WordPress in a Day
Awhile back I introduced you to Justin Parr, creator of the Doglirious site (shown below)
Justin built his site on a WordPress blog platforms using the StudioPress themes for WordPress. Doglirious is based on the Lifestyle theme, (as does NPT) and MyEnergyPal uses the StudioPress Church theme. Here is how they appear ‘out of the box’.
As you can see, each theme was modified to the webmaster’s specifications with changes to overall color scheme, the header graphic, bullet list icons, pictures included in the ‘Featured Section’ near the top of the page and other design elements.
Doglirious belongs to Justin and Michelle, and and Justin did all the design work for that one as well as a number of other blogs – all equally as gorgeous. I did the theme customization for MyEnergyPal, and the logo was sourced out to 99Designs by my partner in the project.
Can a Newbie Get Similar Results?
Absolutely! Installing a WordPress blog takes only a minute when you use SimpleScripts (offered by BlueHost hosting) and every StudioPress theme ‘out of the box’ is beautiful.
While it is possible for a new webmaster to to modify these themes by availing themselves of help from the StudioPress forums and/or other online design and blogging support communities, there is a somewhat steep learning curve to the process which can take considerable time to absorb and master.
And you’ll need a few things to make the site your own, including:
- A Logo (Header Graphic)
- Featured Content Gallery plugin
- Pictures/Graphics to put in the Featured Content Gallery
- Color scheme customization to match your logo
And although I always encourage new webmasters to learn and do as much as they can with their own blogs, learning how to design graphic elements isn’t a compulsory part of that mix — especially not if your mission is to get your site up and making money as fast as possible.
But Paying $5K for a Custom Site is Ludicrous!
Unfortunately, I’ve spoken with WAY too many people who have literally spent a fortune having a site designed for them – often to the tune of $5,000 for 3 – 10 page sites – and then they still don’t even know how to change a link.
It drives me nuts to hear these stories, because it is completely unecessary to spend that kind of money, especially on a site that you can’t operate. Learning how to post content to a blog is easy as pie to do, and with continual improvements to WordPress, the process just keeps getting easier.
The WordPress interface is super intuitive, but just in case you want to go deeper into the functionality, there are plenty of blogging instruction videos available that will teach you how to work your blog. So, there’s absolutely NO reason why you should be held hostage by a webmaster on whom you must depend to make all your site changes.
The StudioPress themes are beautifully designed and they’re only $59.95 per template – so why in the world would anyone pay $5000 for a website — not to mention KEEP paying that webmaster to insert content and/or links?
The thought strikes me as preposterous.
There IS a happy medium, however. One that won’t cost you an arm and a leg — and nowhere close to 5,000, or $3,000 or even $1,000.
Justin’s Design Tutorials
Justin Parr has just finished a series of video tutorials that show you EXACTLY how he created Doglirious using the Studio Press lifestyle theme. As our guest blogger DinerDave is quoted saying about Justin’s help..
“I love that I can do this on my own. I’ve learned more working with you than I have in the last 4 years working with my last web developer.”
Debora Humphries, another happy user of Justin’s system, just left the following comment on this blog:
“I do have Justin’s package and I absolutely love it. Best money I have ever invested for training. The man is really talented at clearly explaining and demonstrating a step-by-step method on how to customize the “Lifestyle StudioPress Theme.”
And now you can learn how to create a beautiful blog with Justin’s video tutorials at WordPress in a Day.
Related Posts
- Designing the DinerDave Website
- Ros Adopts a Lifestyle Change
- All New Blogs Could (and Should) Look this Good
- Where to Find Professional WordPress Themes
- Revolution News: WordPress Theme Increases Visitor Duration
Posted / Revised on July 30, 2009 under Blogging  |
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Rosalind Gardner is a Super Affiliate blogger, author, speaker, and Internet marketing consultant. For more info, subscribe to her No-Hype, No-BS, No Spam NPT newsletter and join Affiliate Blogger PRO to get answers to all your affiliate marketing questions. Thanks for visiting!
Hi Ros,
I certainly agree on the necessity to learn to do this yourself. I am a total rookie, struggling with every aspect of it, due to absolutely no prior knowledge or experience. It’s taking a painfully long time, but I am making little bits of progress. If I don’t learn this, I will be held hostage for the rest of my life.I want the freedom to do what I want so filling in the knowledge gaps is essential. I enjoy your writing. Thank you.
Those are amazing themes! although spending that amount of money may sound awful but when the visitors visit your profile it will be an experience for them and when Justin is there to guide you through his material what else we can ask for!Its another way to keep your creativity alive!!!
Fantastico information. Already affiliate and will add link to this article and your blog.
WordPress has driven me crazy…but I will master it. Justin’s preview videos are great just what I need but a little pricey for me at my level…quality education is never cheap. I’ll be there soon…WordPress in a day! Wow!
In the meantime I found a free “lifestyle type” theme for Blogger Blogs that gives me a lifestyle “look” on my rawfoodwisdom.com blog. To think that someday I could have a doglerious design on WordPress is very inspiring.
JH
Thank for the offer I really want to learn this one.
Hi Ros, very nice site indeed!
Would you know a good free wp theme for a basic sales landing page? You know the kind that has one column, blue background and white content background with no headers or footers?
I’m trying my first PPC site and I want to use wp for the plugins
thx, Gord
Hi Ros,
Thanks for the shout!
The “WordPress in a Day” community is a wonderful place to learn how to plan, design, and maintain your very own website. No textbooks or lengthy manuals…just fun video tutorials to watch and learn from.
I also actively seek questions from the community and even create new video tutorials based upon the feedback.
Personal contact with a web design pro…what a novel idea
Best,
Justin
Great article. I love wordpress and have had good success with it. StudioPress has some great looking themes.
Guilty as charged! I used to spend tons on crappy landing pages and programming work.. with WordPress – it looks like a “Yahoo” and easier to edit and add to! Love it..
On the Featured Content Plugin – there are some pretty cool variables that you can change.. Try checking the VERTICAL scroll and watch how that changes your emotion when you visit your site. It adds an extra level of WOW!
Onwards and Upwards!
Hi Rosalind,
I am a huge fan of Brian Gardner’s themes and my current blog uses his Streamline theme, no real customisation was required other than a new header graphic. For $60 including after sales support you can’t really go wrong and I cannot believe people are still paying thousands of dollars for web design when they cannot even access the backend to update links, add content etc!
David
Nice to read this interesting articles I’m sure this up to date news about wordpress…
Great info Ros!
Justin’s themes are fantastic! I recently put up the Lifestyle theme on my site. Thanks to Studio Press’ support, I was able to get the theme customized, up and running in just a few hours (with NO prior experience or knowledge!)
Thank you for the incredibly USEFUL info you are always providing!
Please Help me Choose A Reliable WebHost for my Celebrity Related WordPress blog with 2000 pageviews a Day. I would also like to host my 3 other small blogs. So it would be nice if the webhost allows webhosting for unlimited domains or more than 4 domains. Please share you preferences. Tell me where you host your blogs/websites. Thank you.
Hi
what a wonderful post the truth is that you can build a blog and learn how to do so in under 24 hours if you have the right guidance and support. I set a few up yesterday and because ive done them in the past it is now very quick but for the newbie it can be very hard.
kind regards
sam
X
I don’t see how anyone could pay $5k for a wordpress blog when there are so many people on the net with the same expertise offering much less.
I agree, WordPress has a learning curve before you can do it easily. I should just stick to one theme, but new ones keep coming out that I can’t resist.
(I just set one up with AgentPress today and it’s taking some figuring out…)
Now that I know it, I have several blogs and websites for very little money. Definitely worth taking the time to learn it.
Hi Ros,
I am a web designer. I agree that almost anyone can make a website with the current crop of tools, such as WordPress. Before I started my web design business, I spoke to a wide range of small to medium business people, who didn’t have their own site. Many had attempted to build a site themselves, just as you suggest in your article, but they gave up – too hard to learn, too time consuming, a distraction from their core business operation, etc. Some did the maths, and worked out that they earn $150 an hour from their business, so if took 24 hours to learn to build their own site, that was worth $3,600 to them, so better to hire a professional web designer while they continue to run their business and earn revenue. So while I agree that you’re right, and almost anyone can build a website, in my experience it’s not the best use of resources for successful small to medium business. Keep up the great articles and comments Ros. Cheers
DJC:
Agree. When I started my first website, I wanted to see what it was like and did it more as a hobby. I took a “so what is the worst that can happen?” attitude. I gravitated to to the marketing and Search Engine Optimization area with my sales and marketing experience, not liking the coding aspect.
Now, the more people I talk to about websites, the more I find other issues to deal with amongst owners of very small businesses, including: Those who want control of their sites as well as people who simple cannot afford the services of a developer or designer. They seem ideal candidates more for 5 page sites with software and templates available from a web host whereas even minor coding changes to a WordPress theme seem daunting.
Everyone in the world is not at a high level of understanding the complexities of a website or even the jargon we speak. I’ve learned to “dumb down” my discussions and presentations. But, perhaps it is the sector I deal with.
From your comments you appear to be knowledgeable and I hope you treat customers and clients with integrity. It is the vast majority of new, self inflated designers who profess to know what they are doing and charge exorbitant fees who leave good people with garbage sites and no maintenance that really make me angry. They are charlatans and snake oil salespeople.
I still see sites built in frames, or not updated in years, or still with the Latin placement text instead of content. I have a client who must have spent a fortune on a new site. No SEO at all, but worse…a landing page entirely in Adobe Flash. Looks great to the naked eye, but the search engines see nothing but a black page!