March 24, 2009
One of the best things about WordPress is that you can use CSS themes to change your entire site’s look and feel at the touch of a button. And because the software is open source, there are literally thousands of designers and developers who have created themes for you to download.
But with so many options out there, how do you know which WordPress themes will work the best for your site? Since there is no central place to “shop” for themes, where do you go for inspiration?
Or what if you love the look and feel of your existing site, but want to convert the backend to WordPress?
WordPress Themes
Ross Chapman
In our April Dojo Radio show, Lee Rodrigues from Technology Dojo and Ross Chapman from Folks Pants web design group will talk about how to shop for and customize themes for your WordPress web site and blog.
The show will air live on Thursday, April 23 from 4-5PM PST (7-8PM EST) at www.blogtalkradio.com/Dojo-Radio/. If you can’t make it live, don’t worry — you can always listen to the archived version later.
If you haven’t already, check out Ross’ guest blog post about WordPress theme galleries.
[podcast]http://technologydojo.net/wp-content/uploads/wordpress_themes.mp3[/podcast]
What do YOU want to know about WordPress themes?
We design these radio shows to be as useful as possible — so tell us what you want to hear about!
Call In: The best way to ask a question is to call in to the show live at (646) 716-9210.
Note: there are only a few phone lines open for each show. If you’re not calling in with a question, please listen to the show through the BlogTalkRadio player.
Chat: If you register at Blog Talk Radio, you can also participate and ask questions in the chat room during the show.
Comment: If you can’t be there live, please submit your question by adding a comment below.
See you on the air!
Posted in Dojo Radio, WordPress, WordPress Themes 
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March 5, 2009
Flickr photo by steepways
So you just installed WordPress and picked your theme, and you are ready to rock out your brand new web site and blog. Pages! Posts! Widgets! You’re probably can’t wait to get started.
If you’re sitting down with a hot cup of coffee in your hand, ready to spend some serious hours in front of the computer hacking out the first version of your new web site and blog…
Let me save you some time.
WordPress software has its own quirks, and every new user makes mistakes when they are first learning their way around. Unless you enjoy doing things the hard way, here are three secrets that will save you the heartbreak of wasted hours and lost work.
1. Use Firefox to do all of your WordPress development.
You probably have a favorite browser for surfing the web, checking email and social networking. But in my experience, other browsers do surprisingly weird things to WordPress. Several of my coaching clients have spent hours and hours working on their site in another browser, only to have it end up as a garbled mess.
WordPress simply works the best on Firefox. If you’re a beginner, develop the habit of opening Firefox before you log into WordPress. If you don’t already have it, you can download Firefox here.
As your skill grows, you may want to download cool developer add-ons for Firefox to extend the browser’s functionality with handy tools like MeasureIt (a ruler that measures the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage) and Google Pagerank Status (which displays the pagerank of any web site, a good tool for competitive research.)
2. Never use Microsoft Word to create your pages and posts.
This is one of the most common causes of heartache among new WordPress users. Excited about adding their first page or post to their new site, they write their text in Microsoft Word, then spend hours adding bold, italics, lists etc. to get it to look just right.
Flickr photo by dev null
Then when they try to copy and paste their work into WordPress, they find that it is a big pile of garbage code. It takes more time to fix it than it does to dump it all and start from scratch. That’s right — all of that time flushed down the drain. (This is where is where I have my coaching clients step away from the computer and take a deep cleansing breath.)
If you prefer to compose your pages in post in another program, then you should only compose in a program like TextEditor (Mac) or Notepad (PC) using plain text. Save your fancy formatting for the WordPress visual editor.
3. Know your niche and use keywords.
One of the reasons entrepreneurs love using WordPress is that it has many powerful search engine optimization features. But here’s the catch: these features are all based on using keywords and key phrases that have been proven to appeal to your target audience. You need a core message.
I tell my coaching clients to create a target persona to think about when they write their pages and posts. If you have a clear picture of who your ideal customer is, and if you can describe their pain points and desires, then you can create a set of key words and key phrases to use in your text, headlines and metatags.
I recommend keeping a list of up to 25 key words and phrases next to your computer, and use them as often as you can in your posts and SEO fields. The more consistent you are, the faster your site will rise to the top of search result pages.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with using your site as a testing ground. You can use the “throw it up and see what sticks” approach to figure out what people click on the most, but it will take you far longer to build any meaningful traffic that way. If you’re shooting in the dark today, I guarantee you will eventually need to overhaul the language on your entire site to “retrofit” it to your audience’s needs and desires. Why not do things right from the start?
Posted in Blogging, Featured Posts, Search Optimization, WordPress 2 Comments »
March 5, 2009
Flickr photo by PunkJr
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I am a visual person, and I put a great deal of thought into selecting images that enhance the messages of my blog posts.
While I depend on iStockphoto for finding professional, affordable stock photographs for a site’s main web pages, I’m much more reluctant to shell out a couple dollars every time I want to add an image to a blog post.
If you are a prolific blogger, the photo tab could add up quickly!
Reclaiming The Creative Commons
Flickr photo by Jayel Aheram
Fortunately, there are lots of artists on the web who don’t mind if you use their images for free – as long as you give them credit for it.
I frequently shop for free images on Flickr, where an advanced search will display all photos available under what’s called a Creative Commons license.
Under this licensing system, any Flickr member who posts their photos can give others permission to share, and in some cases adapt, their work as long as it is attributed it to the creator.
You can read more about Creative Commons here.
How To Find Creative Commons Images On Flickr
Step One: In the search box at the top right corner of the Flickr page, enter one ore more descriptive word(s). For the photo at the top of this email, I entered “picture thousand words.” You’ll be taken to a page that displays all results for all photos with those words in the tags.
Step Two: To the right of the blue SEARCH button at the top of that page, click on Advanced Search, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click the box that says “Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content”. If you are using the photo for your business blog, you should also check the box for “Find content to use commercially.”
Now hit the SEARCH button again, and you will be shown photos that are licensed for free download and use. For this blog post, I selected the “A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words” shot by PunkJr.
How To Provide Proper Attribution
Under he terms of the Creative Commons license for this photo, I am allowed to copy, distribute and display his copyrighted work, but only if I give him credit.
After uploading the image to WordPress, you will see a box like this. For proper Creative Commons attribution, there are two fields that you want to be sure to fill out: Caption and Link URL.
In the Caption, write “Flickr photo by” and add the name that appears on their Flickr account, in this case PunkJr.
In the Link URL field, enter the address that links to that Creative Commons license for that image.
To locate the license URL, go to the bottom of the Available Sizes screen, where there is a button that says “some rights reserved.” Clicking on that link will take you to the Creative Commons license for that image, and you can copy the URL at the top of the screen.
Posted in Blogging, WordPress No Comments »
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