Digital Ink on Paper

The Perfect Theme

// April 8th, 2009 // Blog-a-holic

One of the most exciting part of making a blog is the search for that perfect theme.  Of course, before choosing a theme, it’s important to consider the following:

1. What is your blog’s main topic?

Of course you have to decide first what will be the main topic or genre of your site?  Is it mainly about fashion? music? reviews? movies? Or is it going to be an online journal?  Be clear about what you want to write about because this will help you in choosing the perfect theme.  Imagine, an all about guys blog but the web design looks like it’s an arts and crafts page.

2. Which platform are you going to use?

There are so many platforms available like WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, and Livejournal.  It’s very important that you know this because each template or theme is specific to each platform.  In short, you can’t use a WordPress theme on Blogger and vice versa.  I personally prefer WordPress because it’s easy to use, customizable, and there’s so much resources available online.  I got a FREE template designed by Evan Eckard for SmashingMagazine.  You can also check Themes Rock-Kitty for more free WordPress templates.  But, if you decide to buy a template, make sure that you get an after-sales support.  This is highly recommended especially if you do not have any background in programming.  I recommend GorillaThemes because I’ve personally tried and tested the service.

3. Are you planning to earn some money (monetize) through your blog?

If yes, it will help a lot if the theme is widget-ready or better yet, Adsense ready.  That means all you have to do is copy and paste the code provided by Google or Adbrite.  If not, then you don’t have to worry if it’s Adsense-ready or not.

There are so many great resources online to help you get started.  Graphic Rating has listed down 6 useful sites that will help you get started. One more thing that I recommend is to read the Read Me text file or sometimes PDF file attached in the theme’s zip file.  You could also get more information from the author of the theme by visiting their site and look for any additional documentation or updates.  Lastly, it’s OK to ask questions from the theme’s author so don’t hesitate to leave them a message in their website.

I have no experience in programming but I was able to put up this website.  If someone like me can do it, I bet you can, too!