5 easy ways to freshen up your blog on a budget.

5 ways to freshen up your blog on a budget

I spent hours and hours flicking through different templates from £4 to £35, and they kept getting more and more expensive. I came to the conclusion that I refuse to spend money on my blog and just because my blog may not be as appealing and funky as someone elses, I refuse to use it as an excuse for not writing. 

Don't you get tired of 'When I have more props I will.... When I have a new template I will.... When I buy lighting I will.... When I have better camera, I will.... When I have a domain I will... (Although jokes on me because I went and got one didn't I...) 

Those are just excuses and when you get your camera, you will 'need' a lens, and when you have a lens you'll 'need' more time, and when you have time you won't feel like writing, and when you feel like writing it's Easter break, or Christmas break, there will always be something! There are so many amazing blogger who work full time, have kids, do youtube and still manage to find time for blogging. So, how about me and you, right now stop making excuses and just believe that we don't need a flashy theme to succeed.

And sure, if you have a spare dollar lying around, knock yourself out- I would! But I don't so, here's what I did do. 

Theme
So I didn't actually change my theme I did all the steps below, but I wanted to add it in and tell you where I got mine, as I get asked quite often. I get mine from etsy and mine cost £4... That's nothing considering what other bloggers pay! Thanks to etsy, cheap templates are endless! And I'm not throwing shade here, please keep in mind this is targeted at those on a budget and when I have a bigger budget I will make use of that too.

Widths
But on the theme front, if you go onto settings, you can change up the widths, and that also makes a huge difference. For example, I made mine wider, now my pictures look bigger and my theme looks wider (duh) but you know what I mean. Some people may not like it, but I do.

Header
If you want the biggest change without a new template, it's probably time to change your header. It's the first thing people see when they come onto your blog. I use picmokey to create mine, I'm not a pro but I do use dafont website to pick my fonts, download them, install them and they appear on picmonkey under 'Your Fonts'. 

Change the colours
I didn't go ott or make any drastic changes, but I did remove the bolder black band (the top of my blog where the search bar is, used to be black) and it just looked to bulky. 

I feel like I needed to freshen up, lift it somehow without adding colour, so I decided to take the colour away and went for white. I felt there was an instant transformation. 

Font
Font is another thing I've changed and it's so minor but it all adds up to the overall effect, make sure it's consistent and not dated. Make sure it fits your blog aesthetic and your template. Please please please, make it legible and preferably no swirly writing. 

At the end of the day it's your space, but if your goal is to have readers, it's probably best to think about accommodating their needs, people are time poor, so don't make it even harder for them to read your blog.

Attitude
Is the most important of them all. Attitude is what will make you feel inspired, what will make you get rid of the excuses you give yourself for not writing. If you change your attitude to think positive, your content will freshen up naturally. Put your heart into your little space, create and be creative. There is always a way around something. No one had a flashy camera, lens or theme, no one knew about widgets or any other funky stuff a blog can do. So take little steps, we're all learning as we go along.

(Little preview of my previous look as it's the only thing I have to give you and idea)

5 ways to freshen up your blog on a budget      5 ways to freshen up your blog on a budget.

As you can tell, minor changes does make a difference. Because it's a phone view, you can't actually get the full effect, but if you read my blog you will be able to make the comparisons. 

I keep getting questions about my theme, and it's exactly the same one I had, but with tweaks. I'm not saying my blog is perfect, I'm saying that there are ways to give your blog and UMPH if you're not happy with it and save yourself some dollar. After all, it does only take little changes to give it a bit of a lift.

I feel like my blog is easier to read, the text is clearer, less cramped and more spread out. I'm very happy and it will do until I want an even more drastic change! 

I hope this was helpful and please let me know if you have any questions and do share your own tips and tricks! 

Lots of love
a.
xoxo

18 comments

  1. Definitely with you on the fonts, I can't stand a swirly font, one with a colour that's too light or something too small where I have to squint.

    Julia // The Sunday Mode

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    1. I feel like people just don't have time to work out what you're saying, it's really important to have clear and consistent writing! <3

      Thank you for reading!
      xoxo

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  2. YES!! This is so so essential! You're right there will always be some excuse for putting it off and sometimes you just need to sit down and write! :D As always you are a crazy amount of inspiration! Love you girl! xx

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    1. You babe, thank you so much lovely! I just feel like if we don't write silly things take over. I always thought getting my camera will make me blog more, but it didn't what made me blog more is not using excuses and just getting on with it. So if it means freshening up the blog for free, then be it!! Love you right bacccck <3

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  3. Finally!! A blog post like this is finally written! I love this so much. damn, you're so right about how we come up with all these excuses in relation to our blogs and it shouldn't be a reason or excuse to stop you from blogging. I've always loved your blog and it's so sleek, stylish and very you Angelika. damn, I need to read more n more posts of yours bc i love how genuine you really are! xxx

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    1. Love you to the moon and back! Too many excuses!! Thank you thank you thank you! <3

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  4. I got my blog layout off Etsy too! They are so cheap but such good quality and I find them so easy to install. I design blog headers so im lucky I can change mine as and when I want.

    Emmy | EmmysBeautyCave | Giveaway WIN Urban Decay, ColourPop & More

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    1. Aren't they fab?! And people who sell them are ALWAYS there to help. I bought mine ages ago and I messaged them ages later and they still replied. Although I bet they were really annoyed at the start when I had no clue where to start haha!! Yess I love yours! I'm dabbling in making my own hahah thanks for reading! xoxox

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  5. I'm a new reader and I love that this was my first post of yours to read! Love this! I recently changed how my blog looked and love it! I changed the template completely and also made myself a new header and it was such a small but significant thing that has changed how my blog looks! Can't wait to read ore of your posts :) Em xx

    http://edoublemamurray.blogspot.com.au/

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    1. In that case, welcome to Angelika Blogs! Glad you enjoyed my blog, thank you so much for reading!! <3 xxx

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  6. Haha this is so true. I always find myself making excuses or thinking when I have x y or z I will blog more - and it still doesn't happen.

    I'm currently looking for a new theme but I'm defo gonna try some of these out before spending any money.

    Christie christielouize.co.uk

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    1. Excuses are the bain of our lives!! Honestly, you'd think splashing out on fancy lights would make you take more pictures... Nopeeee hahaha!!

      Let me know how it goes, love you xoxox

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  7. Totally agree with you that spending endless time changing things around and buying expensive equipment isn't always the best move.

    I used to keep changing my colour scheme, fonts, layouts until I realised I hadn't posted anything in weeks because all my time was taken up making things look 'pretty'.

    Now my theme is to just keep it simple, throw in some big pictures here and there and work on my content. Every now and again I'll make little tweeks but I try not to get too bogged down with doing massive overhauls. It's too exhausting

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    1. Exactly! I think keeping it simple is the best thing and when you got your writing and consistency down, and when you want to change it to change it and not using it as a tool for procrastination, that's when you can start investing. That way at least you're investing into your writing and not wasting money! What is your blog lovely? I would love to check it out! <3

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  8. So inspiring! I totally agree with you!
    I always used to procrastinate things because I thought I would need special equipment for it but you hit the nail right on the head!
    Thank you for sharing this with us!

    xx, Sophie
    https://aperturewanderlust.wordpress.com/

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    1. Hi Sophie!

      Yay, glad you enjoyed reading my blog, I really appreciate your comments and I'm glad you agree! Excuses and procrastination is the worst!!

      XOXOX

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  9. Aw love this post! We all get caught up in trying to make our blogs look as amazing as possible and sometimes it can just get out of hand with the spending. Your theme is great and I can't believe how cheap it was! I spent so much on mine and I was so unhappy with it at the start! But I think with tweaks you can make it really personal and work for you, like you said :) I It's always nice to have a little refresh every now and then! xxx

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    1. Hey Millie!
      Thank you so much for reading my blog you beauty! I totally agree, definitely get way too caught up! I will step up and get something a bit more different which will obviously cost me more, but I just wanted to let people know it's not essential and it doesn't have to stop you doing what you love! I honestly love yours though!! xooxo

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