Copyblogger

I may be a lot of things, but a professional web designer I am not.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy technology. In fact, I consider myself a technically savvy person. However, the stride between being comfortable and being professional is Shaq-sized.

So, like most dad bloggers starting out, I was faced with the dilemma of cost vs. ability. In other words, I could either shell out some coin to have a site designed for me or I could settle for a professionally designed theme and try to manipulate it myself.

Suffice it to say that spending $2,000 on a site design was out of the question. At least that’s what my wife told me.

No, the only reasonable choice was to host my own site and buy a theme that would be “tinker” friendly. Something that would be reasonably hard to break. A theme built by professionals, but with nice aesthetic controls so I could make it mine.

Drum Role Please!

After nearly going blind searching for just the right look, I happened to notice a reference for StudioPress themes on Copyblogger’s website. I figured that if a juggernaut blog like Copyblogger was referencing a product, I should probably check it out.

Interestingly enough, I had also been tasked with creating a church website during that same time. So, my search was two-fold: Find a theme that could offer me something simple that would focus on content…and also one that could function well as an interactive organizational site.

Enter the Prose and Church child themes built on the Genesis Framework. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before I was sold…and all this before I had even contemplated an affiliate relationship with StudioPress.

Here’s what hooked me:

The turn-key controls allowed a novice to make an array of changes without having to write any code.
The framework and themes are optimized and secure.
One purchase of the Genesis Framework and a Child Theme means that you could use it on as many sites as you needed.
All of the updates are unlimited and they are handled automatically.
One price allows you unlimited technical support.
Advanced SEO tools are built in so that changes in search optimization can be made easily.

Easy Peasy

Of all that goes in to owning a blog, the build and maintenance of the site doesn’t have to be complicated.

StudioPress made it very simple to build an attractive site that functions the way it should. And on the upside, the low cost of the site allowed me to scrap the impending sale of my kidney!

With a little patience, some willingness, and a small investment of time, your dad blog will be up and running with style and ease.

Trust me dads, your organs will thank you!

I know this post may be a little off topic but hopefully those reading will provide me a little latitude!

For some time I have subscribed to Copyblogger, which is a popular online copywriting and content marketing publication. Besides the fact that it is a very useful tool for anyone maintaining a blog, they write often about the challenges of staying inspired to write.

Despite the reality that I don’t even scratch the surface of their 105,000+ subscribers or their 50,000+ Twitter followers, I am sure that a few of you have noticed my general “lameness” as of late. While my inconsistent posts can be attributed more to a sheer lack of time, I have been experiencing the drain of enthusiasm that Copyblogger warns of.

Now, I am not sure if my drive started to leave me when I was installing our new flooring or when the dust started to fly from a wall being knocked down, but it left nonetheless. Of course, it could have also been the fact that the thought of writing caused me physical pain after having spent a couple of weekends crawling around on my hands and knees.

Okay, I’ll stop whining like a little girl!

For those of you that could care less about my writing plight, the point here is that our own neglect is often the very cause of our dwindling inspiration. As was the case before the creation of this blog, the more time I spent without writing, the more my drive sank in to the proverbial “toilet.” Imagine that, you actually lose interest in things when you fail to spend time doing them! I would suggest that this is the case for most of the things in our lives; relationships included.

The challenge then, is how willing we are to include some things, all the while knowing that it will be at the exclusion of something else. As I have written about previously, the activities of our lives say a lot about what we find important. We may not necessarily like what we see at first, but what purpose do priorities serve if they don’t cause us to make some revisions now and then?

As for myself, I think it was after the third time of hitting my finger with a hammer that I became re-energized to get back to some of the things that carry real value for me. Sometimes there is nothing like a little blood to get your head straight!

How to Have a Great Life and a Great Business (copyblogger.com).

StudioPress: A Daddy Blogger Must

Back From the Blogging Grave

Related articles by Zemanta