Build A Better Blog Day 4

Today I want to talk about blog themes. This is probably the one aspect of a blog people take the most creative liberty with. I believe every blog should be unique and communicate the likes of the owner. But if you look at your blog from the perspective of the reader you will quickly note things that turn visitors off faster than poorly written posts.

There are hundreds of free themes out there for pretty much every blogging system, like WordPress, MovableType and Blogger. There are some near professional templates and then there are some pretty crappy ones. Please take the time to look at several. Most theme viewers give you the ability to look at the theme in live mode so you have an idea of what it will look like. Most themes are completely customizable and I encourage you to make it your own. Just type in your blogging tools name and the word template, “wordpress template”, and start researching.

I will caution you when choosing a free theme. There is a common practice these days to embed some type of link back to a sponsor site. There are also some themes who embed spyware type code and this can cause other problems with your website. Take the time to review the comments on a theme and look at other sites that may be using it. You will also want to look at the terms of use for a theme. Some may require you to keep all links, others say they are optional. Most are in the foot but you just need to research the theme.

The 90’s were a long time ago. Please get rid of all your flashing graphics, spinning bullets and 72 point fonts. Those things make reading your blog hard. Here are some simple things to think about when looking at your blogs theme or layout:

1. Pleasing colors. Make sure your blog uses colors that are easy on the eye.
2. Use standard web fonts like Times Roman, Verdana or Arial, and stay with a consistent size like 11 or 12 point. You also want the color of the text to be dark enough to read, like black.
3. Make sure each of your posts have an easily readable header. It’s also a good thing to keep the date and category the post is in near the header.
4. There are several schools of thought on how much of you posts text should be readable on the front page. Some say only show the first 200 character others say use the whole post. I’m of the opinion you should use the whole post. Why make a visitor click through to another page just to finish reading. If you choose this path you better be writing content that catches their attention in the first few sentences or you will loose them.
5. Blogs were designed to be interactive, meaning you say something and hope someone responds back. Give your visitors the ability to comment on your posts. There are so many plug-ins out there to combat spammers that you hardly have to worry about it. You want dialog, that’s how you build a good following.
6. Post frequently. Now frequently to you may be everyday, and yeah, if you can, post everyday. At the very least post once a week. Readers will forget about your blog if your don’t post consistently.

The final thing about a blog themes is try several out.