My Blogs Had a Facelift!
September 22, 2008 by Trish Jones
Filed under Blogging and Social Marketing
I was never a fan of the new magazine style blogs and confess to even providing some negative feedback to those who used them primarily because bloggers go so OTT that you can’t find anything on their blog.
That said, there are those using better quality versions of the magazine style type blogs and for a number of reasons, I decided to give it a try.
My initial intention was the use the Revolution Theme and while the final decision hasn’t been made to ditch it just yet, someone recommended the One Theme and in a weekend, I put my blog back together again. So, if you visited my blog over the weekend and it looked a mess, sorry! The work needed to be done and I decided to build it on the fly.
There are some great features about Semiologic that I’ll miss and when they come out with their new magazine style, I may revert to Semiologic but for now, I wanted a few more elements such as a decent size video in the sidebar that I couldn’t do with Semiologic.
I’ve already been asked to do a review of the One Theme and just as soon as I’ve done my membership site which, uses the One Theme, I will do a full review.
What I can tell you right now is that if you want more control over your blog with a magazine style layout, I recommend you take a close look at the One Theme.
If I’m honest (which I am!), I don’t think it’s quite as sophisticated looking as the Revolution Theme … now don’t shoot me guys, this is just my humble opionion. There are also some really cool features that I loved in the Revolution theme but the truth is, the more sophisticated the theme, the more coding required to get what you want. The One Theme on the other hand will give you all the necessary features and more for creating a great looking blog in less time. And, they are adding more new features with each release.
They may even knock spots off the Revolution Theme in time, “who knows!”
Oh, and you ought to go check out their video … these guys know how to create videos that sell!!
Look out for some new marketing tips videos from me in the future.
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Consultelaine on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 1:24 am
Trish,
I really like this layout. In my opinion, this one is much sleeker.
I just recently set up a wordpress blog thanks to your video. Although a work in progress…I’m loving it!
Thanks!
~Consultelaine
John Marland Real Estate on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 6:33 pm
I have to state that I’m not a fan of the new layouts however the one you chose is quite nice. Very simple and straightforward yet still professional and allows you to find what you’re looking for. I think that is my problem with one of the other layouts too much flair not enough of what’s important. Anyway good luck with the new layout it really does look sharp.
Trish Jones on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 6:42 pm
Hi there John,
Your reasons were my concerns too … I wanted to ensure “petty” didn’t overtake my content.
My biggest dilemma is that my main target market are entrepreneurs and small business owners and they don’t want to be “bloggers” per se and neither am I in the strictest sense. We use the blog as a tool to get traffic and more clients and sometimes the standard blog just does not appeal to them.
I’ll see how it goes but I’m still a fan of the Semiologic theme!
Chris Hutcherson on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 4:42 am
You’ve created a unique blend of images and white space that do not distract from the content. There is that constant tension between drawing attention to the content and drawing attention to your monetization efforts.
Best of luck on your final decision.
Trish Jones on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 7:55 am
I must admit Chirs, I think your comment is what is still swaying me toward the Revolution theme. I still personally think there is too much going on in the first fold.
I would prefer that the video spanned both columns … we’ll see.
Thanks for the comment.
Trish
Srini Saripalli on Sun, 5th Oct 2008 3:44 pm
This is an excellent design. I left the site several times and came back to subconsicously measure the distractions. Couldn’t get distracted from the content.
Excellent work.
Erin@Alaska Family Vacations on Wed, 8th Oct 2008 9:42 pm
Hey, the new design looks good. I did notice on the top right corner of the home page is the DHTML menu with the social connections and then it says tab 1 and tab 2. It might look a bit better to remove those two extra tabs until you can add some content. Also, That would be a good spot for advertisements where you could put the social networking links somewhere closer to the bottom.
Trish Jones on Wed, 8th Oct 2008 9:48 pm
Erin,
We’re still working on the site on the fly!
Faith on Thu, 9th Oct 2008 9:43 pm
Whoa!! This works - looks great. What an uplift. kept me hooked for a while and wanting to read and browse more.