How a Simple, Responsive Web Design Can Get You Noticed


As a technology enthusiast and blogger, I invest a lot of my time in learning about new products, services and methodologies. Because I’m not a professional web designer or blogger, I have to find the most well crafted solutions and tools to help me accomplish my goals.

Recently, I was struggling with my brand identity and my blogging. I didn’t know how I wanted my posts to be perceived. I thought I needed an identity apart from myself, so I created yet another domain and started posting there. This time, instead of using WordPress, I gave Blogger a try.

I loved it, I really did. As a hardcore Google+ user, the benefits of having your ecosystem embedded into your Content Management System (CMS) are numerous. I had instant access to all of my AutoBackup photos, I could easily tag someone’s Google+ profile in a post and I could instantly share it to my page or profile once I was done with the post.

For server reliability, I had nothing to worry about. Google’s uptime is second to none and it was all 100% free.

However, free always comes with some strings attached. Because I am using Google’s platform, they have the right to change it at any time and without notice. You could have a plugin that works one day, and is a total trainwreck the next. The graphical user interface (GUI) could change at the drop of a hat, making it either easier or more difficult to complete routine tasks.

The bottom line though is that the site is over-simplifiedIt’s great for people that are just trying to get started in the blogging, or businesses that just want to “set it and forget it,” however it’s not the best choice for serious bloggers.

When I migrated back to WordPress I decided that I didn’t want to use a clunky “free” theme, but instead decided to invest it something with a proven track record. That’s when I decided on using the Genesis Framework and the Ambiance child theme.

The theme is a content-first design which means the focus isn’t on the website, but on the content presented within. As a blogger, nothing is more important that the easy consumption of text. I think this theme does a great job of it.

Now, I studied journalism for a few years and I know a thing or two about writing. However, I think I owe a hat tip to the careful design of the site. With a few tweaks and a small upfront investment, I was able to create something that I am proud to call mine.

Why am I telling you all of this? 

I just had an experience that many bloggers only dream of. My latest post was just picked up by Mashable.

The History of Touch Screens

Yesterday I shared a post highlighting what new display technology could look like. It’s amazing to consider how many LCD displays you have on your house, not to mention how many monochrome LED displays.

As digital display technology takes a bigger place in our homes and daily lives, touch screen technology is also starting to elbow its way into our daily routines. Right now, most people are limited to their smart phones and their tablet devices, but are we heading towards a world like that in Minority Report where every screen is a touch screen? Continue reading The History of Touch Screens

The Evolution of Screen Technology

If you look at most of the sci-fi movies from the 70’s and 80’s, they featured CRT’s still as the technology of the future. With the advent of Plasma and LCD (now OLED), we are starting to see that screens no longer need the “deep” real estate they did before. But how fast are they evolving?

If you were to count how many color LCD screens (or plasma/oled for that matter) in your house, how many would you have? Right now, just in the room I’m sitting in, I have six. So how many can we expect to have in the future? Will all of our refrigerators come with embedded tablets in the door? Will our windows show us the weather and our calendars? Will we check our e-mail in the mirror while we brush our teeth? Continue reading The Evolution of Screen Technology

Creating Impactful Presentations: How-To

Using nothing but Google Docs’ Presenter, Google’s stock images and a Google+ Hangout, presentation expert +Harold Carey Jr. was able to teach me how to create a very simple and effective presentation.

No more sliding text or sound effects, just a header, image and…well, I’d tell you the rest, but you can watch the video!

Check out Harold’s website at http://haroldcarey.com/ .

How to Backup Your WordPress.com Blog

Keeping a backup of all of your important files is important. You probably make regular backups of the important files on your computer at home, but do you worry about backing up your online data like all of the information on your blog?

If you have an account on WordPress.com and you’d like to move it over to a self-hosted site (something that many people decide to do as they continue to grow their audience), you will eventually need to export your data. But, don’t wait until you’re ready to move. Make regular backups of your blog,  just in case.

I was talking to A.V. Flox from BlogHer about an aquaintance that had their WordPress.com blog disappear. There’s no telling why the blog disappeared, whether it was a server error, a violation of Terms & Service, or just an anomily, but the truth is, it could happen to anyone, especially if your password isn’t secure.

To protect yourself from losing all of the valuable information you have created, your words, your posts, your comments, your images–all of the content that you have worked so hard to create–you should perform regular backups. Don’t worry though, they’re easy to do. Just follow these steps.

Step 1

Log into your WordPress.com Account and select the blog you want to backup:

Step 2

Click ‘My Blog’ in the upper left hand corner and select ‘Dashboard’

Step 3

On the left hand tool bar, go down to ‘Tools’ (it’s towards the bottom) and select ‘Export’

Step 4

If you want to backup all of your pages, posts and comments, select ‘All content’ and click the ‘Download Export File’ button.

Step 5

Depending on what browser you are using, a notification should appear asking you if you would like to download the file. Since it is an XML file, your computer might warn you that it could be dangerous. In situations where the source is trusted, such as WordPress.com, you don’t need to worry about this warning. Click ‘Keep’ and then, presto, you have a backup of all of your blog content on your home computer!

When you get more proficient and as your audience continues to grow, you might want to start your own website on an independent server using the WordPress.org framework. The interface is virtually the same, and when you go to set it up (using their famous five minute installation) you’ll be able to instantly Import your content, pages and comments from your previous location!

By backing up your data regularly you won’t have to worry about your blog “disappearing” because you’ll always have a copy of your content right at your fingertips.

If you liked this tutorial, be sure to share it with your friends using the social media buttons below! Also, be sure to enter your e-mail address and Subscribe in the right-hand navigation bar of my website to get weekly updates of all of my content at absolutely no cost!

Top Ten Mistakes Bloggers Make

Stop Sign
Image Source: FreeFoto.com

If you’re just starting a blog or trying to learn how to be a successful blogger on the Internet you have probably read a lot about what you should be doing. Have you considered thinking about what you shouldn’t be doing?

I polled my network of experts on Google+ and got some great responses on this topic. I wanted to feature +C Bret Campbell‘s thoughts as a guest post. Here’s his top ten list of mistakes that bloggers commonly make:

Top 10 No-No’s:

Continue reading Top Ten Mistakes Bloggers Make

Is Visual Design More Important than Ever?

So lately I have been very intrigued by design. I spent a lot of time in New York speaking with artists and trying to better understand what drives their passion and where they found their style.

Furthermore, I’m starting to hear arguments from people like +Mike Roberts (an emerging thought vlogger) that “Content is No Longer King” and design is starting to differentiate people’s interest.

Continue reading Is Visual Design More Important than Ever?