Before you can begin to make your blog look the part, you need to know how to do it! Head back into your Dashboard so we can get you started with your first theme install! (How exciting!)
The Dashboard – Continued.
Much of what you will see in your Dashboard may look different from what another blogger may see in their Dashboard. This is because your theme and plugins may add additional navigation buttons for your ease of use. Theme and site design is the next topic for our How to Start a Blog series.
When it comes to Themes, everyone is going to have an opinion and they will likely vary. My opinion begins with a sigh. Sigh. This is my short answer. If you are just starting out, you don’t want to spend too much money on your blog. For me, I’d rather use a free theme and see how things progress. Maybe celebrate your one-year blog anniversary by paying for a theme and/or site redesign at that time. Again, this is just my opinion.
How to Install a Theme:
The iPage video below will walk you through a few basic steps to navigating your dashboard and how to install a theme. iPage is a website hosting company that is perfect for new bloggers. They offer several free resources and competitive pricing packages. Check into their services if you haven’t already done so.
Note: If you decide to use the theme I suggest in the next few paragraphs, please disregard the “header picture” information contained in the video above as it will not be relevant to the Custom Community Theme.
The Best Free Theme Around:
My favorite free theme is Custom Community. I haven’t found another free theme that provides you with such ease of use than this one. Custom Community gives you a special Theme Settings area that simplifies every detail of your blog without any coding experience needed. Take a look in the photo below. To access this area in your Dashboard, select Appearance and Theme Settings.
The Theme Settings gives you simplified access to all of the visual areas of your blog. The general look, header, menu, sidebars and footers are changed in a way that is as easy as filling out a form. Custom Community even offers a slideshow option to highlight your posts.
Take a look at all that I was able to do on Mommy’s Playbook with Custom Community. I have used my own color pallet and even was able to upload an image to use as the background for my menus. I placed the exact Hex Color Codes in designated form areas to match my fonts to the colors used in my header. Hyperlink text colors and hovering hyperlink text colors were also able to changed to the exact Hex Colors I wanted. Every detail was easily placed in the Theme Settings and nothing had to be coded in manually.
I have used Custom Community for over two years for all of the blogs my husband and I own. With each update we have been given more opportunities to customize our sites in the easiest ways the developers could think of. If you are going to design your own blog, don’t do it the hard way if you don’t have to (*wink).
Should You Pay for Your Site Design?
Many professional bloggers may suggest you “look the part” and go ahead and pay for a theme and site design. If your budget allows and you are certain about your blogging future, I say go for it. But first, you need to know who you can trust.
- Ask for recommendations from your blogging friends;
- Request references from the designer you are considering;
- Always ask about turn around time so you are prepared.
Don’t purchase a theme if you plan on purchasing a site design until after you speak/chat with your designer(s). They will need to be sure the theme you have in mind will match the design you want (and vice versa).
Coming up Next on How to Start a Blog with Mom Does Reviews
Learn How to Create Pages and Menus
