The Evolution of a Blog: Design Matters
Aug 22nd, 2007 by admin
I wanted to make a post about my experiences blogging for almost a year and especially show you the different designs I used and how it affected my blog and me. When I first started blogging I was a complete newbie. Design did not matter much because I was still trying to figure out what I was doing. Over time you see enough other sites designs, you make yourself sick over your own. My first design was very simple.
Of course after only a few short weeks I changed my design again. Mostly because this is boring and I wanted something that characterized my blog better. So I went to iStockPhoto and bought a drawing to implement into my design.
Okay, so it wasn’t much of an upgrade but it made me get excited about blogging again. I figured it was a pretty cool image that somewhat represented what my blog was about and I just went with it. I focused on search engine optimization, and of course building a reputation. But before long I was disgusted by the design and wanted a complete overhaul.
Boy I sure had this theme for a long time. I enjoyed it because it looks kind of like my MacBook. I now had a 3-column blog, so my content grew somewhat. Over the months I used this design I have gained popularity in my blog’s niche, I have commanding Alexa and Technorati rankings for a blog in my niche, and my feed readership is nearing 200 subscribers. But as you know, as a blogger you look at your site all the time and you get sick of it. So just the other day I re-designed my blog yet again!
This time I decided to make an investment and buy a professional logo. I found a service called SOS Factory and for the fee of $250 they made a mascot design of me. I made sure they included something related to contests or prizes. Overall I am more excited about this design than any other design I have ever had. You feel better as a blogger and your readers appreciate it. So ask yourself whether your blog design could be better.
My blog design could be 100 times better and I know it but I’d never pay anyone to do it for me. its my site and I know the ins and outs of every aspect of the coding/design and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I only paid for a vector photoshop drawing.
I do love the new design of The Prize Blog. Top work!
[...] latest post today was what really struck a chord with me as it concerned the design of a blog - I’m sure [...]
I love the guy - it’s so cute, in a good manly way..
That is amazing evolution you have showed here. I like that you have taken screenshots of each stage and that really shows how much your blog grew design wise. When I switch out for a new design I’m always in such a rush to just overwrite my old design, I don’t think about preserving what was. The logo does look great!
The second one looks quite not bad. I changed my blog theme a lot of time too, K2 and the the current iTheme are the two I used for the longest time.
Changing theme could be done within clicks, but restoring those codes for AdSense, and other plugins stuff are just plain troublesome.