Ok, so my mom has put all of her faith in me to make her a blog that looks absolutely perfect. Of course I am flattered but I am also scared to death that I am going to disappoint her. I am a first-year graphic design major in college and have been making things and winning contests in art since high school, but I am by no means close to being great yet.
Both of my parents think the world of me and think I’m so talented and I cannot make them think otherwise! I don’t really know how to design a blog though…
Do I just make my own banner in Photoshop or Illustrator and tweak a pre-existing template to make it match together? Or can I reconstruct my own template using CSS/HTML? I have a little experience in the latter – at least enough to know my way around and do basic things.
Also, it is going to be a food blog. My mom’s a really good cook, so she wants to blog about her recipes and experiences in cooking. I am used to making things look really modern and up to date, but she told me that is the exact opposite of what she wants – just to make it harder!
Any advice or help for me? What blog would be the best to do this in? She started it on Blogspot, but I’m wondering if Wordpress would be better…design wise at least. Just help me out!
Image taken on 2007-04-10 17:01:05. Image Source. (Used with permission)
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When you have a large project, it’s best to break it down into smaller steps, as to not get overwhelmed. Here are my recommendations, although your question would be better placed in the Computers & Internet > Programming & Design category:
1) KNOW YOUR CLIENT’S WANTS & NEEDS
In this case, your client is your mom. “Absolutely perfect” is an impossible goal and pretty vague. Strive for clarity in order to do your best. Do extensive research on blogging, then sit down with your mom again with a long list of questions to get an extremely clear picture of what she wants. For example:
- What does she mean by non-modern design? There are plenty of “food blogs” on the Internet. You can either print out the front page of some blogs and/or have her sit in front of the computer to explore some (preferred option). Ascertain what she does and doesn’t like about each blog’s design. Here’s a list of blog search engines: http://websearch.about.com/od/internetresearch/a/newsblog.htm .
- What colors would she really like to see or wouldn’t like to see on her blog?
- What did she not like about her Blogspot blog that she would like to see improved? What frustrations or positives came from her experience with Blogger?
- What is the main way that she would like to impact visitors to her blog? What is most important message that she wants to get across to visitors?
- Is she going to be the one maintaining the blog after you design it? Or are you going to always be tweaking or fixing her blog?
- Does she want to try to profit from her blog either now or later?
- Especially if she doesn’t have time to sit with you to go through blog sites, have some blog features to present to her. State the feature’s function and how it could benefit her blog. For example, RSS feeds, blog roll, archiving tools, visitor tracking tools, and etc.
- Does she have any interest in social-networking based blogs? Or any interest in using social-networking to promote her blog?
- How much money is she willing to contribute to the running of this blog?
- How are you or she going to market or promote the blog?
- When does she want the blog to be finished by? You may need to negotiate this aspect, depending on how you ultimately decide how to construct the blog. Coding the blog yourself versus using a developer-hosted blog service vary greatly in how much time will be required.
Read more about blogging via these sites:
Problogger: http://problogger.net
Daily Blog Tips: http://www.dailyblogtips.com/
Blogging Tips: http://www.bloggingtips.com/
Blogging Basics 101: http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/
2) DECIDE THE TYPE OF BLOG
After you’ve surveyed your mom about the blog thoroughly, then you’ll have a better idea of the situation. You should be able to decide between a self-hosted/stand alone blog route OR a developer-hosted blog (like she’d been doing through Blogger likely).
If you want to have a stand-alone blog, then you would likely need money – $10 to $160 – to pay for a web host and/or domain name (prices vary regarding time range and offered features). You may need to purchase blogging software as well. There are some services that are all-inclusive – web hosting, domain name, blogging software in one package. See http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/15/choosing-a-blog-platform/ for more details regarding your choices. This may be your best option if you want to help ensure that the blog stays active for a long time (provided that you can continually fund its existence). You would have the widest range of design freedom with this type of blog.
Otherwise, there are typically free, developer-hosted blogging services, where most of the blogging functions are automated and provided by the blogging service. Rules regarding content may be more restrictive. You would have to check the site’s policies regarding the use of their service to generate profit or advertise. Less web page coding skills are required. Also, visitors may need to be a member of the service and/or a connected “friend” in order to comment on content. Some blogging services (like Blogger, Wordpress, LiveJournal and Vox) allow multiple authors, so you can have more than one person posting blogs instead of just commenting on them. Social-networking sites have features that extend beyond just blogging and are geared toward connecting with other profiles.
If your mom is going to be in charge of the site maintenance, perhaps Blogspot is the way to go. If she’s willing to learn new techniques, then perhaps Wordpress (.com or .org) will be fine for her.
3) DECIDE THE SERVICES (HOSTED BLOG SERVICE, PLATFORM, BLOGGING SOFTWARE, AND/OR WEB HOST)
Wordpress (i.e. the http://wordpress.org version) is at the top of the list for people who run a stand-alone blog or who want to do “multi-user blogging”. Wordpress can be a bit complicated to use, but it offers the largest and most progressive batch of features. Blogger/Blogspot is at the top of the list for people who would rather have a service control the primary web site functions and provide automated tools/features (i.e. developer-hosted blogging). Blogger is well known for its ease of use. Livejournal (http://livejournal.com ) is easy to use, but lacks the depth of customization available in the other services. Wordpress can also be used as a developer host (i.e. the http://wordpress.com version – which also has multi-user features).
Other options: Vox (http://vox.com ), Typepad (http://typepad.com – can be a platform for stand alone blogs too), Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/ )
If needed, research web hosts options (Problogger or CNET.com likely has some suggestions) and/or blogging software. Again, you can look for all-in-one deals too. See http://reviews.cnet.com/Web_hosting_buying_guide/4520-6540_7-5138854-1.html?tag=tnav for a buying guide.
4) DESIGN THE BLOG SITE
* Planning out the structure of the site is key. If you’re raw coding, you’d need to calculate pixel measurements and other aspects. Feel free to sketch it out on paper first. If you come up with a few drafts, you can even bring it to your mother to pick a winning design.
Why? Because it is a pain to get deep into the design of something and then have to start all over. Sure, you’ve grilled your mom. Even so, sometimes the creative process can skew from those initial discussions further than anticipated.
* While you’re designing, your mom should be gathering or creating content for the site. You’ll need the content for final placement, of course. However, you’ll also need it for organizational purposes – tabs, sections, lists, images, about me section, contact info, and etc. You can put up dummy text and objects while the site is in the rough stages, but it’s always good to have most of what you’ll need to really get the blog started.
Also, it’s important for your mom to develop a blog identity that will really motivate her to keep the blog updated. Here are some posts that should help:
“Developing Your Blogging Identity”
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/developing-your-blogging-identity/
“How to Develop a Niche Blog Content Plan”
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/03/01/how-to-develop-a-niche-blog-content-plan/
“20 Types of Blog Posts – Battling Bloggers Block”
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/11/29/20-types-of-blog-posts-battling-bloggers-block/
“A Simple Way To Develop Writing Ideas for Your Blog”
http://www.bloggingtips.com/2009/05/01/a-simple-way-to-develop-writing-ideas-for-your-blog/
“9 Steps to Better Blog Post Ideas”
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/9-steps-to-better-blog-post-ideas/
“14 Types of Stories You Can Tell on Your Blog”
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/11/05/12-types-of-stories-you-can-tell-on-your-blog/
“Use These 10 Tips to Write Your Most Popular Post Ever”
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/use-these-10-tips-to-write-your-most-popular-post-ever/
“24 Things to do When Stuck for a Topic to Blog About”
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/08/08/24-things-to-do-when-stuck-for-a-topic-to-blog-about/
“Six Steps to Stress-Free Blogging Habit”
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/six-steps-to-a-stress-free-blogging-habit/
* Then, use the tools at your disposal to try to create this site. You can either tweak an existing template & add your graphics OR create something mostly from scratch. It all depends on what you decided at the outset. Even if you decide to do heavy coding, you can still get inspiration (or even use other’s CSS coding techniques… sometimes with attribution needed in code) from existing sites or templates. There are plenty of free tools and templates available online. Some are geared toward a particular service or platform, some are not.
5) MARKET THE BLOG
All this work and no visitors might put a damper on the celebratory mood when the blog is finished.
“Why My Blog Gets No Comments”
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/qa-why-my-blog-gets-no-comments/
“Daily Blog Tips (Website Traffic Series – 18+ articles, see links at bottom of the initial post)”
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/website-traffic-series-part-1-web-design-and-css-galleries/
“How to Find Readers For Your Blog”
http://www.problogger.net/how-to-find-readers-for-your-blog/
With all that said, if I were in your shoes, I would tweak an existing design for sure. Focus on creating great graphics to complement that design. Unless your mom has a lot of time on her hands and technology-minded, I’d incorporate as many automated features as possible. I would make her involved in the process – i.e. a truly collaborative effort and less of an assignment. That tends to take the pressure off a bit. ;-)