Why Having a Great Blog Design Matters

When I first started this blog back in July 2006, I was over at Blogger.com and had a Mickey Mouse blog design going on (basic template). Although I was getting traffic, there was no reader interaction or sense of community. In September of 2007, I decided to install WordPress on a real domain name and give that a try.

I was quite happy with the theme I picked out (Cutline). I started off with a two column layout at the beginning, but as the blog progressed I was seeing that I desperately needed more room. Luckily, there were other variations of Cutline available and I upgraded to a three column design. What I really needed, though, was the extra space for advertising, which soon became critical as MoneyMakingScoop.com gained in the rankings. Many readers often complained that the layout was a bit too plain and had a lot of white space. I tried customizing the theme a bit more, but there were limitations on doing so.

Later in 2008, I found the Daily32 WordPress theme, which seemed very visually appealing. I customized this theme a lot to make it work with my already pre-configured image holders in posts and link structure. I also added a lot, such as information to the header and footer and the colour scheme in general. I spent an entire weekend getting a feeling for how this theme worked and how it was coded. After about two days of playing around with it, I uploaded the finished product.

Bloggers have to constantly update and renew themselves to push forward in this industry. If I were still at Blogger.com, I couldn’t imagine I would have the same success with this blog as I do today. Many fresh internet marketers and bloggers often start out very basic and then progress when they learn more and feel more comfortable about having a blog. You may be wondering why I just don’t have a custom theme made and be done with it. The truth is that I don’t see a problem with using a free theme. Many would say that creating a unique layout all your own differentiates yourself from the rest. Although this is true, I customize any theme enough to make myself stand out (and I save money too!) 🙂

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