Chris Pearson just announced some fantastic new updates taking Thesis to version 1.2.  These changes and additions really fill in the small gaps on my WordPress theme wish list adding even more value to my purchase.

Here’s a run down of the new goods directly from the DIY blog:

Massively Enhanced Usability

Thesis 1.2 contains tons of improvements in key usability areas, including:

• quick-edit links on posts and comments
• clickable author names in bylines
• optional category link display in the headline area of each post
• unprecedented control over tag display
• archive display options (titles, content, or excerpts)
• customizable “click to continue…” text for post teasers
• navigation links on single entry pages
• finely-tuned gravatar control
• tons of new theme hooks (which will likely make Rick the most helpful guy on the planet)

In addition, the options panels have received some treatments that make them more intuitive to use.

Unprecedented SEO Control

With Thesis 1.2, you can use the new meta custom field to write specific meta descriptions for every post and page on your site. In addition, you can leverage the category description field to manipulate both the <title> and <meta> tags on your category archive pages. For the first time ever, you’ll be able to fine-tune your SEO without the need for plugins or manual template editing!

Multimedia Box Improvements

Tons of you will be happy to know that Thesis 1.2 now allows you to add hyperlinks to your rotating images, all from within the comfort of the updated Thesis Options panel. In addition, Rick worked his own bit of magic on the multimedia box, and as a result, the image custom field should work for you no matter what kind of server you’re on.

New Subscriptions Widget

In addition to the changes listed above, version 1.2 also contains a new subscriptions widget that will allow you to publicize both RSS and email subscriptions in your sidebar. To use this, simply look for the Subscriptions widget in the Widget section of your WordPress dashboard.

As you can see the changes are significant. If you are in the market for a high quality WordPress theme Thesis should be on your short list.

I’m an avid reader of various webmaster blogs and forums and it seems every time the Google toolbar is updated I see a gross amount of incorrect statements being made about PageRank as if they were fact.  So if you will, I’m going to take this opportunity to cover a few PageRank misconceptions.

1. A Toolbar Update Is Not A PageRank Update
It seems a lot of people think PageRank only updates every few months when Google updates the green PageRank bar.  This is not true.  In fact, the internal Google PageRank (the one that impacts SERPs) is constantly updating.  The green toolbar PageRank is simply a rounded snapshot of data pushed to the toolbar.

2. A Toolbar Update Is Not A Precursor To A Change In Rankings
PageRank does play a role in Google’s search engine rankings, but people should not expect changes in position BECAUSE the toolbar PageRank is updated.  The PageRank displayed on the toolbar has already been a factor in rankings because it is a dated snapshot.

3. PageRank Is Not Worthless
Contrary to what many will say PageRank is not worthless.  PageRank is a tool used to measure link popularity and weight which serves as one of many factors in the Google SERP algorithm.  It is a piece of the puzzle.

4. PageRank Is Not The Most Important Aspect Of SEO
Contrary to what many will say PageRank is not the most important aspect of SEO.  PageRank is a tool to measure link popularity and weight which serves as one of many factors in the Google SERP algorithm.  It is a piece of the puzzle.

For more reading on PageRank check out these posts by Google engineer Matt Cutts:
What’s an Update
More info on PageRank

Contrary to the sound of this announcement, it doesn’t look like Brian will be abandoning a revenue model all together.  Just a switch to more of a paid support role.  Pretty wild stuff.  It will be interesting to see if others follow.

If you are not familiar with Brian Clark you can find his work primarily on his flagship blog CopyBlogger in addition to his new joint venture LateralAction. I highly recommend checking out both.

What is Live Blogging?
The term is a literal one and the premise is simple.  Live blogging takes place when a blogger covers an event in real time.  Typically the event will be something along the lines of a conference, sporting event, leisure trip or other news worthy event.  The execution of a live blog is typically done in one post that is updated on the fly with a segmented time line of comments.  If the event occurs over multiple days it would be common to have a new blog post for each day.

What are the Benefits of Live Blogging?
In the right circumstances live blogging provides a much richer experience for the reader over a typical blog summary and review post.  The concept is most effective when the blogger is covering an event that a large segment of the reading audience would like to have attended in person.  By offering live coverage the blog’s readers get to experience the event with the blogger as a sole source of information or as a supplement to larger media coverage.  Live blogging requires skilled execution but when performed effectively it can build additional reader loyalty and provide unique and quality content to a blog.

The video below is a keynote speech that Gary Vynerchuck gave just over a week ago at the Web 2.0 Expo. Gary produces the content at Wine Library TV and is a very dynamic character with a great story. Enjoy!

WordPress 2.7 UI Survey

5 Good Reasons Bloggers Should Use Twitter

1. Attract New Subscribers
By allowing users to follow and be followed, Twitter proves to be an excellent tool to find and attract your target audience.  Conversing on your topic can net you followers through Twitter search channels and through the profiles of followers or people you are following.  Twitter allows you to add a url in your profile so there is a good chance your Twitter followers will make their way to your blog if they like what you have to say.

2. Increase Reader Loyalty
In addition to gaining more blog subscribers Twitter can also enhance loyalty among the subscribers you already have.  Promoting your twitter profile on your blog gives users another channel of what they already like and can help solidify a “Trial” subscriber into a new advocate.

3. Find New Blog Ideas
Twitter serves as a superb resource for generating new blog ideas.  The search feature allows you to monitor keywords across the entire platform which can be especially good for finding news related items.  Additionally, when you follow other people in your niche you get exposed to different topics and opinions that can spark plenty of new blogging material.

4. Build Your Brand
The importance of branding on the internet has never been more critical.  Building a following on Twitter provides another outlet to generate viral growth and build or solidify authority for your blog’s brand.  While it does take time it is free which many find a nice alternative to the traditional, spend a ton of money advertising, method of branding.

5. Gauge Interest In A Topic
Twitter is a good place to test new ideas for your blog.  You can simply ask your followers if they would be interested in a post about a potential topic or ask a question related to the topic.  The amount of feedback and reaction to the topic should serve as a litmus test to what you can expect from readers on your blog.

I’m going to start this post off with a few blogging statistics.

• Technorati has indexed 133 million blogs.
• Only 1.1% of blogs online have posted in the last week.
• Approximately 130,000 new blogs are launched every day.

Looking at those numbers it sure seems like new blogs are almost set up for failure before they ever get started.  So many blogs to compete with and and at the same time so many that seem to have already failed. The truth is blogging is not easy and every blogger will face numerous failures.  Whether it be a missed opportunity, a post that gets criticized by commenters, a hosting outage or a factual oversight, failures are going to happen.  How a blogger manages failure is what is important.

Notable Failures
To get us started in the right direction lets take a look at a few failures of successful people.

Michael Jordan - Cut from his high school basketball team.

Rush Limbaugh - Dropped out of South East Missouri State University his freshman year after failing 2 speech classes.

Walt Disney - Fired from a newspaper job because he didn’t bring original ideas and lacked imagination.

Kurt Warner - Worked at a grocery store stocking shelves for minimum wage after being cut by the Green Bay Packers.

Abraham Lincoln - Defeated in 8 elections and had 2 failed businesses.

To add some blogging perspective lets look at one of the top internet marketing bloggers Jeremy Schoemaker.  Jeremy recently posted some of his failures at Shoemoney.com with a notable tongue in cheek comment that he is, “about 5 for 500 when it comes to successful ideas vs flops”.

Making it Work For You
So yeah, we’re all going to have moments of failure to challenge us.  It’s what we do in response of failure that determines our fate.  With that, lets take a look at what can be done to mitigate setbacks and use the failures we experience as a catalyst for success.

Look at The Big Picture
Setbacks can do a lot to derail momentum so it is important to have focus on the big picture.  I recommend writing out short and long term goals and keeping them in a visible place.  Reviewing these goals after a setback can help you shake out of a funk and refocus.  When you blog hits Technorati’s top 50 no one is going to care about that crappy post you made 2 years ago.

Take Action
One of the biggest reasons for failure is doing nothing at all.  Don’t spend all your time looking for the best niche or perfect posting posting opportunity because you probably aren’t going to find it.  Get out there, take action and see what sticks.  Personal experience will always trump anything you can learn on a blog or in a book.

Analyze and Improve
Once you realize and accept there will be failures along the way you need to focus on learning from them.  Accepting that failures will happen is not enough.  It is important to take a step back and ask: Why did the failure occur?  What can be done to prevent it from happening again?  How can I use this failure to improve?

Don’t Be Afraid
Most blogs don’t become successful by copying a blueprint from others.  They take a unique approach and execute it in a fearless and compelling manner.  If you like what you are doing there’s a good chance others will too.  Playing it safe and laying up is only going to make the failure you are afraid of more likely.

Slow and Steady Wins The Race
Cliché but so very true.  At the beginning of this post I mentioned only 1.1% of blogs have posted in the past week.  That’s because blogging on a consistent basis is tough.  People hit a road block for numerous reasons and just give up.   Keeping a steady pace through the bad spots will get you ahead in the long run.  Think of it like the stock market.  There will be peaks and valleys but the long term trend is always up.

In the end it comes down to your mentality.   If you want to succeed and are persistent enough you will eventually succeed despite any failures that occur along the way.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Tom Krause:
“There are no failures - Just experiences and your reactions to them.”

IntenseDebate offers a  system that makes blog commenting more social and discussion oriented with features like comment threading, reply by email, comment voting and twitter notifications to name a few.

Matt Mullenweg of Automattic noted that the service would remain independent of WordPress as a whole but that users could expect integration into Wordpress, WordPress.com and Gravatar moving forward.  He also mentioned one of the features that can be expected in  WordPress 2.7 is comment threading which should be a welcome addition to many.

From an editorial point of view I feel this is an excellent move by Automattic.  User commenting has been a fairly stale aspect to the WordPress platform for quite some time and this acquisition allows the team to have total control over what has become an emerging niche among WordPress related services.  One such service that will probably take the biggest hit is Disqus which has seen rapid growth offering similar enhanced commenting services via plugin.  All in all the net result should be an enhanced user experience for WordPress blogs.