Lets get right into the tip from the expert before I even get to the article. I really love the colors on the site Arno Nel 2.0.   Reading it one night I came across a great tool at ColorCombos.com.  You pick colors or use an image, and the tool will select complimentary colors for you.  Why is this important?  Websites are art, and the colors help create the mood of that art.  You can see my theme above used the drab green for icons.  I chose my primary colors, then used the color combo tool to get some great complimentary colors to use elsewhere in the site.  The “I” in About never changed, but it no longer looks so drab.    

I chose a very difficult WordPress template called The Morning After.  It uses a magazine style layout as opposed to the traditional columned layout.  Three of the .php pages require cut & paste code edits just to make it WordPress 2.3.1 compatible.  I don’t recommend this theme for beginners.  You need detailed instructions to get the layout correct.  It also does not support widgets.   Such is the cost of trying to do something unique and stand out from the crowd.

First I added a few place holder images and blah-blah text to see if the theme even functioned properly, after making sure to disable Ping-o-matic.  This site is going to be very image heavy.  That’s just going to make the SEO job harder later.  I’ll have to maximise the use of Alt text and img file names later when I sprinkle my keywords.  The Morning After Theme requires each post to have up to 3 images.  A featured image, a latest post image, and a thumbnail.   Tough work if you update often. 

Next I added 2 AdSense blocks as placeholders.  These may be replaced with other ads depending what advertising my affiliates offer.   The theme came AdSense ready, so that part was easy.  Besides the All in One SEO Pack,  I added Really Simple Sitemap and WP Contact Form III to simplify navigation.  Linking to these pages allowed the header to function properly. 

The homepage really started to fill out, all except the title.  The blog name was the same as the URL, and needed more pizazz.  I came up with a catchy name that put 3 of my prime keywords into the title.  Googling my new title showed promising results.  Next up was to make a new header graphic.  The site had to appeal to women.  No race cars allowed.  I’m undecided if I want to use stock photographs, or take my own. I signed up for Flickr and have been searching a few online directories to see if what I’m looking for can be purchased cheaply.  For now, the site remains on hold while I gather pictures.

2nd Article in a series where I try to create the highly touted “Niche Blog” using advice from online experts.