I decided to blog. I'm hoping eventually to use it as a jumping off point for some sort of travel related industry. It's sort of quirky as far as that sort of thing goes, but I can't be someone else. (Hey I already have a job where I'm well behaved.) The thing is, I'm not a visual person. I mean I know what I like, but making art is not something that I get. So, I know my blog looks terrible. What I don't know is how to make it better. I mean, I guess hiring a professional would do it. But that's not affordable for me. I need to make it work and do it myself. Problem 1. My picture of the grand canyon is crisp and lovely, until I put it in my header. Then it looks like a fog of pixels rolled in. Problem 2. The page opens to a little blurb about why I'm blogging. I like it right there on the opening page. But the subsequent posts are more discrete than I'd like. I think people might visit the blog and think that first page is all there is. My blog is www.travelingenthusiast.com if you want to go look. If anyone has any ideas of how to do a better job of making this thing look harmonious. Maybe suggestions for free themes? Or thoughts on composition or whatever help you can offer. I really appreciate any thoughts you can offer.
Your blog looks pretty good. Try going to pixabay.com and see if there are any photos that suit you, they're free to use: https://pixabay.com/en/photos/?q=grand+canyon&image_type=&cat=&min_width=&min_height= Maybe you can try picking a photo with stronger colors? Something like these: https://pixabay.com/en/grand-canyon-arizona-landscape-1995038/ https://pixabay.com/en/grand-canyon-usa-national-park-1235221/ Also, ensure your photo is at least 1920x850 in size when you upload it. Hope this helps.
Looks pretty standard for a WP blog. I like the name travelingenthusiast I am surprised it wasn't taken.
Thank you. Well, I feel better about things. I took Daronch's advice and downloaded some images. That site is a wonderful find. TravelEnthusiast was available. For $3500. Travelingenthusiast is good too.
This is the live demo of your theme: https://themeisle.com/demo/?theme=Amadeus You can add a photo to each of your post and set them as featured image to make them more prominent. There are other free themes on wordpress.org's official theme section as well: https://wordpress.org/themes/search/travel/ ... can download these themes from inside your admin dashboard.
Are you in Facebook travel groups? There are some great ones where people support each others. I agree with the poster above to look for nice free themes. You blog is a growing process. If you are serious and determined to make something out of this, I sense a great future. But the most important thing IMO is to network with other travel bloggers. I am in a few groups on Facebook where I have seen people become successful quickly, so I can invite you into a couple of them if you like.