Presentation is Everything

It really is. Presentation is an important factor whether we’re talking about the curb appeal of a house, food in a swanky restaurant, the theater, a book cover, and of course – your online presence. How your site looks and feels gives a real impression about you as a professional, whether you’re a writer or a ditch digger.

Most Writer Blogs Suck

I have seen so many writer blogs I couldn’t even begin to count them. And here’s where I have to be brutally honest. Most of them suck. Seriously. Most of them scream rank amateur. Not because the author doesn’t know what they’re talking about, but because they don’t know how to present themselves online.

Its kind of hard, especially in terms of blogging, to see the forest for the trees sometimes. What looks good to you may not present the same image to someone else. For example, when I first launched The Blue Inkwell back some months ago, I was focused more on getting the blog launched and putting together content, than I was on site design. Sure, I wanted something that looked good, but looks were really a secondary concern to content and traffic building.

The Blue Inkwell Needs a Make Over

Now that some of that work is out of the way, I can focus on the way the site looks. To be honest, I’m not happy with it. While it’s definitely more professional that some I have seen, compared to others, it still smacks of amateurish design. So, I’m giving it a make over, with some professional help. Not because I want to spend big bucks or have a really fancy design, but simply because a second pair of objective eyes is always a good thing.

The cool part of having a blog as part of your author’s platform is that there are so many useful tools out there that can help you, without you needing a professional. Heck, a novice with a self-hosted WordPress blog can figure this stuff out and have a really professional, nice-looking site up in just a few hours. There are free themes galore that can give you a really nice look & feel right out of the box.

Once you master the WordPress environment, you can really do a lot with your blog. Personally, I’m opting to take something of a tiered approach to the revamp of the Inkwell. I’ve chosen a theme from Elegant Themes that I think will work really well for the site. I could have hired a designer to develop a custom theme just for me, but since I found one I liked through Elegant, that wasn’t necessary. I am, however, hiring a professional to handle the change-over though. There are a whole lot of tweaks that will need to be done, and I just really don’t have the extra space in my calendar to do them all. Not to mention, hiring it out has those extra set of eyes/objective view thing that can really help you see past your own opinion.

Resources and Recommendations

Designing your own site can sometimes be like editing your own manuscript. It’s not always the best option. You are your own worst editor, and likewise you can also be your own worst site designer.

Curious about the tools and professional I’m using? Don’t worry…I’ll share. It’s no big secret.

For the theme, I’m using BlueMist from Elegant Themes. And yes folks, that is an affiliate link. But, like I said yesterday, I don’t endorse anything I don’t actually support, use, or advocate already. You’ll see the new theme in action sometime in the next couple of weeks.

As for the professional, that would be my good friend and former VA colleague, Aletha McManama. She is the Blog Strategist and owner of WordPress to Website. Aletha and I have a WordPress book in the works, and while that is indeed an affiliate link, the same rules apply. I wouldn’t be recommending her if I didn’t know from personal experience that she’s as good as they come.

You’ll be seeing graphics with links for both Aletha and Elegant Themes over in the sidebar soon!

Other Posts You Might Like

• October Blog Challenge
• The Easiest Way to Write
• What Should I Blog About?
• My Favorite Wordpress Plug-ins