The most common blogging sites used by journalists, writers and other bloggers offer you a wide range of themes to use to brand your work. Choosing a theme isn’t a decision that should be taken lightly. Not every blogger will be able to afford an individually designed theme, logo and brand, but there are plenty of serviceable free designs out there.
However, before you choose a design for your blog, stop and think about the message it sends to readers. We looked at a number of themes while choosing one of this blog (and as I’m writing this, I still haven’t found the perfect theme. I’ll probably do some tweaking to a basic design to get what I want). But here is an example of some of the conversation that went on:
“That doesn’t say writer to me.”
“That one is nice but those are Canadian coins. People will think we’re in Canada.”
“No, that pen is gigantic and it looks threatening.”
“Cute, but not professional enough.”
“Eh, that’s just someone’s desk. Not a writer.”
All of this because I want the look of this blog to say “I’m a writer and I’m here for other writers” when the reader sees it for the first time. I want it to be clean and somewhat professional, but not stodgy. Not to feminine and not too masculine. And apparently not too Canadian (mainly because if you ask me questions about Canada, I won’t have the answers).
Choosing a theme is a fun part of being a blogger. But before you get started, sit down and think of the three main things you want your theme to say about your site. Because those are going to be the first things you tell your reader. And you’ll do it without words.