Just a couple of weeks ago I was reading a thread in the PayPerPost forums about a link exchange.

In the thread, one poster says to another “we have the same blog design, cool!” And all I could think was “not cool, why do you like that?”

I didn’t say anything in the thread but the idea has bugged me since I read it. What I read and what my mind heard were two different things…

Great, so there’s nothing unique about you.

Perhaps this is not really the case. Neither of the girls were sploggers, they had unique content but would you know the difference between the bloggers if you were just surfing through sites? Probably not.

And the thing is this is not the only case. With the rise of many great free WordPress themes there have become an abundance amount of people all using the same free themes. Having the same design as other people doesn’t give you a leg up when those who visit blogs are notorious for scanning content, not reading. Believe that during the scan of content, your site needs to look different than the last one they visited.

Maybe I can help you stand out from the crowd. Assuming that the free theme you’re considering using has license information that allows you to make modifications, here are some things you can do to make your free theme different than the person who last downloaded that same theme.

Change Colors

Basic CSS styling will help you to change just small details that will help you be different. Change link colors, hover colors, and add some basic touches that are not included in the original design of the theme. (Or remove some of the elaborate touches from the theme to make the design more simple).

Header Image

Having a logo created for your site is cheap, when you find the right place. Seek out an affordable web designer who can use the dimensions of your free theme’s header to create a header that is unique to you but still matches the rest of the theme.

Move Sidebars

Going a little more advanced. Move a sidebar from the right to left or vise versa. This seemingly small change is huge for a visitor’s eye.

Image Titles

Small images for your sidebar sections can really change the way a theme looks. Create matching, small images to use instead of the header tags on the sidebar. This modification can also help draw the visitors’ eye to the sidebar and get their attention.

Go All Out

If you know what you’re doing, make a complete design change to the template. Leave all the basics in place so that you have template that has good “bones” and modify everything else. Again doing this means making sure you have the right to do so under the author’s license.

It doesn’t take much to stand out from the crowd. But when you want to attract a lot of visitors to your site, this is a very vital step. Make sure that the first thing they think about your blog isn’t that it looks like someone else’s blog. This keeps you unique and visitors will actually stop to read content when they don’t think that you’re the last blog they ran into.

Ultimately, I believe the best thing you can do to give your blog a leg up is to invest in an affordable blog design. You can get it done cheap, start branding your site from the minute it’s launched, and you can rest assured that your site doesn’t look like anything someone else has.

Technorati Tags: WordPress Themes, Free WordPress Themes, Web Design, Blog Design, Affordable Blog Designs, Theme Modifications, Unique Web Design