5 Things To Keep in Mind When Getting a Custom Blog Design

Custom Blog Design
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A custom design adds a unique touch to the personality of a blog or a website. We will

Over the years, I’ve noticed a lot of blogs pouring into the web with unique & creative designs.

These blogs are either designed by an unknown company or by the owner himself.  Usually, no issues arise when blog owners are themselves web designers but when it comes to a third party, the actual problem starts!

So, in this article, I’ll just list out few points that you should consider before getting a custom design from third parties – be it blogger or WordPress.

What is Custom Web design & why you need one:

There are many beautiful WordPress themes out there, for example from WordPress theme repo, you can get many free designed WordPress themes, and if budget is not a concerned you can get Genesis theme with all skins package, and give an uplift to your Website.

But the problem with all existing  WordPress theme is, anyone can use it. You miss out the chance of branding, and having a unique look. Especially for creative people, this matters a lot.

For example, look at ShoutMeLoud.com, here we use custom design, and if you search for ShoutMeLoud theme, you will find many blogs trying to copy and giveaway ShoutMeLoud theme or BlogSpot designs.

Point here is, your custom design helps in branding of your blog.  Now, lets look at few points which you should consider before getting a custom blog design.

5 Essential tips for getting a custom blog design:

1. Find a design company & read the payment terms

Well, there are plenty of web design companies out there who can design what you want. The price for blogs run on blogger platform are way to less when compared to that by a WordPress blog. 

So, it’s pretty obvious when you go with WordPress and a company with good reputation, you’ll end up way too high from your budget. On the other hand, an unknown agency, low-cost but may/may not satisfy your requirements. I’ll stress this point a little later in the article.

It’s better you write down “What you actually want” before you search for quotes so that, there’ll be no miss understanding between you and the designer.

I say this because many a time, when people ask for additional features apart from the initial layout, the design companies take advantage of the initial amount you pay them and charge you a lot more than what should actually be charged, for the additional features.

So, better be careful before you make a payment – generally this does not happen with renowned companies.

2. Do you really need a custom design?

If you want your blog to stand out unique, it’s pretty obvious that you maintain a unique website. This actually provides you and your blog an individuality – I prefer a unique design when it comes to my blog. I suggest the same to you as well.

If you are a blogger, there are thousands of template you can choose from but none will provide you the exact look you have in your mind. So, it’s up to the individual to decide whether to opt for a custom design or choose one from the lot which satisfies the maximum among his/her expectations.

3. Selecting between best and worse

As I mentioned earlier in the article, you need to narrow down the quotes to select between the worst and the best. I suggest you to make a table with the features you listed as your rows and the quotes you received for designing the same as your columns. By doing this chart, you’ll be able to find which company offers you the best and the worst. At least, if you don’t find the best, you’ll end with something better:)

Also read: How to choose a WordPress theme – Beginners friendly guide

4. Does it fit your budget?

The most important factor which actually decides the final look would be the amount you wish to spend on your design. It’s quite obvious when you want extraordinary features on your blog, you’ll end up on a high scale. Cost includes the brand and the reputation of the company too.

For example, Darren Rowse from Problogger.net would have spent quite a lot on his design which includes a lot of custom areas like the job board, popular articles, archives, etc… If you except all this done for $200 or $300. Definitely not!

It would be way beyond this. Even premium WordPress or blogger themes are sold for $49.

Multiply it with the number of sales they make – you’ll know the exact price of that premium theme.

5. Final decision

Once you fix your budget say $500, a good company would quote say $700 or $800. It’s intelligent that you pick the one with $700 and extend the deadline for time.

This saves a lot in your budget. Instead of getting all the features fitting into your budget and ending up with a low quality work, I suggest you to compromise with few but end up with a quality design.

For blogger/blogspot users, the best way to get your custom design – choose a template from the web that satisfies most of your expectations.

Later, get quotes from various designers for the missing/additional features because it’s rather easy to customize/add features rather than building a complete template from the scratch on blogger.

  • Read: How to crowdsource your design using Freelancer.com

So, choosing a custom blog design is actually a negotiation between your thoughts and ideas with that of the designer’s price.

When you compromise with few features & extend the time for the deadline , you’ll end up with a quality piece of art at a better price else it’s gonna be a complete waste of time and money. Be wise and choose nice!!!

If I had missed some points, your always welcome to share them via comments!

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Authored By
Editorial Staff at ShoutMeLoud is a team of writers led by Harsh Agrawal.

13 thoughts on “5 Things To Keep in Mind When Getting a Custom Blog Design”

  1. jairam1

    Incredible tips, Mukund. It is truly a hard undertaking to outline a decent blog configuration, that is the reason it is ultra vital to work with a legitimate planner. They are experienced and gifted to accomplish the outline all the more speedily.

  2. Mukund

    @Jasmine: First of all, thanks for the comment! Yes! I do accept customizing a template is rather easier than designing a new one provided you know what to and where to customize:)

    @zanilhyder: I’ll partly accept with what you said – posting relevant images and using proper font styles will make a decent template but if you need to stand unique and show some individuality in your design, then your tips won’t work! Anyway, thanks for the comment!

  3. zanilhyder

    There is a lot to customise, but with existing set of free templates itself, and wise usage of color and image we can bring up a site to professional quality.

    There are free templates, there are templates for $1,2 etc and there are WP templates like WProbo i suppose which has ajax to pull content from net and post it which was priced $170 2 years ago.

    but i found that customisation was in images used and fonts used as there are templates from 1,2,3,4 column available and similarly for others as well.Rather the available set of options on customization are already utilized.

    But for those who don’t have time and are not willing to try we have those expensive customizations.But trust me beauty of the template is on the images used (your own photos it can be personnel,company or product) and color schemes used.

    Someone above mentioned about a template for longtime, i think instead you need change to have engagement on your blog else it becomes monotonous and online popularity decreases.

  4. Jasmine

    Great tips, Mukund. It is really a hard task to design a good blog design, that’s why it is ultra important to work with a reputable designer. They are experienced and skilled to get the design done more promptly.

    Anyway, just like what some commentators have shared, it is easier to just customize from an existing design. Sometimes, it’s easier to just start from the Thesis theme. 🙂

  5. Mukund

    @Ajay : Well, I would be happy to give my suggestions about your blog but I don’t think this is the right place to do so! Connect with me on gtalk and I’ll help you out!

    @Ashish: To an extent, I accept with what you said. I’ve noticed few design blogs that do well even without proper validation by W3C school. If I were a client, I would expect that:)

    @Roy C.Chukwu: Well, I can provide the email address of various web designers around the web. Ping me via gtalk.

    @Tushar Agarwal: If price is alone the most important factor, then you’ll never end up with a quality design. You need to spend more if you need a quality piece of work. I accept with the rest of the statement you made – “getting our money worth”.

    @shashank chinchli: Yes! Rather than designing a complete theme, customizing is an easy task.

  6. shashank chinchli

    Infact i like to work out on customising thesis theme! People just like to steal SML theme and add few own tweaks nothing more !

  7. Tushar Agarwal

    well price is the most important factor. rest comes later.
    making your money worth is very important because you get a design once in a long time and you need to make sure you are not going wrong

  8. Roy C.Chukwu

    Thank you for sharing this with us. I would have love to have some suggestions on contacts of good designers.

    Do you know of anyone?

    Hope to hear from you.

    Roy!

  9. ashish

    Always get a design that is validated by w3c that will fetch you more appreciation.

  10. Ajay | symplyfyd.com

    That’s a huge sum for me to go for at this moment..
    anyways Mukund can you please spare a moment and provide me some suggestions for my blog design..
    i will be highly obliged to you…

  11. Bhaveek

    My blog is growing and soon i will be required a designer to create a brand new design for it..
    Thanks.

  12. Mukund

    Well, that’s left to your choice! You’ll find more web designers when you go international but do remember there are great web designers in India as well!

  13. Rakesh Narang

    thanks man, really helpful tips, i am looking forward to give my blog a custom design, thanks for these awesome tips.

    by the way, should i go with Indian designers or international??

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