Posts tagged heck

Lessons Learned #4 – Custom vs Package

Oct03
2009 2 Comments

Written by Help Desk

The obvious solution if you want to tweak WordPress themes (looking like everyone else is kind of cheesy) is to buy a software package that generates themes.

Sounds great. And there are some out there that do it.

But again there’s a big variation in the quality of both the artistic and programming sides.

So that means you are going to have to spend some time evaluating the packages. Do they meet your needs? Can you select all the different formats you need? Can you add new formats? Do the menus work? Does the display work for all browsers?

And once again you’ll need to evaluate. Am I better spending programmer and artist time cross checking the package. Or would I be better developing a package myself?

Lesson Learned #3:

Custom – Package; Custom – Package; Only your developer will know for sure

There are a lot of tool packages out there to design WordPress (and other) themes. And a lot of tool packages to design.

Unfortunately, a lot of them are pretty pathetic. Both in flexibility and quality – technical and artistic.

But for $100 or so it may just make sense.

Unfortunately, you will still need to evaluate the quality of the theme. So be prepared to spend money to have a developer evaluate the package output for you.

Also don’t forget to review your requirements. Specifically can the package be customized (either through plug-ins or widgets) to implement your requirements. If you need 3 sidebars and the package only allows two you are going to have a problem!

And be sure to check the price of doing it according to Lesson Learned #2. You may find that getting it done once professionally may be cheaper than modifying the package output.

Posted in Building an eBiz - Tagged artist, Custom, developer, display, everyone, IM, kind, Learned, Lesson, Lessons, lessons learned, lot, output, package, programmer, programming, Quality, software, solution, theme, Themes, time, tool, tweak, variation, word, WordPress, work

Lessons Learned #2 – Quality in WordPress Themes #1

Sep30
2009 14 Comments

Written by Help Desk

Okay. It’s no secret that I’ve long decried the quality of tools available to the P/C programmer.

But after this last bit of nonsense I’m not sure who is to blame. The tool manufacturers, the people who work for them or their customers!

Now I’m not the world’s best art director. My wife, the artist, would probably argue that I can’t match socks let alone colour schemes. Successfully I might add. I’ve been married for 18 years — she always wins arguments like that

But what I am is reasonably capable as a web developer (aka programmer).

So when we converted to WordPress I made the (wise ????) decision that I wasn’t going to design my own theme. I would go looking for a theme that looked good and then tweak it to have the sidebars & widgets that I needed & wanted. Should only take an hour or so right? WRONG!

What I found when I went looking is that there are a lot of really skilled web designers out there. Some real artists.

And not a blasted one of them can program!

Virtually every theme I liked had at least one major flaw. I can’t tell you how many theme’s I checked where the menu didn’t work. And that’s not counting the number where they didn’t even try to get it to work! (Yo … Note to artists … the reason WordPress allows a structure with pages is that multiple levels are a pretty common technique for organizing what you’re doing).

Of course, every once in a while I ran into a theme that worked well. It was obvious that another developer had put it together. Very obvious. But it was well structured. The only problem is that spending three days trying to understand “pea, pea, where’s the pea?” style coding just doesn’t turn me on anymore. Some day I”ll figure out how to change the framework to display the way I want … but don’t hold your breath.

I could go on with other examples but I won’t.

So what does all this come down to?

Lesson Learned #1:

Find a theme you like and then just live within it’s limitations.

At least initially. Just get the site up with the basic theme as given. Trying to tweak a theme is a study in frustration. Don’t worry about being unique. Don’t worry about it having all the elements you need. Just get it up as written. Do the best you can. Then AFTER you’ve got it up, if you’ve got the time. You can always try to improve/tweak/fix it later.

Posted in Building an eBiz - Tagged artist, bit, book, Building an eBiz, Change, course, designer, developer, how to, IM, Learned, Lessons, lot, nonsense, programmer, Quality, reason, secret, site, technique, theme, Themes, time, tool, tweak, web, word, WordPress, work, Write a "how to" book

The one constant …. Change

Sep15
2009 4 Comments

Written by Help Desk

For those of you who were hoping I’d start keeping this blasted blog up to date …. sorry.

So what’s happenin’ now?

We’re changing again. We’ve updated the TrainingNOW site to better capabilities and are now going to host LearningCreators.com on it.

Why? Mostly because the site we have now is a proprietary blog tool (DOTEASY provides it) and is actually located in a different location. So Google et al. thinks this is a seperate site.

We, on the other hand, think it should be part of the main LearningCreators.com site.

By moving this site over to the upgraded TrainingNOW site, we get to use WordPress (much more powerful) and also to include it inside the LearningCreators.com site.

But of course, there’s a heck of a lot of work involved. So that’s my focus over the next week. New blog entries need to wait until I can move the site over.

But I will be back …. probably with some comments on spending money.

Keep Learning & Get Earning

Glen Ford & The LearningCreators team.

Posted in Building an eBiz, Creating Information Products, Write a "how to" book - Tagged blog, Change, course, Doteasy, Glen Ford, LearningCreators, location, lot, Part, site, tool, training, TrainingNOW, word, WordPress, work

2 Reasons To Write How To Books Part 1 – A Book As A Modern Business Card

Sep09
2009 3 Comments

Written by Help Desk

A little while back I posted a blog entry with a link to a free webinar on Expert Marketing. But I never really explained why it was important.

There are many reasons you might want to write how to books. But from a business viewpoint there are two key ones:

Making money by selling the book
Making money by giving away the book

We’ll deal with the first tomorrow. Today I want to talk about giving the book away.

One of the concepts that bricks and mortar businesses find hard to understand with internet business is the concept of freemiums.

There are three things that you can sell with any business. You can sell the product or service, you can sell your relationship with the customer or you can sell your expertise. (If you want more information check out this free webinar on Expert Marketing – not even an opt-in).
I’m not going to get into it but while the first two are possible on the internet only selling expertise really fits the media. After all people can’t see or touch the product over the internet. As for relationship — it’s hard to convince someone that you’re their local neighbourhood supplier from another continent!

But convincing potential customers that you really know what you’re doing is easy. All you have to do is give them a sample. A freemium! Think grocery store samples. But rather than selling the product you’re selling the ability to identify a solution — your expertise.

Books are perfect for this. They’re high perceived value, they explain points of view, and if done well can impress.

For a bricks & mortar business they can be a great introduction. But don’t just think business card. Think resume. Think salesman.

A free book costing less than $10 can easily generate thousands of dollars in business. How? By convincing your client that you are the one to call!

Posted in Building an eBiz, Creating Information Products, Write a "how to" book - Tagged blog, book, business, how to, IM, LearningCreators, Part, point, reason, training, TrainingNOW, web, Write

ANNOUNCING my book ON WRITING EBOOKS & building an ebook business!

May29
2009 Leave a Comment

Written by Help Desk

A lot of work but 60 pages and 16,000 words later it’s done. And in record time — at least in chargeout hours!

Next time I definitely block a full-time set of hours. Total time about 2-1/2 work days. Over several weeks but that’s half of what I would have expected (more or less).

FANTASTIC … the system works like a dream!

All that’s left is editing which should be done next week.

Next in line … get some feedback and some testimonials. Anyone want to trade a full sized ebook for a testimonial? I’m looking for volunteers to try the book and the system. If you’re trying to launch you ebook business and have stalled on writing ebooks just add your name to the form over there ————–>>>>>>>>

Or if you’re interested in learning how to create ebooks add your name to the form over that a way ————->>>>>

I’ll get back to you next week.

Also need to finalize the web page and get my video freebie out there. So I’ll be changing domains to the final domain soon. Check back or put your name in the box and I’ll let you know where to find me.

YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

Posted in Building an eBiz, Write a "how to" book - Tagged book, business, how to, IM, lot, system, time, web, word, work, Write a "how to" book

Meet me on Twitter ….

May19
2009 Leave a Comment

Written by Help Desk

Hey, I finally decided to jump on to Twitter. You can follow PMPsicle (me) by clicking here.

I don’t know if it will be worth my time to maintain it. But I’m amazed at the number of people who are following me already. So I can understand why people say it is such a great marketing tool

By the way, PMPsicle is the moniker I’m using on Techrepublic. If you are interested in project management or consulting come and check out my comments.

Posted in Building an eBiz - Tagged IM, LearningCreators, time, tool

Saturday Reflections

Apr11
2009 2 Comments

Written by Help Desk

Arrrrgggg …….

Okay let’s try that again ARRGGGGGGG !!!! Ah, that feels better.

Why the scream of frustration? I’m deep into that traditional writing contract I mentioned last time. And I’m realizing how difficult it really is to write the traditional way. It’s just too bad that not all writing can be done using my new technique.

What, you mean I don’t have a panacea good for all writing???? Nope, sorry. Not the best method for writing fiction. Won’t work for manuals (maybe it will – have to try it for that). Won’t work for 2nd Editions (or 3rd for that matter) especially when you don’t have a concept map for the prior edition.

What it will work for is non-fiction writing. Any book sized content production where the structure isn’t already forced on you. In short creating ebooks.

Now just have to get back to doing the videos … and get the whole thing released!

Also .. don’t try to release a new product while you’re clearing 10 years of stuff out of the dining room and living room. Man, I knew we had stuff but I didn’t realize how much stuff we had until I tried to pack it all up (well, my wife with my limited assistance). Two kids = much toys, much videos, and one whole heck of a lot of computer games! And that’s not counting my electronic toys. Somehow have to finish by tomorrow night in case I have to replace floor boards on Monday. Weeeeee!

Have a great Easter folks … or Passover if you prefer

Glen

Posted in Building an eBiz, Write a "how to" book - Tagged book, IM, lot, method, technique, time, work, Write

It’s Friday already

Mar27
2009 5 Comments

Written by Help Desk

Wee … it’s Friday …. and I’m going cross-eyed.

I’ve been busy … if you visit my writing ebooks site you’ll see that I’ve just updated the sales letter.

Like any editing it’s best if you leave it for a day or two before trying to fix it. Get yourself a wee bit of distance before trying to change it. Or at least that’s what the gurus say.

I’ve been busy this week. I’ve gotten my blog up (really — you’re kidding!). I’ve checked my keywords and rewritten the sales page to increase the use of keywords to as high as 3% (some are still much less). I’ve completed the ideas map for my ebook and passed it to my partner Paul for comment. I’ve also checked with my webhost (Doteasy — great company) for info on how to combine the blog and my main website (supposedly Google already does it — despite the opinion of some of the gurus). So things are going well at this point. No sales (or give aways …. I did tell you about my great Create Ebooks give-a-way, didn’t I? But hopefully they’ll come in time. And I’ve finished 6 chapters of the course.

I’ve also changed the blog a little as I try to get it the way I want it.

And HEY … my interview with Techrepublic has been posted. You can find it here.

So what’s on for next week? Firstly, I’m hoping to finish the course (or at least another 6 chapters). On Tuesday, I want to film a short FREE course on writing ebooks. Basically a quick version to show people how to create ebooks. And to build an email list. I’ll post the URL when the first one goes up. I’ll also be posting the video on Youtube so keep an eye out.

So that means on Monday I need to redo my Writing Ebooks idea map into a presentations idea map. Shouldn’t take too long but then comes the practice!

Also next week I need to write a 12 minute speech for my Masonic Speechcraft course on Saturday.

Once Paul gets back to me I also get to start writing Draft 1 of the Writing Ebooks ebook. I’d normally expect it to take at least two weeks or more so we’ll have to see how much the system will speed things up. I’m actually hoping to have the first draft mostly complete by Friday but we’ll have to see how time works out.

That’s it for now — back to work for me.

Have Fun! Keep Learning! And Get Earning!

Glen

Posted in Building an eBiz - Tagged bit, blog, book, Change, company, course, Doteasy, how to, IM, MyBestCopy, Part, point, site, system, time, web, word, work, Write, Write a "how to" book