Every year around this time I get inquiries from people who are hoping to start their first blog in the new year. Which is awesome! I can’t recommend blogging enough. It is such a versatile tool that can open doors to new communities of people, no matter what your interests are.

As a custom web and blog designer, you’d think that I would be all for these new bloggers hiring me straight off the bat. But having been in this field for a while now (and having been a brand new blogger myself) over time I’ve come to understand that for a lot of brand new bloggers, custom design isn’t always the best first step.

You see, over the years I’ve worked with a lot of brand new bloggers. And some of them come to me with a great plan in place, we work together, and their blog looks great from the beginning while they’re building their online presence, and they are able to start monetizing their blogs sooner. That is the best case scenario, and it’s why I don’t rule out working with new bloggers altogether. Sometimes it really does work out!

However, the flip side is that sometimes new bloggers work with me and then they never really get their blog off the ground because it turns out that they didn’t like the act of blogging as much as they thought they would. OR, as they blog their content changes and evolves, and then their beautiful blog design isn’t a great fit for them anymore.

I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping my clients succeed online, so it bums me out when clients aren’t able to use their sites (that we both worked so hard on) to their full potential. So while I could talk to you all day about the value of custom design, I wanted to put this post out there in case you might be thinking that it’s the only way to get started online. It’s not.

I understand that starting with a layout that is too plain or just ugly isn’t a good option either. To be honest, when I first starting blogging in college, my blog barely did anything for two years, partly because I kept it on a free (and totally boring) Blogger template because I assumed that anything else was outside of my budget, which wasn’t really the case.

The cool thing is that there is a middle ground option that will allow you to get your footing as a blogger without having to shell out a lot of money up front. There are tons of great premium WordPress themes out there that give you a beautifully designed blog layout at the fraction of the cost of custom design.

1. Buy Yourself Time

The beauty of premium WordPress themes is that you can often purchase and install them in a matter of hours. That feeling of motivation you’re feeling right now? That is precious, and if you’re anything like me, the clock is ticking. I’m not saying you should do anything hasty, but if you’ve got your blog name and domain (I like NameCheap) picked out, make moves while you’re feeling inspired and set that baby up! You can start blogging right away and you can always hire someone to install something custom later.

2. Learn by Doing

I’m not at all someone who thinks you need to know the code of your site inside and out in order to start a blog. That’s what web designers and developers are for. However, by installing WordPress, installing your new theme (and any plugins you might need) you are arming yourself with some basic WordPress knowledge that will help you when you decide it is the right time to hire a professional.

3.  The Proof is in the Pudding

Planning goes a long way, but it’s not the same as actually doing it. You might have big plans about the focus of your blog and how you want to visually express that in your blog’s brand, but how do you know until you’ve actually tried it? It makes sense to invest less at the beginning, and then have a more established content base before you pull the trigger on full branding and blog design.

4. Make it Count… Later

One of the best things about getting a custom blog design is that your site can truly be tailored to your content. The topics you love to write about the most, your most popular posts, what you want people to know about you right off the bat… your site can literally be built around your goals. The thing is, it’s harder to determine those things before any content has been produced. Having already produced some content will help you get more bang for your buck when you decide the time is right to invest in a custom blog design.

Where to start?

I’ve used the Genesis Framework from the very beginning- it’s the platform that I used as I learned to design for WordPress. There’s a great community that supports it and tons of documentation both on the site and produced by others. There are also a ton of great, free plugins that are available by using Genesis, which helps make the world of plugins a lot easier to navigate.

The way Genesis works is there are two parts: the framework (which contains the code for all the features) and then the child theme, which sometimes contains features, but mostly controls the look of your site. This allows you to update the framework (and the features) without messing with the look and layout of your site.

When you purchase a child theme on the Studiopress site, you can buy the framework and the child theme all in one purchase. The beauty of using a Genesis theme is that tons of designers (like myself) design custom child themes for Genesis, so when you’re ready for a custom site, the transition is pretty seamless if you’ve already got Genesis set up on your site.

My Favorite Genesis Child Themes

Foodie Pro
Lifestyle Pro
Runway Pro
Swank
Whitespace Pro

WordPress Theme Designers

Sometimes I think it’s easier to browse by designer. Genesis isn’t the only option out there, but some of these designers do build their themes for Genesis.

Angie Makes
Bluchic
ProPhoto (I especially like the themes by Seaside Creative and Swoone)
Restored 316 Designs
Pretty Darn Cute Design
Viva la Violette

Have you used a WordPress theme before? Do you have any favorite sources that I didn’t mention? Add them in the comments!

By the way, if you are in the market for custom design, get in touch! Even if I’m not the best fit for your project, I’m always happy to share some names from my referral list.

P.S. If you’re starting a new blog and you need web hosting, I recommend checking out RFE Hosting and Bluehost.

Note: there are a few affiliate links in this post, as I found myself referring people to these sites all the time. I truly recommend these services and products, and have personal experience using them. Thank you for your support!

Let’s face it: writing your about page is hard. I mean, who really enjoys writing about themselves? It can be kind of uncomfortable. Ever since I’ve had a blog, I’ve hated writing my about page. When I had multiple blogs and a business website, usually the blog pages came more easily to me- I felt free to be more casual and just talk about me and my life.

But the business page? It sucked. It was dry and oh so very boring. I don’t need to tell you, just look for yourself:

 

Ouch, right? When I combined my sites and did some redesigning earlier this year, I gave my about page a much needed makeover. Now that it’s been a few several months, I went back and isolated 4 things that were really wrong with it before, that I tried* to address in the newer version.

*I want to preface this by saying that I wrote this post and then looked at my about page… and wanted to do the whole thing over again. The old about page wins again! So try not to hold me to these standards, because there’s always room for improvement.

Here are the things I was doing wrong:

The story was boring.

Everyone has a story.  Where you’re from, when you born, what you studied in school, etc., etc… and for most of us, our story is pretty ordinary.  Mine certainly is.  The trick is finding a way to tell your story that doesn’t bore your audience to tears.  Think about this part as a writing sample. Your voice needs to pour out of your story. It should be written in the same style as your blog, or your social media, or whatever it is that you’re putting out there.

A word of caution: if you are a solopreneur, please don’t write in the third person. I think people do it because they think it sounds more legit, but it actually just sounds more impersonal.

I didn’t pivot.

A few weeks ago I had a lightbulb moment when I was discussing about pages with a client. Your about page is where you need to share all the things that set you apart from the other people in your industry. Your occupation, what you are, be it web designer, photographer, or blogger, that is the fixed point. People probably know that part before they even click on your about page.

So you need to pivot. You don’t need to talk about that fixed point, you need to talk about all those things the reader doesn’t already know about you.

Another way of thinking about it is what do you and your ideal client / reader have in common? Talk about that. If it’s someone who is hiring you, you probably don’t have your skill in common. In my case, I like working with creative women- interior designers, event planners, and the like. Instead of talking about how much I love to code, I need to talk about how much I appreciate well-decorated spaces and how stationery and fresh cut flowers make my heart go pitter-patter (see what I mean? Why don’t have that in there?!)

There was no hierarchy.

I’m not one of those bloggers who thinks that all blog posts need headlines, bolded words, and three different colors of text to make them more “scannable.”  Sometimes you just gotta write.  But on an about page?  For your business? People need something to grab them.

I didn’t play to my strengths.

I’m a web designer. What was I doing with a page full of text? If you’re a writer, write. If you’re a visual person, make it visual. The good news with about pages is that it can be whatever you want it to be, and more creative is generally better! Be different.

Want more tips on your about page? When I was working on my page, I thought these posts from In Spaces Between, Copyblogger, Amanda Genther, Blogging with Amy, Allyssa Barnes, were really helpful!

I don’t know about you, but I truly enjoy reading a good about page! Here are a few of my favorites for you to check out:

Emma Dime
Eva Black
Jess Lively
Jordan Brantley
Lara Casey
Organized Creatives

What is your biggest struggle with your about page?