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Blogging, Web Design

How To Design A Killer Blog

January 9th, 2010 by Matt Haff

Presented by: Mitch Canter

to STAND out
to have CONTROL over CONTENT
to PERSONALIZE your brand
to {re}FRESHEN your online image

It Boils Down To Three Tenants:

  • readability – if they can’t read your content, they won’t
  • usability – if they can’t navigate your content, they won’t
  • findability – if they can’t find your content…

Basic Tips

  • know your craft
    know enough html to understand the basics
    know your blogging platform
  • use discrection
     widgets distract from content install widgets readers will utilize if you want fun widgets, put them in a widget section
    find widgets that style to your theme automatically
  • use good markup
     (im)proper markup can make (or break) a site’s SEO
    Utilize H Tags (h1-h6) accordingly
    One h1 tag per page (main keywords)
    Allow specific CSS targeting.
  • use color theory
     1-3 colors work best (2 primary/secondary and 1 neutral [black/grewy/brown])
    Font colors too – stick to a pallete and be consistent
  • use good images
     a good image tells a story that accentuates the content
    good images should work with your design, but good designs also have styles built in for images
  • it’s the little things
     most overlookd “polish points”
    bulleted lists
    hover colors
    headlines
    post format
    comments

Resource: WEloveWP.com

Recommended Plugins

  • akismet
  • disqus comment system
  • exec-php
  • feedburner feedsmith
  • front page excluded categories
  • get the image
  • google analyticator
  • lifestream
  • mailchimp
  • recommended reading
  • redirection
  • tweetmeme retweet button
  • twitPic
  • Twitter tools
  • Woopra
  • wordpress.com stats
  • wordpress database backup
  • wp greet box
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Blogging, Social Media

WordPress Resolutions: What To Expect In 2010

January 9th, 2010 by Matt Haff

WordPress 3.0

Merge has started… WP + MU = WP

  • Multisite functionality in WordPress
  • Version 3.0
  • Plugin authors: pay attention to Trac

Custom Post Types!!!
Core plugins

  • suggested plugins but not binded
  • team development
  • independent dev cycles
  • “best of” functionality
  • coding standards
  • integration with core UI
  • bundled but not…

New Default Theme: 2010

  • Clean, fast-loading code
  • minimalist design
  • big blue header ( just kidding) (I think)

Core Development Workflow

  • Mini-project teams, not solo devs
  • Daily updates on wpdevel.wordpress.com
  • Bug ticket triage
  • Rallying testers
  • Sticking to scope and schedule

Code of Conduct

  • play nice
  • be respectful
  • assume the best, not the worst
  • if you’re not sure, ask

More UI/UX Contributors

  • Design challenges
  • Distributed usability testing
  • Scheduled UI/UX chats

Mentoring

  • welcoming committee
  • buddy system
  • bug gardeners
  • Student programs like GSoC
  • increase underrepresented populations

Girls, girls, girls

  • 25% employed computer programmers
  • 22% computer science graduates
  • 1% of WordPress core contributes

WordPress Summer Camp

  • small groups
  • qualified teachers
  • classes in PHP
  • design & development

Redesign WordPress.org

  • community hub
  • buddypress profiles
  • updated look

WordCamp.org

  • install buddypress
  • add ticketing module
  • enable local meetups

iPhone App – iPhone.Wordpress.org (open source, if you want to help then go for it!)

6

Blogging, Marketing

SEO & WordPress

January 8th, 2010 by Matt Haff

These are just some quick and dirty notes taken at WordcampATL during “SEO & WordPress”
Presented by: Topher Kohan, SEO Coordinator at CNN

SEO Basics

  • title tag
  • headline
  • first 250 words
  • url slug
  • alt attributes
  • when it comes to content make sure you have enough in your body to support the head and the tail.

Template Optimization

  • breadcrumbs
  • clean code
    • css, js, ajax
    • external files
    • keep the inline minimal
    • reduce whitespace (yoast.com/speed-up-wordpress/)
    • in 2010 the speed that your website loads will effect your search engine ranking
  • plugins
    • all in one seo pack
      • works well
      • could screw up the world
      • can’t be used on wordpress.com
  • page rank sculpting
    • use of nofollow on links
      • rel=”nofollow”
    • nofollow reciprocity PLUGIN
    • nofollow External Links PLUGIN
    • don’t follow links freely. you start off with 100 points and every external link you use decreases your points
    • everytime you link to them, you’re “voting” for them
  • noindex, follow archive pages…… point everything to single post page, block the archives, search, etc.
    • google follows all the links
    • pages not in the index
    • robots meta plug-in
  • noscript tag
    • put plain text description of content that shows up in search engine-unfriendly format on the page
    • could be considers spammy by the search engines.
      DONT USE FOR KEYWORDS, ONLY TYPE WHAT THE SCRIPT PULLS.
    • textbox in flash search engines can see
  • image size
    • bigger better (search engines like it) or video
    • higher res better (search engines like it)
    • image search
    • alt attributes
    • file name
  • canonical tag – NEW works for Google works on same domain and cross domain
    • reduces duplicate content
    • yoast plugin
    • points all duplicate pages to the original place
    • Recommend that you take the time to read the official Google Blog post on it before you do it http://kl.am/canonical

Resources

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