Want to find more detailed information about WordPress?  There is tons of it out there but here’s a shortcut to some of the better sites posting good information about WordPress topics.  WordPress has endless possibilities and knowledge is key.  Check it out here.

http://www.nathanrice.net/blog/10-sites-that-produce-quality-wordpress-content/

If you are using the Artisteer Software to create web templates then you probably already know that they released a new beta version recently to address recent issues with templates created.  Artisteer is a very young product and really hasn’t been out that long so updates are bound to happen and probably pretty frequently.  As with all sofware, especially ones like this that do so much, is bound to have certain bugs or glitches as I call them.  So far they are all easy to work around and correct manually.  They have a nice user help forum and there are also other sites on the web that are helping Artisteer users.  Check here for answers to your questions and maybe even something about that mod you would like to do.  www.artisteerhelp.com .  All in all I still think this is a great piece of software and highly recommend it.

Besides your design, it’s all about the plugins. 

Plugins are add-on features to your WordPress driven website.  There are simple announcement plugins, statistic plugins, photo gallery plugins, all kinds of technical plugins, email Forms, Spam, Security, you name it.  Plugins give you the ability to customize your site or blog and help you create your unique web presence.  Here’s a link to a Large List of great and very useful plugins.

http://mashable.com/2007/08/16/wordpress-god300-tools-for-running-your-wordpress-blog/

You can also always check wordpress.org for a large selection of great plugins.  www.wordpress.org

Twitter has become the latest big thing on the Internet.  Real Time Social Networking is what it’s all about.  Read on to learn about some Free Applications that make Twitter even better. The following article tells us all about what is out there.

In response to the phenomenal growth of Twitter, software developers have come out with numerous free applications designed to deliver greater functionality for twitter users. Here’s a list of some of the best applications.

• Tweetdeck.com: This is the biggest program of the lot. To run it you first need to download it to your hard-drive. Once it is set up you can use it to organize your Twitter followers into different groups so that you can deal with all the tweets that have come in, prioritize your responses and so on. This app is for serious tweeters.
• Twellow.com: The Twitter yellow pages. If you want to be found by Twitter users, post your Twitter details here.
• TweetBeep.com: Track your keywords on Twitter. Tweetbeep will update every day or every hour when your keywords have been used by someone on Twitter.
• TweetLater.com: This tool lets you write your messages and plan them to go out at specific times. As with Tweet beep, you can set up keyword tracking.
  Tweetlater also permits you to automatically respond when someone follows you. You can also set up a welcome message and Tweetlater will automatically post it out to each of your new followers.
• SocialToo.com: This service tells you who has recently started following you and who is no longer following you. You can pre-write an automatic welcome message for your new followers.
  Socialtoo also allows you to run online questionnaires, and publish them on various social networks as well as Twitter and Facebook.
• TwitterCounter.com: Check the number of people are following you, or anybody else. You can plug in two different Twitter users and compare their stats. Twittercounter also predicts how many followers you will have in the future. You can then post the result in a widget on your blog.
• Friendorfollow.com: Find out which of the people you are following is NOT reciprocating.
• Tweetergetter.com/hirohurl Here is neat resource, by Gary McCaffery, that is designed to build your following on autopilot.
• Twittergrader.com: This tool gives you feedback about the health of your network, how often you post messages on Twitter and how complete your profile is. It also gives you an overall score which you can then Tweet out on Twitter!
• Twitthis.com: This is a great way to tweet about links to anything that takes your fancy on the net. Post a button to your website to encourage people to tweet your articles.
• Tweetstats.com: this attractive tool shows you uses bar graphs to display your performance on Twitter. Find out when you use Twitter the most. If you wish, you can share it with everybody else by tweeting about it!
• Twollo.com: Set your keywords and this neat little tool will seek out people who posted the same keywords so that you can follow people with similar interests to yourself!
• Is.gd: This service will shorten any URL and so free up some characters for your main message if you wish to link out to a website or blog post.

WordPress Plugin Recommendation – All In One SEO

Automatically optimize your WordPress blog for Search Engines
(Search Engine Optimization).

This is a great plugin and considered essential in our book of WordPress goodies.  Having a good title, along with the proper meta tags in your source code, is important when it comes to people finding your pages when searching with Google or Yahoo.  It allows you to have a title that appears in the top of your browser that is more descriptive then what the title of the post is.  Your blogs post title can be general but your title tag can be more specific.  Plus it helps if your theme has a small sidebar and you make titles only big enough to fit. Your title tag can be longer.  It also creates a description out of the beginning text of your post and adds keywords that match your tags.  All your pages are different to the indexing robots and thats a good thing.  It will do everything automatically but the great part is you can also tweak each individual tag as you create or edit a post or page.

FROM  THE AUTHOR’S WEBSITE

Here’s how the author describes the plugin’s use…..

How to use it

Here is a list of the most important on-page ranking factors and how they are addressed by this WordPress SEO plugin. You might want to visit Options – All in One SEO to tweak the default options.

• Titles
  The text that you see in your browser’s window bar is the most important thing *on* your page. Make sure your titles are getting rewritten and the important stuff (your post titles) always come before anything else. You can leave a few words from your blog title to do some branding but don’t overdo. If your post titles don’t contain your most precious phrases you want to rank for then tweak them. Leave the post titles as it is but change the meta title.
• Descriptions
  Once your pages rank in search engines your description (aside of course from your title) makes a potential visitor want to click through, or not. It’s mta descriptions, believed dead by many people, that decide over your site’s fate. If you don’t want to invest the time and write a description for every post at least let them be auto-generated. This vastly better than the usual “Share This … Posted on … under …” description that is often used. The preferred source for your post description is your post excerpt. Use this when you want to tweak your description.
• Keywords
  All in One SEO Pack can generate them from your categories (this was the old way of tagging your posts in wordpress) or from Ultimate Tag Warrior or, starting with WordPress 2.3, the built-in tagging system. Using your categories is optional, the rest is auto-detected and used if there. WP 2.3.x tags are the preferred keyword source.
• Duplicate Content
  You can have “noindex” and the like generated for archive-, category- and tag pages if you seem to have trouble with duplicate content.

Installation is a breeze.  Just upload the package to your plugins folder and activate it in your dashboard.  It does have an options area that lets you adjust different things but the defaults work just fine and the author knows more about it then most of us.

Questions or comments welcome!

—–

How to create great headlines and titles to turn your prospects into buying customers using hypnotic words that will empower them to purchase your product or service, or even join your ezine.

First of all, you must learn how to get your prospects to trust you. This is true on every field. We trust those that are more like ourselves or one that we have been conditioned to believe.

“How many of you do not trust a car salesman? This is because you have been repeatedly told over and over again, how they can not be trusted. Not every car salesman is going to give you a bad deal, just as every young man with long hair and holes in their jeans are not criminals.”

All of us resist people we do not trust, even though it starts in our subconscious mind. So, you must learn how to get your prospects to trust you with an unconscious connection.

This can be done by perceiving others behavior and mimicking or mirroring it so to speak. To rich this we must use “embedded commands”.

What are embedded commands? This is a term from NLP that stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP is founded on then idea that the language and behavior of a person is extremely ordered. These behaviors and language can be either functional or dysfunctional. This order or structure can be organized into a mimicking form.

This means that others can copy the language or behavior of another to produce the same results in order to improve there late comings. This in essence means that the way in which we act or feel is based on how we perceive the world instead of the real world.

An embedded command is a technique used in NLP, which will plant a thought in the mind of another person just beneath that person’s conscious awareness. Embedded commands utilize the use of commanding tone to be effective. The command generally formulates words into a question, with the tone however being in the form of a command.

The reason people use embed commands is to get their listener to do you wish them to do in a non-intrusive or demanding manner.

Example

Look at this sentence:

“You should buy this software.”

Now look at the same sentence only written a little differently. “You know, that some people find they really want to purchase this software.”

What happened in the second sentence is that you let the person know that other people want to purchase this software and like most people they believe in their own minds they are better than most people or at least want to know as much as everyone else put there.

You can also use the same sentence and use other hypnotic phrases such as:

I don’t know if you knew it, but some people find they really want to purchase this software.

And I’d like to have you discover… that some people find they really want to purchase this software.

Headlines that Control the Mind

You will need to learn how to write headlines that will control the mind of your prospects. Yes, this is possible.

Three elements you must have in your headline to control the mind include:

Engagement: The easiest way to engage thought is by asking an open-ended question.

Curiosity: Mother nature has endowed each of us to be curious creatures, appeal to a person’s curiosity and you can hypnotize almost everyone.

Short and Sweet: In general, most people want to know at glance what the letter is all about. Use a headline that is short. You can always use a longer headline as a secondary headline or sub headline. The first short headline should lead into the longer headline, which can be more hypnotic than the first one. You need to create cravings if you want prospects.

In reality, people do not purchase products; they purchase altered states of emotion. You must convince your prospects that the products will give them something they desire or crave.

You must have a product that is in area of human desire. Remember everyone wants to look and feel younger, thinner, have more energy, and of course have more stamina.

Let us see some examples of good headlines.

For Health fitness products:

Eat Right, Stay Fit, Feel Young, Gain Energy, Enjoy Less Pain

Headlines for relationships:

Attract the opposite sex, Find True Love, Improve Communication with your kids, Be noticed by your Boss, Be admired by coworkers

Headlines for finance and employment:

Be successful, Gain more knowledge, Scale the ladder of success, Get the promotion you deserve, Fire your boss

These examples are here to show you how to create your own effective headlines. Your headlines must convince your prospects that they really need you product or service. People usually buy what they want, not what they need.

About The Author:

Branko Rakic:

Millions Through Mind Control http://masscontrol.tosobiz.com/

Web Traffic Pro:

Free internet marketing videos and lessons.http://www.web-traffic-pro.com/
This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com

BASIC NEWS STYLE – 4 MORE FREE WORDPRESS THEMES

Here are some Basic White News Online Themes for WordPress.  It comes with One or Two Sidebars. Two slight variations!  All white or color highlighted  sidebars.  Right sidebar wider to accomodate longer titles in widgets. Completely Widget ready, Drop Down Page Menu Bar.  Feel free to download and use for your website or blog.  With your personal touches, any one of them would make a nice looking site. Click Here to see them all.

News Online 2b (222)

News Online 2a (205)

Same Theme but with the sidebar highlighted.

News Online 2a-2 (156)

News Online 2b2 (162)

Which basically states:

You are free:
to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
to Remix — to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:
Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). 
* We just ask you to keep our link in the footer of the theme.
Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

• For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.
• Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
• Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights.

Free Themes can be licensed for Comercial Sites.  Contact us!

—

Beach Front WP Theme

We had to make something new that wasn’t black. So here’s another WP theme template using a fixed background image and transparent sheet background.

We make the background fixed by editing the style sheet after we created the theme using Atristeer. That was the only thing we could think of changing that Artisteer didn’t have an option for.

The background image is one we had laying around from another project.

So download it and use it for free!! Just leave my link in the footer. It’s small.

Beach Front Theme

• Simple Blog Beach Theme
• Widget Ready
• Menu Bar
• Drop Down Menu
• Column
• Right Sidebar
• Fixed Width 900px
• Transparent Sheet

Download Beach Front 1 (191)

Check out our other themes on out Free Themes Page.

It’s no secret that a continually updated website with new content being added regularly stands a good chance of doing well in Google. One of the long standing methods to regularly expand a site’s content is through the use of a blog.

While there are numerous platforms to choose from for managing a blog, few can compare with the immense flexibility offered with WordPress, and at a cost of free, the price can’t be beat either.

Google likes fresh new content, and setting up a blog on your site, assuming it is updated often with interesting and relevant material, can be one of the best things you can do to help out your search rankings. The beauty behind WordPress is that there is a wide array of totally free plug-ins you can easily install that will make your blog totally search engine friendly.

The following are some basic guidelines and essential plug-ins you should consider when you install your WordPress blog.

Template Design

The first configuration you need to do is work on customizing the design template to match your existing site. I suggest finding a template that matches as closely as possible to the look you are going for then work on tweaking its graphics, colors, and other particulars till you achieve the desired appearance.

Most of your changes will occur in the header.php, footer.php, index.php, and page.php files in the theme editor, however, the theme you install will dictate which files actually need to be updated. You will also need to make some adjustments to your CSS file. These changes all involve working with code and graphics, and are most likely left to a professional.

Once you have your design set up, the rest of the customization is considerably less technical. The following are suggestions that most people can do themselves and you probably will not need an expert to help you here.

Settings

Permalinks

The next thing you need to do is customize your URL’s. You do not want the default post URLs (”pageid=#”) as they are simply not search friendly and you want your default names to have some meaning to them. While you can customize your URL’s with various plug-ins, you may not always think to do this, so be sure to have a default you can live with.

Under the settings tab in your dashboard, click on permalinks. Here I suggest choosing one of the settings that includes the post name. Including the month and year is totally optional as it will have little to no impact on your search rankings, but you definitely do want to include the post name.

WWW or no WWW

With WordPress, there is no need to worry about the www vs no www redirects. It is handled for you, but you do need to select which variation you want, and it’s very simple to do. Under “General Settings” you will see two fields; one for “WordPress address” and the other, “Blog address”. Ensure that both these fields include the “www” (or not), whichever you prefer, and that’s it. (I always recommend using the “www” version of your URL as most people linking into your site will use it, and this will help keep a consistency among your site.

Required Plug-ins

There is an almost endless supply of free plug-ins out there that you can add to your site ranging from photo galleries and spam protection, to social media integrators for Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and others. While many of these others will benefit your blog and search rankings, the XML Sitemap, and SEO plug-ins are truly essential.

SEO Plug-in

When setting up your new installation, the first plug-in you need to install is one that will allow for totally customized title, meta description tags, and page URL’s. There are a number of tools that do this ranging from the widely popular “All in One SEO Pack” to a relative newcomer “HeadSpace2?.

While I personally have yet to try HeadSpace2, it is high on my list, as it has been recommended by many industry professionals as the best WordPress SEO plug-in. For any new blog installation I highly recommend this plug-in be installed right away.

XML Sitemap Plug-in

To the best of my knowledge, HeadSpace2 does not have an XML sitemap option, and as such I highly recommend “Google XML Sitemaps”. This plug-in will automatically generate XML sitemaps for you on the fly and submit it to Google every time you add, remove, or update a page or post. This helps ensure that Google has the latest information at all times. It’s a very simple plug-in to install and configure and once setup, you can forget about it and it will do the job for you.

A well optimized site loaded with relevant content can do very well in Google if setup correctly. The power of WordPress can make this process incredibly easy so all you have to worry about is writing those great articles and selling your customers. The plug-ins and functionality of WordPress are endless and when installed correctly can make the optimization of your blog considerably easier, increasing your chances for top rankings.

Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing Inc.; based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Scott’s articles and those of the veteran StepForth team at http://news.stepforth.com or contact us at http://www.stepforth.com
This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com

—

NOTE – We can help you with everything this article talks about.  Contact us with your questions.

—

MORE FREE WORDPRESS THEMES

• 2 right sidebars
• drop down menu bar
• widget ready
• rounded corners
• smooth custom look

This is a set of themes we made as part of a presentation and proposal for a company we are working with.  This style wasn’t what they were looking for so here they are.  They can be download and used for anything you’d like.

Personal or Business sites can take advantage of the 2 right hand columns that give you lots of space for widgets, ads, and other things.  The theme comes in three flavors , Blue,  Orange or Green.

This theme would make an excellent website for Clubs or Associations that have lots of News and Announcements to make.  The blog page is nicely highlighted and fomatted for easy reading.  Nice drop down menu bar under the header for easy access to your pages of information.

These great looking themes are free to download and use on your website.  Add some content and maybe some plugins and you are ready to go!

Here they are individually for download!

New Blue

FREE WORDPRESS THEME

• 2 right sidebars
• drop down menu bar
• widget ready
• rounded corners
• smooth custom look

DOWNLOAD Light Blue 2

New Orange

FREE WORDPRESS THEME

• 2 right sidebars
• drop down menu bar
• widget ready
• rounded corners
• smooth custom look

DOWNLOAD Light Orange 2

New Green

FREE WORDPRESS THEME

• 2 right sidebars
• drop down menu bar
• widget ready
• rounded corners
• smooth custom look

DOWNLOAD Light Green 2

by: Richard Legg

Nowadays, it seems that everyone and his cousin have taken to blogging. This form of online self-expression has slowly but steadily taken over the World Wide Web to become somewhat of a phenomenon in recent years. Some people use blogs as their personal journals, some may see them as an outlet for their creative work, and others may just want their own personal place in cyberspace to share thoughts and ideas.

Now, a quick question for the Internet businessman. If you have a blog, can you use it to boost your site’s exposure and drive more traffic to it? A blog is great for sharing ideas and posting about things you like or don’t like, but can a blog help your online business succeed?

The answer is a definite YES. Your blog can do wonders for your website, but it all depends on the way you utilize its potential power. I’m going to teach you a tried and proven method that has been effective for other website owners, and this method is applicable for any type of blog. You will just need a lot of creativity and some time to make it work.

First thing you have to keep in mind is that most blogs on the Web have a community feel to them. You may think that your blog is your own, since you’re the one who installed and developed it. And you may be right. But your blog is also connected to other blogs on the same site. You may also be connected to other blogs that are using the same blogging software as you. This situation guarantees that sooner or later, a person will land on your blog and be able to see all that you have to say. This can also mean that your blog is now getting free advertising within the blogging community. I don’t think you need me to tell you how beneficial this can be for your site’s traffic.

However, you do have to keep in mind what you’re posting as your blog’s content. If all you’re doing is making posts that promote your products or your business, then you’re dead. Believe me, that is not the recommended way to use your blog. Have you seen the Internet lately? It’s already overflowing with loads of advertisements for products and services. Be different. Your visitors need a good reason to keep coming back to your blog. Use it to give expert and knowledgeable information about your line of work to your readers. If you’re selling a product on your site, talk about it on your blog, and don’t just post a measly advertising blurb.

Let’s say you’re selling power tools on your website. You can write reviews and other useful posts about the kinds of tools you have on your site. What you’re doing is providing some insight for your potential customers about the tools you’re selling. These blog posts will then be able to generate confidence in your readers and encourage them to actually buy the products.

Another advantage of having a blog is that it makes it easier for interested buyers to get access to the seller (that’s you). Usually, readers of a particular blog post are allowed to leave comments on what they’ve just read. For example, you’ve just finished a review for the new Ajax power drill. Whenever a reader comes across it and has a question regarding that product, he or she can easily leave a comment. You can then see the questions and post your answers. See? You can now connect with your readers and potential customers personally. This make you much more approachable, as compared to the faceless entity behind the impersonal commercial website.

In addition, your readers will also have the option of subscribing to your blog feeds via RSS or to your newsletters, so they can be immediately notified about any new posts you make. If you have established a reputable standing in your niche, a long list of eager readers will soon be waiting for your next post, and lots more will be coming to your website.

About The Author

Richard Legg is a web traffic expert and generates over 1.5 Million visitors a year to his websites. Discover how you can instantly increase website traffic for free at http://www.MyInstantTraffic.com.

Many websites today are really blog sites.  They make a great website because you constantly update the content yourself by posting new articles and information.  We create many websites using WordPress.  This is a very versatile way to create a website since there are so many different templates and themes available to use that can make the site look like no other.  Your site can consist of static web pages with information available to visitors along with articles and announcements you create and publish.  Your articles are also available to anyone via your own RSS feed.   So are you ready to blog?  Want to tell the world your views.  Let us help you get a blog site online now.  Contact sales@gdscomp.com and we will get you online in no time.