Blogger Basics: 7 Places to Find Awesome Blogger Themes (and how to install them)
In today`s Blogger Basics lesson, we`re going to look at how to personalize your blog a bit. There is nothing less professional than landing on an obviously standard blogspot.com site, so if you`re going to be serious about this, you will want to stand out.
First, set up your new blog, if you`re starting fresh, or you can change your older blog to a new theme. If you have already done some blogging, you will want to back everything up before you start making changes. This is important because things can go wrong. Trust me, I`ve mucked around enough with my blog templates to know that even the simplest things can cause some very wonky errors. You don`t want to lose everything, so do a backup.
Where to Find Free Templates
There`s no need to pay big bucks . . . after all, you`re using Blogger because it`s free, right? So let`s take a look at where you can find some great free Blogger templates.
70 Fresh and Modern Blogger Templates – This is a collection of themes from other sites, so some of them might not work as well. Still there are plenty to choose from!
eBlog Templates – a great site to grab your free templates. They also offer free Wordpress templates for those of you ready to make the leap. There are literally hundreds of templates to pick from here.
FreeSkins – Here are a number of nice unique themes to spice up your Blogger site. They are all ready for Widgets, which means you can customize them yourself in the Layout panel.
40 Free Beautiful Blogger Templates – Another good collection of some very professional looking themes for your Blogger blog.
Free Themes - Some very nice, light themes can be found here. They are all copy and paste though, so be careful. They do offer special instructions on how to apply their templates, read that before you get started.
Smashing Magazine – This site did another roundup of 100 excellent Blogger themes that you should check out. Some of the themes are too Bloggerish for my tastes, but there are also so me nice ones there.
Best Free Blogger Themes for ProBloggers – Some excellent themes here for those looking for clean and sleek. Definitely good for business sites.
Installing Your New Theme
Now, once you`ve found a theme you like, you`ll need to install it. This is where things can get tricky if you aren`t very technical, but don`t worry, you can do it!
First, go to Layout in your Blogger dashboard and click on Edit HTML. This will take you to this page:
Here, you can either edit the code yourself or upload a template file. Which method you use will depend on how the theme is given to you. Some sites just let you copy and paste, while others will give you a file to download which can then be uploaded and will automatically change your blog.
I`ve found that the copy and paste method is rather iffy. It often ends up causing errors and not loading properly and you may need to try several different themes before one works. Downloading the file is usually the best way to go, if you have the option.
When you download a template file, it will probably be zipped. You will need to double click on the file and then choose “Extract To” and pick the folder where you want to save it to. I keep a file on my computer specifically for templates. The extracted version is what you will want to upload into Blogger.
Now, go to the screen shown above, click on Browse, select the unzipped/extracted file and click on Upload. It should come up automatically. You may be warned that your widgets are goign to be deleted. This usually isn`t a big deal, especially if you are just getting started, so click on confirm and save. Alternatively, you can go ahead and preview the theme at the bottom of the page to see if it actually works for you.
Once your theme is installed, you can go into Page Elements and start changing things around . . . though some templates won`t have this option.
There you have it, your blog is now unique and most definitely not standard. In some cases, you may have your own header to upload . . . though if you don`t, not to worry, I`ll be showing you how to make one in an upcoming tutorial.
Any questions? I welcome ideas and questions since it lets me know what else you`d like to see on At Home Mom!
Blogspot from Google also is an option and I found it was pretty simple to use.
Thanks for sharing all the new info.
I also have a WAHM website http://www.bead-z-mommy-business.com
Dita.
I was actually refering to Blogspot, it´s also known as Blogger. The standard themes there, however, aren´t that great for businesses.