The fear of changing your blog template

 

 

This is a post that fellow bloggers out there will probably relate to more than non-bloggers. I've had a nightmare with my blog template the past few weeks and I just wanted to share what's been going on, how I've got to this new design, and my advice for anyone thinking of changing their template.

I've had my blog for nearly 10 months now. I started off with a simple blogger template. I soon figured out how to add in my own header and make my background white - that changed things a lot and the design became more of my own. In my last post of Blogmas 2014 I talked a lot about how I was redesigning my blog and the little changes I was thinking of making in the New Year.

Well the beginning of this year came around and I was really pleased with how my blog was looking. I've made small tweaks to it since then but nothing too dramatic. But recently I felt like I'd hit a bit of a brick wall with my blog in terms of the design.

I decided it was time to step away from the free templates blogger gave me and look to get something completely new. I looked around for some free designs, and downloaded a couple but nothing was really working for me. So I took to Etsy. This is where it all got a bit scary. Parting with your money makes changing your design a real thing. For me my blog isn't my career, it's my hobby, as much as people invest in hobbies I was reluctant to invest in a design to not like it once it was on my blog.Has anyone else had this fear?

I eventually narrowed it down to a few favourites in a reasonable price range (I started under £10 and then worked up to £20). After consulting with my agent (my mum! haha) I'd picked out a template I really liked. I backed up what I had, and uploaded the new design. I didn't like it. In fact, that's a lie, I did, just not on my blog.

After I'd changed my template back, I set up a private blog, with a practice template. I put a new header in, copied a couple of blog posts, added a few individual tweeks and began to fall back in love with what I had initially downloaded. And that's how this whole new design that started appearing a couple of weeks ago has come about. It's not finished yet, but I'm getting there.

I'm not really sure why I began to write this blog post. After I thought I wasn't a fan of what I downloaded, I'd looked around for this type of thing, so I could read someone else babbling on about how they were struggling as much as I was. I couldn't find it, so I guess that's why. My advice to anyone thinking of changing their template to a premade, bought design like I have - look around, don't rush into buying something as new designs are popping up all the time, be aware the prices can go up and down a little bit so set yourself a realistic budget, back up your template, set up a private blog to practice any tweeks, but most importantly have fun. I've spent far too long these past few weeks stressing about it. It's your content that really matters!

Hope you've enjoyed this post!