Etsy Blog Templates Review

If you're a long time reader of my blog, you would know that I'm obsessed with blog designs. I spend a majority of my time (and money!) on Etsy and I have bought 5 templates in the past not including the templates that I helped people buy. I'm going to do a review of all 5 templates from 4 different shops on Etsy to help you in deciding which template shop that suits your blog needs. They're all responsive and mobile-friendly templates that look awesome on mobile!

Violin from Vefio Themes | RM36.17

Preview / Shop

The customer service is 10/10. Angga (the owner) will help you every step of the way. I had to get my template recoded because Blogger changed something in its html coding whatever so the Popular Posts photos got blurry and he tweaked my template for me in under 2 hours.

PROS

Compatible with Blogger Template Designer

Free installation service

Slider

I really like the slider in this template. It looks professional.

Auto read-more

It comes with two layout option, with read-more button or without read-more. You will get both.

Social network buttons

You have social buttons on the top left of the page and sidebar.

Dropdown menu

Sticky navigation

Comment section

Avatar and border around each comment

Instagram widget

Related posts

Popular posts

CONS

You cannot put two photos in a post side by side. Both of them will take the full width so the second photo will go under the first photo.

You will have to copy paste codes that are provided in the template into respective gadget for them to work like the social media button, recent posts, and pinterest gadget.

The dropdown menu is very tedious to do including the categories/label. You have to put in the link of your label one by one. If you have 20 labels, hmph good luck.

Gigi and Gadot from Fearne Creative Design | RM20.72/RM21.28

Gigi Gadot / Shop

The customer service is 10/10. Eve (the owner) found my blog and she messaged me on Etsy about my problem with the comment section not having border and avatar so she gave me the CSS code (Gigi). For Gadot, she helped me with the post title and date. I wanted the date to be above post title and she gave me the step by step tutorial. Very helpful.

PROS

Easy to install and edit because the coding is simple

Free installation service

Slider
Not my favourite but the slider is okay. You can choose to have the full-width slider on Gigi.

Auto read-more
It's a grid layout so it's basically auto read-more.

Social network buttons
You have social buttons on the top right of the page and sidebar.

Dropdown menu

Sticky navigation

Instagram widget

Related posts

Popular posts

CONS

Not compatible with Blogger Template Designer

Comment section
No avatar and border around each comment

The post body link has a bottom border sort of like underline which I really like but my post images has bottom border too because when you upload an image it's basically a linked image and that's not cute at all. (Gigi)

You have to copy paste the codes provided too such as the slider, social icons, search bar, and Instagram widget. If you want a second dropdown menu you will have to go to edit html and edit some coding before you can set up your second dropdown.

Majestic from Design by A | RM63.85

Preview / Shop

Beautiful template! I would have still used this template if I hadn't found my current one. I've only used it for 4 days.. I wanted the blog copyright (2016 © ERIN AZMIR) on the bottom of the page that this template doesn't have so Alex (the owner) edited it for free. The credit coding is complicated so I can't edit it by myself.

PROS

Compatible with Blogger Template Designer

You don't have to touch a single code

Slider

The slider is gorgeous!!!

Auto read-more

It's a grid layout so it's basically auto read-more.

Social network buttons

You have social buttons on the top right of the page and sidebar.

Sticky navigation

Clean comment section

Related posts

Popular posts

Well-structured template

CONS

No free installation provided as far as I know

No dropdown menu

But there's a lot of space for your links on the navigation bar. You have the top menu and sticky navigation.

No Instagram widget

You can easily get one from LightWidget.com

Marigold by Underline Designs | RM148.94

Preview / Shop

(CURRENTLY USING) GORGEOUS. I fell in love with it the first time I laid eyes on it. After you've purchased this template, you should leave a message to the seller for the headers, she will create two headers for you with the font used in the demo. I got mine in less than 30 mins after messaging. By the way, you can get 20% off if you subscribed to her newsletter. Just apply the discount code while checkout.

PROS

Compatible with Blogger Template Designer with a lot of options

You don't have to touch a single code

Slider

Clean and simple slider

Auto read-more

It's a grid layout with a homepage

Social network buttons

Top right of the page, sidebar, and footer

Dropdown menu

Sticky navigation

Clean comment section

Instagram widget

Related posts

Popular posts

On sidebar and homepage

Full-width pages

Well-structured template

The template looks complicated but it is very easy to install!

CONS

Paid template installation (free installation for Marigold)

For the recommendation from each shop:

Vefio: Calypso / Nueva / Caroline
Fearne: Esmée / Sigrid / Clementine
Design by A: Fabulous Eve / Milky / Paprika
Underline: Marjoram / Celandine / Amaryllis

This is such a long post! I hope you enjoyed my ranting about blog templates. I have 'converted' many of my blogger friends to using Etsy's templates because I talked about templates every week and we perempuan cannot tahan from buying, you know? Hahaha. Let me know if you have any questions or if you need help on buying from Etsy.

PS: No more posts about templates after this, I promise.