Not Another Theme Change!!!
Yes, I am sorry folks. I have updated Garry Conn dot Com yet again! I would like to believe that every time I update the site, I push it in a forward growth direction. I have learned a lot about your expectations, wants and needs within just the last few week. This design change is the result of that.
Garry Conn dot Com sports a very clean, easy to navigate/find and simple design. The site should look a lot better for folks viewing in on wide screen and high resolution monitors. In fact, the site should look great for folks still viewing on 1024×768 as well.
On thing that you guys will be VERY happy to learn is that I have brought search back to GCDC. Check out the bottom right side of the home page and you’ll see an entire section devoted just to search.
Another really great feature is my Subscription section, located top right corner. I am aiming to really buckle down and recruit new readers. By advancing my readership this will in return make things even more enjoyable for my current regular readers. There will be more people commenting and voicing their opinions and soon this place will be just booming with activity… (I hope! lol!!!)
I have a brand new section that is already hitting off like wildfire called, Ask Garry! This is a place where anyone can ask me a question via email and I will not only answer their question but I will also post it LIVE on my website. Full credit and links are given to the person who asks the question. If you have a question that is related to blogging, making money online, search engine marketing or optimization and WordPress tips and tricks, feel free to email me ANYTIME at GarryConn@Gmail.com. Your answered question will go live on Ask Garry! Also, some questions will even make it LIVE to my main site!
Another brand new addition to Garry Conn dot Com is my Submit A News Story section! Blogging is a tough business for both you as well as myself. The way I see it… many bloggers might need some help with promotion and I need help with finding material to write about. If you have a story that you want covered on GCDC, submit your material into me and it just might make the home page of my site!
The individual post pages have been completely redesigned. There is NO sidebar and it is very easy on the eyes. My content is valuable and I want people to read it. I don’t want any distractions from my readers. When you read my articles, you will have the comfort and ease of viewing nothing but the content. At the bottom of the post page, you can drop a comment as well as quickly access some really awesome related posts.
I hope that you guys enjoy the new Garry Conn dot Com! Remember, I am also trying to maintain some order around here! LOL!!! It is very hard, but I am attempting to stick to posting ONLY one post per day and at 1201 Midnight CST. I already have about two weeks worth of content scheduled to publish!
Save Time and Make More Money Online!
Snag a free subscription of my RSS Feed using your favorite RSS Reader, or get the updates by Email. To get special advice about making money online join my free Mailing List.
Related Articles:
- Classic Nintendo Wordpress Theme Available
- Free Widgets Ready Custom Wordpress Theme Conversion
- Oops I Did It Again
- Wordpress Theme Generator
- Command Line Interface Custom Wordpress Theme CLI 1.0
- Wordpress Version 2.2 Hack Warning
- What Are Your Thoughts On A Theme Change?
- WicketPixie Installation and Configuration Guide
- Custom Wordpress Themes
- Question For You - Do You Want A Series On WordPress Theme Tutorials?
Date/Time: 1-14-2008 22:37:52 Comment #8957
Interesting look Garry…good luck with the new redesign. I’m going to start working on my own feedburner subscriptions this week, and take some of your advice and put it into action.
Date/Time: 1-14-2008 22:40:40 Comment #8958
Cary,
The ball is in your court my friend… either you like it or you don’t… Give is a spin and see what you think!
If you have any questions about FeedBurner, feel free to ask me a question, I’ll be happy to help.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 00:11:14 Comment #8962
Garry! What’s up buddy!
I’m always a fan of your themes…you have such a unique look with your graphics..I could spot them anywhere!
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 00:44:28 Comment #8964
Ryan Shamus,
What is going on man? Nice new domain name… that totally rocks. I just scored an SEO domain name as well from Kyle, SEOBlogTips.com. I am looking forward to getting it going. How has your new site been working for you so far?
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 01:07:06 Comment #8965
I love it when you change your theme - it acts as a reminder to change my underwear
Seriously thought, it does look nice and clean.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 02:02:02 Comment #8967
well i don’t know man,
there’s always people who like and dislike about what you did, and i am the one who dislike about it.
1. the red horizontal typo menu, right under dark blue border
2. the blue adsense link, with a small green link inside it
3. the floating left frontpage
4. the blue color link on the footer
5. the gradation of the top and bottom border (from black to white???)
6. no sidebar on the post page?
7. the standard adsense ads color under post?
8. the red post title (and yellow on hover??) inside a post page
9. the fluid header? and bottom? (oh everything)
10. all the gradation, even on each section header (subscribe to my feed, $ make money, previous posts, search my blog)
is that 10? oh i don’t know man.
i am a regular reader of GCDC, even i rarely to leave a comment, but i follow this blog evolution. i think i will choose the dosh-dosh theme some months ago.
oh and may i suggest you to remove your dofollow plugin? (or whatever they call it?)
as you said that it is our job to make google stay clean, so why let people (even they are our beloved reader) spamming our blog with their anchor?
just my humble opinion garry, just a reader opinion
thanks
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 05:40:00 Comment #8976
I am not an long time reader of yours like Jacky since I followed your blog from the days you use your previous them (quite short a time) but I would definitely sat that this is better than the last. This theme will get more exposure for your recent works as well as highlighting on the “Subscribe to my feeds” section.
Some suggestions from me will be that, on the single post page, would you mind removing the Kontera banner or the subscribe to my feeds bar since they are acting like a title/content cutter. The subscribe to my feeds reminder can be placed at the bottom. I am sure more will be prompted to subscribe after reading good contents of yours.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 06:31:19 Comment #8978
Interesting, very interesting…….
Overall I like it, have some reservations, but, we all do things differently, I agree with Ryan, I can spot a GCG (Garry Conn Graphic) anywhere!
According to your Feedburner numbers, you continue to move in the right direction, UP
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 07:04:40 Comment #8980
The only problem I see is the lack of navigation - the search function from the home page is all well and good, as long as you know exactly what you are looking for.
How about a site map, i.e. the plugin by Dagon Design, that allows a visitor to find everything?
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 07:15:28 Comment #8981
Good job Garry. I didn’t really care for your last theme, but everything was usable and readable, it just seemed like there was too much going on at the top of everything.
I am constantly wanting to change the theme on my own blogs. I like them at the beginning but after a week or two I start getting itchy to change. I just don’t know enough to create what I want from scratch yet.
I would say only two things that I would change on your blog.
1. I would make the blue gradient bar at the top half the height.
2. I would move your logo on the left to the right about 5-10 pixels. It seems like it is off the left edge.
… a third thing would be the menu text at the top. For some reason red doesn’t seem to work for me.
I do like, really like, you search my blog box, the category cloud in the box is a great idea.
I think that my blog may just magically change to include a search box and subscribe to feed box very similar to yours.
A very clean look, great job Garry
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 08:34:14 Comment #8982
Hmmm, I think I like it, but it will take some getting used to now that I’m used to the old look!
I definitely see a lot of the things that people requested in your previous post and love the comment link at the bottom of your posts on your homepage!
I think if comments are your goal, that alone will increase comments.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 08:48:24 Comment #8984
Very pro looking site dude. Just for your info I did not use the name you sugested for my new networking site but got a name that says everything about the site and what the site will be about. Dude I am so pumped about this site simply because it changes, or will change the rate at which bloggers can grow there blogs and gain readers. Comming up with the 999.00 design fee which is half off the normal price is going to be a bit of a challange….any tips on fund raiseing would be a great help.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 08:59:47 Comment #8985
@ David,
I hope GCG are good graphics.
I am not much into graphic design and my good friend, MARK!!!!! (anyone out there) who does graphic work has gotten himself very busy. LOL!!!
I have tried using worms, hooks, bait, money, food, candy… I can’t see to lure Mark in from anywhere. LOL!! Has anyone seen Mark Sierra… does his picture appear on a milk carton anywhere?
I do enjoy doing graphics, but I don’t think I am all that good at it, just being honest.
@ James,
Thanks for the feedback, I have made those changes…. Lets see if the red grows on you or if others say they don’t like it. What could would you suggest instead?
@ Kyle,
Thanks for the support. I am glad that you also enjoy the comment link and find it easier to comment. Yes, I do love comments! The more I get the happier I am and the more motivated to keep challenging myself with creating really good stuff.
@ Collin,
What domain name did you decide to go with?
@ Scam,
What would you like to see more of in the area of “Navigation” ?
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 09:17:02 Comment #8986
Congratulation for the new theme Garry! But i prefer to the old one.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 09:43:55 Comment #8987
Either categories or, perhaps, more tags that give a better idea of your content.
The current tags are not particularly enticing for me, yet I know your site has a whole lot more content - it’s just not easy to find without prior and specific knowledge of what one is searching for!
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 11:07:48 Comment #8989
Nice look Garry . Do remove the Kontera banner as it is not blending well . And i miss the sidebars .
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 11:10:49 Comment #8990
Garry
When I get my conformation email that my account is set up I will let you know the name or I can fire you an email regarding this with the base outline of the site incase you might be interested in investing in this site, I will be offereing and securing a great return on any money invested to assit withthe start up costs.. There will be, untill I am in beta, some items I will not disclose to anyone just for the fact they are going to be the keys needed to run the site and take it to over 100,000 members by next January 2009. That is my goal for the year.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 11:14:49 Comment #8991
@ Madhur,
Kontera is putting food in my mouth right now… so I can’t remove it. In fact, unlike Google Adsense where you can’t ask people to click… LOL!!!!
Visit My Sponsor!!!
They put food on my table… and lets not fail to mention that their program is a pretty decent way to make money!
As far as the sidebar goes… you would like to see a sidebar back on the individual post pages?
@ Collin,
You’re always cooking up ideas… I hope this one works for you.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 11:20:17 Comment #8992
I’ve never seen any mention of a Kontera affiliate scheme - is it only available to a select few people?
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 11:30:51 Comment #8993
Gary…..lol…..I am a thinker, but as far as my new site is concerned it what I am building was around when I started blogging, I would be ten times my size all ready. I can hardly wait to tell you about it, I think your going to love it.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 11:32:54 Comment #8994
I don’t like it. Change it back, Change it back. Keep the search functions and all of that but the theme needs to go. I have a widescreen and it’s freaking me out.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 11:35:39 Comment #8995
I take my comment back. For some reason when I was looking at it the page was not displaying correctly and I thought that was your new theme. I think it would be a little narrower but other than that not bad.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 12:04:02 Comment #8997
@ Collin,
You have all my contact info… fire off and email when ready.
@ Treatment,
I have been making changes on it as we speak based off the feedback I have been getting so far today. Overall everyone likes it and indeed… I have made another adjustment to make things look even better in wide screen. Thanks for dropping me your thoughts.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 12:09:15 Comment #8998
Great looking theme, Gary. I’ve just recently started reading and I like the fact that you seem to be a pretty ethical guy. Although I may dabble in what I suppose could be construed as the dark side a little (selling links,) I like to do things ethically in general and I love finding others who do the same.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 12:16:21 Comment #8999
@ Josh,
I am a very fair and ethical person. I don’t like cheaters and respect the hard working. There are really no easy way outs in life. You have to work hard, but most importantly, smart.
I am happy to have you as a reader and thanks for dropping the comment with the compliment on the new theme.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 14:11:26 Comment #9002
Hey Garry, I like it. I was going to ask how I can get to your old content? but figured out that its right there on the right. Your feed burner reading stats are also looking pretty good!
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 14:17:02 Comment #9003
Thanks Owen! and yes… searching the archives is much easier now.
http://www.garryconn.com/tag
Also, pretty much anywhere you are at on the site, if you look at the very top directly below the header, you’ll see the “You Are Here” section. This section will tell you exactly where you are at within my site and allow you to move up or down the site structure hierarchy.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 14:37:48 Comment #9004
Well… I kinda was messing around a little bit. I wanted to see what the individual post pages would look like with the (SIDEBAR) included. I personally think it now looks much better with the sidebar… anyone have any thoughts on this?
My thoughts are is that is makes things more functional and easier.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 15:29:31 Comment #9011
I like to think that it depends on the pages you’re pushing. If you’re a spammer just trying to get your trash to the top then it’s obviously cheating. If your a knowledgeable person in that niche and your pages just need a little extra push I think it’s fine, but I will admit it’s a little shady.
Nothing wrong with your thoughts at all though. I’m not a big link buyer/seller I’ve just done it a bit.
Anyway, hopefully there are no hard feelings
I’ll be sending some traffic to your recent robots.txt post shortly.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 15:54:39 Comment #9012
If you run a healthy site that is search engine friendly and sits well with the general public and your viewing audience then paid links are not needed. There is only one purpose for paid links and that is to cheat the organic and natural ranking systems of search engines.
When you cheat the organic and natural ranking systems of search engines you also take from the people who play by the rules.
I’ll give you an example:
On Jan. 6th, 2008 I wrote an article titled: Do You Know How To Write An eBook?
I am now ranked on Google first SERP for the term: How To Write An eBook
I earned that spot organically and naturally and the content found on that article is a well thought out and hand written page.
What happens with paid text links and sponsored posts is someone can go right in behind me and pay their way to the top and bump my listing down. The result is lesser relevant content being provided to the general public. Times that by millions of various keyword phrases and quickly people will not value Google or other search engines as well as they do. Why? Because if search engines allowed or tolerated the actions of people paying their way to the top within their natural or organic ranking search engines, their search engine will dramatically reduce in their level of accuracy and quality. There is no situation where gaining rank in the SERPs is acceptable or “fine”.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 16:51:33 Comment #9016
I suppose I can’t argue that. But, wouldn’t you say link exchanging would be equally as unethical? For instance, here is a quote from a post I just found here:
You’re not buying links, but you’re effectively trying to do the same thing, which is rise in the search results in an unnatural way. Which in turn rises your pages above others who may or may not have done the same thing.
I’m not judging you and I don’t think this type of thing is that bad, but I do agree it is a bit shady, like I said.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 17:00:57 Comment #9017
You’re quoting old content. Garry Conn dot Com is a site that documents my progress in the field on making money online with a blog. You could easily spend a few hours and find many things that I have written in the past that contradict my current standards. This is a huge learning curve for me and the more I do this the better I get at it.
If fact, if you dig a little, you’ll find ReviewMe.com Reviews, information on Text-Link-Ads and articles on how to game Technorati.
I have no shame and nothing to hide…. You WILL find content that I have written in the past that clearly I have learned from.
I don’t like blogrolls for just that reason. People game them… and the many of the exchanged links are bartered and there is no value with the links published. That is why I don’t have a blogroll anymore. Instead I have a huge syndicated mashup of my favorite blogs… this isn’t available at the moment as I am restructuring it to perform and load better before publishing it again on the site.
So to answer your question:
Yes!! and that is why I don’t do it nor do I even have a blogroll. If I have something to say or links that I want to share with my readers, I’ll write a post about it instead.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 17:05:43 Comment #9019
Garry and I have had this conversation, 1045.7 times (and counting) in the last 6 months.
Things change, people change, you learn, you admit when you make mistakes, you teach, and you move on.
And that is what sets Garry apart from so many others, he will tell you the truth and admit when he has changed and WHY.
That is a whole lot more than I can say for a lot of people out there, thanks Garry !
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 17:19:00 Comment #9022
Gotcha
I can say the same about my blog. Thanks for keeping your cool and explaining. I’ve been putting more thought into the whole paid link thing myself. You’ll be seeing me around the blog. I’m going with another post today (rather than the robots.txt) but I’ll be sending people your way in the future.
I think you have alot of morals and integrity and that’s hard to find.
Have a good one and I apologize for the numerous comments here
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 17:56:56 Comment #9025
@ David,
Thanks man!
My personal dilemma has been and is even more so now that i opened up my archives is whether or not I should invest time into revisiting my old content. I even begin to imagine how long it would take me to review everything I have written in the past.
I was going through my old stuff today and adding tags so that stuff would show up in the results and noticed quite a few posts that I absolutely just HAD to delete.
I wonder if a quicker and more user friendly solution would be to add a statement to the bottom of the posts that says something like:
“This article may be time sensitive and the thoughts and strategies within might not be current. To assure that I provide you with the best information, please visit my home page, search for newer content, or ask me a question.”
It would be fairly easy to do because I could simply hard code it directly onto my single.php file. I think something needs to be included, perhaps not that exact statement but similar.
I don’t really want to delete posts, but on the flip side, I don’t want people to stumble in via the search engines and read older stuff that I might not support due to my continued learning in the business. Grrr… what to do, what to do… lol!!!
@ Josh,
I am glad to have you here as a reader. My blood pressure didn’t raise even a beat… Please don’t feel like you have to be reserved with your thoughts or opinions in the comments. Speak you mind, if I don’t agree with what you say, I’ll let you know… just as I am sure you’ll do the same. What fun would a world be if everyone agreed. No one would learn anything.
No need to apologize for commenting… you can comment as much as you want. I love comments. Publishing only one post per day kind of gives me a lot of time to do nothing but answer questions and reply to comments. I already have over two weeks of articles scheduled for publication… I am kind of bored.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 18:03:43 Comment #9027
Hey Gary, aint it funny when you look back at your older posts that you thought were great ones at the time you wrote then and say to your self…..OMG…..I was smoking crack that day…….I am going to always keep all mine , like a tattoo there are a reflection of our pasts.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 18:05:11 Comment #9029
@ Collin,
LOL!!! Yes… from time to time, especially today, I migrate over to some of my older stuff and I just hear Doctor Phil in the background saying… “What…. were you thinking!!??!?! Were you smoking CRACK!!!??”
LOL!!!
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 18:06:36 Comment #9028
Oh ya you need to add the to space your alexa and technorati buttons.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 18:15:51 Comment #9030
Eliza (aka HomeMom3) said those two buttons were doing something wacky. What do they look like on your end, I checked on Firefox and IE and all looks ok on my end, but you’re the second person to say something.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 18:25:56 Comment #9032
@ Josh, Garry and Dave
That is why Googles page ranks system is crap and not at all based on reality. PPP and Text link adds have codes you add to your site which is why Google can come after you, link exchanging that can’t track unless they read all your posts and join every group you have been in to see if your doing this.
The more I learn about page rank and how Google does it I am seeing that other search engines like MSN might be better for bloggers to focus there efforts in.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 18:42:35 Comment #9038
Collin,
Google, Inc. has a beast of a search engine and a hell of a technological backbone. I understand what you are saying about PayPerPost having a special JavaScript code that has to be installed on your site. Clearly, Google will be able to detect that. Text-Link-Ads have revised their code to disguise the links in an attempt to make it less noticeable. ReviewMe.com still mandates that users disclose that the review was sponsored. There are quite a few other places such as Smorty that don’t make users disclose.
With all that being said, it doesn’t matter. Google has an engine that can process and calculate things beyond human comprehension and if you barter, trade or sell links for the purpose of manipulating, changing and passing PageRank, it is a matter of time before you get caught and your domain name gets adjusted within their system.
How can this happen if the links are not identifiable? Easy… here is an example:
Advertiser: John Widget, Inc.
Now, lets assume that you (Collin) are an active member of the NON detectable Smorty.com publisher program and accepted to write a sponsored review from John Widget, Inc. You write the review, get paid for it… life is good.
Now, lets assume that (Billy Bob) accepts a paid review from John Widget, Inc. from PayPerPost.com. He writes it and gets paid for it… life is good.
Now, lets assume that (Beth) accepts to trade links with John Widget, Inc and displays their link in her blogroll and visa versa.
With all that being said, now lets roll through some examples:
Googlebot will crawl and reindex Billy Bob’s site and record the page of the paid post from PayPerPost.com. John Widget, Inc. will now be on Google’s shit list…
Googlebot will crawl and reindex your (Collin) site and take note of the page you created that links to John Widget Inc. Because John Widget, Inc has already been noted as an advertiser and for the fact that you’re linking to it, it is possible that it could be assumed that your post was also sponsored and published for the purpose of passing PageRank.
Googlebot will crawl Beth’s site and see that she is linking to John Widget, Inc and also notice that John Widget, Inc is linking back to her… there is no logical relevance between the two sites.
Googlebot will eventually crawl and reindex the other 19 sites where link exchanges were done.
From there… it can totally be determined that John Widget, Inc. is an advertiser who pays for links and reviews and barters link exchanges for the purpose of passing PageRank. At that point in time, any affiliated site that links to or from could be suspect of attributing towards this activity. Any site from that point on could suffer from a loss of ranking.
Google, Inc. is a very rich company… heck, I can’t even afford to by one share of stock! LOL!!! They have a lot of money, authority and manpower and I believe totally that if you exchange, sell or trade links for the intention of passing PageRank, eventually you’ll get busted for it.
Google, Inc. tracks more things than you’re even aware of… even though personal and private information is never recorded, unless you opt in, Google, Inc. records your trends, activities, etc.. (ie. what does collin do typically after reading his Gmail account… does he: (a) visit Yahoo.com (b) visit Smorty.com (c) Turn off his computer, etc… Google follows your behavior and then makes calculations and predictions based off your traceable behavior on the Internet. If you use Google Desktop or even have the Google Toolbar installed… this information is being recorded and used towards predictions.
Believe me… if you’re doing shady link exchanges… Google will find out. People for some reason get a superman sense of privacy behind the screens of their monitors. The truth is, you probably have more of a chance of getting away with murder than being able to access, scan or surf the Internet undetected, unnoticed and anonymously.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 18:57:57 Comment #9036
-Garry, I have the same problem, I think the disclosure is best. If you delete a page from a site, it can still live for years in the search engines, trust me, I learned that the hard way.
If you delete, you need to redirect, which can be a pain with WP, but it is possible.
Or, the other option is to do nothing. Which is what I have done so far, lol….
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 19:10:12 Comment #9039
@ David,
The “do nothing” option is something I have been doing with efforts that thwarted access to my older content. However, I can’t begin to tell you how many people have been requesting more predominate access to my archives. Now that access has been granted, I kind of need to do something.
I think I will make a disclosure statement. Thanks for the feedback man.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 20:08:14 Comment #9045
-Collin, that is pretty funny stuff, thanks.
-Garry, Google is not into censorship, they are into indexing the world. What you said 6 months ago is not what gets you in trouble, all the support you give these programs passing PR is. I see no evidence on your site that would warrant action. However, if you go changing old content, that could cause some problems, IMHO.
Date/Time: 1-15-2008 20:13:05 Comment #9046
Very true David… censorship can be found on human edited directories. lol!!!