Hi-

Getting ready to start a new business Blog and would appreciate your input on the following:

• What Blog design tool/software would you recommend for a Newbie?
• What circumstances do you believe a designer should be used?

If I had to do it over (and had the money to do so), I would have had a web designer start my blog and get the important components like subscription widgets, establishing the domain name, setting the width, etc. completed. I was so clueless and very well could have established my blog in a less effective way than a pro could have. Doing everything on your own can be difficult and you don’t really know if something you did continues to hurt your results years down the road.

Kathy Bernard
Getajobtips.com  

Both Kristi and Kathy are right depending on the income you have and the time you are willing to spend.

Great if you have time and less income:  
@kristi-hines  I always suggest the self-hosted version of WordPress with a premium theme
Great if you don’t have time and more income:  @kathybernard If I had to do it over (and had the money to do so), I would have had a web designer start my blog and get the important components like subscription widgets, establishing the domain name, setting the width, etc. completed.

Having a capable word press developer will always yield a better result as it allows someone with the skills to do the job and you get exactly what you want. Even premium templates that are cheaper can be frustrating if you don’t know how to customize it or are not technically minded. 

Remember you could fix a house your self, but only a qualified mechanic would do the best job… you get the point.

Sometimes its best to stick to what you are good at and outsource what you are not.

@stevecurran You could pay anything from nothing up to a few thousand.  It’s not a question someone can answer until they hear the specifics of what you want to do. 

If all you want to do is have a nice solid theme (Genesis) with the widgets and other items placed properly and to your best advantage, we provide three different service levels that may help you.  

But if you want something extremely special – completely unique – then the suggestion made by Kristi to go with a good, recognised Genesis designer is a good one.