Having worked with dozens of bloggers over the past two years, I’ve been able to recognize what separates the masters from the amateurs, the winners from the losers, the success stories from the cautionary tales.
There are many different factors that play into the success or failure of a blog (like how well the bloggers understands blog branding), but hands down the absolute most important advantage I’ve seen that professional bloggers have over others is an intimate understanding of their blogs and how to coax them into doing whatever it is they want them to do.
This might mean that they’ve partnered with a designer who can help them do what needs done, but more often than not it means they’ve become DIY blog designers.
What is DIY Blog Design?
If you aren’t familiar with the acronym, DIY stands for do-it-yourself. So then, a DIY blog designer is a non-designer who learns enough about web design to keep their blog looking good and getting results. This doesn’t mean you have to dedicate your life to web technologies and learn the ins-and-outs of HTML, Javascript, CSS or anything else.
In fact, becoming a DIY blog designer is a pretty casual affair. If you have any passion at all for your blog, you’ll naturally pick up a few tricks here and there and, of course, the longer you’re a blogger the easier you’ll be able to get around in WordPress. It only makes sense, then, that you put a little effort into learning these little tricks sooner rather than later. Your blog will thank you!
Why Practice DIY Blog Design?
Simple. You need to have the ability to tweak, update and edit your blog without depending on anyone else. Hiring a professional designer is absolutely necessary for the big stuff, the stuff you can’t afford to waste time on or screw up, but not for the day-to-day tweaks that you’ll inevitably have to make! That can be expensive and downright idiotic. You need to be able to look at your data, look at whatever metrics you’re using and make those little changes on the fly.
The longer you have to wait for your designer to be available, the less effective your blog is. The more cash you spend on hiring a designer to do the little things you should be doing yourself, the less effective your blog is. That means losing clients, customers, subscribers, followers, fans, money and time.
Get Started as a DIY Blog Designer
Being able to make design changes for yourself just requires one thing: the desire to learn. You’ll be doing lots of reading and a little bit of tinkering. The biggest suggestion I can make is to load your email inbox or your RSS reader with updates from sites that teach blog design and maintenance.
Obviously, this is exactly what Blog Design Guy is here for. I’ll be sending tricks and tips out every single week, so be sure you subscribe via RSS/Email or, if you want tips delivered to your inbox along with free ebooks, reports, WordPress themes and other special content, sign up for the Blog Design Guy Newsletter. You won’t regret it!
Other awesome blogs out there are:
Pro Blog Design
This is probably the largest blog dedicated specifically to blog design and it is loaded with awesome content, like 7 Elements to Make Your Blog Look Great and 30 Ways to Improve Readability. Highly recommended!
TentBlogger
While not specifically about blog design, John over at TentBlogger will teach you lots of different hacks and tips for maintaining, enhancing and growing your blog. Be sure to check out his Blogging Starter Kit and his Make Money Blogging series. They aren’t about blog design, but they are essential reads for aspiring bloggers!
WPCandy
WPCandy is for those of you who are a little geekier, a little more courageous, the bloggers who don’t mind getting their hands dirty. And believe me, it’s worth it! WPCandy publishes tutorials on more in-depth and technical subjects like How to Create Your Own ‘Powered By’ System and How to Create Attractive Post Images on Your Blog. They aren’t too complicated, but they also aren’t for the technophobic.
CSS-Tricks
Style on the web centers around a style sheet language called CSS. Knowing a bit of CSS can do wonders for your design, so I highly recommend subscribing to CSS-Tricks. If you’re totally knew to the design game, be sure to check out their Beginner Foundations articles.
UX Booth
UX is an acronym that stands for User Experience. UX Booth publishes all the best advice on how to make your blog more accessible and enjoyable for your readers. With posts like 4 Tips and Tricks for more Legible Content and Good Call to Action Buttons, UX Booth will give you practical design advice for delighting your readers.
A WordPress Theme for DIY Blog Designers
One last thing… if you want to be able to start tweaking and changing your blog immediately and you don’t have time to get into even the most basic CSS or HTML, there is a WordPress theme out there that allows you to make drag-and-drop, point-and-click changes to your blog.
It’s called Headway (affiliate link) and I use it for literally every site I’ve worked on in the last year and a half. In fact, I can’t dream of ever using another theme. And the good thing about it is that it’s ideal for absolute beginners, but it also gets better as you get better. If you start learning some CSS, HTML or PHP then Headway will accomodate you and you can make it look and work that much better! They also have amazing support if you run into any problems. I very highly recommend it!
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[…] all the coolest design tricks in the book, but if you can’t implement them, who cares. You’re a do-it-yourself blog designer, right? You’re probably doing it more out of necessity than passion. Make things easy on yourself […]