The excitement and momentum of successfully creating my first free hosted Blogger (Blog*Spot) blog carried me forward to rushing my first ever written work published on the Web, after I settled on the "Sand Dollar" template. Of course, everything's different when it's your first time, but having learned from that experience I'd like now to share some pointers that a newbie blogger may want to consider before publishing his/her first post or Weblog entry. I'm careful to use "may" instead of "should" because these advices are not absolute, but just preferable for a practical reason over the long term--you are spared from re-doing many of your widgets in the sidebar of you blog when you decide later on to change your ill-considered first template.
1. Decide on the blog template that you really want.
There are objective and subjective considerations involved in the choice of a blog template. The objective aspects include:
--Cost - There are many free downloadable blog templates for various platforms (Blogger, Wordpress, etc.) available on the Web. For really picky bloggers, however, these free templates may not be good enough. Some websites offer free help for limited customization in exchange for credits thru links in the blog, but in general, a highly customized template will cost some money.
--Ease of use - User-friendliness is an important consideration for non-techies. Blogs are maintained via a so-called "Dashboard". The dashboard is where a blogger controls the publication of his posts, the appearance of his site, and everything else That one finds on a typical blog. The dashboard was where I realized that blogging had a technical side to it that I had not anticipated. Among the free hosted blogs that I have tried so far, I give the Blogger and Wordpress dashboards my two thumbs up.
--Purpose or goal - Some blog templates are more suitable for certain purposes, so it will save a blogger time and effort to be clear about his objective right from the start of his blogging journey. For instance, if a blog is intended to make money, a three-column, AdSense-friendly template would optimize a blogger's ad revenue potential. (AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google). Also, if a blog is meant to project a clean, Zen-like aura, a very basic two-column template like Blogger's "Minima" will suffice.
On the other hand, the subjective aspect can be covered by the term "look and feel" of the blog. Now, this is rather tricky, but critical for a blogger. If you have at least surfed or visited other websites or blogs once before you read this, you know what I mean when I say "critical". First impression is important, don't you agree? It could spell the difference between your decision to stay or leave within seconds of landing on a Website or blog page.
What is frustrating, however, is that I have yet to come across a rulebook that lays down in specific terms what one should consider to achieve a particular look and feel for a blog. For instance, I've seen templates that are classified as "Web 2.0". Maybe, techies understand each other when they talk about a "Web 2.0" template. But believe me, most people don't.
"Look and feel" is a broad concept that encompasses the interplay of colors, fonts, graphics, header, footer and sidebar design, and every little detail that you see in a typical blog. In the absence of any such rulebook, a blogger has to rely largely on his taste and aesthetic sense to decide on the look and feel that is "appropriate" for his blog.
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