Posts tagged Blog Design

Are SEO Friendly Themes Really Friendly?



SEO friendly themes, particularly free versions, have become extremely popular over the last 12 months. The problem is, whilst they claim to be SEO friendly, is that they are not truly SEO friendly. So what makes a theme SEO friendly? To avoid confusion, the term ‘theme’ and ‘template’ are basically the same so I will stick to the term ‘theme’.

This question is debatable since many SEO friendly themes are relying on plugins that every theme can use to improve their blogs SEO outcomes.

If you ignore the plugins which assist with keywords, tags, descriptions and titles, and the content that is generated by the blog owner, there is only a few areas remaining that can help with a blogs SEO.

Page loading sequence can certainly help. Having the header load followed by the content before the sidebars is an import issue. If the pages code is going to break it is generally caused by a widget in the sidebar. If the content has already been spidered, then this does not become a big issue. Many SEO friendly themes still load the sidebars before the content. This is one area that is quick and easy to check yourself.

Another area of your blogs design that can help with SEO is in the categories and archives sections. If these only produce snippets of each post them you will avoid any issues with duplicate content. You can use a plugin, however the fewer plugins you use the better. Again, many SEO friendly themes do not use snippets. They use the full posts.

The final area that needs close inspection is in the footer. Because some of these themes are free, the links to the theme creator can be sold resulting in a link to sites that you may not want to be associated with. Check each link the footer carefully to ensure it does lead to the themes creator’s pages.

Before jumping on an SEO friendly theme, make sure it is ‘friendly’ first.

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Blog Design Requires A Unique Theme



There is more to running a blog than just content and blog SEO. The blog design needs to be right as well and by that I mean it needs to fit the niche you are writing in. Many bloggers just grab a free theme they like, install it and away they go.

I don’t have anything against free themes per, especially if you are first starting out and are don’t have many readers or visitors. However as you start to build a name and reputation of your blog online you need to think about a theme that is unique for your blog. Your theme becomes a part of your branding – a part of your image.

Free themes come with several problems, the first and obvious being that many others share it. While this may not be a big problem, it can be for your image and branding – remember, you need to be unique – to stand out in the crowd of the millions of blogs active on the web.

Other problem associated with free blog themes includes hidden links in the footer that may go to sites that may hurt your SEO efforts. This can be a serious problem you can lose visitors as well.

Your blog theme is the first thing that visitors see, well before the content. It has to be attractive and inviting while selling you and your brand and image. It needs to convey a feeling of authority, even if your site is just full of jokes; it still needs to sell that feeling.

Free themes won’t cut it in the long run. They won’t support your image and they won’t help to sell you. Getting your own theme designed is not always that expensive, it can however make a huge difference.

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