Archive for category Blogging Geek

Darn that Google

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Every time I change the blog’s theme or make some tiny behind the scenes adjustments Google yanks away my pagerank. It usually comes back in the next update or two, but it irks me that they are so fast to strip it away. I don’t pay much attention to the little green pixels, and I certainly don’t consider them a valuable measurement by any means….

I am much more interested in people than pixels. If you’re here reading my blog, than that’s awesome and all that counts in my mind. Unfortunately it is sometimes difficult to bring in sponsorship and review cool products without the little green pixels up there. *Curse you green pixels!*

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How To Get A Custom Wordpress Theme

Almost everybody blogs now, it is almost hard to find someone who doesn’t blog! But a issue that comes with this sort of thing is this, find unique blog templates for your blogs. It is sorta easier to find lesser known blogger(or blogspot) templates, unlike for Wordpress which is much harder to find pre-made layouts that aren’t already over used.

Since the popularity for Wordpress is so large, one might wonder how you can get a one of a kind design for their blog?  Here are your three choices-

1: Hire it out. Many web designers now design Wordpress templates instead of hand coding each page, since many more people are using CMS (Content Management System) than your good ol’ fashion HTML content pages that once the common form of web pages and sites. They can cost anywhere from little to a lot of money to get a designer to design a custom theme. Plus each designers skills vary, one designer might be good at coding-but not good creating the layout graphics. You should do your research before you hire one carefully, and make sure you are getting exactly what you want from them!

2: Use a Wordpress theme generator. This free and web based browsers keep things much more simple. True that they aren’t exact customized, but they do allow you to get your basic theme without paying someone. It’s also good for getting an idea on how to edit the themes to suit your needs better for your site.

3: Do it yourself. This maybe the hardest of them all. Getting a good paint program (GIMP is a good free one) and learning how to code it exactly could take some time. If you do not want to risk it or take the time out to fix your kinks, then this wouldn’t be a option for you. But if you know your way around CSS/HTML and graphics programs, it shouldn’t be a too big of a deal.

Of course you can stick to premade themes, if you like. Though a blog with a unique theme is far better off than a blog with a common theme. Keep these options in mind, maybe even do a pro and cons list for each choice. Then figure out which one you prefer and feel at peace with.

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Free Accessories with Flip Mino Camcorders

flip mino hd cameraAmazon is having a limited time offer to get free accessories with the new Flip Mino HD. You can get two free accessories with the MinoHD, one free accessory with the Mino, or snap up the white 30-minute Ultra for the amazing low price of only $69 (that’s half price!).

The 30-minute Flip Ultra is the perfect companion for bloggers to use to add videos to their daily blogging. You can catch your pets or your kids acting silly, or you might just catch someone doing something weird at the grocery store, or better yet you can start a vlog and record your daily posts on the fly. You’ll love the portability and the easy to use functions.

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Tweak That Blog Theme!

Tweaking your theme on your blog or web page can have amazing effects on your readership and success of your business. Here are some simple ways you can make your theme stand out from the rest.

How to Tweak Your WordPress Theme

There are literally millions of different themes available on the Internet. You can choose one from sites that sell them or give them away free. You could also have someone custom-make your theme, which could cost you a good amount of money. If you choose to select one already made, there are things you can do to make it customized to suit your taste.

Header. Create a header with your business or blog name on it. If someone stops by your page and sees a header they have already seen somewhere else, they may be inclined to move on.

Background color or pattern. There are simple ways to change the background color to your theme so it matches your header and provides readers an easier to read web page. A basic pattern can make a nice background as well, diagonals and stripes seem to be pretty popular these days, but don’t be afraid to be creative.

Text color and font. Choose a text color that will be visible on the background color or pattern you have chosen. You also want to pick a font that is clear and large enough for people to see. You don’t want people to have to strain to see the information you have provided for your customers or readers, because they will give up and leave your site. Avoid colors like pale grey and yellow for fonts.

Incorporate pictures. Images are a great way to capture someone’s attention and give them a reason to read what you have on your website. You can grab stock images, create your own graphics, or browse free photo sharing websites.

Do not clutter. Some themes have many frames so you can fit a lot of information on the page. Take out some of these frames so your page looks organized and clean. You don’t want people to have to search for things for too long or again, they will leave your site.

The Importance of Tweaking Your WordPress Theme

Many of the reasons why you should tweak your theme are listed above, but there are additional benefits to doing this.

Make it your own. You have your own personal style for your blog or business site; don’t settle for someone else’s taste when it comes to what you want to present on the Internet.

Tailor it to your readers and customers. You know your audience best, so make the page that will be pleasing to them. The more people like your site, the longer they will stay.

It’s easy. Making a few changes to your WordPress script is not difficult. Sometimes all you have to do is change a few codes and you are all set. There is a lot of information on the Internet that will guide you.

Finally, you want to tweak your WordPress theme because it will give you the success you are looking for in a blog or business website.

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Deep Linking Explained

Deep linking is the process of linking to a specific page on a website, rather than just the homepage. For instance, a regular link would point to mysite.com, but a deep link would point to a specific page on that site, such as mysite.com/page1.

Some corporations try to discourage deep linking, as it allows users to visit a specific page, while bypassing advertising on the front page of the site. For most people deep linking is very helpful and actually sought after. The following are a few reasons why deep linking can help a business.

Deep linking greatly increases a user’s ability to find exactly what they are looking for on the web. If you were on a website researching chicken recipes and saw a link for chicken pot pie, when you clicked on it, you would expect to be on a page that had a recipe for chicken pot pie.

You would be disappointed if you ended up at a main page of another recipe website and had to search through all their recipes in order to find the recipe you thought you were linked to. When a website owner deep links to a specific page that contains the specific content their readers are looking for then the reader is much more satisfied.

Not only does deep linking help the website visitor but it also helps the website owner with keeping tabs on their tracking. They are able to see exactly which pages of their website are getting the most links. This can help them decide what the most popular content on their site is and what their visitors are looking for.

This can also help in the search engine rankings. If there was a site about tropical birds that had links coming in to various pages on different types of birds, when someone searched for “parrot” then the parrot page would come up. The person would be able to visit the page that allowed them to learn exactly what they wanted.

If you participate in any pay per click advertising, use deep linking to point to exactly what your ad is talking about, which will help your conversion rates. For example, if you have a site about gardening and place an ad for shovels, using deep linking in the ad to point directly to the shovel page rather than pointing to the home page.

If the ad pointed to the home page, there may be some visitors who would navigate towards the shovels they were originally looking for but some would leave the site altogether. If the ad points directly to the shovel page more people would buy the shovels and that would increase the conversion rates.

Start creating deep links in a blog and link to specific content on the site. Include deep links in articles submitted to reprint directories. Experiment with this idea and see if traffic increases.

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