How frequently do you redesign your blog? Feel free to share any good tips for bug-free redesigning.
Categories: blogging
Thursday, September 2
Posted by Laurel Garver on Thursday, September 02, 2010
17 comments
When I started up this blog over a year ago, I was going for a streamlined urban/nature look and customized one of Blogger's simpler templates. Today it just isn't doing it for me anymore. I've hunted down a new template and hope to get the thing up and functional in the next new days. Anyway, brace yourself for an all-new Laurel's Leaves by Labor Day.
How frequently do you redesign your blog? Feel free to share any good tips for bug-free redesigning.
How frequently do you redesign your blog? Feel free to share any good tips for bug-free redesigning.
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I've redesigned mine two or three times and I'm mostly satisfied with the way it is now, but I can feel the rumblings of new creation stirring. I might just have to do it again for my 1 year anniversary. I hope you have fun redesigning yours :) I'd give you tips, but generally, I just mess around until I'm in love with it.
ReplyDeleteI never used to change it, until my background image disappeared and I was forced to. But I think of my blog as a brand. You don't want to change it up too often because then people get confused. But if you keep it the same for too long, people get bored. Looking forward to seeing the new design!
ReplyDeleteI've changed mine three times since I started blogging last year. In fact, I changed mine about two weeks ago. I played around with the new template designer on blogger, but I couldn't find anything I was satisfied with. Finally found a template I love, but I had to tweak the html to get it just right (very time consuming btw). Good luck with your redesign!
ReplyDeleteI used to change mine a lot but I really like mine so I haven't changed it in awhile.
ReplyDeleteClarissa Draper from Listen To The Voices
I've changed mine three times in less than a year.
ReplyDeleteLike a few others, I lost my back ground recently and had to quickly come up with something new, so I settled with a common Blogger Template. Then I went searching for something I liked better, but it was hard to find one with three columns. All very time consuming.
I finally found one I liked. So, we'll see how long I stick with it!
Will look forward to it! Although I do like this look too. I tweak my blog sometimes, it just depends on how much time I have and how much the current look bothers me:) Have been thinking about changing some things soon too. Have a good weekend,
ReplyDeleteKaren
I redesigned my about a month and a half after I first started it. I'm planning a redesign for the first of the year and hope to keep for a while.
ReplyDeleteI created a "test-blog". It's private. I copy a few of my posts over so I can gage the look, then I play until I like it. I test post and comment too. Then I copy the template and upload it to my regular blog.
Good luck with the changes! It's always fun to get a new look . . . but I don't like to do it too often because there's something comforting about stability, too.
ReplyDeleteI've changed mine only once, and the one I have now I adore:) It feels like me!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see the new look of Laurel's Leaves:)
I can't wait to see your new look. I've changed my look about three times. I'm thinking of changing it again. I'm trying to clean it up.
ReplyDeleteGood luck and have a great weekend!
Looking forward to seeing the new look! As for me, I need to freshen mine up too, but I just don't have the time. Whenever I sit down to do it, I find myself reading blogs or just surfing the net!
ReplyDeleteI've made one change in the 10 months of blogging. I like it. I wish that blogger would let us see what the change will look like as soon as we click something. It feels a little clunky and you have to click all over the place to see what you've got. Still, it's good to change it up once in a while.
ReplyDeleteBethany: I've done the experimenting tons with an old personal blog I ran from 2001-06 (yes, I'm a blogging veteran). The trickier aspect is wanting to create a "brand" and figuring out what it is exactly.
ReplyDeleteKierah: It's the brand aspect that's a huge reason for my change. I'm querying a manuscript that got massively overhauled in the past year. I'm about to start marketing it under a new name and sub-genre and want a new look to accompany the change, should agents google me. We need to be willing to re-brand ourselves when necessary, I think.
Melissa: the time-suck aspect has kept me from attemping it, but with the holiday weekend coming up I should have some spare hours. We also have a grad student staying with us who's pretty tech savvy. I may go crying to him a lot.
Clarissa: It's very tempting to change constantly when there are so many lovely designs available to choose from. But having some consistency is good too.
Elle: knowing that professionally designed freebie templates can sometimes go missing is the reason I did my own design work initally. But I'm not really a designer, I'm a bit tired of this look, and I'm about to re-brand. So I'm taking the plunge with another designer's look and see how it pans out.
ReplyDeleteKaren: A little design freshening helps renew our enthusiasm for blogging too, don't you think?
Holly: BLESS YOU! This is an awesome idea! I am definitely going to create a test blog before going live with the real thing. Fabulous tip--thanks!
Janet: I agree. I'm hoping to do the redesign right so that I'm happy enough to stick with the new look for a while.
Tamika: finding a look that feels right is so important, especially when our look is part of what establishes our "brand."
ReplyDeleteChristine: There's always some trial and error, isn't there? Sometimes it takes a few months of using a format to figure out what works and what doesn't.
Kelly: It is a time-consuming project that I'm undertaking largely because I need to rebrand. Yet another reason I caution people against querying too early. Once you remake your manuscript, you ought to overhaul everything associated with your project to give it a proper launch.
Mary: check out Holly's comment--she created a private test blog for playing with new designs. Sounds like a great way to monkey with the design bit by bit without it effecting your main, live blog.
I changed my template in the spring and nearly broke the universe. It was quite traumatic. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteObviously I'm not well versed in html and codes and other scary things required. Now they've got the new template designer, but it'll be a while before I recover enough to try again :)
Have fun!!
Jemi: wow that does sound traumatic. My hubby is great at html and css and has already begun helping me customize a design I *mostly* love. Can't wait to unveil the new look!!!
ReplyDelete