10 Ways to Customize and Personalize your WordPress Blog
110Having a unique theme and adding personal touches to your blog is by no means a necessity, but it can really enhance and enable your site to stand out more among the blogospheres branded band of bloggers. Just like with any aspect of your brand, you want people to immediately make that association with you and your blog. This can easily be done with a custom design and the subtle injections of the person or persons that are behind the blog. If you are not in a position where you can create your own custom theme, do not fret, customizing a free or premium theme can work for your blog as well.
These attentions to detail tend to attract readers more than the impersonal feel that can be imparted by using a standard theme that lacks the personality and flavor of a customized one. So in this post, I have assembled 10 ways that you can easily adjust and tweak these details to give your site that distinctive edge that will help establish your blogs presence. Start making your mark today to effectively strengthen your blogs prominence, by working through the steps below.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- Customize Your Own WordPress Theme
- How to Create a WordPress Theme from Scratch
- Thematic – A free, open-source, highly extensible, search-engine optimized WordPress Theme Framework featuring 13 widget-ready areas, grid-based layout samples, styling for popular plugins, and a whole community behind it.
- Sandbox – A powerful tool available for WordPress theme designers and developers. The Sandbox can be easily designed just with CSS, so beginners will feel comfortable not bothering with PHP.
Examples
1. Have a Custom Default Gravatar
The first item up for discussion, is the use of a custom gravatar instead of the default wordpress mystery man. Not that there is anything wrong with remaining a little mysterious, by all means, be enigmatic if you want. However, by using a custom gravatar, you are helping to further establish and solidify your branding. Once you have this gravatar in place, the more faceless interactions that take place throughout your blog, the more it will build brand consistency for your site. Not to mention, there are those among the online audience who will take you and your site a bit more seriously if you have this gravatar reflecting your brand instead of its bland predecessor.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- WordPress Codex – Using Gravatars
- Sign up for a Gravatar of your own.
- How To Make Your Own Default Avatar in 5 Minutes
- How to Change the Default Gravatar in WordPress
Examples
2. Style Author Comments
Styling authors comments differently than the rest of them left by your readers, can really help the author’s replies stand out to those who are specifically looking for more input from them. Even with threaded comments (now that WP is offering this style), you can still get lost looking for the author’s two cents more if the blog gets a lot of commenters replying back and forth. Setting these specifically apart from the rest will also show that you want your authors to stand out and be heard, so it can also be interpreted as a reflection on the respect you have for the people who write for your site.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- Highlight Author Comments Plugin automatically displays comments made by a post’s author in a distinctive style with no need to edit your template files, etc. All you do is provide a snippet of CSS styling to be applied to author posts.
- How to Style Author Comments in WordPress
- How to Style Author Comments Differnetly
Examples
3. Put Extra Time Into Your About Page
Since readers tend to respond to the personalization aspects of a design, that is indicative of their desire to connect on a more personal level with whomever runs the site. Give them a large leg up in this search for more about you with an awesome, detailed About Page. Most sites have this bit of insight offered anyway, so why not step up to the plate and really give the people an out of the park grand slam. Let your readers know more about you, your journey to this place, your background, etc the key is, don be shy. And if you feel so inclined, the inclusion of a picture on the About Page, does a lot for making that personal connection a little more solid. Let your readers know who you are, and it will pay off for your blog, because, also, people tend to want to know who they are listening to.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- Add an ‘About’ Page to Your Blog
- Best Practices For Effective Design Of “About me” Pages
- Five Tips (and a Bonus!) on How to Write a Fantastic About Page
Examples
4. Use your Footer Space Effectively
There are a number blogs that have a boring footer which is not at all interactive. It simply rests there at the bottom of the page as a mere placeholder for copyright info and announcements about which CMS powers the site. But this space can be used so much more effectively to further engage the readers by containing elements such as a Flickr showcase, or a highlight of popular posts from your archives, and so on. Bottom line, the bottom of your site needs as much of a personal touch and attention as the rest of the site. A regular footer will just act as a send off from your site. But tweak the footer and make it more engaging, and your footer will simply send them deeper into your blog!
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- 20 Great WordPress Footer Designs for Inspiration
- Don’t Ignore Your WordPress Footer
- Add Widget Ready Sidebars to WordPress Footers
- Customizing Your WordPress Theme Footer
Examples
5. Have a Unique & Useful 404 Page
There are times when people discover your blog for the first time via a broken link, and you want this interrupted introduction to impart to them a good sense of what kind of blog you have and what they can expect from your site. After all, their first impression may already be a bit marred by the link they were looking for not being there when they arrive, so you want to repair this breach with some courteous assistance. Provide them with links to new or popular posts, a site map, and more. This way, while they may not have found the link they were looking for, they may still take the time to look around your site, and not just frustratedly flee forgetting about your site as it has disappointed them and interrupted the flow of their surf. Use this chance to re-route this first impression into a more positive and memorable one.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- Smashing Magazine’s 404 page is actually an outstanding post with tons of 404 page resources and tips.
- Advice for Your WordPress Blog: Customize Your 404 Page
- WordPress Tip: Customizing Your 404 Page
- A List Apart’s Perfect 404
- How To Make a Great 404 Error Page & 10 Examples
Examples
6. Incorporate Social Media
Social media is a major source for reaching out to your online audience and further connecting with them. By incorporating your social media activities and accounts into your blog, you are opening up more avenues for that insight and interactiveness with your readers. Lifestreaming is a popular way of making these media outlet inclusions, but you can even achieve this in a more simple manner as well. Using social media icons to link to your accounts, or for that matter just having links will work too. As long as you are showing your readers that you are open to engaging them further, then your site will be seen as more personal and accessible.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- Flickr RSS Plugin
- TweetiePie Plugin
- How to Add Twitter Updates to Your Sidebar
- How to Add Flickr Photo Widget to WordPress Theme Sidebar
Examples
7. Highlight Your Authors Well
Just like having a great about page which highlights you, if you have guest authors who regularly contribute to your site, you want to give your readers a good idea of who they are as well. This gives you another great opportunity to demonstrate your appreciation to all of those people who work hard to make your site all that it is. Not only will this keep showing those people whom you have come to rely on for quality content how much you value them, but it will entice others to contribute as well. For you have shown that their work and role will always be respected and recognized.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- Posts by Author Plugin
- Multiple Authors Plugin
- Displaying Author Pic and Bio in Your WordPress Post the Non-Gravatar Way
- How to Add Gravatars for the Post Author in WordPress
Examples
8. Engage Your Readers
I have mentioned doing this at various times, but it is such a valuable way of personalizing your site that it had to have its own place in the list as well. People want to feel like they can share and discuss in the topics you have raised and the sites that engage them effectively, are the ones they will return to. Engaging your readers shows that you are active and listening to them, and it lets them know that you value their input as much as they value yours. This is easy to achieve beyond the ways I have already mentioned. Have a share section at the bottom of each post so they can share it easily with their other online friends. End each post with questions to your readers to prompt them to comment, and make sure you stay on top of replying to comments so readers do not feel ignored.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- SexyBookmarks Plugin
- Sociable Plugin
- Social Media and WordPress
- 10 Ways to engage Readers on Your Blog
Examples
9. Have Useful & Comprehensive Archives
You have heard it before and you will definitely hear it again, content is king. So highlighting the content on your blog is one of the most important things you can do to help your readers connect to it. And by displaying it readily and so comprehensively, it further reflects a pride that you have for the work that has been put into your blog. Why go through all the work and toil to come up with the content for your site, if you are simply going to let it become buried as time passes. Make sure that your readers have easy access to your content through customization and they will spend more time on your blog for sure.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- How to: Create an Archive Page for your WordPress blog
- Wicked WordPress Archives in One Easy Step!
- How to Create an Archives Page in WordPress
- Clean Archives Plugin This plugin is designed to display your archive listings in a clean and uniform fashion that’s Search Engine friendly on a dedicated page or in your sidebar.
- Snazzy Archives Plugin A visualization plugin for your WordPress site featuring an unique way to display all your posts. It lets you express yourself and your blog by selecting different layouts and special effects.
Examples
10. Personalize Your Login Page
Personalizing your login page is a must have if you allow readers to create accounts on your blog. Once again, the personal attention to detail will set you apart from the sites who have taken the less initiative driven route. Furthermore, this takes steps to strengthen your branding, and each step in that direction is one worth taking as it will help to build brand trust. Though even if you dont allow readers to create accounts, this is still a great way to enhance branding as all of your guest authors will have to use this page to gain access to post. And if you are a lone wolf in this blog game, this can also provide a nice looking, personal login page just for you since it is something you are likely to look at virtually every day.
Tutorials, Tools & Resources
- Handy WP Plugin: Customize Your WordPress Login Page
- WordPress tips and tricks – custom login page
- Customize the WordPress User Login Screen in 10 Steps
Examples
Wrap Up
That about does it on this end. Follow these 10 steps and your blog will be on its way to making a permanent mark on the blogosphere. Is there anything I left out, that you would add for personalizing and customizing your blog?
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being a theme maker(a beginner), i think i need to bookmark this post
thanks for sharing, angie
No problem Reza, I’m glad you found it helpful!
Awesome! Thanks for posting. :D
You’re very welcome!
Good tips here. The real key is making your site completely unique. I put several of these to work on my site. You might consider adding a very unique and fun 404 page for when visitors land at the wrong url. Here’s an example of that:
http://www.blog-mixer.com/404
Thanks Nicholas. A great 404 page is definitely extremely helpful. Smashing Magazine also has a great 404 page.
Wow, this is a great collection of edits to customize your WP theme. Related posts with thumbnails is also another popular customization you can do for your theme.
Thanks for the inclusion, much appreciated!
Thanks for the suggestion Gabe. Having just a list of related posts is very helpful but there is something about having thumbs along with them that really take them up a notch.
Great lists, comprehensive tutorials, thanks for sharing
Thanks so much, I’m glad it was helpful!
Nice articles, thanks :)
No problem! Thanks for the comment :)
Good list. I actually concur with a few of your recommendations… the blank (or ghost) gravatar is truly awful for example…
Thanks! At this point wordpress offers a few different default avatars to choose from but they’re all pretty bad lol. It’s one of those things that seem small, like it’s not really a big deal. But all of those little things make a huge difference once they’re all implemented.
Great post Angie! Very very useful :-) Thanks!
Thanks Sneh, I’m glad you found it useful!
Thanks for the mention of our about page! Kind of funny to see my mug up there.
Great list too. Veerle’s blog is in ExpressionEngine though, not WP. Not that it matters that much because you could probably do something similar in WP anyway. Just thought I’d point that out in case people are wondering how to replicate it. :)
No problem Naomi! You’re completely right about Veerle’s blog and I even knew that and just forgot lol. Thanks for pointing that out :)
Wow!, Like the best post I’ve read in a while,
Congratz.
Thanks so much Francesc!
Excellent article for everyone with a blog, even the masters can learn from this, an obviously for me and as I am doing my first and complete own theme for my blog all this tips are just perfect.
Thanks Luis, I’m glad you found it helpful. Good luck on your first full theme!
WOW thanks a Lot! Very Useful! Greetings from Germany
Lol very nice post and login pages :)!
Hi Angie,
What a great list of tips you wrote :) Much thanks for the share.
Just curious, is Veerle’s Blog really using WordPress? Because as I know she uses Expression Engine CMS? But I probably wrong.
Thanks Audee! You’re right, Veerle’s blog is on Expression Engine not WordPress. :)
Very nice tips. Thanks for sharing.
Wow Angie! You seem to be everywhere these days! I really liked your article. Great job!
Super Post. I completely agree with all these methods. I had a question, on a single author blog, it isn’t useful to have an about the author box at the end of each article right, since readers would be reading the same thing over and over again in every post?
Thanks Tanay! I agree, that if it’s a single user blog and you have a great about page, having an about the author section at the end of each article would get a bit redundant.
I’m already beginning to think more of creating another blog in wordpress. I had seen all the writeups and heard of the event as well this coming Sept. 19. Interesting.
Great article, too bad I have on blogger not wordpress
Awesome article! Keep up the good work :)
Wow this is an awesome article. Thanks for all the different links!
Thanks for this awesome post. I will be sure to use these 10 tips in my current blog and future blogs.
Thanks for mentioning SexyBookmarks in your list of tools and resources for the “Engage Your Readers” section!
Appreciated!
No problem Josh, I love SexyBookmarks. It’s definitely the most well designed sharing plugin I’ve seen!
Angie thanks again for this great post. This post has had me thinking alot about the author block again in which I just finished Enabling Author Pic and Bio for WordPress Single Posts. Basically shows you how to enable which posts to display a author block using WordPress Custom Fields.
Enjoy!
Would you recommend all of these tips for a beginner blogger or would this be best suited for a pro blogger?
Thanks for the great list, along with the reasons to implement these tools, and the visuals too! I have shared (mentioned it, plus link back) your post with my readers and clients. As a small-time web developer, I’m always looking for good information and instructions to pass on to my clients.
Yes I agree great useful information – enabling us to bring Blog’s to Life!
Good links too.
@ Angie
Wow what a cool and refreshingly unique site you have here and I eventually see them all :) Before I scroll back up I do notice the WE DO FOLLOW and I am a big fan of do follow myself and now your blog :)
Awesome work
Thanks
wow man, this is amazing, i love it all, specially the “Style Author Comments” part, this is very important.
This is a great article for the beginner and advanced bloggers as well. I’m amazed by the number of blogs I come across that use the default WordPress theme. Great advice.
Nice article, give your site just that extra that you needed.
Thx
My favorites from your tips are:
-styling author comments differently — essential for blogs with lots of comments
-a useful about page — contact information on this page is a plus
-social media integration
-author highlighting
-comprehensive archives — great for when you discover a wonderful new blog and want to read old posts easily. I should add that having archives arranged by category as well as (or instead of) by date really helps a newcomer.
Thank you for this post. :)
Hey, it’s really nice post! Very useful not just for WP beginners, but also for advanced users.. Some of tips are not so usual to see on the web, for example Login Page customization is hard to find on other blogs.. Good work! :-)
Quite a roundup you have here! I’ve been wanting to be able to highlight author posts on my site and had completely forgotten about doing so. This post reminded me and gave me a few options I wasn’t aware of, so thank you.
It’s such a great post!
As a begginer in blogging, I must say that this tips are very helpful for me as I’m redesigning my blog in order to get my readers more comfortable with the contents that I
publish.
I’ll sure bookmark this post! Thanks alot!
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This was a really helpful resource, I intend on implementing some of these techniques real soon.
Props
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Thanks for the insights and suggestions Angie. I’m also a fan of Fuel and I thank you for your work there as well!
Great customization tips for wordperss blog :) . Thanks for sharing this awesome post.
This is a fantastic compilation of ideas. Now I feel like I have 1000 things to do though. Haha. Thanks for article.
Thank for sharing, I will try some of your tips right now. Thanks a lot. You know, I visit your blog frequently, almost everyday. Nice day
Thanks for the great post to customize WordPress installations. We get quite excited to work with designers who pay special attention to these details.
Hey, this post is really helpful, specially at a time when you are not so great using wordpress. Thanks
Great post! very very useful
Bookmarked it :)
Thanks a lot for sharing!!!
thanks for your collection.
wordpress is very popular.
yeah, i have added it to bookmark.
:)
Thank you for placing Six Revisions as an example on this post Angie! If anyone’s interested in how I coded the “All articles” page, it’s really very easy. I just used the
wp_get_archives
WP function.Really a awesome post which is the best suit for designers who want to make a professional feel theme, Thanks.
Nice tips and great photos. I really want to personalized my blog and this was the way for me start that.
Hi,
Nice stuff! :)
Extremely helpful, will most definitely mention it in my next WordPress Roundup post!
Thanks for posting :D
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Great, thanks
Thanks God I came across such a helpful site. I am a web designer by profession and I found your post really helpful. Will be visiting again for more help.
wow.. this is so helpfull, im trying to make my own theme for wordpress and i thinks this gonna be a good resource, im just tired of the free themes, so i decide make my own and before reading this im more exiting.. thanks you guys just made my day
Thanks for your word press tips…..
After reading your post I looked critically at my blog and found that I am not doing justice to my blog. Now I have followed your tips and look and feel of my blog has greatly increased. Use of gravatar, effective use of footer space and improvements in About Us page have really a big overall impact on the blog. Thanks for such a nice and helpful post.
Great article to customize your wordpress blog. thank you, greetings from Sahara Desert!
it’s really a great post,i like all,specially “highlight of author comments”.Thank you for sharing
This post helps me alot to customize my blog without help. Thanks alot :)
What a great resource! Just put up my first WP blog a short time ago, and these tips will really come in handy. Probably the longest post I’ve read in a while .. :-)
Best to you …
thanks for your collection.
wordpress is very popular.
I really like Kulturbanause’s
Yesterday i was preparing my own worpress blog but i was in a fix what to do.But today after reading this tutorial i got the specific step by step method for creating a good blog.Thanks a lot.
Great post, i like everything in the post, particularly “Personalize your login page”.
Wow this is an awesome article. Thanks for all the different links
What a great article to customize your wordpress blog. Thanks
Like the others have said. While it is quite expensive, it is one of the best frameworks!!!!!
This is a huge design work ! Every tutorial is so much helpful. Thanks for sharing.
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thanks for the help
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thanks…
Thank you for sharing this nice post…
thanks alot, i must follow these tep steps to make a professional my wordpress blog
HI,,Thank you was a very important article for a starter like me. I loved blogs and that is why now I am in blogging. I am very intrested in learning how I can promote and customize my blog to look best..
Great article angie… Very usefull.
Can i share this on my site ?
nice article
Design an about page isn’t easy for me.
But I have interest to design more unique my about page
this is so helpfull, im trying to make my own theme for wordpress and i thinks this gonna be a good resource.
a very beautiful website.
thanks for sharing. :D
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Thanks for the great advices!
I really like some of the ideas in this blog, in particular the mention of the footer ideas and making the most of the space. I agree with this as sometimes this can be the last thing we consider and little thought is put into it. The examples of the about pages are really nice as well!
Amazing article. Thank you! Helped a lot
This is incredibly helpful, many thanks for your time, effort and generosity. Much appreciated!Its perfect and I wanted to do something more custom in a wordpress.
Awesome…This was really helpful…
Just read this advice about customising a WordPress theme when doing some SEO research for my new WordPress plugin. It provides a user interface for customising the default WordPress themes (tenwty ten, twenty eleven and more). It’s called Microthemer.
It’s a premium plugin mind. No hard feelings if you decide to delete this comment on that basis.
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I recently use Blogging and I am not aware of some of the stuffs. But after reading your article now I am able to did the WordPress Blog Customization and it will be very helpful to me in the blogging. So Thanks a lot for the article.
Thanks for this article :) Very useful
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Nice blog and attractive information. I like your blog and your work.
Thanks for the good information! Wanna see update of WordPress from you.
Your blog work is too good and useful articles.