We’re going to be talking about Creating your Blog over the next week or so. Now, I won’t go huge into depth about actually installing and setting up Wordpress, which is what we’re going to use, because Wordpress.org has many guides to installing and setting up Wordpress.

Instead, we’re going to talk about theme, plugins, and SEO.

Today and tomorrow we’re going to focus on theme choice. Today We’ll talk about what to look for in a theme, how to customize it, and also what customizations you should and should not do. Tomorrow we’ll talk about my theme choice and customizations for www.techsmack.net. as well as list some great recommended free and premium themes as well as pros and cons of both, which should help you to make up your mind when it comes to choosing a theme and modifying it. Later on in the week, we’ll go over plugins and SEO, so stick around for those too.

Theme Choice

Theme choice is something that most every blogger struggles with when starting a blog. Many don’t know whether to go premium, or scourge for a free theme, heck, even getting a custom theme made. But when it comes to themes, what should you look for?

Originality

When I visit a blog, it’s theme is the first thing I really take a look at. To be honest, I’m quite sick of everyone using the same theme over and over. If I see another blog with the John Cow theme, I just might kill myself. Not that the John Cow theme isn’t great, (it quite certainly is) but at the same time, it gets old. When I see everyone using it, it gets a bit annoying. I’m sure you feel the same way.

It’s when I see a theme that’s totally off the wall, crazy, clean, and fast loading that I continue onto read the blog. That’s how much your theme can influence your blogs success. Some blogs that stand out in my mind as having kick butt themes are http://webdesignerwall.com and also http://problogger.net.

Both of those blogs have totally different styles, one is cartoony, grungy, and totally out there, and the other is more of a CMS style, clean, nice contrast. What does this show? That Wordpresss can be told to do a lot. Both of these blogs grabbed my attention from their awesome themes, so that should speak for something.

Originality can also be coupled with branding. When you have an original theme, people know you by it. And when they see something similar, they think of your site. That’s always a good thing.

Simplicity

Now, even though themes that go over the top, (like Web Designer Wall) can sometimes help make a blog stand out, you need to think of the general trend in most cases. What is the trend nowadays?

Simplicity. Everyone loves the simple, clean, dare I say…sexy themes.

Problogger’s theme is a good example of this. Complex layout, yet seems so simple. Why? No fancy gradients, images, or effects, just clean colors and boxes. People love this. Why? Because it just makes the reading experience better. Of course, you can go on the other side, and make a crazy theme, that could work, but in a lot of cases, it backfires and becomes too much, too over the top, and too cluttered.

Easy to Customize

Especially when using free themes, they should be able to be customized fairly easily. Why? Helps you switch colors, add a logo, and change things here and there to make it your own. This is how you can take a widely used theme and still make it original. I look for themes that have clear layouts, easy to read CSS, and simple code that I can modify as needed. You should do the same. This can help you to brand your theme and your blog.

Next let’s talk a bit about how to customize your themes, or rather, what to change, if anything.

What to customize in a theme

A lot of bloggers get lost and/or carried away when it comes to customizations, changing every little thing, and this can result in a messy theme, messy code, slower loading, and possibly even broken pages.

So what should a blogger customize in their theme, and what should they leave alone? Let’s start with what you can and should change.

Logo

Don’t leave the standard logo or banner up there. Change it up, add your own. How? Little thing called Photoshop, make something up. If you don’t have Photoshop, or Photoshop skills , you can email me from the Contact page and we can get working on a logo for you. When you have a nice, clean logo, people notice it, and people may even come back because of it. Look at my blog, that header with the awesome (if I do say so myself) banner and mascot really set me apart from other blogs, and it will do the same for you.

Color Schemes

This is yet another thing you can and should change in a blog theme. When I visit a blog, even if it is using the same theme other blogs are using, as long as it has a totally different, clean, nice color scheme, I’ll keep reading. You’d be surprised how much colors can change a theme. It can make a theme look cleaner, more open, even cause an illusion that the theme is different in some other way from the standard one, even though it’s not. This means less work and more results for you. Always good.

Now let’s go over a few things you should leave the heck alone.

General Layout

If you are going to go as far as totally changing the layout of a theme to customize it, just have a custom theme! If you move things around too much, you can break your theme, make it load slower, have messy code, and just not look as good as it should. This can really impair growth on a blog as no one wants to get confused just trying to navigate your theme. If you really want something a certain way, then invest in a custom theme, it’s the only way to be honest with you. The best way at least.

Functionality

Unless you really know both Wordpress and the theme your using like the back of your hand, don’t mess with the functionality of the theme. This also can and most likely will break your theme. Again, if you really want to mess with something that much, just make yourself a custom theme, or get one done. If you need help with that, just contact me.

Well, that’s going to be it for today, tomorrow we’ll talk about my theme choice and customizations for this challenge, as well as list some free and premium themes that I recommend and pros and cons of each! And please, don’t hesitate to leave your comments and opinions in the comments, I want to get everyone involved.

The challenge continues today, but I’m going to raise the stakes, and make this a little more interesting. Remember when you all voted to pick which of the three choices I would pursue? Click here to check out that post. Now, if you look, “Create a blog and sell it for $500 or more of profit” is the choice that won. But wait…what came in second place? Ah yes, “Create a blog and get it earning $100 a month” came in second. But guess what? We are officially adding that goal to the MonkeyBlogger Challenge. So now, we will create a blog, get it earning $100 or more a month, and sell it for $500 or more. But you know what, why stop there? Let’s make it $750…heck $1,000! Yeah! Now we’re talking!

So it’s settled then. We’ll create a blog, get it earning $100 a month, and sell it for at least $1,000.

When I say $100 a month, I don’t mean $100 gross profit, we’re talking net. So yes, there will be expenses for every month, but we’ll be profiting off it, so who cares right?

Now, the next step in the challenge is picking a name and domain, and we’ve done that. The name for our technology blog for the challenge is “Tech Smack” and the domain is www.techsmack.net

One reason I went with .net is because I can prove to those few skeptical ones that a .net site can still be just as valuable as a .com site. The other reason was that everything .com was taken. Haha, at least all the good ones. Either way, this challenge will prove that it can work.

That’s it for today, tomorrow we’ll start the blog creation, organization, customization and optimization processes and get the ball rolling. So stay close, it’s coming!

*NOTE* We here in Florida have a Hurricane/Tropical Storm coming, so there is a chance that tomorrow’s post will be delayed, but if it’s at all possible, tomorrow’s post will come tomorrow. *NOTE*

I’m not dead, gone, or selling this blog, I’m here.

And I’m coming back, and this time for good.

Starting on Monday of next week, I’m going to consistently start bringing content to this blog, as well as start back up the MonkeyBlogger Challenge! (Speaking of which, if you have any ideas for names for the technology blog for the challenge, email me or comment here.)

So stick around (Pretty Please?) and you’ll be glad you did. I promise. Pinky Promise this time.

Either way, I found this great video that covers the basics of making money with a blog.

Very good, and worth checking out!

Today we are going to talk about another very important factor when starting a blog, especially when you plan to sell at some point. Your choice of name, and you choice of domain.

When it comes to blogs, you want to be able to achieve as many loyal readers and visitors as you can. One important yet simple way to do this is to have good domain choice. If someone can easily remember your blog’s name and domain, it is more likely that they will return at some point. But if you name is off the wall, hard to spell, or confusing, people will very easily forget.

For example, if you have a tech blog, and you call it www.techblog.com, you will get a lot of vistiors to return due to the draw of your domain, making it easier to brand your name, which is something I have talked about before. But if you call it, www.scorpiansden.com, a lot of people are going to forget what your blog was called. See, many people do not subscribe on the first, second, or even third visit. A lot of them read your blog for quite some time, and then decide to sign up for your RSS feed. So you at first need to get them coming back a few times if you want them to eventually subscribe to the RSS feed.

So when choosing your domains, make sure they are somewhat related to your niche, or at least something very brandable. In my case, www.monkeyblogger.com doesn’t really make you think “Tips and Tricks for Internet Professionals”, but it’s very brandable and easy to remember, which can catch a reader’s eye.

For our chellange, considering we have a tech blog in the works, we want to go with something related to tech obviously. Also, trying to stay with .com and .net is preferable, other extensions are harder for some to remember.

I have a few ideas for domains myself for this challenge, but I would like to hear what you have to say! In the comments, leave ideas for what you think my domain should be, and if any one of you get picked, you’ll get a special prize! So just leave a comment with your ideas and with your opinions on this post and this challenge, and we’ll move on to the next step in this challenge, Set up the blog, organize, customize, and optimize.

My hit series, “The Freelancer’s Guide” is becoming an eBook!

The eBook version will contain new content, examples, and more! This eBook will be sure to get even the most lazy person with artistic ability on their way to freelancing!

I won’t give a release date just yet, but I want to get your guys opinions on this. I think it’s a great idea, and it will be a great eBook. I’m thinking free for subscribers, and a small price for others, but we’ll see. This might lead to another case study, so we’ll see.

I also want to mention that tomorrow we will have the next p ost in the MonkeyBlogger Challenge, I promise. So don’t worry about that, you’ll get you MB Challenge fix.

The problem that most bloggers have is that they rush their posts, they skip editing, they skip spell checking, and they end up with poorly formatted posts with bad grammar, misspelled words, and more. They are simple “Publish Happy” if you will.

Let’s list each of those 5 things, and talk a bit about them all.

1. Spell Check your posts

Well, this is a pretty straight forward one, but I’m bringing it up anyway. You need to use the spell check feature of Wordpress! It’s included, just choose your language and toggle it on/off. Obviously, we want on. So many times have I come across an otherwise great post on a great blog, but, what’s this? Ovviously? That’s not a word! You see my point? When you don’t have good spelling, it can really detract from a post that would have been just fine. Spell check your posts. Right now. Go ahead, do it.

2. Check your Grammar

Besides the fact that good spelling is needed to make a good post, grammar is right there too. When writing a post, it’s important that people can understand exactly what your saying, or what you mean. Sometimes if you don’t finish sentences, or you mix up some words, it can leave a reader going, “What did I just read?” “I’ve got no clue what this guy meant!” There is a cool tool I use called SpellChecker.net. All you gotta do is plug in the text of your post, and you get a great grammar check in a pop-up, and it can help you fix up those posts real quick.

3. Edit out the Fluff

Now, I won’t give you much fluff in this point, wouldn’t be fitting. Basically, if a reader has to go through 400 words before you get to what that post is about, then you have a problem. You need to get to the point, get what you need to say out, and finish the post. No rambling. (Unless your post is a ramble or if your blog is ramblings. ) Either way, no one needs to read tons of content for nothing, so try and cut it out, or at least keep it to a minimum.

4. Ask yourself if the post is helpful

A bit related to point 3, but is something that needs going over. Sometimes, I’ve written a post, and thought to myself, “My readers don’t really care about this subject.” Or, “My readers may not understand where I’m getting at with this.” See, you need to look at the post from the perspective of your readers, not you. Maybe you get what you mean, but will they? Think about it.

5. Sort out your permalinks, categories, and tags

Ah, something a bit more technical here. But, it’s something that can potentially make or break your SEO presence, especially when it comes to getting traffic to your posts, not just your home page. Adding Tags and separating your posts up can make it easier for readers and new coming visitors to search through your blog, and find what they really want. Categories are great to, they can make navigating your blog, and finding what you want to find easier, and it just organizes everything, which is always good. Lastly, and also the most important one for SEO. Permalink structure. I personally set the permalinks to show the posts name with each name separated by a -, and this sort of permalink structure is great for SEO, and can boost your site and inner pages in the SERPS.

Well, there your go! 5 things that are essential before pressing that coveted “Publish” button.

Technology.

For sub-niche, I’ve decided that I’m going to go with a general technology blog.

My reasoning for this is simple, but I’ll go into detail regarding what swayed me to go with this.

For one thing, technology is something that I’m interested in. When it comes to blogging, and anything else really, you need to be motivated. To be motivated, you need to be interested. If your not interested in the subject your blogging about, and I’ve talked about this at length before, you just not going to succeed. Because deep down, the money you might make will not be enough of a motivator for long.

Another reason why I went with technology is because it’s a big money making niche. Because of the fact that it is such a large niche, it will be easier to find advertisers for a technology blog as opposed to a blog about hairbrushes. Along with this is the fact that many people are interested in technlogoy, making it an easier niche to find readers for.

But, there are not just Pros to this niche. One con is the fact that there are already a ton of blogs on technology, such as TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Engadget, etc. For this reason, it will be touch to break out onto the scene. But I have some unique ideas and plans for this, so I think we’ll be fine. More on that later.

One other great thing about a technology niche blog is that I can find a lot of things to write about, so we won’t be stuck with nothing to write about.

Well, that’s it! My reasons for my niche choice. Now remember, thsi doesn’t automatically mean that you should go with a technology blog, but there just tips that you can use. Look at all the pros and cons of your niche. Write them down even. Be 100% sure that’s what you want to do before you commit yourself, and right off the bat, you’ll set yourself up for success.

Apparently, some of you think this is a competition of all of us trying this and seeing who “wins”, or who can sell first with the goal or whatnot.

I just want to clarify, it’s a challenge for me to see if I can do it, and you guys are helping me, which helps you learn the process and see what works, and what doesn’t. Obviously, you can take the knowledge you learn from me and from this challenge and do it yourself, but it’s not a competition between us to see who can do it the fastest, or make the most money.

Just thought I’d clarify that.

The time has come for use to move onto the first step of the MonkeyBlogger Challenge. Picking a niche. Now, this is one of the toughest, and most crucial steps when it comes to starting a blog or website with the goal of selling for profit.

So for our blog, that’s the first thing we want to figure out. What is it we want to do with this blog? What do we want to promote? A product? A service? Is is a news blog? Thes are all things we need to consider.

I’ve done a lot of research and thought regarding this, and I’ve decided to go with a news blog. But the next step is choosing what type of news blog. Considering there are many news blogs, I don’t want to be too general with my niche.  For example, I wouldn’t go for a blog like www.tuaw.com, which covers everything Apple, but something like www.appleiphoneapps.com, which covers just iPhone apps.

So I’ve picked four general niches, and I’m looking for the help of my readers to pick which one to go with, and then what sub-niche to go with. So, in the comments, leave which of the four you think I should choose and why, as well as some sub-niche ideas. I’ll consider all and then choose what to go with, and we’ll discuss that in another post.

So without further adu, here are the four niche choices.

1. Technology
2. Music
3. Television
4. Sports

Now it’s time for your input.