Many web publishers work hard to create unique, engaging and useful content only to realize, after a while, that their WordPress theme doesn’t do justice to the content they post.

While most blog administrators will see no problem in tweaking a few aspects of an existing theme to make it their own, building a custom theme from scratch is generally too much to ask for. Fortunately, theme experts such as those at ElegantThemes provide web publishers with genuinely original blog designs which are not very hard to customize.

All of ElegantThemes’ offerings come with their own control panel to determine if the information is going to be presented “magazine-style” or “blog-style” but that’s just the beginning as there’s a host of other useful options, including advertising zones which you can modify freely.

Apart from the beautiful WordPress theme designs it offers, ElegantThemes is also quite affordable: only $19.95 per year to have access to ALL of the themes, for your own use. This deal includes all the themes that’ll be released in the year following your membership. So it’s a light on your wallet on significant, valuewise.

Themes like PureType, ColdStone, Basic, LightSource and eGamer can both enhance your blogs’ legibility and credibility, especially if you customize them into something that’s truly yours. Just open Photoshop and change a few elements to ensure your web destination will be different than any other.

Starting with an “elegant theme” (instead of “from scratch”) just makes that part of the work easier and therefore, you can be more productive… even if theming doesn’t happen to be your thing.

Take note that there are regular updates on the themes, namely because WordPress itself is continuously evolving. Even the oldest themes get a makover when the main blogging script gets a “code freshening” so you can rest assured the themes will always work flawlessly with the latest WP release.

For the web publishers out there who would like to make a little extra money recommending ElegantThemes to prospective buyers, as affiliates, here the direct link you can use to go to the site and signup, for free.

Overall, ElegantThemes delivers solid WordPress themes which will impress your visitors and elevate your blog closer to what the professionals (and the niche leaders) are showing.

Again, at $19.95 per year, considering the quality of the themes, it’s nothing short of a bargain…

Tags: elegantthemes, elegant themes, themes for wordpress, wordpress, wordpress theming, quality themes, professional wordpress, new wordpress themes, good wordpress themes, solid wordpress themes, bargain themes, high-quality themes for wordpress, impress with wordpress

If you’re an individual or a small business looking to use WordPress as a blog —and— as a content management system (CMS), you’re probably going to need a theme which your clients can truly relate to.

Marketers insist on repeating that image is everything and in the online world, that means that if you invest lots of time creating engaging content, using the powerful WordPress back-end, you’ll probably want that information to be displayed in such a way that your visitors will appreciate it to its rightful value.

StudioPress, a Brian Gardner Media creation, is a collection of WordPress themes that have been developed with specific uses in mind, like a theme for realtors who want to display their homes for sale or bands who want to show off their latest album.

By zooming in on specific “niche” needs, StudioPress takes part of the weight, associated with the development of an original theme, off the shoulders of the “week-end web publishers”. StudioPress’ theme packages include original Photoshop-ready images, the theme itself and a host of widgets to perform theme-specific tasks (when needed, of course).

Whatever your line of work, some of the following themes might apply to what you (sometimes with minor modifications)…

• Real estate agents;
• Music bands;
• Churches.

…and there are also more “generic” themes which fit for just about anything, like…

• Black canvas theme;
• Chrome theme;
• Corporate theme;
• Lifestyle theme;
• Metro theme;
• Streamline theme;
• Tubular theme (latest).

The comprehensive and commented CSS stylesheets make it relatively easy (even for newbies) to switch the colors to anything you like and to reposition almost every single element being show to visitors, like the titles of the posts which you may want to make bigger or smaller, depending on the context.

Because these themes aren’t free (under $60), you’re less likely to run into someone else using the exact same theme as you but nevertheless, you should always tweak themes a bit to make sure they truly reflect who YOU are instead of the generic look which should be seen as a major building block but a building block, nonetheless.

Pro designers can gain access to ALL of the theme for under $200 so that might be a good way to start your own local WordPress theming consultancy, if that’s something you’d like to do.

If you’re tired of looking around for a solid WordPress theme, namely in the free themes realm, StudioPress’ theme offerings might offer a more professional alternative which, in turn, will make your entire blogging experience that much better.

Tags: studiopress, studio press themes, professional themes, wordpress themes, wordpress widgets, widget-ready themes, business themes, corporate themes, individual businesses, small businesses, corporate blogging, professional bloggers, quality wordpress themes

Managing online advertising can be a royal pain but if you happen to be running OpenX, you already know how much fun it is.

In fact, the word “fun” is a gross understatement.

Exhilirating might be more like it.

For starters, OpenX is made available for free as a rock solid open source release which, for version 2.6.3, weighs a cool 10.5 MB of PHP coding muscle which banks on MySQL‘s awesome data management power to take you —and your advertisers— on a wonderfully enjoyable and productive e-ride.

The fundamental setup in OpenX is built around the logic of having “Advertisers” on one side, feeding banners and clickable slogans and “Websites” at the other end, displaying them. This very logical approach makes this script a breeze to get your head around… and the rest just goes from there.

For every banner you program OpenX to handle, you’ll find a wide range of preferences you can toy with like, for instance, when that particular banner should display and when it shouldn’t — and for who. The whole nine yards, really. And the same can be said about the many ways said banner can be made visible in the web site since, on that end too, the choices should make integration especially easy.

Then come “the statistics” featuring a balanced dose of numbers that’ll help you understand what’s going on without burrying you under a pile of useless metrics. As an added bonus, such statistical clarity is bound to make your advertisers love your choice for such a straightforward advertising script. Advertisers demand answers regarding the way their ads have been delivered and OpenX will prove to be a dependable ally to achieve this, time and again.

Theoretically, the script accepts an unlimited number of… everything! Advertisers, banners, web sites, you name it. OpenX doesn’t appear to be “limited” in any significant way, unlike so many other online advertising scripts. I say theoretically because I’m not aware of anybody who’s taken the time to test the limits of this open source script. As a rule of thumb, if you run an OpenX ad server on a web server featuring unlimited hard disk space, sky is probably going to be the limit, for you.

Over and above all that’s already been said, the installation procedure takes just a few minutes and goes so smoothly, you barely notice that you’ve just installed the hottest open source online advertising solution, on Earth! It’s -that- smooth, people.

If you enjoy participating in vibrant open source communities, you’ll see that OpenX’s is precisely one of those. Their blog is a living testament to the vitality of their movement but also, their originality.

So if getting your very own “twin-turbo, V10 engine-inspired” ad server sounds like a plan, download the latest OpenX release, install it and see for yourself how RIGHT ON THE MONEY we are about this fine piece of open source code.

Tags: openx, ad server, php, mysql, open source, online advertising, ad script, advertisers, publishers, ad stats, statistics, banners, text links, clickable slogans, adsense boxes, fast ad serving, free, fast, fun, efficient

If you look at the member count at MySpace, Gather, Orkut, Facebook and Hi5, to name only those, it’s clear that being there has a lot to do with connecting family, friends and co-workers. While a minority of members actually take the time to post large amounts of content (of varying usefulness), most people just click around rather aimlessly — akin to wasting time in the local mall, on a rainy day.

So it seems that while a proverbial handful of people are there to obtain some form of visibility for their content, the bulk of these social network members are pretty clueless about “what else” they could be doing, other than surfing away their free time.

In today’s most popular networks, there’s a lot to do such as dressing up the profile, posting articles, images, videos, comments (in response to other people’s articles, blog-style), adding up friends and joining groups. So why are people so uninterested by all these features? It could be many things but it basically comes down to each member’s perception of the service. Said differently, to participate, the member has to find that posting content in a social network is useful… for him or her!

Social networks are allegedly bringing in large amounts of advertising money (pay-per-click or otherwise) for their owners but the members are always treated as “those who freely provide the content” so that pretty much insures that they’ll never get rich “networking” in other people’s (rather tightly controlled) web properties.

Maybe some musical artists on MySpace Music will convince a few more fans to listen to their music along the way but for most artists, it’s not the fastest route to financial independance. Similarly, some web marketers have tried peddling all sorts of things to all sorts of crowds, namely through groups, although eventually, they’re caught “abusing” the social network and either get their account downgraded or banned.

So we’re down to seeing social networks as big (and sometimes huge), ongoing, garden cocktail parties where everyone’s basically free to join but more likely uninterested enough to eventually forget they even have a working membership. Social networks therefore try to muster members’ attention with special events, promotions and features. It seems to be having very uneven levels of success, depending on the perceived value for the user, if any.

The Frankenstein-like privacy policy nightmares related to these social networks will be the main theme for an upcoming article but suffice it to say that trusting these particular “third-party” web services with information you hold dear, like your entire identity, might turn out to be a very, very bad idea.

So should bloggers also have their “spin marketing” account in each of these social networks to generate theme-specific unique visits to their blogs? It depends. If no other alternative exists, social networks might be better than nothing but that’s about it. For instance, a blogger’s not likely to hit Google‘s top search spot because he cross-posted lead-generating content in his MySpace or Orkut account. It might help (over the very long run) but it’s not going to make a significant impact.

It’s a gradual process, really.

Most people get sucked into these networks to “become (online) friends” to their offline counterparts. Once in a while, they get a message from their friends, through the social network. At this point, most people wonder if the whole social networking thing is really worth it but deleting their account is made so ridiculously difficult (or tricky) that they just keep it as is until things hopefully become less entangled.

So even though social networks are said to be handling hundreds of millions of member profiles, one has to wonder if the members are really getting a valuable payoff, at their end of the deal. After all, (1) they’re actively or passively censored, (2) they can’t (legally) make any money with (pay-per-click) advertising, (3) they instantly lose full property of their content the moment they post it and (4) in the case their profile is abused, they’re legally bound by contract to fully indemnify the social network operator — even if those operators happen to be the culprits!

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg because in most networks, members have very little control over what other members say about them and that could lead down a very slippery slope, online and off.

So at this point, most members might be scratching their heads as to why they’re sticking with these rather insidious networking platforms anyway.

If you’re one of these members, you’re not alone since a lot of people are now backing away from freely giving away their personal information and going back to creating their very own blog in why they control all aspects of the content while remaining the owners of what they create… and getting a bit richer (with PPC ads), in the process.

While most people will continue to use one form or another of social networks, chances are that until the operators come clean, from legal and ethical standpoints, more and more people will see more use in staying away from these networks than joining them.

After all, giving away -everything- you think up can’t be that useful for you although, in the global scheme of things, it’ll make total strangers (the social network owners) that much richer!

Tags: social networks, usefulness, networking, people, myspace, gather, orkut, facebook, hi5, legal, ethical

So WordPress rocks and millions of web publishers, from around the world, will gladly confirm it.

But is WordPress capable of handling truly professional blogs?

From a technical standpoint, it’s very solid and will surely provide you with a flawless blogging experience. This being said, most of your web publishing work will include creating -or- finding and fine-tuning a blog theme that fits your particular blog project.

The theme part, with the inevitable computer graphics work, can get a tad frustrating for the bloggers who just can’t stay on top of things, designwise. Add CSS stylesheets to the mix and some less familiar bloggers might literally run for the hills!

Imagine these bloggers’ satisfaction when they come across Brian Gardner Media’s Revolution themes, for WordPress.

These WordPress themes are more sophisticated than the average “free themes” that are abundatly available. They’re designed with the idea that WordPress isn’t just a blogging script but rather a full blown content management system — hence the name “Revolution”.

Hierarchical drop-down menus are standard and the blog’s front page model looks like a magazine instead of “just another blog”. For many bloggers, this is a way out of the cookie-cutter-like approach simpler themes may apply thereby failing to woo the blog reader.

Good looks can make the difference between an average blog going unnoticed and an online magazine-like web destination that first time visitors want to bookmark.

Is each Revolution theme expensive, at $79,95 for a single use or $199,95 for an unlimited use?

Of course not since custom design for a blog quickly runs into the thousands of dollars. With minimal customization work in any of the Revolution themes, a web publisher can proudly present a visually appealing blog that readers will rave about.

Furthermore, web designers can buy a $399,95 package to use all of the Revolution themes in all of their clients’ blogging projects.

Serious bloggers will always be looking for ways to differentiate themselves and right now, buying a Revolution theme is sure way to do just that.

Tags: revolution themes, brian gardner media, wordpress, theme, commercial theme, pro theme

Most web developers know about the authoring part and since it’s a lot of fun, there’s no reason to stop -but- perhaps it would be nice to also open up your very own article directory, namely to make money on that side too.

If you’re familiar with PHP / MySQL and have access to a web hosting account, you’re already halfway there. All you need to make the magic happen is the article directory script which will automate the article submission, presentation and promotion.

The Article Directory Pro script does exactly that and although it’s not free, the selling price shouldn’t be an obstacle. It installs quickly (and flawlessly) and even includes hundreds of private label rights articles to get your directory started.

Once your article directory is setup, you’re free to set your advertising the way you like. Market your new web resource intelligently by using a snappy domain name accompanied by visually appealing visuals. Over time, the content should build up and your revenues will probably be sufficient for you to pay the monthly rent.

Now, here’s the secret tip expert web developers won’t tell you: the real power of such a web script lies in using it for a vertical or, if you prefer, a niche.

For instance, you could use this script to publish only university research papers (or excepts, whichever fits), for sports reviews (hockey, baseball… you name it), for traveler experiences and so on.

There are so many interesting verticals to explore that this approach will likely make your article directory rather unique and therefore, a lot more valuable than just any other “horizontal” article directory. Get a head start with this finely coded script and work your way from there.

Working a vertical with this kind of script really helps build up the interest in that specific field. While it may take a little longer to get the ball rolling, once you’re established as a credible source of “vertical” information, your visitors will come in much higher numbers.

Oh, and another thing (pun to Steve Jobs) – make sure to submit your article directory to the leading sites which market them as this will help you bring in your first serious authors to use your article directory.

Have fun with this nicely positioned script!

Tags: article directory, content, authors, publishers, php script

Although tens of millions of coders worldwide use it, building an intranet, an extranet or a public web user interface (with a MySQL backend) might not be all too peachy, especially for the newbies.

Fear not, coding your “dynamic” pages in PHP might still be done with relative ease using any of the following “code generator” software (for the Windows platform, only):

• PHPRunner – It builds visually appealing web interfaces for any local or remote MySQL, MS Access, SQL Server and Oracle database setup.
• CodeCharge Studio – Used to visually create database-driven web applications with a minimal amount of coding. The support for virtually all databases, web servers and web technologies, makes this software quite unique.
• PHPMaker – As the name implies, it’s a powerful automation tool that can generate a full set of PHP pages from a MySQL database. Instantly create web sites that allow users to view, edit, search, add and delete records online.

While some other PHP code generation solutions exist, even in the open source realm, they all seem to cover only part of what’s needed to create a serious PHP coded online interface for a MySQL data backend.

As with any lucrative vertical market, new contenders such as Delphi for PHP are entering the market with interesting alternatives that newbies and experts alike might find engaging, especially considering the price (around 250$).

Whenever you create a PHP coded project, with any of these fine software offerings, expect to spend some time making everything look good. The semi-generic way in which the data is presented using these code generating software offerings might not look nice enough for immediate presentation to your intended audience.

Of course, once the rather heavy PHP coding part is done, especially for the newbies, the visual end of things may turn out to be easier to gracefully integrate.

Using code generators to quickly build sophisticated PHP web applications helps save both time and money.

Furthermore, for the newbies, it’s usually the only way to package a credible first version of their online offering so if you’re one of them, make sure to check the code generation software offerings out in order to benefit, like millions of other more advanced coders, from the awesome programming power of PHP, for your projects.

Tags: php, code generators, web programming

For those who don’t already know it, patents issued in the United States are public domain government information and images of the entire database of US patents are readily available online via the USPTO website.

As such, it was rather easy for Google to tap into this huge intelligence concentrator, for the enjoyment of patent searchers everywhere and yes, the patent pages are hosted by Google, directly.

To get you started in your US patent exploration, here are a few popular search suggestions.

By patent details:

• Patent Number: patent:1247412
• Inventor: ininventor:edison
• Assignee: inassignee:fairchild

By classification (see the USPTO’s Patent Classification resources):

• Current US Classification: uspclass:”99/385″
• International Classification: intlpclass:”A63B 6308″

Can you guess which patents these drawings refer to?

It’s pretty interesting to browse all those older patents filed in the early 1800s so just be curious and fire up a search of your own!

Needless to say, the extensive array of patent information readily available should satisfy most people, especially since Google Patent Search covers the entire collection of patents made available by the USPTO, from patents issued in the 1790s through those issued in the middle of 2006 (approximately 7 million patents).

It should be noted though that patent applications, international patents and US patents issued over the last few months are available… yet. Google does intend to expand the patent search coverage, in the future.

Patent results are ranked according to their relevance to a given search query, in a similar fashion as the now ubiquitous Google Web Search.

Tags: google, patent search, us patents, intelligence

It’s a process, which you probably know pretty well, where every effort is made to relegate effective selection and screening power to the user.

It was only a matter of time before web developers, somewhere, would think up a system where the selection of a new friend doesn’t happen based on the usual criterias, like revenue, social status, looks, age, gender and nationality.

The new online service dubbed Fo.rtuito.us works for you, as long as you’re ready to put some effort back into it. Technically, as soon as you’re signed up, the services proposes a new randomly selected friendship which you’re invited to pursue by sending an e-mail — this may prove a little awkward, though.

Once the other person gets your message, they can evaluate if they want to be friends with you, largely based on what you’ve sent them. Assuming the recipient of your message accepts your invitation to be a friend, you can continue the relationship from there.

Because you’ve succeeded in meeting with a new friend, Fo.rtuito.us will reward you with the introduction of a new friend, up to four days after the previous relationship started.

Contrary to other social networking services, you can’t invite other people and they can’t recommend you to anyone else. Fo.rtuito.us is basically generating endless communications channel silos between perfect strangers which, for some people, is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Fo.rtuito.us’ slogan could be something along the line of "Expect the Unexpected"!

If you want to be part of this service’s beta testing, just go ahead and signup. The process takes less than 30 seconds and you can delete your account at any time if you’re unable to meet new friends (or for any other reason).

Posting a picture is part of the choices when signing-up so you can look your best for all those perfect strangers who are blessed enough to e-stumble upon you!

For instance, the store can be nice but it also needs a solid shopping cart and an easy to understand checkout process. Solutions such as PayPal can do wonders for emerging business people who love the fact that it’s free and wildly popular. It can work well for a while but over time, it might lack a bit on the customization front.

Keep in mind that lots of e-consumers like to pay using their credit cards and while PayPal can be an ideal interface in some mom-and-pop shops, nothing looks more professional than a commercial grade shopping cart system closely integrated to your e-store’s look and feel.

If you believe your e-business is ready for an upgrade, it’s time to take a look at a company called SecureNetShop. For a cool $229 per year, you get your very own secure shopping cart system, capable of processing all major credit cards. There are, as always, some small transaction fees but other than that, you’ve got yourself a rock solid setup for a very low price.

Nice features are offered as options to the base package, such as real-time UPS, USPS and FedEx shipping rates, order status manager, unlimited tech support by phone or e-mail and even the possibility to sell digital goods. These add-ons can make a huge difference to the quality of your online B2C retailing.

By helping your customers through a comprehensive checkout process, you’re investing in your future profits because chances are your satisfied customers will come back for more!