Written on July 23rd, 2009 at 12:07 am by Darren Rowse
79% of Bloggers Pay Nothing for their Blog Design
Over the last few weeks the poll I’ve been running here on ProBlogger has asked people about who designed their blog. The results are in and it looks like that the vast majority of bloggers are not paying for themes.
61% of our readers are using free themes in some way – either using a default theme that the blog came with (11%), downloading a free template (21%) or taking a free theme and tweaking it (29%).
18% of our readers are designing their blogs completely on their own and while the market for premium themes does seem to be growing only 13% of you have paid for a theme.
The lowest response of all was for people to pay for someone else to design a blog for them (8%). That brings the total of those paying for their design in some way to 21%.
Total Votes at the time of publishing these results: 2513
85 Responses to “79% of Bloggers Pay Nothing for their Blog Design” - Add Yours
Eric B.
July 23rd, 2009 12:44 am
I would have thought that fewer people stayed with the default theme instead of getting a new one.
Andrew - We Build Your Blog
July 23rd, 2009 12:46 am
I use both the Flexx and Thesis themes, so I am in the 13%.
I am surprized by 1/3 using the free themes. Maybe they have changed but when I first started blogging, the free ones seem so difficult to change things – hence I went for a premium theme.
Andrew
Roseli A. Bakar
July 23rd, 2009 12:50 am
Not surprising at all.
Anyway, there are a lot of free templates these days that are just as good as the premium ones.
kosmo @ The Casual Observer
July 23rd, 2009 12:51 am
I think it’s very cool that 47% of people had some level of involvement in designing their theme – getting their hands dirty a bit.
I didn’t feel the need (or havet the time) to completely reinvent the wheel, so I took a theme (Elements of SEO) that had a majority of what I was look for and have repeatedly tweaked it over a period of several months – to the point where the designer of the base theme probably wouldn’t realize that his theme is the chassis for mine :)
I’ve entertained the idea of buying a premium theme, but up to this point, I’ve been able to tweak or use plugins to give me all the design elements I’m looking for.
Stef
July 23rd, 2009 12:56 am
Nope. Nothing suprising about this poll.
Deb Owen
July 23rd, 2009 12:58 am
That doesn’t seem surprising to me. Especially since so many people use them in conjunction with a website (which people probably do pay to have designed for them).
I would suspect that most bloggers are somewhat tech-proficient and could customize their own theme if they wished, since it’s fairly easy to do. Unless you’re running ads and looking to set it up similar to this one, there seems little reason to pay someone else.
All the best!
deb
Wallpapers
July 23rd, 2009 1:08 am
I fall under this category because I just make my own theme. I’m getting pretty good at it as well.
S.K Sharma
July 23rd, 2009 1:10 am
There is no surprise if people use free themes.
I think you are a problogger now but in starting days you also didn’t paid any penny for design.
Wordpress themes are available in tones for free download then why poeple waste anything to purchase.
Just read about some eminent Bloggers from India they are still using free Themes and having best reader base.
So why should someone waste money?
Joshua Elliot
July 23rd, 2009 1:11 am
It was not really surprising, so it tells us that people do not want to invest in a unique theme for their blog.
Sebastian
July 23rd, 2009 1:15 am
i think most basic blogger will use free themes, because they don’t know if they will blog over a long time. so the invest is not necessary.
but i think if you will blog over a long time, you will invest something in a unique blog design.
kangzj
July 23rd, 2009 1:21 am
I think the result is easy to understand. Basic blogger cannot afford that money because they don’t have any income from their blog.
Nicholas Z. Cardot
July 23rd, 2009 1:38 am
Interesting. I tweaked a paid premium theme on my blog. I’m curious to know what program you use to make those great charts. They look very professional.
Sam G. Daniel
July 23rd, 2009 1:44 am
You have to consider how involved some bloggers are with their site and how much time and money they want to invest. For those starting out there are plenty of free themes that fit the bill and are quite impressive.
The more involved one gets because of traffic, increased revenue or the fact they start taking more interest then the more money they will spend.
An interesting number to know is out of those who responded, how old are their blogs. Will the newer blogs use free or default themes?
PraShawn
July 23rd, 2009 2:03 am
I agree with the majority because I do think it is not needed to have a high profile designed template, because I have a blogspot.com address and till I move to my own domain the template of blogger remains. I think the free theme is much classy looking with the customized header than some of the wordpress blog templates. I think my template shines a serious light about making money online. My totally focus is on the content.
TheManRevolution
July 23rd, 2009 2:03 am
I think everybody would love to get their own custom kickass theme if it only weren’t so expensive. But you do get what you pay for, and some bloggers are quite talented themselves!
Christina Crowe
July 23rd, 2009 2:08 am
I’ve personally never paid for my blog theme. It’s a lot more rewarding if you make it yourself or tweak it somehow.
Great post!
Seth W
July 23rd, 2009 2:20 am
Wow… people are amazing! I think it is great for all of the people that design their own themes! That is very difficult. Great survey results.
Lauren Hale
July 23rd, 2009 2:21 am
I use a free Wordpress Theme with a Customized Header option. The Header I did myself in GIMP – so yes, it’s totally free. I am not terribly tech savvy beyond this type of customization though. Use of most Wordpress Plug-ins beyond the included widget options for my theme elude me. The new design seems to have improved readership and even aided in my blog gaining approval into BlogBurst so I must be doing something right!
Jake Ludington
July 23rd, 2009 2:26 am
I’d love to see a follow-up survey that correlates data between whether people pay for theme design and how much money they are making from their blog. Are the most successful bloggers using a free theme or are they spending money to differentiate?
rob, BtG
July 23rd, 2009 2:27 am
no surprises here, especially from ProBlogger readers (serious indies mainly).
Best Tips 4 Blogging
July 23rd, 2009 2:28 am
Awesome post Darren
I am in the 29% because I took a free template redesigned it.
Steve
July 23rd, 2009 2:29 am
I would say that Bloggers are cheap until they reach a certain point were they can begin to pay more for services. And all the free wordpress themes encourages using the free stuff.
Paul R
July 23rd, 2009 2:32 am
I also use a slightly modified default theme on one blog and a modified free one on another blog.
It is not really surprising as most people don’t make any money from blogging so don’t feel inclined to hire professional template designers or buy an off the shelf template.
Aaron @ Laywerist
July 23rd, 2009 2:36 am
I think the more important question is the correlation between successful/profitable blogs and their design.
My guess is that fewer of the default Wordpress.com and Blogger blogs are actual businesses than those that use Thesis or another premium theme.
Marc
July 23rd, 2009 2:37 am
It would be really interesting, and of more value, to compare this poll with how successful the blogs are in each category. Success could be measured by the amount of hits, subscribers or money making potential.
The question being; is buying a premium theme a sound investment?
Jon Griffith
July 23rd, 2009 2:45 am
Went with premium. I was spending too much time tweaking and not enough time in the business I’m in. Learning to let go, delegate, and outsource is a challenge.
I know too much about theme design already. :)
Swashata
July 23rd, 2009 2:47 am
Hi, Basically I am a web designer and can design web-pages in valid xHTML/CSS! I have completely made the codng of my blogger theme at my own! My friend (and ao-owner of our blog) gives me every graphics and color scheme! Currently learning to make WP themes :)
Asswass
July 23rd, 2009 2:57 am
I payed about $100 for my blog design but by tweaching a free wordpress template.
Paritosh
July 23rd, 2009 2:59 am
Completely agreeing with what my fellow blogger friends said above in the comments. I would like to add on a fact that although many first time bloggers with zero income go for free themes however they dont realise that investing in a premium theme like thesis ( which is highly customizable ) would hugely help them and their blog to grow at a faster rate, but again spending 100 dollars without any hope of recovering it anytime soon isnt a thing done by every blogger ! I too use a free theme ( tweaked according to my own needs ), it seriously hurts to spend 100 bucks ‘just’ for the theme.
Chad Warren
July 23rd, 2009 3:00 am
I am not actually surprised by the results of this particular survey, but what continues to amaze me are the companies who have paid a professional designer to build their web site and then they go ahead and drop a free template on their blog. Where is the continuity sense in that? Why not just hire a designer to build your entire site in WordPress?
Bugsy
July 23rd, 2009 3:20 am
Have never bought a wordpress theme.
Have designed about 12 of them.
Would be curious to see what they are like when you buy a professional one, maybe there are some things I’m missing.
Roy Hayward
July 23rd, 2009 3:24 am
We are not just cheapskates! (we may be cheapskates, but that is not all we are.)
In the micro-evolution of many of us, we started blogging as an experiment. (can I do this? what works? what doesn’t? etc.) Of course I had to spend some on getting my domain and such, but there were free options for theme and plug-ins.
Next, I needed to do things that I couldn’t get for free, but still in the experiment stage of the blog. Thus me and others like me, learned how to tweak our themes and alter a free plug-in or two so that we could do what we needed.
And then when we are finally committed and have been blogging for a year we know how to tweak our theme. (Heck I could make and sell them.) So why pay someone now?
And there we are. Most of us using a theme that we tweaked into what we wanted.
www.ebooksdock.co.cc
July 23rd, 2009 3:30 am
I know this.
Free blogging is more popular.
teratips
July 23rd, 2009 3:39 am
I use free theme for my blog, but amazed to know the results
Blogging Tips, SEO and Money Making Tips by http://teratips.com
Matt Harris
July 23rd, 2009 4:00 am
I like starting with a free theme, because it gives you a good reference point, but after that I have to start tweaking it right away.
Branko Zecevic
July 23rd, 2009 4:38 am
Interesting thing to know! I use default free theme!
Ben Johnson
July 23rd, 2009 5:47 am
I did origionally start with a free theme and I changed it considerably to meet my own needs but it did get to a point where I just wanted something which completely met my needs in exactly the way I wanted. I found I couldn’t get this from a free theme.
Jeff of 2Lincolns.com
July 23rd, 2009 6:08 am
I designed my theme myself, as well as some plugins. I couldn’t find anything out there that really met the criteria of what I wanted in terms of both aesthetics and functionality. Being a software developer with good knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, and Photoshop didn’t hurt though. The hardest part was probably styling it for multi browser compliance.
Jeff
2Lincolns.com
Ben
July 23rd, 2009 6:10 am
Yes, that’s what I would have expected. Slightly surprised at the 11% default theme.
We Fly Spitfires - MMORPG Blog
July 23rd, 2009 6:24 am
One of the designers at my work is doing a design for me – in exchange for a slice of any money I make from the blog heh :)
Nick
July 23rd, 2009 6:47 am
I think that, in order to be a good blogger, you need to know how to tweak layouts yourself… I don’t understand why people would pay for a layout. I use a default free theme, personally.
Patrick
July 23rd, 2009 7:20 am
I work for a small business that designs and implements websites based on Wordpress, but even our company wouldn’t recommend bloggers to buy a theme if they are able to do a little tweaking (like creating a personalized banner, and adding the necessary plug ins) and differentiate themselves from other blogs using the same free theme.
The reason? A little bit of customization goes a long way to create a “brand” and have people remember your blog. But a quick survey among our team (composed of technical and non-technical people), 8 out of 8 would never subscribe to a blog or visit one repeatedly because of the visual quality of the site.
When we come across a new blog, we may well say “nice design!”, but the decision to become a reader will have nothing to do with the theme, and everything to do with the quality of the content (and the educational or entertainment value of it).
Unless you have money to spare and like the idea of having a unique design for your blog, using a free template will probably make more sense for the majority of bloggers.
mike
July 23rd, 2009 7:30 am
I designed my own blog using the free themes. But I changed the layouts a little on the templates.
Dean Saliba
July 23rd, 2009 7:48 am
I was surprised at how many people stick with the defualt layout.
PAT Testing
July 23rd, 2009 8:16 am
I used to have a very arrogant approach, and thought that what I write on the internet is so worthwhile that the formatting is largely irrellevant. It doesn’t matter what the pages look like, it’s what you write that matters. Except of course, that’s not really true!
I think it’s important that pages look good – if they do they are more likely to hold the readers attention. B
Tyrone | Millionaire Acts
July 23rd, 2009 9:49 am
I belong to the 8% who hired a web developer to design a layout, Although I just paid her pretty cheap. I paid her Php4K (~US$80) inclusive of the domain name, hosting plan for 1 year and the blog design. I also asked her to embed adsense codes in the blog theme. So I think with all those efforts that she made, the payment I made was worthwhile.
Jon
July 23rd, 2009 10:38 am
Not too surprised. There are a lot of great, easily customizable themes out these days. I’m not sure if that was the case a few years ago (I can’t say either way as I’m relatively new at this). That could be one of the reasons free/customized themes have a large percentage of people.
WeaveGirl
July 23rd, 2009 10:59 am
I once read an article where non slick (professional) websites do much better at converting readers into buyers than super fancy ones.
I always have been a fan of minimalism. So by choice I always tend to stick with the default and add minor changes.
My latest website took 2 days to customize. I change alot and not much.
http://blog.ratemyweave.com/
Alvin
July 23rd, 2009 11:14 am
I paid for a premium theme (thesis) and tweaking it a little bit. So, which category shall I in?
The iPhone Blogging – A Blog to Review Your Apple iPhone
illahee
July 23rd, 2009 1:44 pm
i had my template designed, and basically it was a barter. i had a default template (twice) but was getting tired of the same old thing, but wasn’t really impressed with all the freebies out there.
i wish i could design my own, but i just don’t have the time atm to learn how to do it….
Tinh
July 23rd, 2009 3:40 pm
Amazing and surprised result but frankly I think it is true as blogger who are capable to pay for their own theme is earning a lot from their blog while newbie blog like me, using free theme is the best way to make my feet wet. T
Sire
July 23rd, 2009 4:12 pm
Oops, sorry to miss out on the poll mate. I’ve been using free themes for most of my blogging career but then I decided to lash out and buy a professional one as I just wanted to show others how serious I was about blogging.
I initially bought the Thesis theme but I was pretty disappointed with it as it didn’t live up to all the hype. I really wanted something that would work straight out of the box, something that Thesis was supposed to do, and so I kept looking until I find just the right one. I now run Thesis on one of my blogs and the rest run on the more flexible one.
SURVEYS FOR MONEY
July 23rd, 2009 6:36 pm
I don’t see a need to pay for or design a template. I’m a new blogger and I’ve already seen so many unique free templates that are available to me. Maybe in the future as my blog progresses I will design or pay for my own.
Liane | Blogging Tips
July 23rd, 2009 6:36 pm
I am proud to say that I am among those 79% of bloggers who pay nothing for their blog themes. In fact, I just didn’t get a free theme, I created my own.
discount jewelry
July 23rd, 2009 7:22 pm
where is my message ?i say thank s for remember
Ashwin
July 23rd, 2009 7:53 pm
It is also worthwhile to mention the experience of the bloggers in question. For example, when someone starts blogging they would better go with a free template but later migrate to a paid one, when the blog matures (or starts making money!)
Regards,
Ashwin
Lee Ka Hoong
July 23rd, 2009 8:21 pm
The result doesn’t surprise me as I know many blogger prefer to use a free theme instead of hiring someone to design or buying a premium 1. My theme was designed by my friend as I won a prize on his blog few weeks ago.
Regards,
Lee
Water Tanks
July 23rd, 2009 9:11 pm
not much surprising ,
i think Its normal Most people go for premium themes if they are starting a blog or site for Business which is running great,
i mostly see Free tweaked templates On most of the blog isee Which are mainly personal blog or multiple niche related so Its good for them i think so
Tadas
July 23rd, 2009 9:36 pm
Result doesn’t surprise me either. Blog is supposed to be concentrated on content, not design. Most of them are not making any profit. So that way most of the bloggers doesn’t spend any money for a blog design.
JustLoveMe
July 23rd, 2009 11:25 pm
I made a living off of free themes with blogger, but I do use premium themes for my blog designs, not all themes are alike and some themes are seo optimized and do get better search results with the same effort v.s the free themes. Blogger is differant because google just loves them all. And a premium theme with a few tweeks can make your site original and stand out more. I dont want the same tatoo as you nor do I want the same theme. But thats just my oppion I could be wrong. http://eautoblog.com/
Isaac Yassar
July 23rd, 2009 11:32 pm
Free themes, either tweaked or not, are good for beginners. After their blog start to give them more confidence and earning, better themes is a good and affordable option. Why would you pay for your theme if you can’t make a decent income out of your blog yet?
ITrush
July 23rd, 2009 11:36 pm
Looks like I’m one of those 29% too. Cool
HazardousPaste
July 24th, 2009 1:08 am
Building your own blog from the ground up is a great way to sharpen your HTML/CSS skills, while learning a bit of php at the same time.
fas
July 24th, 2009 1:35 am
Those who get a designed done are quite serious about blogging. Anyways a clean design can be had any way!
Andy Merrett
July 24th, 2009 2:13 am
I have to say, when I first invested some money in a premium theme, it made me take that blog more seriously. I’m also extremely happy with it.
Crusader
July 24th, 2009 3:41 am
I think that you are totally fine with a free theme or tweaked free theme if you want a classical blog design. If you want some advanced display options like the in the RichWP Blogbeast theme or the Studiopress magazine styled themes most of us are probably not that good in tweaking or programming than those guys. Or if you have a look at the professional designs of the woo themes for example. Which average blogger does posses those design skills?
Joomla Template
July 24th, 2009 4:02 am
The point to be noted that the average bloggers or webmaster are very technically sounds. And thus they start blogging in blogspot or book a hosting plan from somewhere and host their own word press. The blogger who visit your website from learning purpose are also technically very sounds and thus they prefer not to spend a penny on design…
carla | green and chic
July 24th, 2009 4:07 am
If I didn’t want my blog to match my web store’s theme at greenandchic.com, I would have probably paid for a premium theme and called it a day. There are a lot of great free and premium themes available today.
Kenny
July 24th, 2009 3:38 pm
Great chart! I found many have actually use free theme. Begineer definitely go for a free theme, the slowly follow to upgrade the design by choosing a premium free theme. I don’t think I will paid for a theme unless I really need it when I was very good and making money with my blog
Leslie Nicole
July 24th, 2009 6:48 pm
As a designer, I’d like to give it a try to tweak my own template. I’m not a programer though. (I do know basic html and can do a basic website.) If I decide the programming is just too hard, will I be able to change the blog I create – or hire someone to integrate features I want? Would it be better to buy a premium theme like Thesis that I know works well “under the hood”? Thanks for any comments. I’m just getting started.
Cold Sore Treatment
July 24th, 2009 11:38 pm
Your survey results give a clear picture of what is happening in reality. I’m glad that I’m in 29%.
Somone
July 25th, 2009 12:45 am
I’m surprised you didn’t mention people who buy a premium theme (Like Thesis) and instead of staying with the default – work hard at being a self-taught hacker and customizing it themselves without paying anyone anymore money.
I knew nothing about coding 18 months ago – tried free themes – wasn’t happy – purchased Thesis – learnt how to make it unique – became addicted to the possibilities – upgraded to the developer’s licence and went on to design 6 websites in 4 months. Curious where I would put myself in your pie chart?!
Read some of my story/experience with learning how to design at Thesis Theme HQ
Myersdp
July 25th, 2009 3:44 pm
I fall under make my own theme…
But i try to make it unique..
ThemesAgent.com
July 25th, 2009 4:34 pm
Still, 1 in 5 people are paying to have a design. Whether they’re hiring someone to design it or purchasing it from some of the professional designers, I think that 21% is a pretty significant number. Especially since there are many designs available it goes to show that even though something is free, people are willing to pay to have it done professionally. Also, if you look at Google Trends for “WordPress Premium Themes” (as an example) you will notice that there continues to be significant growth for people at least searching for them.
Very interesting results, I’ll be curious to see if you do a follow up down the road and compare those numbers as that would be very telling of where things are headed for designers.
Article Directory|Free Articles|Free Content
July 25th, 2009 9:12 pm
I don’t think you really need a paid theme! I use only free and free premium themes for my blogs but it doesn’t get too much of impact if i chose one or other!
People come to blogs and sites to look for what they are searching and not for the look of the site!
Here i am not talking about a messy them or something like that but you can easely find a decent free theme out there on the internet!
Sonia
July 26th, 2009 5:59 pm
yeah! its right bloggers are confined to design of their blog not about the writer.pay may improve the writing efficiency and ideas
Sonia
July 26th, 2009 6:02 pm
yeah! it si righlty hitted on bloggers.writer are the real actors for blog
Michael Cowen
July 27th, 2009 7:15 pm
Hi Darren
I dont understand? I liked this article and wanted to share it on twitter. But no twitter link? Am I missing something here?
cheers
Michael
Julie
July 29th, 2009 6:21 am
Because I wanted my blog to be an expression of who I am, I made my own by tweaking a theme. It was fun to put together.
lambeypie.blogspot.com
Mj
July 29th, 2009 8:27 pm
I think it is awesome. Most people learn a lot from tweaking there own templates. I usually try to tweak them all!
Gsp
July 30th, 2009 11:14 am
I would be interested to know the metrics for the proportion of bloggers that make 4 figures or more profit a month from their blogs – or better yet a pie chart of income/profit brackets of bloggers.
I wonder if 8% would correspond to about the percentage of bloggers making ‘real’ money (like 100k+ per annum, gross profit) …give or take a sensible error margin like 3-4%?
Just curious…this was a fascinating and informative post as always Darren, thanks!
Wrought Iron Furniture
July 31st, 2009 2:34 am
I don’t pay for my blog designs, I do them myself!
jeux virtuel
October 1st, 2009 9:44 pm
Hey Darren here i got what i want.. Actually i am thinking about this only that how much i have to pay for design the blogs but now i am happy because here i come to know that most of bloggers are not paying any thing to design the blogs so why should i?
¿Quién diseñó tu bitácora?
October 10th, 2009 3:15 pm
[...] 79% de blogueros no pagó nada por el diseño de su bitácora. [...]
ugg boots
October 20th, 2009 2:20 pm
I have to say, when I first invested some money in a premium theme, it made me take that blog more seriously.
When we come across a new blog, we may well say “nice design!”, but the decision to become a reader will have nothing to do with the theme, and everything to do with the quality of the content (and the educational or entertainment value of it).
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