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If you have not read part 1, where I covered how to select a domain name and hosting and how to set up a blog, the go to the end of this page and access other posts.
Let’s talk about Making your blog look professional:
Okay, so you have decided on the domain name and you have purchased the hosting. Now comes the fun part. Which is selecting a theme and setting up your blog the right way.
Having a professional blog makes all the difference and we highly recommend that you work on this from the beginning. Having a professional blog will help you get more clients and more readers will be willing to buy using your affiliate links.
Selecting the right theme is half the battle won.
While selecting a theme, there are some things that you need to keep in mind:
- Make sure whatever theme you select goes with your Niche. Having a magazine kind of template for a business blog won’t work well. Keep your business idea in mind while selecting a theme.
- Make sure that the fonts that you are using are easily readable and the theme is easy to navigate for your readers.
- You will be able to customise theme colors in whatever theme you selecct but it is a good idea to stick to a few colors and not go overboard with it. Having 2-3 colors make your blog look more cohesive and more professional. Also, muted colors instantly give the blog a clean professional look, instead of bold colors that seem to clash with each other.
- Of course there is no reason to get overwhelmed, because you can change your theme later on, if you are not happy with it.
Free or Paid theme:
This is something that a lot of bloggers get confused about. Do you need a premium theme to start a blog? No, not really. And it totally depends on how much money are you willing to invest in your blog when you are starting out.
We started out with a free theme with our blog and then later moved to a premium theme by 17th avenue designs and we are so glad we made the switch. Because the premium theme by 17th avenue designs offered custom pages, landing pages and more widgets to customise the look of our entire website according to what we want.
If you are wiling to invest some money in your blog, then we highly recommend going with 17th avenue designs because they offer some of the most elegant and chic themes, which are highly responsive and customisable as well.
Here are some Free themes that I recommend:
TRAVEL BLOG:
- Minimal travelogue
- Travel Minimalist Blogger
- Travel Insight
- Tale travel
Lifestyle BLOG:
- Blossom shop
- Lifestylepress
- Chic Lifestyle
- Fascinate
Business Blog:
- Versatile Business
- Business Lander
- New York Business
To install a theme:
- Go to your blog Dashboard
- Go over to appearance in the left side navigation bar and select themes.
3. Click add new.
4. Search one of the themes that I recommended above or find a theme that you like. You can use the search bar on the right to select the kind of blog you want to make.
5. Preview and customise before publishing:
Whenever you are trying out a new theme and you aren’t sure how your website will look with that theme, it is always a good idea to preview. Preview gives you the option to see the theme in action. Then you can go ahead and install it and customise your own site.
Just don’t hit publish if you are not satisfied with the theme.
Again, if you want hassle free themes and themes that are perfect for businesses then We highly recommend 17th avenue designs where the themes are highly customisable. The theme that we currently have from 17th avenue designs even comes with beautiful landing pages on
There you have it. A professional looking blog ready for business.
Now, if you want to customise your blog further here are some of the FREE plugins that we highly recommend.
If you want to access part 1 of this series, you can find it here. In case you are interested in joining the detailed Email-course on how to start a profitable blog, sign up below to get mails directly in your inbox. It is also a great option if you are accessing this on your mobile right now. Leave your details below and get the posts in your mailbox to start when you have access to a computer.
The FREE 7 day email course to starting a PROFITABLE blog will cover:
- DAY 1: How to set up your blog right: Everything about hosting, plans, domain names and niches
- DAY 2: How to make your blog look professional: Setting it up the right way, themes and plug-ins you will need
- DAY 3: All the tools and resources you will need as a blogger. All the tools and resources that helped us through our blogging journey
- DAY 4: How to write quality content: Everything from structuring the blogposts, to finding content ideas, and optimising your posts for Search engines.
- DAY 5: How to monetise your blog & ways to monetise: How bloggers monetise their blogs and selecting which one is best for you plus our list of the best affiliate networks to join.
- DAY 6: How to market your content and drive traffic from social media: Everything you need to know to drive traffic while you sleep. Also, our top tips top set your Pinterest account the right way.
- DAY 7: How to stay motivated as a content creator and my top tips and tricks to stay productive and on top of your game as a blogger
If you have finished setting up your theme and want to go to the next part. Select one of the links below to check the part that you want to go to. All these parts will go over important topics such as monetising your blog, driving traffic to your website and your content strategy etc.
- Part 1: How to start a blog the right way
- Part 2: How to install a theme and make the blog look professional (this post)
- Part 3:
- a):Everything you need to do BEFORE you publish a blogpost
- b):Everything you need to do AFTER you publish a blogpost
- Part 4:How bloggers Monetise their blogs
- Part 5: Pinterest Marketing strategy
- Part 6: Workflow as a blogger
