BLOGBloke: 10 Blog Design Tips That Will Take You to the Next Level
daveyboy
· 2 years ago
great post blog bloke... what I don't get is how do you keep churning it out?
Blog Bloke
· 2 years ago
One post at a time ;-)
twit3
· 2 years ago
Bloke, you forgot the most important thing that separates pro bloggers from the rest of us -- wallpapering your page with ads. Hah!
Blog Bloke
· 2 years ago
How could I forget :)
Mauibob
· 2 years ago
Great post. Thank you. I am using Blogger and found tip 5 fascinating. Can you show me what the HTML code looks like in my Blogger template that I need to replace? Thank you
Blog Bloke
· 2 years ago
No problem Mauibob. I changed the post, so read #5 again and it should answer your question.
ReviewSaurus
· 2 years ago
Wow as usual another great post. Design is no doubt, one of the best stuff and the tips are just perfect :)
Blog Bloke
· 2 years ago
Thank you reviewsaurus.
Char
· 2 years ago
These are all very good tips - especially #1. There are so many great templates out there that you can easily tweak to make your own. That has to be one of my favorite features of WordPress.
GnomeyNewt
· 2 years ago
Thanks for the great tips!
Blog Bloke
· 2 years ago
Hi char and gnomeynewt. Thanks for the comments and drop by again soon.
Elaine Vigneault
· 2 years ago
Good article. A little long, though. A lot of info to process for newbies. You should break this up into a series and republish. I bet it would be a great success!
Blog Bloke
· 2 years ago
Hi Elaine.
This post is already a hit getting hundreds of page "hits" each day. The number of comments just don't seem to reflect that for some reason.
Yes, it is a little long and I've thought of making some items into separate posts. I just might do that.
Thanks.
Dan Murdoch
· 2 years ago
I disagree about the length: it's nicely broken up by the different bullet pints, so it is very maneagable. I'm a complete newby, and very keen to learn. I'll have to start working on a banner- though i'm not perticularly artistic in that department... Dan
Blog Bloke
· 2 years ago
Dan, here is a post I recently wrote that will help you to create a banner and logo.
SCE
· 1 year ago
great tips i will use some of them
BlogBucks [dot] net
· 1 year ago
Your blog is cool. You insipred me :D I also use the structure theme and did some tweaks.
Yes, Justin Tadlock's theme is a great starting point to work with. It's a little more complicated than most themes so I wouldn't recommend it for newbies but it suits my needs very well. I've made so many changes to it now that I feel that it's become my own.
TonNet
· 1 year ago
That's what I'd call a killing post. Thanks BB.
BLOGBloke
· 1 year ago
It was my pleasure.
gofree
· 1 year ago
Hello,
I tried copying from your code about title, but it show error when save:
Please correct the error below, and submit your template again. Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly. XML error message: The content of elements must consist of well-formed character data or markup.
It's true that Blogger has become very picky with its XML compliance but it accepted this code before so why not now for you. Hmm... let me think on it and maybe someone else can help figure out the problem. Any takers?
BLOGBloke
· 1 year ago
It looks like New Blogger has depreciated this hack and you can't use Blog2 widgets anymore. So take a look here for the solution:
Let me know if it works for you so I can update this post.
R.
· 1 year ago
Yes, on Blogger it works. BTW, it does not switch title and blogname, it uses only the title.
Tica Macha (Teri)
· 1 year ago
Your blog is looking very good! I like your reply in the box. Could you tell us again how to save a blog? I want to put it on a cd, is that possible? Thanks for being here for us. Teri
If you don’t want to use software perhaps the easiest way might be to just create a free Wordpress.com account and import your Blogger posts directly into it. After creating your new account you can find the “Import” button under “Manage”.
Easy-peezy!
Let me know if you need any help with it.
Dennis Edell
· 1 year ago
Excellent post my new found friend :-)
For those WP users that may not already know, #5 (among other cool stuff) is nicely taken care of with the All-In-One SEO plugin...one of the most important plugins I have ;)
Just put that all into Google and it should spit right out :)
Yes Dennis, I also use the All-In-One SEO plugin and highly recommend it.
Hussein
· 1 year ago
What free wordpress themes can you suggest? It's hard for me to decide what to use. There are a lot of nice design and can't really decide what to use.. any suggestions?
My advice is don't worry about how pretty the theme looks. These are just superficial things that can be easily changed with CSS. Scalability is what you need to keep in mind when choosing a template. That means choosing a template that will grow with you as you mature as a blogger.
Look for a theme that has the features you need right now as well as what you think you will need in the future. It's like when you go shopping with your 3 year old child. You don't buy shoes that will just fit her right now. You buy her shoes that she can wear now but with a little more room for her to grow into.
It's the same thing with choosing a theme.
Hussein
· 1 year ago
That was very deep answer :D. Anyway, it's nice. Because I used to change my design. It's just that I'm a free wordpress theme addict.
Just be careful not to dilute your brand. Your blog's visual presence should reflect your brand (or your niche topic). Or in other words, your blog is your online presence that defines you. If you are constantly changing the look of your blog it will confuse your readers and dilute your brand. Make sense?
Max
· 1 year ago
I really need to get around to re-designing my blog. Sadly, I'm too lazy.
I agree with your tip to remove widgets, If you consider things like google analytics or other external scripts that a blog may be running in addition to the widgets you can really stall up your page load time. If you really need some of these services I would look into php scripts that cache the data on your server to increase page load. This also keeps your site from stalling when the external service crashes.
That's true Zinni. PHP is far superior to java scripts for many reasons and not just for performance. Unfortunately for Bloggers users they don't get PHP which is another good reason to switch over to Wordpress.
Danny
· 1 year ago
Great post indeed, I am a new comer here. I look forward to visiting often and getting more great advice and tips!
Bloke, to tell you the truth, I found your blog while searching for a do-follow blog to comment, for my back link. But the design of your blog make me feel kind of happy, to put it in words. Kudos for a great mix of color and great layout. Keep up the good work.
BLOGBloke
· 1 year ago
Thank you Amy for your honesty and the kudos.
techzoneX
· 1 year ago
All simple tips which everyone forget. thanks that you have added up all in one place
Brad Hart
· 12 months ago
most website design purists get it wrong when they go without images. Their maxim is the least amount of coding possible to achieve the past possible load time. This precludes them from adding title and alt tags to links and images since they are not necessary bits of code from a functional standpoint. What they don't have wrong is make your blog load as fast as possible while not sacrificing visual appeal or SEO. For me this means don't use large unnecessary images. Don't load huge images only to have the display at a fraction of their actual size. Be consistent with your image use to tie text elements together, but don't use images for the sake of using them.
Unfortunately when some try to establish themselves as an expert and differentiate from the pack, they go to extremes. Like anything else, the truth lies somewhere in between.
Thanks for the comments Brad.
blogging for money
· 10 months ago
I did a lot of work tweaking the template for showing some cool widgets made using jquery.But iam not satisfied with my blog design especially the header.
BLOGBloke
· 10 months ago
I'm never satisfied with mine.
michael
· 9 months ago
This post is really a must bookmarked for me! Thank you so much. :D
I searched for a lot for this kind of information to customize my blog and now i found it here and its nice to read and its rely informative am going to try those steps given here.. Web Designers Thanks a lot..
webdesign+seo
· 3 months ago
Your blog is awesome from Awesometown. BOOKMARKED! Keep up thye good work.
dangrabbit
· 2 months ago
I'm pretty uncreative so I don't mess with my template much. Good old minima stretch lots of white with some words. LOL
Thanks for the tips.
BLOGBloke
· 2 months ago
@dangrabbit, I intentionally developed the most complicated theme possible ... a decision that I've regretted on more than one occasion. ;-) But I like to get my hands dirty and challenge myself and do that "stretch" think you mentioned.
All Comments
I am using Blogger and found tip 5 fascinating. Can you show me what the HTML code looks like in my Blogger template that I need to replace?
Thank you
This post is already a hit getting hundreds of page "hits" each day. The number of comments just don't seem to reflect that for some reason.
Yes, it is a little long and I've thought of making some items into separate posts. I just might do that.
Thanks.
I'm a complete newby, and very keen to learn. I'll have to start working on a banner- though i'm not perticularly artistic in that department...
Dan
BlogBucks [dot] net's last blog post..BlogBucks is DoFollow
I tried copying from your code about title, but it show error when save:
Please correct the error below, and submit your template again.
Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly.
XML error message: The content of elements must consist of well-formed character data or markup.
gofree's last blog post..Scooby Doo: Mystery of the Fun Park Phantom
http://www.prasannatech.net/2008/05/blogger-cha...
Let me know if it works for you so I can update this post.
BTW, it does not switch title and blogname, it uses only the title.
Could you tell us again how to save a blog? I want to put it on a cd, is that possible? Thanks for being here for us. Teri
Tica Macha (Teri)'s last blog post..Fit to be Tied
Here is an older post talking about using WinHTTRack Website Copier:
http://www.blogbloke.com/backup-your-blog/
Here are some other software that I’ve found:
http://www.codeplex.com/bloggerbackup
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to...
If you don’t want to use software perhaps the easiest way might be to just create a free Wordpress.com account and import your Blogger posts directly into it. After creating your new account you can find the “Import” button under “Manage”.
Easy-peezy!
Let me know if you need any help with it.
For those WP users that may not already know, #5 (among other cool stuff) is nicely taken care of with the All-In-One SEO plugin...one of the most important plugins I have ;)
Just put that all into Google and it should spit right out :)
Dennis Edell's last blog post..ATTENTION RSS SUBSCRIBERS! (and everyone else) Testing Testing 1…2…3
Hussein's last blog post..Does Changing Host Affect SEO
Look for a theme that has the features you need right now as well as what you think you will need in the future. It's like when you go shopping with your 3 year old child. You don't buy shoes that will just fit her right now. You buy her shoes that she can wear now but with a little more room for her to grow into.
It's the same thing with choosing a theme.
Hussein's last blog post..Amit Bhawani Tech Updates
Blogging Tips and Tricks's last blog post..How To Effectively Comment On High PR DoFollow/CommentLuv Blogs For Backlinks
Zinni's last blog post..Establishing Criteria for Good Internship Experiences
Danny's last blog post..Sex In The City Playing Now
Brad Harts last blog post...Lazy Plugins Fix Your Own Post Slugs
Thanks for the comments Brad.
michaels last blog post...Www.guess
Thanks for the tips.