Good web Design is essential to the success of your blog. You will need to create A great design that looks unique and professional and has all the functionality You need to make your blog a success. However, if you don’t know how to design Websites yourself – and that’s probably most of us – you have two options: Use A website template or hire a professional web designer.
A Professional web design is a great option, but it can often be pricey Prohibitive. Website templates are easier to use, but if you don’t use them Correctly, they can make your site look cookie-cutter and generic. Here are a A few tips for how you can use website templates to make your blog look unique And professionally designed:

Start with the Right One

There are so Many templates that if you look long enough, you just might find the one that Offers you everything you need. However, even if you can’t find the template That is just perfect, you should at least find the template that has the basic Functionality that you need. You can customize the theme to suit your purposes Later, but if it doesn’t have the right framework – say, to offer a slider when You’ll need a slider – then you need to keep looking.

Change the Style Sheet

You don’t Have to actually go into the code and change the style sheet, but there should Be options to let you change the look of the theme. This can include everything from the skin colors to the fonts to the style and colors of the links. A good The team will offer the option to change these on the WYSIWYG editor, but if it Doesn’t, you can go into the .PHP and .css files to change them yourself. This Is a relatively easy change, even if you don’t know anything about coding. By Changing the look of the theme, you can make it your own and not just another Generic template.

Add Widgets for Functionality

Most themes Have the same basic framework: Blog section, sidebars, footers and maybe a Slider or two. Where you really get the functionality you need is added Plugins and widgets. These can help you to personalize your blog to make it Look like your own. You can also ensure your blog does what you need it to, Such as sell advertising or collect e-mail subscriptions. You can all this Functionality and more by selecting the right widgets.

Hire a Designer

You can Customize any theme to make it look and function the way you need it to. However, some customizations may take a little more elbow grease than others. If you aren’t able to make the modifications yourself, you should hire a Designer to make them for you. Because you already have the basic framework in The template, it will cost you far less money to have a designer make the Changes you need.

Web site Templates are great, inexpensive tools to help you get the design you need for Your blog. However, you should use these tips to modify it for your own Purposes so that you don’t end up with a blog that looks like dozens of others.

How do you Use website templates for your blogs? Share your tips for making them your own In the comments!
About the Guest Author:Bridget Sandorford is a freelance food and culinary writer, where recently she’s been researching culinaryschools in South Dakota. In her spare time, she enjoys biking, painting and working on her first cookbook.