Matt Cutts can’t stand it when webmasters DON’T take full advantage of ALL the features WordPress affords its users.

HE HATES IT!

But don’t worry…He did recently share several tips and strategies for maximizing your WordPress site’s presence on Google so you can take full advantage of all that WordPress has to offer.

I’m going to outline them for you here (and I’d like to point out that I started this article by using one of Matt’s tips for successful blogging: create a controversy – more on that a little later).

First off, did you know that Google looks at over 200 characteristics when ranking sites? Most of us get caught up in the big three: keyword density, inbound links, and pagerank – when in reality there are many other features Google takes into account when ranking sites.

Throughout this article we will briefly cover just a few of the topics that Cutts touched on when speaking about WordPress a few months back.

Permalinks Matter

We all know the standard link structure for a fresh WordPress install where the end of your pages look something like this in your browser: http://mysite.com/?p=123. Matt contends that this is a complete waste of an opportunity to use relevant keywords.

Since keyword density in your title tag, meta description, and body are so important, it lends us to believe (and confirmed by Matt) that actually adding the keyword to your URL so that instead your site reads: http://mysite.com/my-keyword-article-here will be much more beneficial than NOT having it listed there. Again, so much of what ranking well online is about is doing more than the next guy, and surprisingly enough, many people don’t take advantage of the permalink settings in WordPress.

Thankfully, this is an easy fix. Go to Settings > Permalinks and do the following:

Use Different Verb Tenses In Title & URL

Instead of putting your article titled Setting WordPress Homepage at the link: http://mysite.com/setting-wordpress-homepage consider changing the verb tense for the link to: http://mysite.com/set-wordpress-homepage.

Notice the use of the word SET in place of SETTING. This shows Google something I’m sure they are already smart enough to figure out, but YOU are taking the initiative in doing it which is an important point to remember in SEO.

This is not a game of sit back and wait, it’s a game of take charge and go. It’s a guarantee that some potential visitors will use a different verb tense when searching Google, and this way you show Google your interested in THAT keyword as well. It’s a small change, but small adds up.

Use Good Keywords As Categories

Again, don’t waste an opportunity to TELL Google what you are trying to rank for by giving your category some obscure names.

Also, keep in mind that dashes are best (my-keyword), underscores are second best (my_keyword), and no spaces is the worst (mykeyword).

If I’ve messed up and not used dashes or even underscores, should I go back and reformat each post?

Matt emphatically replies…

“No. Focus on creating better content. The search engines do a relatively good job of doing separators.”

For the last half of this article, I’d simply like to share some important quotes from Matt Cutts’ discussion on WordPress, and where appropriate, share some of my own thoughts and feedback.

MATT: “Find something you’re passionate about, write often, pay attention to the mechanics, and don’t overdo it.

MATT: “Start in a small niche then build up, build up, build up, build up.”

Matt then went on to reference Katamari. I assume the takeaway is that here was a game developed with a relatively small budget by gaming standards that went on to achieve huge success and spawn the creation of subsequent games because they focused on simple fundamentals not hype, cutting edge graphics, etc (things that other game developers probably thought were MUST HAVES).

We all know how that line of reasoning can carry over to the web. In the end it always comes back to quality over quantity.

MATT: “If someone tells you there’s a shortcut and you can be the number 1 gadget blogger in 3 days and you can beat engadget and gizmodo, laugh in their face and send them packing because it doesn’t work that way. If you want to be the best gadget blogger, start off by writing about a particular type of phone.

Matt goes on to say…

Provide a useful service, do original research, give great information, find a creative niche, write some code, live blogging, make lists, create controversy.

If I had to sum up what it takes to become a successful web entrepreneur or blogger that last quote would be it.

Matt touched on so many of the characteristics of those who are successful online in that one little sentence. Read it, then re-read it, then read it one more time!

MATT CUTTS ON VIDEO: While discussing another topic, Matt slid this comment in that I thought was important to share: “Videos tend to rank really well on Google.” Take that as you may, but it comes straight from the horses’ mouth.

MATT CUTTS ON ADSENSE: Matt shared the following code for Adsense users.

<!-- google_ad_section_start -->
<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

He went on to say that, “This will target Adsense ads to the meat of your posts. Ads will be more relevant to your visitors. You’ll get more clicks, and you’ll make more money.”

MATT CUTTS ON ERROR PAGES: Google.com/webmasters will show you the 404s on your site. If you notice a link coming from a reputable source, email them and ask them to update the link to the correct page (and you now have another link you didn’t have before or you THOUGHT you had before)

MATT CUTTS ON WORDPRESS HACKS: To protect your /wp-admin folder, Matt shared the following code. I will caution you that I am not a doctor and this should not be taken as serious medical advice. Seek a professional’s opinion.

He said to add a .htaccess file in /wp-admin and insert the following:

AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Access Control"
AuthType Basic
<LIMIT GET>
order deny,allow
deny from all
# whitelist ohm IP address
allow from 123.45.67.89
# whitelist work IP address
allow from 123.45.67.98
</LIMIT>

Remember that you have to change the allow IP address to your IP and one major point of caution is that if your IP changes this could potentially create a problem. Done correctly, this makes it so that only YOU can access your /wp-admin folder.

So there you have it…a little bit of controversy mixed in with what I hope was helpful information that you can act on today to get your WordPress site ranking better on Google. Feel free to share your thoughts and feedback below especially related to some of the code segments as I by no means am a programmer

 

Week Ending August 29, 2010

Number 1: Breeze WordPress Theme

Notes: Breeze is a WordPress theme designed with corporate businesses in mind. The theme is also well suited for online portfolios and blogs. If you like the idea of virtually unlimited skins, tons of WordPress shortcodes (even including a slider shortcode), the Breeze theme is sure to catch your fancy.

Breeze Sales This Week: 108

Breeze Sales Week Ending 9/22: 132 (Down 22%)

Breeze Sales Week Ending 9/15: NEW (n/a)

ThemeForest User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $37

Number 2: inFocus Theme

Notes: Another one from WebTreats, inFocus is ThemeForest’s most popular premium WordPress theme of all time.

inFocus Sales This Week: 75

inFocus Sales Week Ending 9/22: 60 (Up 25%)

inFocus Sales Week Ending 9/15: 67 (Up 12%)

ThemeForest User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $37

Number 7: Awake Theme

Notes: From the incomparable WebTreats, Awake is a premium WordPress theme that has all the makings of a long-term success story.

Awake Sales This Week: 71

Awake Sales Week Ending 9/22: 70 (Up 1.4%)

Awake Sales Week Ending 9/15: 76 (Down 7%)

ThemeForest User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $42

Number 4: Showtime WordPress Theme

Notes: Showtime is a powerful WordPress theme made for your Business, Portfolio or almost any other kind of website. Showtime offers you a good amount of options. Front Page can be customized via unlimited widget areas, both body and footer. Sliders and Colors can be easily switched via the custom FreshPanel from the theme’s author. Personally, I fell this is one of the most visually appealing themes from recent ThemeForest releases.

Showtime Sales This Week: 68

Showtime Sales Week Ending 9/22: 110 (Down 38%)

Showtime Sales Week Ending 9/15: 140 (Down 51%)

ThemeForest User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $37

Number 5: Constellation Admin Theme

Notes: Are you looking for the “complete” admin skin? Well look no further. Check out the hit admin theme Constellation today!

Constellation Sales This Week: 63

Constellation Sales Week Ending 9/22: 70 (Down 10%)

Constellation Sales Week Ending 9/15: 127 (Down 50%)

Constellation User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $22

Number 6: BlauMail Premium Email Template

Notes: Fresh off a contest win for Email Templates, BlauMail is sure to spice up your boring “text only” email correspondence with their near limitless customization and design options.

BlauMail Sales This Week: 62

BlauMail Sales Week Ending 9/22: 53 (Up 17%)

BlauMail Sales Week Ending 9/15: 35 (Up 77%)

ThemeForest User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $16

Number 7: Vulcan Theme

Notes: If you’re looking for a popular, minimalist premium theme, check out Vulcan.

Vulcan Sales This Week: 62

Vulcan Sales Week Ending 9/22: 82 (Down 24%)

Vulcan Sales Week Ending 9/15: 58 (Down 7%)

ThemeForest User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $37

Number 8: Traject Theme

Notes: From one of ThemeForest’s top Authors of all time comes his newest theme based off the already previously debuted HTML template by the same name. Traject is a VERY comprehensive WordPress theme from a VERY talented developer.

Traject Sales This Week: 54

Traject Sales Previous Week: 72 (Down 25%)

Traject Sales Previous Week: 77 (Down 30%)

ThemeForest User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $37

Number 9: DynamiX Theme

Notes: Ready to take advantage of many of the new features with WordPress 3.0? Check out the dynamic DynamiX WordPress Theme.

DynamiX Sales This Week: 52

DynamiX Sales Week Ending 9/22: 62 (Down 16%)

DynamiX Sales Week Ending 9/15: 73 (Down 29%)

ThemeForest User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $37

Number 10: Avisio Theme

Notes: From ThemeForest’s all-time most popular author, Avisio is Kriesi’s newest premium WordPress theme.

Avisio Sales This Week: 52

Avisio Sales Previous Week: 55 (Down 5%)

Avisio Sales Previous Week: 76 (Down 32%)

ThemeForest User Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: $42

Week Ending August 22, 2010

Number 1: Breeze WordPress Theme

Number 2: Showtime WordPress Theme

Number 3: Vulcan Theme

Number 4: Deadline WordPress Theme

Number 5: Traject Theme

Number 6: Constellation Admin Theme

Number 7: Awake Theme

Number 8: DynamiX Theme

Number 9: inFocus Theme

Number 10: Avisio Theme

This Article was last updated on July 27, 2010

Having the right WordPress Theme is crucial to your websites’ success. It’s kind of like the study that showed how people looking to buy a home can make up their mind within 8 seconds of walking in the door whether they like it or not – by not giving your visitors the right first impression (your design) – you’re literally inviting them to hit the back button.

The Dilemma

As a blogger your focus should be on content. Blog design is important, but when you think about it, do people go to Craigslist because it looks pretty? Absolutely not. They use it because they’re the best in the field.

Since we’re not all Craigslists, we must merge the design and content aspects together in as seamless a manner as possible. You want to have a nice looking design, but you most likely are not strong in design itself (much less coding that pretty design). You want a unique, impressive look that conveys professionalism and passion about your craft, but you’re probably not an expert at usability (how “usuable” your site is to visitors). And finally, you want to do all this in the cheapest, most cost effictive way possible (nothing wrong with that).

Elegant Themes

Have you ever spent any length of time browsing around countless free wordpress theme sites only to be left feeling unsatisfied? Does it seem like most of the free themes are … well … free for a reason? Where are all the best wordpress themes? After going through these motions for a period of time, I decided to take a look at some premium wordpress themes to see if they were really that much better than the free ones. Shortly thereafter, I discovered Nick Roach’s Elegant Themes, and that changed everything for me.

I knew I could hire a web designer to create a nice looking website as I’ve done countless times in the past. But at $800-$3500/pop, designers can be expensive. I was interested in finding a nice looking design that I could learn to tweak and modify myself to make it more personalized and customized to my liking.

As a website and blog developer, I am frequently developing new sites, and aside from the content itself, I want each design to be unique and professional. Enter ElegantThemes.

Elegant Themes Premium WordPress Theme Club

Forget $200-$500 like many other premium theme clubs, for $20 - YES $39 – members get unlimited access and unlimited use to all of Nicks’ premium wordpress themes. To date there are 43 elegant wordpress themes, with 2-3 currently in production. He typically releases 1-2 new WordPress themes per month – the most recent being the DailyNotes WordPress Theme added to this list on July 27, 2010.

I’m going to get out of the way and let Nick’s design speak for itself. As you will see, these are top notch designs that would normally run you several thousand dollars a piece (I’ve researched hiring a good wordpress theme designer, and that is the going rate).

Without further ado, here are the premium wordpress themes from ElegantThemes:

DailyNotes (added 7/27/10)

DailyNotes Theme Features:

• Four (4) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Tumblr-style post types
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management
• Complete Localization

Example Sites Using The DailyNotes Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the DailyNotes Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On DailyNotes From Elegant Themes:

• Demo DailyNotes

DelicateNews WordPress Theme

DelicateNews Theme Features:

• Four (4) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management
• Complete Localization

Example Sites Using The DelicateNews Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the DelicateNews Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On DelicateNews From Elegant Themes:

• Demo DelicateNews

LightBright WordPress Theme

LightBright Theme Features:

• Four (4) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Tumblr-style post types
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management
• Complete Localization

Example Sites Using The LightBright Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the DailyNotes Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On LightBright From Elegant Themes:

• Demo LightBright

MyApp WordPress Theme

MyApp Theme Features:

• Four (4) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management
• Complete Localization

Example Sites Using The MyApp Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the MyApp Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On MyApp From Elegant Themes:

• Demo MyApp

TheSource WordPress Theme

TheSource Theme Features:

• Four (4) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management
• Complete Localization

Example Sites Using TheSource Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using TheSource Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On TheSource From Elegant Themes:

• Demo TheSource

PersonalPress WordPress Theme

PersonalPress Theme Features:

• Five (5) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management
• Complete Localization

Example Sites Using The PersonalPress Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the PersonalPress Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On PersonalPress From Elegant Themes:

• Demo PersonalPress

MyProduct WordPress Theme

MyProduct Theme Features:

• Five (5) unique color schemes: Blue, Green, Refined Blue, and Purple
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management
• Complete Localization

Example Sites Using The MyProduct Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the MyProduct Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On MyProduct From Elegant Themes:

• Demo MyProduct

MyResume WordPress Theme

MyResume Theme Features:

• Five (5) unique color schemes (Wooden, Stone, Subtle, Canvas, & Modest)
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Custom Portfolio Integration

Example Sites Using The MyResume Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the MyResume Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On MyResume From Elegant Themes:

• Demo MyResume

Minimal WordPress Theme

Minimal Theme Features:

• Two (2) unique color schemes: Light & Dark
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management
• Complete Localization

Example Sites Using The Minimal Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the Minimal Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On Minimal From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Minimal

13th Floor WordPress Theme

13th Floor Theme Features:

• Five (5) unique color schemes: Blue, Green, Brown, Yellow,and Purple
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management
• Complete Localization

Example Sites Using The 13thFloor Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the 13thFloor Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On 13th Floor From Elegant Themes:

• Demo 13th Floor

Polished WordPress Theme

Polished Theme Features:

• Six (6) unique color schemes/skins
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management
• Complete localization

Example Sites Using The Polished Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the Polished Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On Polished From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Polished

The Corporation WordPress Theme

The Corporation Theme Features:

• Six (6) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management
• Complete localization

Example Sites Using The Corporation Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the Corporation Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On The Corporation From Elegant Themes:

• Demo The Corporation

Business Card WordPress Theme

Business Card Theme Features:

• Five (5) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Fully functional gallery

Example Sites Using The Business Card Theme (Showcase):

• Email us if you are using the BusinessCard Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On Business Card From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Business Card

OnTheGo WordPress Theme

OnTheGo Theme Features:

• Four (4) unique color schemes: Blue, Green, Brown, and Purple
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management

Example Sites Using The OnTheGo Theme (Showcase):

• Super Brian

More Information On OnTheGo From Elegant Themes:

• Demo OnTheGo

Deviant WordPress Theme

Deviant Theme Features:

• Six (6) unique color schemes: Red, Green, Purple, Black, Orange , or Blue
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management

Example Sites Using The Deviant Theme (Showcase):

• Self Publishing Coach
• DarnTruth.com

More Information On Deviant From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Deviant

Lumin WordPress Theme

Lumin Theme Features:

• Three (3) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management
• Gallery layout display

Example Sites Using The Lumin Theme (Showcase):

• Sefershema.com (non-english site)

More Information On Lumin From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Lumin

Glow WordPress Theme

Glow Theme Features:

• Three unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management

Example Sites Using The Glow Theme (Showcase):

• Faux Flix

More Information On Glow From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Glow

eNews WordPress Theme

eNews Theme Features:

• Five (5) unique color schemes: Red, Green, Purple, Turquoise, or Blue
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Featured articles display
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management

Example Sites Using The eNews Theme (Showcase):

• Johnny Congress

More Information On eNews From Elegant Themes:

• Demo eNews

Bold WordPress Theme

Bold Theme Features:

• Five (5) unique color schemes: Red, Green, Purple , Turquoise, or Blue
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Featured articles display
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options
• Advertising management

Example Sites Using The Bold Theme (Showcase):

• Social Media Business Forum

More Information On Bold From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Bold

ePhoto WordPress Theme

ePhoto Theme Features:

• Two (2) unique color schemes: Black or Blue
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options
• Integrated blog section
• Advertising management

Example Sites Using The ePhoto Theme (Showcase):

• PintDecor.de
• AZdustdevil Photographic

More Information On ePhoto From Elegant Themes:

• Demo ePhoto

eBusiness WordPress Theme

eBusiness Theme Features:

• Nine (9) unique color schemes
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management

Example Sites Using The eBusiness Theme (Showcase):

• Traffic Engineers

More Information On eBusiness From Elegant Themes:

• Demo eBusiness

Coldstone WordPress Theme

Coldstone Theme Features:

• Three unique post layouts*
• Three widget-ready areas*
• Advertising management
• Featured articles display
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options
• Four unique background designs

Example Sites Using The Coldstone Theme (Showcase):

• Courtroom Presentations
• Modern Touch

More Information On Coldstone From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Coldstone

Puretype WordPress Theme

Puretype Theme Features:

• Three unique colors: Default, Blue, or Black
• Featured articles display*
• Advertising management
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options

Example Sites Using The Puretype Theme (Showcase):

• NYC Posts
• GeekCast

More Information On Puretype From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Puretype

Basic WordPress Theme

Basic Theme Features:

• Four unique color schemes: Red, Blue, Green, or Purple
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management

Example Sites Using The Basic Theme (Showcase):

• Wactivist
• Home School Cafe

More Information On Basic From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Basic

Cherrytruffle WordPress Theme

Cherrytruffle Theme Features:

• Three unique colors: Default, Blue, or Purple
• Automated thumbnail resizing*
• Advertising management*
• Optional blog-style post layout*
• In-depth theme options*

Example Sites Using The Cherrytruffle Theme (Showcase):

• As A Star

More Information On Cherrytruffle From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Cherrytruffle

Lightsource WordPress Theme

Lightsource Theme Features:

• Lifestream integration*
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Three unique color schemes: Purple, Blue, or Green
• Featured articles display
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options

Example Site Using The Lightsource Theme (Showcase):

• Forties Fun

More Information On Lightsource From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Lightsource

eGamer WordPress Theme

eGamer Theme Features:

• Author rating system*
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Featured articles display
• Video integration*
• Four unique color schemes: Rust-Red, Blue, Green, or Purple
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options

Example Sites Using The eGamer Theme (Showcase):

• Player Wild
• Kouppa-NetworkLive

More Information On eGamer From Elegant Themes:

• Demo eGamer

eVid WordPress Theme

eVid Theme Features:

• Video Integration
• Featured articles display
• Advertising management
• Custom video interface *
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options

Example Sites Using The eVid Theme (Showcase):

• Nima Shams Composer
• Season In The Balance

More Information On eVid From Elegant Themes:

• Demo eVid

Cion WordPress Theme

Cion Theme Features:

• Three unique color schemes: Purple, Blue, or Green
• About me section *
• Advertising management
• Featured articles display
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options

Example Site Using The Cion Theme (Showcase):

• Billie Raven

More Information On Cion From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Cion

eGallery WordPress Theme

eGallery Theme Features:

• Three unique color schemes: Blue, Brown, or Monochrome
• Post ratings integration*
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Unique gallery display format*
• Featured articles display
• Built-in lightbox*
• In-depth theme options

Example Sites Using The eGallery Theme (Showcase):

• Life Of DJ
• Gotham Glassworks

More Information On eGallery From Elegant Themes:

• Demo eGallery

Grungemag WordPress Theme

Grungemag Theme Features:

• Three unique color schemes: Red, Blue, or Green
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options
• Featured articles display
• Advertising management

Example Sites Using The Grungemag Theme (Showcase):

• Cathryn Gray
• Foreign Language Mastery
• The Malaysia Page

More Information On Grungemag From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Grungemag

Influx WordPress Theme

Influx Theme Features:

• Four unique background designs: Default, Grunge, Subtelty, and Oceanic
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Featured articles display
• In-depth theme options

Example Site Using The Influx Theme (Showcase):

• About Rob Thomas

More Information On Influx From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Influx

Studioblue WordPress Theme

Studioblue Theme Features:

• Five unique color schemes: Blue, Brown, Green, Black, or Pink (hey, ladies)
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management
• Featured articles display
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options

Example Sites Using The Studioblue Theme (Showcase):

• Ammunition Storage
• PrairieFire Productions
• In The Agora

More Information On StudioBlue From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Studioblue

Who’sWho WordPress Theme

Who’sWho Theme Features:

• Four unique color schemes: Blue, Red, Green, and Purple
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management
• Featured articles display
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options

Example Sites Using The Who’sWho Theme (Showcase):

• Sweet Fuzz
• On This Island
• Mamun Ahmed

More Information On Who’sWho From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Who’sWho

Interphase WordPress Theme

Interphase Theme Features:

• Clean design with a “cutting edge” feel
• Advertising management
• In-depth theme options

Example Sites Using The Interphase Theme (Showcase):

• Out Of Work Chicago
• Markos Rigakis
• Mitch Hewer

More Information On Interphase From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Interphase

Wooden WordPress Theme

Wooden Theme Features:

• Unique, down to earth design
• In-depth theme options

Example Site Using The Wooden Theme (Showcase):

• Gun And Game

More Information On Wooden From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Wooden

Tidalforce WordPress Theme

Tidalforce Theme Features:

• Smooth blue design packed full of features
• In-depth theme options

More Information On Tidalforce From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Tidalforce

Artsee WordPress Theme

Artsee Theme Features:

• A truly “artsy” design for those who love simplicity and elegance
• In-depth theme options

Example Site Using The Artsee Theme (Showcase):

• My Evil Blog

More Information On Artsee From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Artsee

Earthlytouch WordPress Theme

Earthlytouch Theme Features:

• Five unique color schemes: Blue, Green, Purple, or Red
• Featured articles display
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management

Example Site Using The Earthlytouch Theme (Showcase):

• View From My Seats

More Information On Earthlytouch From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Earthlytouch

Quadro WordPress Theme

Quadro Theme Features:

• Five unique color schemes: Red, Purple, Green, Pink, or Blue
• Optional blog-style post layout
• Advertising management
• Featured articles display
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options

Example Site Using The Quadro Theme (Showcase):

• Rocket Spanish Review
• Tech Assist Tutorials, Resources and Expertise

More Information On Quadro From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Quadro

Simplism WordPress Theme

Simplism Theme Features:

• Five unique color schemes: Blue, Green, Purple, or Red
• Featured articles display
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• In-depth theme options
• Optional blog-style post layout

Example Site Using The Simplism Theme (Showcase):

• Museum Insider

More Information on Simplism from Elegant Themes:

• Demo Simplism

Bluemist WordPress Theme

Bluemist Theme Features:

• For those looking for a smooth design
• In-depth theme options

Example Site Using The Bluemist Theme (Showcase):

• Pamela’s Grant Writing Blog

More Information On Bluemist from Elegant Themes:

• Demo Bluemist

Bluesky WordPress Theme

Bluesky Theme Features:

• The original theme from Elegant Themes
• Four unique color schemes: Blue, Red, Green, or Purple
• Automated thumbnail resizing
• Optional blog-style post layout
• In-depth theme options

More Information On Bluesky From Elegant Themes:

• Demo Bluesky

Elegant Themes Standard Features

Throughout the list of premium wordpress themes, you may have noticed an * next to a certain feature. Certain features are theme specific and others are used in all of them. Before we explain what each * feature is, we want to share what’s standard and included with ALL premium themes from ElegantThemes:

Widget ready sidebars

Theme options page

Custom thumbnail images

PSD Files

Valid XHTML + CSS

Smooth tabless design

Sitewise search bar

Gravatar ready

Firefox compatible

IE8 + IE7 + IE6 compatible

Opera compatible

Netscape compatible

Safari compatible

WordPress 2.9+ compatible

Elegant Themes (*) Features Explained

Throughout the list of premium wordpress themes, you may have noticed an * next to a certain feature. We * a feature the first time it appears although other themes may include the feature as well. Below you will find a brief description of each * feature:

Automated Thumbnail Resizing

This utilizes timthumb to automatically resize your thumbnail images. Because of this, only one thumbnail images is required per post, despite the various thumbnail sizes used in the theme.

Themes With This Feature: CherryTruffle, PureType, Basic, Coldstone, Lightsource, eGamer, eVid, Cion, eGallery, GrungeMag, Influx, Studioblue, Who’sWho, EarthlyTouch, Quadro, Simplism, Bluesky, eBusiness, eNews, Bold, Glow, Lumin, Deviant, OnTheGo, Business Card, MyProduct, MyResume, Minimal, 13th Floor, Polished, The Corporation

Advertising Management

With this feature you can place 125×125 banner images in your sidebar and 468×60 ads to your post pages with ease. Can be turned off.

Themes With This Feature: CherryTruffle, PureType, Basic, Coldstone, eVid, Cion, GrungeMag, Studioblue, Who’sWho, EarthlyTouch, Quadro, eBusiness, eNews, Bold, Glow, Lumin, Deviant, OnTheGo, MyProduct, Minimal, 13th Floor, Polished, The Corporation

In-Depth Theme Options

All ElegantThemes themes come with an options page that features a long list of settings that makes managing the theme as user-friendly (and easy) as possible.

Themes With This Feature: All

Optional Blog-Style Post Layout

If you would rather not use the abbreviated post structure you can opt for the optional blog-style layout. When enabled, your posts will be displayed in full like a traditional blog.

Themes With This Feature: CherryTruffle, PureType, Basic, Lightsource, eGamer, Studioblue, Who’sWho, EarthlyTouch, Quadro, Simplism, Bluesky, eBusiness, eNews, Bold, Glow, Lumin, Deviant, OnTheGo

Featured Articles Display

With the featured articles display you can choose to feature your favorite posts in a prominent space on the homepage. There are several customization options as well.

Themes With This Feature: PureType, Coldstone, Lightsource, eGamer, eVid, Cion, eGallery, GrungeMag, Influx, Studioblue, Who’sWho, EarthlyTouch, Quadro, Simplism, eNews, Bold

Three Unique Post Layouts

Coldstone contains three unique post layouts. The default (Business), as well as Blog-style (which displays full-length posts) and Magazine-style.

Themes With This Feature: Coldstone

Three Widget Ready Areas

Coldstone also contains three widget-ready areas. The Business-style homepage has it’s own unique sidebar, and the footer is also widget ready.

Themes With This Feature: Coldstone

Lifestream Integration

Want the best lifestream wordpress theme? A lifestream is a great way to connect your blog with your other social media outlets, and Lightsource is the theme you want! Several color options.

Themes With This Feature: Lightsource

Author Rating System

eGamer allows you to assign ratings to each post you make. These ratings appear on the post page in a 0-5 star format. Your search for the best wordpress rating theme is over!

Themes With This Feature: eGamer

Video Integration

When you make a post you can choose to embed a video from video websites such as yahoo and others. This is a top rated video wordpress theme for all you vloggers.

Themes With This Feature: eGamer, eVid

Custom Video Interface

Videos are embedded into a unique javascript-power interface with various blogger-friendly features including easy social bookmarking, video rating, sharing, linking, backlighting and more.

Themes With This Feature: eVid

About Me Section

Cion is geared towards more personal-style blogs. For this reason, there’s an included “about me” section on the homepage which can be altered from within the theme’s options menu.

Themes With This Feature: Cion

Post Ratings Integration

Built to be with compatible with wp post ratings (a rating plugin for wordpress), ratings are displayed on post pages, as well as within a javascript powered interface on all index pages.

Themes With This Feature: eGallery

Unique Gallery Display Format

eGallery has been customized to transform your blog into a gallery. Posts are displayed in a gallery-format inside a design that was built to draw focus to images rather than text.

Themes With This Feature: eGallery

Built-In Lightbox

eGallery also comes with a built-in lightweight lightbox for all gallery images. Thumbnails on post-pages can be clicked to reveal a lightbox enhanced full view of the source image.

Themes With This Feature: eGallery

Integrated Blog Section

Interested in using your website as a true “website” with an added blog section? You can do this with ePhoto (and other WordPress Themes from Elegant Themes).

Themes With This Feature: ePhoto

Gallery Layout Display

Create a separate gallery section on your site with this Gallery Layout Display from Elegant Themes. Currently Lumin is the only theme that supports this feature, but I am sure it will be integrated into future themes (note: other themes have a featured section, this is more specific to showcasing a profile or artwork).

Themes With This Feature: Lumin

Complete Localization

Using the theme’s MO and PO files, you can quickly translate the design without having to hunt through the theme’s PHP files to change each word.

Themes With This Feature: Virtually all of them

Elegant Themes Review Final Thoughts

OK, if you made it this far, you know what you need to do. ElegantThemes is the best deal in premium wordpress themes hands down! No other wordpress source has so many high quality, highly customizable premium wordpress themes for such a ridiculously low price.

I’ve been a proud member for almost a year and couldn’t be happier with what I’ve received for 20 bucks! If you’re serious about finding the best looking premium wordpress themes (at a truly unbelievable price), give Nick Roach’s Elegant Themes a try. You’ll be glad you did!

Note: If you are the owner of a site we listed in the Elegant Theme Showcase and would like us to link directly to a certain page of your site, please feel free to contact us, and we’ll be happy to oblige.

The first step is to create a localized site for the French market. Besides doing your research into the French mp3 market and what bands or producers you’ll need to feature, you’ll also want to do research into popular French websites in general. What’s popular, minimalist design or lots of shiny Flash animation? What colour schemes are prevalent? Is there a lot of copy or are the pages mostly text-free? What navigation tools do the other sites use? Use this research to build a profile of your average French music-downloader and then tailor the design and aesthetic of your site towards this profile.

Then comes the most important step – getting your copy correct. It goes without saying that you’re going to need a professional translator (working into their own native language) to turn your English copy into impeccable French, but it’s worth also getting a French copywriter to then check that copy and ensure that you’ve got the tone, style and slang absolutely correct for your audience. Consider the case of General Motors, who launched the Buick LaCrosse in Canada in 2003, then quickly had to withdraw it and find a new name, unaware as they were before launching the car that ‘la crosse’ is a popular slang term in French-speaking Quebec for, ahem…self-pleasure.

Embarrassing branding blunders aside, online consumers are savvy, and if they spot a phony – whether it’s through misused terminology, a misspelling or a false note in the tone – then that’s a customer you’ve lost. This applies to any language and cultural group, but especially so for ‘High Context’ cultures, such as Asian or Middle Eastern cultures, where much of communication is implicit and social interactions are governed by unspoken but mutually understood rules. The potential for causing offence with poorly considered copy is high, so making sure that your copy is absolutely word perfect and cultural appropriate for its target audience – before going online – is an essential step to success.

The next step to success, once you have those customers, is keeping them – being able to speak to your customers in their language at the outset is no good if you can’t then offer customer support in their language as well. The key steps to effective customer support are making sure your support team are quickly and easily accessible, making sure that any client issues or queries are quickly, effectively and truthfully dealt with, following up with the clients after fixing issues and then having clients provide feedback to measure the effectiveness of your support system and making changes, as necessary.

Obviously, unless you’re already bringing in massive profits, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to afford a dedicated customer support call-centre for each specific language group. There are some simple strategies you can employ, though, such as hiring a full-time translator or maintaining regular working relationships with a team of freelance translators to field incoming and outgoing emails, as well as translating and checking the copy for your online marketing tools including newsletters, tweets, and all other business to business and business to customer communications. It’s also a good idea to think through the range of potential queries or situations that will arise and then have a series of FAQs and template emails written and translated, so that the majority of basic issues and queries can be dealt with automatically.

Finally, consider the peculiarities of customer support services in the specific market. In the case of an mp3 download site for the French market, for instance, the customer demographic is likely to be young and tech-savvy, and also impatient – in this scenario a good option is to provide customer support via an instant social media tool such as Twitter.

Customers with queries or complaints can then seek help directly from the company and receive feedback almost immediately – in this scenario the downside is that criticism will be exposed to the entire client base, but it also means a boost to your reputation as an honest and open company.

Running your customer support service via instant messaging and social media would necessitate hiring a full-time language specialist, but would be less extravagant than running a language-specific call centre, as you would likely require if you were an international electronics company or a bank.

Your third option is to field all issues and queries via email, which would allow your company to keep a team of freelance translators on stand-by to deal with email problems as and when they came up. Either way, the key to a successful expansion into a foreign language market is to offer a specialized service in their language – if you speak to a customer on their level, then it’s likely they’ll listen.

About the author

Christian Arno is founder and Managing Director of translation and localization company Lingo24. With operations spanning three continents and clients in over sixty countries, Lingo24 achieved a turnover of $6m USD in 2009. Follow Christian on Twitter: @Lingo24Chr

I wanted to let you know about a site that has quickly become one of my favorites to visit. It’s one of those sites that once you know about it, you find yourself going back to it every day (or sometimes even a couple times per day) just to see what’s new.

In mid-2008 I stumbled across Theme Forest for the first time while searching for the best wordpress themes. At first I wasn’t that impressed, but I remember not spending very much time investigating just what this “Theme Forest” was. We all know there are a never ending supply of free and premium WordPress Themes online today, and at first glance this seemed to be just another choice in the virtually endless sources of WordPress wares.

Well fast forward almost 2 years, and let me tell you about the Theme Forest of 2010.

Theme Forest In 2010

Theme Forest is a marketplace in the Envato network that is specifically for WordPress Themes and HTML Templates. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering just where you could find high quality WordPress themes or website templates, Theme Forest was created just for you.

There are many of these so-called “marketplaces” for just about every type of product or service you may need when doing business online, but I’d like to explain why Theme Forest is different and why they have become the first place I turn for just about everything I need to run one of my many websites.

The Theme Forest Difference

Simply put, they are a destination for WordPress and web developers to list their themes and website templates to people just like you and me. The reason this is so powerful is because it totally goes against the “norm” when it comes to purchasing a WordPress theme or html template.

Typically, you go to Company A’s website where they offer Product 1, 2, and 3. You can buy their work and their work only.

Now imagine if you had the opportunity to brows the work of hundreds and thousands of different web developers? Imagine if you could preview any website, template, or theme before you pruchased it? Imagine if you could read the comments from others who have purchased it, see which themes or templates are most popular, and even rate the work for even more transparency?

This is exactly what you get with ThemeForest, but there is so much more…

Not only can you browse, purchase, and interact with thousands of developers and customers from across the globe, you also have the chance to sell you themes and templates to a dedicated and growing community.

As proof to how large and powerful this community has become, in February 2010, ThemeForest’s top author (handle: Kriesi) just surpassed the $250,000 mark for sales of his WordPress Themes and files.

That is no small feat, but I have no doubt it will soon be broken by one of the thousands of other members contributing to this community on a daily basis.

The Best Part About Theme Forest

But do you want to know what I love the absolute most about Theme Forest?

Envato (the company behind Theme Forest) has not only built the best marketplace for WordPress Themes and HTML Templates, they have created similar marketplaces for video files, pre-built coding solutions, web graphics, and flash files just to name a few.

Imagine being able to have just one account that let’s you buy and sell everything from stock audio to fully developed web templates that are both HIGHLY professional, focused on web standards and usability, and at absolutely rock-bottom prices!

Theme Forest closely examines each theme or template uploaded to the marketplace to ensure that only quality authors with quality products can list their work.

As the end user, you have the ability to quickly and easily access just about everything you need to run a website from a network of developers, coders, artists, and audio experts…and you can do it all from one account!

It is completely free to setup an account with Theme Forest, and this one account can be used to browse all of the other sites in the Envato Marketplace.

The Bottom Line: I’ve been doing business online for over 5 years now. Rarely have I been so impressed with a product that within a matter of a few weeks I can’t imagine doing business without it. This is just the type of marketplace Envato has created and one you simply can’t afford to miss.

If you are looking for professional, high-end products for your website at beyond reasonable prices, I encourage you to head over to ThemeForest and see for yourself first-hand. Visit Theme Forest.

We all know there is site after site touting theme after theme, and because I didn’t want this to be a “me too” type post where I just copy information from another blog, I have intentionally narrowed down this list to bring you what I think are some of the Best WordPress Themes for 2010.

Throughout the year, I will continue to update this list as new themes/marketplaces come on the scene, but for those of you looking for several of the best looking wordpress themes now, I KNOW you will find one or two on this targeted list.

Free WordPress Themes

WooThemes is at the top of my list this year. I’ve picked apart several free wordpress themes from several different companies, and from a “complete package” standpoint (out-of-the-box seo, design, and attention to the details), the free wordpress themes from Woo are some of the best I’ve seen.

While I’m sure you are no stranger to WooThemes if you’ve spent any amount of time researching WordPress Themes, they continue to be the front of the pack for a reason. Below you will find all of their free themes with links to view and download.

Bueno Theme from WooThemes: Demo | Download |

Rockstar Theme from WooThemes: Demo | Download |

Mainstream Theme from WooThemes: Demo | Download |

Metamorphosis Theme from WooThemes: Demo | Download |

Irresistible Theme from WooThemes: Demo | Download |

BlogTheme from WooThemes: Demo | Download |

TypeBased Theme from WooThemes: Demo | Download |

Snapshot Theme from WooThemes: Demo | Download |

PremiumNews Theme from WooThemes: Demo | Download |

Freemium: Here is a nice looking free Theme from FreebiesDock.com | Download

Simplista: The free WordPress Theme from WPNow.com | Download

Best Free WordPress Theme Sites

WP Theme Designer has dozens and dozens of high-quality free WordPress Themes.

If you are looking for a more artsy, graphically designed, and just all-around uniquely styled WordPress Theme, you will definitely want to check out EZ WP Themes. Not only do they release 5-10 new free themes each month, the look of their designs set them apart from the “typical” theme design.

BlogOHBlog continues to be a great place for Free WordPress Themes even in 2010. I have personally hired Jai (the owner) to do some WordPress customization work, and if you are looking for someone who really knows WordPress inside and out, he’s definitely one you should consider (he can be hard to get a hold of sometimes, but he has always done good work). Even if you don’t use him for custom WordPress work, you should at least check out his popular Free WordPress Themes.

New WP Themes was “new” to me, but boy was I impressed. Not only do they release a free, new WordPress Theme almost every day, the designs they come up with look pretty professional. Some of the sites that release themes that often lack the “wow” factor because they are just focused on volume. New WP Themes seems to have found a good balance between high volume releases and nice looking designs.

Best Premium WordPress Themes

Let’s face it: when things are free, you often get what you pay for. While there are a LOT of resources for high quality Free WordPress Themes listed above (the best in my opinion), sometimes it’s hard to know which of the Premium WordPress Theme sites are worth the investment. Here are my 3 favorites…

Number 3: WooThemes

WooThemes not only releases some of the Best Free WordPress Themes, they are also one of my favorite places for Premium WordPress Themes. I have bought a lot of themes from Woo, and if you are in the market for a top-notch premium theme, you should definitely check out their offering. It’s one of the best!

Number 2: ElegantThemes

It was a tough decision between this and my top recommendation, so let me start off by saying this: If you are even thinking about purchasing a premium them, I would sign up for Nick Roach’s Elegant Themes Membership Club. For $39/year you get access to all of his custom designs.

They are not only some of the most high quality Premium WordPress Themes of 2010, they come at the absolute cheapest price I have seen anywhere! This is one example where you as the customer get the better end of the bargain. While most individual premium themes cost $40-$100…for a fraction of that, you can download ALL of the premium themes from ElegantThemes. I am personally a member, and I couldn’t be happier.

P.S. If you’d like a more in-depth review of Elegant Themes, be sure to check out my detailed Elegant Themes Review.

Number 1: ThemeForest

Let me tell you why I ended up picking Theme Forest as the Number 1 destination for Premium WordPress Themes in 2010. About 6 months ago, I stumbled across a site called Audio Jungle where you could buy stock audio and sound clips. I had been looking for a marketplace like this for sometime, and was happy to discover that not only could you purchase stock audio, you could visit one of the many other sites in the Envato Marketplace and purchase things like graphics, pre-coded software and solutions, video, flash, and…you guessed it…Wordpress Themes.

Now the reason this is so powerful is because this is really the only “marketplace” where WordPress developers can come together and release their work to the public, giving us as consumers the chance to sort through hundreds and thousands of different themes. There is no place on the web with a more diverse range of high-quality Premium WordPress Themes at such great prices.

FURTHERMORE…when you create your free account at ThemeForest, it can be used at any of the sites on the Envato Marketplace. Now you can not only buy audio, video, code, themes and more, you can do it all in ONE place, with ONE account (you can even sell your own work on the marketplace and earn money).

The bottom line: Visit Theme Forest, setup your own account, browse the different marketplaces they have created, and I’m sure you will quickly grow to love the Envato sites as much as I do. They are the first place I turn for all things “web” related, and they are my top pick for Premium WordPress Themes in 2010.

After a lot of thought on this topic, my conclusion was fairly simple: you’re a wuss and it’s costing you. Here are 3 things you can do to stop being a wuss and start making money.

Forget The Fear of Failure…It’s A Myth

This is a very real feeling, no doubt. But SO WHAT? Nobody WANTS to fail. Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, “Today is the day I fail!” That’s ludicrous. Instead, as intelligent beings, we are much more sly with how we manifest this fear. You see, it would be too simple for us to just admit we’re fearful, address the feeling, and move on. No that won’t work for us. We have to attribute our fears to others, an experience, or a reality we face that is the REASON we can’t do something. It might go something like this:

Sure that guy can make money, he’s got _______, and _______ going for him. Not only that, he’s been doing it for ______ years. Furthermore, he probably doesn’t have the responsibilities of ______ and ______ and ______ like I do.

Have you ever had a conversation with yourself that resembles those statements in any way, shape, or form? Do you see what you’re doing by making those statements? You’re setting yourself so low that before you even start something, you’ve talked your self out of it.

Here’s a better way to deal with fear of failure.

Sit down, and make a list of the top 3-5 things you are MOST fearful about regarding your new endevour, project, or business. Be real with yourself, don’t let that manipulative self take over and write the halmark version of what your fearing. Be REALISTIC. Be HONEST. Be SPECIFIC. Once you have a list ask yourself these questions.

1. If I was counseling someone else with the same fear, how likely would I tell them the chance of that actually happening was?
2. If this fear does come to pass will it cost me my family, all my savings, or my life?
3. If I didn’t have this fear, would I feel capable to pursue this project?

Most often, when you ask yourself the tough questions, you’re able to see that the actual thing you fear is something completely different than you may think. That fear of failure may be more a matter of your feeling inadequate, incapable, like you just don’t have what it takes (because remember, NOBODY WANTS TO FAIL). The point of this exercise is to identify the real reason we continue to fail before we begin. Are you willing to go there with yourself? Are you open to asking the tough questions? Are you willing to squelch the inner wuss so you can move forward with confidence?

Play To Your Strengths, Manage Where Your Weak

This ties in so well with the fear of failure myth. I’m not a PhD, and I’m not attempting to be one, but perhaps the reason we are so good at failing is because we spend so much time trying to improve our weaknesses that we forget to spend time on our strengths.

It’s human nature. We’re taught that weakness is bad. We’re told that we need to work on it, be better at it, just NOT do it.

While that may be well intentioned advice, it’s completely backwards if you ask me. Instead of spending so much time getting better at where your weak (and remember, I’m talking in the business world), spend 90% of your time playing to your strengths and hire out where you’re weak.

Maybe you’re great at writing salescopy but suck at web design. Maybe you’re unbelievable at customer support but horrible at vision casting. No matter the comparison, identify where you’re strong, identify a business that plays to those strengths, then manage your weakness (by hiring someone else). This has probably been one of the most valuable lessons to me personally.

Set SMALL Goals

Don’t be the, “I want to make $50,000/month this month,” guy or gal.

I can GUARANTEE you it won’t happen. If you’re trying to go from $0 to some huge number in NO time, let me save you the frustration and tell you the truth: it ain’t gonna happen.

Now instead, why not focus on something like this.

If $50,000/month is your ultimate goal (you can fill in whatever number that is), then take what you ultimately want and work backwards. $50,000/month is about $1667/day, $69/hour, $1.16/minute.

Next, identify something IN that goal as your FIRST goal. Meaning, take $1667/day and make that your first monthly income goal. $1667/month is $55.57/day, $2.32/hour, 4 cents/minute. That is a much more reasonable place to start, but it also does something sneaky to your brain: it helps you achieve part of your bigger goal, establishing success, and motivating you to the next level. Does that make sense? By establishing a small but measurable success in your bigger goal, you establish momentum and the sense of ability to go to the next level. You’ve accomplished something. You’ve achieved it. In your mind, you now know it can be done.

If you’re a planner by nature, this will be a valuable little nugget. Always be mindful of the bigger goal, but don’t spend so much of your energy trying to go from sea level to the summit of Everest when you haven’t even conquered getting to base camp.

So forget fear of failure and identify the real reasons you’re not pursuing what you want, play to your strengths/hire where you’re weak, and set small goals that are stepping stones to your biggest goal. Don’t be a wuss, and don’t let it cost you anymore!

I don’t know about you, but I appreciate the details site owners take when creating and releasing content. Anyone can write text, almost anyone can add an image, and fewer yet can embed a video. You’re going to be leaps and bonds ahead of everyone if you actually embed a video IN an image. Whether you want to brand video with your logo, incorporate a design element, or do any number of other things, this is a great trick to know (and we’ve tailored it to WordPress).

It’s important to remember that when you add content to your site, do it in a way that makes your brand stand out from the “norm” in your industry or profession. More specifically, take the time to add as many unique features to your material, website, or blog so people notice right away that there is something “different” about your site. The internet is full of “me too” bloggers who rehash the same information you can find on countless other websites or blogs. Beyond just finding your online voice, this is about setting yourself apart because you think to take care of the details (however small they may be…they still matter).

Adding Embed Video Code to an Image in WordPress

A few weeks ago, I was working on a site for my 19 month old little boy, and I wanted to find a way to include a video we had taken into a picture. I searched online and found this great video tutorial on adding embed video code to an image. Watch it first, then come back here.

The Finished Product

Let’s Look At The Code

Once the html page is created, there is a slight modification you have to make to the code in order for it to look right in WordPress. Below is the code generated from Dreamweaver. This is what you would upload to a website (not run on WordPress) to have the video embedded on an image.

<br /> <html><br /> <head></p> <p><meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=iso-8859-1″><br /> </head><br /> <body bgcolor=”#FFFFFF” leftmargin=”0″ topmargin=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″><br /> <!– Save for Web Slices (embedexample.png) –></p> <table id=”Table_01″ width=”600″ height=”600″ border=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″> <tr> <td colspan=”3″> <img src=”images/embedexample_01.gif” mce_src=”images/embedexample_01.gif” width=”600″ height=”103″ alt=”"></td> </tr> <tr> <td> <img src=”images/embedexample_02.gif” mce_src=”images/embedexample_02.gif” width=”101″ height=”295″ alt=”"></td> <td> <span class=”mceItemObject” width=”400″ height=”295″><span name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” class=”mceItemParam”></span><span name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” class=”mceItemParam”></span><span name=”movie” value=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1297050&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1″ class=”mceItemParam”></span><span class=”mceItemEmbed” src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1297050&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1″ mce_src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1297050&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” width=”400″ height=”295″></span></span></td> <td> <img src=”images/embedexample_04.gif” mce_src=”images/embedexample_04.gif” width=”99″ height=”295″ alt=”"></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan=”3″> <img src=”images/embedexample_05.jpg” mce_src=”images/embedexample_05.jpg” width=”600″ height=”202″ alt=”"></td> </tr> </table> <p><!– End Save for Web Slices –><br /> </body><br /> </html><br />

With WordPress however, I found that I needed to merge the tables (slices) 2-4 into one table. Here is the code I used to get the embed video on the black BlogEx video image you see above.

</p> <div> <table id=”Table_01″ style=”height: 600px;” border=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ width=”600″> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan=”3″><img src=”images/embedexample_01.gif” mce_src=”images/embedexample_01.gif” alt=”" width=”600″ height=”103″ /></td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src=”images/embedexample_02.gif” mce_src=”images/embedexample_02.gif” alt=”" width=”101″ height=”295″ /><span class=”mceItemObject” classid=”clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000″ width=”400″ height=”295″ codebase=”http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0″><span name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” class=”mceItemParam”></span><span name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” class=”mceItemParam”></span><span name=”src” value=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1297050&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1″ class=”mceItemParam”></span><span class=”mceItemEmbed” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”400″ height=”295″ src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1297050&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1″ mce_src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1297050&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1″ allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true”></span></span><img src=”images/embedexample_04.gif” mce_src=”images/embedexample_04.gif” alt=”" width=”99″ height=”295″ /></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan=”3″><img src=”images/embedexample_05.jpg” mce_src=”images/embedexample_05.jpg” alt=”" width=”600″ height=”202″ /></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <p>

You only need the table data from the html page Dreamweaver created for you when publishing to WordPress. If you try to upload the html file just as Dreamweaver created it it won’t look right. Because remember, they created an entire html page, while with WordPress, we are just wanting to include it IN a page or post. Again, it’s all spelled out in the code above, so feel free to reference that as needed.