A year ago I decided to get into the world of blogging. I had thought about it for some time before, but never really sat down and tried. Then on June 23, 2007 I decided to give it a shot, and started a blog on Blogger. Today marks one year since I started Technically Easy and like many others who have started blogs, I have learned a lot about managing a blog.
This week I will publish the three usual posts, but all posts will discuss how I managed Technically Easy, the mistakes I made and the successes I found. This post will focus on the name, logo, and design of Technically Easy and how they have changed over the past year.
The Name and Domain
All blogs have a name, whether it includes the author’s name, or a catchy phrase, the name of a blog is what sets it apart from other blogs. When you think of your favourite blog, you usually think about the name, and not the name of the author. When I started, I wanted to create a name that conveyed what the blog was about.
I had an idea of what I wanted to discuss in the blog, but had difficulty coming up with a name. It took a lot of thinking to create a name that is easy to remember and describes the purpose of the blog. I finally decided on the current name of Technically Easy.
Once I had started the blog and created a few posts, I decided to purchase a domain name. Unfortunately, when I went to purchase the domain name, I found out that technicallyeasy.com was already owned. Not wanting to change the name of my blog, I decided to use the .net domain instead. This is the reason I don’t use technically.com for my blog.
So now I had a name and domain, next I wanted to brand my blog.
The Logo
When I started Technically Easy I wanted to create a brand for my blog. I wanted to create a logo specific to my blog so that when someone saw it, they would think of Technically Easy. When I first created the header, I used a specific font that I had found on my computer. Similar to the name, it took some time for me to decide on a font to use for my title.
Once I had the font, I needed to create a logo. I wanted something simple so that I can create it at different sizes very easily. I also wanted to include the colours to match the actual blog as well as use the same font that was in the header. Knowing that many web sites I had subscribed to required a square avatar, I wanted to make a square logo.
I’m not the most creative person in the world, but simple is what I can do. After playing around in Photoshop for some time, I managed to create a green square with the letters “TE” in the middle. I now use that logo whenever I subscribe to a site that requires a graphic, as well as when I advertise on various systems. By using my logo each time, I am hoping to create a brand for my blog.
The Designs
Many blogs use either a standard template or one they have downloaded. For those that are not familiar with HTML, this is the best way to create a look for their blog with minimal effort. For me, I wanted to create a unique template, one that is not found on any other blog. This allowed me the finest control over every aspect of the design.
Over the course of the past year, I have tried out four different designs, including the current one. Below you will see the past designs of Technically Easy.
June 23, 2007 – July 19, 2007
Click to view full layout (152KB).
This was simply a standard Blogger template that I had modified slightly. The header includes the font I had chosen to identify Technically Easy. I didn’t really know what to include in the sidebar when I first started. I included the items (archives and categories) that I remember seeing on other blogs, but the design didn’t have an “about me” section.
The home page contained only one post, which was displayed in full. I had attempted to display more than one post, but I realized that the actual page was rather long. This was due to the fact that I don’t write short posts.
There was no advertising on my blog at this time as I wasn’t getting any traffic. This was the simplest template that I had used for Technically Easy. I decided to immediately create my own template, so my blog will have a unique look compare to other blogs. This is when I created the next template from scratch.
July 19, 2007 – December 07, 2007
Click to view full layout (252KB).
This template was my first unique creation that I had created over a period of a few weeks. I really enjoyed making this template as I learned how to design and layout a web site using the HMTL DIV tags and CSS.
I had wanted to create a template with three columns, with the content in the center, but had trouble with CSS. After looking up how to do it, I managed to bring the template to life. From there it was just a matter of organizing the elements in the columns. I had moved my important links to the left column, and subscription, search and my new “about me” section to the right. As I joined blog-related sites I would include the widgets at the bottom of the right sidebar.
Advertising began making its appearance in this template, as can be seen with the Google Adsense and Amazon ads. Up to this point, however, I still didn’t have many visitors so the amount I was making was pretty much nil. A common rookie mistake – displaying advertising too soon.
Many visitors liked this template, however, I eventually found it to be too cheery because of the orange. I decided to once again go back and redesign a new template, which would go back to a two column layout.
December 07, 2007 – February 15, 2008
Click to view full layout (376KB).
I never like the final design of any web site that I have designed. Technically Easy is no exception. I once again went back to the basic two column design with the content on the left and sidebar on the right. This time, however, I included a menu in the header.
This template was the first one to use the Technically Easy logo in the header, and the title of the blog was changed from white to green. The green was now the official colour of Technically Easy, and the orange was dropped from the blog, with the exception of the subscription link.
I decided to move a few links to the header in the form of buttons. All but the store button, which I have sinced dropped, still exist at the top of my blog today.
I wanted to create a larger sidebar to so that I could include more information without making it seem too crowded. By this time I had begun to use Entrecard on a regular basis as well as tried advertising with Project Wonderful. Unfortunately, placing the ads above the fold had pushed all the links down the page, making them look less important. This became an issue with this template, which I needed to solve. I’d rather have my links above the fold as well, but this template just wasn’t able to do that.
After about two months I had decided to once again design another template. One that would provide a solution to the previous template’s “above the fold” issue.
February 15, 2008 – Today
I coded the current template completely from the ground up, including starting over with the CSS. By the time I developed the third template, I noticed the CSS was getting messy and was causing layout problems. I decided to clean that up when I designed this template.
This template once again uses three columns, but this time the two sidebars are together on the right. Both sidebars are joined together at the bottom to display elements that are two wide to fit into a single column.
The header was modified with the title being smaller so it takes up less room. When I first released this template, the tabs were actually links beside the search bar. I have since moved them above the search so I can add more tabs if needed without looking crowded.
With the two sidebars, I am able to display both the links and advertising above the fold side-by-side. This now allows me to place more importance on the internal links of Technically Easy, as well as providing high visibility for the ads.
I used to have a large footer that included recent comments, the BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog widgets, and an “about me” section. I realized that the two widgets slowed down the loading time of my blog, so I have since taken them out and shrunk the footer.
I have modified this template since I began using it, but overall I don’t think I will be replacing it anytime soon.
Next Post
I have explained how Technically Easy came about, and the various design changes that the blog has undergone. In my next post I will provide the traffic information over the past year and how it has changed. For those that are just starting out in blogging or web sites, it provides a glimpse into what you can expect with regards to traffic and growth of your site within the first year.