As I said in a previous post, I’m a big proponent of premium themes. As a designer, it provides me with a great jumping off place, and creating a custom look, along with custom page layouts, and implementing some of the more complex custom features is a breeze.

I had the opportunity to work with a client on her blog layout the other day using the Thesis theme. It was great to get to pop around in the dashboard and see how the features worked together.

The good:

• Many of the features that would required other plugins are already built into Thesis. This includes critical elements like a place for your analytics tracking code, several sidebar widgets, and SEO tools
• Classic, easy-to-use navigation for your visitors is built in
• Cross-browser compliance
• Beautiful typography
• Great support
• Free upgrades

The bad:

• The SEO tools are missing a critical piece if you’re using WordPress primarily as a CMS. They don’t give you the option to change the menu name on the pages, which hampers your ability to have short menu tags with long, keyword-rich headlines.
• Honestly, that was the only issue I saw with the system, and it’s probably something they can fix in the next revision.

Here’s a link to the DIY site. (disclaimer: yes, I am an affiliate, if you use this link and purchase the product I get paid a small commission)

Find Out More About Artisteer

Having just read some really great tips on this post Tips for New Bloggers: Three Columns Thisaway Template (I), I’m even more convinced that the average blogger needs Artisteer. While I think it’s great to understand the inner workings, for the average Joe, it’s too much of a struggle for the same end-result.

• Click here to download the Free Custom WordPress Theme
• Click here to download the Free Blogger Theme

Speaking of galleries… do you have a favorite gallery plug-in? Share it in the comments section.

Please let me know what you think and feel free to post questions. More videos to come!

Read the announcement about the Google/Amazon partnership

One of my favorite blogs is CakeWrecks, and they’re on Blogger. They also just released a new book… imagine how easy it would have been to monetize the sale of their own product had there been an automatic option.

In any case, when you log into Blogger and click “monetize”, you’ll now see something that looks like this:

Here's what one of the sidebar widgets looks like

If you have an Amazon Associates account, just a few more clicks and you’re set to go. If you don’t have one, it only takes a few minutes to apply. Once you’re up and running, you can add products to your blog and even add side-bar widgets with things like “product of the day”.

Lots of ways to put this handy addition to work, so be sure to read the post and instructions over at BloggerBuzz.

Not only do you need to know what and why they buy, but you also need to know how to communicate to potential clients so that they know that your company can provide what they need.

WOW! That’s a tall order!

Volumes have been written on sales and marketing strategies. Entire degree programs are dedicated to it. So, how’s the average Joe Business Owner supposed to get a handle on the essential knowledge?

Here’s my personal recommendation, a book, Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide. I stumbled upon this book on Amazon, then promptly borrowed it from the library. After reading it (twice), I bought my own copy. THAT’s how much I like it.

The author, John Jantsch, also has a website by the same name: Duct Tape Marketing, which is filled with even more great ideas that are easily understood and implemented by business owners and bloggers alike. Heck, I even learned a cool way to pimp out my Facebook page from reading his Facebook page. Both the book and the site are full of really useful stuff.

Some of the innovative tools that Amazon offers makes adding links to your site so easy a child could do it. My favorite is the tool bar that appears when you’re logged in and browsing Amazon; it’s got a handy link-maker right there waiting to be clicked.

As an added benefit, you can even promote and make commissions on Amazon gift cards. They make wonderful gifts and are easy to promote.

My blogs aren’t at a pro level, so I haven’t been accepted by a few of the larger merchants; there are so many to choose from that that is just a blip of an issue.