Posts Tagged ‘wordpress’

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Jul
6

New media photographer podcast 56

Monday, July 6th, 2009

New media photographer show notes:

This week Rosh talks about prosperous artists academy, Synectics Media, word press plug-ins and email.

Subscribe in itunes, click here

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Jul
2

WordPress plug-ins I like to use

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

WordPress is an amazing platform.  The plug-ins available make it even better.  Here are a few plug-ins I use for my blogs and Web sites.  Most of these plug-ins are available at http://www.wordpress.org.

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of growing your blog. I would recommend either of these SEO plug-ins every time you start a new blog:  All in one SEO Pack and Platinum SEO Pack
  • Google xml site maps: Site maps help Google and other search engines find all our your pages.
  • Ultimate Google Analytics, Google Analyticator or Google Analytics for WordPress: All three of these allow you to use your Google analytics with WordPress.
  • Sociable:  Automatically places buttons at the base of each post so visitors can share your content at their favorite social media sites.
  • WordPress Stats: This is the standard for keeping track of basic statistics for WordPress blogs. Cystats in another one I’ll plug in once in a while.
  • Podcasting: I use both podpress and podcasting for sharing my podcasts
  • eShop has worked well for e-commerce.
  • Zemanta: This plug-in gives you contextual content recommendations. I like this plug-in because it helps save me time trying to think of all the key words I need for post tags.
  • WishList: If you want create  a membership site, try WishList. This is not a free plug-in, but worth the money.  They really are engaging their users with support and information. http://member.wpwishlist.com/
  • I’ve been using Simple:press for the forum at prosperousartists.com.  It has a ton of features.  If you are not interested in a lot of features I’ve also heard good things about WP Form.
  • WP super cache is a good plug-in if you are looking to increase load time speed.  I’ve used it.  It’s a pain if you are updating your settings on your blog.  Make sure you deactivate it if you have a lot of work to do.

I don’t use these plug-ins, but I’ve heard good reviews:

  • NextGEN Gallery: Flash gallery to display your photographs, it’s always been a popular choice.
  • HeadSpace2 SEO
  • Contact form 7
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Jun
11

A few useful items

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

Our friend, Frederic, introduced me to the  su.pr video, which is still in Beta. It looks like it could be an excellent traffic driver and analytical tool. It could give my love for bit.ly a run for its money.

Bit.ly is still a great link-shortening program. But you need to sign in to receive all the analytic benefits.

I will be a guest speaker on a webinar on June 23, 2009 , which will be produced by Beate Chelette. I’ll be taking my good material and my A game to the event. It’s worth a look and a listen.

The video about Google Wave is still something you need to check out if you have not yet done so.

Here is my current favorite place to find  free wordpress themes. This is where I found the new theme for the Prosperous Artists Academy.

The Plus system: Picture Licensing Universal System

WordPress 2.8 is now available.

Blog: Photo Attorney

Slick easy to use desktop video recorder Jing

Rosh

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May
15

A few secret weapons

Friday, May 15th, 2009

While sharing a few ideas with a friend on Wednesday, I mentioned that I had a number of secret weapons in my photography business. They really are not that secret because I talk and write about them too much. In case you haven’t read every post, comment, tweet or speech I’ve written. I thought I would share a few with you today:

  1. Canon 135 2.8 portrait lens. This is my favorite lens for portraits and events — especially events. It is not heavy. I can work in stealth mode and capture moments from a reasonable distance.
  2. RSS feeds. I’ve absorbed a ton of information through the feeds.
  3. Podcasts. Like RSS feeds, podcasts offer an incredible amount of information that is available when you are. I often listen while processing photographs.
  4. Shooting RAW. I don’t shoot RAW all the time, but when it’s important, it’s RAW. I also like to open Jpegs in RAW through Photoshop when I have a lot of work to do on an image. It makes a difference.
  5. WordPress — it has all the elements I need for my Web sites and it’s very SEO friendly.
  6. Tokina. My 12-22 Tokina lens is one of the sharpest I’ve ever had.
  7. 4 x 6 photo cards. People really don’t know what you do until you show them. I’ve built my photography business with these cards.

These are just a few of my favorite secret weapons. If I shared any more, I’d have to attach a virus to this post.

What secret weapons are you willing to share?

Rosh

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Mar
5

The hardest part about blogging

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

I would think the hardest part in the process of blogging might be finding new ideas to write about on a regular basis. But, it’s not.  The hardest part of blogging is found at the very beginning of the process: selecting a visual theme.

I’ve spent more time looking at and reworking themes than I have on any one post or project related to blogging.  I’m never able to find a theme that fits with the topic and offers the options I require.

Both prosperousartists.com and newmediaphotographer.com are based on themes that I downloaded and reworked.  We are upgrading Prosperous Artists right now;  I think I’ve spent more than 12 hours looking for a new theme. 

I’m not done. But, I’m ready to move on.

If you use WordPress, you don’t have to rely on the themes found in their system.  You can Google a request for themes.  Often you will find lists of free themes. You do have a large number of options including purchasing premium themes or hiring someone to customize a theme for you.

Below are some excellent WordPress theme lists.  I’m still working my way through them.  I hope it doesn’t take you as long to find your new theme.

www.bestwpthemes.com

the-ultimate-list-of-free-wp-magazine-themes

freewpthemes.net/

topwpthemes.com/

Rosh

 

 

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