Building or Buying a Web Platform?

Do it Yourself?

I’ve spent much of the last few days working with many free WordPress themes for my new website. I was up all night tinkering with Gimp (this poor man’s version of Photoshop) attempting to add another image into a header banner photo. After hours of trying to figure it out I actually was able to add the second image.

My time has also been spent searching for plug-ins to add the capability necessary to have the site look like I’d prefer. Plug-ins are frustrating. After a simple install of the plug-in I’ve discovered several possible problems.

1.   The appearance isn’t what I hoped for.

2.   Many of the free plug-ins did not meet my expectations.

3.   The setup requires keys or details without an easy explanation of where to find the information to continue the setup.

4.   The setup is easy, but to get the full features I prefer, an upgraded plan is available. ($$$)

I received quite a bit of information through Google queries, but the best plug-ins require a subscription (AWeber, ChimpMail).

Another Option or 2

For an actual theme I have been considering using Genesis Framework with one of the StudioPress themes. Of course both products are available as a separate fee.

After realizing the yearly fees add up and my website isn’t profitable yet, I am thinking it’s smarter to purchase a theme that offers as many good plug-in features up-front as possible. Why pay for or have the stress of trying to setup a plug-in if it could be included in the theme. Many of the StudioPress themes have some built-in features.

But which one do I use?

Then it hit me. Why not look at someone else’s website I admire and try to imitate it myself with free features. Jeff Goins website is one I’ve enjoyed with its clean look. That’s how I’ve spent the last couple of days.

The Results

Given free tools to work with and seeing how I don’t build websites from scratch, I was somewhat able to imitate the look of goinswriter.com. Realistically, what I created has nowhere near the professional look of Jeff’s “Tribes” theme created by Martyn Chamberlin.  While I gained some knowledge of working with plug-ins and Gimp (for a header image) it would be easier to purchase the Tribes theme. Of course it requires using Genesis Framework just like the custom StudioPress themes, so there is an additional fee.

One More Choice

I love the look of Michael Hyatt’s website. I recalled Michael was working on developing a new theme, so why not look into it. Michael is scheduled to release the new theme- “Get Noticed” near the end of the first quarter of 2013. Michael has the new theme decked out on his page, it looks busier than Jeff’s page, but; it also has a clean look.

I like the widgets offered on the sidebar and footer. Once again, why pay for a plug-in if you can purchase a theme with the “extras” possibly included. Get Noticed appears to offer the most widgets up-front that I need without paying for yearly add-on subscriptions. Pricing for the new theme has not been mentioned yet.

Conclusion

So my grand experiment has ended and I am still torn between purchasing Tribes or Get Noticed. I am hoping Michael Hyatt’s- Get Noticed theme gets released soon. I may even seek someone to create a custom header. Gimp is still a disaster to work with for me. Photoshop CS6 is available for a trial period, so I could possibly tinker with Photoshop to tweak my own header.

On the other hand, purchasing the products you require minimizes time wasted on building a website in order to to obtain a professional look. Building a platform properly is what will be needed to be successful, so I’ll leave the foundation to the professionals; which allows me the time to build-up the platform.

In the end, it’s the platform and content that matters.

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

Moving from Blogger to WordPress?

Photo courtesy: Search Engine People Blog.

The last couple of days, I've spent considerable time researching WordPress using Genesis Framework's custom themes. Since I am currently using Blogger, the move to WordPress is somewhat intimidating involving the transferring of my old blogs to WordPress platform.

The new web hosting service had me change the name server addresses to theirs and unfortunately the wait time is 2 to 48 hours to propagate. So I am in holding status and can't continue until my domain name appears at HostGator.

I spent the last day or so, researching the web on moving from Blogger to WordPress. During that time, I've considered canning the process entirely- a half-dozen times. Too many questions and it seems I keep coming up with more questions, once each previous question is resolved.

Blogger and WP doesn't cross communicate easily due to different formats so this becomes a large problem. Copying and pasting my blogs from Blogger to WordPress isn't an option I choose. There are many tutorials through YouTube and articles, however; a majority are outdated or assume the end-user is familiar with knowing where to perform the steps.

 Backing up your code from Blogger is imperative before you begin the process and not having anyone to  rely on for help if something fails doesn't make me breathe easier. It appears you must retain your old Blogger site or risk losing the old blog photos. Another option is to manually reload your old photos into WordPress, but that is too time consuming with nearly 100 old blogs.

Loss of Google page rankings has my concern as well.

It would be far easier to outsource the conversion, but it appears to be expensive and I haven't found many sources.

Then while writing this blog, I stumbled across this link. Problem solved? Pretty cool-eh?

 I realized "the lizard brain" (fear) had invaded my thinking. It's easier to stay on Blogger. It's less challenging to learn how to navigate a new software format.We are not accustomed to having to  wait for results. We want it done now.

 I must look at each step as a slow process. Rome wasn't built in a day and anything worth doing correct- takes time. WordPress, StudioPress and Genesis have some really cool plugins and themes, so it's just a matter of  learning some new techniques and navigational tools.

So for me this will be a side-project. No reason to stop the world until it happens or obsess. Just go with the flow and make the transition smooth.  Do the necessary researching, finding sources to answer questions as needed, forget the fear factor and pull the trigger when the time is right.

Anything less is not an option!

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

 

Blogspiracy?

Google or WordPress?

I have considered purchasing a Genesis Framework or Studio Press skin (theme) and converting my Google Blogger to WordPress. Having used WordPress (the free version- .com) a few times in the past, I noticed my blogs rate highly in all the major search engines. Google Blogger doesn’t seem to work well with Bing or Yahoo.

After seeing a few tutorials on the ease of creating the blog, my fear of the process has been reduced considerably. It’s the moving of my old blog history to WordPress that concerns me. A little more research into that part of the process is all I need.

Blogspiracy?

Tonight, I logged into my blog to find all of my Google statistics missing. Luckily, I signed up for Google Analytics and all of my blog stats are intact. Fearing I somehow was capable of creating a disaster, I checked the discussion board of Blogger to discover the reset of page views to zero happened this evening; so it has affected many users (or perhaps all users?).

Maybe it's time for a change in where my blog resides?

 

Michael Hyatt- Gets Noticed with his Platform

 

Michael Hyatt and his web designer are working on creating a premium theme for WordPress entitled: GetNoticed!. Michael is the former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He currently is a consultant, speaker and author of the bestseller - Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World (Thomas Nelson).

The premium theme Michael is creating is based on many of the suggestions from his Platform book. The project appears to be interesting given Michaels ability to maximize his audience. I don’t know the price yet, but I am sure it will be worth every penny.

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World has given me a better understanding of blogging and I discovered many nice little secrets to improving my blogging platform.

I strongly recommend Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Purchasing a web theme through Genesis or Studio Press can cost as little as $59.95 (one-time fee) and a hosting service like Bluehost for $3.00-$6.00 per month(depending who you purchase through).

I’ve got a birthday coming up this week; it might be time to treat myself with a new blog site look, greater uptime, support (24/7) and improved SEO.

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

BloggingTips and Secrets

I’ve spent a great deal of time in the last week attempting to increase my blog viewership. I’ve tinkered with everything from SEO (search engine optimization), keywords, metadata and coding. Life was much simpler just focusing on writing.

Content is King!

Some folks believe it is all about content. Content is king! Forget about algorithms, SEO and attempting to understand what makes the search engines the happiest.

What is SEO?

My Blogger blog site rates my own blogs high in a Google search, but I noticed once I log out of Google+ the ratings plummet. Google Blogger doesn't seem to play well with other search engines. I attempted to add metatags information inside my code to allow other search engines to find “keywords” and rate posts higher. Some experts believe the attempt is no longer valid in the SEO game. From my own experience, I believe they’re right.

The experiment didn’t seem to improve my ratings within Bing or Yahoo.

SEO is kind of mysterious function. The rules within the cycle of parameters sometimes change. It’s similar to the Federal Reserve (lots of secret information).

WordPress- A Bloggers Best Friend

I experimented with the free version of WordPress (WordPress.com) in my early blogging days. I found it easy to use and the search engine results are stellar! The only problem with the free version- it doesn’t allow affiliate marketing. So I switched to Google Blogger.

In the near future I will probably switch to the pay version of WordPress (WordPress.org) using the Thesis or Genesis Framework Themes. For hosting I will likely use Go Daddy or Bluehost.

Note: WordPress.org allows you to add affiliate marketing links and you own the content posted.

Why spend valuable time worrying about SEO, when the Thesis or Genesis framework can optimize my work and reach possible viewers?

Keep it Simple

This brings me back to focusing on clarity and writing. That’s what it’s all about. Without quality content, it doesn’t matter what or where the material is displayed if nobody is interested or I can’t earn your respect and keep your attention.

List of Blog Rules

·        Choose a catchy, popular or interesting topic.

·        Write a catchy headline.

 

·        Content is King!

·        Use sub headings (a plus with search engines and a great way to divide the story and keep it interesting).

·        Use  bullets or numbering to breakup blogs and allow easier readability.

·        Blogs should be limited between 500-600 words.

·        Blogs with fewer words are a better idea (Seth Godin is the king of pithy blogs), keep it short and easy to read.

·        Respond to comments and treat your followers with respect.

Stats Tracker

 I’ve done a fairly decent job of attracting new viewers (a third or more of all viewers are new) each month and my page views double each month. Overall, my visitors average over 8 minutes on my blogs per visit. Not bad at all.

Google Blogger features its own statistics tracker, but I really like the functionality of using Google Analytics (and it’s free).

Find your Niche and Build a Tribe!

My biggest concern is reaching out and finding my tribe of followers. Expecting everyone to read my blogs or like what I have to offer is unrealistic and a recipe for failure. One of the biggest secrets to online marketing and writing is to find your niche and build a following.

Give Credit where Credit is Due

So, I thank all of you for reading, following, and commenting on my writing. Without you- none of the inspiration would be possible to continue to do something meaningful that matters!

Thank you- from the bottom of my heart!

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.