Guest post from: Patrick MacNamara
Throughout Grant Griffiths’ series 31 Days to Kick Your Blog in the Butt, you’ve learned many ways to take your blog to the next level. But, unless you put action into what you’ve learned, your blog will never reach its true potential. Put another way — information without implementation leads to depression, frustration and failure.
If, however, you’re a true Go Getter and have implemented the material, then allow me to expand your concepts one more time by giving you four ways to transform your blog from boring to beautiful.
For many bloggers, customizing a blog can be intimidating. There’s CSS to learn, HTML to code and images to edit. Don’t forget the myriad of widgets to customize, plugins to install and themes to choose from. Who’s got time to blog when designing a blog takes up the majority of your time?
Unless you’re using a turnkey theme like Headway, I can assure you that you’ll spend many a wasted hour either staring at your computer screen or pulling your hair out. For some, it’ll be both. 
But, even with a theme as rock solid as Headway, knowing how to tweak certain things can make your time more efficient and your blog more effective. So, let’s look at a few ways to accomplish this:
1. Choose the right color scheme
If you’re just getting started and you’re not sure what colors look good together, then I recommend kuler.
As Wikipedia states, Adobe Kuler is an internet application from Adobe Systems that lets individuals try out, create and save various color schemes. It is available in browser-hosted variants running on Adobe Flash, and in desktop versions using the Adobe AIR runtime. After downloading Switchboard from Adobe Labs, users utilizing the desktop version of Kuler can export a color scheme straight into Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.
2. Customize your color scheme throughout the site
Once you’ve selected the right color scheme, you’ll want to know the hexadecimal numbers that make up your chosen colors. Once obtained, you can easily change the appearance of your blog by inputting them into your blog’s CSS or, if using Headway, by entering them in the color fields found under the “Color” tab within the Headway Design option. So, to accomplish this, you’ll need an application that’ll allow you to grab these numbers from any color you hover over.
For the Mac, I follow Kevin Hale’s advice. Since I’ve never used Windows, I’m not sure what application is equivalent. However, I’m sure a quick Google search like this will lead you down the right path.
3. Use quality icons and images
Instead of searching Google for individual icons and images, turn to Iconspedia, your source of free quality icons.
What I love about this site, outside of being free, is their variety of icons in different sizes and variations. For example, if you’re looking for a specific Twitter icon, simply type Twitter into their search field and select from the plethora of both sizes and choices. It simply doesn’t matter what size of image you need since they provide it readily formatted for the web.
4. Use free stock photos
As the saying goes, “the best things in life are free”. And, believe it or not, this applies to quality stock photos too. The only hurdle is knowing where to find them.
There are many options out there but my favorite is The Stock Exchange. There are over 350,000 quality stock photos to choose from taken by over 35,000 professional photographers worldwide. It is THE place to turn when image is everything but your budget isn’t.
So there you have it — four ways to transform your blog from boring to beautiful. I trust these tips will aid both the novice and professional blogger alike toward becoming more efficient and effective during the design process.
Dr. Patrick MacNamara is founder and primary blogger of the hugely successful blog for chiropractors, Next Generation Chiropractor. He also owns Developing Others, a web design, development and hosting company for chiropractors as well as Blogging Chiros, a soon-to-be launched interactive learning environment for chiropractors. Dr. MacNamara has consulted hundreds of chiropractors across the globe on the use and importance of blogging and social media to grow their practices.
