Just a quick post today for any bloggers out there.
If you’ve been considering buying the ProBlogger book from Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett, I highly recommend it. As I mentioned in a review recently on my freelance writing blog, it’s worthwhile even if you’re an experience blogger.
Read the full review to find out what you may learn from the book.
A while back, I highlighted some of my favorite non-blog / magazine style Wordpress themes. There have been quite a few additions since that time, so I’d like to revisit it, showing you some of my favorite premium and free magazine style Wordpress themes.
Premium Magazine Style Wordpress Themes
Some of these premium magazine style Wordpress themes completely kick ass. They can be a bit more difficult to work with than a simple blog-style theme, but they’re more than worth their small cost if you want to run an online magazine, news site, or simply use Wordpress as a full-blown CMS.
Revolution Theme - From Brian Gardner (I’m using this on the re-designed version of my indie music webzine at AudioXposure.com.)
Revolution News Theme - Another from Brian Gardner
Revolution Sports Theme - From Brian Gardner
Revolution Magazine Theme - More Brian Gardner goodness
Revolution Tech Theme - Guess who made this one.
Simplicity 1.0 - From Michael Pollack at SoloStream.com. (I’m still using a slightly modified version of this theme over at NakedPR.com.)
Deadwood - From GraphPaperPress
Berlin - Also from GraphPaperPress
Gridline News - A nice news-based theme from GraphPaperPress
Gridline Magazine - More from GraphPaperPress
Visualization - One more from GraphPaperPress (for the record, the next time I need a premium magazine-style theme, I’ll more than likely give these guys a try).
WP-Remix - Looks like you could do just about anything with this theme.
Free Magazine Style Wordpress Themes
OK. Now let’s give you what you really want… the coolest FREE magazine style Wordpress themes currently out there (there are others out there, but these are by far the best I’ve seen yet):
Structure (I’m currently using a slightly modified version of this one to re-do a site for a musician I’m working with.)
Mimbo (I’m currently using this one on my free press release writing guide site.)
Many new bloggers launch their first blog on a free blog host like Blogspot or Wordpress.com. Personally, I’d say that’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a blogger. Here’s why:
After upgrading one of my bigger blogs manually to the latest version of Wordpress (version 2.2), my TinyMCE buttons (the WYSIWYG editor buttons on your writing / editing screens that let you format your text outside of HTML / code mode) had disappeared.
I was still getting the “visual” and “code” tabs, but couldn’t format my posts without turning off the editor in my user profile and doing it in HTML (which I don’t mind, but I prefer having the options readily available at one click).
Anyway, I just spent the last few hours searching for a solution. Plenty of people were having the problem, but there weren’t a lot of solutions suggested other than “clear your cache,” or “reinstall the TinyMCE files.” Those didn’t work. (more…)
There’s a great list of female bloggers posted over at The Copywriting Maven blog. There aren’t many good lists (or many lists at all actually) of female webpreneurs out there, so this is a nice niche one to take a look at. 
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has altered its rules regarding the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to include bloggers in policies formerly only applicable to more traditional journalists. Read the full story from ABCnews.
Here are some of my favorite articles and resources on blog marketing from around the Web, to help you promote your new or established blogs:
How to Market Your Blog in 2007 - ProBlogger.net
Blog Marketing Strategies (and how to Measure Them) - Clickz.com
55 Social Bookmarking Sites to Promote Your Blog Articles - WeblogHits.com
25 Tips for Marketing Your Blog - TopRankBlog.com
A while back, I asked members of a webmaster community to list some of their favorite blogs on blogging, to be posted to my own [former] blog on blogging - BlogGig.com (whose content is now included on Jentrepreneur.com). Below is the list of blogs they came up with. Are there any decent blogs on blogging that you think are missing from this list?
Post your favorite blogs on blogging in the comments here, and I’ll check it out and add it to this list, and the BlogGig.com blogroll.
If you want to be successful in blogging (just as if you want to be successful in any type of business venture), you need to have some kind of professional edge. What’s yours?
I’d say there are three components / skills that can make a good blog:
1. Design / Functionality
2. Writing / Content
3. Marketing / Promotion
I’m no designer, and I’m just a beginner when it comes to coding. I know enough to manipulate templates when I want to, but I’ve only created on CSS design from scratch, and couldn’t code a Wordpress theme from scratch to save my life.
Luckily, I have the other two areas of successful blogging covered, and that’s my “edge” as a blogger. I’m a professional business writer (most of my blogs are at least somewhat business-oriented). I also have my degree in Public Relations on top of studying other areas of business (namely marketing). I also run a small PR firm, specializing in online PR, so the promotion side of things is a piece of cake for me compared to many bloggers.
We’re at a point marketing-wise where nearly all bloggers seem to follow the same basic steps, and very few are doing anything unique to really draw attention to themselves. I consider the content and marketing sides to be the most important, especially with blogging for a few reasons:
1. You can get great free blog themes now, and inexpensive professional themes.
2. You can’t fake basic writing ability. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to reflect a personality. And if you’re getting the writing from someone else, you’re really not a “blogger” at all anyway.
3. You can always hire someone to do your marketing for you, but most don’t understand the variety of tactics really available between marketing, PR, and advertising. By having an in-depth knowledge of those fields yourself, and not just the basic Internet marketing tactics everyone yaps about, you’re able to promote your blog anytime and in any way that you want to. I also believe control over your marketing message is pretty important. With a lot of Internet marketing pros out there not even having a real background or expertise in marketing, it’s tougher to find one who understands the fundamentals like the basic marketing message. Remember, blog marketing is about a LOT more than just traffic and links. It’s about quality traffic, branding and reputation, and more.
So… what’s your blogging edge?
Some bloggers shy away from controversy, while others fully embrace it. I tend to be one to embrace controversy, because I believe in blunt honesty and speaking my mind. Some people find that being vocal about their opinions on their blog can be difficult for them. Here are a few reasons some bloggers may choose to take the “safe route”:
1. They’re afraid that their readers won’t come back if they don’t like a more controversial blog post.
2. They’re afraid of nasty comments and flames being left on their blog.
3. They don’t want to be the center of attention if their controversial blog post ignites a viral debate.
4. They’re afraid of alienating fellow bloggers that they’ve built a network with.
5. They’re afraid of the potential of losing advertisers (especially if they monetize their blog with private ad sales).
I won’t say that those concerns aren’t legitimate. But if you want to be successful in blogging (just as if you want to be successful in any other kind of business), you have to be willing to take risks if you want to reap the greatest rewards. Controversial posts aren’t a bad thing, as long as you handle them as objectively as possible and as professionally as possible (and that doesn’t mean you have to be “nice). Here are some of the benefits of writing controversial blog posts:
1. They can bring in a lot of traffic, including repeat traffic from new readers who share your opinions or like your style.
2. Controversial blog posts often work well as pieces of link bait. They have a natural viral quality about them… if people hate what you say, they’ll link to you when they bitch about you on their own blog; if they love what you say, they’ll link to you to show support against all the naysayers.
3. They give you an idea of which other bloggers in your niche or industry share your concerns, opinions, and values, and can serve as a springboard into a networking opportunity with like-minded folks. They also give you an idea of people with different values and opinions, letting you know who to talk to for a constructive argument to hear opposing points.
4. Even if people get utterly pissed off with what you have to say in a controversial blog post, as long as you’re careful from a legal standpoint, the animosity will usually blow over.
5. Controversial blog posts help you to build a reputation as an expert in the niche, if you can write both controversially and intelligently. They can even lead to job offers from clients who enjoy your style.
One of the first (and often most difficult) aspects of launching a new blog or content site is choosing the perfect niche. Here are some steps you can take to help you find a niche that you’ll stay interested in writing about, and that will also have income potential: (more…)
I use a lot of various Wordpress plugins on my dozen or so blogs. Yet there are only a few that I really consider “must have” plugins, which I use on pretty much every blog I run. Here are my “must have” Wordpress plugins:
1. WWW-Redirect - I originally used this plugin to direct the non-WWW versions of my blogs to the WWW version, but it caused problems in most cases with comments and a form plugin I was using (not to mention login problems). So for a while, I disabled it. Later, I reset the plugin, but pointing everything instead to my non-WWW versions, and it worked like a charm. It’s now on my “must-have” list for each of my blogs.
2. Simple Tags - Sure, you can use a more complicated tagging plugin, but frankly I prefer this option. It’s as easy as adding a list of keywords to the end of a post to get my Technorati tags, which is really all I care about. It’s installed on all of my blogs, although I don’t use it for all of them very actively.
3. Add Meta Tags - This was my first “must have” Wordpress plugin for my blogs. Not only can you add custom meta tags for the home page, but also for your category pages and posts. For some of my blogs, I let the plugin use its default system for choosing custom tags for posts, and on other blogs I write my meta description and keywords for each post or article.
In today’s episode of my Chick Tech Talk BlogTalkRadio show in my interview with Tammy Powley (Executive Editor of Creative-Weblogging.com), we talked about what makes a blogger a professional blogger? Here are some of the considerations:
1. How much time the blogger spends blogging.
2. How many readers the blogger has.
3. How much money the blogger makes.
Tammy and I both had a similar thought on the issue… that whether or not a blogger is a “professional” has a lot to do with simply how seriously they take their blogging, whether they have a huge readership or income or not.
What are your thoughts? When would you classify yourself as a “professional blogger?”
Do you find that your blogging time isn’t always well spent? Do you have a bunch of muddled blog post ideas in your head, to the point that you never seem to get around to writing them? Do you just feel incredibly unorganized? Organization is a huge aspect of running a successful business. And if you’re trying to earn an income through your blog(s), then the same holds true for you. FreelanceSwitch.com recently posted a great article on Organizing Tips for Bloggers. Give it a read if you’re interested in learning how to become a more productive blogger.
I recently posted about some of my favorite non-blog / magazine style Wordpress themes. I’ve since come across three more that absolutely blew me away, all from Solostream.com. In addition to giving them a look, here are a few articles that will help you in developing your own Wordpress themes, as well as teaching you how Wordpress can effectively be used to manage an online magazine: (more…)
Sometimes you just don’t want your blog to look like, well, a blog. Frankly, the same old basic blog formats can get boring. At the same time, blog platforms (most notably Wordpress) are amazing in that they can be used to manage a variety of types of sites beyond typical blogs. One example would be using Wordpress to run an online magazine (for an awesome example, check out XXLmag.com). But not everyone has the ability to create an online magazine theme from scratch. Luckily there are a few (and hopefully many more to come) magazine style (or non-blog style) Wordpress themes available. Here are some of the best non-blog Wordpress themes currently available: (more…)
If you haven’t heard yet, the SixApart blogging platform Moveable Type will be releasing an open source version in conjunction with their 4.0 commercial release. They’re not abandoning their commercial lines of blogging software, but are releasing an open source base at the request of developers and bloggers. Will the Moveable Type Open Source Project be a threat to Wordpress? (more…)
Subscribe in a reader
Or, subscribe via email: 
Posts
