Archive for November, 2008

Why is Search Engine Optimization Important?

Nov 4, 2008 Search Engine Optimization

There are many considerations an investor has to take cognizance of prior to starting a business. One of the main concerns is how to put your company or business in the limelight – this is highly important as for you to sell your product or service, people have to know that you exist somewhere. How can you ever expect the customer to visit your site if they do not know it even exists? Using radio, television, and newspaper and mailing advertisements are what brick and mortar establishments use in the physical world.

How would tourists and transients in your city know you have a business that they might have a need for if they have not received any of your advertisements? Even they are potential customers, so what would you do? Having street signs and maybe billboards are the answer. Putting up signs can act as a beacon for customers to know how to get to where you are and what you offer. Driving down the highway, you see signs all over. Bigger signs get more attention.

In the internet market or e-commerce world, search engine optimization works the same way and takes the place of real-world advertising. Being noticeable is what you need. Figuratively speaking, you will need the best and the biggest sign to be noticeable so that even the traffic that just passes by would notice you. To get you the customers, your use of words to describe your site and its content are big factors that need careful planning and strategy.

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Popularity: 52% [?]

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Search Engine Optimization Basics

Nov 4, 2008 Search Engine Optimization

Have you ever paid attention when you see a group of people standing in line, waiting to see a superstar? Have you paid any attention to the crowd’s behavior? Do you wonder why whenever you see prominent public figures they are always being mobbed by photographers and news reporters? DO you see the common denominator of all of the above scenarios?

In all of the above scenarios, massive crowds of people fight to get in front where they could be seen or heard by the person of their concern. Although most people would rather avoid the melee of the chaotic environment with all the pushing, shoving and yelling – some people do not because it is their job to compete for the attention of the movie star, the prominent politician or the public figure. Those who get in front have the most chance of getting heard, they are the ones who will get their efforts rewarded – with an interview, the perfect picture or an answer to their question.

The situation is no different to what internet marketers call Search Engine Optimization – it’s all about competition, trying to get ahead of the competition in order to get in first. In any undertaking, competition is not only a struggle for survival but also dominance and control. Although there may be a few who would be contented to just get by, there are always those people who want to be the best at what they do and who are willing to do everything they can to succeed. This is the concept of SEO, its very heart and soul.

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Popularity: 64% [?]

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TechBlue Adsense-Ready Theme

Nov 3, 2008 WordPress

A couple of months back, I released some themes that had gained fairly enough downloads from the WordPress community.  Due to busy schedule, I have not had the time to create some theme until recently when I thought of giving it a try again.

So I am releasing another theme I called TechBlue Adsense-Ready Theme.  By its name, it’s an adsense-ready WordPress theme that’s perfect for tech and other related blogs.  You can also use it on any other blogs.  It is widget-ready, has fixed-width, and three-columns.

Screenshot:



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Download from the WordPress Theme Viewer

Popularity: 100% [?]

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Premium Wordpress Themes

Nov 2, 2008 Blogs, RSS and Podcasting

Summary of Wordpress Premium Themes

There seems to be a growing demand for higher quality themes for WordPress. Whether to choose a Premium theme or a Free theme is sometimes a difficult choice. Some free themes are really top notch so depending on what your needs are there may be no need for you to purchase a Premium theme. But, there are more and more high quality (and some unfortunately low quality) premium themes as well.

There are usually three types of Premium themes available - single site, multiple site and developer license, although some sites just have either single site or developer licenses. In most cases you would normally go for the multiple license unless you are certain you will only use the theme for one site. If you are a developer, obviously you would want to choose the developer’s license.

One thing that has changed recently is Revolution going Open Source, so you can now download some of their Premium themes for free. But, you have to pay for support. This is probably a smart move as more people will try their themes out and realise they then need support. Hopefully this move will get rid of some of those people trying to make a quick buck by selling cheap and nasty generic Premium themes.

My current favourite theme is the one I use on this site, which is WP-VYBE. It has a lot of flexibility in the admin menu, great support and a great design.

Below is a description of some of the best Premium Themes that I have found. I’m constantly adding to this list so hopefully will be putting a few more up here soon.

1) WP-VYBE
No. of themes: 12
Pricing: $99 (single), $199 (multiple), $299 (developer). But there are cheaper themes from $49 up.
Type of themes: Magazine
Customization services: Possible through other developers.

Notes:Theme settings page in your Wordpress control pane, 2-column or 3-column layouts, 10 different color options, Gravatar integration, Optional banner ad integration, Optional built-in post thumbnails, Optional logo/header image integration via control panel, Built-in drop-down navigation for sub-categories and sub-pages, widgetized sidebars and alot more….

2) ARTHEMIA
No. of themes: 1 (but customization through admin panel is possible)
Pricing: $70 (1 site), $140 (5-site), $240 (developer’s pack)
Type of themes: online magazine, corporate, personal blog
Customization service: Nothing mentioned

Notes: Flexible theme admin panel, category colour assignment, auto-thumbnail old posts, banner and adsense management, show or hide headline spoilers, adsense friendly.

3) PRESS 75
No. of themes: 3
Pricing: $75 (single), $150 (mulit-site), $250 (developer’s license)
Type of theme: Video/TV themed
Customization service: None listed

Notes: Ability to post using videos from several sources including Blip, TV, Flickr, MetaCafe, MySpace, Veoh, Viddler, Vimeo and YouTube. You can separate the blog from the video and there is an embed code allowing others to embed videos on their site.

4) WOO THEMES
No. of themes: 10
Pricing: $70 (single) , $150 (multiple) for each theme
Type of themes: Business, CMS, Magazine/News, Personal blog, Portfolio
Customization services: none advertised.

Notes: Theme options backend, custom write panels (to make the addition of custom fields easier), same base backend for all themes.

5) ZIDALGO
No. of themes: 2
Pricing: $75 (singl), $249 (developer’s license)
Type of themes: News/Magazine
Customization services: None advertised

Notes: Google adsense, Widget, plugin ready, custom category search, author pages, 100% Valid XHTML/CSS, cross-browser tested.

6) MIMBO PRO
No. of themes: 1
Pricing: $99 (single), $199 (developer’s license)
Type of theme: Magazine
Customization services: none advertis

Popularity: 68% [?]

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