Out goes the blue and orange feel, and in comes a bolder, fresher look with cleaner lines and a nice mix of red, white and grey. It’s a colour scheme I’ve always liked and forms the design basis behind both Bonsai Interactive and the SRM Group.

The awesome logo and banner (and the mix of the colour scheme) is by the hugely talented Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics over in L.A. Lisa is also doing some more design work for the blog – this is just part one, and is the combination of Lisa’s graphic ideas and me overhauling the old design with this one, thanks to the Headway theme, on Sunday afternoon.

Having seen what Lisa has in store for the second part, I’m looking forward to sharing the final look with you – it’s definitely quite funky! And if you need any WordPress design work, make sure you pop on over to check Lisa and her work out.

What do you think of the new look? Love to hear your feedback!

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

Blog Design Revamp Part 1 originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

I’ve written about it more than once on here, and I use it on the three sites I’ve created so far, with more to be shared soon. In fact, it’s the only product that I’ve fallen in love with so much that I’ve signed up as an affiliate. So yes, when it comes to premium WordPress themes, Headway stands head and shoulders above everything else (at least I think so).

Yet as much as I recommend the theme, it’s still only words (and obviously the design of this blog, the 12for12k site and Just Kickin’ It) that tell you some of the cool stuff Headway can do. Sure, I can say it’s easy to use and it really does make your life a hell of a lot easier when it comes to designing your blog/website. But words only tell half the story.

Which is why this video from David Wang is perfect. In less than ten minutes, he takes the standard Headway theme layout and transforms it into a great-looking business site. Sure, it’s just the home page and you still need to add all your other pages and posts. But as an example of just how quickly you can begin to build your blog/site, under ten minutes is pretty damn impressive! Have a look for yourself.

Now that you’ve seen how simple it is to make the Headway theme sing on WordPress, what else does it have in store for you? Currently version 1.6 is in beta, and I’ve been messing around with it behind closed doors. Some of the cool features include:

• Live CSS editor. While the theme allows you to make a great website with absolutely no coding needed, it also allows you to get as down and dirty as you like with coding. The new live CSS box means you can drop CSS code in and see the changes take place right in front of your eyes – no saving and checking to see how it looks.
• Skins and Templates. When Headway first hit the premium WordPress theme market, one of the things it promised was the option for skins. This is where you can upload a specially developed skin that changes the look of your blog completely (if you don’t want to design your look yourself). This is now live with Headway 1.6 and you can access them from within the dashboard or from dedicated theme stores.
• Default Leaf set. Headway uses a system called Leafs, which is basically your content body and sidebars (albeit in a far cooler, interactive way). While you can use any mix of set-up for your blog, with a different sidebar on every page, Headway 1.6 allows the option of a standard leaf throughout your site. Perfect if you don’t want any extra work when designing your blog.
• Automatic SEO slug clean-up. This is a great new feature that cleans up your search engine visibility by removing words like “the” and “and”, etc, that Google doesn’t really bother with. You can switch this on and off in the SEO area of Headway.

These are just some of the features that the guys behind the Headway theme will be bringing to you soon. The beta is almost ready to go live, and will be available as a free upgrade for existing users and available for purchase to new users imminently.

Watching the new features that developer Clay Griffiths puts out in each new update is almost like a game in betting on just what he won’t add in each new version – it’s that crazy how much he gives WordPress bloggers. And the support is second-to-none as well.

If you’re looking for a new premium WordPress theme, Headway delivers in spades. And as a special promotion, any purchases of the theme via this blog in March will see all affiliate earnings go to the current 12for12k charity.

So, the best premium WordPress theme around and all Headway sales going to charity – what better time to upgrade your blog? Just click on the image to the right to get your copy.

• Update: The Headway Developer License now allows you unlimited use of the theme with no need for additional license costs – a huge advantage over other premium themes.

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

Why the Headway Premium WordPress Theme Kicks Ass originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

The father and son combination of Grant and Clay Griffiths, along with Michael Martine, have put an awesome piece of kit together for WordPress users. With its visual editor as well as custom coding, Headway is ideal for blogs, websites, membership sites and a whole lot more.

Now the best WordPress theme just got even better.

Thanks to the kind guys over at Headway, all 12for12k supporters can save 25% when buying the Headway theme. All you have to do to receive the discount is one of the following:

• Be an active part of the 12for12k community.
• Wear the special 12for12k avatar on Twitter (if you haven’t got one, email your Twitter username and picture to 12for12k).
• Provide a copy of Paypal or ChipIn receipt of any donation made to previous 12for12k charities.

Then, when you’re about to buy the Headway theme, contact me using the Headway option on my contact box for the special 12for12k discount code. Simple. And with 50% of all sales going to the current 12for12k charity on whatever month you buy, the 25% saving you make and free updates for life, what better time to get your hands on the awesome Headway WordPress theme?

My sincere thanks to the guys over at Headway for this amazingly kind partnership.

• Disclaimer. I’ve been impressed with the Headway premium WordPress theme from the start and it’s the only theme I’ve ever set an affiliate account up with. If you’re thinking of buying it and do so via any of my links, 50% of the affiliation revenue will be donated to the current 12for12k charity on your behalf.

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

Headway WordPress Theme and 12for12k Partnership originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

Now that Headway 1.5 has been officially released, however, the real power behind it will start to show as more people start exploring its engine room. This goes for normal bloggers like me as well as hardcore developers and coders.

For example, one of the features that some WordPress theme developers are talking about is the drop-down navigation menu. This is a really useful option to let you highlight features and services that you might offer but would otherwise take up space on your navigation bar. The problem is, most other themes need you to mess with the CSS code just to enable drop-down navigation. Not Headway 1.5.

In fact, not only can you set up a drop-down nav menu, you can rearrange the tabs as you go, as well as the position of the nav menu itself. And did I mention this is all without a single drop of CSS coding? And better still, all the changes happenin front of your eyes – no need for jumping back and forth between saves to see the changes.

While content may be king, you can’t dismiss good site design and Headway 1.5 makes it simple for anyone to have the latter taken care of.

And who doesn’t like simple?

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

• Disclaimer. I’ve been impressed with the Headway premium WordPress theme from the start and it’s the only theme I’ve ever set an affiliate account up with. If you’re thinking of buying Headway 1.5 and do so via any of my links, 50% of the affiliation revenue will be donated to the current 12for12k charity on your behalf.

Navigation Made Easy with Headway 1.5 WordPress Theme originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

I’ve been using the Headway theme on this blog for around 3 months now. In that time, I’ve been consistently impressed with the way it allows changes on the fly to any part of your theme, simply by using its drag-and-drop design. I’ve also been impressed with the way it allows the choice of blog design with or without custom CSS or HTML coding. More than anything, I’ve been impressed with the support and business ethics of the developer Clay Griffiths and his father Grant.

So, yeah, I’m already a huge fan of Headway. Now, though? The game just got raised for premium WordPress themes with Headway 1.5 and it’s going to change the way you look at blog and website design forever. Here’s why.

Visual Editor

Yes, you read that right – Visual Editor. If you think that making changes, saving and then checking how it looks on a standard WordPress design is a pain, wait until you get a load of Headway 1.5′s Visual Editor. Simply put, once you’ve used it you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it before (right-click on the image below and open in new tab to see the Visual Editor layout).

When you’re logged into your WordPress admin area, open up your main homepage and at the top right you’ll see a box that says “Enter Visual Editor.” Click that and be prepared to be blown away.

Four boxes will open up (which you can place anywhere on your screen, and minimize/maximize as needed) – Site Configuration, Navigation, Leafs and Headway Visual Design Editor. These are all overlaid on your live web design so any changes you want to make you can see happen in front of your eyes as it’s being done. To enter any of the Headway 1.5 visual editor modes, simply click on the area you want to change.

So, for example, I want to change the colour of my navigation menu. I’ll click my mouse onto the navigation bar, and the Headway Visual Editor box will open up a drop-down menu titled Navigation Item. To make sure I’m on the right area of my design to edit, I can click on the “Call This Element Out” box and it will highlight the area I’m about to edit. Cool, huh?

From there, I can change the text colour, the navigation bar colour, the right border colour and dimension, as well as the font I want, the size of the font, whether it’s upper case or lower case and if I want the text to be bold or normal. I can even choose the spacing between the letters. I make my changes and then hit Save – and that’s it. You can mess with the colours and text before saving and really get the design that you want.

This goes for any area of your blog design – main content, hyperlinks, sidebar widgets, footers, headers, post titles. If you can select it on page, you can edit it. Of course, there’s a lot more to the Visual Editor feature than just pretty colours – so what else is there? The main one you’ll be using is the site configuration.

Site Configuration

The site configuration box on Headway 1.5 allows you to set up your blog anyway you want and is a huge addition to the Visual Editor. By choosing from the tabs at the top of the configuration box, you can play with the following:

• Header – choose if you want to upload a custom image; if you want to show a blog tagline (if you don’t use a custom header); show navigation and breadcrumbs (or not); fixed or fluid header; header re-arranging enabled (drag the header above or below the nav bar); and a really cool feature, right or left navigation menu position, all from the click of a mouse.
• Posts – set up the meta for each post; how many featured posts you have; whether you have small or regular width teaser posts under your main content; and disable excerpts.
• Comments – choose whether to allow comments on pages as well as posts; avatars or not; set up a default avatar and avatar size.
• Footer – choose from a fixed or fluid footer; and what copyright and admin links to have showing as well (a nice touch to prevent the need to edit in your footer CSS).
• Site dimensions – does exactly what it says on the tin. Choose how wide your site design is (standard width 950 pixels with 20px wrapper).

You also have a Navigation box, which allows you to show navigation sub-pages, hide the Home link, and lets you drop-and-drag the navigation bar to re-arrange the position of the page tabs. And if you want to have drop-down navigation menus without having to resort to CSS coding, Headway 1.5 does that too.

The Headway 1.5 Leafs box is also incredibly cool. Leafs are essentially Headway’s content and sidebar boxes, and allow you to truly customize your look and feel. Choose from 1 sidebar, 2 sidebars, left or right positioning, and widgetized footers. True to form, the Visual Editor allows you to play to your heart’s content with the Leafs box:

• Enable both Arrange Leafs and Resize Leafs, so you can make your content box and sidebar as wide or as narrow as you want just by dragging the box around.
• Add Leafs – choose from Content, Widget Ready Sidebar, Text/HTML leaf, Featured Post, RSS/Recent Posts, Image Rotator (have up to four rotating images in the same box); About (about me, company or blog); Twitter updates; and Photo Gallery.
• Linking – amazing little tool that allows you to link a complete leaf to anywhere on your blog. From pages to blog content, categories, archives, etc – seriously, this little feature kicks ass and once again shows the power and versatility of Headway 1.5.

Oh, and did I mention you can do all of this right before your eyes? Add in the fact that there will be Headway skins available soon (and the option to develop and give away/sell), as well as Certified Developer Licenses and a Youtube channel for you to connect your videos with, and it’s clear that Clay and Grant Griffiths are really looking out for WordPress users.

Headway 1.0 was an outstanding first release and clearly made some other premium WordPress theme developers sit up and take notice. Ease of use, CSS/HTML coding, first class search engine optimization capabilities and built-in social media integration – all that and more made the first release pretty special. With Headway 1.5 the game has been changed again.

While there are some great premium themes around, I think it’s fair to say that Headway 1.5 is head and shoulders above what anyone else is currently doing, whether you use the Visual Editor or your own custom CSS/HTML (or both combined).

If you’re serious about your WordPress site theme design, watch the video below then buy Headway 1.5 – it really is that good.

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

• Disclaimer. I’ve been impressed with the Headway premium WordPress theme from the start and it’s the only theme I’ve ever set an affiliate account up with. If you’re thinking of buying it and do so via any of my links, 50% of the affiliation revenue will be donated to the current 12for12k charity on your behalf.

Why Headway 1.5 is the Future of WordPress Theme Design originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

Well, the votes are in – as in, I’ve made my mind up – and my favourite reason (and the one that wins the Headway theme) is this one:

As someone who changed from Thesis to Headway for the very reasons Charlotte mentions, I feel her “pain”. And the use of “shitty first draft” just seals the deal – anyone designing a new blog or site knows that feeling all too well!

So, congratulations to Charlotte – I’ll be contacting you soon with the details.

For the books, I’ve added a couple more – two copies of Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It! (review coming soon). So, without further ado…

• Copy of Trust Agents – James Hayes
• Copy of Six Pixels of Separation – Jon Buscall (he asked so nicely!)
• Copy of Crush It! – Ching Ya and SW Hood

Thanks again, guys, for helping to make this blog so enjoyable to write, and I’ll be in touch soon for shipping details. Cheers!

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

And the Winner Is… originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

So quiet, in fact, that I never realized that this blog’s one-year anniversary had come and gone on September 30.

To be honest, it doesn’t feel like a year. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but it seems only yesterday I decided to go full-on self-hosted blogging as opposed to the Blogger and WordPress.com ones I’d run before. Guess it’s true that time really does fly when you’re having fun. And it sure has been fun so far!

Looking over the archives, the blog’s evolved since the very first post. So here, in no particular order, are some of the highlights of the last 12 months.

Stats and Facts

• 354 posts (including this one) with 4,598 approved comments so far
• At time of writing, 3809 subscribers either by RSS feed or email
• 5 theme design changes, with the most recent moving from Thesis to Headway
• Google Page Rank of 5 and Alexa Rating of 75,598 (at time of writing)
• Featured in the AdAge Power 150 list
• Syndicated through the iEntry, WebProNews, Newstex and Social Media Today networks

While I’m nowhere near the big numbers and lists that other bloggers have or are featured on, I don’t think it’s too bad a start. Besides, numbers are just to keep calculator makers happy. I’m also only too aware and grateful of how big a part you guys have played by visiting, reading and subscribing, so thank you sincerely for continuing to pop by.

Favourites, Funnies and Fights

Of course, a blog’s made up of three main things – posts, readers and comments and there sure has been an eclectic mix of all three over the last 12 months. Again, in no particular order, here are some of my favourites from over the course of the year. Be warned – some comments include fruity language!

• Favourites. Probably one of my favourite personal posts was Pale Blue Dots. I’m always looking to be inspired and the video inspiration behind this post is a prime example. The same would go for Celebrating the Mountains, I guess, where I suggest we all encourage each other. I’m also really grateful for the conversation that opened up around Virtual Stalking – A Real World Problem. A viewpoint can instigate change and there are some great ones on display in that post. Speaking of viewpoints, the ones that were shared on Are You Abusing Your Social Media Voice? were brilliant, and another reason why companies need to look at the bigger picture in this space.
• Funnies. Life can be a serious thing – we can be swept up in our work, personal issues, financial worries and more. It’s good to laugh now and again, and Sue Murphy offers that with You Know You’re Not a Social Media Guru When… Back in July, you could also take part in the Social Media Drinking Game (which could get you very drunk, very quick!). There’s also some decidedly obvious bullshit at play when someone says My Gift to You – Hurry, Offer Ends Soon! Be wary of the sales pitch…
• Fights. I guess a blog isn’t a blog unless there are some scraps along the way, and this one’s no different. One of the first was when I asked Does Twitter Monitor Its Brand? The comments came flying in, and are (I feel) a good example of open comment policy. People have points of view – if you’re going against something, offer supporters of that something to have a voice too. The most recent was my Response to Barbara Talisman’s Misinformed 12for12k Post, which saw an amazing show of community for which I can never say thank you enough.

Combine guest posts from amazingly talented people, interviews about social media, videos, and even a Blog Talk Radio addition, and it’s been an eventful first year to say the least! So, where’s this present for you, I hear you ask?

To celebrate the first year (and hopefully many more), I want to offer a little thank you. As I mentioned, I now use the Headway Theme for my blog. I’d like to buy someone a copy for their blog (note – it has to be self-hosted and on WordPress). Just leave a comment why you’d like Headway for your blog and the best reason gets the theme – simple! I’ll also help you get it up and running on your blog.

I’ll leave this open for a week from today. Additionally, the second best comment will receive a copy of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents, and the third best comment will receive a copy of Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation.

Thanks for joining me on the ride so far, guys, I really appreciate it, and hope I can keep you coming back for more of what you’d like to read.

Cheers!

photo credit: Dustin Diaz

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

Happy Birthday and a Present for You originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

While I’m a big fan of Chris Pearson’s Thesis, I found it wasn’t quite so user-friendly for making major design changes (unless you were a decent level of coder). Because of this, many of the blogs using Thesis have a very similar look. Enter Headway.

Developed by Clay Griffiths, Headway takes some of the best ideas from Thesis, adds a whole bunch more, and mixes it all together in a powerhouse WordPress theme. Ideal for everyday WordPress users as well as intermediate and advanced coders, it’s one of the most flexible themes I’ve ever used.

I’ve only just started customizing my blog and already I love the way each page has a different feel. When I really get to work expect some real changes! (Note: the redesign took me around 6 hours from basic framework to fully customized, with no CSS or HTML coding – this is all from out of the box).

Some of the features include:

• Drag and drop design.
• No two pages the same.
• SEO customization on no-index, no-follow, do-follow, meta, tags, posts and pages (everything, then!).
• Unique “Leafs” system that lets you add text, media and widget boxes on the fly.
• Easy visual color and font editor for making your own completely personalized skins.
• In-house Twitter synchronization and social network options.

I could keep writing about how cool Headway is, but you’d get really bored of my praise, I’m sure. Instead, check out the Headway site, watch the videos, and check the theme out for yourself. Or, mosey round my blog and see the different designs for different pages.

Just a note. Since I’m a Headway affiliate, any sales of the theme result in a percentage for me. So, here’s a deal – for any theme ever purchased through one of my links or banners, I will donate 50% of the affiliate payment to the current 12for12k charity in your name. Sound fair?

• Update Tuesday November 3 – the game just changed radically with Headway 1.5 and its visual editor. Check out all the details here.

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

Making the Switch to Headway originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.