*This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link! You can read my full disclosure here.*
I want to emphasize that I am a beginner blogger. I started my first blog 3 months ago. I had never owned a website before this, so I am learning as I go.
But this method of designing my website worked really well for me, and I believe it will work for you too!
This is my process for designing a website, and I love my website. This method is very customizable and super easy! And you aren’t required to buy anything! I didn’t want to spend extra money on my blog right away, so I searched and searched for affordable solutions that also have free options!
First, I want to let you know that my website is a WordPress website, and I host it with Bluehost. All my design information/process is based around the fact that this is how my website is set up. Bluehost has been great for me, and I am really happy with my decision to use them for my blog. Bluehost is actually one of the most inexpensive choices for hosting, but despite the low price I haven’t had any issues whatsoever!
I recently decided to become an affiliate for Bluehost since I use them and like them. If you’re interested in checking them out and seeing their pricing & packages, you can use my affiliate link. Using my affiliate link won’t cost you any additional money, but I would get a commission if you choose to purchase.
Choosing a Theme
I didn’t want to pay for a theme since they can get pretty expensive, and I had no idea if I would be able to make any money with my blog. And I wanted to allow myself the ability to completely change my website design in the future if I want to, without feeling like I wasted money on my original theme.
I use the OceanWP theme, which is a free WordPress theme. However, I have changed the color scheme for my website so it doesn’t look exactly like the typical OceanWP theme.
Color Scheme
In order to find a palette of 5-7 colors that I liked and wanted to use for my website, I went on Pinterest and searched for “color palette” and I saved the ones I loved that had hex codes included on the graphic.
I wanted a color scheme that had at least one really dark, almost black color that I could use for the main text of my blog posts. And one really light, almost white color that I could use for the main background on my website so that it would look clean and be easy to read.
This ensures that people will be able to easily read the words on my website.
The rest of the colors will be used for headers, dividers, etc. so I just wanted some fun, eye-catching colors that go together nicely. I saved several color palettes and eventually chose the colors that I’m currently using.
I like a more clean, minimalistic look with pops of color. I think it makes it easier for the reader to consume the information without being distracted or overwhelmed by the website design.
Layout
I looked at a ton of other blogs to see what types of pages they include and their page layouts. I noted things I liked and disliked. That’s how I started to figure out what I wanted my own website layout to be.
I use Elementor for my website, because it turns WordPress into a drag-and-drop format that is really intuitive for me. I knew I needed to have a WordPress website if I wanted to look professional and monetize in the future, but WordPress design is not intuitive to me at all.
Without Elementor, I honestly think that I wouldn’t be able to blog!
Elementor has a free version and a paid Pro version. I started with the free version and it is great.I did eventually decide to upgrade to Elementor Pro because then I’d have access to more elements that I personally wanted for my blog design. But that’s entirely personal preference and you can absolutely just use the free version!
Because I love using Elementor so much, I have signed up to be an affiliate for them. You can use my affiliate link if you would like to, which just means that I would get a small commission if you choose to purchase from their website, at no additional cost to you!
I like that Elementor has page templates available, but I love that I can design a page, or a blog post, or an element, and then save that as a template that I can easily use later on.
For example, I have my Blog Income Reports saved as a template so all I have to do is rewrite the words each time I do that type of post, but the post layout and formatting will already be there for me! It saves me so much time!
As you can tell, my approach to website design is very DIY, and also very affordable. You can actually do it completely free! Using Elementor makes it really easy to customize the theme’s default colors to my own chosen color scheme.
I hope you have as much fun designing your website as I do, and let me know if you follow a similar process to mine or use any of these tips!