If like me, you are dumber than a mule when it comes to inserting code, tweaking your template or basically shifting to a customized background and column layout(web content cosmetic surgery), prepare yourself to find so many confusing "tutorials out there that might just eradicate your content, leave your background pepto bismol pink or a weird distribution of spaces between your posts, header, gadgets etc. It has happened to me I must admit, and yeah, ok as a rookie I jumped at the opportunity to paste lines of code as geek wannabe whenever so-called step by step tutorials told me to do so WITHOUT saving a copy of my template. OUCH!
Fortunately I am a fan of a wonderful woman who is not only superb at web design but is also a mom and has a web site out there that just helps thousands of bloggers on a day to day basis. Her
templates are easy to use. Whenever I come up with the strangest idea of wanting to do this or tha
t to my template I head on to
BLOgger BUster, where turns out Amanda Fazani already thought of what I wanted ages ago. You can show her some love by donating, if you find her services valuable(trust me you will), suggest a tutorial post topic and you can even download one of her free website templates. She probably designed the one you like best and will help you customize it with the patience of a mother. She has outstanding stuff to help you out wether you have a wordpress based blog or a blogspot one.You will find all sort of beauty treatments for your web site referred there and most she has created herself. Her most popular posts aimed at helping the community are called:
- essential tools for blogger template design
- change the title tags for your blog for improved seo
- how to add a comment from beneath your blog posts
- 54 inspiring and original blogger designs
Then you have
Blogger Forum, a place about blogging for bloggers where tips can be found like:
- naming your blog
- naming images to get google image traffic(alt tags)
- making the blog spider-friendly
- inserting rss, pagerank buttons
- hosting
Though it focuses on blogspot blogs, most seo advice, content orientation and resource finding out there can actually be implemented on most platforms where you are allowed to use editors to modify code, as well as install diverse plugins to get a job done.
Tutorial9 is built up seamlessly around tutorial topics that cover a significant range regarding design needs like photoshop, illustrator so they could help you say, make an
awestricking header image as well as blog resources like
understanding heat maps. The page is design genius that can get away with so much content on it and never look saturated, has wp themes giveaways and even will let you in on design blogs to follow for trends to come.
If you are keen on art and have some knowledge about design tools, you might find using them a blessing for standing out in the blogosophere. I have never even opened photoshop in my laptop, so you might get an idea on my design tools illiteracy.
Technorati has an inside out approach to help you understand the core of weblogs in case you decide to start communicating online and haven't got a clue as to what a blog is or matter of fact, a website. More help than actual tutorials, you can find info of the sort:
What is a blogger? A blogger is someone who writes a blog.
What is the blogosphere? Blogosphere is a word used to describe the online community of bloggers and their writings.
How is a weblog different from a website? A weblog is a website that is updated frequently, most often displaying its material in journal-like chronological dated entries or posts. Most blogs allow readers to post comments to your the post, and link from their blog to your posts using the permanlink URL or address. In a blog, the content can be published and syndicated separate from the formatting using an RSS feed. Readers can then subscribe to the feed to automatically receive updates. You could also learn how to include news widgets to your site like this one
View top newsAnother hit website out there driving loads of traffic due to amazingly clear concise tutorials and plenty more s.o.s solutions for bloggers, is the über-famous
Problogger where content is not precisely based on blogging makeup, whereas on monetizing and building reader-friendly, high impact content. It's serious advice on how to awe readers, make them cult followers, create a marvelous professional impression and make money while at it.
Iwould recommend heading over there after you have blog architecture at its finest cimented on flawless content support. Yet it is not a bad idea to start out a blogging career with specialized mentoring and successful examples to look up to or to imitate a great webpage that already exists WITHOUT duplicating it.
Okay maybe you just don't spare the time for blindly striving at template customization, you have no time whatsoever to follow tedious long posts where code barks back and claws at you and decide a premade layout/theme is the best solution; believe me it will not be so easy to find breathtaking templates used by few bloggers or site owners out there.
Free gorgeous designs invade the web, but there are so many people using them it is hard to achieve individuality or uniqueness. I mean, if the world is over-populated the web is insanity squared. If unlike myself you have not the time to learn the hard way along the path, you might consider using a web service to help you instal an outlet for all your ideas and creativity. It would make your life easier but you would not learn anything new along the way, except how to use paypal or mail checks.
