Are you happy with your blog template? did you choose the right template for your blog? this is a question i have been asking myself for some time how often should i change my template? is the big question so i decided to write a post about this and engage my readers to get their thought on this one. In my last post evaluating your website one of my reader mentioned that choosing a theme for your blog is more daunting than doing SEO itself food for thought is it and believe me it can and this is what motivate me to right this post.Thanks to Robert for inspiring me to write this post.
I can hear you saying another thought provoking thought from lawmacs, i like that sometimes as a blogger you have to be a bit controversial to get reaction from visitors not too controversial though now back to the main point of this post, every thing we as bloggers do we need to evaluate everything from our web statistics to our earnings. some times we move our ads to different areas of our blogs hoping for more clicks i believe and this is just my belief that there are times when we need to change our blog template and see if this makes any different for our blog.
I don’t know if any one else have the same feelings like i do but it seems that my blog template always needs tweaking and sometimes changing, it may just be me very fussy and like changes. We so often hear the phrase that Content is King but to me the king always needs a castle and that castle is the template, having brilliant content is good and always recommended but you need a good design to top it off. How may time have you been on a blog with good content but the design is not appealing to you it may be too cluttered or hard to navigate and you get turned off.
Changing your Template Can Be easy
For those running Blogger or WordPress as your blogging platform then you have it easy the reason been that there are thousand of templates available for free and paid on these platform WordPress especially has a huge collection of themes available for download but remember to acknowledge the creators wish by leaving the links in the style sheet or where ever. choosing one of these themes may not fully suit your needs however feel free to customize them to suit your needs. I am experience in creating my own theme but i still use from created by some one else why is that? you may asked there are many other things we do as bloggers so why invent the wheel just use one already made and get on with other stuff like promoting your blog. now how often should you change you template share your views here and thanks for participating.
When I started my first blog I used a free blog template without widget. Only after a few month I understood the importance to have a theme that allows me to change layout and design in a simple and fast way. Also a good template must be easy to read, and including a great support for any of your problem.
That is so true Nicola having great support for the theme you are using is very important that is the very reason why i learn to tweak and personalize the themes i used. Thanks for your comment Nicola
Believe it or not, I’m still looking for just the right theme. 🙂 What makes it even more “daunting” than I first stated is the fact that I’m unable to preview a theme with my current WP install. I’m not the only one with that problem and the support people are unable to find a solution. I have a test blog to play with but I would like to preview my current blog with a different theme.
The main reason I want to change my theme is because I’m tired of looking at it. Nobody has complained about it except me. 🙂 I’m always looking to make my readers visits as pleasant as possible and that includes content and theme.
In answer to your question, I think changing a theme is a matter of personal preference unless of course your visitors are complaining about it or it can’t be optimized for Mr. “G”. 😉
Always a pleasure when I inspire someone to write a post.
Thanks Robert i do hope you get that problem solved soon and for the inspiration you are good at that i can see that we share the same passion the reason why i change my theme is the same reason why you want to change yours Bro Great minds think alike. Thanks for you Comment.
Why don’t you try your theme on wamp server of your local host or try in other blogs before testing it on main blog. Yah theme is personal sort of choice, I had really crappy theme before but changed that as I thought I need something better.
A good SEO-optimised theme is very important for a blog.Right now i am using a free theme but looking for a better one.
I appreciate the changes which you have done with your theme 🙂 your blog looks cool now.
Thanks for the compliments about the new look Shabnam i am always looking for new ways to improve my theme the good thing about it is that i can do it myself and yes you are totally right a well optimized need is what we all need.
Shabnam you can use Comppress theme ,which is also free and made by us ,bt it looks professional .
Thanks for sharing nice information regarding changing blog templates. Nice piece of information.
Thanks for stopping and engaing in the conversation you input is very much appreciated here hope to see around as long as you wish
Having a solid blog template is pretty important. I have actually been toying with changing mine for a while. MIne is good enough now, but there are minor changes I want (like a “Best of” posts)
I am not quick to make changes though, so will be a while before I fix it..it is on my “fix when I return to the US” list
Once you get a template and theme “right” in my opinion it is something you should never have to deal with again.
I strongly believe that some time our blog out grow its theme by that i meant we might need to change from a two column to a three column to get more room in the sidebars depending on its circumstances but istill agree with your point by the way ilove your theme steve it is cool and clean
I am never satisfied with my blog’s template. Though at present I am using a free theme, but I am sure that even if I use a premium theme, I will never be satisfied. I will go on tweaking it from time to time and then change it after a year or so (but make sure that the branding remains the same, ie, the logo, header etc). But too frequent theme changes can distract the regular visitors.
Your made a very important point about branding and that is the reason why i keep the logo and the same color in the heading as not to cause too much distraction, you made some valuable point here.
I not never satisfied with my blog’s template either. I checked on some premium themes and I don’t quite think they fit my industry- dallas web design industry. If there would be a website that we could customize colors to go with our logos, that would be great!
Dallas web design
You can never ever be satisfied with your theme, In my opinion. I have tried several themes whether they are free or paid. But, I always go on tweaking in them and then keep it for sometime and again tweak it. 🙂
you are totally right i have changed my template so many times it is as if i will never be satisfied with it however i try to keep the heading color the same.
I’m actually planning to change my theme this coming weekend, though I’m still hesitating. My original plan is to purchase a thesis theme, though I’m not yet prepared to engage in that much of investment (for now). If only I have the talent to customize templates, that’s one of my major frustrations at the moment.
Theme/template plays a huge part in internet marketing, and most of us know that well. It instills brand and identity to your visitors and it also helps in converting traffic.
That is the idea i relly love thesis themes but at this moment i don’t believe it is worth the price and another thing i like chopping and changing and i don’t believe i will have that flexibility with thesis so for now i will stick with what i have.
I haven’t changed my blog’s template from long. Its been 2 years now. I think I have got the right template though there have been mixed reviews on the same. Most of the times, its been positive. One thing which I have never thought of seriously – to give my blog a professional look. This is something which I haven’t done at all. Before choosing my existing theme, I had tried and tested more than 50 templates. Finally, I decided to stick with my present template which I believe has a very catchy look and feel. I think I can make it look more professional by doing some customization and tweaks. Yet still, I am not in a mood to change my template for the time being. For me, one should change template only when its absolutely necessary. Getting a better designed template should always be a top priority and you must be able to differentiate between a personal and professional design. Make it all look simple yet attractive. No change is required if you are doing well with the content and the much required traffic. Maybe if you could just tweak it for banner ads or go for some designs which have support for the same.
Nothing is wrong with not changing your web template for a long time the point is that if you are happy with it and it suits your needs then by all mean keep it but if it is not what you want then you can change it.
WordPress especially has a huge collection of themes available for download it will be help full for me.
That is one of the beauty about WordPress there are a huge collection of template available out there for you to choose from and this can save you time as the saying goes why re-invent the wheel.
I haven’t changed my template yet since I started blogging. I wish I could but I am afraid to mess it up.
It is not that diddicult sam to change your template and if you do so and it does not work properly then you can revert bact to the old one thanks for your support hope to see you more often.
I do have a passion also for blogging and I have a tougher time in choosing for the right template because for me it is really important because it is one of the ingredients that attract visitors and it’s also the one who can contribute to the decision making process of whether to read the blog or not. Thanks for your post, where in your tips are really useful and you proved that choosing templates can be easy and fun.
I love blogging and indeed it is very important to choose the right template in order that visitors will be interested in reading your blog. I often choose template that are simple yet easy to read. Thanks for your helpful tips.
Hi, this is such an enlightening post. Completely agree that content and template should complement each other. I believe there’s a need to level up. As you said a king must have a castle. The same is true in changing template.No matter how compelling your content is but your template is not engaging then i would say that your blog is a mess.
Currently I am using thesis and meanwhile working on a unique theme for it. Once it is done, I will make sure that it is not changed until there is any demand
Certainly right…the king always needs a castle and that castle is the template…it should be attractive easy to navigate….
Thanks for your coment i like your terminology that the king needs a content and that is the template. i totally agree with you that a template should be easy to navigate.
Yeah ,i agree . Its always nice to change the theme so that your readers wont be bored seeing same theme again and again . But you again need to tweak your theme in terms of SEO or it might hamper your SERP .
Nice theme 🙂
If i like any theme i never change until i found new theme which is better than this theme.I feel it’s easy to change the theme.But,it’s very difficult to find theme which will really satisfy us.I change my blog template almost twice in year.
The template you are using in your blog is a very important factor that may affect the number of visitors that would visit and read it. Having a presentable blog depends on how you choose the right template. Choosing the right template could be challenging and at the same time fun. Excellent post. Thanks for sharing.
The right template will get the right folks to stick around. That said I don’t think it’s such a cool idea to keep changing templates frequently.
It took me three template changes to arrive at my present one and I don’t plan on changing it anytime soon.
P.S: Do please try to install the subscribe to comments plug-in. Can you please holla when you do? Thanks 😉
Template is an important factor which should considered while creating a blog. Visitor would like to read your blog if its design is more attractive and eye catchy. There are many templates available on the web free and paid as well. Of course, content of the post is more important than design but you can get more visitors to your blog if it’s design is unique, nice and impressive. you should change your blog’s template time by time to get your blog updated and everyone always love to see something new.
I am a blogger and I believe that choosing the right template for our blogs is a very important factor to be able to gain a lot of visitors. No matter how informative the content is, the first thing that every visitor will notice is the design of your blog and it affects in the decision making whether to read it or not. Simple yet attractive and unique template will likely to catch visitors attention. Thanks for the post!
It’s basically a need in order to fit it from the topic of your blogs and of course you need to be exert your creative efforts to make it attractive to readers and of cause striking to their sight. Unusual templates or the unique ones usually create curiosity to the readers and therefore it end up making your visitors hooked up in your blogs.
Thanks for your blogging advice, actually I do spent more time in choosing the right template for my blog. Although it’s time consuming for me but I really enjoy choosing and thinking if which template is truly fitted for my blogging venture.
Basically, themes are of importance in blogging. These make up to the total elements of a particular blog. I love this post, very informative and it gives sense to those who engage in blogging. Well, it will always go back to the idea that indeed simplicity is beauty rather than intricate themes. Thanks! more power!
This is another good post I have seen today as I browse the web and surf for related blogs to my site.. Yes, indeed themes are really important. This gives additional flavor to the entire blog. This rather compose percent of the total view of a blog. Nice one.. I think one should change theme as necessary, like finding more appropriate and more suitable theme for the blog and its content. Thanks for this..Cheers!
Since I only started blogging lately, I think the best time to change your theme is every week. This span of time is already enough to have that “retention” to those who visit your site and leave some comments. Changing it weekly can attract more bloggers and visitors to read and keep update with your posts. I mean the more colorful and timely your site is, the more people who will be persuaded to read it. Although, this is just my theory, but I believe your followers can really appreciate your site once who have that week by week changing of themes. They can appreciate it more that way.
Themes and Templates truly is one of the stuff you must consider on making you orwn blog attractive. No matter how simple it is, for as long as you worked hard for the contents and the environment of your blog it’s worth it. This post is very informative for bloggers like us. Thanks for the share!
I guess it depends if the blog doesn’t gain visitors at all..maybe they are tired of the way it looks..so it would be time to change the template…Thanks for sharing…(^_^)
There are certain situation why a blogger must change it’s template..Maybe because of some traffic issues, the viewer might not happy with how the way the blog looks like…anyway thanks for sharing..I really Appreciate it…
I have visited your site and I would like to thank for posting such a valuable info. I am sure your visitors find your site as useful as I did.
I agree with your point that king always needs a castle and that castle is a template.Template doesn’t makes any difference to SEO purpose.But if you provide fresh content in boring and repetitive manner it may loose its impact. Presentation is the first thing.So for me changing templates is good thought.
Although I am satisfied with the design of the blog, I think the design in lacking in SEO and therefore I am looking for some good theme. Can anyone suggest me a nice theme matching with the website contents? Thanks
WordPress Themes and plugins are the best one that suits your website and changes can be done easily.. In fact it is mandatory to change blog theme to attract bloggers..
Yes, it is easy to change the template, but it shouldnt be done too often as it may confuse the users.
i love your blogs, please teach me how to change templates from time to time.
i agree that with John that changing shouldnt be done very often as it confuses the users.
I think we should not change template without be compelled.
Tweaking a template is what I like to do. Major big bang changes are not for me. At some point in time I guess it is just like buying a car, eventually you will need a new one.
Mr MakingUsmile
If I have a new idea,I will.
It depends,if my topic is out,I will update the style so that it may appears.
i think it’s ideal to change your blog template every once a year. It’s essential not to make frequent changes in your template as this will sometimes cause confusion in readers end in terms of navigation.
What is the point of making website templates?I mean like in Adobe Photoshop, once you make them what use do they serve? Is there a way to save them as an html document or something? Or are they just there to be a basis for your html coding? I’ve read that you can slice them and stuff and put that into your website somehow, but how do you do this and is there a way that doesn’t turn your text into an image?
I know these are a bunch of questions, but really you just have to answer the first one. Thanks a trillion!
Excellent post and it was really informative about the change of templates. See am some what comfort with my theme, anyhow if i have any idea regarding this i will surely contact you.
Thanks for sharing.