4 Reasons WordPress Means a Better Blog Design

Back in 2005, I started my blogging journey as a Xanga user. It definitely wasn’t the ideal blogging platform for me. Imagine vomiting on your computer screen, sprinkling glitter on it and then taping a sheet of Emo poetry to it. Same experience.

Today, you’re very lucky! It has literally never been easier to start a blog that looks good, runs smoothly and gets results and it’s only getting easier, thanks in large part to WordPress! WordPress gives you the freedom to handle every aspect of your site on your own without having to be a programming expert or a design guru.

And WordPress almost always means a better blog design!

WordPress.com or WordPress.org?

Before I tell you why WordPress means a better blog design, you should know exactly what I mean by “WordPress.” WordPress is living a double life. There’s WordPress.com, which is a free hosted blogging service like Blogger, LiveJournal, etc, and then there’s WordPress.org, which is the blogging software itself. Got it?

I’ll be talking exclusively about the software. For serious bloggers, the software is the only WordPress that matters. If you’re not convinced, read on! Here are the reasons WordPress means a better design for your blog.

1. You have absolute control

Unlike WordPress.com, Blogger or other blogging services, setting up WordPress on your own server means you have complete control over everything. The WordPress software doesn’t restrict your blog in any way. You can put up ads, edit and create themes, install plugins, rearrange the content, create a membership site or a forum, whatever you want to do.

When it comes to design, having absolute control is paramount. How can you implement your branding or practice Do-It-Yourself blog design if you aren’t allowed to upload your own theme or edit the CSS? You simply can’t. Your blog will look generic and cookie-cutter. It’s really hard to stand out when you look exactly like 100,000 other blogs.

WordPress gives you the freedom to try anything and to look however you need to look to get results!

2. Super high-quality premium themes

There are tons of free themes for WordPress that can get the job done, but you won’t use them for long once you see the power and flexibility found in the premium theme market! Premium themes are paid themes that offer more capabilities and a far better experience than the free themes tend to offer. More importantly, they are backed by a support team, so if you ever run into trouble you have some folks who can bail you out! When you’re a DIY blog designer, that’s definitely a bit of insurance worth having!

Premium themes also give you the ability to change your site without needing to be a programmer. For example, I use the Headway theme (affiliate link) on Blog Design Guy because it makes even the biggest changes seem quick and trivial. In just a few clicks, I could have a brand new layout, a new color scheme and a different header image without even thinking about it. You won’t find that kind of power in a free WordPress theme!

There are tons of great premium themes out there, like Genesis (affiliate link), Standard Theme, Live Theme (for the broadcasters out there), Thesis and many more. There are also premium theme markets like ThemeForest that offer up lots of nice themes.

3. Near-infinite functionality

You can make a WordPress blog whatever you want it to be. There are nearly 15,000 plugins that provide one-click access to pretty much any feature you could need or imagine. Need to build an elaborate contact form? Try Gravity Forms. Want to offer exclusive content to paid subscribers? Then you should take a look at Membership.

If you have ever started a thought with, “I really wish my blog could have…” then there’s a good chance whatever you’re thinking has already been turned into a plugin!

4. Lots of company

Of all the blogs you currently read, I’d be willing to bet that at least 80% of them are running WordPress. WordPress is the world’s most popular blogging platform. It powers millions upon millions of sites on the web.

So what does this mean for your blog design? First of all, it means that there are thousands of designers and developers out there who specialize in WordPress and who can help you make your blog awesome (I’m one of them!) Second, even if you’re going it alone it means you’re likely to find someone out there who has already done what you want to do. If you’re trying to figure out how to change your background image, add a page with a custom layout or use non-standard fonts, a simple Google search will reveal pages of forum posts and blog articles about how to do it.

When you use the most popular tool, you’re going to find lots of free advice and tutorials.

How to get started with WordPress

WordPress can be downloaded directly from WordPress.org and then uploaded to and installed on your server. This is too complicated for most people, though, and frankly it’s completely unnecessary.

Today, any web host worth using has a one-click installation process for WordPress. This means that all you have to do is sign up and choose WordPress from a dropdown menu. Simple! Hosts that offer easy install options are:

• GoDaddy
• DreamHost
• BlueHost
• WebFaction (the host I use for Blog Design Guy, affiliate link)
• MediaTemple (the host I use for other blogs of mine, affiliate link)

Once you start using WordPress, you won’t be able to imagine using any other blogging platform!

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