New Internet Marketing Speed Blog

Posted by James in Blog, How To, Launch, News

After an all-nighter the new colorful custom ‘IMS’ theme is in place. I had a lot of help from designer James Dyson who reworked the design based on a wootheme. We chose this theme because it was close to what internet marketing readers voted for a little while back when I asked for help choosing a new look.

Step-by-Step

The process of changing the theme involved quite a few steps. First I recognized the need for a new design after getting told my blog was ugly. Michael Dunlop was a major driver for the change. He has several very attractive blogs like Retire@21. Once I saw the light it was time to engage the designer in discussion!

Enter Dyson

Once James Dyson and I brainstormed the basic concept he proposed some styles and gave me screen shots. Readers of the blog voted on it and we ended up with the current theme. Some of the reader suggestions were fantastic and gave us a feel for what needed to be here. Without knowing what my readers wanted I would have come up with something different. The end result is far better than I could have imagined.

The changeover

When it came time to switch over the theme we took a site backup. I have blown up my blog a few times before so we prepared this time!. Next we de-activated the plugins and switched over the theme.

After switching over the theme we hooked the plugins back up and tested most of the links. There were several mods we needed to hard code into the template to get a transition from the semilogic theme I was using (which was awesome). Some of the special plugins still work and others need replacing. This blog has been very strong for SEO and I do not want to lose that. The new theme has some different features in the background I need to get used to such as the banner displays etc…



More changes required

I still have to go around the blog and make some small adjustments. Some of the links need testing and I want some (affiliate) links to open in a new window etc.. I will also take user feedback and make changes as the market guides the blog into the new era…. I have to add lifestyle pictures in to the about section as well since users like that.

I appreciate your feedback..

Please let me know what you like and what I can improve. This blog is going to be the recipient of a stack of new cutting edge FREE content and reviews. Thanks for being part of it and be sure to grab the RSS feed for your feed reader so you can stay in touch!

Tags: blog makeover, blogging, internet marketing, semiologic, woo themes, woothemes, wordpress optimization

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