In doing some research around the internet, I disappointed to see that no one has yet created a “Parked” WordPress theme. With the increase in the popularity of domain names and parking domains, a few companies have been offering “domain name parking” services for awhile now. Popular examples of this would be Parked.com and Sedo. Unfortunately, when using one of these services, you have limited control over what is displayed, how it is displayed, and limited control over important SEO factors such as keywords/descriptions, etc (which are used to determine which advertisements are displayed).   I’ve always felt that using Google AdSense would be a better option as well.

Because WordPress is free, I’ve noticed that it has become fairly popular for domainers/bloggers to setup a WordPress site on the domain and just place PPC advertisements all over it. This gives them full control over the meta tags and display of the site, as well as helping with search engines because they will sometimes penalized traditional parked pages.

Something I would like to see is a theme designer put together a theme that is designed specifically for parking a domain, instead of for hosting a blog. You could then create some advertisement blocks for users to plug PPC code into and also include room for a picture or two.   If setup like this it would be easily interchangeable and used across a lot of domains.  Whoever takes the time to do this would have this niche all to themselves and would probably even be able to charge for it as long as it comes with a multiple-use license.

Anyone have an interest in making something like this?

For anyone who still isn’t sure what I’m talking about, here is an example of a parked page:

As you can see from the picture above, this page includes a title and a place to contact the owner, a picture on the right, and a number of advertisements where the owner of the domain gets paid when they are clicked.

While there continues to be a number of great premium WordPress themes released every month, I’ve also noticed some great existing themes that established blogs have been using are now making them available for purchase also.  One of these blogs is the Blogging Experiment blog, who recently made their WordPress theme that they use available for purchase.

Currently you can get the theme in one of two color combinations:

Blue/Orange Version

Blue/Green Version

This theme includes the a menu at the top to feature some of your best work and room for two 125×125 buttons.

The best part about this theme is that there aren’t different tiers like most other premium themes.   You pay $75.00 for whichever version you want and it looks like you can use it as many times as you want.

Check out the Blogging Experiment Theme.

I’ve finally gotten around to releasing Slick Blue, which is my first free WordPress theme.  Here is a screenshot:

Slick Blue is a 2-column widget-ready theme that features the following:

• 125×125 Banner Slots - Just replace the pictures and links with the appropriate code in the 125×125 banners file.
• SEO Friendly - I have gone through the code to make it as optimized for search engines as possible, using the appropriate headers, etc.
• Advertising Friendly - In addition to the banner slots mentioned above, you can easily plugin in PPC code (Google AdSense, BidVertiser or Yahoo Publishers Network) in the appropriate php file (named AdSenseLinks, AdSenseBanner, AdSenseBlocks).
• Widget-Ready - Theme is widget-ready.
• Comments/Trackbacks - I have separated the comments and trackbacks to help your readers follow comment conversations.
• Gravatars - Features built-in Gravatar support (no plugin required).
• Social Networking - Built-in social networking buttons below each post.
• Improved Footer - I’ve moved most of the archives to the footer. This is also a great place to put a MyBlogLog widget if you prefer to have one on your blog.
• Plugin Support - Is already setup to work with several WordPress plugins.

You should be able to find everything you need here, including a demo and a link to download.  All feedback is welcome!

Premium themes continue to be released at a fast pace and the quality seems to keep getting better and better.   Magnus Jepson has been in the premium theme game for awhile now, releasing premium themes on his own website, as well as collaborating with Adii on a Premium News theme called NewsPress.   Now it looks like he has released another theme in his “Press” series, this one called PolaroidPress.

PolaroidPress is a 2-column theme that features a randomizer that allows you to upload and use several different images for the header.   Other features include:

• Artistic background
• CSS menu
• Widget ready sidebar
• Layered Photoshop file with the multiple license pack

Here are some samples of the unique look you’ll get:

PolaroidPress Blog Page Template

PolaroidPress Single Page Template

PolaroidPress Post Page Template

You can see the variety of pictures in the headers of the above screen shots.  I also love the RSS button in the menu at the top.  You can see a live demo of the theme here.

Magnus supports his themes, offers free upgrades if any changes are made, and has very competitive prices.   You can purchase the single-use version of the theme for only $49.00, or use it on multiple websites for only $99.00. Click here to get more details!

When it comes to WordPress 2-column themes, people seem to fall into one of two categories: left sidebar or right sidebar.   Which do you prefer?

I’m not sure which is better, but in browsing through my 2-column WordPress theme gallery, one of the first things you’ll notice is that theme designers seem to prefer releasing themes with a right sidebar.   Is this a coincidence or do theme authors find that they get more downloads with a right sidebar?

I couldn’t tell you for sure, but I know that most “A-list” bloggers use 2-column themes with the sidebar on the right, so I suspect that this has something to do with the trend.  I know from my personal experiences that I prefer a right sidebar because I feel it looks better and creates a much more friendly experience for readers.

David of CyberCoder argues that people that have advertising on their websites should use a left sidebar for their 2-column theme.   His argument is that heat maps show that people read from left to right and your advertisements are more likely to get noticed on the left side.  While this is probably true, most advertising these days seems to be moving away from PPC advertising and more towards direct advertisements.   This is why the few theme designers that offer 125×125 banner slots on their themes are getting a ton of downloads.

So, what do you think?  Why do you prefer to use a 2-column theme?

I’ve been talking a bit about the need for free theme designers to spend some time building more advertising spots into their WordPress themes.  They are really in demand right now and there is currently a lack of themes that provide them out of the box.

Recently Daniel of Daily Blog Tips released the GreenTech WordPress theme, which is available for free to any interested WordPress users.   The theme was created by a friend of mine, Mayank Gupta of ReviewSaurus, as a way to showcase his design talents.

First, here is a quick look at the theme:

I think this theme is going to become extremely popular over the coming months in the same way that the BloggingPro theme did for much of last year.  Here are the features that Daniel lists:

• Advertising Ready: The theme comes with six 125×125 banner spots on the sidebar. You will just need to upload the banners to the theme “Images” folder and update the ads.php file.
• Easy Feedburner Integration: The “Theme Options” section inside the WordPress control panel enables the blogger to insert his Feedburner URL, which will be used all over the theme.
• Widgets Ready: The theme supports widgets, so just drop the ones you use.
• About the Author Section: The theme comes with a sidebar section dedicated to the author. You can upload your picture and a small description using the author.php page.
• Comments Styling: Author comments have a different style.
• Read More Tag Styling: The “Read More” tag is already styled and integrated into the design. Useful for bloggers that use post excerpts.
• Search Engine Optimization: The meta and title tags are already optimized for search engines.

If you are interested, you can view a live demo of the theme or download the theme.