With this newest version, you can perform bulk updates, create custom menus, custom post types, shortlinks and a lot of other useful features.

Play the video below to get an overview of what WP 3.0 is offering!

Thanks to all the developers who have contributed to this tremendous revision. You can now take a short breather after months of brainstorming, testing and implementation. It’s now my turn to be in the hot seat. My job now is to make sure ALL my themes work perfectly well on WP 3.0. I’ll be doing detailed testing from today onwards and update the change log of each theme whenever they have been tested for WP 3.0.

As for future theme development, I’ll be excited to add those extra features to my themes that were not available to previous Wordpress version!

Updated (July 7): All my themes are compatible with WP 3.0 now!

Post from: TemplateLite.com

Wordpress 3.0 is Officially Released!

Here, I proudly present ThemeGrade.com that I have been working on for months!

In my journey of designing Wordpress themes for more than a year, I have downloaded more than 200 Wordpress themes to gain insight of how other designers code the themes in order to improve my own skill. During this period, I have found themes using clean coding standard as well as those which are badly designed.

It is quite impossible to tell if a theme has clean coding just by looking at the theme itself. You might get some clues from the source code but few people understand the meaning behind the coding.

This is when I think, hey, why don’t I create a system to review the Wordpress themes?

My next task was to find the Wordpress theme directories in the industry and see what others do. Not to my surprise, I have found tons of the theme directories from the Google search. Of all the sites, 95% are listing free Wordpress themes while the rest are listing premium Wordpress themes or the combination of the two.

I visited the sites and most of them are quite disappointing. It seems that the site owners published free themes that are also available in other directories without putting any effort to review them. There is only one site (ThemesPreview.com) which provides some review for a theme. I have written about this site and it’s scoring method few months ago.

I found the tests used by Themespreview useful and have included some of them in the tests on ThemeGrade. However, there is something about Themespreview’s tests that are missing. Nothing has been told about how well a theme was optimized for search engines. It has a test about W3C compliance but there are more things that could be tested in a theme to see if the theme is well-optimized for SEO purpose.

I decided to build a site similar to Themespreview with added tests and features. It is easy to understand how ThemeGrade.com works. Let me explain the layout a bit and some of the key features below:

1. Top Slider
This is the section listing the premium Wordpress themes from top designers. If you like the theme, you can click on the shopping cart icon to purchase them.

---

2. Featured Wordpress Themes
This section features high standard FREE Wordpress themes from top designers.

---

3. Wordpress Theme Showcase
All the themes, free or premium are listed in the lower part of the site.

1. User-friendly Theme Search
The themes are grouped into many categories that it would be easy to find the themes of your choice. Are you looking for a 3-column magazine style themes that are free? Simply select “3 columns”, “Magazine Style”, “Free” and click on the search button and the themes will be shown in the result page!

---

2. Theme General Test
Each and every one of the Wordpress theme listed on ThemeGrade has undergone comprehensive tests. The general tests of a theme give you an idea of how well the designer coded the theme. When pass, the score will be added to the General test. Taking the passed score and divide it with the total tested score and you’ll get the general test score of the theme.

---

3. Theme SEO Test
The SEO tests of a theme give you an idea of how well a theme had been optimized for search engines. When pass, the score will be added to the SEO test. Taking the passed score and divide it with the total tested score and you’ll get the SEO test score of the theme.

After you get the general and the SEO test score, the total score of a theme can be calculated. To do that, first, take the general test score and multiply by 0.6 and the SEO test score multiply by 0.4. Sum up the two number and you’ll get the total score of a theme.

---

4. Different Ranking Status for Themes
What makes ThemeGrade so special is the ranking system. Quality themes will be awarded either a Gold, Silver or Bronze status. The themes with the highest standard are those which score more than 90% and are awarded with the GOLD status!

Ever since I outlined the details of each test, I have found out a few things that I could improve for my themes especially the SEO part. Therefore, some of my themes are not getting high marks. I want to make ALL my themes score GOLD in ThemeGrade so it’ll be in my to-do list to revise my themes and make them GOLD!

---

5. Two New Themes will be reviewed Daily
Selecting good quality themes and reviewing them in such details take a lot of time. Thus, I have hired a responsible lady who has worked for me before and understands my high standard. She will be the editor of ThemeGrade.com and the person in charge of the theme review.

I strongly recommend you to subscribe to ThemeGrade and get new reviewed themes deliver to your feed!

What do you think of ThemeGrade.com? If you have any suggestions of comments about this site, feel free to leave a comment below.

Post from: TemplateLite.com

ThemeGrade.com – One of a kind Wordpress Theme Review Site

#1 WpRemixVisit WpRemix
	Single License: $75 Multiple Use: $275	Main Features WYSIWYG Page editor, smart drop menu, dynamic code, flexibility, add-on module, support forum, color scheme, grid-based layouts, theme admin options
List of a few sites built using the WPRemix theme
# of themes: 50+ PSD files not included	WP Remix a WordPress powered master theme, is completely customizable, quality coded & comes bundled with many layout options that helps everyone create custom websites in minutes.

#2 WooThemesVisit WooThemes
	Single theme: from $70 All themes: from $150	Main Features Detail theme documentation, WooNinja support forum, grid-based layouts.
# of themes: 40+ PSD files included the Developer package	Woothemes are all built on a solid code framework which we have fine tuned over time. With a new backend to let you easily control the theme options and multiple theme styles to every theme, it won’t take you long to get up and running.
#3 StudiopressVisit StudioPress
	Single theme: $59.95 All themes: $199.95	Main Features Theme admin options, search engine optimized, auto-sized thumbnail management, developed for localization,
# of themes: 10+ PSD files included	StudioPress is a place to get professionally designed themes for your business website. If you are a small business or an individual looking to establish your online presence, you are definitely in the right place.

Post from: TemplateLite.com

Premium Wordpress Themes from Top Designers

Since IE6 was launched in August of 2001, the browser was already plagued with numerous problems that led to a plethora of unresolved browser bugs and security issues. Eight years have passed and the same nagging problems remain and it is now time for me to weigh my options and consider the reasons why it is time for IE6 to go.

IE6 has not been able to resolve the problem about its inability to support transparency in PNG as we end up with annoying gray color displays as replacement to the transparency. We are better off with Firefox, Opera, Safari and IE7 as they support transparency in PNGs.

Failure to update your browser is tantamount to opening yourself up to all sorts of security attacks. If you insist on using IE6, then you must have to contend with code snippets that are capable of shutting down your IE6. You can learn everything about them at Wikipedia. Read through the information and find out why IE6 is considered unstable.

The signs are all written on the wall. Facebook, YouTube and Digg are slowly disassociating from IE6 and they have recently announced plans to scale down their support for IE6. Ultimately, we will reach the tipping point where you will not be able to browse Youtube and Digg using IE6.

Due to the reasons stated above, as of this writing, I will not test my themes against IE6 anymore. Also, I will not support any IE6 related issue for my Wordpress themes. If you are still using IE6, I strongly urge you to upgrade your browser to IE7 or IE8 to avoid problems.

And since IE8 is already released and its market share is getting bigger, I will start testing my themes against IE8. Removing IE6 from my browser test and adding IE8 to the list will now make my themes compatible with IE7, IE8, Safari, Opera, Firefox and Chrome.

Post from: TemplateLite.com

Why IE6 Must Die?

Besides Hostgator, I have also tried several other hosts. To help you choose the right host, here I list the good as well as the bad ones.

These are hosts that I currently have some of my sites hosted with for more than a year. I can’t ensure they will be as good in the future but at least for the past 12 months, I am extremely satisfied with their service.

Greengeeks
Their management team has over 40 years of experience in providing high quality, affordable web site hosting. It is fully compatible with Wordpress with an easy one-click installation.

My site is enjoying 99.98% uptime with this host for the past 9 months since Aug 2008.

---

IXwebhosting
One of the best Wordpress hosting providers. Host multiple domains, 8 dedicated IP addresses, free site builder.

My site is enjoying 99.96% uptime with this host in the past 1 year since Dec 2008.

These are hosts that I tried in the past. If the hosts are bad, most of the times you’ll know it within 3 months. Indeed, there are more bad hosts around than good ones

Webhostingpad
Reasons: I signed up for their plan which cost $1.99/mth and they moved my site to a congested server. It took 20 seconds to load my site which used to load less than 3 seconds when hosted with a good hosting company. I used to recommend this host but their service turns bad now.

Dot5hosting
Reasons: Bad customer support. I contacted them several times within a one-week period but they only get back to me 9 days later! Not a good way to run a hosting business.

Globat
Reasons: Their server was down 2 days without any fix. Also, they sent their customers (including me, of course) several promotional emails which automatically opted me in. On one occasion where I forgot to opt out, they charged me for the service which I didn’t need at all.

Gisol
Reason: My account was paid in full in Mar 2009, yet in Oct GISOL suspended it for nonpayment. After long response from e-mail, the support discovered that it was a billing problem and the site was restored. Then in June same thing happened again. Obviously the host doesn’t take their customers seriously.

Post from: TemplateLite.com

Good and Bad Wordpress Web Hosts

Post from: TemplateLite.com

Getting Started with Wordpress.org

After releasing my theme, how do I promote them? One way is to submit them to the sites which accept Wordpress themes. In this post, I show you the list of the theme directories and forums that I used to submit my themes to.

Theme submission can only be done manually so you can imagine submitting to more than 100 sites will be such a tedious and time-consuming process. Ever since I found a site which offers submission service at a low price, I never want to do it myself anymore.

Post from: TemplateLite.com

Wordpress Theme Submission to Directories and Forums

This move of WordPress offers a great experience for all those who are familiar with the functions of iPhone as well as the WordPress tools.

The ‘WordPress for iPhone’ uses an open source programming so anybody can provide his/her inputs in the development of this plugin. It is launched under GNU, the General Public License. This tool is available in 2.5.1 or higher version. If you are still not aware of this feature, you can check out Wordpress official site for the tutorials and guidelines which are important to learn this advanced tool.

Till now, many people have used this feature and gave a positive feedback. What are you waiting for? Start blogging today with the help of your iPhone.

Post from: TemplateLite.com

Using Wordpress in iPhone

When you sponsor (you buy a footer/sidebar link) a Wordpress theme, the more users download a theme, the more sites will have your links. Currently, there are 3 advertising models available in the market.

Model 1
You sponsor a theme and your links will be permanently placed on the theme. The theme will be promoted via submission to forums and theme directory sites.

Model 2
You sponsor a theme and your links will be permanently placed on the theme. The theme will be promoted via submission to forums, theme directory sites as well as the website of the theme owner.

Model 3
You sponsor a theme and your links will appear on the theme until a certain number of downloads have been fulfilled.

Now the question is: how do you know if your investment returns good results? To answer that question, you need to know 2 things.
1) How many times the theme have been downloaded?
2) How many websites use the themes?

The first question is actually redundant because ultimately, you want to know the answer to the second question, which is the end results! Therefore, when a theme owner tells you how many downloads you’ll get by sponsoring their theme as compared with others, think beyond the number of downloads because the big downloads don’t necessary mean that more sites are using the theme.

You’ll be surprised it is extremely easy to know how many domains use the theme that you sponsor. There is a catch, however, that you need to keep in mind before taking up a sponsorship. Just follow the steps below…

Step 1
Before sponsoring a theme, think of the anchor text that you are going to use. For example, you want to use this anchor text: Quality Travel Agent

Step 2
Think of the full keywords that’ll appear in the footer. For example, you want to use these keywords in the footer: Offered by Quality Travel Agent (note that “Offered by” is just text while “Quality Travel Agent” is the anchor text with your URL)

Step 3
Do an EXACT search on Google for those keywords. In this case, key in: “Offered by Quality Travel Agent” (include the quotation for exact search)

You need to make sure that no results can be found by Google using those keywords. You’ll see this in the Google’s result page:
No results found for “offered by quality travel agent”.

If the keywords return some results, go to Step 4

Step 4
Change the keywords and do the EXACT search again until no results can be found. Some examples would be:
In collaboration with Quality Travel Agent
Sponsored by Quality Travel Agent

Step 5
Ask the theme owner to add the keywords exactly what you want it to appear in the footer/sidebar. In this case: Offered by Quality Travel Agent

Step 6
When your link ad is up, wait for about a week and do the exact search for the keywords again and see how many web pages have been indexed by Google that contain your links. Copy the web pages and save them in Microsoft Excel. From there, you’ll know how many domains are using the theme with your link ad.

Step 7
The number of pages using the theme will increase with time so you need to do the search every week until the number stabilize.

Post from: TemplateLite.com

How to Track the Performance of your Footer/Sidebar Link Advertising Campaign?

Bloggers and Entrecard users place advertisement of the Entrecard ad on any blog within the Entrecard network that is good for a certain number of days. The Entrecard ad placements on any blog as paid through Entrecard credits of the blogger or website owners who make the ad placement. We can treat this Entrecard credits as some form of a currency used for ad placement within the Entrecard network.

Bloggers place their ads by dropping off their cards at their selected blogs through the Entrecard widget. This Entrecard widget appears on every Entrecard member blog in the network.

Does this new craze deserve the attention that it is getting from a lot of people? Probably, the answer is yes. Entrecard is considered as an effective tool especially for the new and beginning bloggers in generating more traffic to their blogs.

In an apparent sales pitch for Entrecard, the following are declared benefits for those who join the Entrecard network:

• Another way to Earn Money
  Bloggers who come to drop off cards may click the ads on your blog, which translates to additional money earned. Besides monetizing from the traffic via Entrecard network, Entrecard recently announced a credit-buy-back program where you can sell your credits back to Entrecard.
• Build your followers
  Entrecard is one great way of bringing more traffic to your blog. Once they visit your blog to drop off their cards, they might see something that might be of interest to them and become a regular follower of your blog.
• Maximize word-of-mouth Marketing
  You gain warm body endorsers once you get positive feedback from Entrecard members who visit your blog to drop off their cards. It is essential that you keep your blog as interesting as possible to visitors.
• Improved Google, Alexa and search ranking
  As more and more visit your blog to drop off their cards, this translates to more page views that can boost the ranking of your blog in search engines. This would in turn bring in more targeted traffic to your blog.
• Increased traffic to your blog will easily attract more direct advertising opportunities. As you experience increased traffic as a direct result of being a member of the Entrecard network, your blog will become more attractive for paying advertisers. This would mean extra dollars to fill your pockets.

With these benefits of Entrecard, it is essential that you are knowledgeable of the nooks and crannies of the network to derive maximum benefit from it. Here are some practical tips to set you off as a new Entrecard member:

TIP #1 – Start with the obvious. Be an active Entrecard Member

To be a successful member of the Entrecard network, you have to internalize the system. You have to do some serious job at dropping your cards on carefully targeted blogs. You can follow a logical strategy at “dropping” your cards. First, start with what you have in your inbox. These are the Entrecard members that are visiting your blog to “drop” their cards. If they are dropping cards on your blog, then surely, they are active members of the Entrecard network. Focus your efforts on the popular Entrecard users. You can find them in the Campaign. Drop cards on the top users of every category. That way, you are able to drop cards in blogs with high traffic. You should also find the other active users by checking the Most Popular tab. Don’t forget to include the Most Recent Users. This gives an impression to them that you are an active user as well. Finally, the forum is also good source of information of active users.

TIP #2 – Advertise, Advertise and advertise

To become a successful Entrecard member, you should advertise often. If you take seriously TIP #1, you will end up with a mountain of Entrecard credits, well, figuratively. Seriously, the essence of TIP #1 is for you to end up with lots of Entrecard credits so you can advertise. As a start, you can start with 5 blogs per day. Be sure to pick the most popular users you can find and advertise on this popular blogs. The reason for this is quite obvious. Popular blogs get a big share of drops and this means more people will get to see your ad. This will be translated to increased probability of increased click-throughs and of course, exposure.

TIP #3 – Advertise wisely 1

This is a follow-through of TIP #2. Much as we would like to maximize our exposure and click-throughs, we have to be a wise advertiser to be able to reap the full benefits of our ad. First of all, you should advertise on blogs that have higher ranking than your blog, and blogs with more readers and many RSS subscribers than you.

TIP #4 – Advertise wisely 2

Monitor your ads. Monitor the ads that work for you and buy it again even if it would mean paying more the next time.

TIP #5 – Be an Active Participant of Entrecard Forums

Don’t forget to check out the Daily stumbles and the Entrecard Updates. When you do this, you might discover some sites that you might have come across in the past. You will never know. You might hit the jackpot when you get to meet some of the interesting guys and girls in the mold of blogging4cash, ideasandmoney.info, razzball.com, YouShouldOwn.com, incomeforeveryone.info and much, much more.

TIP #6 – Keep an Eye for n00bs

Be always on the look out for n00bs or ‘newbies’ on the block and try to place your card on the sites before their rates hits the ceiling. Here are some good sites with but at the same time cheap: laughingsquid.com, idasia.org, tylercruz.com, and theprofithustler.com.

TIP #7 – Put your best foot forward in your ads

Make sure that your ad attracts your target audience. If you are not confident that you have the design experience, you can seek the help of other Entrecard users in the forum or through the Entrecard shop to help you out in designing a card that fits your image and brand.

TIP #8 – Position your Entrecard Widget Properly

Make sure that people can easily find your Entrecard widget. People will be able to advertise and drop cards in your blog only when they are able to find your widget. In short, place your widget in a strategic position.

TIP #9 – Utilize the Entrecard Mail System

Make a point to express your thanks and appreciation to those placing ads on your blog. On the same token, also thank those who let you advertise on their blogs. This is the best way to earn goodwill and extra points in terms of good image among other Entrecard users.

TIP #10 – Join in Entrecard Contests

One great way to earn extra Entrecard credits is by joining in Entrecard contests. You can do more, if you start your own contests. In order to find the available contests, you can check them out in the forums under Promotion and Events section or you can check out other blogs and check their posts for ongoing contests.

Post from: TemplateLite.com

Top 10 Tips to Increase Entrecard Traffic to Your Blog