Successful Blog

Great Finds: Over 875 Free WordPress Themes

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WooHoo!!! All in One Place

Just updated on May 31st — Believe me, there are WAY more WordPress themes and variations here than the title of the post says.

Great Find: Comprehensive list of 875+ Free WordPress 1.5 and 2.0 Themes / Templates available for download
Type of Article: Resource of link throughs to WordPress templates
Permalink: http://www.emilyrobbins.com/how-to-blog/comprehensive-list-of-615-free-wordpress-15-and-20-themes-templates-available-for-download-266.htm
Target Audience: Every WordPress user

Content: Emily Robbins at How to Blog did the work. It shows. Emily not only made the list, she gives the details. She tells you which templates require word 2.0, which offer 3 columns, and which include WordPress widgets support. She even makes notes on specific themes, such as those that are appropriate for photobloggers. This list might not be as pretty as the WordPress Theme Viewer, but I don’t think there is a more useful list available anywhere. To find the list click the title below.

610 comprehensive list of 685 WordPress Themes

Ready to brand your blog or your business properly? Try new WordPress Theme that says what you stand for.

Congratulations and thank you, Emily. Give this woman links and links. She’s earned them.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
The Ultimate Blog Directory Handbook: Over 1800+ Submission Sites
Great Finds: EchoEcho on and on and on
Great Find: Easy File Backups

Net Neutrality 6-13-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’ve added these links to the Net Neutrality Page today.

Out Of Control!

The discussion, debate, battle, whatever, over Net Neutrality is completely out of control! And those who favor anti-Net Neutrality (yeah, figure that out) still haven’t answered the question – Where’s the $200 BILLION??? Or – why aren’t 86 million households which should have been rewired by 2006 with a fiber optic wire, capable of 45 Mbps, in both directions, wired that way now??? Which leads to – what did the Telco’s do with that money??? And follows with – why won’t anyone open up about it?

Net neutrality

Nothwithstanding all of the above, net neutrality legislation is not the answer – it is more like ‘casting out a devil with the devil’. There is no fundamental understanding of the internet as a space, marketplace, world or a frontier (for more on this see Doc Searls’ article on Saving the Net). The debate should not be about the internet as a sum of pipelines and wires and content and packets delivered across an infrastructure. It should be in terms of protecting the space in which the individual has been empowered and the emergent benefits of interactions among those individuals that are having an increasingly sociall impact.

Net neutrality debate to carry on

Alan Davidson, Washington counsel for Google, said that the House vote should be taken as “a wake-up call” by the public and businesses about how the internet could be regulated in the future. “As more consumers and small businesses learn about this, I think we’ll see more concern,” he said.

Jeannine Kenney, senior policy analyst for Yonkers, N.Y.-based Consumers Union, said that the “grass-roots campaign is only gaining steam” and that the telecommunications and cable companies still have a fight on their hands.

“I think that in the Senate there is a better understanding of the idea of net neutrality,” although many members are still on the fence on the issue, she said.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

SOB in Giant Online Blogging Glossary

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Synchronicity Again

Truth is I had just cropped this title

for a “Great Find” post, when I got an email that said:

Hi Liz,
I recently created a Giant Blogging Terms Glossary at
http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2006/06/the-giant-blogging-terms-glossary/

And while I searched around for blogging terms, I was surprised to
find SOB on several sites and it is a very popular term (and the
entire credit is yours). So I have added SOB to my glossary
collection. I found some great sites at your blog. Thanks.

🙂

PC

Here’s the entry itself. Click the entry shot to see the entire glossary.

Quick Online Terms Glossary-SOB

The Blogging Glossary a great idea and the blog itself, Quick Online Tips is a wealth of resources for bloggers at all levels. Stop by there and check it out. I’m adding this post to the NEW BLOGGER PAGE.

New Blogger Logo

Thanks, PC, for noticing!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NEW BLOGGER PAGE

The Ultimate Blog Directory Handbook: Over 1800+ Submission Sites

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The Ultimate Lists as of June 2006

New Blogger Logo

Every few months someone compiles a new list of blog directories for submission. I thought it might be nice to pull them together with a basic how-to piece on using directorires best to promote your brand and your blog. With that in mind, I’m reposting I piece I wrote and combining the several directory lists I’ve been able to gather into one Directory Submission Handbook. This will have it’s own page in the sidebar for easy access whenever you need it. It will be called the 1800+ Directory Lisitings page.

Directory Listings as Blog Promotion

The blog looks great. You’ve been through the Blog Review Checklist. You’ve got several posts with great titles and compelling content–to let readers know you’ll be around, when they come back. Now it’s time to let people know that you exist.

List your blog in the Blog Directories. Which ones? All of them–every one that you can find the smallest reason to. Listing is a slightly longer and more involved task than changing phone companies. However if you take the time, your work will last for the life of your blog.

Prepare a document with the following information before you start. Keep this document. It’s your blog’s biography. You’ll have reason to use it as your blog makes friends and influences people.

Your username. Pick one with no spaces. Many directories and forums require that, and no one needs too many usernames.

Your email address This email address will get directory updates and be used for verifications. You may want it separate from your personal email address. You’ll need a system to keep track of directory correspondence. Much of the login/password email that you want to keep will have subject lines that start with blog-something.

Your password I’m sure you know the cautions and rules about passwords.

The name of your blog Be sure that you have the spelling, spacing, and everything about the name exactly as you want it. Some directories make it difficult to go back to change it later.

The URL This is http:// (nameofmyblog) .com

The feed Some directories will ask for your RSS or XML feed. You should be able to find that address within your blogware documentation. It will look like your URL with an extension.

The description Though you’re probably anxious to get done, don’t hurry through this one. This is your advertising, and it will be out there a long time. Again, in some places you may not be able to change it later. Make two versions one under 150 words and one under 300 words. Some directories have stricter length limits.

Keywords Choose keywords that readers would use to look for a blog like yours. Review them to make certain that they’re not so broad that they apply to every blog, or so narrow that only you would know them.

Then start with one of the lists below. Approach the task as suits your nature. I did a few every day until I was done. That way I could work on writing and do things on other parts of my blog too.

Words of Caution

You don’t need to be in every list and you don’t need to carry ever link on your blog. So take a look around before you submit. Will someone new there ever be able to find your blog in the crowd? Will you? I’ve gone back to directories and not been able to find my own blog even though I knew it was there!

Certainly you the more “phone books” you are in the more chances that people will find you. But if the phone is poorly organized or shoved off in a drawer the chance that particular phone book will help is fairly slim for you.

On to the Directory Lists

.
There are some duplicates in these lists. Not nearly so many as you might expect. I quite counting how many links to directories were here when I reached 1800.
Google’s Blog Directory List

Robin Good’s RSS Top55 – Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites

Free Web Directory List from Smiley Cat

Top Rank Monster RSS and Blog Directory List

Other Directory Lists

These Lists from The V7 Network
Nine lists here.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Other posts to check out:
Directories and Click Exchanges as Promotion
Blogger Forums as Promotion
__________________________________

Net Neutrality 6-12-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’ve added these links to the Net Neutrality Page today.

Why has Web 2.0 Been (Relatively) Quiet on Net Neutrality??

The point is that I searched through Technorati, and could not find the usual Web 2.0 suspects writing, but just pointing people to fun videos that are cutesy; they are not really taking the banner of Net Neutrality.

I have discussed this with a couple of other bloggers – and wonder if Web 2.0 has not rushed to this because they are so caught up with themselves. Do they think that the banners of open source, community Web, and whatever the buzz words du jour are going to save their companies? If you look at the Web 2.0 sites -Facebook, Riya, YouTube, Second Life, Songbird, BitTorrent and others – they are total bandwidth hogs. Look at how much Second Life is growing, to the point that it is holding virtual conferences, virtual concerts. But at least is it suited to find ways around the potential costs of the loss of Net Neutrality, as it already charges for membership.

And, well, since Friday it is even a bigger issue since the House rejected Net Neutrality.

Now, while the big Net companies – MSFT, Google, Yahoo – have been to the hill to fight for Net Neutrality, the other side of the debate has just been as active. But is smarter and better at lobbying. Just imagine if the Web 2.0 companies rallied their users to send a letter or email to their Senators and Congressman. Would not those voices be heard, or am I a little too Mr. Smith Goes To Washington?

Net Neutrality: Who voted for What?

The largest telephone and cable companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner want to be able to decide which websites run fast, slow or not at all. They want to be able to charge extra money for fast service and if web sites don’t pay extra then they’ll be doomed to a slow connection.

Net Neutrality wants to ensure that all sites get equal treatment.
The supporters of Net Neutrality include leading high-tech companies such as Amazon.com, Earthlink, EBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Skype, Vonage and Yahoo. Prominent national figures such as Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig and FCC Commissioner Michael Copps have called for stronger Net Neutrality protections.

For More Information check out the Net Neutrality FAQ
Yesterday the House of Representatives voted NO for Net Neutrality. The list below shows the people who voted. I have arranged them by state so you can easily see how your representative voted. If you are FOR Net Neutrality and your representative voted NO then don’t vote for him/her in the next elections.
[THE COMPLETE VOTING LIST FOLLOWS]

The Marching Morons Strike Again [Read more…]

9rules List Take 2

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Hello

This is me. I’m Liz. I’m the nice one.
I love 9rules Network. This Not a critique of the blogs there.
I never imagined in a million years it would be taken as such.
I’m sorry it was mistaken for that.
My apologies. I am truly sorry if that was not clear..
It saddens me to think someone would mistake this as something like that.
I’m so very sorry to all of you and so embarassed.

So I set the record straight.
I loved 9rules and everyone I met there when I was member and I still do.
Paul Scrivens has only been good to me. I consider him a friend.
This piece was simply meant as study in how quicky readers can sometimes make decisions
That was all.
As my dad use to say, “Only believe 1/2 of what you see, and none of what you hear.”

Sincerely,
Liz

PS. This was a post about the mathematics of a customer’s quick scan. 13,5% of 111 made a “I wanna look later list. Read the post again. There is no critical malice in it. It is an emotional observation of my own behavior.
_______________________________________________________________

Going Down the List Again

Customer Think Logo

A week ago the 9rules Network announced 111 new sites had been selected to join them. I had the interesting experience of going through the list of 111 domain names looking for the blogs of folks I knew. I learned a few things from that experience that I think are worth sharing.

UPDATE: It seems I need to update this. These are the response of a cursory look through a bunch of 111 blogs that I knew nothing about, except that within them there were a certain number I already knew well. I had a limited lime as I went through list to capture those that immediately grabbed my attention. This doesn’t mean those that didn’t have something wrong. I wasn’t judging a contest. I was supershopping as some customer on timed reconnaissance might do. There is no intended implication that the blogs I left behind have anything lacking. This is about 15 unnamed blogs I happend to pick up on my way through a list of 111 that were selected.

Think of these as observations from the field. Do what you will with them.

  • I don’t pay attention to domain names. I pay attention to titles. That meant I had to check every single one just to be sure I didn’t miss a great blog — a blog that has, for one reason or another, a domain name that is wildly different from its title. If you have a different name on your blog, make sure that folks know about it, before they have to go through search engines to find you.
  • Too much going on and nothing to look at. There were several sites that couldn’t hold my attention for longer than a second. They made it easy to click on.
  • I was in a hurry to get to the short list. Some bloggers actually said they weren’t good enough to be in 9rules. I decided to agree with them. When there are too many choices in a short time space, customers look for reasons to say no. At least I know that I do.
  • On a second look, only 6 of the 15 blogs I bookmarked still hold my attention. I collected what I thought were 15 winners. I went back to check them out tonight. I couldn’t remember what I saw in most of them. Most seemed unremarkable. Had they blown their wad to get in? Did they not stand up to a longer look?
  • This is not the time to think that folks won’t notice. One of the 15 still has the same post up — the post that says it was chosen to be in 9rules.

Only 6 out of 111. Granted I went through the list fast and furious, but . . . even 6 out of 15 is disappointing. . . . I’m going to keep watching all 15 of them. I’ll let you know whether things change.

PS — I still like the ones I knew were great going in.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
9rules Picked Great Ones
See the entire Customer Think Series on the SUCCESSFUL SERIES PAGE