Archive for the ‘blog’ Category

Spice up your blog design with photo or graphic illustrations to enhance the look and value to readers. This blog illustration design tutorial shows how I did just that on my personal blog Growin’ Up in Maine on a recent blog post about a childhood story called First Plane Ride Ever.

Follow the link above to read the story and see the blog design illustration.

The finished Piper Cub plane illustration is shown larger than actual size as used on the blog post to make the tutorial easier for viewers to imagine how to combine elements into an illustration.

Here is the step by step plane illustration tutorial in 4 graphics marked A through D and explained below.

• Graphic A: Original Piper Cub photo from Wikimedia Commons prior to any crop or edit of markings
• Graphic B: Graphic elements including the plane cropped, text to be added, and alternate plane markings
• Graphic C: Crop of personal sky and fluffy cloud photo I took and chose as a replacement background
• Graphic D: Final illustration actual size 300×200 as used on the blog post for a more dramatic look

The original Piper Cub photo (A) was cropped to remove the background, and then (B) graphic elements for the illustration were created: plane (resized and different angle), text caption, and new plane markings “July 1957″. The photo (C) is an original that I took recently of a blue Florida sky and fluffy clouds used as a replacement background, and then (D) shows the finished illustration actual size. Edits were done using Xara Xtreme software.

The personal blog about Growin’ Up in Maine has over 100 childhood stories that feature a photo or graphic illustration on every post. While having a graphic for every post adds pressure to staying creative, even an interesting graphic on every other post is better than none. Perhaps this blog illustration design tutorial will help readers become inspired.

Recent completed web design work includes multiple cms and blog conversions done for the Mountridge LLC family of websites including: AdamsHomeownerServices.com, MainStreamMemorabilia.com, and AdamsFloridaServices.com.

Both Adams sites were converted from static pages to a custom cms content management system which allows the owner to add, edit, or delete content 24/7. The MainStream Memorabilia online store website was updated with a bolder look. All 3 Mountridge LLC websites include custom matching WordPress designs that were converted from Blogger.

Visit each blog for news or advice about products and services from the following links, and then use top navigation to view the matching look of their main websites.

Adams Homeowner Services handles Florida vacation or long term rental property, the MainStream Memorabilia e-commerce store offers movie and tv star autographed memorabilia, and Adams Florida Services specializes in residential or commercial Orlando area landscape and lawn service.

In anticipation of the production release of a stable version of WordPress v3.0 soon I registered a new domain and launched a WordPress live demo website earlier today. The initial design uses the pre-production WordPress v3.0 RC1 version (release candidate 1) introduced one week ago on May 28, 2010.

The following bonus extras included with a custom WordPress theme design from us in our standard package have been installed, tested, and passed functionality on the new demo website:

All in One SEO to optimize posts for search engines, Sociable to insert social site icons and links automatically on every post, WP dB Backup to automatically backup your WordPress installation plus email it to you, and finally SI CAPTCHA to place an anti-spam code and input box at the bottom of every post to help fight comment spam.

Follow this link to the new WordPress Road Test website that will eventually allow privileges for new customers to practice making WordPress posts and let them study advanced blog and cms tutorials. The site is not for v2.x or older WordPress installations. The May 2010 RC1 replaces the BETA version and is the next step towards release of a stable production version v3.0 of WordPress later in 2010.

Other than adding the plugins named above and a footer link to the WordPress design services on this site, the look and layout of the WordPress Road Test site use the default out of the box theme from WordPress v3.0 RC1. All that may change as the www.wpRoadTest.com site evolves.

A new video tutorial has been added to the main site. An advantage of owning a custom cms web design is you may add, edit, or delete content unassisted.

With a matching custom WordPress theme for your blog or podcast, you also have a comment spam magnet which prompted this WordPress anti-spam video tutorial.

Here’s an excerpt explaining results:

“Today’s tutorial using SI CAPTCHA solved my comment spam problem. The advice in this custom cms training video tutorial allowed me to reduce that 100 per day to zero instantly.”

Mini-review: The SI in SI CAPTCHA stands for Secure Image which is a spam solution I have used for years in custom cms web design. The WordPress plugin version uses many of the same files and was already proven to be an effective tool to fight spam robots from putting comment spam in contact forms, so it was an easy choice.

Watch the video to learn how you can download, install, and activate this WordPress anti-spam solution in less than 3 minutes! After making the video I used a stopwatch to time the installation on another blog and actual time from log-in to done was 1:23, yes 1 minute and 23 seconds.

A new custom WordPress design page addition was released earlier on the main site with details about WordPress design, setup, and installation services, plus extra bonus features for our clients.

The bonus content includes additional plugins with some of the best and highly rated options that are uploaded, installed, and activated. Here’s a summary quoting from the new Custom WordPress Design Services page:

All in One SEO to optimize posts for search engines, Sociable to insert social site icons and links automatically on every post, WP dB Backup to automatically backup your WordPress installation plus email it to you, and finally SI CAPTCHA to place an anti-spam code and input box at the bottom of every post to help fight comment spam.

Unlike off the shelf templates that are sold and resold to unlimited site owners, our custom blog designs are one-of-a-kind unique custom WordPress themes.

Contact us with any questions or to learn more about custom wordpress design services.

For clients interested in a custom cms web design with a matching custom WordPress blog, you may want to review the Custom WordPress Theme Portfolio.

This flash gallery presentation features 10 unique and one-of-a-kind custom WordPress blog themes with graphics linked to actual blogs. The flash gallery is inserted here for reference, also.

Each example custom WordPress theme is an integrated custom blog with graphics and navigation to match the main cms content management system web design. Use your back button to return to this review of the WordPress theme portfolio. View the examples then email us from any page with questions.

This entire website underwent a makeover recently with a cms redesign and blog conversion. I decided to stay with a similar beige color scheme to keep things familiar. The main site for custom cms web design, the custom cms websites advice blog, and the website design mailbag podcast were all redesigned. The advice blog and podcast were both converted from Blogger to WordPress, as well.

While a fresh look for this site is considered every 2-3 years, the blog format for the advice blog and podcast needed more immediate attention. Blogger announced a few months ago that they would no longer support ftp publishing of new blog posts effective May 1, 2010 which left some site owners wondering what to do.

I created custom WordPress blogs for several clients in the past, and one advantage of WordPress over Blogger is the open source software package that runs the blog is on the owner’s server. The real concern was for future changes in Blogger that would force some blog owners to redesign (again), so my advice to clients was moving from Blogger to WordPress to retain complete control over publishing.

In addition, I expanded the custom search engine (CSE) from Google to all pages in the top right sidebar of the main site, blog, and podcast. This advanced function allows visitors to search over 500 pages of content with advice for custom cms web design and related services.

Does your business involve visiting your clients to perform a service, install a product, or perform repair work? Consider your digital camera for WordPress blog ideas. A camera may be the perfect tool for collecting content for your website. From personal experience, many of my clients for custom cms web design with matching blogs need to invest more time in making blog posts. That camera may help.

My advice for creating new WordPress blog content is taking photographs. Before and after shots of the benefits of your product or service will make a great sales tool on your blog. Show prospects what you’ve done for customers. If you have techs or a repair staff, arm them with digital cameras to collect content, too.

Perhaps your business is all service providing intangibles like consultations, so you wonder if using photos makes sense. Consider a photo to illustrate the benefits showing you and the client in a meeting, and perhaps use the graphic for a testimonial. You might consider having them take a photo of you giving a presentation.

Maybe none of this seems appropriate for your business. Instead of photos, carry a notepad or voice recorder and take notes with as little as a simple phrase to remind you of a benefit or success that helped a customer. Use the real situation and write about it to show potential clients what you’ve done for others.

Ask your clients. You may find your happy customer would love to have their story told on your site, and maybe volunteer to have their photo accompany the blog post or testimonial. Make it easier for them. Take your camera for a ride.

Finally, online success does depend on adding original quality content often, so a cms web design or matching WordPress blog allows you to do just that, and easily. Add photos or graphics to keep your site more interesting.

Most SEO experts will state that it is difficult or next to impossible to achieve top search results getting free blogs on Google page one. However, sites on free hosting can make page one, and I feel that based on current lower costs to get online that top level domains are practical and preferred for personal websites. The real question of the day is can free blogs achieve Google page one?

The answer is ‘yes’. View the screenshot below (shown smaller than actual size) taken earlier today based on a visitor to one of my blogs. The search returned 3.7 million results for the phrase: Maine brook fishing. My personal blog of childhood stories entitled Growin’ Up in Maine is shown listed at #1 on page one.

SEO or search engine optimization is about quality content that returns relevent results in Google and the other major search engines. Obviously, the free blog of Maine stories has the content, credibility, and trust to be awarded the top spot on Google page one.

Another surprise search result for that blog was being #1 for the search phrase: cement lawn ducks. Granted, that search returns paid results above my free blog, yet most SEO experts will agree that the real goal and evidence of success is about being first in natural organic results.

While free blogs can make Google page one, my advice is buying a top level www domain. The Growin’ Up in Maine blog was a blog layout design experiment early in 2007 that I planned on scrapping. As it turns out nostalgia for the 1950′s and 60′s made the blog surprisingly popular with baby boomers and it got a reprieve. I suppose next I should take MY advice and put the Maine Stories on a paid domain, too.

For owners who have a Blogger blog design hosted on their server instead of Blogspot or a Blogger custom domain, the Blogger FTP publishing service to post and upload content to your server via FTP will cease on May 1, 2010.

If you have a blog that uses the Blogger platform, you should have received an email from the Blogger Team within the last 30 days announcing the date and reasons. The time to implement an action plan for Blogger blogs published to your server is NOW.

Google owns Blogger and explained that the small fraction of Blogger users who do publish via FTP does not justify the cost to maintain ongoing security to allow publishing to servers outside Blogger’s control. If you own a Blogger blog design hosted on your server, and you plan to continue being an active blogger, you MUST take action.

You still have two months to implement because the original deadline of March 26th in the announcement email was extended to May 1st. Act now. Plan now. Implement well before the deadline to avoid the risk of losing content.

This does NOT affect blog owners with free hosting on Blogspot who have a blog address like yourblogname.blogspot.com, or Blogger designs if you have a custom Blogger domain redirected to their servers.

If I designed your Blogger platform blog then you ARE publishing via FTP to your server and MUST take action. Here are the options to consider for affected blog owners:

1. If you choose to take no action you permanently lose the ability to add posts to your blog.
2. The most practical solution may be a technical setup moving to a Blogger custom domain.
3. An alternate solution is moving from a Blogger design to WordPress at significant cost.

NOTE: Other options may exist. The 3 presented are based on my experience and customer base.

Option 1 may be practical for blog owners who have not posted to their blog in 12 months, or more. Your blog most likely has zero ranking and if you have truly abandoned your blog, you could remove it or let it just sit. Do nothing and existing posts will remain on your server unless you remove them.

Option 2 is the most practical and perhaps cost effective solution for blog owners who want to remain active in publishing blog posts. The technical steps to move from your server to a blogger custom domain means redirecting existing pages to point to the Blogger server, and then future posts will go there automatically.

I do not plan on offering this one-time fix as a service. Instead, the following resources may be referenced when choosing to use the custom Blogger domain option. This means you may hire someone or choose do-it-yourself.

Information: http://blogger-ftp.blogspot.com/
FAQs: http://blogger-ftp.blogspot.com/p/faqs.html
Tutorial: http://www.newsome.org/2010/01/how-to-move…

NOTE: I am NOT offering this Option 2 conversion as a service because of the learning curve, limited time to act, and my choice of Option 3 to convert from Blogger to WordPress. I did not do an in-depth review of the above resources, so it may be more difficult than expected depending on your experience and circumstances.

My choice is Option 3 for the blogs I own. The “engine” that drives a blog consists of 100′s of custom programmed files that make the blog work properly including publishing posts, filing posts by month, or archiving them, and more. For Blogger designs this “engine” or blog platform resides on the Blogger server outside the control of the site owner.

WordPress platform designs begin by uploading their software “engine” to your server, so the security control does not require extreme measures because the system is allowing access by you to your server, not a third party server.

To convert a Blogger blog to WordPress requires a new template design, export of blog content from Blogger, conversion of that content compatible to WordPress, installation of the WordPress “engine” software and template on your server, import of converted content into WordPress, and finally file redirects of archives, tags and labels to WordPress format archives, tags and categories.

The move to WordPress is the most time consuming and costly choice. While taking control is a key advantage of WordPress, maintaining control was really the problem at Blogger. They share enough of their software engine to publish only, so to protect the security of people interacting with their server they will no longer permit FTP access.

The Blogger decision to cease support for publishing to an owner’s server via FTP was unforeseen, and certainly out of my control. A blog is still the easiest way to “add original quality content often”. That phrase is the essence of how websites succeed, so I will continue to promote and encourage my customers to be active blogging.

If you have questions or need help understanding your blog or an action plan, email me soon. The deadline is approaching quickly.