When You Need Content...

Content is a very important part of any blog, even personal blogs. Sometimes, in order to keep your readers from straying, you need to update at a time when it’s just not possible for you. Sometimes you may be too busy, or even just on a creative block, but you still need to keep updating for your readers and, if you have them, your advertisers.

A possible alternative to writing your own unique post is to use one of the free articles at Article Alley. You can search through the 1/2 million articles written by over 60,000 authors for one that fits your blog. It’s not just for blogs, you can add any of this information to your website. It’s helpful for those who want to post about something, but don’t really have all the facts. I found a site where someone teaches you how to use a certain site, but because she used all the wrong termanology, it made no sense. A quick look over to Article Alley could’ve helped her.

Personally, I wouldn’t just take articles from this site and post them on my own site. I like to take inspiration from others’ posts, then post my own unique content  based on this. I would go through and pick a topic like How To Create Helpful Error Pages, read it through, make notes on points I feel are important, then make a few notes on points I think they missed. After that I would construct my own article based on this, then cite that article as a source. I think that is the best way to use this service.

Of course, another good idea is to submit articles. Many times I’ll want to write about something that doesn’t really go along with my blog. Sometimes I just put it into my personal blog (because I can do whatever I want there) but to help me build up my own site I could post an article on Article Alley and get a link back for it. Then, those who use my article would also need to link me. It’s just another great way to keep your blog interesting and to get noticed better.

Plugins I Like...

I spent today working on my personal domain and installing or uninstalling a lot of plugins to make the site work. Since I went through all the hassle to find just the right plugins to do what I wanted to do, I thought I’d share them with you. I think they’re all great plugins for a personal site.

• Akismet Along with the Wordpress API Key will allow you to block spam comments. Does a great job blocking, but also blocks one of my friends. Wonder why..
• Bubs Button Board A plugboard for your site. Everyone loves leaving their button on someone else’s site.
• Clean Archives The only archive script I use. I don’t like having archives in the sidebar, I prefer to have them on a page of their own.
• DoFollow Google is the only search that follows “nofollow” but if you use this plugin, it will remove that tag from all the links in your blog. I’ve also heard that it might lower your Page Rank, too.
• FlickrRSS Show your latest Flickr photos on your site. I love this.
• Reinvigorate The best website stats program ever. I highly suggest it.
• Theme Switcher I used to use this on my site, but I’m going to be disabling it now because my theme is way different from the others.
• WP-Contact Form Everyone needs a good contact form. Very simple.
• WP-UserOnline Tell everyone how many people are on your site. Also includes a dashboard page telling you who’s online and everything about them.
• WP Grins Adds smilies to your posts and comments.

I’m looking for more great plugins, too, so if you have some you use on your personal site that you’d like to recommend, comment and let me know.

Theme Forest...

If you’re looking for a quick design change and don’t have a lot of money, take a look at Theme Forest. They have a great selection of HTML Templates and Premium Wordpress Themes that have been fully coded and include PSD files so you can make basic customizations. They also have PSD Templates, for those who wish to do their own coding but don’t have the time, patience, or will to create their own design.

convergence

One of my favorite themes, and the one that inspired me to reopen Lala Land, is convergence. I was actually looking into using it before I showed Anna and she directed me to another site where I fell in love with another design that was very similar.

Convergence has great placement for pages and category navigation, along with a great ad placement above the fold. Each entry is limited in size on the front page with a thumbnail, while the entry page shows the full entry and some information about the author. Under the entry it lists related posts and popular posts to keep interest on your site.
Only $25

clean portfolio

A great HTML Template I found that I really liked was Clean Portfolio. It reminds me of someone sophisticated, like a teacher or a even freelancer. I’ve noticed that many coders create great codes, but because designing doesn’t come so easy to them, their applications and scripts are left looking bland and boring. This is a great template for you if you want to show your work, but can’t muster up the creativity for a design.

This template has room for up to 4 pages and includes a working Contact Form. It also uses jQuery Lightbox to give your gallery images some life. The coding is valid XHTML and uses no tables (faster load time with less coding). At the bottom it has links for popular social networking sites to help you keep your visitors interested and coming back. Only $12

I could spend all day on this site telling you what I think looks nice and where I think you should use it, but you’ll have to go take a look for yourself. I’m sure you’ll find something there that works for you. Theme Forest has a standard of quality that will keep you coming back. Please use my links so I can gain referral credit.