WordPress, along with other personal publishing platforms like MovableType and Blogger, have given everyone the ability to publish their thoughts and experiences online for the world to see. Each of these different content management systems offer different solutions including hosted and self-hosted answers. I started blogging through a hosted Blogger site for two and a half years and then moved to the self-hosted WordPress option that has suited me very well for almost two years. The reason for moving from blogger was to gain the versatility that WordPress offered.
WordPress has been a great option that quenched my thirst and gave me the versatility to build my dream, but it was still difficult to feel ownership of my site. However, it’s versatility had left me with something to be desired, as in, I have limited experience with css and web development, but I really want to deliver a quality product with my blog. This led me to a few different themes for my blog over the short time I have published on the WordPress backbone:
SEOpittfall v1.0
I really liked the feel of this theme and loved the color and the three column format, which took some doing, because it started as a two column theme.
I retired the theme because it left the user (me) with more to be desired. A quality theme, don’t get me wrong, to think of all of the time that I spent tweaking it was probably the hardest part of letting this one go. I guess you do get what you paid for… this one was “free.”
SEOpittfall v2.0
Yet another “it looks solid… but I think that I can…” situation. Another two column theme that I really liked. I think the dark tones and they were done tastefully so color really pops!
It took some effort to adjust the theme to something I could live with, however, it was quickly trumped by WordPress Version 2.6 as it didn’t support new functionality and really didn’t have the potential to grow with me. Mostly due to the fact that the original designer sold back in March and little has been done to update existing templates or develop at the same level as the previous owner. Another “free” theme, but I am sure I would have ponied up some cash or bartered my time, pretty much anything to keep it….
I expanded my professional role, picked up my family and moved to snow country (don’t get me wrong, I like snow however, I have never lived in it before) and this has left me with less time to invest here. So, when minor tweaks are required, it takes me away from exploring the industry to maintain the theme.
Enter Thesis… I noticed this new theme that was “SEO Friendly” and thought, I’ve heard this before! (If you haven’t noticed, I tend to be skeptical in many things).
A month or so later, I was hearing (well reading) others rave about the benefits and the ease of use. Then came Rae Hoffman with a review of the theme and a real vote for Thesis, she changed her theme to it. It looked cool, clean, ready to use and it did contain many of the foundations that are necessary for SEO best practices. Couple of days later, a friend of mine was asking about themes for WordPress and I told her about the theme, which in turn she bought and gave me a developer license to play with.
SEOpittfall v3.0
OK, so all of the SEO goodness isn’t quite “baked in,” but it is getting there. One of the most valuable assets of Thesis is the community that has built up around it and the responsiveness of the developer(s). If you have an idea to improve it, share and it will probably be incorporated in the next version.
I know, I suggested something to incorporate my previous title tags from another plug-in, so I didn’t have to manually adjust all of the post titles. I posted to the community support board and it was done in a few short weeks. Sub-versions have come, three since I moved over in fact, but little has changed. This is because the theme incorporates customization files (css and hooks) so you can adjust what your theme does without concerns of overwriting them with a newer version. To put it simply, IT ROCKS!
I don’t think that I will ever go to a “free” theme again! I have found that “free” is a term that is used when no cash is exchanged, however it has costs associated with it, mostly time.
If I didn’t think the theme was worth more than the $87 cash outlay, I wouldn’t share. Find out more by looking at others like SugarRae or others provided at DIYthemes.com
If you would like my personal feedback, or have specific questions about some of the functionality, feel free to drop me a line! I wouldn’t pitch it if I didn’t love it!
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the tip on Thesis. I am rebuilding my company site and have been debating over whether to program my own blogging engine or just use WordPress. I have a few WordPress sites, but have been a little frustrated with all the hoops I have to jump through to optimize the site for the engines. Thesis sounds like it could be just what I have been looking for!
@Edmonton SEO: Glad I could help.
Thesis definitely gets rid of a lot of hoops and it doesn’t negate the crawlability that WordPress brings to the table.
Thesis does look good, and the people behind it know what they are doing.
I first purchased a premium them for about 100 bucks about 6 months ago, but the thing was murder to work with.
My hacking skills have grown over the past two years of working with WordPress and, combined with Brian Gardners excellent Revolution 2 themes, have resulted in the best Evolvor.com ever.
I like Brian’s model – the themes are FREE, but if you want to pay for SUPPORT, then it’s there.
Check them out here: http://www.revolutiontwo.com/
@eric: Thanks for the heads up! Revolution2 does have some quality themes, I always liked your latest theme.
The “Red Hat” philosophy has shown that it can work, but I like knowing my costs up-front.
Thanks for the comment.
I am still new to WordPress and still using a ‘free’ theme. I was thinking of changing my blogs’ look next year so I’m glad I found your blog. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, guys.
Did you have any problems with duplicate content? Most off the time it takes a lot off tweeking to get this right.
@Hys
No problems with duplicate content, in fact, it has resolved much of my problems with duplicate content as it has no follows in place from the start.
I took the plunge and bought “Thesis” and I love it. Having a blog that looks professional and is easy to read is as important as having one that is SEO optimized.
@ Adam – Thanks for the comment.
It has a lot of SEO in place, however, using title tags and others really help with usability and optimization value as well.
One of my mentors has been telling me about the many pitfalls that newbie SEOs should be aware of. After reading this blog, I understood him perfectly now. I think I’ll have to prioritize checking my websites on the first month of this new year. Otherwise, things will get a bit hectic and some important stuff might be neglected without any effort at all. Thank your for sharing these very useful info.
Definitely looking at Thesis right now. Going to see if anything else comes close to it in terms of ease of customization/SEO/etc, and if not then Thesis it is. Cheers
@Steve
Thanks for the comment. Let me know if you find anything that is as versatile as Thesis that isn’t custom built, I would be happy to share!
Will do. And vice-versa, if you come across anything then it would probably be good to write a post about it. Cheers
Thanks for the review of CommLuv. I absolutely will sign up and install shortly.
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