I am sure you have heard that you need to create a “user friendly” blog, so here we will expand on that idea. Of course, you do want to make your blog friendly to all visitors (excepting spammers) so that they will like the blog and come back. This will be part of a series here, and this is part one, the theme.

A theme distinguishes the look of a site, including colors, pictures, and layout can come with theme. If you look at my blog, the cover that you see is the theme, or if you are noticing how the design is constructed.

There are different types of themes, for different people and for different platforms.

• Probably the most common theme is the Wordpress theme. Since many, many, many blogs are using wordpress as a platform, then wordpress themes are all over. Now there are three main types of wordpress themes, which are:

Free themes - there are many free wordpress themes that you can find, and they really have a great look. The theme I am using is a free wordpress theme, but I have other plans for this blog and it’s theme. The only problem with the free themes are that there are so many out there, and so many good ones too, that it is hard t find the perfect one. I am not going to refer any free wordpress theme sites to you yet, because I think you should search on your own.

Premium themes - premium themes are made by very experienced theme designers. Premium themes cost you a bit, but they can be worth it. One thing notorious for premium themes is that they have a lot of features, meaning there will be places you can easily edit, such as banner ads, featured posts, RSS details, and many other things that can be much easier than going into your code and editing it.

Custom Themes - custom themes seem so great to me. Every blog that I come across with a custom theme really seems to have a nice feel. Custom themes are themes that you pay someone to make for you, it is custom for you, having whatever you need with it, and also is used for only you. It will not be sold to anyone else.

Now we move on to the second kind or type of theme, and these are Blogger Themes. These themes are for people joining Blogger, where it is yourdomain@blogspot.com. There can be some great blogger themes, but I see nothing special about them, maybe the reason being I am not a Blogger user.

Our last type of theme introduced is the plain html template, or CSS or xhtml, but basically it is just code making this template. I have started a site using just code, but that was a practice of Green Flamingo Designs and I have decided not to mess with code so much anymore, it just cannot do the same things as Green Flamingo › Edit — WordPressthe themes can. I do not recommend this type, for it is hard to deal with and a bit of a pain.

Choosing and creating your design

You should always combine certain aspects of a basic theme design into what your site looks like. Those will be introduced here, as well as some guidance on choosing or creating a theme.

• Creative
• Semi unique (not a hugely common theme)
• unique graphics
• friendly graphics
• accessible and usable
• not overwhelming or scrambled
• black on white text, not white on black

Creative - be yourself, be creative. Make the look something that is you.

Semi unique - if you have a free theme, choose one that is not too common, you do not want to be the same as everyone else! Same thing applies to the premium themes, so you might want to move on from the John Chow or Cow “Milk It” theme.

Unique Graphics - you want to have unique graphics, so you should probably get your own header, logo, maybe even RSS button.

Friendly Graphics - you want to keep your graphics friendly, mostly to the eyes, but in general as well. You want to have everything neat and friendly, with fun but professional graphics.

Accessible and usable - we want your visitors to be able to use the theme functions, so make sure they can do that!

Not overwhelming - you want to keep it short and sweet. Do not load up and graphics and pics, ads, or anything else disturbing to the eyes. If if hurts you to look at your blog, it’ll kill others.

Black on white text - I think you should keep it so that your text is black and background white. I have heard complaints from the white text/dark background thing. It does not have to stay completely black and white, you can add some variation, just have dark text on light background.

This was day 1 of the tips! Expect to see more tomorrow! I will be updating all of this, and I may put much of this into separate posts. We do not want too much in one post! I am not sure exactly how I will balance out all the information, I think I will just turn it into a long series of post, each one being about half this length. If you like it all in one, then let me know.

I think that this was a great post and would be very grateful if you submitted this to any sites. Thank you!

There are many methods that people use to write, many methods they use to concentrate on writing, many things to persuade or even force them to write. As I have said before, forcing yourself to write is not a good thing, and I think that is you make yourself write then the writing will not have the love in it that your more natural writing has. Even if you are writing an article or promotional blurb for a company or business, you can still write that in a natural way.

This post is another of my endless series on writing tips, for I want you to become the best writer you can be. I cannot bring out everything for you, to find your real soul in writing you must discover that flame on your own. I have moved away from anything personal, though I am dying to talk of my troubles I have had lately online, for I am afraid when  have a traffic rush one of my worst posts will be up. So here I present to you some methods to concentrate on your writing, getting it done on time while still enjoying life.

Have what you want in mind - you should have an idea of what you want to write, usually before I step up to the plate I have a few paragraphs in my head - which sadly are forgotten by the time I can write. This is why I should carry a notepad in my ear, pants, shirt, etc. Basically you should have a topic, maybe a starting sentence, maybe a little map of what you are going to write in your head. This cannot always be done, I know I hate what teachers call “writing mapping” or the “web planning.” Don’t do that or it’ll kill me, but have an idea.

Get comfortable - make sure you are fairly comfortable with where you are, having a soft seat and good posture. You don’t want to be sitting on a stone bench, forar to me, that is not all that comfortable. I could spend a few hundred dollars on a nice soft, squishy, leather chair but I guess I will stick with what I have.

Don’t slouch - when I said get comfortable I did not mean you should slouch. This has two meanings: (1.) sit up straight in a healthy position (2.) Do not get too comfortable such as lying in bed or in a chair/couch where you are not in a good position to type or write with mind.

Stay professional - You want to keep your job by writing a good advertising article write? Then stay professional. For blogging you should be as you are at work - having ok clothes and keeping fresh. Unless you are writing about the “adult jammy party extravaganza” I suggest you stay out of sleep wear and other unprofessional clothing while you write (unless you are known as “the nude blogger” of course). We want to keep the articles professional with the air of knowledge around.

Use willpower - sometimes you have to be strong enough inside to stop yourself from wondering off on the internet, but it can be very difficult. Try it out for a bit and see if you are any good. If you want to make it more fun reward yourself from keeping away from your inbox or facebook. Choose either small or big rewards!

Deprive yourself - when willpower isn’t enough to keep you away from your gmail inbox or myspace, you will have to start depriving yourself of these dreaded time vacuums. I do not usually do this, but I suffer the consequences from not disconnecting. A lot say to disconnect from the internet all together, which I guess if the best plan. You also have to worry about offline games, things off the computer and so on. Just deprive yourself of the right amount so you can post what you need.

I hope these tips have helped you concentrate on your writing! Happy blogging!

This post has turned into some of my best work, so go ahead and read it! The post helps you consider what to do going into blogging, during blogging, and on the verge of quitting blogging.

Before you start a website, you have to think it through. I have said before that you have to just jump out there and do it, but that is difference. Look in a clearer light, look through water actually, and you will see what I mean.

You must take the jump when there is something stopping you, for if there is something slowing you down you have to get past that wall.

You should remember hearing that you have to take the jump, land successfully and be in the spirit to start and succeed. This is true to get over anything that is stopping you. You have to flip over that worry and fear, the fear of imperfection or the pressure built up. Follow the path of where you need to go, where you need to start, and you will reach the treasure.

You must assure you self with confidence that you are ready to face the challenges that a blogger has.

Before the stage where you have to jump, then you must think through what you plan to do and the challenges you face. You must confront these problems with a key, so you know how to solve the puzzle. You must find the trapdoors, and later you must get around them. You have to wonder if you will have enough time to put into your projects, and must know if they will be successful enough for you to sacrifice time for. The valuable time that you spend blogging can cost you.

Even if there are traps, you must confront them somehow.

Just because you have trouble blogging doesn’t mean you should give up and quit right away. If you do so then the time you spent will feel to you as a waste. Two things for you: do not give up at every tough spot; and if you do have to quit the time you spent was by no means a waste. You should also know that you cannot flee from your fears and troubles. The challenges that you face must be dealt with, do not run from them, play them. Here is what you do for traps:

” I sense a trap.”

” Next move?”

” Spring the trap.”

(If you don’t know that is from star wars.)

Love what you do, or else there is no point.

As shown to me by myself and a fellow blogger, you must love what you do for it to be successful. To me this applies practically everywhere, but for some it may be in only blogging. Basically, if you do not enjoy what you do then your work will not standout and shine making others not enjoy it as much. If you put love into your work, the work will reflect that love and joy.

Try new things.

Having to love what you do does not mean you shouldn’t try new things. Experimenting is something crucial in many aspects of life, and blogging is one of them. So go out and see what you can do!

This post was written very well I think, surprisingly well for what mood I am in. Writing this has caused me to notice these tips, and they reflect on me and what I try to do. I have had not the best day, but I have noticed what I wrote and I am feeling more in the spirit now. I hope these tips have done the same for you and that you will treasure them to remember when you are on the verge of a blogging breakdown.

There are many things that one blogger looks for in another blogger. If you want to become someone great and looked up to online, you have to have things typical of a blogger, so others can recognize you know what your doing. You also have to have things unique to you, for if you look like every other blogger they see the visitors will feel no need to stay or help you.

We will mainly focus on a blogger’s content, though the design is very important, and one of the first things measured to judge you. If you want to enter a big $ cracking deal, you will have to mainly focus on your content for someone to notice you and get a big opportunity.

Again, unique - I will say it again, but you must have something unique to present to your readers. Maybe if you write in a certain style that really appeals, or you have some tips that are hard to find anywhere else. You could offer a service as well, and even if you can get that service elsewhere, try to add something to it that is just you.

Post often, keep your readers excited - if looking for a joint venture with one of your readers, you will have to show that person you can produce rock hard content. You must break through the glass not only once, but once every post. Get on Digg’s frontpage as often as you can.

Spoon feed them - deal out your best content to everyone, from newbies to experienced webmasters. Really what you should do is turn those newbies into people making $200 a day, as you should be yourself. So spoon feed those newbies so they know what they’re doing, and try not to set any traps. If there are areas that might be hard to navigate, be sure to encourage questions that you will answer.

Something special - this may be similar to having unique content, but at the same time different. Offer something special to the reader, not special to you. It may tie with a unique service, but you have to make your readers feel special to keep coming back.

Rock hard - one of the most important things in your content is to make sure it is solid and won’t break through. This is another that ties together with the others, but it requires you to have pure ideas and a strong mind. Even if you were born thinking crap, you can train yourself to produce the rock hard read all the way.

Don’t be shy - don’t be afraid to tell your readers a bit about yourself, offer a deal, or let them in on secrets to blogging. These might be some of the things that make you unique, so keep at it and stand out. Get out on the stage and rock the house down!

Don’t overdo it - though you don’t want to be shy, you shouldn’t overdo it either. If you go too far, nobody will follow along your lines. I am sure you can discern the right amount of what you do.

Well, those are the tips I have for you today. I would really appreciate if you took time to Stumble or Digg this post, as I think it is very good. We will continue with the theme look later.

Well, I am happy to say I am making money online! Not very much of course, all has been through Adsense so far, but I have big upcoming plans. I am going to talk about what advertising I have been doing and how it is going for me.

Adsense - I have started with Adsense, as you can probably tell from the sidebar and footer. I have heard many good things about Adsense, and see high potential with it. I present to you the very low earnings of $1.48 so far, but in months I hope that amount will be about $30 a day. Adsense does take up room and time, but I will keep it for now, it seems useful.

ScribeFireQuickAds - Scribe Fire Ads are fairly new, they came out on the 1st I believe, and I am probably one of the first ones to try them. They are still in Beta mode, but I think they have great potential, and I hope to stay with them. I have not actually put any of their ads up, but that is because my site is too crowded already, I will to greenflamingodesigns though. What I like and I think a lot of others will like about Scribefire Quick Ads is it works just like Scribefire, you can insert the ad without messing with the code and testing your luck with placement, though I guess with Max Banner Ads (I still have not reviewed it) it wouldn’t be so hard. There are 3 sizes to the ad, and I have tried all 3 but not kep any up. The ads are by many of the top ad programs, and I think Adsense may be one of them.

Kontera - well, know much about this I do not, but I have joined it knowing it is a good one. Though I know better than to click on those double-underlined links, I sometimes find myself clicking on them for fun to help earn the displayer some money. I am not mean, sometimes I am too kind. I forget whether I have received an email back from them, I will update you on this.

There are a few others I have joined but have not gotten far with, such as PepperJam and NeverBlueAds.

As far as more advertising goes, my site is way too stuffed up for I gave away free or “subscribe to receive” ads at the beginning of the month, this is why I think I am too kind. I should have put a limit on them. I think there may be one or 2 I havn’t put up, and I am really sorry. Some people unsubscribed, maybe for not putting their ad up (2 people unsubscribed and I think 2 people are missing) but I am not going to care. I have enough ads on here already, and I was linking to them(didn’t put the link image in though) but fine. I am going to dominate with Green Flamingo Designs, the only problem is people are not as in to interior design.

Sorry for talking to mself there, I hope to present you with the launch of Green Flamingo Designs services tomorrow, and have a good night! Also, if you have any suggestions for affiliate stuff to join I would really appreciate that.

Maybe the title should be “successful blogging is not easy,” but we do need to cut down on words in a title.

As most of you know, blogging is not that easy to maintain. There  is so much to do in so little time and people can become overwhelmed with it. If maintaining a blog seems to stressful to you, I advise you don’t keep a blog.

First of all, you have to have the motivation to start a blog. You all should start a blog by the way, and if you are all newbies, I will write a small guide like everybody else does to get you started. Now mind you, this is the niche “blogging tips” which deals with tips for blogging, not starting a blog :). Some people start off thinking it will be hard to maintain a blog, which can be right, but also blogging continuously could be easy for them, and they miss out on their chance.

Once you have a domain, hosting, theme, and every other little piece to get that website off the ground, then you have to deal with content and promotion.

Content - content can be very hard to think of at times. The content you find and choose and write will develop your niche, or you will specifically have a niche in mind while starting the blog. Content can be the biggest trouble of some bloggers, especially if in a niche with not much to talk about.

Promotion - it doesn’t matter if “content is king” but the bottom line is you have to promote. There are many ways to promote your blog, such as blog commenting, guest posting, forum posting, advertising, contest sponsoring,  and social sites. Any of these work, and there are many more beyond. Some people get tired of promoting, but they have to keep going, just like they have to keep the content flowing.

The hardest part of it all, balancing time.

Balancing offline - Besides just balancing the time you have on the net, then you have to balance that in with other things you do in your day. If you have a day job offline, then you have to be at that and only have so much time to be working n your blog. If you are lugged around by your family all day, the same thing applies.

Balancing online - you also have to manage your time online, which can be just as difficult as offline. You do have to create a balance between writing and promoting, and we will count blog reading as promoting because essentially it is. You also have other things to do I’m assuming, and those of course take time. If you spend a lot of time on social networks you might have to give those up if you want to blog.

In the next few articles, I will talk about how you can manage and balance time, so stay tuned!

What happens when someone mentions the name John Chow? Does the crowd awe in respect, or do they critisize him of being a greedy bastard? Which is it? I have so many questions of the opinion of him, because I have heard a lot.

Gathering The Evidence

On his site I have seen people criticize him and call him greedy, I have seen people cheer him on. I want to know what is behind their minds.

Jealousy - do people criticize John Chow because they are jealous of him? Are they jealous that he makes $30,000 a month and they make $0? A lot of people accuse him of being greedy, saying he should give all his money to charity. Isn’t he just one of the lucky ones that manages to get really rich? Or is he so rich because he worked hard to get in the status he is in now?

Respect - There are also those that respect him, look up to John Chow as an idol, and attempt to follow his footsteps. But are some of the ones respecting him so he will not get mad? And so they can get promotion? Brian Campbell met him at a bookstore/starbucks in Vancouver to deliver to him a 10,000 check, because Brian thought he owed the money to John Chow for posting about his goal of reaching 10,000 in 37 days with Facebook. Brian treated John with utmost respect in the video. But behind that shade, is there jealously lurking?

I am not sure of what people really think of this man, and I will never know…

Some people have never heard of John Chow…

Some people visit his blog everyday and comment…

Some people spend all their time criticizing John Chow and telling people he is a bad person…

I know someone who lives in Vancouver and has not heard of John Chow, and people may gape at that, but it is different from my next door neighbors never hearing of me? (Maybe it is, but not all that much)

I am not asking you a question, I am only sharing with you my wonder about what goes on behind his back.

Inspirations for this post: As you may notice, John Chow is on my entrecard widget (by the time you read it he may be gone). On Blog Premiere Forum Tom from StandOutBlogger talked about having John Chow on his widget in a few days. John Chow had many of his local readers come and visit him and watch him receive a 10,000 check from Brian Campbell. I needed something to write.

Blog Premiere Contest Extravaganza!!! Kicks Off!

This is one of the greatest contests I have ever seen. Most have things like ads, entrecredits, reviews, a bit of money like $50-100, but this contest has things actually useful. I will first show you the awesome prize list.

First place winner gets:

Ultimate Blogging Package

Hosting Package

Twelve Months Swamp Plan by Hostgator

Domain

One .COM domain by Blog Premiere

Custom Wordpress Theme

Coloured Mascot by DesignFXPro
Theme Design by PSDThis
Theme Coding by PSDChopstick

Consultation

One hour marketing consultation by Jason Pereira
One hour technical consultation by George Pearce
One BotW slot on Blog Premiere

Monetization

One copy of OIO Publisher

Second place winner gets:

Custom Wordpress Theme

Theme Design by Eli Burford
Theme Coding by Ophelia Nicholson

Monetization

One copy of OIO Publisher

Promotion

One slot on the Can�t Get Rich Podcast

Third place winner gets:

One license to three themes by Magnus Jepson
One license to the Elite Theme

Fourth place winner gets:

One license to the Elite Theme
One license to Mimbo Pro

Fifth place winner gets:

One license to the Power Theme
One license to the Ecstasy Theme

The contest will run on a points scheme… whoever gets the most points wins.

How to get points

300 Points for submitting an accepted article to Blog Premiere�s magazine.

300 Points for blogging about the contest with all sponsor links attached.

150 Points for blogging about the contest without all sponsor links attached

50 Points for joining Blog Premiere�s forums

10 Points for Stumbling this contest entry

5 Points per day you link to Blog Premiere on your website.

3 Points per thread you make on Blog Premiere

1 Point per post you make on Blog Premiere

You can join the contest here!

So there you have it. I could leave it at that for the day, just be lazy and show you what I copied and pasted (it would take me a long time to type that up, especially with links, so thanks Jason). I am going to tell you more though so you can join this awesome contest.

That first place prize looks good right? To bad this guy that joined yesterday or day before has hogged it because he spam posts (all the new people are doing that to get points, I encourage you not to). He also has like 5 websites, so posts about the contest on all of them.

So, if you would like to join this amazing contest yourself and see the original thread, here it is.

Join Blog Premiere here and navigate your way around. Note: the registration box does not work, use the nav bar at top to register.

On May 31st the domain was bought…

On May 31st files were transferred with difficulty to the host from local host or xampp…

On June 1st Green Flamingo Designs went live!

I am very pleased that the launch was able to happen, it came at just the right time, a turning point in our calendar.

A bit about the site and how it’s doing - The site does not have much content, but I am working to write that while keeping up with this blog and reading other blogs. There is something messed up with the header, I may fix it by the time you see it, but maybe not. It first was how the site name would not show, and only the theme name, but I did something to that and now there is this messed up title there I cannot fix. There are major things I will be changing, and I hope that those work. I might also use a different background image for the header, or make the header bigger somehow.

Have you noticed ?-? Green-flamingo has some major changes as well. It was expressed to me that reading white on black was difficult, and I decided to change it to an orangish yellow. That is not all that was changed. There were more changes, and more to come, but that was the most noticeable.

Sorry for not posting this yesterday. The site wasn’t up until it ws changed that the site was redirected to localhost. I coul have posted last night, but it was a little late.

Comparing the two sites, this one will still have much to do with green flamingo designs, but this one will show more behind the scenes while that is more strictly professional.

Also, visit Blog Premiere Forum today!

Well, let’s have a little competition here right? We are going to do a writer, you or probably, VS a theme designer. I have lots to say, so hold on.

What money they make - how much money a theme designer vs. a blogger makes all depends. It could be a really popular blogger, and the theme designer could make really good themes. But as an average, what is it? The theme designer could easily make 50-100 dollars on a theme, for a single sale. A blogger might easily make that much money in a day. Now let’s see take a closer and deeper look.

The theme designer, say, makes 2 themes per month, and each costs $80. The themes both sell about 50 copies. That would be $8000 a month. Now it may be hard to sell 50 copies of those things, but who knows.

Say the blogger makes $100 per day (I know for some of you that is a breeze, but live with it, because most people don’t make much more than that), and if the month they are in has 30 days, they will make $3000.

Neither of those are bad, they are both quite good. And since a lot of bloggers make more then $100 a day, they would make more. And I am sorry for all of you who do not use the dollar, but I’m sure you get the point how money adds up. Winner for this round: theme designer.

Is it worth it - Now we have to test which is easier and worth the time.

The theme designer is spending a lot of time and effort to make those themes. The blogger is writing, marketing, and joining more affiliate programs. The harder is the theme designer. The blogger looks easier. We now must take another dive into the ocean.

The theme designer, first he has to learn how to make a theme. Well, just learn html, css, xhtml, php, and so on. I have tried it and figured out it is hard. Then the theme designer will have to remember all that information, and make a good looking theme out of it. The theme has to stand out. And if the theme designer can’t stand up after making the theme, the theme doesn’t stand out.

The blogger on the other hand only needs to know how to read and write with style. For starting up a blog you can use some of the idiot proof guides made. So after that soon-to-be-blogger learns how to blog, then he starts making money. Now, while the theme designer only needs some good promotion to get his themes selling, the blogger will toil the long ours promoting his work while trying to find time to write.

Now we have to look at the results of those toils, the theme designer is designing some big mulah while the blogger, after the hard work in the beginning is riding down the road of rich ease. So both have good results for their work, but there is more work required for the theme designer than the blogger. Winner for this round: blogger.

The final winner is open ended for you to decide which you think is best. I think the ultimate winner is doing both, maybe having a website of theme design and offering themes too.

Thank you BlogOH!Blog for in a way inspiring me to this idea, and to 2phatgeeks for showing me to the blogoh!blog website.

A little update - I may be changing my theme soon. I have found some nice themes on BlogOh!Blog and I may use them. It may seem not worth it after all the work done to this theme, but I think it may be time for a change. And, if I want this theme back, my updates will still be on it.