Who Else Wants to Design Their Own Blog Header?

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photo credit: Genna G via photopin cc

We bloggers often pour a significant amount of time and energy into creating content. So of course we want that content to be presented in a visually appealing way. Any decent chef will tell you, presentation matters.

The problem is unless you’re a tech geek or a graphic artist, or have enough money to burn on such a person, you can feel trapped inside the templates WordPress or Blogger give you. You end up settling for a header that doesn’t really reflect you or your content.

The purpose of this post is to present one way to address this problem. Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on my blog header, scouring the Web for some non-tech ways to address this problem. Earlier this week I figured out a way to design a header with which, for now at least, I’m really pleased. It reflects who I am and what I want my blog to be about.

I thought I’d share what worked for me. I realize not all readers of this blog are bloggers, but enough are that I hope this is worthwhile.

Here are the steps I used to design my own blog header.

1. First, give yourself some time.

When I decided I wanted to upgrade the look of my blog, I thought I could just jump on the Web, find a solution, and be done with it. I realized quickly, and frustratingly, that it was going to take a bit more time. So go into it with that expectation. You can do this, but it’s probably going to take more than a few minutes. Think of it as character development. Or something.

2. Give some thought to the look you want.

What’s you? What mood do you want your header to create? What message do you want it to send? What images are emblematic of your blog’s purpose? What fonts resonate with you? It is important not to rush past this step. If you start browsing images or fonts without at least some idea of what you’re after, you’re not likely to be pleased with the result.

3. Watch this video tutorial on finding images for your blog with Photo Pin, and select an image or two for your header.

Amy Lynn Andrews of Blogging with Amy is a big-hearted lady who figures out the tough stuff and then shares it with the world. Love her blog! In this post you’ll learn how to use Photo Pin to search for images, find out about their licensing, and give proper attribution. Select an image or two for your header. Download them and save the attribution information.

4. Read this post on using PicMonkey to create your header.

I had never come across The Capital Carley before this, but this post is genius because it shows non-tech people like me how to design and customize a header. Read the post carefully, and follow the steps.

5. Include attribution information in your footer.

No one told me the footer is the place to include attribution information related to images in my header, but it just makes sense, right? Check out your WordPress widgets for a way to add text to your footer.

That’s it! Give it a try, and please share your experience in the comments here. If you have trouble along the way, drop a question in the comments, and I’ll do my best to help. In this way we’ll be helping others as they create their headers.  

Do you have other tips or tricks for creating a great header?

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Categories: Blogging, Creativity, Publishing

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

33 thoughts on “Who Else Wants to Design Their Own Blog Header?”

  1. Thank you Chad, I found your blog tonight while googling about designing a header for a blog…you are so right about the first point – I worked on it for 2 hours only to settle on a very simple design which isn’t much to show for that amount of time working, lol! And I have never heard of Amy before, so thank you for the link. Such a fascinating story…I’m going to browse her blog more in the coming days.

    • You’re welcome, Michelle. BloggingwithAmy.com is a terrific resource. For example, check out her post/video on photopin.com. Makes using pics and providing proper attribution a snap. Take care.

  3. A great deal of my time is doing like you said, searching around for info that will allow more creativity on my site. Sometimes, it seems as though I’m doing more of that than creating content. Then, it could become my content, too. I really like the clean image you created for your header. I don’t have photo shop, so I like to play around with GIMP. It takes time, but there’s some good info out there.

  5. I like a clean, natural look with little fussiness, and as someone who takes a lot of photos with a high quality camera, I prefer to use my own photos as much as possible. I’m very much enjoying designing the covers for my short story ebooks. Having Photoshop and a very tech-savvy husband who refuses to let any code defeat him covers the rest. 🙂 I did like how Blogger (my previous blogs were hosted there) was far easier to customize through smart HTML coding and I find WordPress a little frustrating in that department. I think it’s how any PC user feels when he moves to a more Mac-like, ostensibly user-friendly platform (which is really only more friendly to users who don’t write code).

  8. Way to go, Chad! You’re right about DIY blog design, it can really eat up time and money. I’m in the process of preparing to launch a new blog for my writing pursuits, and let’s just say I’ve had the domain for nearly two months now and as of yet I’m the only person, aside from my header design helper, who has even laid eyes on the site!

    All that to say thanks for the helpful tips. We need these kinds of resources.

    • Oh, man, is that true! That’s why I included that bit in the post. It feels like half the battle is having the right expectations about how long something will take. Problem is, most times we’re not told what to expect!

  10. Great to see the new header!

    My blog is on WordPress.com, which is free, but limits the options. They have their own “widgets” but don’t seem to allow “plug ins”.

    I recently upgraded to “Standard” theme by 8BIT, which had been recommended in Michael Hyatt’s “Platform.” It is actually one of the cheaper “premium” themes at WordPress.com, but I like it — clean and simple with a focus on the content.

    I decided to buy rights to a header photo that suited my needs. It echoes the cover of my book (Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History’s Best Teachers) in terms of the architecture of a medieval monastery, and at least to my eye has a way of conveying a journey into wisdom and beauty of the past, which fits for a blog mining the riches of church history and historical theology.

    And having bought the rights, I can use the image on Facebook and Twitter as well — though I need to do something to improve the appearance on Twitter.

  11. Hey – I wanted to share one more tip. I think this only works in Chrome. Right click over in the light grey background area when looking at your site. Click “Inspect Element” at the bottom of the menu. If you don’t know anything about all that code that shows up, don’t freak out. On the right side of the screen, look where it says this:

    body.custom-background {
    background-color: #f2f2f2;
    }

    You can play with the background colors directly there by putting in a color number if you have one or typing in “blue,” “green,” etc. It ONLY changes temporarily in your view – it won’t show to anyone else. It doesn’t save it when you leave the page. It is just for playing. When you find what you like, you can make changes permanently on your site. You can change any of the CSS features there – play with font, etc. I just used background color as an example. It’s so addictive once you figure it out.

  12. I’m not sure if you just saved me lots of time in pointing me to great resources, or took lots of time away because now I just *have* to play with my site design. 🙂 haha Seriously, love this post and especially finding out about PicMonkey.com! Many thanks!

    Here’s a tip you might be interested in. Download a desktop server for WordPress: http://serverpress.com/products/desktopserver/ This allows you to copy your site and play with the design locally. It takes a bit to figure out, but when you do, it’s an amazing tool. You can test out new widgets, try different colors and fonts instantly, etc. I made my current site that way.

  13. I like the new header! PicMonkey is the best tool ever. I LOVE creating graphics on it. I use it for almost every blog post. I did my header with it too. Let’s just say sometimes I should probably close picmonkey and write 🙂 It’s just so fun and free.

  16. For the most part, I rely on free backgrounds from Hot Bliggity Blog and The Cutest Blog on the Block. I change them a few times a year so readers –and I–have something new to look at. I use Real Draw Pro to create my banners, but PicMonkey looks like it might be easier to use. I should give it a try since technology dummy is my middle name. Thanks for the tips.

  17. I had to click over from my mail, to see the header. Nice job.

    I love playing with my templates (well I used to–now my poor blog is woefully neglected). Some women like to crochet–it’s a relaxing thing to do. I like to dink around in my blog stylesheets when I want to use a different part of my brain from the writing/editing kind.

    • Sally, from one blogger to another, I can relate! Hopefully future RSS-driven emails from me WILL include the header. I’d love to know if it comes through okay in my next one. And dink away, I say, dink away. 🙂

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