Since I started blogging, one of the things I’ve struggled with is my site design. Like any other content creator, I want my site to look professional, clean, polished, and inviting.
Related read: How You Know It's Time To Change Your Blog Theme
also want a site that is functional so it doesn’t take forever to load and is easy to navigate. The reason being all of those things encourage site visitors to hang around longer and want to come back.
The functionality piece is even more important for your mobile visitors which are probably more than visitors on desktop.
When I decided to give my blog a facelift I was looking for some key things when it came to way I wanted my site to look and function
After much searching I found what I looking for as an off the shelf template with a particular designer. This search and several other ones I’ve had in the past made me realize that it can be hard to find a good template for your blog so I’m going to share some of the resources I’ve found so your search doesn’t have to be as hard as mine.
- Has a responsive layout so it looks good on both mobile and desktop
- Has a static menu for desktop views
- Allows for customization with my brand colors and fonts
- Doesn’t take forever to load
- Is SEO friendly
- Allows for multiple options for placing newsletter subscription form
- Doesn’t cost a fortune
- Is easy to installs
After much searching I found what I looking for as an off the shelf template with a particular designer. This search and several other ones I’ve had in the past made me realize that it can be hard to find a good template for your blog so I’m going to share some of the resources I’ve found so your search doesn’t have to be as hard as mine.
What is a blog template?
In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about when I say blog template. Also know as a blog theme they are a pre-made web design for a blog. Meaning blog themes and templates give you a starting point for the layout, fonts, colors, and even functionality for your blog.
You don’t necessarily need a theme or template for your blog unless you know how to code a site from scratch. Blog themes and templates are good for those of us little to no experience with html and css coding.
Depending on how they are made, some of these themes and templates can be easily customized by changing colors, fonts, and adjusting some of the layout.
Where to find beautiful blog themes and templates
When it comes to themes and templates for your blog you want to make sure it will work for your hosting platform. If you’re using self-hosted WordPress you’ll want a theme that works with Wordpress.org sites.
Then there are templates for the Blogger or Blogspot platform which is what I used for this blog A Relaxed Gal. That is solely hosted by Google and WordPress themes won’t work on it and vice versa.
Self-hosted WordPress themes
Let’s start with WordPress which typically refers to blog designs as themes.
Restored 316
This a popular place to find beautiful, customizable themes for your WordPress blog. These themes are designed to be stylish, professional, and seamlessly function so your blogging brand makes a good impression.
I love that there are many themes to choose from and you can search based on the type of blog that you have. There are options for lifestyle bloggers, food bloggers, travel bloggers, and even graphic designers who want to sell their skills and designs.
All of the themes are beautiful so it will be hard to choose one. They can also be customized to fit your brand. My two favorites are the Create theme and Beloved theme
All of the themes are over $100 which can be a lot to shell out when you’re just starting out. But the cost may be worth it if you can find a theme you really like and will work for your needs.
Studio Mommy Design
When I was working on a Wordpress blog I did some searching and stumbled across the Studio Mommy Design Etsy store. There I found the theme Every Morning.
I liked the Every Morning theme because it was responsive, the installation instructions were so easy to follow, could be customized, and the desktop header/menu was static.
There are only a handful of themes to select from but they are all responsive, very attractive and can be customized to fit your blogs branding.
Creative Market
It was several years into my blogging journey when I heard about the Creative Market. This site is a global marketplace for designers and artists can sell their wares which include WordPress themes.
Creative Market claims to have more than 3,800 premium WordPress themes that can be used for variety of different businesses, blogs, and other types of sites. Pricing for the themes range from as high as $350 to under $100.
There are so many beautiful and functional ones to select from. Three that stood out to me (among many) were this Olivia theme from the Bella Creative Studio, Faith from Lucid Themes, and Amanda from Azura Theme.
Pipdig Themes
This is another site I’ve loved to browse when looking for blog designs. I discovered when I was visiting another bloggers site, liked the look of it. I thought maybe she got it specifically designed for her so I did a little sleuthing (by looking in the footer) to see where she got it from and she got it from Pipdig.
Here are some WordPress themes that stood out to me as a good mix of beautiful and functional: Style Light, Viva Viva, Lavoie.
Blogspot / Blogger blog templates
Let’s switch over to Blogspot or Blogger which calls it’s blog designs templates.
Pipdig Themes
I know, I mentioned Pipdig for Wordpress themes but you can also get Blogger Templates there as well. Many of the templates mirror the WordPress themes but the templates are coded to be used with Blogger.
Some of the themes I really like are Holly Weave and Willow.
Creative Market
This is another site repeat. In addition to WordPress themes you can also get Blogger templates. Unlike the WordPress themes they aren’t easily found and aren’t included in the dropdown menu. You actually have to search Blogspot templates.
A few shops I found with nice looking Blogger themes are Theme Shine and Yo..! Templates.
Etsy
Etsy is a great place to find really budget-friendly WordPress themes and Blogger templates. I’ve actually bought a Blogger template from a shop and have seen others in Blogspot Facebook groups recommend Etsy a good resource for blog templates.
Balkeni Studio is one that I’ve seen recommended quite a bit. Also, the designer and coder Zera Zoya is pretty active and a helpful participant in several Blogspot Facebook groups I’m in.
Odd Themes
If you’re using the Blogger platform, you may find a template for your blog here. I did for my blog A Relaxed Gal arelaxedgal.com. Odd Themes has hundreds of free pre-made responsive templates sourced from various developers that can only be used on the Blogger platform.
Because these are free templates you do have to be prepared that some of the coding may be wonky, you may have to mess with your CSS and HTML to customize the template and you probably won’t get any assistance from the template maker.
Several of these templates also have a paid version that have greater customization and give you access to customer service. Most of the templates I’ve seen didn’t cost a lot of money.
I selected the paid Camille template for A Relaxed Gal and really customized it with my brand colors and turning off of and on certain gadgets to give it a look I liked. Another template I had considered was the Kinsley.
Where do you go for pretty blog templates?
0 comments