SONG CONTEST BLOG

There are easier blogging platforms to use than WordPress.  But I consider WordPress the very best.

When we created this blog, we had to tinker with the WordPress theme to get the style to be consistent with the rest of the We Are Listening site.  When I say “we”, I’m referring to my developer as I wouldn’t have a clue how to do it myself.

WordPress is pretty simple to set-up but as soon as you start moving things around, you run into a chain of unfortunate events where one change inadvertently causes another.

Naturally, every website, blog or otherwise, is a work in progress.  If you don’t have the skills to make room for a newsletter sign-up box or a follow-me-on-Twitter graphic, you’ll have to pay someone who does.

I pay.

If you’re design conscious, expect your blog to be ‘search friendly’ and, like me, constantly making silly changes that nobody other than you notices, you don’t have to pay.

Well, you do, but only once…

Thesis Theme is a set-it-and-forget-it WordPress template system that couldn’t be easier to use.  It contains all the bells and whistles you want and a few more thrown in for good measure.

Thesis Themes

You can choose from a variety of customizable design themes that strike a delicate balance between killer looks and functional typography.

SEO has also been taking care of so you don’t need to bother finding out what it means.

Check out the demo.

Related Posts
Create your own blog in 10 seconds
Tim Ferris on Blogging
LoudFeed

For those of you running your artist page with WordPress or using WordPress for your blog, you may consider adding a little life to your tags with an animated tag cloud plugin by Roy Tanck.  You can see it in action on Roy’s blog on the top right and install it here.

Related Posts
LoudFeed
Gig Schedule Syndication
Band Metrics

LoudFeed made its introduction on Hypebot yesterday as yet another website and widget creation service for artists.  In terms of features, LoudFeed appears to be competing directly with Nimbit, which currently provides a more complete and competitive solution in my opinion.   Although there are a number of distinct advantages to managing your own sales and distribution hub, I’m still not convinced that you can’t get everything you need from Word Press, along with ecommerce plugins, and a super SEO-friendly architecture, for free.  Check out WPBest.com for premium themes and WP-Cumulus for a cool dynamic Tag Cloud.  TDMhosting will host your Word Press site for $4.99.  Bargain.

Skittles have the right idea.  When engaging their customers online, rather than developing an all-encompassing website, they simply grouped together their community assets (i.e. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter etc.) into a single navigation menu and window interface.  For instance, on Skittles.com, if you click on ‘Pics’, you go directly to Flickr.  This approach inspired UnHub to create  a service that will help you build your online presence by grouping your various network pages into a single URL.  Simple, clean and brilliant.  I created an example for We Are Listening.