The new “blog” I’m working on today is being set up to look more like a traditional website than a blog, using WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS).

There are several things I’ve done different help me accomplish this:

• I’ve used WordPress options to turn off the date feature on posts.
• I’ve created more static pages which I’m linking to than in my previous projects.
• Entering my domain name takes the reader directly to my home page instead of directly to blog posts. A link called “News” on the navigation menu gives access to “blog” posts and a way for me to continually update the site.
• On the home page I’ve added a “Feature Box” where my latest post can be displayed” but it will be only an excerpt of the article with a link to read the rest of the article.

I’m still working out a plan to access previous posts. I don’t want a list in the sidebar with titles like “Previous Posts” or a calendar or archive of links to July 2001, August 2001, etc. (Does anyone really use those anyway?) What I want instead, I think, are links to categories, or maybe most popular articles? I’m still thinking on this. If anyone happens to stumble upon my post and have some good ideas for me . . . I’m all ears.

I mentioned adding a “Featured” box to my home page where I could include the latest post. What I really wanted, but so far have not been able to accomplish with my limited understanding of website coding, is a featured post slider box. That would be a feature box with animation that cycles through a collection of different posts.

This is a screen shot of what I have:

What I have is not animated. It shows only the latest post for which I’ve selected ‘Featured’ as the category.

I absolutely hate giving up on an idea when I know what I want and when I know it can be done, but I did. I gave up for now anyway. The page certainly looks good enough as it is. In fact, I’m thrilled with the way it has turned out, and right now I need to be writing content and lots of it, not fiddling for days working to get one tiny feature just perfect. [sigh] Hate giving up. Hate giving up. Must keep reminding myself of the 80/20 Rule to Success.

Yesterday I began work on a new blog which I’m setting up. Today, set up is mostly complete!

I still have all content to write, and I’ll be starting with that tomorrow, but I’ve got the site looking the way I want it to look.

The one thing which took me so long, was this:

This is a picture of the right side of the header of my new site. (And a hint for you what it’s about.)

I wanted the animal to sit in the header and the tail and nose to hang down into the body of the page.

Using Google search, I was able to find all the help I needed online to figure out how to do this. Addition of code to both the Thesis files custom.css and custom_functions.php was required. It wasn’t hard to do, and all directions were there online for me to follow.

I downloaded the image from 123rf.com paying $15 for 15 images. I’ll have plenty of image credits left to use as I finish building this site.

The image as downloaded had a white background. I wanted a transparent background so the background of the header and page would show. I didn’t know how to do this, so I again turned to Google.

I downloaded a free image editing program called GIMPshop and followed directions found online for editing the picture. No doubt, it sounds easier here as I write about it than it really was . . . or else it wouldn’t have taken me all day. There was a lot of trial and error involved, but I learned a lot and it will be much easier the next time I need to do anything similar.

It’s August 1st – a new month – and I want a new beginning.

I began this blog just over a month ago as a place to think through my decision to go back to work, my need to support myself, and my desire to work from home. What I’ve ended up with here — is a blog about blogging.

Common sense tells me that a blog about blogging is not where I need to be spending the majority of my time if I want to make money working online. Why? Well, the field is saturated. Blogs about blogging are a dime a dozen. It’s the whole “find an undeveloped niche” thing. This is not an undeveloped topic. I feel that it is time for me to move along and begin developing my next project.

I’ll still check in here every few days with updates and new blog posts about what I’ve been doing, but truthfully, most of my work here is done. This was a beginner blog on which I could learn, and I have. The blog is set up and functioning well. There are still a few changes I would make, and probably I still will at a later date as I learn more along the way.

One small regret I have with regards to leaving now is that I don’t feel I truly “completed” this blog.

Setting up a money making blog has five components.

1. Keyword analysis and finding a niche.
2. Building the site and structure, developing the right look.
3. Creating and optimizing content.
4. Link building and promotion.
5. Measuring performance.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the last month on the first three components, and a small amount of time on the last one, but absolutely zero time on link building and promoting. I debated whether or not to devote some time to it. I chose not to do so, at least for now.

About My Next Blog

My next project – I’ll refer to it using the acronym FD – is an animal/pet related site. The only reason I don’t mention it directly here is that I’d like to see how the site performs on its own merits rather than clicks coming from this site just to check it out. At the end of my one year challenge I’ll announce the site name.

There are several things I plan to do different with my new site. For starters, I plan to set it up to appear more like a static website than a blog. The way I plan to do this is by setting WordPress up to omit the date and author name on new posts. I’m aiming for the new site to be an seen as an authority site. By leaving off dates it will be less obvious that the site is brand new. I’ll also rename some areas on the screen, such as “Recent Blog Posts”.

Later this year, once the new site is up and running smoothly, I’ve got plans for an eBook. That will be a new experience which I’ll share here.

I also think I might like to add a forum to the new site. This is something I’m still thinking through. Since I don’t want a forum at which I have no visitors I may want to hold off on this until the website is established and getting a fair amount of traffic. I also need to think more about how much of my time I might expect a forum to take and if I have that time to give.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes me to set up the new blog. The Third Road has taken me a little over one month to get it to the point it is at now. Obviously, being new to all of it, I had a huge learning curve. I’ve taken good notes. It’s my plan to develop a template for new blog site development – a checklist of steps to set up a new blog. I’ve already posted what I have, but I plan to fine tune it and make it better.

If you’ve been reading along, you will remember that I recently began searching for a replacement to the free theme I had been using because I wanted a search engine friendly theme.

I ended up purchasing (for $87!!) the Thesis theme.

I rejected buying Thesis for days — unwilling to spend that kind of money. When I noticed their money back guarantee I decided to take the risk. I wanted to see for myself what it was about this product that made everyone seem to be talking about it — and all the major bloggers using it!

Well, I’ve had ten days with Thesis theme now, and here’s why I’ll be keeping it.

To be honest, Thesis claims to have a lot of behind-the-scene features such as being well-built and great for SEO which I don’t understand well enough to fully verify or to write about here. I’ll have to trust what others say about Thesis in that regard.

Here is what I personally like about Thesis.

I like knowing it is the last theme I am going to need.

Thesis is flexible enough that I can use it on any of my websites and blogs and make it look completely different on each. Learning a new theme takes time, energy, and patience. If I can learn one theme instead of many, I’m miles ahead of the game getting things done.

I like the support I’m able to receive for Thesis. Good support means wasting less time when problems crop up.

Not only does Thesis offer their own support in the form of blog, user’s guide and forums with links available from the WordPress dashboard, but Thesis is in use by so many others across the blogosphere that all I need to do is Google search for anything I’m having trouble and I find answers immediately. I can’t get that with a free theme.

Thesis is flexible and full of features making it a bit difficult to use in the beginning. My first few days with it were frustrating, but I’ve had many of those type days since beginning my blogging adventure. It comes with the territory of learning something new. Now that the newness has worn off and I know my way around the theme, I can make changes quickly and effortlessly.

If you’ve read through much of my blog you know I am a tightwad, and encourage others to be the same. There are very few products which I recommend buying. Getting started with affiliate marketing and blogging doesn’t require a huge start-up budget. I especially like to steer people clear of paying for information.

For me, paying for efficiency has always been another matter entirely. That’s what I’m paying for here and I find it well worth the cost. Anything that makes my work easier saves me money in the end.

With all this in mind, I feel completely comfortable recommending Thesis theme.

PLEASE NOTE: If you click on the banner above it is an affiliate link and I will be compensated. If you choose to do so, thank you for supporting this forum.

Finally! Advice about SEO and website optimization that I can trust!

I found a really good book at the library today and wanted to mention it to anyone who might be looking for help with optimizing their website. The title of the book is

The book is published by O’Reilly books and this in itself gave credibility to the book in my eyes before I even cracked open the cover.

O’Reilly Media is the publishers of many popular technology and programming related books and they’ve been in the business for years. Way, way back in the days when I worked in the computer/tech support field they were also writing books and their titles were always some of my favorite.

I’ve only just begun this book, so I’m not ready to give a complete review yet. Just wanted to give anyone who might be interested a heads up.

Oh . . . and one more thing I discovered that makes me even happier . . . O’Reilly’s has a free books for bloggers program. How cool is that? I’m already signed up.

You know, as frugal as I am and as much as I love books from the library . . . sometimes when it’s a really good book I want to own it. I want to be able to add my own handwritten notes by the dozen in every margin and keep sticky note reminders hanging from every other page and keep it beside my desk for quick reference. I believe this book is already becoming one of “those books” for me.

Do you comment on other people’s blogs or websites? Maybe you even post a question or a comment that you’d like to track and see if anyone ever replies? If you do this often enough, has it become a problem keeping track of all your comments?

It has become a problem for me, and has caused me to go searching for a solution.

CoComment is what I’m looking at today. If you’ve used it and care to comment, or if you’re using something else which works well for you, please feel free to comment and share your experience. I’m interesting in knowing what others have done or used to solve this problem.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about productivity and efficiency, and the things I do both online and off which are simply a huge, sucking waste of time.

What got me started with this thinking once again today is when I realized I had spent about 3 hours on the computer this afternoon doing nothing more than stubbornly refusing to give up wanting what I wanted and not being able to get it. Specifically, I am still tweaking the Thesis theme here at The Third Road site and I wanted a full width banner that would run all the way across at the very top of the page and I wanted to be able to add something like “Read About My One Year Affiliate Marketing Challenge” and a link to my progress reports. Sounds simple enough, eh? I’ve seen it on other sites. Not only does it look nice, but I love the way it calls attention to a special link or feature.

Dang! I still want it. I want it for my next blog sites as much or more than for this one. I have plans for it.

No matter what I tried I couldn’t get it to work out. I’ve been called stubborn more than once, and I wear the label like a badge of honor. (I actually prefer to think of it as persistent.) But when does stubborness become stupidity? When is the right time to let something go and move on? Today, I finally moved on. I deleted all code related to the task I was trying so hard to accomplish and walked away from it. Maybe I’ll try it another time. Maybe a month or two or three from now, when I’ve gained more knowledge this will be an easy task and I’ll tackle it then, but for now I think I made the best decision I could — as much as it hurt me to make it.

So, I’m curious, what sort of things do you find yourself doing which are a huge waste of time and energy? And how do you avoid them?

Right here, right now, loud and clear for the entire webby world to hear . . . I want all to know that I am in love. Love . . . sigh.

The object of my deep, deep infatuation, you ask? Evernote!

But seriously, is Evernote just about the best thing since sliced bread? I certainly think so.

It’s fast, friendly, efficient and FREE. I can access it from anywhere. It automatically syncs from laptop, to phone, to desktop. It does it all fast and quick. I never, ever notice any type of lag time, no waiting while it saves or searches for the file. Working . . . (How many of you use Google Docs and know what I’m talking about?) Evernote is amazing.

I’ve been using it on the laptop for a couple of weeks and I like it more each day. Several days ago I downloaded the app for my Android phone and it is equally amazing. I find myself using it for everything. I even used it for storing a new recipe yesterday, but the best part — I didn’t type in the recipe on that tiny little cell phone keypad. Nope! I just snapped a picture of it, named the note the name of the recipe, selected my Notebook in which to store the file, added a few tags. I did it all from the cell phone, and it’s available on the computer immediately.

If you’re organizationally challenged, as I am, this is one great freebie tool you shouldn’t be without.

Brain dump — n. The complete transfer of a large quantity of information from your brain to some other storage medium.

I mentioned in my last post my plans to do what I call a “brain dump”, and I’m sharing the results of it here. I’ve cleaned it up quite a bit. In the actual “dump” the thoughts flow in no particular order, just flow and get them out of my brain and onto paper where I can deal with them in a bit different way. I don’t stop to think a lot about each item I’m writing down because I just want to keep the flow going. Only after I feel like I’m completely emptied the ol’ brain do I come back through and sort and categorize the thoughts and add details which I feel are needed and make a plan for dealing with everything.

After a big dump . . . whew! I feel so much better.

FIRST PRIORITY: FINISH THE THIRD ROAD WEBSITE

Well, close to finished anyway. It will never truly be finished because there will always be updates to do, new posts and pages to create, etc. It’s an ongoing process, but I want to get this site to a stable point. I also want to get to a point where I feel comfortable moving on. This site was meant to be my place to learn. There is no way I feel like I “have learned it all” — that will be many years, if ever, in the future. I want to have at least completed all the initial steps for setting up a blog, optimizing it and monetizing it before I move on to my next site.

• Update links/tools/tutorials file at TTR (The Third Road) site: Free software that will save both time and money. EVERNOTE! Love it. Blog about it. Tell everyone about this great free tool.
• Make changes to appearance of Thesis theme. I am not yet happy with the way the blog looks with the new Thesis theme. Things I would like to change: Make logo at top of page clickable. Headings in right sidebar need to be either bold or in a different color block so they stand out more. Need to move the top menu down from the very top of the page to beneath the logo where it is normally found. Default look is a bit too boring, would like to add some color. Maybe a more colorful logo and banner across the top? Lost my Twitter sign up button. Need to get it back. Get rid of default link in the footer, add my own. Would like to learn much more about using Thesis, but also want to move along to another website.
• Determine what I want to track and how to do it. Track earnings, progress. Analyze trends. What works and what doesn’t? How to keep/display/report these records.
• Begin first round of promotions. Another learning curve. Must test out what I need to do for this step. Incoming links are important for page rank. So how do I get incoming links? How do I promote my website. Where do I go to promote website?
• Begin monetizing this site. Adsense? Affiliate links? What else?
• How familiar with the entire blog setup/affiliate marketing process do I need to be? Am anxious to move on to next blog. Am I ready? * How good does THIS blog need to be before I move on to the next one?

SECOND PRIORITY: WHAT TO DO AFTER THE THIRD ROAD?

• Two options. Create a new blog from the ground up using one of the two domain names which I’ve already purchased. Or work on one of the two domains which I have been given.
• Can PSW and SM (the two websites I “inherited”) be moved to WordPress?
• If I choose to first update one of the sites which I’ve “inherited” the content is already there to a large degree. Maybe that’s a better route to take?
• If I choose next to set up a site from scratch I’ll be working through the checklist I’ve made setting up this site and re-inforcing what I’ve learned. I think maybe that is better.

PSW and SM INHERITED SITES:

I have two new sites which I have “inherited”. These were both sites set up quite a number of years ago by a friend who was learning HTML. One is a clothing site, the other and educational site. Both sites have been sitting idle. When I mentioned what I was doing online, she literally gave these to me. Somewhere in the next year I plan to play with them and see what I can do to improve each one. Neither site has ever been optimized for SEO or promoted in any way. It will be interesting to see what I can do with them.

• add Google Analytics tracking to PSW and SM so I can see exactly what phrases my visitors are using to get to my site. Can use this to improve later when I have time to work in it.

OTHER BUSINESS RELATED THINGS TO DO:

• Need to set up a new business checking account. Which bank. Look for one with free business checking.
• Think about how to set up paper filing system for things related to business. Why go paper at all? Why not scan and keep online? Does this work for taxes?
• Look into switching Internet providers.

THINGS I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND FULLY AND NEED TO RESEARCH:

• Where is a good source for free images? Royalty free images. Are there any good sources for free? If not, where is a good source of cheap images?
• I still don’t understand pingbacks and trackbacks even though I’ve read about them. Maybe I need to see them in action.
• Is there any way to automate the monitoring of comments I’ve left on other people’s blogs? my own blogs too? So that I don’t have to check back often. I think there is a way. I think I’ve seen it mentioned somewhere on some one else’s blog. Look for information and implement it.
• Need to learn more about Twitter, HootSuite and LinkedIn.
• SEO Press Releases – what are they? How to do these? How to send them? Do I need to know how to do this to promote the blog? Is there a better way?
• What is Feedburner? Is it the same as RSS feed?
• What are cononical URLs? What do they do?
• IMPORTANT: How quickly could I recover from a disaster? I’ve been so busy writing and learning and doing. What if I had to start all over again? Could I do it quickly?
• I want to create a type of “template” for new posts. Prompts which help me to make sure I include all that I want to say in the post. Prompts which make my writing quicker and better.
• I want to create the same type template for starting a new site from scratch. A checklist to get everything done and the site up and running in a matter of days instead of weeks as it has taken me this first time around.
• Research and review desktop blogging clients. Is this the same thing as a Weblog Client? Do I need this software? Are there free versions available?
• Should I use redirects for affiliate links? What are they? Is this the same thing as cloaking links? White hat SEO? or black hat SEO? If OK, why use them and how to set them up?
• Check out Google Webmaster Central. What is it used for?
• Check out Google Analytics. Study it thoroughly. Decide what aspects of the blog I want to track. Daily? Monthly? Yearly? Profits? Number of visitors? Page Rank? Etc.
• What is Google Trends?
• How to use social media for blog advantage?
• Is there a way to post to Twitter and Facebook, maybe even YouTube if posting a video is involved, all at one time? If not, it’s going to be a lot of work just keeping up with all different methods of Social Media.
• Research pros and cons of open comments on a blog. How to fight comment spam.
• What is feedit.com? How is it used? Do I have any use for it?
• Why and how to use WordPress as CMS? CMS is Content Management System.
• Do I need an FTP program? Check out SmartFTP.
• How to monetize the blog? How to stop thieves from stealing MY commission. What does this mean? How do they steal it? Which affiliate programs should I use? What are the pros and cons of using Google Adsense?
• How to get traffic to my site? how to write an eZine article to bring traffic to my site? Is there any benefit to advertising using Adwords? What is Squidoo and what is a Squidoo lens? How are people using it? To draw in traffic??
• What does “leverage the competition” mean? I’ve seen it mentioned online. Leverage means to use. How do I use the competition to help myself?
• How is writing outsourced? One option I’ve seen mentioned is elance.com. Are there other sites? Other ways? How do I use it? Do I want to use it? If not now, when?
• Do I need a pen name? For fun? For safety? Why would I want one? I could take the name I always wanted instead of what I was given. And won’t it make me feel like a “real” writer?

I’ve downloaded and installed Thesis and have now had 24 hours to look at it, which isn’t nearly enough to have dug too deeply into it, but enough to have me thoroughly frustrated. My initial reaction . . . dang! I feel like I’m back where I started one month ago.

One month ago I had just set up my first blog a few days earlier. I was trying to find my way around WordPress, spent hours searching online for a free theme I liked, spend further hours figuring out how to install it at WordPress and then was struggling to customize it to look just the way I wanted. I was confused and frustrated. Every single thing I wanted to do took me hours to figure out. Now . . . again I am confused and frustrated and trying to do many of the same things I worked so hard to do the first time. It feels like I’m back where I started, even though I know I’m not.

Today, I admit, I’m feeling a bit . . . searching for the right word . . . stuck maybe . . . spinning my wheels . . . unproductive. Partly this is due to the theme change and the feeling that I’m starting over. I’m working hard to talk myself through that one — it’s not the same, you’re not starting over. You’re much farther along than you were a month ago. This theme change was necessary because of what you’ve learned in the past month, etc.

But there is something more to why I’m feeling unproductive, and I think I need to take just a day or so to step away from the computer and figure out what it is exactly.

I think it would help me a great deal to spend one day focused on improving my surroundings. I’ve been spending so much time on the computer the past month that my housekeeping has suffered. I’ve kept up with the kitchen and the kids have not starved, but the rest of the house is looking horrible. In particular in my bedroom where I do my work there are too many papers stacked here and there and paper scraps in the carpet and well. I can’t even focus. Why I didn’t notice before I’m not exactly sure. Maybe I had become comfortable enough with what I was doing before that I didn’t need as much concentration. Or there’s a tipping point to everything. Maybe that point was finally reached because what didn’t bother me yesterday, does bother me today? I don’t know, but I’ve got to get past this.

I have in mind a two step plan to get moving and motivated again. First, I’m getting away from the computer for the day. I’m going to get the kids in gear to help and we’re going to tackle the house cleaning this morning. Then there are dentist appointments this afternoon and a better than average meal planned for supper. After that, I’ll be back here after supper and am planning to do a “brain dump”.

Why I need a brain dump? A “brain dump” is my way of clearing everything out of my head and making a “to do” list of tasks needing done. It helps me to re-focus. I feel like I’ve lost my focus at the moment.