Random WordPress of the Day #0034

Title: Blogging All-In-One for Dummies

New blogs are being launched at the rate of 175,000 a day. To stand out from the masses, bloggers need the detailed information and advice packed into this all-in-one guide.

Here’s what new bloggers need to get started and what experienced bloggers need to upgrade and even earn money from their blogs. Eight self-contained minibooks cover joining the blogosphere, blogging software, tools that extend your blog, marketing your blog, microblogging, making money from your blog, corporate blogging, and niche blogging.

• Blogging is replacing traditional media and gaining credibility; to succeed, bloggers need a greater understanding of blogging basics, tools, and techniques
• Eight minibooks cover getting started, software, other tools, blog marketing, microblogging (including Twitter), monetizing your blog, and corporate and niche blogging
• Helps new bloggers become active and productive members of the blogging community
• Provides vital information for both hobby bloggers and those who want to build a career around blogging

Presented in the fun and friendly For Dummies style, Blogging All-in-One For Dummies is a complete reference guide to starting and maintaining a successful blog.

From the Back Cover

Prepare to launch into the blogosphere — here’s your ticket!

What do you want to tell the world? Get started today with this guide to creating and solidifying your place in the blogosphere. You’ll discover all the strategies and tools you’ll need to launch a blog and get noticed. From selecting a platform and writing your first post to including ads and using Twitter, you’ll be piloting a blog in no time!

• What’s your niche? — follow guidelines to choose a niche and set your blog up for success
• Build your business — create a business blog marketing plan and choose business bloggers
• Make the right decision — select the best blogging applications and blog hosts to meet your goals
• Extend and enhance your blog — from optimizing your content for search engines to creating blog feeds, get up to speed on the available tools
• Gain a following — discover the secrets of blogging success as you market your blog and build a community
• Show me the money — find out how to earn income by adding blog advertising, publishing sponsored reviews, and selling merchandise
• Enter the world of microblogging — learn how to create your Twitter profile, follow other users, write and publish tweets, and more

Open the book and find:

• Advice on choosing a blog topic
• The rules of the blogosphere
• Tips on selecting the right blogging application
• How to write to attract search engines
• Ways to analyze your blog’s performance
• How to find and edit images to spice up your posts
• Guidance on creating a podcast or vlog
• Secrets of making money from your blog

8 books in 1

• Joining the Blogosphere
• Niche Blogging
• Corporate and Business Blogging
• Choosing a Blogging Application
• Blogging Tools
• Promoting and Growing Your Blog
• Making Money from Your Blog

• Microblogging with Twitter

Click here to learn more or buy now!

Random WordPress of the Day #0029

Title: ProBlogger Book 2nd Edition

This book isn’t promising to make you rich overnight, but it will definitely help you build a solid income over a period of time. It was written by two very popular and successful bloggers, Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett.

The original version came out a couple years ago, but today the 2nd edition is out and it has gotten a much needed update, I have already ordered my copy and suggest you do the same, very much worth the effort.

Here’s information about the book from their website:

Blogging has become a popular and fascinating pastime for many, but more and more bloggers are finding it can also be an excellent source of direct or indirect income.

Although the barriers to starting a blog are low, without expert guidance it is easy to get frustrated when success doesn’t match expectations. Written by the creator of the world’s #1 resource for making money with blogs, ProBlogger takes the reader from absolute beginner to earning money from or as a result of blogging. Through step by step practical lessons the reader will choose a blog topic, analyze the market, set up a blog, promote it and earn revenue.

Unlike other books that are big on potential and theory, ProBlogger provides results based on the authors own experience of what really works through practical, tried and tested advice. Inside readers will learn:

• How Bloggers Make Money
• Direct Income Earning vs. Indirect Income Earning methods
• Why Niches are Important
• 20 Ingredients for a successful blog post
• Optimizing advertising
• Which advertising platforms work best
• Expert analysis of Technorati’s Top Blogs – why they work
• and so much more.

Purchase ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income from Amazon.

Random WordPress of the Day #0026

Title: Digging into WordPress Book

Click here to view more details

Click here to purchase the PDF version.

400 Pages of Practical Information

There is much to learn about the World’s most popular publishing platform. From your first steps of learning about WordPress all the way through maintaining a site throughout the years, this book is packed with truly practical information.

Beautiful Custom Design

Design-wise, Digging into WordPress is a beautiful book: every page of the book is printed with stunning digital-color precision on gloss-finish paper, with each of its eight chapters color-coded to provide quick and easy navigation. With its large, clear typography, each page is easy on the eyes and easy to read.

PDF Version

All printed copies of the book include a PDF version that you can read on your computer (or you can buy the PDF version alone). We know it’s nice to have a real book to hold in your hands, but the PDF is also great for three big reasons:

1. Hyperlinked. All the many URL’s in the book you can just click to go to the web page referenced. There is also internal linking – you can click links in the table of contents to jump to those sections.
2. Copy & Paste code. Much easier to grab code via copy & paste than retyping from scratch. Of course the page numbers in the book and PDF match, so if you are reading the book you can jump over to the PDF and go to that page to copy and paste. You’ll always know exactly where that code is.
3. Search. The book has an appendix, but that’s never quite as good as just using your PDF readers search feature to find what you are looking for.

Features entire Table of Contents and part of Chapter 3.

A Lifetime Subscription

When you buy this book, you will instantly get the most current version. But also, you are getting a lifetime subscription to all updated (PDF) copies of the book. Updates will automatically be emailed to you as they are released.

Spiral Bound!

How many tech books do you wish would JUST FLIPPING ?!@!*! STAY FLAT while you are trying to reference them while at the computer.

Lots of Code Samples

We go into depth about the anatomy of a WordPress theme. How they work, and how to write the code you need to do the things you want. This means real code that you can sink your teeth into, as well as copy and paste. Beyond theme building, we introduce many tricks your functions.php file can pull off and show you ways to increase performance and security through HTAccess.

Authors

Written by Chris Coyier and Jeff Starr, who eat their own dog food when it comes to talking WordPress. Between them, nearly 100 WordPress sites manufactured.

Random WordPress of the Day #0020

Title: How to be a Rockstar WordPress Designer eBook

Click here to get more details and purchase the eBook for 29$!

Theme Like a Professional!

Managing web content has always been tricky, but with WordPress, any web designer can have a flexible, free and powerful CMS to use not just on blogging projects, but on all sorts of websites. In How To Be a Rockstar WordPress Designer you will learn step by step how to take a straight HTML site and power it with WordPress.

During the course of the book you’ll build THREE WordPress themes, a blog, a portfolio site and a general site with menus and submenus. Each theme demonstrates different aspects of WordPress theming and all three are packaged in with the book so you’ll have Photoshop, HTML, CSS and WordPress PHP files to refer to.

Who is This Book For?

The book is aimed at anyone with a solid understanding of HTML/CSS. You don’t need to know PHP, you don’t need to have ever even touched WordPress before. The examples begin from scratch and build on each other, while basic PHP principles that are used are explained in an easy to understand manner.

If you’ve ever wanted to get started with WordPress theming, or you’re looking to take your skills to the next level with advanced theming concepts, this is the book for you!

About the Authors: Collis Ta’eed

Co-founder of Envato, Collis has been designing and building websites for many years for small sites and large, mom and pop businesses, multinational corporations and governmental organisations. His work has been featured on numerous design and CSS galleries including BestWebGallery, WebCreme, CSSRemix, CSSMania, TheBestDesigns, and many more.

Collis has an easy to read style of writing, and his tutorials at PSDTUTS and NETTUTS have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of Photoshop and Web Design enthusiasts. Collis is also co-author of How To Be a Rockstar Freelancer and is passionate about teaching and training others.

About the Authors: Harley Alexander

Harley Alexander is an up and coming WordPress designer and developer. Author of more than a dozen WordPress tutorials on the popular NETTUTS site, Harley pretty much speaks in WordPress! With experience in jQuery, PHP and of course WP, Harley’s technical skillset is impressive for anyone, but even more so for a young author still in his teens! You can find Harley over at his own blog – BaffleInc.

Random WordPress of the Day #0017

Title: 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook

If you have big dreams for your blog but have been putting improving it in the ‘one day’ basket – you’re not alone.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog is a downloadable e-book designed to help you revitalize your blog by giving you 31 tasks that will all help to turn it into the page view powerhouse you’ve always dreamed of.

Each day in the project contains:

1. A Task – something to DO that day.
2. Teaching – each day you’ll be given great instruction on both the WHY and HOW of the task of the day.

This two pronged approach is designed so that you come away from the challenge having not only learned how to build a dynamic a blog but you’ll have actually DONE something with the knowledge.

Click here to view more details!

Random WordPress of the Day #0002

Title: Free Vs Premium Themes

I personally have used both Free and Premium themes for my websites, I think there are a lot of free themes that I would be willing to pay for and vice versa. The most important thing is to make sure you really like the theme you are about to purchase and that there are no free alternatives.

Over time you will gain enough experience to modify a free theme enough that it won’t just blend in with all the other themes. Design wise the header is probably the most important part to get someone to consider your blog, after they have considered it, then you must provide the reader with good creative content, and some good features, most people want a good constant flow of information, but not too much. A lot of regular blog readers use RSS readers, so if you have twenty new posts per day and your content is diluted you won’t have as much success as someone who posts every day or two with good solid content.

I started this blog on a free theme, but since I monitor all new themes, I found one that matched exactly the personality of the website so I purchased it, and haven’t regretted it so far. It has actually motivated me in my work.

Anyways I’d like to hear your ideas and thoughts on the difference between free and paid themes, and what experience have you had with both.