Blog Design Tips & Redesign Tips With Mini Design Checklist

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Today I thought I’d share a little behind the blog and a few blogging tips. It’s been a while since I had my redesign done and there was a lot of steps that came with the redesign. I had to have an idea of exactly the things I needed and wanted. I had to be realistic as good blog designs can run upwards of thousands of dollars, which wasn’t in my budget. I had to figure out what could I do myself to cut down the costs and what I needed the designer to code or implement for me. Today I thought you might like to see some of the steps if you are considering a re-design or even starting a blog. 

If you are considering a blog design there are a few things you can do to make things go smoother for you. Decide if you are going to be self hosted WordPress site or be on Blogger. The pros / cons are for another day. But, WordPress is worth it. Even if there is a learning curve there are plenty of groups, forums and online tutorials to help you. If you are techy at all you can start with a pre-made template and make changes to them. Before you settle on a template be sure to take a look at a few. Look for different branding styles and try to narrow down the things you like about them.

Blog Design and Redesign Tips And Mini Design Checklist

Shiny Magic Design Shop

Consider if you’d like a simple clean design or a design with a little color or even a feminine design. These days you’ll want a responsive design. One that will look good not only on the computer but, on tablets and cell phones. Then there are shops like the one listed above that for a small fee of $15 will do the installation of the theme for you. What’s not to love about that?! 

Now you might like something designed a little specific for you or customization to a template. Another shop I saw that has some great reviews is Rhonda Jai she designs for Blogger, WordPress and WordPress E-commerce sites that are responsive. You can find many reasonably priced templates and designers here 

Holly McCaig Designs and Illustrations 

Once you shop around for your design and have made a decision then grab a few graphics to style, brand or create other things for your website / blog. 

Blog Design Tips if you hire a designer;

• When I did my re-design. I gave my designer a list of very specific things I wanted. Originally I asked for a very thin lined band for the navigation bar but, when presented the idea that I ended up with it grew on me. Be open to suggestions of the designers but, in the end it is your decision. I designed my own header and purchased the graphics. I hope to share a few more blog design tips on another day but, am leaving you with this mini checklist. 

Blog Design Tips or Redesign / Website Design Branding Checklist; 

• Decide on your branding style
• Pick Your Colors
• 1, 2 or 3 columns / How will they be aligned? left/right
• Custom header designed by someone else or you design it?
• Slider for images (yes/no)
• Portfolio page (yes/no)
• E-Commerce shop (yes/no)
• Blogger or *WordPress self hosted *my preference 

These are just a few things to help you if you are considering starting up or re-designing your site. Feel free to ask me more! Visit here for branding ideas. 

Did you design your own site? Did you have it designed for you? Or did you customize a template? 

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