Now that you’ve selected your blog topic and picked your blog hosting solution, you may think that it’s time to start making posts. Close, but not quite. You’ll want to create the look-and-feel of your blog. This isn’t a requirement, but merely a recommendation.
Think of it this way, you create your site, take the default theme, start posting, start getting readers. A few weeks down the road you change your theme. Your established readers may get confused as to the new look and leave your site without verifying that they are at the right place.
Weather you have chosen a free blog host or you’ve chosen your own domain name and are hosting the site yourself, you need to pick your design, I’ll call them themes. Don’t worry, there are plenty to choose from for either option.
For example, one of the most popular free blogging choices is blogspot. In your blogspot dashboard, click on the template tab and click on “Pick new template”. You’ll then be presented with many different design options to choose from. Make sure you pick one that not only represents your personality the best, but also is appropriate for your chosen topic. Once you pick your new design, your site will immediately change to that theme. You will notice that there was no coding required on your part.
Theme selection is also the next step when you are hosting your own domain name. However, the method needed will differ on your blogging software. I use WordPress and will give you some steps to accomplish theme selection with it. First visit wordpress themes to pick your theme. Scroll through the themes till you find your perfect fit. You may click on test run to see a preview of what the theme looks like full screen. Once you’ve found your perfect fit, click on download and save it to your computer. Now FTP this folder to your site at: /public_html/wp-content/themes/. It is now available for you to pick as your theme by logging onto your domain/wp-admin page, click Presentation, Themes, and choose your new theme. You notice that the only technical requirement is ftp’ing the new them to your new site. If you don’t know how to do this, you should be able to contact your hosting solution and they should be able to assist you.
Now for the step you’ve all been waiting for, making posts! Happy Blogging.