NEW WordPress Workshops: January 16, 2009

@TommyTRC and I had our first Do-It-Yourself WordPress Workshop at ATW Airport in Appleton on Saturday, January 16th.

It turned out great even though we only had two class participants. This allowed us to spend a great deal more time with individual questions and customizations than we would have been able to do if we had the 10 attendees we had initially hoped for.

The class could have easily been a full eight hours and we plan on having an advanced class, specifically geared towards blogging in the future. Be sure to sign up on the right sidebar to be notified of the workshops as they are scheduled.

Thanks again to @ATWAirport for allowing us to rent their conference room for this event. The space was incredibly suitable for our needs and having WiFi was crucial to the success of this event.

Now that this first class is “under our belt” as the cliche goes we will further refine our class outline and agenda for the class that is upcoming on February 16, 2009.

There are still spaces available for the Saturday, February 13th class and we would love to have you join us. We are extending the offer of $147 with one year of free hosting and free domain name registration. Register by clicking here.

How to Create a Gravatar

I may be jumping ahead here a little bit but I wanted to get a post out this week and it’s one of the videos I’ve created already so I’m going with what I have!

As you start to comment on blogs you will likely want your “brand” to be visually visible to people who later read the post or comment after you have.

One of the easiest ways to visually identify yourself is by creating a Gravatar: Globally Recognized Avatar. By doing so the avatar you  chose (whether your face or logo) will always show next to comments on blogs that have Gravatars enabled (many of them do).

Once you set up your Gravatar you can add multiple email addresses to be associated with that avatar.

Get started with your own Gravatar today and then start commenting on other blogs!

The Advantages vs. Disadvantages of Paid Themes vs. Free Themes

There are some great free WordPress themes out there on the Internet – this is one of them. This particular theme was very easy to customize a few areas (namely the RSS and Email options) and it also has four choices for color schemes. However, there are many reasons why premium themes are often the way to go which this post does a great job of outlining.

In my opinion three of the most important reasons why I recommend and chose a Premium Theme (such as Thesis) is because:

1. Ability to easily customize, especially the header, with minimal knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP
2. Lifetime updates and customer support (and often user forums)
3. NO crazy promo links to some other site that I may or may not be interested in supporting

This post is, by no means, to say you must only work with a paid theme. However, just be aware that with limited knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP you may quickly find yourself frustrated and ready to “throw in the towel” with a free theme.

Check out Thesis and check out some of these sites that have been built with Thesis for an idea of the variations of what can easily be done by a DIY WordPress user, such as yourself, with a premium theme.

• Lake Winnebago Vacation Rentals by Owner
• London, UK Hypnotherapist
• Kitty Hawk, NC Beach Buggies
• Appleton WI Masonry Contractor
• Marketing & Leadership: Justin McCullough (his site is “straight out of the Thesis box”)
• And, of course, my totally customized Social Media Virtual Assistant site
  

During the upcoming WordPress Workshop in Appleton, Wisconsin we will discuss in more detail and will explain why we chose a free theme for this particular site. (yes, we really do have a good reason!)

If you are already using WordPress for your personal or business website what are your thoughts as far as a free theme vs. a paid theme?

The Website YOU Need.

The Control YOU Want.

With so many individuals starting their own businesses — often with limited funds —  the best thing is to teach YOU how to build your own WordPress website. What we will teach you in just four short hours will empower you to  get your business up to speed with Web 2.0.  This simply means making it interactive, putting you in control of content and updates, and allowing you to draw more of an audience to your site.

Be sure to sign up (on the right) to be notified when the first DIY WordPress Workshop will be offered.  Also, by signing up you will receive a exclusive 15% off discount coupon when the class schedule is announced.

If you’ve been wanting to build your own personal or business website but don’t have the funds to hire someone to do it, then this class is for you.

In just four hours we can help you get your site up and running. The the only thing you will be left with is coming up with the content!

Also, when you sign up to be notified of the upcoming classes we will email you a link with two PDF documents to begin the process of defining your navigation menu and your page layout.