We get a lot of questions about the look and feel of the 60 Second Marketer website and blog. The general consensus is that people like the clean, uncluttered layout we use. (Side note: We used the Apple website for inspiration, but still haven’t mastered their sense of minimalist design.)

Many of our readers have asked for information on custom blog designs. Here are a few options. What are some of your suggestions?

One of the more common questions is “Where do I go to get my blog custom-designed like yours?”

There are a number of ways you can get this done:

1. Go to a local designer who is familiar with WordPress, Drupal, Typepad or any of the other blogging platforms and have them give you an estimate for a custom design. The cost of a custom design will be based on how much work you want done. If you’ve got a design you’re already using and all you need is someone to develop a skin for it, that’s pretty simple. If you want the designer to design the site for you, it gets a little more costly.
2. Use one of the themes readily available for your blogging platform. Just type “WordPress Themes” into Google, Yahoo or Bing and you’ll find dozens of good sources. You can do the same for Drupal, Typepad or any other blogging platform. (One of the better-known WordPress themes is Thesis from Brian Clark at Copyblogger. It’s worth checking out.)
3. Use an online option such as eLance. When the 60 Second Marketer team was ready to launch our blog, we wanted it to match the look-and-feel of the rest of the website. We decided to put our request up on eLance to get a estimates from designers around the globe. It worked like a charm. We came away as big fans of the eLance platform — it was easy-to-use, convenient and the turn-around was very, very quick. Plus, it was the least expensive option.

So there you have it. Three options for customizing your blog design. We’re probably missing several good approaches — tell us how you got your blog designed and share it with our readers!

Best,

Jamie Turner

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010, 9:44 am   |   Blogs, Design  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback