this article from http://blogmarketingjournal.com/category/blog-design/
Writing by Brick Marketing
There is more to running a blog than just content and blog SEO. The blog design needs to be right as well and by that I mean it needs to fit the niche you are writing in. Many bloggers just grab a free theme they like, install it and away they go.
I don’t have anything against free themes per, especially if you are first starting out and are don’t have many readers or visitors. However as you start to build a name and reputation of your blog online you need to think about a theme that is unique for your blog. Your theme becomes a part of your branding - a part of your image.
Free themes come with several problems, the first and obvious being that many others share it. While this may not be a big problem, it can be for your image and branding - remember, you need to be unique - to stand out in the crowd of the millions of blogs active on the web.
Other problem associated with free blog themes includes hidden links in the footer that may go to sites that may hurt your SEO efforts. This can be a serious problem you can lose visitors as well.
Your blog theme is the first thing that visitors see, well before the content. It has to be attractive and inviting while selling you and your brand and image. It needs to convey a feeling of authority, even if your site is just full of jokes; it still needs to sell that feeling.
Free themes won’t cut it in the long run. They won’t support your image and they won’t help to sell you. Getting your own theme designed is not always that expensive, it can however make a huge difference.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
WordPress Template Or Custom Design?
This article from http://blogmarketingjournal.com/2008/01/03/wordpress-template-or-custom-design/
WordPress Template Or Custom Design?
Writing by Brick Marketing Staff on Thursday, 3 of January , 2008 at 11:59 am
When you set up your new WordPress blog, should you go with a template or a new custom design. There are pros and cons to each.
Template - WordPress has many templates that you can choose from. The advantage to using a template is that it’s easy to pick one and install it at the click of a button. The downside is, not all templates are optimized for the best performance. This is easily remedied as you can always replace a template if it doesn’t work out for you. Another downside is that other people are using the same template. Do you want your blog to look like everyone else’s? If not, then you should go with a custom design.
Custom WordPress Theme Design - The problem with designers is that they are not created equal. If you find a good theme designer who knows SEO then keep him because that’s a rare bird. That said, custom WordPress themes are a good way to go if you want your blog to stand out. But it can be expensive. If it doesn’t fit your budget then you should just go with a WordPress template and work toward being able to purchase a custom theme down the road.
One way you can find a custom blog theme for your WordPress blog is to visit other blogs and evaluate the designers style. If you see a designer that you like - that is, you see several designs from a particular designer that catches your eye - then ask about his prices and be sure to ask about the optimization performance of the blog themes he designs. If he doesn’t know about the performance then chances are he doesn’t design optimized blog themes. It’s very important that you get a blog theme that is optimized and a good designer will know that his themes are optimized and be able to tell you how his designs fare at the search engines.
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