Actually, I’m not sure it is in fact 4.0 but it’s definitely up there in version count. I like to redesign this site… a lot!

This latest update comes courtesy of Genesis. Yep, it’s a custom child theme for the great StudioPress framework.  I’ve been working with Genesis a lot over the last several months and I’ve really grown to like it.

It also marks my first site I’ve designed in Photoshop before transferring to the web.  Typically I design in-browser but the majority of my work lately has come in the form of PSD to Thesis or Genesis conversions so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

Speaking of Thesis, it’s not going anywhere.  Thesis customization and support still makes up the majority of my business but Genesis is catching up and I’m really enjoying working with the two. Together they definitely make the #1 and #2 WordPress frameworks currently available.  I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is #1 and which is #2 =)

And since we’re on the topic of PSD conversions, I have a special offer I’d like to extend only to people who took the time to read this blog post.

Hire me to do a PSD conversion (Thesis or Genesis) in the month of May and I’ll knock $50 off the already low price.

I love converting designs. It’s fun and challenging so bring ‘em on!

How to be a Social Media Douchebag

Sometimes I assume that just because I understand something, everybody else should as well.  I’m trying to be a good teacher and realizing that some people need some advice on social media marketing, I’ve been inspired to write this post.

Social media might seem foreign to some people, but I assure you that it doesn’t take long to pick up and if you go in with the correct mindset, you’ll quickly benefit from it.

Twitter

Let’s start with twitter.  Twitter has blown up faster than anyone could have imagined this year.  There are many uses for the 140 character public messaging system.  Some people update their friends with what they are doing every second of the day.  Others stalk celebrities, but most twitter users get some sort of news updates through their twitter stream.  If you’re marketing your blog, this is what you want to focus on.

Followers

I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll continue to bring it up here from time to time.  My travel blog, Have Pack, Will Travel, proudly has well over 2,000 followers.  Whenever I make a new post, I’ll send out the link via Twitter.  This instantly results in visits from many of the users who are following @Havepack. If the reader enjoys the article, they can ReTweet it, which basically means reposting my original message to all of their followers.  Hopefully more people read it and ReTweet it to their followers as well.  A good article can really go viral quickly, spreading all across the Twittersphere.

Quality

The more followers you have, the more exposure your article can receive.  While I am proud of my 2,000+ followers, what I am more proud of is the fact that they are very targeted, meaning most indicate they are interested in budget and independent travel.  This means my audience is usually very interested in the topics I write about.  You’ll always receive some unsolicited followers, but when you make it a point to follow users who are related to your topics you’ll find that the quality of your stream is relatively strong.

Quality followers don’t come out of nowhere though.  You’ll have to spend some time actively searching for these users.  Seek out the more powerful twitter accounts for your market.  In my case, I would start with somebody like @LonelyPlanet or @MatadorNetwork, two large online publishers of great travel content.  From there, I’d look into their followers and look for users who indicate they are interested in travel.

Don’t get carried away

You may be tempted to follow every single person, but this will eventually lead to an overcrowded twitter stream filled with spam and things that don’t interest you.  The thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want to simply tweet TO your followers.  You want to interact with them.  Take some time to browse what your followers are tweeting about. See an article you like? ReTweet it! Provide input when somebody is asking a question.  Let your followers know you enjoy their tweets, posts, pictures, etc.  Interaction on Twitter is key to improving your entertainment and authoritative value.

Now if you haven’t already, sign up for a twitter account and get started!

Have any questions or comments? Want to tell the story of how you started off with Twitter or social media? Take a moment and post them below.

Check back next week to learn more about how you can set up and benefit from a Facebook fan page.

1. Take 31 Days to a Better Blog

Most people know that blogging isn’t rocket science. Yet, most blogs that get started never end up gaining popularity and eventually end up being swallowed up into a great void in cyberspace.

Darren Rowse of problogger has been blogging for years, mostly through trial an error. Thanks to his persistence he has become one of the most popular bloggers blogging about blogs.

Darren’s 31 Days to a Better Blog workbook will walk you through getting your blog from beginner to pro status in no time. Each task is set out to be performed one day at a time and through the simple steps and challenges, you’ll find yourself with a new understanding of how to run your blog as well as keeping it popular and being exposed to new readers.

The 31 Days to a Better Blog workbook is only $19.99.

2. Upgrade to a Premium WordPress Themes

While there are literally thousands of free wordpress themes available online but choosing to go with a premium theme can really set your blog apart. Sure, there are some great looking free themes out there, but there is nothing worse than finding another site that looks exactly like yours because they are using the same theme.

Of course, a premium theme can look like many others as well. If you’re not a designer, you can save lots of frustration by looking to a professional for assistance.

I have discussed why I love both the Thesis theme and the Frugal theme recently. I recommend reading it as it will shed some light on many issues buyers have expressed.

3. Get Your Tribe

There is a good chance you’ve heard of Seth Godin before. Part marketing guru, part experienced blogger, and part great author, Seth has created an amazing and inspirational resource in his latest book, Tribes.

Tribes discusses how one must be a leader in order to gain tribe members, or in the case of your blog, readers.  Readers will quickly understand why being a leader, surrounded by your tribe, is a major key to success in any avenue of life, but especially your blog.

4. Become a Trust Agent

Another must read book is Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents. Trust Agents shares information on how to become a leading authority online. We all know this type of authority can’t be purchased or bs’d about which is what a large portion of social networking junkies attempt to do. You must have it inside of you. Chances are though, you don’t know how to unleash it. This is where Trust Agents come in. As the title so plainly states, Trust Agents will teach you how to: “Use the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust.

5. Social Media

“Social media” is one of the hottest terms around today. People label themselves as self-proclaimed gurus every day yet most people still don’t quite understand how to use these skills to their true potential.

There are no set rules for social media and most learn as they go, but one thing is for certain: You want to be utilizing these tools as much as humanly possible.

Twitter and Facebook are the default social networks out there that people refer to typically.  There are more, but these two certainly have the majority of users and that is where you want to start.

Your blog can be great, and you can get a bit of traffic from Google, but you are missing its true potential.  My largest site, Have Pack, Will Travel, would be nowhere without my 2,000+ list of targeted Twitter followers.  Call them my tribe if you will.  Either way, they’re dedicated, we share information, and help each other promote.  It works very well.

Custom Design (bonus!)

Who would I be if I didn’t take a second to promote WP Design Club‘s services?  Several of my clients have told me they are graphic designers, but simply too busy to take on designing their site themselves.  Other have no clue and need to put that task into the hands of someone else.

A custom design sets you apart.  Be sure to give us a consideration if you are going that route.

You may have taken time to look around here at WP Design Club and noticed a couple of things.  First of all, WP Design Club runs on Frugal Theme (Professional) yet most of the sites in my portfolio (and many more in process) are based off of Thesis.  Seem a little hypocritical?  Maybe.  Do I like one better than the other? Yes.  And no.  Keep reading to find out more.

Thesis Theme

Thesis is undoubtedly the king of premium WordPress themes.  It’s extremely customizable, elegant, and offers great typography–something your readers will appreciate whether they realize it or not.  In addition, Thesis is coded to maximize your blog’s SEO.  It’s not rare that you hear about a site’s traffic increasing dramatically shortly after switching to Thesis.  I noticed about a 100% increase after a week in traffic from Google over at Have Pack, Will Travel although that is hardly scientific.

Sounds great, right?  Thesis has it’s downfalls though.  In my humble opinion, I think Thesis is more difficult to customize as they let on.  There are simple menu pages for all the basic needs like font choices and sizes, sidebar options, and more, but what if you want to change the color of a link?  How about put a logo in there?  Well you’re going to have to edit the custom CSS file.  This may come as a bit of a surprise to the non-designer and some might find it difficult to understand at first.  Thesis has a great support forum so if you want to spend the time, you can certainly learn how to do anything with it.  You just have to spend the time and have the patience.

Many people involved with Thesis will defend it, saying that they can’t make everyone happy.  I’m not criticizing them by any means, but the sheer number of people I’ve had contact me over the past few weeks since I started advertising that I will design Thesis powered sites has proved that it’s easy for people to get in over their heads with it.  You won’t hear me complain, it keeps me in business designing custom Thesis sites.

Frugal Theme

Frugal is a newer player in the premium WordPress theme market and making great progress.  The theme, used here on WP Design Club, is extremely clean and simple.  One thing I think is great for new WordPress users is how the theme options panel allows you to customize many of the fine details of the site without manually editing the CSS.  There is a custom.css file you have the ability to edit further if you wish (like Thesis) although most Frugal users will find themselves doing the majority of their customizations in the options panel.

In addition, nearly the entire theme is widgetized which allows for endless amounts of customization with thousands of available plugins and widgets.

Frugal is a great way to get a clean and simple site up and running quickly.  Customizing it to stand out from the crowd (like this site) takes a little work, but considerably less than Thesis although overall it is less customizable than Thesis.

Thesis vs. Frugal – Who wins?

Tough answer and it depends on your own use.  Is your blog overflowing with content?  If so, Thesis might be a better option as it is wonderfully organized and presented for any news or magazine CMS style website.

Is your site slimmer and need space for advertisements or blurbs about your company?  Maybe Frugal is the better choice.  I like it as a business site with a static front page, blog, and various pages about your company or organization.  I think it’s a great framework for that use although the possibilities are endless.

Ready to get started?

If you’re looking for a custom designed site please feel free to contact me to discuss.  I’ll help you determine the best platform for your site and go over design options with you.

Looking to do it yourself?

You can get more information about Thesis or Frugal by clicking on those links.  Note that if you purchase them through the links here I get a small commission for referring you to them.  As a thank you for doing so, I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have between the two.  You can ask here in the comments or by emailing me directly.

Happy blogging!

Not only is Thesis one of the most unique and customizable themes available, it is the strongest platform for SEO practices right out of the box.

I have a great site I’m working on at the moment that should be ready to debut in a few days.  Check back on the blog and the portfolio to take a look at what a customized Thesis package can do for you.

Interested in getting your WordPress set up with Thesis? Contact me to discuss!

photo by the justified sinner

Sure, we all read “For a Limited Time!” on sales pitches every day and most of us pay very little attention since, one way or another, that sale always seems to be going on.

I’ll admit, I didn’t have a time frame set when I started advertising the (crazy price) special for a full WordPress install and customization package.  After only a couple of tweets I have received an amazing response.  I’ve started quite a few exciting projects this month and have raised the price back to my standard $599 which most agree is still a great price for all that you receive.

This isn’t a sales gimmick, just the honest truth.  If you are interested in working together, please contact me sooner than later.  Depending on how many of these deals close and how many I begin in the new week or so, I will be raising the price back to normal.  I don’t know exactly when, but what I do know is that it will happen.

Yep, sorry. The sale is officially over but my standard design rate is still below what I anticipate it to be in the near future.

WordPress is a platform I’ve been passionate about for several years.  Over those years I’ve been designing, hacking (occasionally breaking), tweaking, and most of all, learning, more than I could ever imagine.  Every day that I work with WordPress I realize what a powerful system it is.  It’s pretty remarkable what one person can do with it given that most people just assume it is for blogging.  Yes, that’s what it was designed for, but it has become a full fledged Content Management System (CMS) and people all over are really demonstrating its capabilities.

I’ve been doing lots of work for other people with WordPress as well and that is what has finally prompted me to start WP Design Club.  Not only will it serve as an online portfolio of my WordPress-related work, but I’ll be marketing my freelance business much more.