All Posts Tagged With: "5"

One of the core functions of WordPress has always been the fact that it is open source software and the tremendous community that backs it.   Along with that community comes the free WordPress themes and plugins that we’ve all come to enjoy.  

Over the past few months, an interesting trend has began with a variety of “premium” WordPress themes being released that have a cost associated with them.   Many of these themes come from freelance designers who make themes for clients for a living, and do a great job of it.  While some target bloggers, others are designed to be more of a Content Management System (CMS), which is used by many online magazines, news and sports sites.

The availability of these premium themes gives WordPress users a chance to stand out from the crowd of free themes out there and also allows the purchaser to see what they are going to get ahead of time.   It also benefits the designer by allowing them the opportunity to do the work once, then have a steady source of income trickle in and will likely result in even more income than if they were to create a custom made theme for a client. 

I’ve been following these themes pretty closely over the past month and I think this is a trend that is here to stay.   I also think you will start to see more premium WordPress plugins available that have a cost associated with them.   I’ve already seen a few examples of this and expect that to continue as WordPress continues to grow in popularity. 

If you’d like to see some examples of the premium WordPress themes available, I have thrown together a Premium WordPress Gallery over at Hack WordPress.  The post includes screenshots, costs associated with the theme, and more. 

What do you think of the premium themes trend currently going around the blogosphere?

With the New Year fast approaching, a lot of us have some extra time to catch up on some work or finish up some projects that we started throughout the year.  There are a number of things people can do to reduce to the clutter in your lives.   I’m going to approach this from a couple angles.   First, what you can do as a blogger, and second, some general tips to reduce your daily clutter.

Blogger Tips

• Clean Up Your Theme - Browse through your blog themes and validate/clean up the code.   Make sure you are using all those images in your images folder.
• Update Your WordPress Plugins - WordPress 2.3 really helps with this, but not all plugins are registered and notify you of updates.  The end of the year is a great time to go through all of your plugins and make sure they are up to date.
• Write Extra Posts - Write up a few posts and save them as drafts for a rainy/sick day.
• Clean Out Your Feed Reader/Newsletters - Feed readers fill up fast, and will continue to grow in the New Year.   Cancel some of those feeds that haven’t updated in awhile or that you don’t really need (unless it is this one!).  Also cancel some of those newsletters that clog up your inbox.

General Tips

• Clean Out Your E-mail -  Create some new labels/folders, tidy up your inbox, and make sure all your e-mails are responded to.
• Clean Out Your Add-ons - Web browsers often slow down if you build up a bunch of add-ons.  Comb through your list of add-ons and delete some that aren’t being used enough to warrant having.
• Delete Old Software - Throughout the year we all stock up on a variety of software, much of which goes unused.   Delete this extra software to free up some system resources.
• Defrag Harddrive - Some ambitious people may completely reformat their harddrive, but you’ll want to at least defrag your harddrive.

Anything you do at the end of each year to reduce your daily clutter?

I’ve spent a little time over the past few weeks taking about the value of a domain, as well as various methods for finding and purchasing domain names.   It is my hope that everyone is now looking at domain names as more than just a website URL, but also as an investment in your future.  

Every single day, 1,000’s of domains are disappearing as they are purchased, and people are doing so for under $10.00 a piece (some as low as $5.00 each).   Domains are being scooped up at a much higher rate than they are being dropped, and once gone, many are pretty much gone for good.  People are beginning to write them into their wills, and in the future, these will be passed down to children and grandchildren.  In order to get a domain that someone else has purchased, you will likely have to spend a fortune to get that domain you really wish you had.    With that said, there are plenty of great domains still available……for now.   Are you investing in your future?   

One thing that I think is very important is the ownership of your personal domain name.   Even if you end up just parking it, or redirecting it to one of your existing sites, someday you are going to want it.   Want to showcase your online skills?  Maybe you want to put your resume on there and place it on business cards?   At some point you will find a good use for it. 

While I am fairly lucky in that I don’t have a very common last name, many people do.    How many other people share your first and last name around the globe?  Get it before it is gone, because once it is gone, you are probably out of luck!

One thing I find from people that I consult with on this stuff is that they don’t look beyond themselves.   What about your spouse, and maybe more importantly, what about your kids?  One of the first things I did upon the birth of both my boys was to purchase their domains so they will be there for them when they are older and want to use them.   If I don’t, there is a great chance they will be gone in 10 years or 20 years when they go to use them.  For now they will just stay parked or redirected, but eventually the kids will be glad they have them.  

Are you just covering your immediate needs, or are you looking to the future when you are out purchasing domain names?