Don't spend too much on a design - heck, don't spend ANYTHING on design at first

I am not a web designer. I do not want to sell you a web design. In fact, I'm going to tell you something that many have learned much to their dismay and expense - you do not need a fancy web design or web designer to be successful, and, if you are starting out, web design is the last place you want to be putting your money.

Here, let me give you an example quote from a very successful commercial blogger, contained in this excellent article, 15 Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started My First Blog. (Go read that whole article, by the way, it's packed with valuable information.)

From his article:

Don’t spend too much on a design

I spent around $5,000 getting Pronet Advertising designed. What I didn’t realize is that you don’t need to have a cool design to have a popular blog. If you look at some of the most popular blogs on the web, such as Boing Boing, there isn’t anything special when it comes to their design.

The main thing you should be concerned about when it comes to your blog’s design, is that it needs to be usable and simple.

(Bill's note added - Boing Boing did in fact recently update their design - but it is still simple and conservative, as are most of the most successful websites on the net. )

To which he adds this valuable advice, which is also about design:

Have a unique design

With Quick Sprout, I am using a generic blog design. It looks great, but too many people are using it. This is making my blog blend in with thousands of other blogs. Because of this, I have two options:

                 1.  Modify the theme and make it look different

                  2. Change the design

Now, at first glance, it might seem that these two tips contradict each other - but they don't. The first tip is, don't spend a lot of money on a fancy web design. The second tip is this - YOU can make your own free design, which you have taken from one of the many libraries of free website themes, look a little different, and be unique, at a fraction of the cost of a custom made design. Often entirely for free, if you are willing to put a little time and sweat equity of your own into it, and usually for less than a hundred dollars if you hire someone like me to do it for you.

Before you do anything else tho, go read 15 Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started My First Blog