Posts Tagged ‘themes’
4 Cool Wordpress Themes For Your Personal Blog
There have been many bloggers who have made a business out of branding their own names. If you happen to have had any success blogging or doing anything else for that matter, you want to make sure you build your domain name (e.g. [Firstname][Lastname].com) to help people find you more effectively and leverage the site to push your other endeavors. Personal blogs are also useful for those who just want to aggregate all their activities on social networking sites in one place. Even if you don’t have a plan for your domain name, you still want to take the first steps to make sure you get the proper credit from the search engines.
Thanks to Wordpress, anyone can put up a website in a matter of minutes. There are plenty of themes that you can choose from to give your website the look and feel you crave. But if you are interested in giving your visitors ways to contact you or follow your work online on your blog, these 4 personal blog Wordpress themes come in handy:
Social Life: integrates all your favorite social media services into one page. So essentially, you won’t have to do anything other than doing what you have been doing on Twitter and other social networking sites. This theme takes care of the rest.
AntiSocial: one of the best aggregator themes on the market. If you happen to be invovled heavily in the social media, you are going to love using this theme. It’s pretty flexible and makes it easy to create a website that your visitors can use to get in touch with your work. Read more »
Job Board Theme: Add a Job Board To Your Blog
There was a time when having a job board feature on your blog was something unique. Not anymore. Many top blogs come with job boards to enable readers to find or post jobs. When you think about it, the idea of having a job board on your blog is not too crazy. As a blogger your goal should be to build a more solid community. What a better way to do that by helping your readers to connect with those who are seeking for a job or looking to fill a job. A few years ago, you’d have to spend a significant amount of money to get a professional looking job board up and running. But these days you can get the job done easily with the power of Wordpress and a decent premium theme.
Job Board Theme is a premium Wordpress theme that lets you create a job board for your blog fast. You won’t even have to know any programming to get started. Of course, if you know design or have the budget to hire a designer, you can change the default look and feel and get even more value out of the theme. Job Board Theme makes life easy either way. Read more »
How To Improve Your Blog – Part I: Job Boards
So you want to improve a blog? If you don’t, you are probably in the wrong business. Every blogger, whether newbie or advanced, should be on the lookout for ways to improve her blogs and take it to the next level. You can always work on your content, broaden the topics that you cover, and put more time into your daily research to write higher quality content for your visitors. But, there are plenty of other ways to improve your blog. Your goal should to provide more value to you readers, and one way to do that is by creating a job board, specific to your niche. These days a lot of people are looking for jobs, and many of your readers will appreciate it if you provide them with opportunities to improve their position or find a new job. Besides, if your job board catches fire, you can always charge the employers for the right to list on your job board. So you get to help other people out and monetize your blog in the process.
There are plenty of scripts and software packages that help you develop your own job board. But if you are using Wordpress, that’s all you will need to get started. You are going to need a premium job listing theme to make things easier, but you won’t need to pay for an expensive license or a script that may or may not work on your site. There are two themes that are specifically made for bloggers who want to build a job board along side their blog. Both are very easy to install and help you set your board up without having to write too much code (if any):
- Jobpress
- Tapp Jobs
Frugal Theme Review
If you have been following this blog for a while, you probably know what a big fan of Thesis theme I am. It’s one of the best themes ever created for Wordpress as it is very clean, easy to use, and highly flexible. The first time I saw frugal, it immediately reminded me of Thesis. It has the same clean look and feel to it, and it is easily customizable just like Thesis. Now I am not suggesting by any means that these themes are that similar, but the look and feel does play tricks with your mind.
Frugal comes in three flavors. For those who want to give the theme a try, they can always use the free version. But if you are into more advanced coding, frugal premium and pro will do. Frugal premium and pro do have some differences. They do differ as far as their layouts and styles are concerned, but both are very easy to customize. Just like Thesis, frugal pro also uses hooks to make changing things easier. Frugal is also SEO friendly as well, so you get the biggest bang for your blogging efforts by using Frugal.
Here are a few things that I like about Frugal:
- Logo: you can easily add your own logo without too much trouble. Some themes do make it a bit complicated but not Frugal.
- Flexibility: this theme is very flexible, and you can easily customize the look and feel on this theme.
- Speed: Frugal is optimized for performance. If you are looking for a clean, light-weight theme to build your blog around, Frugal is a good option.
- Layouts: the premium and pro versions do provide you with the options to change the layout easily to get the look and feel that you desire.
- Back-end: having the ability to change so many things around from the back-end is a big plus. That means you won’t have to write the code yourself.
- SEO: you can also implement a lot of SEO optimization tactics from your back-end, so you do save some time with Frugal.
- Hooks: if you have used Thesis, you are probably familiar with hooks. Great way to customize your theme without having to jump through hoops.
- Price: it’s priced too low, especially if you are getting the unlimited license.
Overall, Frugal is another clean and light-weight theme that is specifically designed for pro bloggers. It’s easy to deploy and customize, and it doesn’t need you to be a genius to customize it. And unlike Thesis, it does have a free version, so you can always try it out before making your purchase. A great theme to give your blog a whole new look (don’t forget to watch the video after the jump).
Rating: 9/10
5 Cool Themes For Wordpress Bloggers
Filed under: Vlogging Tips, Wordpress | View Comments
If you have been using Wordpress to manage content on your blog, you have probably seen all those free themes that you can use to start your Wordpress blog fast. While it’s always tempting to set up a blog with one of those free themes, you want to make sure you get a theme which is not that common, and at the same time is flexible enough for you to make changes to it and make it look unique. Premium Wordpress themes may not be as unique as a custom-designed theme, but they are cheaper, and as long as you get your hands on a flexible theme, you can change it to make the look and feel unique to your site.
One thing is for certain if you are using Wordpress for your blog: you are going to have a lot of options when it comes to deciding a theme for your blog. You just want to make sure you think long-term and choose a theme that can be easily customized. To help you find a cool theme for your blog, here are 5 pro-blogging themes that are worth a serious consideration:
1. One Theme: an all in one solution designed for all types of bloggers. One of the most flexible themes on the market that allows you to use it in any niche. It’s search engine friendly as well to help you get some free traffic.
2. Thesis: Thesis needs no introduction. It’s one of the most flexible themes on the market. Almost all top bloggers have used Thesis in the past. The strength comes from the back-end where you get to change the settings of your blog without having to write a line of code.
3. Arthemia: an attractive and flexible theme for blogging portals. Great theme to start and manage your blog more effectively. And you can’t argue with the design which is simply stunning.
4. Black Aperture: a dark theme that is great for handling lots of images and is user friendly as well. It has a super professional look and feel to it. Great for those who like to plan things long-term. You’d have a hard time out-growing this theme.
5. VideoFlick 2.0: is a great theme if you plan to create your vlog/blog hybrid site. A lot of people are starting their vlogs these days, and this is a great time to do just that. You can easily embed videos from all kinds of sources, and you won’t have to spend a fortune to get your hands on it. It’s SEO friendly as well.
All in all, you want to make sure you get a theme that is well-designed, SEO-friendly, and customizable. You can always pay thousands of dollars to get a custom design for your blog, but I recommend that only when you have a major following. With these premium themes, you get to spend more time focusing on providing valuable content to your readers and less on other things.
Your turn: which of the 5 designs do you like the most?
One Theme for Wordpress Bloggers
Your blog design is not as important as the quality of your content, but it is still important if you want to share information with your readers more effectively. You can always spend thousands of dollars to order a custom-designed theme, but not every blogger can afford that. I know a lot of bloggers who use those free themes that are available on the Internet. There is nothing wrong with those themes. But since a lot of people are using them around the world, your blog is going to look similar to hundreds of other sites that are using the same free theme. By buying a premium theme, not only you get a decent premium design, but also you’ll get your hands on a design that is used by less folks. And you can always customize your theme and make it unique. Most top premium themes allow you to customize theme easily, which means you won’t have to do too much coding either.
1 Theme is an all-in-one Wordpress solution for bloggers. It’s a premium theme that is designed to help bloggers set up their sites fast. One Theme comes with multiple designs, which means whether you are looking to start a blog or a magazine site, you won’t have too much trouble doing it with One Theme. You can choose among fun, modern, professional, and default designs and customize them to your heart’s content.
One Theme has a unique back-end/control panel (One Panel) that makes customizing the theme very easy. For ease of use, all of the options are multiple choice, and you can change a lot of things right from the back-end. You can also back up your theme right in the back-end, meaning that you shouldn’t be afraid of playing with One Theme.
Here are a few other features that you get with One Theme:
- Ajax Driven
- FeedBurner/Google Email Signup
- FeedBurner/Google RSS Redirect
- Layout customization
- Featured Video/Embed Code
- Skin Switcher
- SEO Friendly Search URL’s
- Google Adsense Ready
- Google Analytics Ready
Overall, One Theme is a great looking theme and one that should be considered strongly by bloggers who are looking for a new Wordpress theme. It won’t come cheap but in comparison to what you have to pay for a custom design, this is as cheap as it gets. And you get lifetime updates at no extra cost. I could do without the complex licensing scheme, but that doesn’t take away from One Theme’s cool design.
Your turn: Please share your blog if you are using One Theme on it.
5 Wordpress Themes For Pro Bloggers
Many of my colleagues often ask me whether I am being paid by the Wordpress guys to spread the word around about their product. In truth, I am being paid by them. Not the way you think. These guys have provided me and millions of other bloggers around the globe with the best content management system ever made. It’s not cash, but who needs cash when you get a piece of software that should be worth thousands of dollars for free. What’s more valuable that Wordpress software is the community behind it. These folks spend hours of their time to write free/paid plug-ins and themes to enhance the Wordpress experience for everyone who’s using it.
Wordpress is the best blogging platform on the market, period! Nothing comes close. The software is highly intuitive and comes with so many enhancements that help bloggers connect with their readers more effectively. The number of pro blogging themes made for Wordpress is just astonishing. If you are an experienced blogger looking to give your blog a makeover or just a newbie excited about getting started in this business, you can’t afford to ignore Wordpress.
Wordpress has some of the most beautiful website designs ever made. But we can’t list them all here. So here are the top 5 blogging themes that you can use to take your WP blog to the next level.
- Thesis Wordpress Theme: thesis is the top pro blogging theme for the Wordpress platform. Most superbloggers are using Thesis on their blogs. It’s very easy to work with and highly customizable. And it is optimized for search engines. In essence, you are buying a theme that keeps paying for itself by bringing you more visitors. And if you know any coding, you can change your settings easily and create a whole unique design for your blog.
- Urban Elements: Press75 is a top producer of video-blogging themes. In fact, they have 4 of the top 5 video-blogging themes available on the market. Urbal Elements is one of the few themes by Press75 that is designed for regular bloggers. It’s very attractive yet easy to modify. Urban Elements integrates your social media accounts, allowing you to help your visitors keep in touch with you on popular social media sites.
- Who’s Who: an amazing news blogging theme designed for bloggers who specialize in reporting the news. It comes with a highly attractive design and is social bookmarking ready.
- Bobv3: Bobv3 is another attractive Wordpress theme designed specifically for pro bloggers. It’s lightweight and search engine friendly.
- Sketchd: Sketchd is a perfect theme for personal and pro blogs. It comes with a super attractive design, and it is very easy on the eye. It’s cheap too!
(Honorable mention: TrueBlogger, a pro blogging theme that is a clone of the old problogger.com).
What’s your favorite Wordpress blogging theme?
