Discussions
Would You Pay for a Blog Design?
Posted by PinkLily • 8/10/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Would You Pay for a customized blog design complete with placement of ads? I am so tired of trying to figure out how to get the design of the blog I want. I have very limited knowledge of html and coding - they just look like a bunch of alien symbols. Laugh at me if you want - I took me 1 month to figure out how to get my present blog design - and it is one of those that is 'free for download' ones.
User Comments
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lol, i can do all of your work for free !-
I have read your blog. Interesting take on life. Love the clean design of your blog.
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Nope. I am a graphic designer and I am married to an engineer. I know better.
Just because a person can code does not give him any chops as a designer. Design and coding are about as far apart as you can get in terms of skill sets, and being good at one in no way makes you even marginally competent in another. Some of the worst designs I have ever seen were put together by super-good coders.
I think the best idea is to use a design program...like InDesign or even Illustrator...to come up with mock pages that you like, then have someone code it for you. That way you get what you want without the agony, and without being held hostage to someone else's idea of what is cool.
Keep in mind, though, that your content is really the thing that will bring people back to your blog again and again. The design is only important insofar as it supports and showcases your content.-
I read your blog on household tips :-)
Time to clean my house....
Yeah...I know what you mean about a super-coder may interpret beauty in some 'interesting' way.
As for the design program...sigh, they cost money. Since I am a casual blogger, it does not make sense for me to buy expensive programs. I do not even own Abode Photoshop!
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a girly , 3 column ,non - interfering ad placement --> in ur blog....... sssh all will be done ! any more demands ,
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While I agree with SweetViolet, I also find that messing around with designs and graphics is probably the most enjoyable thing about creating a blog- well, aside from writing the content every day, of course.
So, no, I wouldn't pay for one. At least not while the blog I'm running is just for fun.-
Read your blog. Vert clean looking blog. And the picture of your Xbox mod rocks! I think this is the first time I have seen a Xbox mod!
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Yes, if it wasn't outrageously expensive and I got what I wanted.-
Squeal! I love your blog design! So girly! Where did you get it? And those pics of kittens are soooooo cute!
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Absolutely, but I put my own code together already and my other half does the design work so we have an advantage-
Go to the corner and sulk. Sooooo lucky.
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are you ok, your partner is a designer, mine too...gosh it's painful
I went to a seminar on marketing came home and said design like this, a two hour meeting with her, storyboard, the lot. she delivered the opposite....grrrrrr
i said NO
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It get easier as you do it more-
Wow...I am impressed by the number of blogs you run. It took me ages just to run one blog! Yeah...I know it is easier if I do more....supposed to be easier...I just seemed to mess up the codes the more I do...
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Too true.
Bit like riding a bike I guess. Anything is life is easy, once you become well versed at it and practice, practice, then practice some more.
Except for golf. Grrrrr. Such a blooming hard game. I shot a very bad round today. Don't think I'll ever be the next Tiger :-) Ah well, there's always blogging. x John Cow (not Chow) and Darren are my Tiger Woods of the blogging world.
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You can contact me, I have done for some from BC too.
Free-
I have to rush off to work so I have bookmarked your site. Love the clean placement of ads -- everything is perfect....except that the graphic design...while it is clean and easy on the eyes....I love girly designs. I promise....would see whether I can 'borrow' from your website.
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Yeah, I would if it weren't too expensive because I really need to make the design less boring!-
I have checked out the prices of a customized blog....I am SHOCK at the prices some charged. Faints...
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Paying good money for good stuff is worth it. Some people write bad code
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No, because I have too much pride in my knowledge of Photoshop, HTML, and CSS.-
Ok...let me hide in the corner - *cries*. I tried, I truly tried...even did the cheapskate thing and spent hours reading on the books and copying the codes at a bookshop selling guides on coding. I just cannot make sense of them.
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don't worry, you don't have to do everything, all you need is to know WHAT neds to be done
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I've been thinking about buying a custom 3 column template. I've also been thinking about having a custom banner logo made for my blog. I'm just using a free wordpress one now but it looks nice and green so it fits my theme.-
Yeah..I know. But...it must be a BIG mystery to those 3 column designs. I can only get the 2 columns ones to work....but can never get the 3rd column to work. And even if they do work - somehow some of the design elements do not quite align.
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Well ... I paid for it! I designed my header and graphics in photoshop but I had no clue about coding or putting the entire blog together. So, I paid for someone to set it up for me. It's not exactly what I want because I ran out of money. But for now, it does the job. I'm trying to learn html and css and hopefully will be able to edit my blog soon. But seeing as how it took me almost an entire day to figure out how to change the font on my blog, I have a long ways to go.-
Squeal! I love those cute graphics...and it is clean too. I love it. Er....who do you ask to do up your blog?
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I asked a woman that I was familiar with from the digital scrapbook community. She has a blog design business, but I wanted to make my own graphics (using some stock photos and my own designs etc.) ... I really just needed her to put it together for me and get it up and running. I don't know if I'm allowed to link her business here or not?
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Er...maybe you can give me her link in my 'SHOUT BOX'? Thks!
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I wanna keep mine simple for some reason... but I also wanna get someone to draw an cartoonish image for the header of a person ironing the frozen fish isle of a supermarket... don't have a clue where to look for someone like that though.
not sure if I'd pay either...-
There are some graphic artists for hire around. But I am not sure of the cost.
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I would not mind paying for one, but at this moment, I can't afford a pay design. So I do the best I can with what I have, while learning how to play with the design and continue my love for blogging -
Your c urrent blogs are already very nice...especially the one on the War and Peace time. BTW - interesting read. I am a civilian working in a uniformed organization -- so it can be really interesting to see things from another point of view.
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I paid for my theme - and I'm delighted with it. And yes - I would pay for a theme again for new blogs that I set up.
Cheers, Martin.-
I can see why you pay for a theme. I can never hope to do anything similar like this. Coding must be a nightmare! Hmm....whom do you engage?
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Yes
And I can do it all myself as well
But often the last person to do something is yourself.
I am a very good guitar player, but I have enough sense to know that if I want some sort of specialty thing it may be better to use someone else.
I would easily consider a top marketer designing blogs and sites for me and then either passing it on to a coder/designer (emphasis on coder) .
Why people are not successful is because people think they can do everything themselves just becausec they have technical skills. Stupid idea and Business suicide.
Oh by the way, I teach this stuff for a living-
I read your blogs. It must be a roaring success amongst guitar players. I can understand what you are writing because I am trained in classical music but picking up a guitar....ouch. I used to play a few stringed Chinese musical instruments - and have horrible blisters.
I know what you mean about engaging professionals. I just do not have the expertise to get the blog done by myself or whether what I have mind is doable in the first place.
But paying a few THOUSAND dollars for a professional blog? Someone quoted me that price and I.....fainted. -
A real professional will charge a decent amount to do a good job, and if you don't have a business to support it, it's a bad idea. There is always rent a coder, there are good programmers there. I knew of a guy in Australia, he paid a Sri lankan guy 1 or 2 hundred for a good blog. Dig around the web, you'll find some good ones in plae. Go for the 80/20 principle, doesn't have to be perfect, have a cut off point and minimise the pain.
Develop a network of people with skills different to yours, help each other.
And yes my blogs are popular, they get 600, to 700 every day
If you take on a designer/coder check examples of their work and don't use a straight graphic designer, only a few can fix the real problem. Pick someone with code and design skills.
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I wouldn't choose a graphic designer to design for web, only offline
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Yes I would but to find soemone that is honest and could trick out my blog leaves me a lil apprehensive I emailed one site but they havent gotten back to me~
hb~-
Yeah....I know what you mean. I get really nervous when I do not receive any replied from people whom I want to PAY to do my blogs.
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I did my theme solreka.com/blog as a self-learn exercise. I knew nothing about html, php, pngs, etc prior to January 08.
I've just paid a small fee for a fully loaded ecommerce website using Joomla. The amount of work I will save myself by using a Joomla template will be huge.
Sometimes it's worthwhile investing some money in order to save time, thus allowing you to focus on other projects.
Joomla rocks (Blogs can also be done in Joomla) it is one serious bit of kit. A fully built Web 2.0 ecommerce, blog, website for 40Euros - bargain. ;-)
Now I can spend all my free time writing on BlogCat instead of learning ecommerce, web2.0 stuff :-)-
Thanks for the tip. Would look into your recommendation. But I do not want to spend 40 bucks only to realize that I cannot use the program!
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Joomla will be another learning curve, regardless how good it is
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Until I start earning serious money on my blog I am not investing a dime more than necessary. I paid for my own domain name and that is about all I am willing to invest at this point. There are a lot of really good free templates out there and so I am content for now.-
Yea, I can understand that. I have that view initially but as I blog more, I crave for more things from my blog.
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Yea, I can understand that. I have that view initially but as I blog more, I crave for more things from my blog.
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I think part of my problem is compounded by the fact that I wanted advertisements on my blog. I am making some 'money' (on paper since I have not been paid yet). I am not seriously thinking that I could earn a living...but it would be nice if it could cover the hosting cost. I am supposed to be paid at the end of this month and it would cover part of my hosting fee. Yipee!
But it is a nightmare trying to have nice advertisements plus a nice looking site together.
I love this design (except it has no adverts) - darasgarden.com/
This is also nice www.hostessblog.com/ (loads of adverts but your hardly realize that they are adverts and I find the design to be too plain for my standards) -
I would not. Besides there are lots of free templates out there that i can use. Also, I can make my own template.For now I have finished two wordpress templates and will try skinning my blogspot blog.-
Question, How do you know the codes good?
I used a default WP one but had to dump it because the code was bad -
You can use a custom template as a start and try to work around it...but dont forget to give credit to the original source....
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But how do you know the code is good?
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I dont really understand what you mean...but if you are talking baout the design...first you should look for a template that suits your needs..like how many columns, header placements ..etc..then get the template and enhance the code that fits your color preferences and look. In the case of improvements, you should understand CSS and how it works...I learned it by myself..so if you want to do it..try to search the web for css tutorials....you can start by visitng my blog...I have started the css tutorial...I am almost done on the part 2 ...its a step by step css tutorial...I will also consider making a custom css tutorial for you after my part 2 so you will have your own guide.Cheers.
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Oh ok, you don't understand
A Blog is created from multiple php files, an index file will call all the others plus any other associative files such as images, css etc
If someone is a 'tinkerer' who sort of knows a bit but not a lot, there is a and great chance that they may do a crap job that may look ok on the surface but may not be solid underneath. When I used a WP default template a year ago it was that bad that when you access it from a single post, the sidebar was missing, at that point I thought it's a great idea to really look at what your getting. Chris (crkian) has a great solution, create a duplicate test blog site to work with, when you get it right then use it live. I have absolutely no faith in graphic designers on the web, the technology is too complex for the average designer if they don't have strong code/script foundations. -
Hart ...post below is always a great resource of info
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Is there a 'test' software anywhere to run to tell whether your site has good coding or not? Pls pardon my ignorance if my question shows my stupidity!
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I understand what you mean...but not all designers do crap works...since you paid for it then I guess its right to ask for a refund in case the design doesnt work as you expected...thats the reason i made my own templates, so i can work with it and in case there are flows I know I can fix it.Even those free templates have flows too..so i guess the best thing you should do is to learn on how to make your own skin since you dont trust designers...Cheers...
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Pink lily not sure on that, will think about it
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With over 50+ blogs and blogging since May 2005 .. I have always used free template themes and "HART'icized" them (as I call it) modifiying and tweaking each to the blog's needs and adding extra to it.
I finally went ahead in mid-2007 and hired a designer to come up with a network wide looking template that I can standardize myself and I think it was worth it. Readers take the blogs more seriously, with proper code it loads faster, and still each is still flexible that I can still "HART'icize" each one
See what I'm doing on each... same template, kind of a different look
(at least that's what I think)
PetLvr.com/blog/
1800HART.com/blog/
HART-Empire-Network.com/sites/
AndYouWill.com
halloween.HARTmarket.com -
I would definitely pay for a good blog design for sure! -
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I design layouts, but I'm not too confident, hence I don't charge people. If I do, it's a very meager amount, given my educational background is psych/literature/education. But usually, I do it for free (the theme of my blog) I have done some layouts for very very very popular blogs for a link exchange. But it is so much better when a blog is customized and in line with the blogger's personality. Most people are visual and if the blog just has a bunch of words.. its kinda boring. Its so easy to tell if a blog template is downloaded from a free layout site by viewing the page source. I say PAY for a real customized design!! chances are the ones you download are being used by millions of other bloggers as well.
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