àlaBuzz.org » Site News

Help the American Red Cross in Haiti

alaJoAnn — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:32:23 +0000

We all feel helpless in the face of tragedy. Maybe we can help Haiti a little by supporting the American Red Cross. Here’s how:

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A New Focus: Niche Blogging

alaJoAnn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:16:54 +0000

àlaBuzz is my weblog of best blogging information found along my journy through the blogosphere. Travel, as you know, ends up being an educational experience. It is certainly causing my blogging interests to grow and evolve. So, as nutty as it may seem to suddenly shift direction, àlaBuzz will now focus on niche blogging!

Niche Blogging for SEO Success

Niche blogging is interesting because it’s the foundation of online monetization techniques. You really need to zero-in on a narrow niche in order to be successful with SEO, which in turn is the basis for driving traffic to a site. The main topic categories here will include Content, Marketing, Monetization, as well as SEO.

Uncovering Niche Blogging Secrets

: walnuts from Creative Photos

As àlaBuzz explores these topics, know that I’m attempting to “crack the code” to the chewy nut meats of successful niche blogging. Now, will I share the very best secrets uncovered in the process? I honestly don’t know that I’m so generous….

…But I will post unbiased content filled with valuable information related to niche blogging. In other words, even if the site utilizes sponsored ads or affiliate programs for monetization purposes, I will not be trying to get you involved in any such programs. (I have a little class!) àlaBuzz remains, as always, a pure information site.

You are invited to journey with me on my quest to unravel the mysteries of niche blogging. Although we may be blogging rivals, perhaps you will let slip a secret or two of your own….

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Testing ePhoto Theme from Elegant Themes at àlaBuzz

alaJoAnn — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:29:23 +0000

I’m currently testing ePhoto Theme from Elegant Themes here at àlaBuzz. The automatic resizing of images is remarkable. You can use an image of any size, and the resulting thumbnails are beautifully cropped without distortion.

The challenge for me will be creating a logo. I may have to forgo the àlaBuzz bee logo. (This would hurt deeply.)

This theme also houses videos in the slider, so I will be experimenting with that as well.

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Testing Cion WordPress Theme from Elegant Themes at àlaBuzz

alaJoAnn — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:11:42 +0000

It’s time for àlaBuzz to graduate to a new theme. The following WordPress themes are ones I’ve recently used or tested. Right now Cion from Elegant Themes is installed on the site for a test run.

ElegantThemes – You get unlimited access to all premium ElegantThemes WordPress themes, plus support, for the extremely reasonable annual fee of $19.99. I recently became a member and am now using Cion at àlaBuzz. But unless you have Photoshop, or another application that allows you to edit the logo PSD image files, it’s rough going. I had to create a text logo from scratch with Inkscape.

PrimePress – PrimePress was the first theme I used for àlaBuzz, and I will always be fond of it. Because a custom style sheet is included, it’s a great theme for newBee bloggers who want to fool with CSS code a bit. Read my PrimePress review.

ZenVerse - ZenVerse are quite nice free WordPress themes. While hunting for a new theme, I had Zionn running on àlaBuzz for about a week. It looked fabulous! Although I did have trouble with widgets in the sidebar, Zen is actively developing his themes and provides great support. By the time you read this, the widget problem is probably resolved. ZenVerse themes present content very well – they are worth checking. Read my ZenVerse Review.

For some time I’ve wanted a magazine-style look for àlaBuzz; certainly something with a built-in content slider and tabbed sidebar widget. ElegantThemes’s Cion has these features and presents content in an attractive and useful style, while still maintaining a blog format.

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Effective Promotion Wins Design Contest

alaJoAnn — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:54:53 +0000

FresheVenture announced the winners of the Best WordPress Design 2009 on Tuesday. Being a fun, promotional contest, most of the finalists don’t actually have exceptional designs, but they did promote their blogs more effectively. The top blog, WhatAWebsite.com, won with 111 votes. It’s a hodgepodge of nifty plugins and I think it sells domain names – but I’m
not sure!

The beautiful and luscious food blog, DanaSlatkin.com, received the Newbie Blogger with the Most Votes award with 53 votes. From a purely design perspective, that is right on!

You may be wondering how àlaBuzz fared. Not too shabbily, considering it’s a new do-it-yourselfer. àlaBuzz ranked in the top 25% with 21 votes. Thank you for all the votes!!

Never-the-less, from a promotional view, even 111 votes over a 30-day period is unimpressive. We all need to do better!

Promoting a blog well takes a lot of time. I’m currently writing a series on Daily Blogging Goals. The series looks at posting on a regular basis (naturally) and organizing promotional activities. Understanding what resources can be used for site promotion, and how to use them smoothly and quickly, is vital for developing an online presence and managing reputation.

Let’s prepare now to raise the bar significantly for future promotional contests. All promotional activities, contests included, increase site traffic: A blogger’s everlasting goal.

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