On Monday, October 1st Thesis 2.0 was released to the general public and to honor the occasion we had a launch party.  The videos below represent parts of the Launch Party and the What’s New in Thesis 2.0 videos.

For seminars we’ve created since the launch party, select this link to our Thesis Theme 2 Seminars.  For videos where we address a single question, select this link to our Live Answer page.

Launch Party Part 1 – Introduction Tutorial

Thesis Theme 2.0 is going completely change the way you design WordPress websites.  With this new system you can:

1. You can have different templates for EVERYTHING – that’s right – the Thesis theme now allows you to have custom templates for any post, page custom post type, category, tag or custom taxonomy.  And this requires you to write NO CODE.
2. As many widget areas as you like, wherever you want them – No more plugins, no more custom code, no more register_sidebars.  Custom sidebars are a couple of clicks and a couple of drags away.
3. As many menus as you want, wherever you want them – like templates and sidebars you can have WordPress menus wherever you want them.
4. There are NO HTML limitations – the Thesis theme lets you re-imagine the web page.  Your site can be any width, it can have any number of areas, you can even incorporate those flashy new full page image sliders.  If you can imagine it, you can do it.
5. You won’t be writing any more code – That’s right, over 90% of the code related questions that I answer on the forums will no longer be code related.  Sure, there is the odd place where you might write code.  And there may be a thing or two that would be quicker if you did write some code BUT the good news is you don’t have to.  However, if you want to you still can.  The Thesis theme will let you work however you choose to work.
6. You will be learning more HTML and less PHP.  Seriously, lots of our members know way more about PHP than they do HTML.  That’s because the HTML was already baked in and PHP was the only way to customize.  Thesis 2 reverses that.  The PHP is all automatic but your HTML canvas can be blank.
7. Web designers – you are going to LOVE this.  Seriously, if you are a competent designer with basic coding skills you’re going to look like a coding ninja in no time.  You don’t have to tell the client that you didn’t actually write the code, all they need to know is that you can provide maximum flexibility to complement your design.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 1 – The New Thesis Interface Tutorial

The new Thesis Theme 2.0 Interface consists of 2 main parts: the Thesis Theme Settings Page and the revolutionary new Skin Editor.  In part 2 I walk you through the interface and explain all of its parts.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 2 – Parts of a Thesis Site Tutorial

A website based on Thesis 2 consists of 4 parts.  It consists of the theme core and site-wide settings, skins, boxes and packages.

1. The skins are similar in concept to childthemes – except they are way more customizable.  The skin is the combination of HTML and CSS that presents your posts and pages.
2. Boxes are special plugins designed to work in Thesis 2.  They bring Thesis specific functionality to the skin.  An example of this is a box I wrote called the BYOB Thesis Orbit Slider Helper.  This box gives the user the ability to add WP Orbit Sliders to posts and pages from the HTML editor.  You can download the BYOB Thesis Orbit Slider Helper here.
3. Packages are similar to boxes except that they provide snippets of CSS functionality that show up in the CSS editor.  I don’t yet have an example of a package.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 3 – Create a 2 Column Layout Tutorial

The new HTML editor makes rearranging HTML elements a snap.  You can easily have as many different column configurations as you want.  And as soon as you figure out how the column package works you’ll be setting up columns in seconds.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 4 – Create a 4 Column “Fat Footer” Tutorial

Not only can you move columns around with ease but Thesis 2 makes creating additional widget areas dead easy.  In the part 5 video I demonstrate how fast and easy it is to create and style the 4 column “fat footer” that folks seem to like.  This tutorial combines both columns and sidebars.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 5 – Add a Clickable Image and a Menu to the Header Tutorial

The simple header image is a thing of the past with Thesis 2.0.  Now you can style your header with as many images as you like.  I’ve seen folks talking about this lately but they’ve all been talking about header images that aren’t clickable.  In the part 6 video I demonstrate how to create a complex header with a menu and a clickable header image.  Once again, no coding required.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 6 – Create a Custom Menu Style Tutorial

The new Thesis gives you incredible control over the styling of the menu.  You are no longer forced to use a simple bar with 4 different colors.  Now you can actually style each menu item separately.  In this section I demonstrate how to use a background image with the menu to create an entirely custom menu style.  Now you can do anything you want with your WordPress menus.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 7 – Create a Custom Header Style for the Home Page Tutorial

In part 8 of the series I demonstrate how to create a custom header that works on the front page only.  Thesis 2.0 makes it easy to create different headers for different pages.  It’s slam dunk.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 8 – Style the Backgrounds Tutorial

One of my favorite features of the new Thesis is the ability to effortlessly style the backgrounds of various parts of the page.  This gives you a huge opportunity to make your site different from all others.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 9 – Style the Widgets Tutorial

One of my most popular plugins has been the BYOB Thesis Full Width Backgrounds Plugin.  Thesis 2 makes that plugin entirely obsolete.  Now you can add background colors and images to virtually anything in the Thesis theme. We show you how.

What’s New in Thesis 2.0 Part 10 – Add a Feature Box to the Front Page Tutorial

I love a good Feature Box.  In part 11 I show how to create a widgetized feature box with a image slider and a call to action.

Launch Party Part 10 – Q&A

This morning Chris Pearson announced the release of Thesis 2.0.  The Thesis theme is one of the most popular WordPress themes on the market and fans have been awaiting this release for quite some time.  Chris announced this release as an AppSumo offer in an interview with AppSumo.  I’ve edited that interview down to what I believe is the substance of this announcement.  In this interview Chris lays out the problem that Thesis 2.0 is trying to solve and gives some hints at the new features available in the new release.  Chris followed up on this interview with a blog post that you can read on DIYThemes.

AppSumo Deal

Full YouTube Video of the Interview with Chris Pearson

Thesis 2.0 will be released on October 1, 2012

Chris has been talking about Thesis 2.0 since 2010.  In the video he definitively states that the release date will be October 1, 2012.  There was an extensive Alpha period but no Beta period.  Thesis 2 is public now in its full production version.

Thesis 2.0 will solve every web development problem

Well, maybe not but Chris does identify a couple of problems that “most of the time” Thesis 2.0 will solve.  I’m assuming that by “most of the time” what he means is that for the majority of customization tasks these will no longer be an issue.  Having played with it for a week I can easily say that over 90% of the code related questions I answer here and on the DIYThemes forums will no longer have a code answer.  This demo site was created in Thesis 2 without a single piece of hand written code.

• You have to know how to code to customize your site – With Thesis 2 you’ll want to understand some code concepts but you won’t need to know code syntax because you won’t be handwriting any code.
• Too many pieces of software needed to develop a site.  You will very rarely ever need a code editor anymore and you only need FTP for problem solving.
• FTP is a stumbling block for new users.  I know that first hand which is why I try to teach it early and often.  I still think it is an essential skill to have, but you aren’t going to need it nearly as much as you used to.
• Code editing is a pain.  Editing in a code editor then uploading an edited file then testing is cumbersome.  Users should be able to do all of their “editing” in the WordPress dashboard.  This is absolutely the case, you will be able to create almost anything without resorting to actually writing code.

#1 – No FTP Client Will be Needed

I was skeptical of this at first .  However it does appear to me that the typical user will not need to use FTP when customizing their site.  Don’t loose the skill because there are plenty of other reasons for needing to use FTP.  However, customizing Thesis isn’t one of them.

#2 – No Code Editor Needed

Chris is saying 2 things here – First that you’ll hardly ever need to edit code and second that when you do you’ll be able to do so from the dashboard.  This is not hyperbole!  The god’s honest truth is that you will almost never need to edit code.  Period.  Don’t believe me?  Here’s a list of things that never need code again:

• You wont need to write code to create custom templates
• Different template styles for different post types
• Custom sidebars ANYWHERE
• Different headers for different pages
• Different templates for posts
• Different template styles for different archives
• Different styles for various pages and page elements
• Feature boxes
• Background images
• Custom menus ANYWHERE
• Custom menu styles

The one exception to this is when you ACTUALLY need to edit PHP.  In that case you’ll still use a code editor.

#3 Never Edit an HTML File Again

What he’s really saying here is that “There are NO HTML limitations WHATSOEVER!”  Seriously, if you felt constrained in the past by the HTML limitations of the full width framework or the page framework they’re gone now.  Anything you can imagine in HTML can be done with Thesis now.  And you don’t have to write the HTML.  All you have to do is drag the elements around.  Some of them are even smart enough to clear their own floats.

#4 – No CSS Code Writing Needed

He describes this as creating CSS by selecting and configuring options.  An example of this is creating and inserting a menu.  Insert the menu, configure the menu styles, call it good.  It sounds similar to what I’ve been doing with the plugins.  (This may make some of my plugins obsolete.)  He shows an example of the nav menu CSS editor in his blog post.

Enter Thesis Packages – apparently the real meat of this editor will be managed by Thesis Packages.  Packages appear to be collections of styles that you can apply to various elements.  It looks like you create a package, apply it to an element and once you’ve configured the CSS settings it’ll write all the CSS for you.

Feature #5 – Drag and Drop Interface

This one’s no longer a hint!  In a recent blog post (after the interview) Chris outlines, with screenshots, what he’s talking about.  Thesis 2.0 will come with an all new drag and drop “Skin” editor.  In it you’ll be able to add all kinds of elements including various column configurations, nav menus, loops, feature boxes and a new feature of Thesis called “Boxes”.  Boxes are like plugins – only better. (Surely not better than my plugins – perish the thought!).  Plus once you’ve dragged something in place there is the CSS interface that allows you to style everything by simply selecting settings.

Feature Hint #6 – New SEO Features – Thesis 2.0 will incorporate HTML Schema

This involves adding information to HTML tags to help search engines understand the content.  It tells search engines what “type” of content each element on a page represents.  You can learn more about that concept here.

Feature Hint #7 – Ability to Purchase and Add Modules or Snippets of Functionality to Your Site

The example he uses is of buttons or Aweber signup forms.  You’ll be able to purchase these little parts individually and then drop them into your site.  It kind of sounds like a new form of plugin.  Knowing how Chris feels about plugins I’m guessing he has a new “improved” system for adding additional functionality without adding plugins.

Feature Hint #8 – No Training will be Immediately Available

OK so perhaps this doesn’t sound like a feature to you, but it does to me!  That means that there will be plenty of opportunity and need for BYOBWebsite.  We’ll begin providing training the day Thesis becomes available.  In fact, I’ll be hosting a Thesis 2.0 release party where we will unwrap Thesis and see what it’s all about!

New Pricing Structure

So apparently the pricing and licensing structure is about to change.  There will be a “lifetime” purchase available for $197 that will give the user access to lifetime support and updates, but all other purchases will be subject to a 12 month renewal.  The good news for existing Thesis owners is that you will continue to receive lifetime upgrades and support.  There was a little confusion about this early this morning but it has now been definitively answered by Chris in his blog post.

Thesis 2.o Release Party and Training Sessions

The first week in October I will host 6 Live Free Public Seminars where we will examine Thesis 2.0 at length.  Sign up for any of those sessions from you BYOB Member Dashboard, from our Facebook page or for DIYThemes Forum.

This post isn’t displaying properly

Thesis Website Makeover Series

Website Makeover Goals

We first review Fran’s current storefront. He tells us he knows that he needs larger images on his site to increase sales, but he has to take those himself because the manufacturers don’t have high quality pictures. His logo is simple and is similar to the universal symbol for hydrogen. He has looked at other similar businesses and seen that it is important for his logo to be simple and clear. He has tried to obtain that affect.

He hopes to maintain the current arrangement which has the online store products in a list. He is hoping to link each of the products to his blog, where he can provide more detailed information about the project. He needs the “Add to Cart” link to stand out prominently.

In the main page, it is not clear what the site purpose is. To remedy this, Kim and I suggest that he have a tag line near the header, so casual observers will know the purpose of the site. Because he is selling rather expensive products, he needs users to look through his site and feel comfortable doing business with him.

He says that many of his customers are at the Mayo Clinic, which is across the street from his physical store. These customers are visiting from out of town and would be accessing his site on mobile devices, so it is important that his site be accessible for those users.

Fran mentions that he also needs to add some information showing that it is safe to shop on his site.

Goals

Fran’s main objectives are:

• Images: Larger images that show multiple angles of his products
• Logo: Clear branding of his logo and the site purpose, so it is very clear to the user
• Expertise: Establish him as an expert in the field by utilizing videos and blog posts so that the buyers will trust him and be more likely to purchase from him
• Increase Online Purchasing: Make the purchasing process easy to find, obviously secure, and easy to use, so that sales are increased

Thesis Website Makeover Results

The new site is a vibrant blue that matches the blue circle that is prominent in Fran’s logo. The whole site has a new modern look now, and Fran is excited to see how it meets his goals.

Images

On the new site, the images are larger. On the front page, there is space for Fran’s video that takes up a large portion of the screen. The placement of the images is so that the text surrounds the image, making the look of the site very tight and modern. It also makes it easier to read the content of the site.

Logo

The new site has bright colors that are based on the logo, and there is a slightly different font on the logo. The header is made up of both text and images for usability. The tag line is customizable based on what is featured on the page, so it is clear to the user what the purpose of that page is. Kim and I also added the logo as a favicon, so the company’s logo shows on the internet tab. The orange-red color looks fresh and it stands out from the competition while being simple.

Expertise

The best way to establish yourself as an expert is to have a definite presence on the web. We discussed updating Fran’s Facebook page and the logo on the Facebook page. If he uses a .png image, it won’t bleed like a .jpg (especially with reds). This will make Fran’s company look more professional and therefore more credible.

For the blog, the Thesis website will be cloned, so it can look exactly the same. Alternatively, he can make the blog have a slightly different navigation.

He could bring in the Twitter feed and a Google+ feed as well as having large buttons so that users can “like” his page on Facebook, follow him on Twitter, or +1 him on Google+.

He envisions the blog will be more current than the website and the website won’t be updated as often but if something new comes out, he could update it pretty easily. We recommend he update the website frequently, although not as frequently as his blog. If the website updates occasionally, it shows that he is active in the community and it shows that his Thesis website is current.

Increase Online Purchasing

The footer is designed in such a way that there is space for the “secure shopping experience.” Kim suggests that it could be added as a widget on the shopping page. This will help the users become buyers and purchase products from Fran’s site.

Emergency Care for the malnourished Pocketbook

Some of the key skills we learned in this website makeover that you might be able to apply to your own site are:

1. What’s my image? Much like being a rock star, having a good image is important for your business. The better online presence you have, the more believable it is that you know what you are talking about. If your website is looks outdated, your business will too.
2. Can your buyer know that they can trust you? Having purchasing methods that can be authenticated through a third party show that your business is legitimate and protect the buyer when they purchase from you. If the buyer doesn’t know that they can pay you safely, they will buy somewhere else.
3. Are you utilizing social media? A great way to show that you are credible and that you can be trusted is to have pages for your business with the most recent forms of social media. If your potential buyers can view conversations on Twitter where you provide advice, or see you posting current articles and resources on Facebook, they will feel more comfortable with you. This is a way to let your user get to know you better. Don’t be intimidated if you’re not familiar with the technology. Technology can be learned. Think of it this way: this is just another way to talk to help a human customer.

Thesis Website Makeover Series

Website Makeover Goals

Jared tells us that his wife keeps this blog because of her passion for gardening. While this is a labor of love for his wife, he hopes to make it a profitable pastime. Polly has an eBook called Breakthrough Growing Organic Tomatoes that they are selling for $19. They also offer a free eBook, which is more popular and has been receiving 5 to 15 users a week. It is clear that they need to establish a way to receive a better revenue stream through their website.

We clarify the main objectives:

• To develop a site that Polly can use to share her passion for gardening
• To include advertisements that allow small (and hopefully large) revenue streams
• To increase the number of visitors to the site
• To sell the eBook to a larger number of visitors

Sharing Content on Their Thesis Website

The primary purpose of this website is to provide a place where Polly can share her passion for gardening. The current site contains large blocks of text with small images. While this allows Polly to communicate her ideas, it does not make it easy for the reader to absorb the content. Readers usually skim content on the web, so large chunks of text with little white space and few images don’t usually communicate much to the reader. This keeps the reader from staying on the site, which in turn keeps the number of site visits lower than they could be. I suggest we break up the content into smaller chunks and use much larger images, which will guide the reader to explore the website more fully if they want to read more.

Revenue Stream From Their Thesis Website

I recommend the easiest way to gain a revenue from their site might be to advertise organic gardening products. They could also record content and charge for the presentations. By changing the way the content is delivered, they can increase the income from their site. Right now they are providing a great resource, but they are not creating revenue.

Jared is concerned that advertising for other companies might cheapen the value of the site. I suggest that because of current trends, this would not take away the value of the site. There are many professional writers who support themselves through advertisements on their blogs. As content migrates from print media to online content, advertisers have had to find new ways to advertise. Advertising on blogs has become a respected advertisement method.

Not all websites have a model that will allow for outside advertisement. In a site that is advertising a business, the site wouldn’t want advertisements to distract from the main purpose of the site. For a site such as Jared’s, which seems to be more informational, the energy behind it is his wife’s love of gardening and her ability to grow delicious organic produce. This allows plenty of opportunity to advertise related products and services. It is not necessary for Jared and Polly to sell products themselves, they just need to rent out the virtual real estate of their site for other companies to advertise their products.

Increase Visitors to Their Thesis Website

Many visitors will be visiting Polly’s blog because they have done a search for a particular topic. Categories could exist for the purpose of helping blog readers find what they are searching for. I do not believe that the purpose of these categories or tags is for me as the site creator to categorize my information. Instead they exist for the reader to find what he or she is searching for. Therefore, it would be better to be focused on the reader’s needs, not the site owner’s needs.

I recommend a toolbar at the top so that navigation is easier for the user. These would be general categories (such as gardening, healthy living, etc.) and then the user can drill down within subcategories. Organizing the site this way will make it easier for the user to navigate through the site, therefore increasing traffic and increasing the likelihood that users will buy the book being sold.

eBook

Because Jared’s main goal is to sell the eBook, the eBook needs to be clearly displayed and should be one of the main focuses of his website. It is currently blending into the side margin and is not prominent to the reader at all.

Kim also suggests that the advertisements for the book be built into the articles themselves. It should be prominently displayed but it would also be beneficial to include it within the content of the blog, to entice further sales and increase revenue. She says this would need to be done in a way that is not overwhelming or too sales focused. She suggests a visual reminder, such as a photo as the tomatoes grow, would help to stimulate sales.

Jared is concerned that there is not enough potential revenue for the amount to time and energy for the blog, but his wife is very interested in this topic. Kim suggests that there is not a great amount of work involved with posting a photo and writing a short blog. She shares her personal site, littlesomethings.blogspot.com, where she frequently posts images with very few words. She enjoys the experience of sharing the photographs that she takes. Posting frequently will also cause users to visit the site more often, even if the updates are just images with a small amount of text. Recipes that feature tomatoes would be beneficial too, as that is the focus of the site. If tomatoes are the main focus of the site, then it makes sense to focus the colors and theme around tomatoes.

Thesis Website Makeover Results

The new site has beautiful colors and lots of photos. Kim has dug into her private stash of beautiful gardening photography to show how beautiful the website can be.

Sharing Content

The way the website is set up now, Polly can write her posts in the same way she did before. With the new layout, only the small space shows the posting. For long posts, the reader would click on a link if they wanted to read the entire post, and they would be linked to another page within the website. This keeps them from scrolling and keeps them on the site to read more. For a short post or one that is simply a large image, we added the signature in a handwriting font. Polly can come back and include her actual signature or simply use a different font. This personalizes the site, and helps the reader feel like they are sitting with Polly and learning from her.

We made the image size much larger because gardening is a very visual thing. I would definitely have nice, big images. There are three image sizes on the site, but even the smallest image is quite large. This topic demands large photos because nature is so beautiful and the posts can be short, fun, and quick. Image sizes can be customized to fit with the amount of text as Polly is posting it.

Revenue Streams

Kim and I looked at ways to add advertising to the website. Kim custom-designed the graphic at the top specifically for this site so that it would look modern and fun. This makes the site more attractive to potential customers who are browsing the internet. The header can be customized to include vegetables or gardening graphics, with the dark green outline of the plants emphasizes the red in the title.

We added several small sections that are possible sources of income for the site. Kim added a widget that will constantly update with a current Twitter feed, which adds more currency and interest to the site. We included a prominent opt-in e-mail capture. We added a box that prominently displays the e-book. We included a bunch of affiliate advertising sites and some Google text ads, although the affiliate advertising sites will probably be more profitable. We also added a banner advertisement at the end of each post that is significant and appropriate for the website. We also suggest a tool that brings up a pop-up to purchase the eBook without opening up a new page.

I created a plugin that allows you to create Widget Styles in the familiar Thesis Format from my site. You can assign a style to this widget so you can tailor the style of the widget to appear in the way that suits your needs best. This allows you to emphasize each part in whichever manner you want. By using dark boxes around the section you want to emphasize, your reader’s eyes will naturally be drawn to the advertisement or text you are trying to emphasize.

Increase Visitors

Because the website is more colorful and more user-friendly, it should attract more visitors and more repeat visitors. This is linked to revenue, as the larger number of people visiting the site should increase the number of people clicking on the advertiser’s links to purchase their products. The larger images and more personalized signature will also increase visitors, as they feel they are getting to know Polly better. The visitors might also interact with one another through the comment section underneath each blog posting.

We have also added links to the bottom of the page. While this at first seems like it might draw visitors away from the site, it projects the friendly neighborhood image we are trying to portray. It also makes sense that if we link to other sites, they will link to us, creating a close-knit community of organic gardeners. The user will appreciate these links if he or she is searching for a specific topic or answer to a question.

Additionally, we used large social media buttons so that there’s a visual cue for users to follow on Twitter and Facebook, rather than text that can be lost in the content. We could also make it so that the blog can be re-Tweeted or posted on Facebook. A live Twitter feed at the bottom keeps the content current and shows current activity. It encourages readers to “follow” Polly’s Tweets to keep up-to-date on what is going on in the gardening community.

eBook

We changed the image for the e-book so that the image was an actual book – this way the user can see the image and instantly know what the product is, without reading any of the text. This should increase sales of the eBook.

The toolbar should also contain a link to buy the eBook, since that is a major source of income from the site.

Growing the Green in Your Wallet

Some of the key skills we learned in this Thesis website makeover that you might be able to apply to your own site are:

1. What kind of a site am I creating? Are you advertising your company or are you blogging informational material like Polly? Informational material allows you to advertise other products and set that up as a possible revenue stream.
2. Am I emphasizing the most important parts of my site? If there is a product you are trying to sell or parts that are more important than others, make sure those are the parts that are most prominently placed. Some ways to do this are to place this area in a colored box, place it toward the top of the page, place it on the left side of the page (if it is in a language that is read left to right), and utilize bright images. Remember if you emphasize everything than nothing is emphasized.
3. Study your price points. If you are selling a product, be sure it is priced appropriately for the market. Often buyers expect electronic virtual goods like eBooks and Webinars to be less expensive. If your product is overpriced, buyers won’t be able to afford it. If it is under priced, it won’t be perceived as valuable. You have to find the right price point for your product.
4. Sometimes sharing your passion is enough. If you have a passion for a particular topic, it is important to follow that passion even if it is not lucrative right away. A successful venture is often a failed one that refused to give up.  Even if your passion doesn’t make you rich and famous, you’ll be glad to know you shared that passion with others and you made the world a better place because of it.

Thesis Website Makeover Series

In October we hosted a series of live website makeover sessions for our members.  The purpose of these sessions is to help our members think about the design of their Thesis sites and to give them the opportunity to watch how a professional approaches the redesign of a website.

Sean Denard is a Seattle-area DJ providing mobile DJ services for weddings, parties, school events and special occasions.  He submitted his site, seandjdenard.com, for a makeover.

Website Makeover Goals

The process starts off with me asking Sean to clarify his goals for his Thesis site.  Sean knows that he needs to give his potential clients a way to learn more about him and book him for their events.  He also needs to give his clients the tools to plan their events. Unfortunately he isn’t sure how to organize his website to accomplish this.

We clarify his main objectives to be:

• A site style that reflects his business
• A site organization that easily showcases the type of work he does
• Elements on the site that make it easy for his customers to plan their events
• Animated advertising that shows both blog posts and featured services

Thesis Website Style

Sean is in the entertainment industry, so he needs a style that is both fun and professional. He wants the site to “look kinda hip” and thinks an animated element in his header would accomplish that need. He wants this animation to provide a link to his recent blog posts and to also feature his services.  He also has some unique services that he wants to advertise prominently, but not in a way that distracts his clients from the content within the website.

Website Organization

We recommend that the first page his clients see be a static homepage with a limited menu, so his clients can quickly access what they need. His Thesis website caters to both prospective and current clients, so it almost has to be two websites in one: one part that potential clients can use to find out more about Sean and what he does, and another part for clients who have already booked Sean and are planning their event. By limiting the number of menu items, there are fewer steps to go through for the client to find what he or she needs.

Website Elements

A very strong feature of Sean’s DJ business is that his clients can completely plan their event (check his availability, pick their music, timeline, etc.) online through his website. Sean pays an outside source for this capability. He has a calendar that clients can click on to select the date they want to book Sean’s DJ services.

This calendar ought to be a very prominent and constant element of his site, so that clients can easily find this valuable feature. One idea is to place this calendar in a widget in the sidebar that is available on every page. The appearance of the calendar should also be changed to ensure a customized and streamlined look for the site.

Multi-channel Website Advertising

Sean needs a site that will invite potential clients to learn more about him. It’s the perfect opportunity to showcase his talents and to advertise his services. It should give him the ability to showcase his work experience and to offer that same experience to new clients. Sean needs to utilize each area of the site to show each of the services he offers.

Makeover Results

When we get together for our second meeting, Sean is excited to see what Kim and I have created for him.

Style

Kim has created a flash logo that instantly brightens up the look and feel of Sean’s Thesis website. Sean is thrilled with the new look. The new design includes a large rotating image slideshow that can display recent blog posts and featured services. By keeping these images current, Sean’s site will appear to be alive and constantly updating. This will give his clients the feeling that they are working with a DJ who is current and actively working in the community. We recommend some text between the images, to break up the visual space and to allow for Sean to give some more detailed information for his potential clients.

The Flash logo wears head phones and moves to a beat that plays for a few seconds upon start up. The movement continues but the music only plays when this page starts up. We explain to Sean that we usually don’t recommend music on a website – users often find it distracting. Because of Sean’s industry and the fact that the music plays for such a brief time, we like the idea of brief music when the first page loads. However, by the time we’ve finally finished with his site the novelty has worn off and we’ve eliminated the sound.

In the bottom half of the Thesis page, I’ve placed three columns in a matching turquoise color. We suggest headlines and images for each of these columns that will grab the viewer’s attention. The first bit of these pages is displayed with a link at the bottom, so the client will be intrigued and will click to view other pages of Sean’s website. The headlines for these columns need to grab his clients’ attention.

Website Organization

We have created a header that also links to the homepage, so that the main menu doesn’t need have a link to home. This simplifies the menu and makes it easier to navigate. It would have been simple to make the entire banner an image, but I wanted to be sure that users who are viewing the page on their phone can click on the phone number to call Sean. By utilizing both text and images, we can include also include a “Check My Availability” link at the top so users can easily book Sean for their event. Kim and I advise Sean to always have a back-up image for any Flash content so that users who don’t have Flash can still see the image.

Sean loves Kim’s background design and we all agree that picking the best colors to fit your business is difficult. There are several color picker sites you can go to for inspiration of color combinations. Kim picked this bright turquoise color because it is a bright and fun color, which reflects the nature of Sean’s business.

Website Elements

With the reorganization of his Thesis site, we’ve enabled potential clients to easily find the information they need about Sean by clicking within the header. They can access examples of his past work and view images of recent events that are similar to theirs. We have also customized the calendar so that clients can easily find it and check Sean’s availability through the website.  For his existing clients, the “Plan My Event” tab is clearly displayed at the top, so they can plan their event. By making each of these items easily accessible, it makes it easier for clients to customize their services. Easier tools for Sean’s clients will help ensure his clients enjoy their experience and hopefully recommend Sean to their friends and family.

Multi-channel Website Advertising

The site now allows Sean to advertise his services through many different avenues.

• The phone number and “Check My Availability” links allow clients to immediately contact Sean.
• The header contains images that should pique the interest of potential clients. All they have to do is click on an image that they are interested in.
• The text gives clients brief introductions and invites them to further explore the site.
• The columns give visual teasers for the information within the site. They encourage clients to start reading about the services that Sean has to offer.

Shake Your Money Maker

Some of the key skills we learned in this Thesis website makeover that you might be able to apply to your own site are:

1. What your objectives? What characteristics of your business do you want your website to show? Sean had many services he provided, so he wanted that to be prominently advertised throughout his site. He also needed something bright and fun to correspond with his industry.
2. What are your goals? Are you advertising a service, a product, or both? Because Sean was advertising a service, he was really selling himself. Clients need to know that he can be trusted with their big event, so his website needed to show his experience.
3. Who is your primary audience? For Sean it was both potential clients and clients. He also has two major categories of clients – private (usually weddings) and public (usually schools). By defining this up front, we knew how to customize the site.
4. How will your audience be using the site? Because Sean’s audience would be either trying to find a DJ for their event or had already booked him and were planning their event on Sean’s website, he knew what menu items he needed and what material he wanted to feature.

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be thinking more like a web designer and better able to customize your site to fit your needs.

An SEO Example from One of Our Posts

WordPress Post Title

An Example WordPress Title

URL

The URL has been optimized so that you can see the name of our website, the category of video tutorials and the subject.
http://www.byobwebsite.com/01/video-tutorials/how-to-build-a-website/lesson-6-building-your-home-page/introduction-to-search-engine-optimization/

Content

• Critical content or main points are provided in the first paragraph with internal links.
• The main keywords are emphasized in the first sentence: Search Engine Optimization for your Thesis website. The text is both used as a link and is bold.
• The total word count is 1053 (1053/120 =8.7 links).
• We have 9 internal links to related posts with 4 in the first paragraph.
• The links are part of keyword or phrases rather than just an individual word.
• If you hover over the links on the post, the name of the lesson linked to is shown.
• The first heading is an h2 (heading 2) with the rest as h3 (heading 3).
• The paragraphs are relatively short.
• The content is broken up with multiple headings that describe upcoming content and give an opportunity to highlight keywords.

You can see some of the points I made above in this excerpt from the post. To see the full content go to Part 4 of Lesson 6 of the Start Building Your Website Here series.

Excerpt of the Post's first two paragraphs

Custom Title Tag and Meta Description

Thesis gives you the opportunity to customize your title and description specifically for SEO purposes leaving you free to adjust the post title to suit your readers.

Thesis SEO Details and Additional Style from the Edit Post screen

Scribe Content Score

Scribe analyzes your content and will let you know if you are overusing specific words, what your primary and secondary keywords are, if you have enough internal links in your post and much more. We don’t get 100% on all our posts; sometimes content is very long and the number of links “required” isn’t reasonable or we overuse a keyword. These things happen but having a plugin like Scribe is very beneficial for keeping us on track with our SEO goals.

The Scribe SEO results from this post.

• 100%. The Custom Title, Description and Body all meet the criteria for the number of characters, keywords, keywords towards the beginning of title and description, and the correct number of hyperlinks
• Primary Keywords: thesis, google, search engine optimization, seo

Click here if you’d like to go to Scribe’s website and learn more.

This Post’s Search Engine Result

Our Thesis Post Google Search Engine Result

If you would like to get a pdf of this post click here: BYOBWebsite SEO Example.

If you’d like to download this reference as a pdf select this link: BYOBWebsite SEO Reference Sheet.

Basic SEO Information

• Each Page and Post should have unique content and a unique title.
• The title of each Page and Post should be descriptive and reflect the actual content.
• Use internal links in your content on Pages and Posts.
• The URL structure should be descriptive so that your URL reads like sentence.

Related Tutorials

• The Importance of Good Site Organization
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/how-to-build-a-website/thesis-theme/lesson-7-site-organization/why-it-is-important/
• Styling Content for Readability
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/how-to-build-a-website/thesis-theme/lesson-9-add-content-to-your-site/styling-content-for-readability-using-headings-and-lists/
• Developing Your On-Page SEO
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/how-to-build-a-website/thesis-theme/lesson-9-add-content-to-your-site/developing-your-on-page-seo/
• A Conversation About SEO Best Practices
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/answers/a-conversation-about-seo-best-practices/
• SEO Elements of the Thesis Theme
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/answers/seo-elements-of-the-thesis-theme/

WordPress Title

• Gives you an opportunity to write a title for your users rather than strictly for SEO purposes. You will be using the Custom Title Tag provided by Thesis for SEO.
• Use keywords/phrases
• What appears on the Page or Post when it is opened.

Related Tutorials

• Developing Your On-Page SEO
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/how-to-build-a-website/thesis-theme/lesson-9-add-content-to-your-site/developing-your-on-page-seo/

URL/Permalink

Use words and keywords relevant to the content and structure

• This allows search engines to understand the page content.
• Allows users to understand where they are on the site and what the content is.
• Thesis provides an opportunity to customize the permalink at the top of the page or post, just below the title. Note: correct format requires a hyphen between each word.

In the example below you see our website name, that it is a course, the subject is how to build a website, which lesson and the lesson subject – install Thesis. http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/how-to-build-a-website/thesis-theme/lesson-6-install-thesis/

Related Tutorials

• Creating Permalinks and Category Structure – An Ecommerce Lesson, however, it applies to any kind of site
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/create-a-membership-site/wp-estore-settings/week-3-part-1-create-the-semantic-url-structure/
• Thesis Canonical URLs
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/answers/thesis-canonical-urls/
• How to Simplify the URLs for Downloadable Files
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/answers/how-to-simplify-the-urls-for-downloadable-files/

Keywords or Keyphrases

Use in your Title, URL, Content, Custom Title Tag and Meta Description. Concentrate on a few keywords or phrases on each page or post being careful not to over saturate the content. Content should be written for users not for search engines and should have real value to the user.

Ways to highlight keywords/phrases in the content so that they get noticed by search engines:

• Use them in headings before paragraphs (e.g. h2, heading 2, or h3, heading 3)
• Use them in bulleted lists
• Bold or italicize them
• Use them for linking internally to other related pages or posts on your site

Content

• Should be at least 300 words.
• Critical content should appear at top as search engines weigh it more heavily.
• Important internal links are best placed closer to the top, especially when emphasizing keywords.
• Keywords should be used as headings in the content.
• Keywords can be bolded or italicized for emphasis, used as internal links or in bullet points.
• Bullet points are one way to make content easy to read or scan.
• Keep paragraphs short.
• If you have a lot of content in one Page or Post consider placing introductory information about each part and then linking to pages with more content about those subjects.
• Add relevant, and if possible keyword rich, Alt Text to any images placed in the content.

Related Tutorials

• Styling Content for Readability
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/how-to-build-a-website/thesis-theme/lesson-9-add-content-to-your-site/styling-content-for-readability-using-headings-and-lists/
• Inserting Images in Pages
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/how-to-build-a-website/thesis-theme/lesson-9-add-content-to-your-site/inserting-images-into-your-pages/

Links

• Have 1 internal link for every 120 words or so in your content.
• Internal links are very important – that is, links that go to related content within your own site.
• Add a title to your links when you add them to your content so that when hovered over the title is shown.
• Limit the number of external links and only link to reputable sites.

Related Tutorials

• Styling Content for Readability – Talks about how to create links and internal links.
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/how-to-build-a-website/thesis-theme/lesson-9-add-content-to-your-site/styling-content-for-readability-using-headings-and-lists/
• How to Add External Links to the Sidebar
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/answers/how-to-add-external-links-to-the-sidebar/
• How to Add an External Link to the Thesis Navigation Menu
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/answers/how-to-add-an-external-link-to-the-thesis-navigation-menu/

Custom Title Tag

• Keywords and phrases are especially important here and closer to the beginning of the title is best.
• This is what search engines look at for the title of the page or post and is what appears as the title in a search engine search result.
• Should reflect content of the Page or Post.
• Number of characters should be a maximum of 70 (this includes spaces).

Meta Description

• What appears as the description in a Google or other search engine search result.
• Should reflect the content and contain keywords or phrases near the beginning.
• This is your chance to explain the content and “sell” your search result.
• Number of characters should not exceed 165 (this includes spaces).

Related Tutorials

• Developing Your On-Page SEO
  http://www.byobwebsite.com/courses/how-to-build-a-website/thesis-theme/lesson-9-add-content-to-your-site/developing-your-on-page-seo/

SEO Plugin

If you are looking for a plugin to help you with SEO on your pages and posts we recommend and use Scribe. It is an easy to use plugin that analyzes the page for keywords, content and links.

If you’d like to download this reference as a pdf select this link: BYOBWebsite SEO Reference Sheet.  Our follow up post to this is a BYOB Website SEO Example.

Introduction to the Thesis Theme

In this second part of our video tutorial on the introduction to the Thesis theme we cover additional benefits that apply to your business website.

Media Box

One very popular feature is the media box that has rotating images in it.  You can see that every time you refresh another image pops up.  It could be that on your website you want to have different products, menu items or images show up when people move through your web pages.  This media box is the perfect thing for that and it’s very simple to add images.

Free Upgrades

Another reason for using this theme is that it comes with unlimited upgrades so every time they upgrade you can automatically upgrade it for the life of Thesis.  All upgrades will be free for you which is relatively unique in the premium themes arena.

Support

Let’s go back to Thesis’ website.  You can see that I am still logged in from my original purchase.  If you are not logged in do so now.  Look over here at Support and you can see that this is really one of the principal reasons for purchasing this theme. There is a substantial amount of support available to you as a purchaser.  Under Thesis Answers they have a lot of articles that talk about different kinds of issues, styling, modifications, and customization.  There is a complete user guide to how to use and customize Thesis.  There are video tutorials, not just on my website but also here about how you can do different things with this theme.

Forum Support

Finally there are the support forums. These support forums are a great place to get answers.  You can see that this is a very active forum.  You can see there are 32,912 posts.  And if you go over and take a look at these not only are there lots and lots of things for you to search to find out answers but you can also see that multiple people have given answers.  Not only are there experts but there is also a lot of user-to-user support.  I haven’t seen this level of support in any of the other themes.   So this is an excellent resource.

A final reason for choosing Thesis that it is very easy to customize.  I’m not just talking about the customization mentioned here.  Let’s just say that you wanted to hire a web developer to help you with some specific part of your site.  They don’t actually have to hack into the code of the theme in order to customize it.  This theme automatically puts a couple of different files there for you to change.  So if you’re going to put some custom PHP code or some custom CSS code there’s a system for doing that in Thesis. It’s a system that doesn’t require you to have to crack the code either of WordPress or of this theme.

Introduction to the Thesis Theme

In this lesson we’re going to look at and discuss the benefits of using Thesis versus using any of the free themes that you can download.  This is the first of two parts in our introduction to the this theme.

Benefits of Using the Thesis Theme

The first reason that we teach this class based on Thesis is because you can customize your colors and the appearance quite easily without knowing HTML and without knowing CSS.  For example, if you go to Design Options here and you go to Body you could choose a site background color that’s different than we have or a page background color that’s different, or text colors and primary link colors and so on.

Right now you can see the page and the background are white; the primary text is black and this is blue — when you hover over that it.  If you go into the Content Area you can see that you can set the size of your text.  If you go to the Nav Menu area you can see that all these different parts of the navigation menu can be colored different colors, different kinds of borders and that sort of thing.  The same thing is true with the header area.  You know it just keeps on going – there are all kinds of places for you to change font size and font color and it’s just a matter of selecting the option that you want to use.

Secondly, Thesis is very flexible in its layout.  For example, right now it’s laid out as three columns.  This is one, two and three with this covering the second two columns.  But you can just as easily switch to a two-column layout or a one-column layout by selecting these.  And if you want to change the size of the columns it’s absolutely possible.  You could even select a different organization of the columns.  Right now it’s organized with the content here and the two side-bar columns, but you could have a column on either side with content in the middle. There are a lot of different parts of this that you can customize without knowing HTML and without knowing CSS.

SEO Settings

Besides easy customization, Thesis comes with its own search engine optimization settings.  Look under Thesis Options and it’s got Canonical URLS which is a relatively important thing to have.  It’s got the ability to add Noindexes, it has Metag descriptions for the home page as well as control over how things are named, in particular how different files are named.

Under the Title Tag section you have the ability to tweak your titles in Thesis.  Look at this fictional blog post and you can see that the name of it is byobutorial.com?p=1.  That’s not very descriptive. In the absence of instructions otherwise, WordPress will just add numbers to every post or every page or every piece of information that you file.  And if Google is going to find it, it prefers to have descriptive information in that place. If you don’t have Thesis then you have to get a plugin that allows you to have that kind of control.  That’s another compelling reason for using this theme.