Loving WordPress is SO easy! You got thousands of great looking blogs, custom themes, free themes, premium themes and designers go beyond that by using WordPress as CMS for their non-blog projects. A while back I showed you 10 non-blog websites powered by WordPress, and now it’s time to take a look at 10 more!

If you have any additions to the list and wish to suggest a website for a future post, do so by adding a comment.

1. ProBar

Visit ProBar

2. Krispy Krush

Visit Krispy Krush

3. The Salon

Visit The Salon

4. Imaginaria Creative

Visit Imaginaria Creative

5. Lyndsey Hamilton Events

Visit Lyndsey Hamilton Events

6. IOKON Media

Visit IOKON Media

7. Loja Birds

Visit Loja Birds

8. Bug Interactive

Visit Bug Interactive

9. Ville de Falaise

Visit Ville de Falaise

10. Cow Says Moo

Visit Cow Says Moo

Yes! WordPress is fun. And easy!

If you’re looking to have a site built on WordPress, I can help you through my WordPress focused design studio.

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The time when WordPress was used strictly as a blog platform is long gone. WordPress has evolved into a mature CMS that gives designers and developers the right tools to create amazing non-blog websites for their clients. As proof for that stand these 10 beautiful websites powered by WordPress.

FernWoodCoffee.com

Visit website

Herout-Caves.com

Visit website

SearchInsideVideo.com

Visit website

Discounted.ro

Visit website

Healogix.com

Visit website

Emploi-Manche.fr

Visit website

HotelParadiso.it

Visit website

Typechart.com

Visit website

P41Studios.com

Visit website

EnrouteFilm.com

Visit website

Do you know more?

If you have more samples of beautiful non-blog WordPress websites, feel free to leave a comment linking to them, and I’ll create a follow-up to this post to include them.

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Today I’ve done a couple of updates to the blog which include:

• Updated to WP 2.7.1 after adjusting a couple of scripts;
• Added links for “Subscribe to the comment feed” and “Jump to comment form” above the comment list;
• Separated comments from trackbacks to make it easier to follow the conversation;
• Added gravatar support and display to comments.

I would love to hear what you think about the changes and also if you have other suggestions as well.

In anticipation of a possible question, the “Respond to comment” feature has not been implemented because with the current theme, I believe that it will break the clean/clear flow of comments. Maybe at a later time.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

A new edition of ‘Domain names for bloggers’ is here. This edition will also be the last on Blogsessive since I’ve been working on something new the past few weeks that will replace this successful series. On average, about 50-60% of all the suggested domain names have been registered, which makes me think that this lists deserve a “space” of their own. Stay tuned and I’ll keep you updated on the progress of this new project.

Today’s list features available domain names related to WordPress, web, design and development. So, pick your favorite, go register and start blogging with a great name!

Web & Design Domain Names

• TutorialLounge.com
• BeautifulTypography.com
• DesignCaseStudies.com
• CSSeffect.com
• ByCSS.com
• CSSsnippet.com
• WritingCSS.com
• BetterHTML.com & BetterXHTML.com
• CodeImprove.com
• WPDesignBlog.com
• WPGoddess.com

For further help, please read the How to Register a Domain Name for Your Blog article on Blogsessive.

Also, if you find this post helpful and you register any of the domains above, please leave a comment with the registered domains, so that I can erase them from the list, and it would be nice to know that one of my readers registered them.

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It’s a proven fact that a blog post’s footer is a “pause zone”. That’s why, people encourage you to place ads there, because you have more chances of catching the eye of your readers.

But, if it is a good place to place ads, why not take it one step further. Sure, some bloggers placed links to social media websites or to related blog posts in that are, but not giving it its deserved design attention minimizes its impact on readers.

Why not treat that area as a separate element of your blog’s structure? Why not take advantage of any of its effects:

• Encourage further reading;
• Promote featured content;
• Traffic growth;
• Bounce rate reduction;
• Social media exposure;
• Encourage subscription and many more.

As a reader of Blogsessive you must have noticed each post’s footer, and from my experience as Blogsessive’s webmaster, I can confirm that the results are amazing.

After tweaking the design and encouraging users to subscribe, my subscribers’ count almost doubled in a matter of weeks.

It’s a shame that mostly design blogs have adopted this technique, while other bloggers think that a “ShareThis” widget and a “Related posts” plugin does the job. It does part of the job, when you could get more!

They did, and now pride themselves with a big readership and followship:

GoMediaZine.com

Devlounge.net

Tutorial9.net

NetTuts.net

The next time you reconsider your blog’s design, keep an eye on this area too. Make sure you use its full power.

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It’s a fact. Readers want RSS updates. They are easier to manage, to search and follow. And when readers wanted them, bloggers provide.

Have you ever wanted to subscribe to a blog’s feed, but no matter how much you searched, you could not find the link? It’s frustrating!

The RSS subscription box is one of the most important elements of your blog’s design. It offers a good deal of branding solutions and it can turn out to be decisive in your readers’ choice of following (or not) your updates.

Let’s observe together these 10 RSS subscription box designs and draw conclusions at the end upon the DO’s and DON’T's.

FlashDen Blog

David Torondel

Lutův Blog

Loodo

We Are Not Freelancers

Adi Pintilie

BrumBrum – Chris Brummel

Whitley Journalism

Ciclismo Urbano

BienBienBien

RSS Subscription Design Tips

Nice designs right? So, based on them, what conclusions can be drawn?

RSS placement

• The link must be visible;
• Best choices are the top banner (header) and top of sidebar (s).

RSS link size

• Definitely not huge;
• Medium works best;
• Good placement can compensate for a smaller size.

RSS design

• Casual users are used to the RSS logo;
• Integrate the design with the overall blog layout;
• Play with the icon, but keep some elements of the original design.

Extra options

• Add a message, encourage visitors to subscribe;
• Add an email delivery option.

I’m sure that if you follow these (not so many) rules, your RSS subscription box will definitely boost your subscriber count, not to mention the good effects on your blog’s design.

Note: This post marked the launch of a new post category on Blogsessive – Blog Design – covering design tips and inspiration.

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One of the most important and accessible visitor-to-reader conversion tool you have at your disposal is the blog homepage.

Having a poor homepage structure combined with the lack of relevant information or ways to find it will definitely push visitors away from your blog, while a clean, intuitive homepage will most likely become a decisive factor when it comes to turning visitors into readers.

From design aspects to coding advice, this article is dedicated to the process of improving your blog’s homepage.

Blog Homepage Design and Usability Tips

Your design is a very important factor in the visitors’ decision on continuing to browse your blog and eventually come back to read newer posts later. Don’t get me wrong here, as I said in a past post, content is king still, but for it to really make a difference there are other conditions that should be met. One of them is a good design.

By good design I mean a layout that perfectly fits your blog’s topic and target. Excessive, flashy, eye-candy graphics are not required on a financial blog, for example, but would be an added plus on a design/inspiration blog.

No matter the niche of your blog, there are a few things that will definitely improve your visitors’ experience, helping them find their way around through the huge amount of information that blogs usually contain. While in some cases you may consider skipping one or two of them, most times, checking all of the following would be a great idea:

1. Get a custom logo design;
2. Get a custom blog design;
3. Use a smart, descriptive tagline;
4. Encourage visitors to act;
5. If it’s important, keep it above the fold;
6. List recommended and/or popular posts;
7. Use extended post excerpts;
8. Add interactive elements.

Below you can read more about each of these requirements.

1. Get a custom logo design

Step out of the ordinary. Get an original, memorable logo, one that would speak about you and your blog. Sure, a custom logo requires an investment, but then again, no pain – no gain.

2. Get a custom blog design

Want to impress your visitors? Then, get a custom blog design. Even if it’s a totally original design, or a customization of a premium or a high quality free theme, you’ll definitely create a stronger impression on your visitors. If an original or premium theme requires too much money, you could start with one of the themes suggested in these 2 posts: 20 Free 3 Column WordPress Themes & 20 Free Corporate WordPress Themes.
Also, a mascot, something that people will always associate with your blog can also be considered. A mascot will also add an emotional factor in the visitor-blogger relationship.

3. Consider a smart, descriptive tagline

A tagline will be one of the first things your visitors will read. Make it short, smart and 100% relevant to you blog and visitors will know right from the start that they’ve come to the right place.

4. Encourage users to act

The time spent by a visitor on a page is extremely short. Make smart use of this time, not by driving you visitors crazy looking for options, but by offering them the most important options upfront. Encourage them to navigate through your blog, to search for more information, to subscribe to your feeds.

5. Keep important stuff above the fold

In web design, “above the fold” refers to the first scroll window. Give your users most of the things they need from the first glance on your blog. Consider a top navigation for pages with a “Home” button, since not everyone is used to clicking the logo to return to the homepage. Offer a search facilities and subscription options in the first scroll window.

6. Recommend some of your most important blog posts

Displaying a list of the post popular posts or personal favorites will encourage users to further browse through your blog.

7. Use extended post excerpts

In some cases, bloggers decide to only display blog post excerpts on the homepage. If you’re one of them, consider using the <!–more–> tag to display extended excerpts for at least one or two of the most recent posts to keep your visitors interested and to allow them contact with your writing style from the start. My next post will explain how you can achieve this from the coding perspective.

8. Add interactive elements

Consider using interactive elements like polls or forms (but keep them short and relevant). This kind of elements will encourage interaction between visitors and and blog, thus creating a strong relationship.

Conclusions

Think of your blog’s homepage like it was your own home. Would you keep it the way the constructor created it? Wouldn’t you want to paint the walls in your favorite color(s)? Wouldn’t you want to add furniture, paintings to add that personal touch and to create comfort? It’s just the same with blogs, only that instead of thinking only through your specter of wishes, you should also consider your visitors’ needs and action routines.

Instead of making them look for everything, try and offer most options (not necessarily all) upfront, but be careful not to create chaos instead of a clear, organized and useful structure.

Photo credits to Chris Lim.

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I know I wanted those visits and I got them! Further more, I kept on getting lots of new visits for a long period of time. Even now, almost 3 months after.

For me, a blog’s design is always a key element (of course, along with content) in deciding whether to come back and read again, or not. I know, I’m a designer and I have an appetite for good looking websites. But then again, would you prefer reading the same content in a unique, beautiful layout or a poor, overused one? This is one thing I’ve already told you in my past blogging tips articles, now let me argument that!

When launching Blogsessive I had to deal with the choice of winning time buy using a free, but customized theme, or creating a new one from scratch. For 2 weeks I used a free template, until I finally managed to find time to develop the one I currently use.

Beautiful easily turns into popular

When I applied the new theme to my blog, I took the time to submit it to almost every important design gallery I’ve found on Google, and went through all of them from the first 2 results pages. Although I’ve submitted to about all of them, the most active was the listing on CSS Mania who sent Blogsessive about 2000 visits in a matter of 3 days.

The total amount of visits from these galleries finally peaked at about 4000 visits, but that’s not all. Every week I keep getting hundreds of visits from those listings or from design blogs that linked here (adding to the Technorati authority).

How many of those visits have been converted to readers? That really depends on your niche. If you have a design blog, you’ll probably convert quite a few of them, but as your topic get further from design, you’ll convert less. Still, it’s a great jump start for a blog that would get little to no traffic at all. In the end, it’s similar to getting a good Stumble Upon reaction.

Before the listings, nobody knew about Blogsessive. The next day I started receiving organic traffic for the “Blogsessive” search.

Where to find a good designer

There are many places where you could find professional help in designing a beautiful, unique theme for your blog. You could post a listing on Elance or Guru, or use Google to look for freelance designers, but remember that most times, high quality comes with high investment. Make sure you take a good look at your future designer’s portfolio and references and see if the investment is equivalent to his job quality.

Daniel Scocco wrote a great ProBlogger guest post a few days back on how to get a professionally designed blog. It’s very informative and you should read it. Also, take a look at the comments too. Some interesting things were mentioned there.

Don’t be shy

If you’ve already found someone but you’re not quite sure about the price-quality balance, I’ll be happy to offer my views on the matter, just drop me an email.

Be inspired!

Photo credits to Zoran Ozetsky.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive