for those of you who have stuck with Blogger rather than Wordpress, I highly recommend eblogtemplates.com.

They have some amazing templates there for New Blogger that are so slick you won’t even know your blog isn’t wordpress. Take a look at my blog, which I recently overhauled using an eblog template, to see what I mean.

I am not associated with eBlog in any way, except as a very satisfied user.

If you have any questions about my implementation of the theme (obviously I made some changes to it), drop me a line on my blog at the link above and I’ll be happy to help.

Cheers,

Daniel Smith
Smithereens Blog: Productivity, Persuasion
and the Art of the Written Word

By: Darin

Darin — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:08:38 +0000

Hello, I am a new wordpress user (and blogger for that matter)… In fact my blog still has that new blog smell :)

I started by reading the ProBlogger book (thank you Darren and Chris it’s given me quite a head-start with all this stuff) and I was able to find a great site for free themes.
http://www.themelab.com
I prefer a theme that is a little more professional yet simple and the “simple_theme” worked out great for me. You can see it in action with only a few mods to the sidebar at http://www.mlmblogcast.com

Cheers all :)

By: Haidn Ellis Foster

Haidn Ellis Foster — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:19:17 +0000

To add to the short list of self-promotions, I happen to specialize in premium custom blog design (specifically WP) at http://hefmedia.com/creative.

You can see my latest work at http://thehatchet.net.

Hope everybody finds their way to a great blog design, no matter their means of getting there. :-)

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:22:26 +0000

I think the best way to get a professional looking theme is to purchase a premium theme, something like Brian Gardners Revolution theme.

By: Lane Lester

Lane Lester — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:55:08 +0000

I agree with Alex: WP can do anything you want and look just about any way you want it to look. I used to build sites with site generators, XSitePro, and text editors, but after taking the Static Blogging course (aff link above), I greatly simplified my life while still giving clients what they wanted and needed.

By: Flying on the Right Wing

Flying on the Right Wing — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:05:34 +0000

I just used bloggspots designs, and changed the colors.

By: Syed Balkhi

Syed Balkhi — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:54:57 +0000

I am also a free lance designer Darren .. you can check my portfolio at: http://www.uzzz.net/portfolio/

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:03:14 +0000

Buying a premium wordpress theme can be a good option for people who cant afford a custom theme design. A premium theme wont be as common as all the free themes, and a bit of tweaking and modifying the CSS yourself can produce something that looks quite unique. I have found this site has a good showcase of most premium WordPress themes available: http://www.premiumwp.com/

By: Poker on TV

Poker on TV — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:47:47 +0000

I’m interested in more than the look of a blog. I’d like to commisson a turnkey “best practices” blog, with good design, ergonomics, features, and the most important plugins. Or buy it off the shelf. I’m not interested if its look is unique or not, as long as it’s professional.

By: GW

GW — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:38:23 +0000

I really like these themes: http://www.premiumnewstheme.com/the-themes/ . In my opinion they are some of the most professional looking, reasonably priced themes out there. But I read here that there’s something fishy going on. http://hellyeahdude.com/articles/what-not-to-put-into-wordpress-themes/ .

By: Careerbright

Careerbright — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:40:57 +0000

Thanks Darren, this post seems like God sent :)
After having being on blogger on for a long time now, it is time to move to your own hosted blog site. If you have a professional blog better not continue on blogger, who knows when they wrongfully cite your blog as a spam blog or they just shut down..
Thanks DANIEL — You have some great advice here on getting a professional website. I shall be soon going for one.
http://careerbright.blogspot.com

Currently looking for great wordpress themes else the best way to go thereafter is to design your own, get a good knowledge of CSS and all then there is no dependency..

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:58:32 +0000

I wanted a unique Wordpress blog and found a wonderful designer who modified an existing WP template for me for about half of what I’d spent for a completely custom design. We went through all the templates and narrowed it down to the one I liked best. I was very happy with the results.

By: Killer Picke

Killer Picke — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:46:21 +0000

I know a lot of guys who have found local web designers on craigslist, you could try there.

By: John

John — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:13:01 +0000

I used several free themes for about a year. Finally contacted 10 designers and chose one for $500 and a fast turnaround. The theme has paid for itself many times over with a custom fresh look that site my site apart. I think if you are blogging for fun use a free theme, but if this is a business you are looking to develop for profit you need to eventually go with a custom theme. If you want my designer’s info drop me a line — he is based in the USA and has been 100% reliable.

By: Mark Lancaster

Mark Lancaster — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:02:39 +0000

Hi Darren,

Just thought I should point out – The Blog Studio link is heading to an apache test page so the site might be down or no longer available?