"This is high-quality information..."- Get Your Special Deal on the WordPress Dream Theme | Leave a Comment
Ben Cope has released the WordPress Dream Theme not so long ago which is customizable for total beginners. Ben designed this theme to help coding phobics get a grip of their blogs design without having to tamper with the blogs code.
The home page contains a very nice layout and I did like the special feature article that sits above your first post. This spot is ideal to use for promotion of your best posts and products. You can even include an image too to attract more readers.
Since I’m a lover of news themes that include thumbnail images, I really like this feature on Ben’s theme, as it helps the reader to sort through the posts a lot easier.
This is the view when you scroll down the page:
You can even pull RSS feeds from other blogs or sites that you own to make this a true portal of your empire. I really love this feature. (If you are a bit of a coder you can do this yourself with adding special code).
In the footer Ben has place images for 5 available affiliate banners, advertisers (all though that isn’t a great idea since it is at the bottom of the post) or whatever else you want to feature via images.
I’m not sure whether I like this feature myself as I see it wasted and would rather see a top commenter Plugin or even recent comment which will prompt the visitor to scroll all the way down to the blog and read more content.
Thanks to widgets the sidebar is easy customizable and all you have to do is decide how you want to display your information and what to include.
You can also customize the stylesheet with the click of your mouse to change your blogs look and feel.
It comes already loaded with essential Plugins that help you in search engine rankings and has integrated feedburner subscriptions.
The WordPress Dream Theme is also:
- Adsense ready
- Contains the popular 125 x125 banners for advertisers
- Comes with Ben’s personal help (all though at this stage I’m still unsure of what exactly this entails)
All you need to do is customize and insert your own information then get blogging.
Here is the lowdown though on cost. Normally the WordPress Dream Theme retails at a hefty $247 which is quite steep since as far as I know this doesn’t contain a multi user license (but then I could be wrong).
But Ben has just released a very special offer on where you can get this theme for only $99. I’m not sure how long he intends to keep this offer live therefore you’ll need to act now and either run with it, or forget about it.
For those of you would like a little play beforehand, head over to the demo page.
- John Reese Launches TrafficJam.com to Improve BlogRush | 2 Comments
Reading John Reese’s long-winded emails is usually difficult for people like me, especially doing it at 11.00pm right after having a hearty sushi meal. But I paid special attention to this particular long-winded email just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.Apparently, traffic guru John Reese just launched his new blog aggregation service at www.TrafficJam.com which is based on the data from his BlogRush network.
His email starts out with hype, hype, yada, yada, more hype, and somewhere on the last paragraph I finally found what I was looking for:
Want your posts to appear on TrafficJam.com? If you have the BlogRush widget installed on your blog it will happen automatically when any of your posts ’score’ well with TJ’s algorithm.
Don’t even ask how the “algorithm” works because I don’t think anyone is supposed to understand or question that. I mean if you can’t understand BlogRush’s algo then you won’t understand this either.
John’s email gives a clue which really isn’t a clue at all:
A big ‘key’ for scoring well, which is the same key to get traffic from BlogRush, is to learn to write powerful, yet specific blog post TITLES. Poke around TJ and notice the titles. Almost all of them are very SPECIFIC.
Ermm, no I don’t think that’s really it.
I have 2.7 million BlogRush credits and I even use a very specialized BlogRush click maximizer plugin to create optimized headlines, but somehow the credits are basically stuck where they are.
Please someone teach me how to write proper blog titles and use up my 2.7 million BlogRush credits.
As for Traffic Jam itself, it doesn’t appear to be any different from Blogging Zoom or other similar Digg clone sites using the Pligg software.
In fact, it doesn’t even have a rating system so I’m guessing the stories are shown as they are syndicated into the blog network, which in essence really makes it more like Technorati than Digg.
However I have no doubt that if John Reese goes all out to market this site, you can get some sort of traffic from it eventually but if he’s depending on the already jaded BlogRush members to do market the site for him, it may just become BlogRush2.
Questions on my mind right now:
- The categories in TrafficJam are NOT AN EXACT MATCH to the ones in BlogRush, so who decides which blog post goes to which category?
- If your site appears in TrafficJam.com do they count against your current BR impressions?
Sadly those questions were not answered in John’s long email.
- Are Your Blog Posts Listed in StumbleUpon? | 5 Comments
With Google fully integrating data on their search pages, it’s really simple to find out what pages from your blog are already in StumbleUpon.
Simple type in the following: site:yourwebsite.com
Of course, replace “yourwebsite.com” with your actual website URL, and you’ll see something like this:
This type of search command is useful to see what pages have been indexed in Google, but now it can also be used to see which pages (red arrows) are already being visited by users. You’ll also be able to see the main tags used for your website and the user ID of the StumbleUpon user who first discovered your website, or your individual blog pages.
- Are You Blogging in The Make Money Online Niche? | 9 Comments
You’ve read couple of blog and even bought a blogging course like WordPress Adsense System. You’re all pumped up to start your first blog and guess what topic comes to mind?“How to make money online!”
This is by far the most popular niche market most new bloggers enter, mostly without any research and with no real uniqueness or direction in mind. I’ve once wondered why most people choose this topic when there are literally thousands of easier niche markets to enter as a new blogger, either to make money from Google Adsense of from affiliate marketing.
I guess most people do it for the following reasons:
- This is a really compelling topic - When you’re spending all your time online trying to make money online, you’d naturally feel attracted to the topic of “Making money online”
- You thought it would be easy - Yes, you thought it would be easy to make a lot of money from this market, as compared to other niche markets there are certainly more products you can promote as an affiliate in this niche.
The “Make money online” market can really be profitable, provided you can do the following:
- Find a more targeted niche within the “Make money online” niche, for example video marketing, audio product creation, Adsense,
- Go one inch wide and one mile deep. Find a small but targeted market, but go really really deep into the market with your information. In short, become the best source of information for that small niche, and dominate it
- Research the growth potential of your topic, and make sure that you’re not on a sinking boat. For example, look at the graph below from Google Trends and you’ll see that this blog has the potential to grow in the future. Type in a specific keyword in Google Trends, and if your graph is on the decline it’s probably not a good idea to start a blog on the topic.
So what do you do if you’ve already started a blog on “How to make money online”?
Well for starters, you need to redefine your content and direction. The “make money online” topic is too general and while it can be profitable, as a newbie it would be better for you to find a smaller, “nichier” topic. In fact, it’s easier to make money from smaller topics within the “make money online” market itself.
Secondly, read this post by Andrew Pavelski on “How to Survive in The Make Money Online Niche”. He shares a few valuable tips on what you need to focus on to get the results you’re looking for.
- Dealing With Failure | 5 Comments
Failure is a by product of life. Admit it. I’m sure you failed many of times throughout life. I know I have. But what do you do when things go wrong and don’t turn out as expected? Do you just give up, or do you push through in your quest to make it regardless of what’s holding you back?Dealing with failure is hard since we need to take a good hard look at ourselves and nobody likes to do this. It’s ingrained since our earliest childhood. We hate being reprimanded and always like to display ourselves in the perfect light.
So when failure happens we need to stop and take a good hard look at why we failed. often this will lead us to some very ugly truth about ourselves which are hard to accept.
But unless we do, we will struggle to move on.
Dealing with failure becomes easier the more you do it
Failing is like falling off the bike, dusting yourself off and step on again
The more this happens, the easier it becomes and before we know it, we drive the bicycle freehanded. We can have the same effects in business. Failure helps us to move on and learn from what didn’t work.
It’s nothing you should be ashamed of.
I once learned that the more failures one person has had, the more successful he/she will become in life. After many years of failure in my private life, professional life and business life I can safely attest to this.
Instead of being afraid now I welcome failure (with measures) since it helps me to move ahead.
Sure I want to succeed in everything I do, but at the same time I know now that making mistakes isn’t going to make me look like an idiot. It is simply a stepping stone to success.
How do you feel about the subject? Are you afraid of making mistakes?
- Great WordPress Resources | Leave a Comment
I’m a WordPress lover that is turning slowly but surely into a WordPress freak. I can actually spend hours looking at and hacking WordPress themes and one day I actually want to get into WordPress theme design. Just for fun mind you, since time isn’t something I have freely available to tweak code for a living.Therefore I’m always on the lookout for sites that provide some great WordPress resources as they can help all of us. This list of 100 free WordPress themes by Smashing Magazine is awesome. If you are still looking for THAT theme, then you will find it in that post.
Kyle Eslick over at Hack WordPress has spent the last 4 month+ designing a fab blog about all things WordPress. I have learned a lot from Kyle in all that time and been a subscriber all that time. The blog is looking better than ever and is well worth a visit.
Sherman Hu has a very web 2.0 looking site all designed at WordPress Tutorials. A must for any Easy WordPress user, regardless of experience.
I think those links will keep you busy for some time and don’t forget to bookmark them for future uses.
Special note: Our very own Gobala Krishnan got engaged to the beautiful Sheila on the 10th of Feb. Check it out and don’t forget to tell him how lovely a pair they are.
- Transferring Content Between Two WordPress Blogs | 13 Comments
What’s the easiest way to transfer blog content from an old blog to a new one in a different location?
I’ve always been asked that question but I never really tried doing that until recently,when I decided to merge 3 separate blogs into one.
The easiest way to transfer existing blog content from one blog to another is by using the “Export” function in WordPress. By doing this, you export all existing data (posts, pages, comments, dates, categories and authors) to an external XML document, which you can save to your computer.
Once you’ve saved your file, log into the WordPress blog you want to transfer your content to, and click on “Import”. You’ll see a few options you can choose from, but for transferring from one WordPress blog to another, select the last option.
Then, select the XML file on your computer and click on “Upload File and Import”
The process should go smoothly, and you will now have all the exported content in your new blog according to the categories you have specified. Your comments on each post will also be retained.
Only uploaded images aren’t transferred with this method. You’ll need to manually transfer the images via FTP and update the links for each image used. If the image source is linked to an external source like Flickr or Photobucket, it should appear on your posts as it did in the old blog.
- Speed Bloggers Get More Done In A Day! | Leave a Comment
Blogging isn’t a racing industry. You don’t get marks for raising to blogging stardom overnight. But you do get recognition. Admittedly it feels great to be recognized by fellow bloggers for the success we achieve, whether big or small, since it justifies that we are doing something right.
But when it comes to speed I’m not referring to the speed you click in your car, but to the speed in which you engage into your business every day.
Start the day productive
Do you sometimes struggle to get going when you blog? You know, you just can’t get an idea to blog about and spend hours starring at the screen trying to find inspiration.
What do you do when that happens?
When I have writers block (oh yes I do…) I sometimes take hours to get in the zone again. Sometimes it is caused by outside distractions that weren’t planned and at other times I just can’t think of a good idea to blog about.
It is so frustrating it drives me close to insanity - well, perhaps it isn’t THAT bad.
So what do I do when that happens?
I plan ahead
Since I’ve been blogging I found that planning ahead often helps me to stay on the creative path and I run less chances of getting that dreaded writers block.
Planning ahead for me involves a mixture of media that all help to inspire me. The list below is an idea on things that might help to inspire you with blogging ideas:
- carry a notebook (Moleskine) in which you note every idea that pops into your mind
- read lots of books
- watch TV (yes, I give you permission)
- read RSS feeds
- read newspapers
- visit the movies
- listen to the radio
- read an unusual magazine you normally wouldn’t read (it helps to stretch your mind)
- add your own ideas
But what has this got to do with speed blogging?
Actually, it has everything to do with speed blogging. Let me explain why I think so. See, when we prepare ourselves well enough with ideas we can start each day on speed, fully motivated.
What this does is setting the right mood for us to get in the flow fast! The better we can manage this, the more we will get done throughout the day and therefore speed blogging is the art of getting things done early in the day.
The perfect scenario
In a perfect world we manage to get blogging out of the way first thing in the day to leave room for all the other business tasks that wait at hand. The reason we need to do this early is because blogging is a regularity for most of us.
We are all committed in some ways to blog a certain amount of times per week so it can quickly become a dreadful task for some.
By planning ahead (even scheduling your posts) you will be able to gain freedom in your business.
You will become a true speed blogger that pushes through all boundaries and excels at what you set out to do in the first place.
The best thing is yet to come
Speed blogging has given me the power to concentrate on my business growth and enjoy the wind in my hair that is a by product of my journey online. I feel like I’m driving a fast car on a long stretch of highway with the music blaring out and the sun smiling down on me.
Care to join me?
- WordPress 2.5 Trial Site | Leave a Comment
Last month I quickly gave you a sneaky preview via a video on how the new WordPress 2.4 version will look like. For those of you who missed this post, here is a chance to test the new version (now 2.5) scheduled for general release on March 10th.
By clicking on the image below you’ll be lead to the login page for the test site.
- Username: admin
- Password: demo
You can test the new site to your hearts content, but be aware that you don’t actually see everything just yet.
Also, for those crafty enough to actually post something, the site will auto refresh every 10 minutes to keep it clean. At the moment the site isn’t safe to use yet since there are still issues with bugs and all.
Enjoy
- Cool New MyBlogLog Widget | Leave a Comment
While surfing the net today I came across a groovy MyBlogLog Widget I’ve never seen before. Upon doing some research I found that it can easily be installed by clicking on an existing one in the bottom of the left hand corner.
All you need to do is throw in your URL (provided you are already a member) and it will return the new code for you.
As you can see on the left, the new look sports a shiny glossy new surface that can be personalized with 7 colors and two layouts.
You can also elect on how you want the flyout to behave.
The styling options allow you to choose the width of your widget from 15-1200px wide and from 1-100 rows deep.
When you hover over a particular name (image) it will tell you how many sites this person has registered within their MyBlogLog profile.
With a click of your mouse you can now choose to add this person to your MyBlogLog contacts.
When you click on the small Grab This text on any site that sports the new widget, a new window (see left) opens. Type in your own URL and tick the no adult remark to get your own code.
Alternatively you can log into MyBlogLog and navigate to your widgets to style your own in the respective size and color.
Gobala Krisnan is a direct-response marketer turned blogger who makes over $10,000 a month from his blog empire. If you want to make money online from blogs, he is the only person who can reveal the secret of merging time-tested direct marketing strategies with web 2.0 traffic. Read more about him >>
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