Author Archives: Adam Smit
I’ve described our newest theme, TheThe Shot, as “one part Gawker, one part film noir, and one part professional photography studio.” And I keep coming back to the film noir part. The more I click through the live demo, the more I feel like I’m in L.A. Confidential or The Maltese Falcon.
So I’ll go ahead and say it: This is one of my personal favorites. From the old-school typeface to the menus that burst into color when you hover over them, this theme just strikes me as really cool. All TTF themes are well-made, flexible, and niche-worthy, but this one would draw me in as a reader looking for flair that’s not overstated.
A well-made plugin is a beautiful thing. But sometimes when you know what you want, it’s better to just fix the code rather than add yet another plugin to an already long list of them. Here are some plugin-free hacks to spruce up the appearance of your blog posts.
Display a snapshot of an external website
If you showcase websites on your blog or simply want to add the ability to put a snapshot of one anywhere you please, here’s an easy hack that started as a plugin from BinaryMoon.
SEO has always been a complicated subject with few inviolable rules that aren’t subject to drastic change as Google updates its search algorithms. 2012 looks to be even more confusing and uncertain, especially for webmasters hoping to improve their search rankings through “traditional” SEO methods.
As chronicled by SEO Moz, Google has been picking up the pace in pursuit of its goal of promoting unique, useful content and demoting poor-quality, spam-like content. New algorithm updates and tweaks are likely to continue this year, destroying page rankings for some and doing large favors for others. New advances in web-crawling technology and the continued rise of sharing sites like Pinterest further muddy the waters while also presenting new opportunities.
With all the recent internet hubbub over SOPA and PIPA, the US Congress legislation that would have created unprecedented censorship of popular websites, along with last year’s furor over Wall Street excesses, business owners are thinking more frequently about corporate responsibility and business ethics than they otherwise might.
While any judgment about “good” companies and “bad” companies is bound to be subjective, it’s worthwhile to take a moment to step back and recognize who’s making an effort to make the world a better place and who’s simply trying to make money at any cost. We all need to put food on the table, but hopefully we can do it while making an effort to leave a better planet for our grandchildren.
In the wake of the recent surge of online activism that led to the defeat (for now) of SOPA and PIPA, the US Congress bills that would have paved the way for unprecedented censorship of the web, it seems fitting to touch on a few ways you can use your WordPress site to create online petitions.
In addition to providing a platform for citizens to speak out on a particular issue, petitions can help you build your contact lists by getting new people to sign up for your newsletter or link to your site via social media. Of course, creating a petition solely for this purpose is pretty unethical and very inadvisable, but every social movement needs momentum and a healthy dose of opportunism to thrive.
This month’s theme, TheThe Revolution, picks up where other e-commerce and blogging themes leave off. It combines softer colors and all of the deep, intuitive architecture we put into every single one of our themes with a daring, futuristic look. Perfectly suited for people who want to push the marketing envelope, it’s designed to shape customer impressions and help you move products like never before.
This is the third theme we’ve developed, following TheThe Marketing and TheThe Promotion, that comes packaged with a per-designed sales page and squeeze page, as well as a bundle of hip, appealing marketing graphics to give your special offers, discounts, and highlighted products that extra zip so customers’ eyes are naturally drawn to them.
If you’ve got videos to display, layout is everything. Whether you want users to watch your videos so they’ll be persuaded to buy your product or you just want people to get a laugh out of seeing your cat fall off the couch, it’s important that they’re enticed to watch and that the watching experience is attractive and seamless.
Here are the best WordPress Video plugins that take content from YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe, etc. and dress them up just for your blog.
WordPress is, for clients as large as the New York Times to as small as your buddy Greg’s vacation blog, a remarkably versatile and user-friendly option that legions of webmasters are already using as their preferred CMS. But you probably already knew that. Your problem is that not everyone’s on board. Some have complaints about the learning curve, others might not quite get how themes and plugins work, and still others don’t understand what “open-source” means and they’re suspicious of it.
An important aspect of building websites for third parties using WP as a CMS is being able to talk to clients and explain lucidly why this thing is the real deal. Here are 8 handy reasons to keep in mind as you fill them in:
Some bloggers take a hands-off attitude toward comments. They figure they’ve got better things to do than worry about select opinions that may not even provide any helpful insight. Anyone who’s ever spent some time reading YouTube comments can relate: Comments aren’t always Grade-A discourse.
However, ignoring your comment boards is not only a mistake that will allow them to be overrun by trolls and spammers, but a huge missed opportunity to increase your readership. As any good social media expert will tell you, building a fan base is about creating a conversation between your readers and you.
Dr Patrick McNally PhD
