Your Blog Design

Once your blog is up and running for a while you will invariably find
that you want to make some changes to it. Maybe you want to make
a simple change like turning the blue type to green type or maybe you
want an entirely different template and look to your blog. Most all
changes you can think of to make to your blog can easily be done with
a little Blogger experience under your belt.


As you learn and grow your blogging and HTML skills, you will
undoubtedly discover new and innovative things you can add to your
blog to make it more appealing to your reader, and ultimately make
you more money as well. Always be on the lookout for new and
innovative things you can do with your blog and ways that you can use
it to generate income for you.


To simply update the look of your blog you can use different
templates. There are a million and one options out there for free or
cheap templates you can use with Blogger. Because Google’s Blogger
is an industry leader for blogging many people develop skins (cool
background images) and templates for use with it. Playing with new
templates and skins can be fun and you can end up with a really great
unique looking blog as well. Your blog is simply an extension of you
and your business so you will want to take some time and change it
around from time to time.


If you want to play around with other templates for your blog you
might consider playing around with a temporary blog. This way any
changes you might make will not have any effect on your main blog.
This allows you to decide if you like the changes or not, before you
implement them. This can save you a lot of time and frustration when
you are just starting out and learning to work with Blogger templates
and settings.


You will also want to always back-up your current template before you
make any changes. This is very important. You need to always be
able to easily go back to your old template if you do not like the new
one. You do not want the hassle of trying to figure out what went
wrong in the change. It is much easier to just revert back to your old
template and then try again with the changes.


If you change templates you will also need to copy and paste some of
your code from the old template into the new one. Things like
AdSense and your personal links will need to be manually put on your
new template from the old one.


Backing-up your template is not just an option; you really must
do it each and every time before you make changes to your
blog. This will save you a lot of valuable time and frustration.
It is also very important to decide if you want your blog to look
“professional” or have a more homemade feel to it. You want your
blog visitors to feel they get value from reading your blog. Will the
value of your blog be in providing your readers with an education or
more in providing your readers with entertainment? Are you writing
as an “expert” in a field? Do you want to be known for your
professionalism and experience? Or, do you simply want to share your
human experience and provide a bit of entertainment to your readers?


Assume for a moment that I have a blog with the topic of business
ethics. As my primary business I am a consultant on business ethics.
I want to be known as an authority on business ethics. I use my
business ethics blog to promote my primary business, while also
enjoying some revenue from AdSense. On my blog I post professional
articles and opinions. With this blog I would likely want a very
professional appearance. I want to appear to my readers very
professional and as if I am doing well in my chosen profession. I
would use a very corporate and professional looking template for my
blog to convey this to my readers. I would also choose not to post
pictures of my children and pets on this particular blog.


Now, assume for a moment that I have another blog on the topic of
self-reliance and living off the land. I live in this way in my personal
life and I want to help others to be able to as well. I want to be a
friendly resource for people who are interested in living as I do. I
want other people to be able to relate to me and share their
experiences with living off the land. On this particular blog I post
stories about my home life and thoughts on how to get the most from
simplified living. While this blog can also be a monetized blog with
AdSense on it, I would probably want it to have a more “homemade”
feel to it. My visitors aren’t thrilled with “corporate and stuffy” so I
don’t want my blog to appear that way to them. I would use a
colorful earthy template and probably post photos of my children and
homestead on this blog.


As you can see in the two examples above, the way your blog looks
should have a lot to do with its function and purpose. Getting the
right feel and look to a blog is very important in having your readers
feel at home and visiting it often. You want your readers to see your
blog and understand its purpose and direction easily.