bobangus.com » web design

Launching a New Theme for BobAngus.com

Bob Angus — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:14:48 +0000

Welcome to the new BobAngus.com! A complete redesign of my blog theme has been a long time coming. My primary goal is to increase the total amount of time you spend on this site. Great content is the #1 way to achieve that objective, but an excellent theme is incredibly important to properly deliver that content.

The new theme is based on Stephan Miller’s More than Multiple Widgets theme. This theme is fantastic to work with and hopefully provides you with a much better experience. Plus, Stephan was very helpful in answering some questions that I had. Thank you Stephan!

All of the structural elements of the new Wordpress theme are complete. Only a few minor tweaks should be necessary over the next few weeks. Now I can spend more time writing posts!

Here are some details on what the redesign has added to the website and how I have customized a great free Wordpress theme.

New Theme

More than Multiple Widgets is a free, professional 3-column theme that is chocked full of features. I like the theme for 4 key reasons:

Easy to read – The large content area and white background make my verbose ramblings much easier to read. Plus, the header, sidebar, and bottom units allow for better navigation and visibility of what readers are interested in accessing.
Flexibility – The layout is very flexible and accommodates all the plugins, features, and links that I could ever want. I manually edited the header, sidebar, and bottom units, but Stephan has set up all of the core areas so that you can also use the drag-and-drop functionality of Wordpress Widgets.
Options – This theme steals a page from many Wordpress plugins by offering a complete Options tab. This is rare for themes, but can save you hours that otherwise would have been spent changing colors in the stylesheet and fiddling with Gravatar images.
Clear Code – The structure, style, and documentation of More than Multiple Widgets’ various PHP files are exceptionally easy to understand. This makes manual customizations a snap. It is obvious that Stephan spent a lot of extra time polishing this theme so that it could be accessible to novice bloggers.

New Plugins

I have added several new plugins and features to help you read the posts and information that you want. I have also kept fundamental parts of my old theme, like Feedburner subscriptions, New Tag Cloud, and blogger network widgets from BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog. Here is a brief summary of the new elements.

Most Popular Posts – I am using the template tags functionality of Alex King’s Popularity Contest plugin to display the most popular posts from BobAngus.com. This plugin offers an amazing set of options that allows you to calibrate each factor of the “popularity” algorithm.
Related Posts – Yet Another Related Posts Plugin by mitcho (aka Michael Erlewine) can dramatically increase readership by adding a list of related posts at the bottom of each post or page. YARRP is the best Wordpress plugin I have found to contextually determine relevant posts and present them effectively.
Valuable Content – I have added two common plugins Recent Posts and Recent Comments that helps you find the latest activity on the blog. Additionally, I have manually added a sidebar element called Featured Post, which highlights a post that I feel offers extraordinary information.
Testing 1,2,3 – Redesign projects can feel like changing the tires on a car while the car is moving. No worries about exposing your new theme or any possible hiccups while tinkering thanks to Theme Test Drive by Vladimir Prelovac. Here is my previous post on this new must-have plugin.

Next Steps

Now it is time to get back to producing awesome posts and marketing tools that you can use to make money online. Some of those posts are definitely going to be about the key lessons that I learned on this redesign project and instructions on how I did it.

I have a list of about 20 minor tweaks that I plan to implement over the next few weeks. More importantly, I would greatly appreciate your feedback on the new theme… or this blog in general. After all, this website is for you.

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Uncategorized.

Changing a Wordpress theme can be a pain… not anymore

Bob Angus — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:51:41 +0000

I am in the process of a making the switch to a completely new Wordpress theme. It feels like changing the tires on a car while the car is moving. Any blogger who has made a complete theme change or who is constantly tweaking their theme knows the feeling. You only get a final visual of the update when you publish it live. Yikes! Your readers are exposed to even the smallest hiccup as the result of your tinkering.

I have created an entirely new, temporary blog to address this issue during my theme overhaul project. I installed the new theme and I am now in the process of tweaking and testing. Even after I launch, I am sure that I will make minor modifications at least twice a week.

There Is an Easier Way to Change your Theme

Two recently released Wordpress plugins allow you to safely test drive a new theme as the administrator role. Meanwhile, your visitors are still viewing your blog under the old theme. Either of these plugins should be a part of every blogger’s set of plugins.

Theme Test Drive by Vladimir Prelovac (Special thanks to BlogPerfume where I read about Theme Test Drive.)
User Level Themes by Double Black Design

Both plugins work with Wordpress 2.3.2. Both are version 1.0. So I expect some updates will be coming, though I personally did not run into any difficulties with either. The only troubleshooting that you may need to do is to delete your cache or simply turn off WP-Cache entirely.

Wow. Just think how much time I can spend tweaking and testing themes now!

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Uncategorized.

Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 1-4-2008

Bob Angus — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:00:24 +0000

The first week of 2008 has gone in a blur. It took all my will power to not spend too much time this week reviewing the many eye-popping 2007 stats posts. After all, I know that the key to John Chow’s 2007 success has been action, not daydreaming about somebody else’s fortune. Here are some of the articles that I found incredibly useful in taking direct action to hit my own blogging goals.

First, I spent time analyzing where I can improve using basic SEO strategies. I started with keywords. My goal is to maintain a #1 rank for anyone who searches for Bob Angus, but I need to improve significantly across several other sets of keywords. SEO Design Solutions offered a good guide with SEO fundamentals called How to Extend your Keyword Empire in 3 Simple Steps.

Updated: Terry at SuperAff.com posted a good tip on Tracking Hot Keywords For New Blog Subscriptions.

Next, I am addressing link building. I refuse to take the shortcut, blackhat route or just buy links. One should build links that are sustainable, valuable, and trustworthy. One starting point is to analyze the competition and develop an external relevance profile for them. Hamlet Batista unleashed something that you will not find in any ebook with Revealing your Competitor’s FULL External Relevance Profile. Also, Earner’s Blog continues his series on link building with a good reminder to think outside the box in Link Building Guide Part 3 – Aboutus.org

Finally, I am quickly coming to a realization that I need to change my blog design. Skellie of Skelliewag.org delivered a great guest post on Blog Perfume called 8 Clever Ways to Lower the Bounce-Rate on Your Blog. The tips are design-oriented more than content-oriented, but they address a critical issue for low traffic blogs like bobangus.com. Each visitor who ‘bounces’ out of your site is a lost opportunity to gain a loyal reader or new subscriber. It is time to change my Wordpress theme.

Image of the Week

Rue Pachinko by Renaud Bec is amazing concept art for the Red Steel video game by Ubisoft. For more incredible video game concept art, see the annual collections from IntoThePixel.com.

Check out other pictures and images on my Flickr photos.

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Uncategorized.

Back to Basics: Learning CSS

Bob Angus — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 05:28:18 +0000

One of my 2007 New Year’s resolutions has stalled out. I am getting nowhere fast on my objective to launch 10 new content websites by May. 10 sites?! That should be a slam dunk, even if I am focusing on my projects only a couple of hours a day. Well, I wasn’t making headway. So it is best to raise a red flag now, rather than in March or April.

Not being afraid to ask for help, I called my good friend Phylise at Skidmore College’s University Without Walls. She helps build fantastic distance learning courses and websites. She even helped my Mom develop and manage an online course using Dreamweaver.

My basic problem is that I have all of my site plans and a website design, but I don’t know where to start actually developing my site. My Dreamweaver tutorials and training guide help me learn how to bold text and place images. Free templates give me very little to work with. Where do I start?

Phylise asked me two questions:
1. How well do you know HTML?
Answer: Not well. I can hunt and peck the CSS on my Wordpress theme enough to change the header image.

2. Will your site be database driven?
Answer: Yes. I want to dynamically display data and build forms to store data.

Her response was simple (and kind). Paraphrasing… “Bob. You need to learn how to build your own style sheets. We’ll worry about learning MySQL and writing PHP scripts later… Much later.”

She pointed me to CSS Zen Garden and CSS Vault as excellent resources. Also, I am jumping ahead in my Dreamweaver training guide to the style sheet chapter (Lesson #6).

Hmmm. I may have to ramp up my time to 4-5 hours a night to meet my goal.

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Uncategorized.

Flipping Website Real Estate for Profit

Bob Angus — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 05:49:31 +0000

You’ve heard of flipping a house as a profit strategy in the real estate market, right? First, you buy a fixer-upper house for a dirt cheap, below market price. Second, you spend some time and money sprucing up the home. New paint, replace carpets, mow the lawn, etc. Then, you put the shiny new gem back on the market and sell it for a sweet profit. Well, the same strategy works when you invest in website real estate.

Way back in August, Super Affiliate Marketing Blog had a great post on flipping web real estate. Jon details three key redesign elements to turning a low traffic dud into a website worth buying. First, the design…

Is it too crappy to look at? Do you need to change it around? Chances are pretty good that you will need to make some alterations. Whether you should redo the whole thing is again, up to your taste and budget. Remember, you already spent $500 on this, and your goal is $3k, so you don’t want to go overboard with unnecessary beautification operations.

Then, Jon drills down on steps #2 and #3 – usability and monetization. Mixed in with these steps, he gives invaluable guidance that can give you the edge to maximize your ROI. For example, focus on generating statistics like unique impressions, page rank on Google and Alexa, and some basic contextual advertising revenue. Then, provide a mini business plan with current site metrics and future projections in your “for sale” message. Help make it simple for a buyer to pay top dollar.

Also, it is vital that there is an active marketplace to buy and sell web real estate. Of course, the real differentiator that maximizes your overall profits is to understand the potential buyer and don’t burn bridges…

Remember, that even though you are selling a property that doesn’t really interest you much in holding onto, you are selling it to someone who finds it as a good deal or investment, so you must treat it with respect, because this property may be someone’s baby sometime soon…

… put some contextual ads onto it if you like, get the stats program working again, collect as much real data as possible on the current situation of the site, and then make projections of 3, 6, 10 and 12 months. Base those numbers ONLY on the current situation of the site. If you just go off and make numbers up, they won’t buy anything else from you ever again, and you may also sabotage your reputation on your first deal, which can suck.

Here is the link to the full post. The marketplace and profits are there for you. Check out Biz MP for developed websites or The Domain Name Aftermarket by GoDaddy for just domains.