The question: How do I know it’s time to redesign my website?

There’s many, many answers to this question. Yet, I’m going to share with you five of the biggies. And as you listen to this short audio clip (~8 minutes) see if your website has any of these symptoms.

So, does your website have some of (or many all of) these symptoms? If so, let’s do something about it. As I said in the recording I don’t use hard selling methods. What I do is tell you exactly what to do to solve your website and online business problems. If after that you want me to be the guy implements the solutions, I’m happy to talk about it. But what you’ll find with me is no hard selling techniques. So contact me right now and let’s setup a time to chat about how you can have a website that really can grow your business.

Or, you can check out my Group Web Design and Business Coaching Program (click now)

One note, I only work with people whose business is providing a service. I seldom work with bloggers who sell advertising or retailers who want an online store. My focus is helping coaches, consultants, alternative healers and such get more clients. So if you’re not in that category I may or may not be able to help you. 

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When you signup for Monday Mentoring you’ll also get my 40 page free guide: Client Producing Websites: 10 Elements Your Website Must Have in Order to Get You More Clients, Sell More Products and Make You More Money.

The guide is free and the audio mentoring is free. Just subscribe in the box below:

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*And please note, I will never sell, loan or share your email address (or any other information about you) with anyone else for any reason whatsoever. I abhor spam and am committed to making sure your email address is secure.

note: image from Esther Gibbons on Flickr,  some rights reserved)

But I’d say one question is asked more than any other – “how do I get (more) traffic to my website?”

Since I seem to seldom lack for ideas, I thought I’d start writing them down. Next thing I knew I had a list of nearly 100 ways to drive traffic to your website. Since all of these are things I’ve done at one time or another I knew they worked.

But I didn’t stop there. I started brainstorming even more ways to drive traffic. Then I had a few close colleagues take a look at my list and they added a few. Now the list is over 180 viable methods for driving traffic to your website.

So what do I do with this, I thought?

First thing I did was start crafting a blog post so I could share it with everyone. And the post was almost finished until I realized just giving away my hard work diluted its value. Think about how many lists about anything you just read and toss. Yet I want people to get real help with their businesses and websites. So it helps neither of us to just add this to the stacks of useless lists forgotten in the soup of the internet.

So I’ve decided to turn my traffic driving 53-page booklet into a teleclass – 97 147 220 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website.

What’s great about this format is that I can provide a booklet explaining all 240 (yeah, that’s right, there’s even more) my website traffic generating ideas AND make myself available to answer questions about how to use them. So that’s what we’re going to do.

Next Tuesday, November 25th (second showing – Tuesday, December 16) at 3pm I’ll lead a 60 minute teleclass for you that covers (some of) the materials in my 53-page booklet, 97 147 220 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website. Half the call I’ll speak on some of my most successful tips in the booklet and briefly on topics like qualifying traffic and tracking traffic sources. Then, the second half of the call is yours to ask me any questions you like about any of the methods I list in the booklet.

Let me be clear here, the 97 147 220 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website booklet is not just a list. I’ve included some tips in the beginning and have tips and commentary on every single traffic generation technique I cover. And you get to keep the booklet. And I’m also making available the mindmaps I used to create the course.

Also, I’ll be recording the call and forwarding the a link to the recording so you can download it. So can’t make the live teleclass order anyhow and you’ll receive the booklet, the mindmaps and the full 60-minute audio.

So let’s go over the details one more time:

• My 53 page booklet 220 Ways to Get More Traffic to Your Website & Increase Your Business, with tips and commentary for each method.
• A Series of Mindmaps summarizing each of the traffic driving methods – use as a resource when deciding which methods to use. I used these mindmaps in developing the course materials.
• A 60-minute LIVE teleclass with me, talking about how to find the right traffic for your business.
• Time for you to get your specific questions answered. There will be ample time to take your specific questions. And since conversation often leads to the most interesting teaching, the more questions, the merrier.
• I’ll record the teleclass and send you a link to download it in full.
• Click here to ORDER NOW!

There was so much in the booklet that when I got it before the class, I was overwhelmed. But your calm voice and simple explanations took me from overwhelm to excitement. Can’t wait to launch my website.
- Gillian McDowell: Vancouver, BC

Here’s the details:

• Teleclass will be Wednesday, July 1 at 1pm eastern / 10am pacific U.S. time I’m making this available for a limited time
  
• There are ONLY 60 50 COPIES of this course available
• The cost is $97 SPECIAL SUMMER PRICE $69!
  
• Click here to ORDER NOW!

Now there’s two things left to do:

1. First, order your copy now.
2. Second, tell 5 people who need to get more traffic to their websites. Send them an email, make a phone call, text message them, Tweet about it on Twitter, Write a blog post – however you can reach the people you want to help.

(note: image from masochismtango on Flickr,  some rights reserved)

Well my friend and fellow blogger, Joanna Young, is back! Where’d she go? Well, first she moved her blog from TypePad to WordPress – a move that I fully support and applaud her for. Then, she took a week off from writing to move into her new home. Can you imagine….not blogging for a whole week? I recently did it a couple of times and it wasn’t that bad – though I did miss writing.

I had the pleasure of meeting Joanna at SOBCon08 in Chicago last May and she’s even more lovely in person than she is on her blog. And what makes meeting her special is that she, and Chris Garrett, hopped a plane across the pond to be with us at SOBCon. And I only had to drive 3 hours from my home outside Ann Arbor.

Anyhow, I just wanted to welcome my friend back and thank her for some of my favorite blog posts. Here’s a few to check out:

• Kiss Excessive Words Goodbye
• 10 Outstanding Definitions Of Powerful Writing
• 7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Ask Your Readers Questions: Part V Of Purposeful Questions
  • The entire Purposeful Questions series I loved. Here’s the rest:
  • Part I: How To Ask Purposeful Questions
  • Part II: Creating The Space To Ask Questions
  • Part III: The Purpose That’s Driving Your Question
  • Part IV: Asking Questions For A Change
• Do You Think You Can Tell? Powerful Questions That Wake Us Up
• 27 Secrets To Writing Like Hemingway

When you have a moment, take a stop by. Read some of her latest writings. And drop her a line to say hi and welcome back.

And, oh yeah, remember to grab her feed.

(note: image from Kiwi Mikex on Flickr,  some rights reserved)

Yet what we seldom hear about are the business lessons that led to that success. Lessons that weren’t born from knowing exactly what to do and succeeding. But business lessons that were forged out of trying something and having it not go the way you want. Business lessons that come out of failure.

Failure provides an immense opportunity. Sure, success provides opportunity as well. But I’ll venture to guess that if you consider the most valuable lessons you’ve learned in your business, they come from things that didn’t work. Or at least didn’t work the way you expected.

The opportunities failure provides are much different than the opportunities found in success.

First off, when you’re successful it’s easy to get complacent. It’s easy to stop learning, to rest on your laurels, or to just try to repeat what made you successful over and over again. But when you fail, you’re forced to changed. You’re forced to evaluate and reevaluate why what you tried didn’t work. The lessons you take away from trying something and having it not work can be invaluable to your business.

Secondly, success provides stability – which can be great – while failure provides uncertainty, unease and hunger. Have your first major setback in your business and you’ll find out how much you really want to be in business. And that’s a good thing to know.

Lastly, failure is what leads to success. Before you can succeed, you have to try. And in the trying comes a likelihood of failing. But failure simply means you tried. Everyone’s heard the famous quote by Thomas Edison when he talked about all the failure that led up to inventing the incandescent lightbulb:

“I didn’t fail ten thousand times. I successfully eliminated, ten thousand times, materials and combinations which wouldn’t work.”

I don’t his outlook as some trite sound bite about how sexy failure is. Rather, I see the brilliance in setting a goal and working toward that goal, regardless of the odds. I see the perseverance it takes to be successful – as a parent or spouse, in life and in business. I see the hope that Thoreau expressed so well when he said:

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

The key here is ‘advances confidently in the direction of.’ That’s how to approach your business. That’s how to fail well. And that’s how to meet with ‘success unexpected in common hours.’

What are your thoughts?

(note: image from eyesplash Mikul on Flickr,  some rights reserved)

Among the mass of things that you need to consider in running a small business on the web, this question is seldom asked. We spend our time with target audience, branding and marketing strategies. We focus on the design of our website and spend hours editing the copy we put on it. Yet how often do we consider the whether our product or service is something that people really want?

Yet in today’s online marketplace, what is it the people want?

Sure, they want great products that meet their specific needs or solve their specific problems. Yet many are also looking for a community. Doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about large companies like Apple, BMW or Harley-Davidson or smaller ones such as 5000BC or Teaching Sells, people want to feel part of a tribe. They then resonate with other like-minded consumers to form a community.

This is one of the reasons, I believe, that social media has exploded the way it has. People are simply looking to connect with other people of similar interests. With the web and social media, they’re now not just limited to local groups. Now, they can find their tribe with other people from all over the world.

In the pre-social web, you would market your products and services to where you audience existed. Hopefully they’d buy, use your product and come back for more.

Now, with the social web, you can offer them so much more then just your product or service. Now you can offer them a place to hang out. You can use social tools to create a community space in your business. This allows people to come, hang out, interact and engage in your business and buy when they’re ready. It gives much higher value than just selling. And the added value creates a much more compelling reason for your ‘community members’ to share you community with people they know – increasing your reach and potentially your business.

As Larry Kramer, founder of MarketWatch, in this short interview (video 3:17):

“Social media is what I call the new ‘local.’ Where in the old days you’d try to reach people where they are with their town, their workplace, (etc)… . This (social media) is trying to reach people where they spend their time.

People interact…their communities aren’t geographically based any more. They’re built around communities of interest. And more often than not, you join that community on a digital platform.”

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This begs the question…are you using social media to create a community around your business? If so, how well is it working? Even more interesting to me and possibly others is what have you learned about your target audience using social media?

And if you’re not using social media to create community…what’s stopping you?

(note: image from whizchickenonabun on Flickr, some rights reserved)

Denise Wakeman of Blog Squad fame asked that question of Chris Garrett. The conversation that grew created a bed of blogging tips. Watching the interview (5 1/2 minutes) Chris makes it pretty clear that a successful blog, like a successful business, is built on planning, focus, clarity and knowing your audience.

Whenever a client or prospective client ever asks me about marketing, I always begin my answer by finding out what they’re clear (and unclear) about in their business. I’ve learned the hard way of the years that you can only market, hence you can only sell, that which you’re clear about. And the greatest clarity I’ve found has come through understanding what problems my prospective clients face.

From the interview…

“If you actually concentrate on the audience and you’re talking to people and actually communicating and you focus on people, then you’re going to attract better attention and you’re going to actually produce something worthwhile. Because it’s all about your audience; it’s all about all about people.

A lot of people think it’s about just broadcasting your thoughts but if those thoughts don’t make meaning to people then you’re going to fail. So you have to give people what they want, how they want it and keep learning and keep promoting.

Another big aspect as people say is content is king. Well, content IS king. But what is a king but a guy in a funny hat? If he hasn’t got an army behind him, if he hasn’t got people saying, “your the king,” then you’ve got nothing – you’re just a guy in a funny hat. So you to make great content but you have to promote it as well.”

Take a watch.

[youtube 3yIfmvFlyqo]

Near the end of the interview Chris talks about the ‘so-what’ test. Does your blog stand up to it? What about your business? In other words, are people able to truly care about what you can do for them?

Anyhow, I find Christine’s music full of witty lyrics (free song download) and tons of emotion – like she’s singing from her soul. I’ve only seen her play live twice – once on a rocking boat. And each time at least one of her songs has brought tears to my eyes (no kidding). Spending time with her it’s obvious she’s found an inner peace and a grounded depth that gushes through her personality.

Yeah, I could go on. But let’s leave it at – she’s quite a lovely person and an excellent singer/songwriter. If she’s playing near you, it’s worth a evening to see her play.

Beyond Christine’s music, however, you’ll find a savvy and knowledgeable a niche marketer. She’s learned over the years that she can serve an audience’s needs while maintaining a music career. And like any niche marketer, she’s had to learn how to position herself correctly to reach a market who’s interested in her. In other words, she makes is more possible for people who like her type of music to find her.

At SOBCon08 last weekend, she sat down with Paul O’Flaherty from FuelMyBlog to chat about music, blogging, business and new opportunities for musicians using social media.

From the interview (below): “…blogging for me has enabled my creativity to reach people who wouldn’t in a hundred years go out to a club.”

I’ve posted the interview (less than 15 minutes) below so business owners – musicians and otherwise – can see a successful niche blogger share what she’s learned about social media that’s made her successful. The beauty is I hear a marketer as much as I do a blogger or a musician.

Christine Kane - Broadcast your self LIVE

At SOBCon08, Christine gave away her latest, live 2-CD release titled, Christine Kane: A Friday Night in One Lifetime. It’s great. Includes her ever interesting storytelling between songs. Check it out.

Tons of great stuff came out this video. What did Christine say that you could use in blogging your business? And how can you see applying her experience to your own blog (and business)?

Let’s talk about it.

Amazing that it took a whole blog post to cover the first day of SOBCon08, but it did. Friday was great. The boat ride stellar. And the conversation even better.

Seeing Lorelle first thing Saturday morning started the day off right. Got a chance to speak with Easton Ellsworth a bit, catching up on family and the like. Truth is I talk to Easton almost weekly. I did get to have breakfast with David Dalka and Phil Gerbyshak. We mostly talked shop – not blogging shop, but business shop – niche marketing and expert positioning. In other words, what problems do you solve for whom.

Business School was the theme of SOBCon08. The idea was born from watching lots of bloggers getting traffic and tons of comments, but making no money. This year’s SOBCon was going to bring business people and bloggers together so that business owners could learn about communities and using social media while bloggers could learn solid business practices.

Anita Bruzzese of 45Things kicked off the morning. She gave a great talk about managing your online reputation. Her advice: Remember “whatever you write has your name on it and you must be willing to stand behind it.” Her talk sparked a great conversation afterward that I was really getting in to. If only more time.

Next up was the Copyblogger himself – Brian Clark. Brian opened with “forget blog. be an entrepreneur rather than a copywriter.” He had me with forget blog.

What Brian did really well was remind us that a blog isn’t in and of itself a business. What we actually do to make money is our business. So he encouraged everyone to consider a business model showing us that a business model is not:

• Your revenue source
• Your traffic strategy
• Your blog

What a business model is, rather:

• The right product or service (for) the right target market (at) the right price.

That sentence above is the key to having a successful business. Brian knows it which is one of the reasons why Copyblogger and Teaching Sells is doing so well. There’s more, of course, but this was the key point that I felt was most important to take away form Brian’s talk.

One note on Mr Clark, somehow he managed to leave Chicago without us having a good chat together. Not sure how he managed that, but he did. That’s all right, I’ll pin him down next time.

After Brian, Lorelle VanFossen led a discussion and exercise to help everyone find the ten words that would describe what you do as a business owner. That was her main point – you have to be able to describe what you do to people who may be interested in language they understand. I’d go a bit further and say that you need to concisely show that you can solve their problems. That’s why the conversation can be so valuable before you get to talking about what you do.

Next came Chris Garrett of chrisg.com fame. Chris and Darren Rowse just released a book called Problogger: Secrets of Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. Haven’t finished it yet, but from what I’ve read it’s really good. Make sure you get a copy.

Chris’ talk called, More Bang from Your Blog, covered a lot about workflow. He says, “you have to have a work structure” to be successful at blogging (and at business). His workflow consists of Learn / Create / Communicate / Promote. Workflow – both for you blogging and your business – is something I spend a lot of time with clients working on so I couldn’t agree more. There’s so little time, why not make the most from it.

Somewhere in here we had lunch and I spent a nice time talking with Stephen Smith from Productivity in Context and Jared Goralnick from Technotheory. Jared and I shared in great converation around business building, marketing and business growth. Then we mingled a bit chatting with a number of people – most whose names I just can’t remember. Sorry.

Back to the presentations…I next got my socks blown off by David Bullock. Obvious this guy knows what he’s doing when it comes to business development, business growth and metrics. David was one of the business owners who was there to learn about social media. And boy did he get a dose of it. His S.T.A.R.T. Formula is a solid business development model:

• Strategy – what’s the overall story and how does your overall story match the overall story of the marketplace?
• Tactics – planning – how are you going to do what you need to do to grow your business
• Action – doing the plan – you’ve gotta actually do something to make the tactics work for you.
• Results – you’ve gotta know what results you want from your actions and whether or not your site or business can gain those results.
• Tracking – pay attention to what’s going on – most often missed by small business owners. It’s more than just site statistics. It’s knowing what you expect from your marketing, for instance, and being able to measure effectiveness.

David also had what may have been, for me, the most power-packed quote of the whole event: “I want to own a space not own a channel.” He and I talked about this afterward. Be a great conversation piece in the comment box.

Funny thing is that Chris Brogan followed David – which was a perfect blend. Following David’s business-minded presentation, Chris offered an opportunity to for us to think of businesses as being people (sound familiar?). His overall message was to differentiate your community from your marketplace. In community it’s about the people and how you connect with each other. Ultimately it’s about people doing things freely for each other. Marketplace, though, is where you sell things. Chris suggest keeping them separate. How, invite community into your marketplace, just don’t turn your community into the marketplace. Let people have both.

We started running long on time so Liz Strauss’ presentation was cut a bit short. The key element I took from her was, “Know the difference between traffic, readers and customers.” I’d say know who each are, why they’re at your site and how you can meet each of their needs.

Wendy Piersall ended the day with an emotional, spirited and high energy presentation challenging each of us to be great; great as bloggers, great as people, great as business owners. As she says, “what right do you have not too?”

That ended Saturday’s main events. There was still Sunday to go – and don’t forget Saturday night – which I’ll write about later in a piece about selling.

Reading through all this, are you beginning to get the idea that blogging is not, in and of itself, a business? Rather, blogging is a way to interact with your audience, increase your reach and inform about your business. In other words, a blog is a method for marketing.

I see way too many business owners confusing their blog for their business. Perhaps it’s because they put so much time into it – I’m not sure. Yet it’s important to consider that a blog is something that serves an overall business, helping the business reach its goals.

So how is your blog serving your business? Are you selling products and a landing clients from your blog? If so, what have you done to make yourself successful?

(note: images from bjmccray, ChrisCree & DWakeman on Flickr)

I’ve been set on coming ever since I left Chicago last May. The event in 2007 was great. Lots of great people. Lots of great information. And, of course, lots of of great conversation. But what would I expect from an event that was partially the brainchild of Liz Strauss, Miss Conversation herself (now, that’s my opinion and she would probably deny it even though it’s the truth)?

That’s why I was so excited last fall when Liz and Terry Starbucker started planning for SOBCon08. This year’s theme – Biz School for Blogging. Notice the title closely. It’s not blogging for businesses. Rather, it’s business school for blogging. In other words, bringing sound business principles into the blogosphere.

This year’s speakers are top-notch. And I can’t wait to see the presentation format – which centers around masterminding. The plan is to bring what’s talked about into a working model to actually use in your business. As I said, pretty sweet, huh?

Check out who’s beginning the conversations:

• Chris Brogan
• Anita Bruzzese
• Dave Bullock
• Brian Clark
• Chris Garrett
• Wendy Piersall
• Terry Starbucker
• Liz Strauss
• Lorelle VanFossen

And, of course, the sweet sounds of Christine Kane.

And, like last year, this year’s event isn’t about the speakers. Rather, it’s about all the people who are there – speakers, attendees, organizers, sponsors – everyone. As we saw last year, everyone had something valuable to add to the conversations during the sessions.

Below is a list of everyone else I could find who’s going to be there. Small, simple, people-focused event. Find some of these folks on Twitter. The rest, just link with below.

• Cliff Atkinson
• Shashi Bellamkonda
• Harry Brooks
• Mark Carter
• Tom Clifford
• Valerie Combs
• Chris Cree
• Lisa Cree
• Thomas Croghan
• Donna Cutting
• David Dalka
• Kevin Dixie
• Tim Draayer
• Andrew Dubber
• Monica Duncan
• Easton Ellsworth
• Kevin Ferrasci O’Malley
• Jonathan Fields
• Sarah Filipiak
• Mary-Lynn Foster
• Annie Galvin Teich
• Brian Gardner
• Jon Gatrell
• Phil Gerbyshak
• Jared Goralnick
• Karen Hanrahan
• Joseph Hauckes
• Vicky Hennegan
• Scot Herrick
• John Hong
• Stephen Hopson
• Robert Hruzek
• Timothy Johnson
• Sara
• Pete Jones
• Todd Jordan
• Bob Kakoliris
• Adam Kayce
• Kristen King
• Jen Knoedl
• Stephen Koernig
• Bryan Kress
• George Krueger
• Amy L
• Tammy Lenski
• James G. Lindberg
• Eli Litscher
• Rick Mahn
• Sim Margolis
• Michael Martine
• Becky McCray
• Maria Meadows
• Cory Miller
• Ann Michael
• Dawud Miracle
• Debra Moorhead
• Matthew Murphy
• Paul O’Flaherty
• Tim Padar
• Jesse Petersen
• Melissa Pierce
• Sandra Ponce de Leon
• J. Erik Potter
• Karen Putz
• Susan R Quandt
• Levy Rivers
• Barbara Rozgonyi
• Jeff Sable
• Sheila Scarborough
• Mary Schmidt
• Derek Semmler
• Maria Sharon
• David Sherbow
• Steve Sherlock
• Brad Shorr
• Louise Silberman
• Sonia Simone-Rossney
• Julien Smith
• Stephen Smith
• Michael Snell
• Derrick Sorles
• Jon Swanson
• Ruth M Sylte
• Windsor Tanner
• Michelle Vandepas
• Colleen Wainwright
• Denise Wakeman
• James D. Walton
• Randy Windsor
• Joanna Young

So are you coming? If so, say, “Hi” in the comment box. And definitely look for me this weekend.

And if you’re not on the list, you’ve gotta ask yourself why – especially if you have a business – blogging or otherwise. Get here. Meet some great people and join some amazing conversations that will help you focus your business online.

What do you have to say?

Go ahead, try it. See what happens.

Pretty funny, huh?

Well, I’m back. Yeah, I know it’s been a while. But I’ve been pretty hard at work.

You’ll also notice that in my month-long absence, I’ve managed to complete a new design of my blog. My goal was to clear out the clutter so the good stuff would be easier to find.

And while I don’t see this layout as being complete, I felt it was close enough to launch it tonight. What I’d love is your feedback. What do you like and don’t like. What works, what doesn’t. And please, if you run into any bugs, let me know. If you could list the browser and operating system you’re using that would be most helpful.

I’m really excited about the layout changes. I’ve got lots of plans for the coming year – including podcasts and video casts. I’m also working on a customized homepage layout – which I’m in no rush to put up.

In the meantime, I’m going back through old posts making sure formatting is solid as well as adding tags and changing my categories (oh what we know in hindsight). Gonna be a lot of work, and for me it’s worth it. So you’ll see small changes on my site over the next few week.

Now that I’ve gotten this launched, updated from WordPress 2.2 to WordPress 2.5, updated my services pages, restructured my growing business and caught up with my work, I’ll also get back to writing regularly – both here and at emoms.

There’s more, of course, including a new blog my wife and I have been hard at work planning. As well as getting her up to speed on her soon-to-be-announced mom blog (about moms, pregnancy, birth and parenting).

So lots going on. Sorry for the break. Now back to our regularly scheduled program…

And remember, I’d love to hear your feedback.

[youtube GBCfW9-hjKI]

Now that you have the background of the original, watch this great parody.

[youtube sQiiszIthx4]

Yes, I’m a Mac user and a huge fan (though I don’t consider myself one of the cult). And yes, I’m planning to get a MacBook Air very soon.

One of the most remarkable things about WordPress for me is the huge development community that supports it. First, WordPress is free (you can even get it installed for free on your server). Second, it’s infinitely expandable through thousands of plugins, add-ons and widgets. If you need a function for your site, it’s likely someone’s already written a plugin to do it.

Yet one of the places that I feel WordPress really shines is in all the free themes (templates) that are available. Basically, thousands of developers from all over the world have created visual designs for WordPress. And while some premium themes are available for between $50 & $250, there are thousands of themes that are completely free.

Just like WordPress, free is a good thing. And, as your developing, updating or enhancing your web business web presence, it can sometimes be good to do so on a small budget.

Here are WordPress theme catalogs, each having many (and in some cases thousands) of free WordPress themes:

• WordPress Theme Viewer – The ‘official’ WordPress theme viewer. Thousands of free themes and thumbnails to see theme layout. Select ‘test run’ to see the theme in full form. Can narrow your search using the options in the sidebar.
• WordPress Themes – More than 2000 free WordPress themes with thumbnails. Great resource. Rating system and download stats tell you how popular themes are. And be sure to check out their WordPress Theme Sparkling Index.
• BGThemes – To date, more than 2000 free WordPress themes. Briefly browsing, I saw a few that I’d not seen on other sites so there may be some exclusive themes here – though I can’t say for sure. Each theme has a thumbnail and a rating system. And the search feature is nice as well.
• Free WordPress Themes – A hand-picked selection of WordPress themes, with thumbnails. All themes are aesthetically pleasing, with solid usability and validated code.
• WordPress Theme Review – This collection is managed by my friend, the blog guru herself, Sarah Lewis. This is a growing database of WordPress themes with a focus on SEO. In Sarah’s own words, “Want to know if search engines like Google and Yahoo! will love your theme? The higher (the) score is the more love the theme gets.” Pretty important thing to know.
• Weblog Tools Collection – One of my favorite sites for both WordPress themes and plugins. But not because the site is easy to use. Theme catalog is huge but thumbnails were only added recently. Of course, I rarely visit the site directly any more relying on its RSS feed to keep me updated on new themes and plugins. And it’s the feed that makes me love the site.
• Free WP Themes – A small, yet very nice selection of WordPress themes with thumbnails. Preview mode lets you view theme as it would look on WordPress blog.
• Theme Time – A very nice, solid selection of attractive WordPress themes. Thumbnails and previews available as well as some premium themes.
• SkinPress – This site show promise. Attractive, yet small list of WordPress themes with thumbnails and theme preview. Definitely worth a look.
• wpSnap – Excellent list of free WordPress themes with thumbnails and demo mode. I saw some very nice looking designs here – a few of which I’d not yet seen elsewhere.
• Blog Themes – A nice WordPress theme collection with thumbnails and previews. Appears to have several hundred themes with download statistics. Saw a few new ones here and the authors seem to be a bit picky about aesthetics.
• Top WordPress Themes – Showcasing a few hundreded free WordPress themes. I’ve seen a number of these in other places. Yet the site is easy to navigation, features thumbnails and has a preview mode.
• Free WordPress Templates – Looks like a few hundred WordPress themes. Saw some interesting and attractive themes. Site has thumbnails but no preview mode.
• My Green Corner – A few hundred, mostly attractive WordPress themes. Thumbnails and preview mode.
• ThemesBox – Only a few WordPress themes, though the ones that are listed are very nice. Thumbnails and demo area for each theme. This is a nice one to check out for a one-stop, quick stop.
• WP Skins – Thousands of WordPress themes with thumbnails and download statistics. Nice site, with tons of themes, though I’d rate it lower because of the popup advertising.
• WPDesigner – Fair selection of WordPress themes with thumbnails. Most of these themes are available on other sites.

So there you are. Tons of free WordPress themes to pick from.

And if that’s not enough, here’s a short list of helpful blog posts that have covered free WordPress themes over the past few months. Each of these I have at the ready in my browser’s bookmarks. So I guess now you get a glimpse inside what’s in my browser.

• 100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes – Smashing Magazine
• 83 Beautiful WordPress Themes You (Probably) Haven’t Seen – Smashing Magazine
• 21 Fresh, Usable and Elegant WordPress Themes – Smashing Magazine
• 10 Fresh, Elegant and Clean WordPress Themes – Smashing Magazine
• 8 Fresh WordPress Themes – Smashing Magazine
• Top Ten Best Free WordPress Themes and Templates – Part 1
  
• Top Ten Best Free WordPress Themes and Templates – Part 2
• Top Best and Beautiful WordPress Themes and Templates – Part 3
• Best Customizable Multiple Color Styles WordPress Themes – Part 4
• Best Three Column WordPress Themes and More – Part 5
• Free Magazine Style WordPress Themes and More
• Hack WordPress – Best 2-Column WordPress Themes
• Hack WordPress- Best 3-Column WordPress Themes

Have you used any of these resources yourself? If so, rate them – how well did they serve your needs? And what are they missing?

And if you haven’t used them, what are you waiting for? There’s thousands of attractive free WordPress themes waiting for you to use. Now you have no excuse not to be using WordPress.

This morning I stumbled a video that I just need to share. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s the simplicity of the message or the excellent tutorial involved.

I know it’s not a new video – you may have even seen it already. But I hadn’t. And just in case you hadn’t either, here’s the way to fold a shirt in 2 seconds…

[metacafe 753250]

Interesting, huh?

Give it a try and let me know how it works for you. It took me just a couple of attempts and I had it down perfect.

Now, what are you going to do with all the time you’ll save folding laundry?

If you’re a blogger, a business owner, or a writer of any type, I don’t have to explain to you what writer’s block is. You’ve almost certainly had it. I know I have. And Daphne’s suggestions have helped me work through the blocks when they come.

Daphne’s not blogging yet and so she’s graciously allowed me to reprint her article, Twenty Best Ways To Beat Writer’s Block, which went out on her newsletter the past couple of weeks. Both of us hope you gain from it. Enjoy

Twenty Best Ways To Beat Writer’s Block

1. Write something else. Most of us who write professionally have a hierarchy of horribleness. That is, we know which projects are going to be a little bit awful and which ones will be tremendously awful. My advice? Start with a less awful one. Procrastination, yes, but it’s productive procrastination. (You’ll be happier to face the Project of Doom once you have a bit of good writing under your belt.).
2. Ask a series of questions. Stuck? Instead of writing your article or report in the “normal” way, brainstorm a list of questions your readers are most likely to wonder about. Then answer them. This may take only minor editing to turn into the “real” report or article.
3. Write an email. This is a variant on the old trick of pretending to write to a friend. But verisimilitude is important. To maintain the “this isn’t really work” illusion, you must write your piece in the body of an email. (Just use “move block” to copy it into a word processing document when you’re done.)
4. Change your setting. We all get bored and stuck in ruts. You may be dreading writing because you’re dreading your office. So move to another room. Try the kitchen table or the cafeteria. Or decamp to a coffee shop. It worked for J.K. Rowling.
5. Go for a walk or run. There’s lots of evidence that we think better when we’re moving, so take your writing on the road. Just be sure you have a way of capturing your thoughts. A small digital recorder does the trick very nicely.
6. Do a brain dump. Sometimes you just need to get all the information out of your head and onto paper. Mindmapping, which I’ve written about many times before, can be very useful for this. Take a blank piece of paper, turn it sideways and write your topic in the middle. Draw a circle around it. now draw some lines radiating out of the circle (like spokes on a wheel) and write down all the other words that come into your head. Draw circles around them, too, and join them to the spokes. Keep going until your head is empty or until you feel, “aha! Now I know what I want to say.”
7. Write the headline or title. A headline or title is a bit like a poem. It must distill your big idea into a very few words. It must also be catchy. When you write the headline first, the entire direction of your piece is likely to become more clear. This will make writing substantially easier.
8. Find your best time for writing. We all have our own biorhythms. I used to be a night owl. It was my best, most productive time for writing. In recent years, I’ve turned into a morning lark. Now I do my best writing at 6 am or earlier. But I’m a disaster by 11:30 am because my blood sugar is crashing and I’m starving. As Socrates said: Know thyself. Identify your predictably “good” times and use them. Don’t try to write during your bad ones.
9. Tell yourself you have to write for only five minutes. This is the trick they teach to runners. Okay, so you don’t feel like exercising today. Well, pull on your sneakers and tell yourself you have to run for only five minutes and then you can quit. Many times you’ll discover that the simple act of starting will give you enough momentum to continue. It works for writing, too.
10. Stretch. Even if you’re not blocked, you should do this. Stand up. Reach your hands to the ceiling. Now, clasp your hands behind your back. Straighten your shoulders pushing back against your shoulder blades almost as if you were trying to get them to touch each other. Those of us who work at computers all day tend to spend a lot of time hunched forward. This kind of stretch is not only good for your back, it’s also invigorating. Breathe deeply a few times, too. Oxygen stimulates the brain.
11. Give yourself permission to write badly — really badly. Many times we’re blocked as writers because we’ve raised the stakes too high. “This report will make or break my career,” we tell ourselves. “My income depends on this sales letter,” we fret. Those thoughts may be true, but set them aside while you’re writing. If you simply must beat yourself up, do it when you’re editing.
12. Ask yourself, “have I done enough research?” People often worry about over-researching as a form of procrastination. This does happen, but, interestingly, I find the problem is more typically the reverse. People often try to write before they have the raw materials to do the job properly. This inevitably leads to much staring at a blank computer screen. Before you begin to write ask yourself: “If a friend, partner or colleague grilled me on this topic, could I answer most of their questions easily and in plain English?” If not, continue your research without feeling guilty. (Hint: Make sure your research includes more than facts and figures. You need stories, anecdotes and colour. These are what will make your writing come alive.)
13. “Speak” your writing. Most of us have no difficulty talking. So go with the flow and dictate your words into a tape or digital recorder or even your voicemail. If all else fails, ask a friend to interview you.
14. Prevent interruptions. Okay, I don’t need to tell you this, but turn off your email and shut down your browser. No pings. No “control + m.” No peeking. Email, blogs, checking online forums and surfing the web will keep you busy — and unproductive. Instead, use these interruptions to “reward” yourself when you’ve finished your writing. To avoid non-digital disturbances, I also like popping on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones (these are also excellent for keeping children at bay if you work from home.)
15. Break your writing job into a number of smaller tasks. This is the oldest time-management trick in the book — use it because it works. Do many small jobs rather than one big job and the work will feel less onerous. Here’s how you can divvy up your writing work: print out research from Google; go through your research with a highlighter or sticky notes; interview people; make a mind-map; write a rough draft; rewrite an early draft; copy edit.
16. Reward yourself. If you’ve worked hard on a piece of writing, give yourself a prize. I don’t recommend double fudge brownies for obvious reasons, but there are lots of other options. Allow yourself 15 minutes reading blogs. Call a friend. Play some music. Buy a Moleskin notebook. Get a cappuccino.
17. Turn off your screen so you can’t see what you’ve just written. This tip does depend on your ability to touch type, but if you have that skill, it’s the single best way to stop yourself from endlessly editing your work when you ought to be writing.
18. Limit your writing time. Work expands to fill available time (Parkinson’s Law.) Writing thrives under constraint. (Daphne’s Law.) I know this sounds counterintuitive but we often give ourselves too much time to write. Don’t set aside a day for that report. Tell yourself you have to do it in two hours. Remember how productive you can be just before going on holiday? Create the feeling artificially by limiting your writing time.
19. Pretend you’ve phoned a friend and said, “Guess what?” Then continue the conversation by explaining the key elements of the topic you’re writing about. What makes this technique so effective is that it follows a natural progression. Because you’re telling a story, you’ll start with the most interesting material, give detail where it belongs and end by reinforcing the point you want to make.
20. Read a short but good piece of writing that’s similar to the kind of piece you need to complete. Get yourself a folder for essays and brief magazine pieces you can dip into for inspiration. If you write sales letters, you probably already have a “swipe file.” That works too. For extra reinforcement, you can even re-read some of your own writing. This is often a welcome reminder that while writing can be awful, having written is the most wonderful feeling in the world.

I’ve used a number of these myself. And many, such as 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14 & 18 are part of my blogging routine – especially when I’m stuck.

Pretty good tips, huh? And practical. That’s what I love so much about Daphne’s newsletter.

If these tips were helpful, subscribe to her newsletter, Power Writing, where weekly she publishes practical tips for improving your writing – and the speed of which you do it. It’s one of the few newsletters I still subscribe too myself.

So how do you deal with writer’s block? I know you get it… Have you had success with any of Daphne’s suggestions?

Well, we’ve just published my first post, 12 Things My Three Year-Old Has Taught Me About Building Relationships.

In essence, I share how watching my three year-old daughter, A’esha, make and play with friends has given me insights to creating deeper, more rewarding and mutually beneficial relationships with both friends and clients.

Here’s four of the twelve…

1. Be nice: Mainly, there’s just few reasons not to be.
2. Be honest: You’ll both know something’s off if you’re not.
3. Be open: Sometimes people will surprise you with what they have to teach you.
4. Be creative: There really is more than one way.
5. ….(read on at eMoms at Home).

Enjoy.

If it’s not the huge traffic increases or the comments, it’s the potential that your next post will create a huge buzz that will increase your business.

I’ll admit it, like Daniel Scocco, Maria Langer, Pieter Vangils, and Mi I’m addicted to blogging. I think of blogging all the time. I think of how I can write about events in my life or in my business on my blog. And I think about all the great relationships I’ve been fortunate to create with all of you (thanks, btw).

So when I started seeing this quiz, How Addicted To Blogging Are You, I had to take a look. The quiz is short (14 questions). The questions are easy. And the results are staggering…

71%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

It appears I’m a 71% blog addict. The question is…what does it mean? Perhaps that’s where I can use your help.

And I am thankful I never started the coffee habit.

Most of you know already that I’m married and have two young kids – with a third on the way. And if you’ve been reading a while, you’ll may remember that my ultimate goal is:

To aid people, from every walk of life and every faith, to open the door to the truth of their existence. Not to my beliefs or existence, but to find it within themselves and authentically live their truth in their daily life. (read full post)

Sometimes I get into deeper issues here like the deeper wisdom behind things, our life’s perspective or your contribution to the world. But mainly we discuss social media, web-based business development, website design and marketing. And I definitely hope I’ve helped you.

Rarely, however, do I write about being a solopreneur eDad, who has to deal with all the ups and downs of working from a home office. There are times, like the story of my three-year-old daughter helping me with a coding bug. But those have been few and far between.

Now, with eMoms, I’m going to have the opportunity not only to share more of my business knowledge, but also write and discuss what it’s like to be a work-from-home dad parent. On eMoms, I hope to help eParents live a slightly better, richer and more rewarding life – in any way I can.

I’m quite excited about this opportunity. And I hope you join in the conversations over at eMoms. It ought to be fun and, hopefully, informative.

And no worries. I’ll still be writing here, at dmiracle.com, as often, or even more, then before. I love my blog. And I love all of you who read and join in the conversations here. Thanks.

But how would you finish it? What do you see when you look inside the glass?

Some see abundance which overflowth. While others see the glass as having room for more. And so began the Starbucker Meme, with Terry and his half-full, clear shot glass.

The Starbucker Meme brought out some creative answers like my dear friend Carolyn Manning who keeps two glasses – one full to the brim and the other symbolically empty. Tim Johnson, on the other hand goes back and forth between overflowing and 50% full.

The answer I was waiting most for was Liz Strauss and her hand-painted French champagne flute filled to the lip with sparkly French champagne. No surprise for me, and deeply fitting. Or Chris Cree who said his cup is bottomless – of course he said with coffee, but I know he meant a bit more.

My other two favorites were from Mike Sansone and Adam Kayce. Both, like me, took the idea of ‘what’s in the glass’ to a different level. Mike sees things from a different perspective through his glass bottom boat. While Adam sees his life overflowing through his looking glass.

So I know what you’re thinking…”what does Dawud see when he looks through his glass?” So let me get right into the Starbucker Meme:

1. How full is your glass?
   It’s ever expanding and only limited by my trust, belief and willingness to change.
2. What kind of glass is it?
   Blown glass
3. What’s in the glass?
   All the possibilities you can dream of.
4. Reasons for #1, #2, and #3
   Read on…

I’ve always loved blown glass. Not only is it stunningly beautiful. It also illustrates the great potential each of us have inside. Think about it. You take this hunk of glass and put it on a stick. Pretty uninspiring, huh?

Then, you place the hunk of glass into a raging fire to heat it up and burn off impurities. Once it’s purified enough, you remove it from the fire and begin forming it into miraculous, endless shapes. Look at the image to right…

Aren’t we just like that?

And Kammie, there’s the answer to your question about high vibe practices. I spend each day trying to stretch myself, my heart and my consciousness just a little bit. Stretching a taking the time to look at where I could be living who I am and what I believe a little bit more. Those are my high vibe practices.

So I’m wondering what you see when you look inside your glass? I’m going to tag David, David, Gayla, Edward, Chris, Mark, Dave, Katie, Rory, Randa, Mike, Kammie, one more Dave and Lisa. AND, I’d love to hear your thoughts below.

Think about it.

• When do we conga? Usually at a party. Well, isn’t conversational blogging is like a party?
• Someone has to start the conga, of course. Who’s that? It’s me! (or you, if it’s your blog)
• Da-da-da-da-daaa…DA! – enough said!
• You know you want to join in, but you’re afraid of looking like a fool. Sounds like commenting.
• Some conga lines just go on forever.

You thought I was kidding, didn’t you? But I wasn’t. Conversational blogging is really like the conga. And to participate, you’ve gotta join in.

Of course, I wouldn’t have thought to share my blogging metaphor if it wasn’t for Char’s How Do You Explain Blogging to Your Mom? You’ve gotta take a read – she does a great job comparing blogging to a farmer’s market. Lara even picked up on the theme.

Liz also inspired me by beginning her Group Writing Project: What’s Your Blog’s Metaphor. Mine, is the conga. There are others. But this is the one I want to share right now. Perhaps more will come out later.

Other’s have picked up the writing project with some great entries. Karin thinks of blogging as Business Network International while Des sees blogging as a cocktail party. Kathy makes a nice relationship between blogging and exercise.

Off of Ian’s Messy Desk comes the idea of blogging being like Forrest Gump’s “life is like a box of chocolates”. Just so happens that I’m a big Gump fan myself. Forrest would have been a great blogger…“stupid is as stupid does”. Or…“from that day forward, if I was goin’ somewhere, I was runnin’!”

Lots of people see blogging related to food. Juggling Frogs compares blogging to a smorgasbord yet Word Sell sees it as The Salad Bar. The most interesting food comparison, though, comes from Mike – who sees blogging as Feeding on Plankton.

So how do you see blogging? What’s your blogging metaphor?

You know I have to tag a few people. So I’d love to hear from Adam Kayce, David Airey, Chris Cree, Kammie Kobyleski, Kent Blumberg, Barry Zweibel, Sean Rox, thepaperbull, Mark Goodyear, Randa Clay and the Purple Wren.

That’s a lot of folks, huh? And I still want to ask you…what’s your blogging metaphor? And, tell me how you see blogging to be like a conga line.

Koala photo from FunnyZoo.

UPDATE: Be sure to let Liz know about your blogging metaphor post so that she can give you all a little link love.Â