Here are the 35 designs with write ups done by Blog Design Studio. though I don’t particularly agree with the order, the fact that WordPress has got what it takes to take on the big boys…is clear! Here are a just a few. Check out the rest here.

WSJ Magazine

Wall Street Journal is one of the most reputed media houses and they’ve selected WordPress as CMS for their website. WSJ’s skin is pretty neat and is a wonderful example of magazine theme applied on WordPress to achieve this result. The site is heavily customized to give it the look of an online magazine.

Kodingen

Kodingen is a cloud development environment, code editor, hosting service, database administration program, and collaboration platform. It includes web-based access to file systems and web-based FTP and SVN. This whole application has been developed as a BuddyPress plugin. It’s a fantastic presentation of what can be achieved by combining power of WordPress, Programming and Design.

DinDins Foods

DinDins Food is a New York city based company that produces organic toddler food in Manhattan. DinDins uses WordPress and Shopp plugin to power this e-commerce portal. The site wears a fresh design and goes with the theme of “Green”.

Justin Guarini

Justin Guarini is American Idol season one runner up who is also TV Guide Network’s resident hosts. In addition to seeing him on the red carpet for TV Guide during Award Season covering The Oscars, The Grammys, The Emmys and more, Justin also hosts their movie premiere and junket specials. The site is powered by WordPress, it features blog, the website and a forum – we would have loved it even more if it used bbPress to power the forums, but then we can’t take the credit away from this nicely designed website running on WordPress.

18. Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian got popular after the launch of E! Entertainment reality series “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” Kim also banked on the controversy created with the launch of her sex tape with Ray J, a famous singer in America. Even Kim’s beauty got spellbound with WordPress’s features and this amazing website design.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines

Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc. was founded in 1979 in Atlanta, Ga., by three determined entrepreneurs who dreamed of safely connecting small communities to the Atlanta metropolis. Atlantic Southeast Airlines features and nice and clean looking website design that is powered by WordPress and is an example of the few airline companies using WordPress to power their website.

UPS Racing

UPS Racing website is powered by a completely customized WordPress theme that features behind the scenes video, photo galleries, blog posts, twitter updates, games, and promotions for the team. The site also features a custom administration module that allow editors to update promotional content on nearly every page, making it a great example of showcasing the power of WordPress.

Kimberly Caldwell

Kimberly Caldwell is an american singer who came 7th in American Idol’s second season. She currently hosts various shows on Tv Guide Network. The celebrity decided to use WordPress to power their website that will also feature her debut album which is currently work in progress.

The Ford Story

The Ford Story is a website powered by WordPress integrated with various social media websites. The focus of the website is to connect with the customers and be open about the happenings around the ford cars & trucks. Ford is a fortune 500 company and they’ve used WordPress as CMS for this website and it means a lot for WordPress.  The Ford Story’s website design is one of my favorites as it’s a blend of great colors and uses javascripts to add various effects on the webpage.

Why Should You Read This?

The 1st article reviews some technical stuff that most companies creating a WordPress website have to do. Most of these are useful techniques that I encourage my clients to attempt for themselves if they are looking to “bootstrap” and handle legwork themselves. Each section of the article presents a suggestion and provides an explanation of the solution for each suggestion.

If you’re looking to save money and rock out your wordpress theme, then these articles are simply a “MUST READ”.

The Comprehensive Guide for a Powerful CMS using WordPress – Part one: 101 Techniques for a Powerful CMS using WordPress

There’s no catch. When you get to the final stage, you’ll probably want to call us to say “Thank you…now can you help me customize a few things”.  This is our way of helping companies save even more money on their website costs. Enjoy!

STEP 1: DOMAIN NAME ($15.34)

Before you can get started, you need to purchase a domain name. (IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A DOMAIN NAME SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE) I prefer GoDaddy , simply because I use promotional codes from LiveCodes.BlogSpot, which makes the domain names cheaper. Self promoted as the Largest Godaddy promo code/coupon list, they guarantee to check them manually at least three days. I’m not here to help you decide which domain name to choose, but please, avoid the following: Long Names, Hard To Spell Names, “-”, and most importantly, keep it relevant to your business.

*TIP: Purchase the domain name for 2 years and it will help with SEO. Apparently Google likes to see sites purchased with longevity in mind. A 1 year purchase, to them, may be spam.

STEP 2: PURCHASE HOSTING ($83.40)

There are hundreds of thousands of web hosts out there, the vast majority of which meet the WordPress minimum requirements, and choosing one from the crowd can be a chore. First Time Online has dealt with more hosts than you can imagine, and in our opinion, the hosts below represent some of the best and brightest of the hosting world. If you do decide to go with one of the hosts below and click through from this page, some will donate a portion of your fee back— so you can have a great host and support WordPress at the same time. We 100% recommend Blue Host. Installing WordPress is a few clicks away and  they’re affordable, scalable and tons of perks. Their IT support picks up within minutes and unlimited e-mails and unlimited bandwidth is just way too hard to pass up.

[*Note for those of you hosting on go-daddy, click here to see how to Install WordPress on GoDaddy. Then Skip to Step #5.]

STEP 3: POINT THE DOMAIN NAME TO YOUR SERVER & ASSIGN IT

PART 1 - Log-In to GoDaddy (or wherever you purchased your Domain Name) and go to the Domain Manager. Find the Name Servers (DNS), and decide to point them to a custom name server. If you went with BlueHost, then type in the following 2 servers:

• NS1.BLUEHOST.COM
• NS2.BLUEHOST.COM

Once you click save, it should take up to 24 hours to propagate (but between you and me, it’s more like 30 seconds.

PART 2 – Log-in to BlueHost and go to the Domain Manager. Select “Assign a domain to your cPanel account”. The instructions are all there. If you did PART 1 correctly, it should go smoothly.

Simply refresh your browser and BAM, go to your domain name. For more assistance, contact your server IT support.

STEP 4: INSTALL WORDPRESS

Within BlueHost, you’re just a few simple clicks away from installing WordPress. Watch the BlueHost WordPress Installation Tutorial.

STEP 5: DECIDE ON A THEME ($0-$100+)

The #1 benefit to using WordPress? You don’t have to pay $1,000 for a custom theme. There are developers/designers building themes for you that cost $0-$150. Skip that boring, annoying, frustrating design stage and simply choose a theme that closely represents what you want and install it. Check out the Free WordPress Themes directory. If you’re looking for “Premium Themes”, check out our Premium WordPress Theme list.

Once you’ve decided on a theme, log in to WordPress (www.yourdomainname.com/wp-admin), go to Appearance>Themes>Install Themes and upload the .zip file. It’s just that easy!

STEP 6: CUSTOMIZATION & OPTIMIZATION

Customize…Optimize…and go live! Okay, so it’s not that easy, but that’s why we’re here. If you’ve made it this far, contact-us for more information regarding the final stages in perfecting your website.

*DEVELOP ON A TEMPORARY DOMAIN:

You already have a domain name and want to develop on a temporary domain? This is easy to set up, but be warned, this is advanced. All pictures and link URL’s done using the temporary domain name URL will need to be changed once you go live. For more information, contact-us.

1. Get your Domain Name “Authorization Code”. It’s on the Domain Manager, in your domain name. (Click Here For A Picture)
2. Locate the code in your e-mail
3. Log-in to BlueHost and go to the Domain Manager.
4. Select “Assign a domain to your cPanel account”.
5. Enter the Domain Name you want to use
6. Under “Verify Ownership”, the 3rd option is as follows: “You may also verify ownership of the domain “your domain” by entering the EPP authorization code, which must be obtained from your current registrar.” This is where you put the activation code.
7. Add Domain and proceed to STEP 4 (above).

Once you’re ready to finally point the domain to your server, refer to STEP 3 – PART 1. and skip PART 2. For further assistance contact your server IT support.

New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW) On TechCrunch Home Page

Get A Sexy Russian Spy Video = TONS OF TRAFFIC

I didn’t believe it at first, but this headline is 100% real. One of the alleged spies arrested by FBI earlier this week (Russian Spy ring) was 28-year-old Anna Chapman, who earlier this year, sat down with our client, New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW), for a video interview to talk about her apartment rental website. That video was their ticket to a truck-load of website traffic…you simply can’t buy this kind of marketing!!

Featured Across The Web

Check out the article on TechCrunch: Exclusive: The Sexy Russian Spy’s Business Plan (And A Video Interview). It made the home page! TechCrunch gets well over 2 million monthly visitors, witch can only mean good things for our client. This story was also covered by:

• The Huffington Post – Anna Chapman: The Russian Spy’s 10 Minute Interview
• Mediaite – Sexy Russian Spy Video Interview: She Infiltrated New York Entrepreneur Week
• Wall Street Journal – From Russia With Gripes
• Fox News – Russian Beauty Had Beastly Intentions, US Prosecutors Charge
• The Week – Anna Chapman: Real Life ‘Bond Girl’

Conclusion: Get To Know Sexy Russian Spy’s

First Time Online loves to see websites in action, and this is a great example of a company that, without a website, would have missed out on all the free press provided by that simple link on the home page. If you don’t have a website, how do you expect to meet Sexy Russian Spy’s? Okay, maybe that was a stretch, but the fact is simple: Get a website and take advantage of all the potential business that could result from random (or related) press.

Oh…and Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Do You Remember Your First Time Online? from Joshua Red Russak on Vimeo.

Taken at Online Marketing Summit (OMS) Seattle, we at First Time Online proposed a very simple question: Do you remember your first time online?

Thank You to all those who participated in this video and a special thanks to Online Marketing Summit Seattle. (Related article: Online Marketing Summit (OMS) Seattle: Great Resource!)

A special thanks to the First Time Onliner’s featured in this video…

• Chris Harmon, Founder & Principal, theBATstudio
• Bryant Lau, Marketing Communications Coordinator, Dentra
• Krista Muir, Porgram Coordinator, OMC
• Wendy DeMay, Marketing Specialist, OMC
• Bradley W. Joe, SEO Account Manager, webmarketing123
• Paul Taylor, CEO, webmarketing123
• Heather Mistretta, Database Marketing Contractor, Expedia
• Scott Janzen, Account Director, Destination Marketing
• Ann Wendell, Competitive Intelligence, Networked Knowledge
• Liz Molitor, Managing Director of Marketing Communications, Allyis
• Jen Anderson, Business Insights Consultant, Allyis
• Cindy Cernohous, Business Development Coordinator, HUB International
• Dave Anderson, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, daptiv
• Jennifer Cole, Sr. Manager of Online Marketing, The Cobalt Group
• Maria Pergolino, Director of Marketing, Marketo, Inc.
• Gregg Raece, Sr. Product Manager of Video, Microsoft
• Andre Chernih, Sr. Online Marketing Manager, Bongarde
• Alex Williams, Strategist, eROI
• Aaron Kahlow, CEO, Online Marketing Connect
• Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOmoz
• Cassie Spencer, Marketing Specialist, OMC

I’m excited to say…”Hey, I’m at Online Marketing Summit Seattle“, and so far it is amazing. Aaron Kahlow, (CEO, Online Marketing Connect) has just completed his Keynote speech and I’m feeling inspired. I’ve decided to note down some of the key quotes, tips and tricks and share it with the world.

When Twitter & Google Collide – Understanding Real-Time Search

The Crossroads of Search and Social Media is what we now call Real Time Search.  With Twitter being the New Poster Child and Google the 800lb Gorrilla, all marketers need to figure out how to leverage both individually as well as together.

“The way people are referencing information on the internet has become polluted with self-interest. [...] Search and Social will become more of 1 thing.” – Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOmoz.org

“We spend a lot less time searching and more time receiving [via suggested discovery]. [...] We won’t be using the term Search engine for search any more. [...] Search the way that we know it will become obsolete.” – Mike Grehan, Global VP Content, IncisiveMedia

Content posting automation is slowly becoming a regular thing. I proposed the following question: “Is the over-use of Social Media Automation (TubeMogul, OnlyWire, etc.) bad for SEO?”

Both moderators agreed that over-pollution will create less authentic links. Rand referenced a conversation he had with a Google Search employee/developer in which he frowned upon a website that auto-published his RSS to Twitter. I’m not sure if this individual went out and lowered this websites ranking or left it at a simple frown, but it seems to be a tricky questions that requires further research. I’m open to suggestions for those reading this, but as of now, First Time Online uses tactics that are both authentic and far-reaching. Great start to a great day!

Helping us refocus on the essentials of search marketing and customer interactions, Jonathon Colman, Internet Marketing Program Manager, REI, helped me brush up on the basics and also provided us with advanced tactics. It is interesting to note that he pointed out “Faceted Navigation”. It’s great for user because it allows you to sort content and great for Search Engines. (ie. Categories, tags, etc.) WordPress, and most blogging software use this technology which makes it a great tool. Pillar #5 was all about external linking. Funny enough, quoting Jonothan, the #1 way to build external links…(drumroll)… “create quality posts.” That’s right! Blog quick tips, interesting articles, do-it-yourself etc and make your website a valuable resource that external sites will want to link to. Obviously there are other tactics, but this will ultimately create relevant and valuable relationships that ultimately result in higher ROI, and equally meet your other website strategy goals.

In pursuit of my opening question “Is the overuse of social media automation bade for SEO?” Jonathon agrees that it’s important to be “authentic”. It seems authenticity is the key-word today, but I’m not giving up on this question just yet.

Learn what top B2B companies are doing well and where they’re falling down when it comes to website usability.  Through UC4′s recent website redesign initiative they provided great tips on how to build a strategy, determine design and content-a mix that saw significant boosts in conversions and visitor engagement.

Kicking off right way, Christopher Harmon, Founder & Principal, theBATstudio. breaks down the 3 pillars of building a website. “The one thing you need to concentrate on is your target audience. Find out who is your end user” and ultimately how you can reach them. 58% of visitors who experience a usability problem on a website never return so it’s crucial to due your due diligence.

Both Christopher and Paul Rosien, Director of Marketing, UC4 Software, were very detailed and great presenters. This session was 100% valuable and both presenters did a great job and letting me feel like I can walk away today, not only saying “money well spent”, but with the confidence to implement changes that will ultimately improve the quality and success of my websites.

By 4pm everybody was showing signs of wear and tear, which is a good sign as far conferences go…but I’m happy to see that they saved the best for last.  The OMS afternoon keynote panel provided us with ways to best utilize technology and tools to ensure that all your strategies and channels from Email to Search, Marketing Automation to Analytics and Content Marketing to Social are optimized and integrated into an over-arching plan of action (…whew…)! Check out this amazing line-up:

• Moderator:  Aaron Kahlow, CEO, Online Marketing Connect
• Alex Williams, Strategist, eROI
• Allison Hartsoe, Vice President of Analytics, Semphonic
• Jonathon Colman, Internet Marketing Program Manager, REI
• Mike Grehan, Global VP Content, IncisiveMedia

2010: What should you take off your list?

1. MySpace (Mike)
2. Yahoo! (Jonathon)
3. Pushing Off Learning Something As Simple As Tagging  (Allison)
4. Things That Aren’t Working (Alex)

Great Feel Tools?

1. Compete.com & Quantivo & Swix (Allison)
2. FlowTown & Litmus (Alex)
3. There’s a lot of BS tools (Mike)
4. SEOMoz Tools (Jonathon)
5. Hubspot & HootSuite (Aaron)

There was a lot of great content and for every good question throwing at the panel, you were rewarded with a drink of your choice. Nice!

In Conclusion

OMS is money well spent, but I felt it lacked some of the networking energy that I experienced in the previous 2 years I attended. Overall, the content was solid and I made valuable connections that made this expense more than worth it. To those reading this, I would highly suggest attending this event, if not for workshops, then for the overall networking value this conference provides. I look forward to getting back to work and applying what I’ve learned today. Thank you presenters and look forward to future meetups.

LIVE! as of June 8th, 2010: Affordable Kosher - Delivery Savings, Quality & Convenience

One of my recent launches, and most unique project to date! AffordableKosher.com served as a formidable challenge and First Time Online delivered!

First Time Online Does eCommerce

Up until now, First Time Online worked primarily with websites and blogs. This client wanted eCommerce and literally forced us to do it. No seriously…not like we’d turn down a client, but considering we’ve never done eCommerce websites before, this was a tough call. The client has had bad experiences in the past with eCommerce and wanted First Time Online to help project manage this from start to finish.

Choosing The Right Online Store Technology

Our first task was to find an eCommerce solution, and believe me, there’s a lot of competition out there. I just so happened to be purchasing Scotch for a monthly tasting and noticed in the footer, “Powered by Volusion“. I decided to look into it and after an hour on their site, I knew this was the right provider. Affordable, Easy to Use and a strong portfolio of other clients, Volusion couldn’t have been more perfect for my 1st experience doing eCommerece.

Unique Opportunity Proves To Be A Success

This is one of the first websites of its kind, not only in the Seattle area, but in the world. There are competitors that provide Kosher food, but this service is 100% online. We went live maybe 5 hours ago and the feedback is amazing. Check it out for yourself.

…oh, and I forgot to mention another unique factor of this project: This is the first time I’ve ever been paid in Kosher Beef! May prove to be a successful business model. Enjoy!

LIVE! as of June 1st, 2010: SorrelAhlfeld.com - Writer, Director & Storyteller

I’m proud to say SorrelAhlfeld.com has officially gone LIVE! Here’s the story of how they came to be one of my most  unique clients…

Funny Story: Finding Sorrel Ahlfeld…

On the hunt for new clients, I was distracted by my need to Google people I know. I decided to Google long-time family friend, Denah Angel (and yes, she’s on IMDb). The 1st video listed on her IMDb, Anatomy of a Socially Awkward Situation, looked interesting, so I Googled it. It was a series of videos, not just one, and it they all seemed to be scattered throughout cyberspace. After relentless searching, I found the one she was in: “Bro Shake” on Anonymouscontent.com.

Eventually I found my to the director’s website and decided to explore. I noticed his videos lacked “2010 functionality” (controls, share, embed, etc.) and his “blog” section said “Coming Soon”. Being the amazing guy that I am, I wanted to help him out. Sorrel, if you’re reading this article, remember the 1st e-mail?

I was curious when your blog is going to be up and running? I found your site because I know the girl in your “bro-shake” commercial. I think it’s absolutely hilarious!

Let me know if you need any help with your blog. Just breaking into the scene and would be glad to share some knowledge.

“Starving Artist” Deal…Because We Can!

The importance of a blog is endless. The ability to produce endless search engine friendly content and cross post integration with Social Networks makes blogging a valuable addition to every website. Without you, you’re missing on free marketing opportunities. At First Time Online, we use WordPress to support, not only the blog, but the entire website as a hole. With it’s easy to use platform, clients love how easy it is to edit and add content. And the best part? WordPress is free!! No more paying monthly for technologies, or expensive dedicated servers to support them. This makes it very appealing to the bootstrapped small business, and more importantly, the starving artist.

As you browse the site, there are specific pieces of technology custom made as per his request. All there to support the user experience while making it easy for Sorrel to edit and post content on his own. This is why First Time Online exists: To make it easy for clients to feel in control of their website…while saving them time and money.

SorrelAhlfeld.com is Live!

The “Bro Shake” has it’s new home on a fresh and growing website. Check it out and share to your hearts content. And to think, this started with me Google searching a family friend. Who would have thought? And now…for your viewing pleasure, “Bro Shake”. Enjoy!

A.S.A.S. Case#521: The Bro-Shake from Sorrel Ahlfeld on Vimeo.

Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.

This video does a great job spelling out Web 3.0. It may be a bit pretentious, but for the average internet user, it explains where we are today and where we’ll be tomorrow. Enjoy!

First Time Online is all about building scalable in expensive and effective websites. WordPress is the platform that helps us do what we do. In attempts to expand First Time Online’s knowledge of WordPress and meet local experts, I decided it was time to branch out. Last night I attended my first WordPress based event in Seattle. Coming from NYC, I was used to meeting the likes of Matt Mullenweg and his committed followers. I was a bit curious to explore the WordPress community here and to be honest, I was very happy with what I found…

Explode the WordPress Learning Curve: An Evening with the Experts

Within minutes of signing up for business networking social network, Biznik, I immediately found what I was looking for: “Explode the WordPress Learning Curve: An Evening with the Experts“…simply put, a great opportunity to meet the local experts.

The speakers include the following:

• Miles Austin, Fill The Funnel, Inc.
• Tom Todd, T2 Affordable Web Design
• Mark McLaren, McBuzz Communications
• Bob Dunn, Savvy WordPress and Cat’s Eye Marketing

What Did First Time Online Learn About WordPress?

Obviously networking was key, but what did I learn about WordPress that I didn’t know before…and wouldn’t mind sharing with you? Great Question! Each individual speaker brought fourth amazing content and there are copies of all presentations online if you want to get an idea of what you missed. I’d like to point out what I found to be the key points of the evening:

Miles Austin: I’d like to thank Miles Austin of Fill The Funnel, Inc., for putting together this event. He gave a wonderful introduction which included a video (waiting on getting it from Miles) which showed off just how many uses there were for WordPress. You could check out First Time Online WordPress Portfolio or WordPress Showcase for a similar idea of just how flexible WordPress really is. “IT’S NOT JUST FOR BLOGGING”.

Quoting 6th Century BC Chinese General, Sun Tzu – “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” In this context, building a website without a strategy will ultimately slow down progress.

Tom Todd: Tom Todd, T2 Affordable Web Design merged well with Sun Tzu’s quote, asking “How many have no website or not finished?”, upon which an audience member asked “Define finished”…everybody in the room laughed. Funny as it may be, it’s a serious issue. One of the main reasons websites took so long to build were due to static sight methods, updates and training. Clients want a site they can edit easily, but doesn’t look like a blog…and this is exactly why many companies are leaning towards WordPress. WordPress can best be described as the best route to building a great web-presence.

Mark McLaren: Mark McLaren, McBuzz Communications was very good for those looking to improve Search Engine Rankings on the fly. He bowed down to people who did SEO and made a point of the fact that  WP makes it easy to not have to deal with code. He outlined 4 stages to finding success in ranking, and I’ve reworded to it for form the acronym “K.R.O.R.”:

• Keyword
• Ranking
• Optimize
• Results

This represents the 4 stages of SEO and if you’re looking for the right tools to match up with each stage, I have an endless list of free tools. Feel free to contact me for more info. He mentioned Digital Point, a free ranking tool, though I’m not familiar with it. You learn something new every day.

Bob Dunn: Bob Dunn, Savvy WordPress and Cat’s Eye Marketing, finished off the night by giving us a preview of what we can expect of the new WordPress 3.0 upgrade. Important for client’s deciding on the right platform, it’s obvious WordPress is here to stay and is growing exponentially to meet the needs of the everyday user. Bob featured “What’s coming in WP3.0″ and highlighted 3 specific features, which turned into more like

1. Merging  WordPress with WPMU – integrated and easier for sub domains.
2. The Default Theme got a makeover!  They chose to use Twenty Ten: http://2010dev.wordpress.com/
3. Set a Featured Image For Individual Page Headers (My favorite addition!)
4. Background Image section
5. WooThemes inspired Navigation Menu Page (Drag & Drop Order, and Unlimited Menu’s)
6. …5 More Things Learned @ WordCamp SF
   1. New Default Theme Each Year
   2. 4 major updates per year
   3. 21mm downloads of WP last year
   4. biggest growth is using WP as CMS
   5. It will soon rule the online world!

In Conclusion: I Want To See More Events Like This…

WordPress is an open-source free platform and in that same manner, First Time Online is an open resource for clients and competitors alike. I’ve decided to begin opening up more resources via this blog to help everyday users find valuable plugins, themes, advice and more.

Most important, Seattle needs to see more events like this one. Without a WordPress community, there’d be no WordPress.  For those of you looking to get more involved in WordPress, check out WordCampSeattle.com. Not sure as to when the next conference will be, but look forward to letting you know when I do.

All the best,

Joshua Russak | Founder, First Time Online

PS: Note To Self: Check Out…

• Pluginsandwidgets.com
• HeadWay theme
• Widget Logic
• Live Stream