Does your blog look good?

Saturday, August 8th, 2009 at 10:13 am

A question that is subjective to be sure but it always amazes me when I see a blog that is the standard default WordPress theme. Now this is not a knock on the standard theme as I have seen some people that have used it effectively.

It is the stock header that usually gets me.

An example – A couple of times a day I go through my reader to keep up with the various news feeds I pull in to stay on top of different subjects.

I see a headline that hooks me, the initial blurb showing in the reader seems like something I may want to read so I click through and see the dead default theme.

I am gone. It may be elitist but if you could not even change the color of the header (easily done in the dashboard – no great techy knowledge needed) I figure you do not have the time to create quality content.

Now I may be missing great content but I doubt it. 99% of the time these have been blogs set up to pull others content in. No effort added so you don’t deserve my attention. My time is valuable and if I can’t see that you will provide some value for me using my time to read your site I am gone.

Please take the time to do something other than a standard install to at least let people know that you are serious about your blog. Adding a new theme or at least changing the default header color is extremely easy through the dashboard so spend the 5 minutes and DO IT.

Just my opinion or have I just become an elitist? Let me know in the comments.

Mike Paetzold