James Dalman : Branding Dude and Freestyle Entrepreneur

Premium WP Theme Review: iThemes Builder

James Dalman — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:06:16 +0000

This next and third review for the WP Theme Experiment is going to be a bit more close to my heart because I spent two years with the iThemes crew and was involved with marketing, testing, and developing child themes for Builder.

First I have to say that Chris Jean is amazing and did a superb job in creating this versatile and limitless theme & framework! You can pretty much do anything with iThemes Builder and the newer features that have been released over the last few months are awesome.

Besides being able to create ANY professional layout you could ever want to do for a website or blog, you have the following:

Builder Style Manager that gives you more power to create or edit
Advanced SEO options panel
Each page can have it’s own layout and CSS
BuddyPress integration
Building Block features for niche specific child themes

It also includes Billboard and the rotating images plug-in to help you get your killer graphics easily implemented into the design.

Since I’ve been using Builder for Branding Shed clients lately, I’ve discovered a few things that a designer or DYI person might find a hindrance in working with it:

The Style Manager is powerful but can be a bit bulky to use and it doesn’t show you all your changes in real time. I still find myself doing more with CSS.
You have to know where to begin, otherwise you may feel overwhelmed. More documentation and training is now being offered to help with this.
The child themes are OK — even the ones I created. They do give you a reference point but kicking it up a notch would be beneficial for designers and non-designers alike.

I admit that’s it’s hard for me to provide this candid insight given my love for it, but I do have to be honest in my review.

My Conclusion:

iThemes Builder is a tool I never want to be without and it has paid for itself over and over again!

While there is a medium learning curve for figuring out all its capabilities, web designers or freelancers will find that it is totally worth the time and investment. Their support team leaders (Ronald and Sridhar) are top-notch and the iThemes team continues to improve on their crown jewel. If you don’t want to dive into the developer side of creating websites on WordPress, and you are willing to learn basic CSS to improve your skills, then Builder is going to have to be a part of your web development toolkit.

Please Note: None of these links are affiliate links. I am not receiving any compensation for my reviews on my WP Theme Experiment project or the reviews on themes that were kindly donated to me.

Premium WP Theme Review: Studio Press & Genesis

James Dalman — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:52:30 +0000

My second review for the WP Theme Experiment is on the hugely popular Genesis theme framework offered by StudioPress; a premium WordPress theme company launched by the hopeless Starbucks addict, Brian Gardner.

There has been some confusion lately about theme frameworks, child themes, and stand alone themes. While this is a deeper discussion for another time, I would say that Genesis is like a Ferrari. The engine is WordPress, the body and parts are Genesis, and the child themes are the custom paint or accessories. All together they make a desirable vehicle!

Genesis includes some extremely beneficial features such as:

Automatic update notifications
Easy integration for your RSS feed
Author Box (User Profile) that can add your bio on single posts
Several page layout options
Custom built widgets like My Tweets and eNews Opt-In Box
BuddyPress Compatibility
Excellent security

The theme framework is definitely tight and valuable … but right out of the box it’s not going to be the perfect solution for designers or DYI people. That’s where the importance of child themes come in.

StudioPress has 27 child themes to choose from ($24.95 each if you have Genesis/$79.95 each if you don’t) and most of them are very good, professional designs that can be adapted for a wide variety of client needs. They are simple and effective. The only caveats I see for a majority of people would be the following …

You’ll need to need to know how to FTP files up to your server
You’ll want to know minor CSS hacks in order to change colors such as text links or navigational hover buttons

These aren’t huge issues by any means, but if you don’t understand how to do these two things, you may find yourself very frustrated when it comes to customization. But hey, if I can learn to do it, anyone can!

My Conclusion

StudioPress gives a designer the ability to make a profitable income customizing their products. They have a solid reputation and even though I’ve not used their support (again, haven’t needed to) I have heard their team is pretty reliable. I personally know that Brian puts in a ton of time to continually build the business, and in my honest opinion, there is very little reason to keep a person from purchasing their themes or framework. I now have a few Studio Press child themes in my arsenal and I plan on using them … and if you’re a web design shop, you should too!

Please Note: None of these links are affiliate links. I am not receiving any compensation for my reviews on my WP Theme Experiment project or the reviews on themes that were kindly donated to me.

Premium WP Theme Review: Headway Themes

James Dalman — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:54:47 +0000

This is the first review in a series I will be writing based on my WP Theme Experiment. Today I’ll be sharing my insight on Headway Themes created by the father and son team, Grant and Clay Griffiths.

Headway is unlike any other theme I have ever experienced and it is very simple to use. You can load it into WordPress and get an intuitive feel for it without reading any documentation. The UI (User Interface) is graphically appealing and you can move your way around the visual editor with ease. In the newest version you can even start out with the site builder that walks you step by step through several design options before customizing your theme – an extremely handy feature – but this is only the beginning!

One of the things that I like best about the Headway Theme is the real-time, visual editor. You can make and watch changes to your theme right before your eyes without having to leave the editor or visiting another page to see how it looks. This is the closest concept I have found to SquareSpace, a platform I used a few years ago. Customizing Headway allows you to change up your layout and design without touching any CSS and you can easily “call out” any of the sections you’re looking to work on.

Additional features that I found really beneficial and cool are:

The ability to resize your content areas and widget containers within the visual editor
The ability to change the width of your design (even rounded corners) from within the visual editor
Your choice of fixed or fluid width options
The Leaf Panel allows you to easily add featured posts, Twitter, photo gallery, or an image rotator
Ability to customize CSS if you want to
Search Engine Optimized

OK, now for the two things I didn’t like so far …

I had to learn what the Leaf System was about. If you’re a veteran WordPress user this may confuse you and it took me a little time to figure this out. However it is a great feature of Headway.
It seemed to be slow to work with at times. To be totally fair this could be my Internet Service Provider and that I am impatient.

Two other downsides are that I have not jumped into the support forum yet to see how well you get help (haven’t needed it) and I haven’t had the opportunity to test the limits of what can be done creatively. However, I’ve seen some great examples of what’s possible in their showcase at http://headwaythemes.com/showcase, and it looks like most sites I would want to design can be achieved.

My Conclusion:

Headway is a must have for designers or the DYI crowd who want to use WordPress as the foundation for building a website or blog. It is worth the investment ($87 for personal use/$164 for developers) and you can easily launch a simple site in 10 minutes if you are familiar with WP and get the basics down for using this theme. I don’t expect all WP developers to embrace the system that Clay and Grant have created, but again, for those like me who want to have some creativity and the ability to offer web design services, this is an amazing tool.

I’ll definitely be working with Headway more next month as part of a new project and will provide additional thoughts then, but for now I am pleased with my experience and would not hesitate recommending it to creative types like myself.

Please Note: None of these links are affiliate links. I am not receiving any compensation for my reviews on my WP Theme Experiment project or the reviews on themes that were kindly donated to me.

Go Ahead … Fail!

James Dalman — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:42:52 +0000

I like to fail. Why? Because when I fail, it means that I tried.

There are things that I’ve done that didn’t quite work out like I planned and there have been times where attempting a challenge may have made me look foolish. But I don’t care because it is better to try and fail than never try at all. This is one secret to being an entrepreneur and launching a business.

I talk with people all the time who tell me they are dying on the inside. They work in a career that makes them feel like they are in a death march to the weekend or they have a superior who robs their soul of all joy. Sometimes they’ve wanted to live a dream they hoped for since childhood. They want to do something so badly but don’t because of fear of the consequences.

You will never taste freedom or victory, if you’re never willing to taste fear and failure.

There can be no other way to know if your business idea will work, if you’re book will sell, if you’re recipe is great, if you’re product is wanted, or whatever … unless you are willing to take a step forward and risk what you hold onto so dearly. Stop making excuses and GO FOR IT TODAY!

Announcing Two Workshops at MinistryCom

James Dalman — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 15:31:39 +0000

This October 20-22 I will be presenting two workshops at MinistryCom in Dallas, Texas at Preston Trail Community Church.

The first workshop will be Ministry Logo Design where I will teach on the most important aspects for developing a professional logo, as well as additional insight for church branding. The second workshop will be Building a Rockin’Church Website where I will co-present with Cory Miller and offer advice on building websites that not only look amazing but will be a valuable communication hub for a church team, congregation, and community.

If you are on staff or a volunteer at a church, I encourage you to make MinistryCom this year! And if you’re in the neighborhood during the conference, please let me know if you’d like to meet up to talk shop or just hang out.

Free. Does It Kill Your True Value?

James Dalman — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:55:11 +0000

Give it away for free.

Give away your E-book, insider knowledge, business secrets, that new product, your professional insight, or whatever else that makes you and expert at what you do. You’ve heard this advice from great thought leaders like Seth Godin and Darren Rowse. It’s about creating and using the Whuffie Factor or being a Trust Agent. If you give away your best stuff then it will help you become “the go-to person” and positive karma will return ten-fold. Maybe that’s The Secret.

I agree that BETA versions to free samples to blog giveaways really do help increase website traffic or a person’s willingness to “try you out.” Our free-economy has definitely changed our business strategies and this mindset has proven to be highly effective for some entrepreneurs. Yet I am still not convinced this is always the best strategy.

In a previous post I wrote on pricing, I talked about how offering your products or services for cheap will hurt you and the market. I believe this same principle applies to freebies as well. Do you think that this strategy could teach customers that they should expect something for nothing or that it communicates that there is no value in our expertise or products? I do!

This week I talked with a web developer who has been providing advice and services without compensation in order build an in-road for a bigger potential opportunity. During the course of our conversation I could see red flags everywhere and it’s evident that the road is going nowhere, except providing immense free help to the client. I’ve heard similar stories from other bloggers or business owners who are trying these techniques to build their community … but building community and fans can only help so much.

In order to stay in business and thrive in business you have to make a profit with your business!

Creating a fan base and being known as the expert is awesome, and I love the online and offline communities I’ve built for myself and others but if you just build a crowd of people wiling to listen and no one is willing to buy, then what good does that do for you? You HAVE to get paid for your knowledge, skills, experience, products, and services. You’ve invested your time and money in getting to where you are. And you deserve to be paid for what you are offering.

I truly see the reason behind giving away some of your best work or ideas, but if you are not generating a Return on Investment for these actions, maybe your true value is being killed by the free-economy. Whuffie and karma can only take you so far before you end up in a cardboard box.

What do you believe?

Business Communication. Be Clear and to the Point.

James Dalman — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:14:20 +0000

Why is it that we sometimes have a hard time saying what’s on our mind? How come we feel that we should sugar-coat our words or deliver a barrage of business jargon that confuses people instead of clarifying? Ineffective communication in business and life is a waste of everyone’s time.

Business communication should be simple and straightforward.

We should strive to make what we are saying so easy that a seven year old can easily understand it. This doesn’t mean we speak down to a person like they are a child, but that we should avoid adding confusion to our conversation by becoming superfluous with our words. We should also be honest and straightforward when communicating with others. It doesn’t benefit you or the other person to beat around the bush … just say what needs to be said and move on.

My current free agent life has opened up dialogue with others about collaborating or potential partnerships. I love the conversations I’ve had with Randy Cantrell of Bula Coaching. We have talked business ideas and it’s always straight to the point – no hidden agendas and no BS. There are things we have agreed on and others where we didn’t see quite the same, but we’ve moved quickly through the topics because we value each others time and avoid useless hyperbole.

Then there are other situations that leave me wondering because the communication breaks down or never took place.

Maybe you are really busy or it’s been a chaotic month. Maybe you really don’t want to work with me or think my idea is way off the grid. Maybe I did something to offend you and you don’t like me anymore. Maybe the entire Internet has taken a massive dump and clogged the bandwidth. I don’t know because I’ve not been told, but I can say this … I’d rather know the truth or have a clear understanding than being left in the dark. Wouldn’t you?

Business communication needs to be clear and to the point. Most business people or entrepreneurs don’t have the time to play games or like to try and figure out what is being said. What we do want is to hear is what’s really on your mind – expectations, interests, concerns, agenda, disinterest, plans, or hard truth. We just want people to be clear and to the point. Nothing more, nothing less.

How about you?

Pricing Your Services. Why Going Cheap Hurts Everyone.

James Dalman — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:24:33 +0000

Pricing always seems to be a difficult process for designers, artists, developers and others who provide some type of creative service. We all want to make money with our skills and receive fair compensation for our work, but sadly I usually find that many service businesses do one of two things that hurt themselves and others; undervaluing their services or bottom dollar pricing.

Undervalue of Services

This usually happens because a designer or developer doesn’t believe in themselves or because of inexperience. While newbies won’t often get the prices that seasoned veterans can command, they often undercharge causing financial hardship in their lives.

Bottom Dollar Pricing

Some designers or developers just focus on doing work for the lowest bid or price. They hope to undercut their competition or get more work because it’s based on how cheap they are. This is a stupid strategy.

Why Cheap Prices Hurt Everyone

Cheap pricing due to either of these situations hurt the community and yourself for a variety of reasons.

The first is you train customers to NOT VALUE what it is you are doing. I observed this in the screen-printing industry in the late 80′s. Screen printers started to give away the artwork and this in turn educated customers that the design had no value and was not worth paying for.

The second reason these situations will hurt you is that once you start charging a specific fee for your work, it will be very difficult to raise your prices substantially when you figure out that being a starving, unprofitable business is no way to go! You should be in business to make money, not loose it.

What Can You Do to Avoid This?

Research: There is no excuse to not be able to learn the right pricing structure. The Internet gives you every opportunity to learn from others or contact professionals for advice. There are training programs and books that can help you determine profitable pricing for your skill set and experience.

Educate: Teach and show your clients or potential customers the value of what you do. You can blog about the requirements or training you had to undergo to learn your skills, offer free webinars on the ROI of great design, or do a video on the power of correct SEO. Help people understand the value you provide and that the fee you charge is worth that!

Your end goal should be creating a sustainable and profitable business. Don’t fall into the trap of undervaluing your skills or low-ball pricing. In the end, you won’t win and it will damage the marketplace and industry for your future and the future of others.

Make Money in Web Design. A New Course and Coaching,

James Dalman — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 14:44:18 +0000

This September I will be launching a new course and coaching that will show people how to start, operate, and run a small profitable web design and blog business.

Over the last two years I have been asked by stay at home moms, bi-vocational pastors, students, and people ready to leave their current job on what they could do to make extra money or how to launch a business. Every time I responded by saying learn how to use WordPress and then learn how to install and modify premium WordPress themes. The biggest problem is that most people don’t know how to get started. This is what I will be teaching on.

Make Money in Web Design will walk through all the steps of setting up your business including naming your business, marketing, branding, the minor technical skills you will need to know, how to price your services, invoicing, and creating a business system to run smoothly. It covers everything that I know and more. Students will also have access to all of the business forms I use and my treasure chest of design files. There will also be group and personal coaching involved to ensure you progress through the course and hit your goals!

Please know, Make Money in Web Design is not a get rich scheme or magic bean. It is a proven business model that I have used to generate a great income and will be a business you must work and invest in.

I am currently offering people the opportunity to get on the waiting list for when I launch. Seating for this course will be limited and once the spots are filled they are gone! You can sign up for notifications for the latest details and be on the list with no obligation to enroll in the course. Visit my page with the current information by clicking this link and you can sign up from there.

Also, those who sign up and enroll in my first class will be receiving the BETA launch discount … so don’t wait to get on the list.

How to Reach Your Goals.

James Dalman — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:15:16 +0000

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – Lao-tzu

You want to become a speaker and coach in the areas of your passion. You dream of writing that novel that has been on your mind for 10 years. You long for the day where you can start that new business and leave your old job behind.

These are just a few real conversations I’ve had this year with friends or family. People all desiring to reach their goals and do what they really want. The only thing that stops them is not taking a single step. They can taste the dream and paint such a great picture but it never even begins to materialize, because there is no action.

Rob Pene is a different story.

I met Rob through e-mail. He inquired about becoming a web designer but lacked the skills, training, or tools to do it. And he hoped he could afford the membership to WebDesign.com someday. I believe that God wanted me to give Rob a chance so I donated a membership to him and only asked that if he did well that he would “pay it forward” to someone else. He didn’t take a step … he sprinted! I kept an eye on his progress through the e-mails he sent me and offered a little encouragement. Rob Pene has blown me away by his drive and new found skills and he has helped many ministries through 3030mission.com. This great, new friend is also now going to be helping me some at Branding Shed because he was motivated.

If you want to reach your goals, you have to move. You cannot “hope” that opportunity will come your way or that you’ll get to it when the time is right. In order to achieve your goals – your dream – you HAVE to start with a single step. No other way will work and reaching your goals is work. Take that step friends and see what happens!