Remember the post I wrote a couple of months ago, titled When Is A Blog Not A Blog? Well, I was reminded of that post when I started thinking about a new site I’m about to begin working on. You see, I plan to use WordPress to run the site, but I don’t want the site to look like a blog. It won’t be date-oriented, like a blog is, and in keeping with the idea of having it be more like a regular site, I want it to have a non-blog look as well.

Not all WordPress themes have to look like blog themes. In my quest to find just the right look for my new site, I realized that there was a “style” that could… Continue reading

Posted on February 7th, 2008 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress | 7 Comments »

You know I love free information, and when that information requires absolutely nothing from you … not even your email address … then I absolutely cannot pass that up. Caroline Middlebrook is giving away a really good ebook - absolutely free.

I discussed installing WordPress in Part Six of my series, and discussed WP themes in Part Seven, but if you are looking for more details, then Caroline’s ebook may just what you need. The ebook is called How to Develop Money-Making Niche Sites with WordPress.

Here’s the outline of the ebook:

Chapter 1: Getting and Installing WordPress
Chapter 2: Basic WordPress Administration
Chapter 3: Installing a New Theme
Chapter 4: Setting up Adsense On Your Site
Chapter 5: WordPress Plugins
Chapter 6: Creating Your Site Content
Chapter 7: Final Thoughts
Appendix 1: Uploading Using… Continue reading

Posted on January 23rd, 2008 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress | No Comments »

When is a blog not a blog? When it is a site that is managed like a blog, that’s when.

Want to know a little secret? My most profitable site is not a blog. It’s just a regular site. You know, the kind that has existed for years, long before the word blog was invented. I almost never update it. I hardly ever even think about it. I certainly don’t post daily or weekly like I would do with a blog. But if I had to do it all over again, I would build it as if it were a blog. I still wouldn’t update it very often or think about it very often. But when I needed to… Continue reading

Posted on December 3rd, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress | 5 Comments »

Video is hot. Never turn your back on hot. If you can utilize video on your site or in your blog posts, you give your users the new media they crave. You don’t have to use it often, but occasionally dropping a Youtube or similar video into a blog post can really engage your visitors. If you want to use video in your blog posts, I recommend you check out 3 WordPress plugins.

Easy Video Insertion Plugin: I currently use a WordPress plugin that makes it simple for me to drop a Youtube type video into any of my blog posts. I highly recommend it if you want to include a video in any of your posts. You can… Continue reading

Posted on October 21st, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress | 2 Comments »

I know I’ve listed both my favorite and essential WordPress plugins before, but that doesn’t mean I can’t tell you about an incredible new(ish) WordPress plugin that everyone absolutely must have! Want to save time and frustration? Download the OneClick Installer Plugin. Never ever download, unzip, open your ftp program, and upload a plugin - ever again!

I don’t know about you, but that seems to take forever. OneClick is an installer that does all of that for you, and it even comes with a Firefox extension to make things even easier. Right click on a link that points to a plugin, tell it to upload, and bam! Uploaded and ready to go in about 2 seconds flat. It’s just about… Continue reading

Posted on August 14th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress | 3 Comments »

I just thought I’d document a problem I ran across 3 times today when I upgraded three of my WordPress blogs to the newest version (2.2.2). Suddenly, my themes looked all out of whack, with the sidebars having issues. Sections weren’t in the correct spots, and things I hadn’t had in my sidebar for a long time were there again. Turns out, it was an issue with old widgets suddenly reappearing and causing havoc with the sidebars which no longer use widgets. The solution was to install and activate the Disable WordPress Widgets plugin. Problem was solved immediately. Now, I’m not sure what any future consequences this may have, but for the moment, I’m happy. Thought some of you might need the… Continue reading

Posted on August 7th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress | No Comments »

Three months ago, I posted a list of my favorite WordPress widgets and plugins. Since then, I’ve restructured several blogs and changed my mind about some things, so I thought it might be a good idea to revisit this topic and give a similar list that may not coincide exactly with the first. The first section below is a list of a dozen absolutely essential plugins that I would advise anyone to automatically install with a new blog. The second section is a list of eight plugins that I have installed on some of my blogs, but not on others. For me, these are important in some circumstances, but not necessarily essential for everyone. On to the lists…

12 Essential WordPress Plugins

1. Akismet (comes with

Posted on August 1st, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress | 8 Comments »

Not every site should follow the crowd into the Web 2.0 design scheme, but if your site needs to get away from the 1999 design look, it wouldn’t hurt to get an instant modernization by choosing a Web 2.0 WordPress theme design. The 7 themes listed below are ones that I think most exemplify what is commonly thought of as a Web 2.0 design. Choosing any of these will immediately bring your musty old site into the modern world. (Just click on a theme’s image to go grab it for yourself).

With the perfect mix of Web 2.0 colors and big fonts, Rockin Web 2.0 is my favorite.
***

Webby Blue is a close second with its… Continue reading

Posted on July 9th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress | 1 Comment »

Although there are tons of great “free” WordPress themes to download, “free” isn’t always “totally free”. It can be difficult to find a free WordPress theme that doesn’t come with some kind of condition (usually a required link). I found what I consider to be the 5 BEST, totally free WordPress themes, that have NO conditions attached to their use.

I picked the following themes based on their looks and features, and chose the ones that would be most likely to appeal to anyone wanting to customize a theme to suit their needs. Those that made the list also didn’t have any obvious code issues that might make it difficult to modify as needed.

Dkret2 is a 2-column theme… Continue reading

Posted on June 8th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress | 11 Comments »