How to make your Blogger blog not look like a, um, Blogger blog

A lot of my design clients who use Blogger ask for a design that is not so Blogger-ish. This happens more often than not, so I thought I’d share some tips on how to take the Blogger out of your Blogger blog.

Super easy things everyone can do right now!

• Add a custom header.
  • Layout >> click Edit on the Header gadget >> Uncheck “Shrink to Fit” >> Browse… select your header image from your computer >> Check the option “Instead of title and description” >> Save.
• Add a custom favicon.
  • Layout >> click Edit on the Favicon gadget >> Browse… select your favicon image (must be a square image!) >> Save.
• Remove the About Me gadget.
  • Layout >> click Edit on the About Me gadget >> Remove.
• Add a customized about me gadget to your sidebar.
  • Layout >> Add A Gadget >> Image >> be sure to uncheck the Shrink to fit box >> Browse… select you image from your computer >> Title: fill in your title (e.g. Welcome, Hello!, About Me, etc.), if you want to leave this blank – well, you can’t – so enter this code instead: >> Caption: enter in your welcome message >> Link: you can either leave this blank, or you may link to your About page >> Save.
• Remove the Blogger Navbar.
  • Layout >> click Edit on the Navbar gadget >> Off >> Save.
• Remove the followers / Google Friend Connect gadget.
  • Layout >> click Edit on the Followers gadget >> Remove.
• Remove the background colors from the date, tabs and post footer.
  • Template >> Customize >> Advanced >> Date Header >> Background Color >> change to white (#FFFFFF) or transparent (and, change the date color to something other than white!) >> Apply to Blog. (Repeat for Tabs & Post Footer.)
• Remove the borders from menu bar (tabs).
  • Template >> Customize >> Advanced >> Accents >> Tabs Border Color >> change to white (#FFFFFF) or transparent >> Apply to Blog.
• Remove the post share icons (use a set from AddThis or ShareThis)
  • Layout >> click Edit on the Blog Posts gadget >> uncheck the Show Share Buttons >> Save.

At this point you could either purchase a premade Blogger template that has the following options included with the design, or you can DIY it. These things are a bit more tricky and most involve editing the HTML of the template… be sure to make a backup of your template before you begin!

• Remove the Subscribe to Posts (Atom) link that shows up at the bottom of your site – DIY here.
• Remove the shadows from post images – DIY here.
• Remove the Attribution gadget – DIY here.
• Remove the dots from the pager section (Newer Posts, Home, Older Posts) – DIY here.
• Remove the letter spacing for the blog post date – DIY here.

At this point you have a pretty un-Blogger-ish looking blog, how do you like it?

{click on image for source.}