Today appears to be a good day for great savings on some of our favorite things.

• Great deal on Woo Themes. As usual, get 2 wordpress themes for the price of 1.  Now you can also get 25% off using coupon code “ROCKSTAR”
• FREE Shoemoneyx course! The best way to learn about blogging, monetizing, etc.  Only available until 10/30/09, then access is discontinued.  Be sure to sign up now.
• Brand New iMacs at $100 off.  They sure are beautiful and the new specs are awesome!

Enjoy!

These are some favorite and suggested tools for web design:

• WordPress Training Videos – 46 videos you can download
• Bluehost – Inexpensive, reliable hosting with unlimited space, transfer, and free domain
• Email Program – Auto-responder with many additional capabilities
• Email Opt-in Program – Free Trial can send 500 emails to test
• Woo Premium Themes – Best site for premium and free themes for WordPress
• Affiliate Theme – Many varieties of themes that are easily customizable for affiliate marketing
• Thesis Theme – Customizable theme framework
• Wishlist Plugin – Use this WordPress plugin to create a multi-level membership site
• Shoemoney Tools - Internet marketing tools to help you analyze and improve your site
• SEO Automatic – In depth reports and suggestions for improvement
• SEOmoz – Test how accessible your site is to search engines
• Color Scheme Designer – tool for color schemes for your site
• SEO in Practice – DIY book on search engine optimization
• Shoemoney Free 12 Week Course

For information on how we can assist you with your website or blog, please contact us.

Unfortunately there is a serious security threat for bloggers who have not updated to WordPress 2.8.4.  A worm is doing a lot of damage to blogs that have not been updated, but according to WordPress, 2.8.4 is immune to this threat.  If you haven’t updated to 2.8 yet, there are several steps to make this a smooth process, and the “Be Safe Method” has kept me out of trouble.  (If you are already at 2.8, you should be fine just doing the automatic update, but if you are at 2.7.1, for example, please use the Be Safe Method).

Here is what I do  (Be Safe Method):

• Be sure all plugins are up-to date.
• Check the compatibility of your plugins.  You can check at this WordPress site.
• Save a backup to your hard drive
• Got to Tools > Export, and save an export
• Deactivate all plugins
• Using FTP, backup your theme
• Click the update to 2.8.4 button
• Reactivate your plugins
• Check you theme and functionality.
• If your theme has incompatibilities with 2.8, you will need to upload the revised files from theme author.  This is very tricky if you have done a lot of customization.

If you need assistance, let us know!

Thanks, Joel, for your strong opinion on being safe.

Contact us for information about our July Sale for Advance Booking of your Complete Customization.  Sale is for new and existing customers.  Use this as an opportunity to have us do an extreme theme makeover (our version of a blog or website redo), or start a brand new site.

Since we are Customized Marketing, specializing in the Extreme Theme Makeover, it was only appropriate that we do an overhaul on our own site.  We had lots of fun customizing the Aperture theme, thanks to the group at Woo, especially Mark Forrester.  And yes, Aperture is our latest heartthrob. 

• Customized Premium WordPress Themes
• Websites and Blog Design
• Blog Refresh/Update
• Installation of WordPress and Themes
• Social Media Strategies
• Getting Yourself Noticed on the Web
• Populate and Customize Bludomain Sites
• Hosting and Maintenance
• Specialized Consulting
• Training

We absolutely love Woo Themes.  You can customize them to your heart’s content, to create different looks and functions.  We own so many Woo Themes, but we are always waiting for the next one so we can do some retail therapy!