I’ve been on the hunt for a custom blog design, for quite some time really. And to be quite honest with you I am having a hard time deciding on who I want to do the custom design for the blog and how much will I be paying to have a custom blog design done for me.

I’ve been on vacation for about 2 weeks now. no-where sunny or anything of that nature It’s winter and I like to be out and about here In snowy Canada, playing hockey and all that So its good to be back and back to the keyboard. But now that I am back I am continuing my search for a custom blog design, or a custom blog design service to suit my needs. Maybe its the holiday shopping bug that got into me maybe its because the new year is coming around and I am currently goal setting and one of the goals is to have a custom blog design done for me.

Not any easy task if you want an honest opinion as there are so many talented blog designers out there.

So lets have a look at some of the reasons why you would want to have a custom blog design done.

First off from a personal perspective:

I am currently using Chris Pearsons 3 column copy blogger theme. As much as I do like the 3 column copy blogger design and the clean white space it provides to feature content, the one problem I have with it is that it breaks in Opera. Not cool in my mind. At first I thought it was just me and something I did to it, but I have seen a few others with this design and they break as well.

Here’s a few other bloggers using the copyblogger design on their blogs

http://blog.biklopsdesign.com/

Keener living

TropicalSeo

OsCandy uses the copyblogger 3 column theme by chris pearson as well.

Another problem I have with using a freely available theme is that as you can see from just a few examples there are many others using it as well.

This doesn’t lend well to better blog branding when so many others are using the same blog template or theme.

When your prospects recall your brand, make sure it makes them smile. If not … you would be better not being recognised at all - ChrisG

"we are moving towards a world where online reputation and personal branding are taking hold. If people connect more to one another through their personal brand online, we are going to see the connection for emotional branding in these channels."  - Six pixels of separation

As bad as this sounds when I am surfing for information when I come across a blog that uses a theme or design I just saw 30 mins ago I just click on to the next browser window or hit the back button or close the window altogether regardless of the content. Why? I’m a visual creature to a large extent if the theme doesn’t grab me in someway I am not going to stick around. My attention span is very precious to me its the most important commodity there is.

When I am surfing for information I am an information consumer. SO when I land upon a blog or a website that information had better consume me quick. Strange really isnt it. Do we consume the information or does it consume us. Either way the consumption process happens or better happen quick and something anything on that page has just got compete for my gold-fish like attention span or Im outta here.

Image is everything and this is where the importance of blog design comes into play. Look at some of the A-list bloggers that have had a custom blog design done with-in the last few months or longer.
 

Copyblogger 

Problogger

JohnChow

Shoemoney

ChrisG

HERE’S WHAT I THINK

DO I think blog design is important I will say YES.

DO  I think a good blog design will positively impact your traffic I will also say YES.

The most important point though, is to realize that a good blog design is nothing without presenting your high quality content. With out content your blog design will not matter much at all and is a waste your money.

Another point worth mentioning here. If you cannot afford to have a custom blog design made for you, don’t let that stop you from producing killer flagship blog content. Or Pillar content.

" A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice." - Yaro Starak

What you perceive you believe 

It’s human nature that what you perceive you believe. Being it real or not is a totally different thing, but it still hold true. When you see someone driving down the highway in a BMW, your first immediate impression is wow, that guy/gal is loaded. You have no idea if he is loaded in debt. But you know he’s loaded and you want to drive that car have his success, have his lifestyle. All based on an impression, on an image, on a perception of a reality. Or is this person faking it till they make it

Yes marketing has something to do with this as do hefty price tags on luxury automobiles. But its still all a perception.

Same holds true when, As neil patel at quicksprout.com so eloquently put it: " if people don’t see you as successful then you are less likely to succeed yourself" Appearances are not deceiving they’re reality.

Let me ask you this what do you think you wind up on a professional looking blog, or custom design. Using the blogs I’ve mentioned so far as an example.

Is this blogger is successful?
Knows what theyre doing?
Is trust worthy. Are they real?

These are of course just very basic assumptions.

But dig a little deeper and you’ll see what makes an authority blog and how to the reality matches perception. And how you can mimic these blogs and create this for yourself.

I’ll save that for the next post.