For those who want to know some of the ins and outs of how I put this blog together, check out the following topics:
I built the basics of this web site in WordPress. What a wonderful content management blogging tool! It has been easy to use since Day 1, which is much more than can be said for other blogging programs I have attempted. I use a stand alone version of WordPress, provided by WordPress.org.
To learn more about WordPress and blogging, I read these blogs regularly, and I would highly recommend subscribing to their RSS feed if you’re into such things:
- Lorelle on WordPress
- ProBlogger
- Weblog Tools Collection
- Plagiarism Today (copyright issues)
- Smashing Magazine (graphic design)
- The Blog Herald
- Successful and Outstanding Blogs
I also attend WordPress Dallas meetups when I can, and plan on attending any WordCamp Dallas events in the area.
In working with other bloggers, I made a wonderful friend in Lorelle. She’s got an amazing blog, and she offered me an opportunity to do some blogging about the specific kind of blogging that we do – celebrity fan blogging. Here’s the links to the series if you want to hear more about the process of fan blogging, including how to start a blog, and the research process involved in keeping up with the news we provide here at No Fact Zone.
- Introducing the Art of the Fan-Based Blog Article Series
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Cultivate Your Passion
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Competition Means Collaboration
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Create a Game Plan
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Content, Content, Content
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Content, Content, Content Part II
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Copyrights for You and Your Content Sources
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Community Wins
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Crazy Fans
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Connections Make the Blog and the Community
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Cash is Necessary
- The Art of the Fan-Based Blog: Continuing to Fight the Good Fight
Here’s some interesting factoids on how much we’ve accomplished here in the first four years (7/16/06 – 7/16/10), taken from our Sitemeter account:
UNIQUE VISITORS- 2,812,950
PAGE VIEWS – 5,131,820
POSTS – 5,743
COMMENTS – 49,783
In addition, I’m a huge supporter of a site tracking software called Woopra. Woopra gives me live-stats on who is visiting by location, and allows me to see the search trends on the site as they happen. I would highly recommend getting on the Beta if you can.
For the first two years of the site, I used some of the free themes available at WordPress.org. I would still recommend those themes to new bloggers. However, I wanted more coding stability and more features than could be provided by most of the standard themes available for free. In January 2011, we upgraded to a new premium WordPress web template on the Genesis Framework. Business theme designer, Scott Ellis, is responsible for the refresh.
I’ve added some blog-specific widgets and tools, such as a Google Calendar and multiple WordPress plugins (see below) to add even more functionality to the template. I also continue to tinker with the layout as the mood strikes me.
HOSTING
This site is hosted on Synthesis WordPress hosting.
