It’s that time of the year when you say ‘goodbye’ to the old and bring forth the new theme. If you have been a regular reader to this blog, you can see that I have taken the next step to bring this blog to another level with a brand new design. Oh, I’m so excited about it.
It’s a complete makeover from the simple, minimalist design from Speckyboy which I admit I have grown attached to it to a new Grunge-look design from the creative hands of WeFunction.
3 Reasons Why I Choose Premium Theme
1. Building Loyal Readers
This is yet another experimentation of using a premium theme to attract more readers in the hope of turning them into loyal subscribers. I have always subscribed to the idea that if one is serious about blogging, he/she should invest in a custom design or buying a premium theme if the budget is limited. And I opted for the latter.
2. Now It’s Time to Monetize
Apart from my experimentation with Google Adsense and other affiliate programs, I have not seriously look at the possibility of direct advertising. There is a certain benchmark I follow before I think that form of monetizing is justifiable. With more traffic and improved no. of subscribers, I think now it’s time I move forward to another phase of learning curve – Direct Advertising.
Just a little bit of shameless promotion here, there is still 125×125 advertising spots available, if you think this blog is worth a few dollars a month, you know where to contact me, don’t you?
3. First Impression Last
What’s the single most difficult factor of being a new blogger? Drawing from my own experience, I think it should be lack of credibility. People would not want to have a second look at your blog and tend to click away if the first impression of your blog design has that feel of being just another newbie.
That said, with a new premium theme I’m hoping that this blog will be more distinguishable from the clutter in the blogosphere and not appear to be just another ‘cheapskate newbie’.
Be a Top Commentator of the Month
First thing first, I’ll like to express my personal thanks to those people who have been supporting this blog, those who have been loyal subscribers, regular commentators, visitors and to those who just drop by and click away thinking, “Nah, just another newbie“. Without you guys, I won’t be at where I am today. Thank you for your support and critique.
Therefore, from this month onwards, I’ll be reserving one advertising spot for the Top Commentator of the Month. What it means is that if you are the Top Commentator of the month, you will be rewarded with a Free 125×125 banner ads for a period of one month. I guess I don’t need say anything further other than the more you comment, the higher your odds of getting free advertising on this blog. Good luck!
Special Thanks to Liam McKay
Thank you for making this awesome theme and for letting me know first hand on its availability and for your after-sale services. I guess I’m the first one to grab it, am I not? Yeah, it’s one of those things you fall in love on first sight.
Oh ya, Liam McKay is the project manager for WeFunction which prides itself on giving you Great design & Functionality, providing a website that will impress on first looks, and continue to impress as you explore it.
What’s Your Thoughts?
What do you think of the new design? Does it impress you on first sight? I’ll love to hear your feedback plus I’m always open to any suggestions and critiques. So keep it coming by leaving your comment below.
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{ 29 comments }
Hi, thanks for choosing our theme and for the special thank you. We’re glad you liked the theme and the modifications you’ve done are nice. I’m a big admirer of speckyboy so it’s an honour for you to have liked my work as much as his.
Thank you very much and good luck with the blog, it’s in my RSS reader so I’ll try and be active as much as I can.
@liam: You know what, it’s one of the nicest theme I have come across so far. It didn’t take too long for me to decide. You have been a great help, liam.
I wish you the same and thanks for putting this blog on your RSS reader.
Oh at first I was a bit confused by your headline in my Netvibes.
Congrats on your new theme! it looks good
I wonder what will be the next trend in web design :P
@SE7EN: Sawadee, did I say it right? I have seen you a lot in other blogs. You have one of the most unique name I have seen around the blogosphere and I didn’t know that you are one of my subscribers.
Anyway, thanks for the compliment. We really haven’t seen much of Grunge-style design as much as those magazine-style so I bet this would the next trend in line.
@ Yan: Totally awesome new design. Love it! I also love your creativity with giving away a banner slot to the top commenter. Great idea.
I’d love to know a little bit about your traffic stats… I’m launching a number of new online businesses and would love to include you in my marketing campaign.
Again, totally awesome!
Oh… thank you so much for the worthy link too!!!
Piss Biscuit’s last blog post..Read about my challenge against Blogger Unleashed!
I love the new look! I thought I’d come into the wrong blog at first lol
@PB: Thanks for your lovely compliment and I’m glad that you love the new design.
My stats hovers around 100-150 unique a day which is still considered low but it’s growing each day. Planning something new, PB?
@Emma: I’d not be surprised at all as it’s complete makeover from the previous design. It took a little bit me getting used to it as well. hey, congrats on your new blog.
I really like the new Wordpress theme Yan. I am a big fan of keeping things simple, and I think both of your themes have been effective without being too busy. Your page is easy to navigate, unique, personal, and stylish. The RSS paperclip idea is cool! All the best to you in the “second phase” of your journey. I wish you all of the success that is coming your way.
@Colin: Yeah, I love that RSS paperclip too. Thanks for your input and I wish you the same.
@Yan,
Great looking theme, very nice move (at first I thought I got into some other blog.) Regarding the monetizing, is there a link I could purchase that 125x125px ad spot you’ve mentioned, just to be one of the first advertisers on your website! Thank you.
Banner link for webmasters:
http://www.traditionaloven.com/articles/125×125/pizza_oven.jpg
nice theme…i guess to get a better theme we have to pay the price…hope i will get a new theme too someday… >:)
@Rado: Thanks for your interest to purchase a slot on my little blog. I’m working on the “advertise here” page which should be up pretty soon. My email is on your way.
Once again, thank you for being one of my loyal subscribers, Rado.
@ChickenSay: You bet but it’ll be worth all the money you pay. But then again, there are a couple of free premium themes available online if you would search hard enough.
Some of them are real good. I wish I could share with you the link but I couldn’t remember it off my head right now.
Or you could enter a contest and win a premium theme like I did :p
It was based on merit and I came in on top so I got to choose first and I chose the Milk It theme from John Cow heehee.
BTW. Yan, where did you get your last theme? I checked SB’s website and I dont see it anywhere :(
@Emma: Since you are it, you might want to browse 10 Minimalist WordPress Themes You’ll Love. Speckyboy’s WinterStyled can be found at #11.
Are you in favor of minimalism theme too?
Anyway, I have done quite a bit modification to it so it may be different from its original.
I love the theme!!! Very inviting…like a sofa in the living room…I just want to stay a while!
keep it up…
JK Swopes’s last blog post..How to Grow your Business
@Joe: Would you stay longer if I take away that image of sexy lady? Let me guess…and I’ll tell you later :-)
Good to see you, Joe.
@Yan – lol, I didn’t have a problem with the lady, it was part of the theme…..I still like the site either way! :)
JK Swopes’s last blog post..How to Grow your Business
@Joe: I knew you’d say that.,, :-)
Anyway, I’m having a hard time trying to keep up with all the response from those comments I made on other blogs when there is no option to “notify me of any followup comments” and your blog is no exception.
Are you considering that option for your commenters, Joe? You see, you’ll never miss any of my response here at all. You get what I mean?
For some reason I thought I had that on my blog? Crap!!!!! Is it a plugin or something?
Subscribe to Comments may be what you need, Joe.
you know….soon as you said something I said “CRAP” and went and found that. I didn’t realize this whole time it wasn’t there, as I’m usually logged in, I couldn’t tell. I just kept wondering why people weren’t coming back after I replied….only some of them would.
I make it a point to reply to each comment, treaded comments makes this better.
Also, on my quest for comment notificationism….I found another plugin called comment remix, which does quite a number on your comment functionality…I really like it.
JK Swopes’s last blog post..How to Grow your Business
I can see that you have installed the option which is really necessary to keep your commenters coming back. I’m scratching my head why this little thing is not included in the package file by default.
Unless there is I really need to join the conversation, most of the time I try to shun those blogs without the option as I’d not want to drop a comment and forget about it the next time. It’s not the right thing to do in my opinion. But you’ll be surprised many do that often..
Oh yes, I heard about the Comment Remix but being a new plugin I’ll let it mature for a while to fix some buggy issues. There is one feature I love about it is the ability to separate trackbacks from comments but I have hardcoded it on site manually…
Indeed Yan…..I totally dropped the ball on that one. I love being able to subscribe to comments, but again, for some reason, I thought it was a default feature.
I’m so MAD at myself :) , but, thanks to friends like you…I’m on the right track, hopefully my comments will increase. I have had some good participation lately, but, we always look for ways to increase that!
JK Swopes’s last blog post..Secret classroom, Mark Joyner, and straight lines
@Joe: Well, at least I’m one of those friends who will not forget about the last comment – and its responses – I’ve made on your blog.
You know when you look at thing in a bigger perspective; you often tend to lose the details. But I’m happy that you are now on the right track. Let the comment flow from now on and I wish you success.
Yan
@Yan
Yes, things should be much better now that folks can stay subscribed to what they said on my blog!
That’s why I love to network with new people, out of all the folks that come to the blog, you were the first to say something about it :) Helped my blog out tremendously!
JK Swopes’s last blog post..Secret classroom, Mark Joyner, and straight lines
You are most welcome, Joe.
Anyway shoot me if you notice anything wrong here..
Go for it dude. You do need to earn some money too. The design is great too. A very natural and rustic kind of background look. I definitely like it.
The theme looks awesome!The speckyboy theme was great but this looks absolutely amazing!I love this theme!;)
Hi Yan,
I didn’t know this is a new blog but I really like the design. You’re right to say about loving it when you see it kind of feeling. First impressions count. When the time comes I may change my blog to something as nice as yours. May use Liam who knows but anyway got to hold off such thoughts for now. Just hope he is not too expensive though.
Peter