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Despite the fact that there have traditionally been more themes available for other platforms than Blogger, there has recently been a resurgence of themes that are cross-platform, meaning they can be used in WordPress, Blogger, etc., although as separate versions.

With all the new theme releases, where are the best places to find them, and how does each of them stack up against one another?

Free Blogger Templates

Each of these sites contain only free themes, with only a few exceptions

ThemeLib

ThemeLib contains lots of beautiful themes that have been converted to Blogger from WP, including the most popular theme called Arthemia. You will also be able to find tips, tutorials, and news related to the blogging systems that power many of the most popular websites.

Blogger Buster

Professional Blogger themes designed, with some of the most popular themes that have been created for the platform. Once at the site, you’ll be able to find additional tips and resources for the Blogger system

bTemplates

bTemplates is a great site, containing nearly sixty pages filled with only

Blogger

themes. Distinct features of this site include the ability to rate

themes, and the way that

themes are presented and organized

JackBook

Over the past year or so, a number of highly popular

templates have been released by the site JackBook, which can be found on the page linked to

eBlogTemplates

One of the largest collections of

themes available for

Blogger, with conversions and reviews of

themes that have been released by other authors. Detailed and clear instructions have been provided with each theme released by the site’s author.

Blog and Web

Despite the fact that this site is in Spanish, you can find

conversions and unique

templates here for

Blogger

Blog Crowds

This site features a decent set of

templates, some of which have been designed for both the

WordPress and

Blogger platforms.

Themes can be viewed by categories – style, type, number of columns, and colors.

Template-Godown

Template Godown offers some

beautiful

Blogger template designs, most of which are

Wordpress

conversions.

TemplatePanic

A rather wide selection of

themes, although many appear to be sponsored with a link in the footer. Several popular themes are also featured here, however navigation is less than ideal, lacking tags dedicated to the

themes.

Mashable

Mashable has multiple posts with hundreds of

templates compiled, all ready for download.

Blogger-Templates

The oldest resources for

Blogger XML

templates, and is among the

most popular

Blogger powered sites online.

Pyzam

There are hundreds of

templates on this site, but the styles don’t vary, rather the background color/image is different, so the

themes aren’t that unique. However, you can view and find

themes by category, sorted by Newest/Oldest, Highest Rated, and

Most Popular.

Final Sense

Twenty-six pages of

templates are available for download, with varying

themes and styles.

Gecko and Fly

One of the original designers of

themes for

Blogger, this site features a number of

themes available for both

WordPress and

Blogger

GosuBlogger

Beautiful

templates are showcased here, along with designs that readers can submit to be converted to

Blogger

templates, typically from other platforms, such as

WordPress.

Zona Cerebral

Again in Spanish, there are additional

WordPress to

Blogger

conversions and tips related to designing

themes

Gisele Jaquenod

Gisele offers unique and pre-made designs which are specifically made for

Blogger. If you are looking for a “girly” theme for your blog, this is the place to come, with

templates that have categorized using tags (found in sidebar).

Falconhive

Falconhive is a new quality

templates resource for

Blogger. It contains lots of

beautiful

Blogger

templates converted from

Wordpress n

themes.

Inspiration

Like the

WordPress site, We Love WP, you’ll find

themes and websites that have been designed on the

Blogger system at We Love Blogger, from the writer and designer of

Blogger Buster.

Sites like this can help you find inspiration for designing your new Blogger/blog theme

Premium Blogger Templates

Please note that by “premium”, it is referring to the fact that you must purchase these

themes in order to use them, not their quality level.

Theme Forest

Launched earlier last year by the Envato Network, there are approximately ten

themes available, with many

themes starting at just $10. In terms of navigation, you can browse

themes by Title, Author, Category, Rating, Number of Sales and Price.

Conclusion

In this post, we’ve had a look at some of the

best places to find the

themes, as well as what other services they have to offer. Did I miss your blog? Do you have any interesting links to suggest? Add a comment, thanks!

Note: In order for the site to be listed, it must have a primary focus on XML (

Blogger Beta)

templates, and should have been updated within the past year.

You’ve read the post. What’s next?

If you like this post, I meant REALLY like it, then consider bookmarking or help us promote it. Many thanks.

Source: ThemeLib – Reviews of the Best Places to Find Blogger Templates

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Whoever said blogging can’t make BIG money had not heard this story.

Yaro Starak interviewed his previous student, Alborz Fallah, who is the owner of caradvice.com.au – a car blog for Australians, which was valued at $5 million dollars and generates close to $50,000 a month.

You can listen or read the interview here -

Million Dollar Blogger

Alborz started his blog like most people, sitting at home, writing content each day outside of the time he spent at his full time job. His blog grew, he started making money and he just kept working.

Eventually he was approached by people who wanted  to buy his blog. He said no, until someone came along who only wanted to buy a share in the site and help it continue to grow. Alborz agreed and his blog immediately went from part time hobby, to full time business.

Today Alborz’s blog has full time employees, he travels to Europe to test some of the most prestigious cars in the world and it’s fair to say he is living a dream – making big money writing about a topic he loves.

In this interview you can hear Alborz talk about how he grew his traffic, how he brought on investors to help grow his site and what’s it like being in charge of a multi-million dollar blog.

It’s worth listening to this interview because you can learn some key things to help with your own quest to make a profitable blog, for example -

- How Alborz chose the topic for his blog is a great lesson for anyone else out there struggling to come up with a blog topic

- The search engine advice Alborz offers is powerful yet simple and will immediately help your own blog get more traffic, if you follow it

- The story of how investors came on board to take Car Advice to the next level is unique, but definitely worth hearing because it shows how you can grow a blog from just making a few hundred dollars, to making six or seven figures a year.

The interview is available for instant download in MP3 or text transcript. Here’s the link again -

Million Dollar Blogger

Yaro released this video to inspire people to believe what is possible with a blog.

If you want to follow in Alborz’s footsteps, consider taking on Yaro as your blog coach and join his Blog Mastermind coaching program and you might just become the next Alborz.

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There are basically two types of bloggers in the world – reporters and experts – and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it’s hard for reporters to become experts, but it’s easy for experts to report).

If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or attended a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies. Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you blog for money then the model is based on content, people are taught to either start as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.

I’ll be frank; you want to be the expert.

Reporters leverage the content of the experts and in most cases people start off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise. Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value, it’s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc… experts in most cases simply make more money and attract more attention.

Most Bloggers Are Reporters

The thing with expertise is that it requires something – experience. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning. Bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).

There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it’s a necessity at first until you build up some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it comes to reporters and experts – there are a lot more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain attention and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting on.

Don’t Replicate Your Teacher

If you have ever spent some time browsing products in the learn Internet marketing niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study Internet marketing from a “guru” (for lack of a better term). The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to make money online you have to teach others how to make money online.

The end result of this process is a huge army of amateurs attempting to replicate what their teacher does in the same industry – the Internet marketing industry – not realizing that without expert status based on a proven record and all the perks that come with it, it’s next to impossible to succeed.

Even people, who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an email list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an email list of 1,000 people. Now I have no problems with that, I think it’s fine to teach beginners and leverage whatever achievements you have, the problem is that people gravitate to the same niche – Internet marketing – and rarely have any key points of differentiation.

How many products out there do you know of that all claim to teach the same things – email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the category of Internet marketing. It’s a saturated market, yet when you see your teachers and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money (and let’s face it – making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) – your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.

If the key is to become an expert and you haven’t spent the last 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.

Report on Your Process, Not Others

The secret to progress from reporter to expert is not to focus on other experts and instead report on your own journey. When you are learning how to do something and implementing things day by day, or studying other people’s work, you need to take your process and what you do as a result of what you learn, and use it as content for your blog.

It’s okay to talk about experts when you learn something from them, but always relate it to what you are doing. If you learn a technique from an expert it’s fine to state you learned it from them (and affiliate link to their product too!) but you should then take that technique, apply it to what you are doing and then report back YOUR results, not there’s. Frame things using your opinion – your stories – and don’t regurgitate what the expert said. The key is differentiation and personality, not replication.

Expertise comes from doing things most people don’t do and then talking about it. If you do this often enough you wake up one day as an expert, possibly without even realizing how it happened, simply because you were so good at reporting what you did.

You Are Already An Expert

Most people fail to become experts (or perceived as experts) because they don’t leverage what they already know. Every person who lives a life learns things as they go, takes action every day and knows something about something. The reason why they never become an expert is because they choose not to (which is fine for some, not everyone wants to be an expert), but if your goal is to blog your way to expertise and leave the world of reporting behind you have to start teaching and doing so by leveraging real experience.

Experience can come from what you do today and what you have done previously; you just need to take enough steps to demonstrate what you already know and what you are presently learning along your journey. I know so many people in my life, who are experts simply by virtue of the life they have lived, yet they are so insecure about what they know, they never commit their knowledge to words for fear of…well fear.

Blogs and the Web in general, are amazing resources when you leverage them as a communication tool to spread your expertise because of the sheer scope of people they can reach. If all you ever do is talk to people in person and share your experience using limited communication mediums, you haven’t much hope of becoming an expert. Take what you know and show other people through blogging, and you might be surprised how people change their perception of you in time.

Reporting Is A Stepping Stone

If your previous experience and expertise is from an area you want to leave behind or you are starting from “scratch”, then reporting is the path you must walk, at least for the short term.

Reporting is a lot of fun. Interviewing experts, talking about what other people are doing and just being part of a community is not a bad way to blog. In many cases people make a career of reporting (journalism is about just that), but if you truly want success and exponential results, at some point you will have to stand up and proclaim yourself as someone unusually good at something and then proceed to demonstrate it over and over again.

Have patience and focus on what you do to learn and then translate that experience into lessons for others, and remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:

www.BlogMastermind.com

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