Update! This is my first review of the New Rainmaker Platform. I’ve since written several follow-up blog posts on Rainmaker. See them all here! Welcome to my perhaps slightly unusual review of Copyblogger‘s new Rainmaker platform. A platform that can help you build an audience for your business, by letting you easily publish content, in the form of blog posts, podcasts, […]
The Most Frustrating Thing About WordPress
Today I answered the annual WordPress survey. You should do so to! In the text area for what frustrates me the most about WordPress, here’s what I wrote: “That each page only has one content area. Would be great if WordPress could offer a better solution than custom fields for that. More like concrete5 or […]
The Parallax Scrolling Effect – Plague or Panacea?
Yesterday, I spent a whole day digging deeper into responsive design, mobile-friendliness and parallax backgrounds. I wasn’t a big fan of parallax backgrounds… and after my research and testing: I’m still not a fan of parallax backgrounds;) They’re resource-intensive (often slow/lagging), not mobile-friendly (mostly don’t work on mobile devices), consume bandwidth… and often: they make […]
Launching Pixel Perfect! Learn How to Optimize Your Website Images – Creatively & Technically
Today I’m launching Pixel Perfect – a new, enlightening and entertaining online video tutorial. Watching this tutorial will help you understand image optimization for web, in a broad sense. Pixel Perfect is a complementary addition to my Headway Hero online video course / tutorial – about designing your own, unique WordPress website – zero coding required, thanks to the […]
Fastest Managed WordPress Hosting Comparison – WP Engine vs Flywheel vs Media Temple vs Synthesis
Important! There’s an updated, vastly expanded version of this speed test comparison, to find the fastest WordPress hosting. Check it out! In this mammoth, epic managed WordPress hosting comparison, I share with you who I’ve found to be the fastest managed WordPress hosting provider. I ‘ll pit WP Engine vs Flywheel vs Media Temple and Synthesis. An exciting fight for sure! Tip! […]
Growth Hacker Marketing Tips, Tricks & Tactics
Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m a junkie. An audiobook junkie. It all started at Amazon back in 2004 or so. I started buying books. Books about photography and design. Marketing, branding, self-help. Since then my addiction and dependency on books has escalated. Just like the archetypical pusher, Amazon first got me hooked on soft drugs (ie. […]
A WP Engine Review Worth Reading
This will be one of the best WP Engine reviews you’ll ever read. I’ll do my best to make it so. Read on! Tip! Check current hosting discounts, offers and coupon codes here » Web hosting relationships – and their relation to your WordPress web hosting woes You know the story. Just like romantic relationships, most […]
Are You a Perfectionist? or Just Passionate?
A couple of days ago, I received a comment on one of my Headway Hero tutorial videos. I occasionally get some very encouraging comments on the video lessons I produce. They all mean a whole lot to me. This comment left me speechless though. Once I started writing my reply, thoughts and words began flowing […]
The Research Payoff Curve – Stop Wasting Your Time on Research!
I just got home after a trip to Magasin (a Danish shopping mall like Debenhams or Macy’s) here in “Wonderful Copenhagen” as the Danish tourism office likes to brand our little capital. I needed some jeans and/or chinos, so off we went (yes, even Muffin the dog). The first store we went into, was the […]
My Headway Hero Journey – Lessons Learned
For a long time I’ve been wanting to write a blog post sharing my experiences and lessons learned, while making Headway Hero: my first real, full-blown online course / membership site. It’s been ride, and I have so much I’d like to share with you! Regrettably, I haven’t had the time to do so. For […]
WordPress Jetpack Publicize for Custom Post Types
This is a short blog post, to quickly share with you how to enable automatic social media sharing of custom post type content, in WordPres, via the Jetpack plugins’ Publicise module. In case you don’t know what the WordPress Jetpack plugin is – and what its Publicize module does – here’s a short backstory: the […]
An Update on the Headway Hero Video Tutorial
Today’s january 28th. The anticipated launch date of my Headway Hero video tutorial. Anyone who knows me well, will attest that I’m quite serious (arguably to the extent of being rigid) about dates, appointments, and my work. I hate when people change plans or don’t live up to their promises. Yet here I am. Is […]
How to Design Your Own WordPress Website: Announcing Headway Hero
Without further ado and to cut a long story short: my long-awaited Headway video tutorial / online course will begin: Tuesday, January 28th! That’s in less than 3 weeks:) If you’ve been asking yourself: “how do I make my own (WordPress) website” this is the tutorial that will show you how to make your own […]
A Mixpanel WordPress Plugin (in 3 easy steps)
This post isn’t about cookies. It’s about finding a Mixpanel WordPress plugin. I already moaned about cookie notices in a previous blog post. It’s not worth reading, honestly;) Nevertheless, we live in a world of cookies. If in doubt, just ask the EU “Cookie Club” who came up with the lame idea that all European websites using cookies […]
Here’s an idea: don’t set New Year’s Resolutions – set New Year’s Principles
With Christmas coming to an end, I traditionally spend considerable time and focus, thinking about, and refining: my principles for the coming year. Every year, in the days leading up to new years eve, I contemplate and write a document I refer to as my “Nytårsprincipper” (in Danish, my native tongue) – in english it’s: New Year’s […]
Social analytics and more: a Moz Analytics review
Web analytics and more specifically; social analytics… Some people hate ’em. Some love ’em. I guess it depends on individual personality. Math was anything but my favorite subject in school. Far from it. But as a business owner, no matter whether your business is small, medium or large, you’ll need to look into the numbers. […]
How to Blog for SEO? Use Google Search Console Like a Pro
Of course, you should never write for SEO purposes only. But if you are serious about your blogging – and want your efforts to pay off, and be read by real people: you’ll need to make sure they can find your hard-earned content in Google, Bing and the rest of the search gang. Some years ago, […]
Headway 3.6 beta – hopefully room for improvement?
The Headway theme holds so much promise. It’s the only theme framework that really does deliver what it says on the box. Using Headway, you can – in real life, not some upbeat marketing fantasy universe – design your own WordPress website, without coding. That’s why I’m such a big fan of Headway and recommend it so […]
Death of The Professional Web Designer
I’ve wanted to get this off my chest, for so long. Here we go: A sense of redundancy – and immense future potential Even though I make most of my living as a web designer, I have this growing, inner urge; to teach my clients how master their websites themselves – and not depend on me to do […]
Ghost vs WordPress (What I Miss Most in Ghost)
Unlike seemingly everyone else within the web design / web development community and across the global blogosphere, I’ll have to admit that I still haven’t installed Ghost – John O’Nolan‘s new, slick blogging platform (that began as a Kickstarter project) out to challenge WordPresss’ position as the world’s number 1 blog software. Why haven’t I […]
The Best WordPress Theme Framework For You: Free Guide!
It’s become more and more clear to me, that many are in doubt about which WordPress theme framework to choose. There are so many, and they all differ vastly from each other. There’s the drag & drop PageLines DMS, there’s the maverick Thesis 2.1, Headway 3 with its innovative Visual Editor, then there’s trusty Genesis now at version […]
EU Cookie Disclosure? Okay, I’ll Bend Over…
This needs to be written, both from a legal perspective, as well as to get something off my chest. I think I’m required by EU law to tell you that my site is using cookies. Duh! Who woulda known, huh? It’s one of many lame EU regulations. It means all EU websites are required to […]
Update on the Upcoming Headway Video Tutorials
My long-promised, long-awaited upcoming Headway video tutorial has been delayed for longer than I feel good about. Honestly. I embarked on creating these Headway tutorials, to help you design and build your own custom, 100% unique Headway site. And many are waiting eagerly for my Headway tutorials, which only serves to confirm the need for such a comprehensive […]
Why Social Media Analytics Tools Like Klout = Old School Hit Counters
I’ve been thinking lately… Social media marketing requires lots of thought. So much is happening, all the time, and we all try to stay afloat and gain more momentum, in our attempts to conquer the throne of “the interwebs”. I often miss more meaningful analytics. I often think about how they can become more useful. […]
PageLines DMS Review – a WordPress Theme Revolution?
PageLines DMS was “secretly rumored” for a while, and some weeks ago, some official info was finally launched. The PageLines team have definitely held their cards close to their chest, in an almost Apple-like top-secret fashion. Probably due to two reasons: 1. To avoid getting ripped off before even entering the market. Andrew Power’s confabulatory blog […]
PageLines DMS is not the only DMS in town!
There’s a new blog post over on the PageLines blog, titled “What is a DMS?” stirring up the imminent launch of PageLines DMS that will début this coming Wednesday. Update 31-7-2013: PageLines DMS review is now online! (but be sure to also read this blog post as well, it contains additional information!) The blog post lists […]
Thesis 2.1 and The Future of DIY Web Design
As most regular followers of my site will know, I was not impressed with the long-awaited release of the Thesis 2.0 theme framework for WordPress. Matt Cutts (Google’s SEO representative) and Sugar Rae Hoffman (a former Thesis evangelist) and many others have also jumped ship after the disastrous Thesis 2 release. Pre-launch, I had high […]
Headway 3.5 Wrappers: Fluid header, footer and everything in between!
No WordPress theme framework is perfect. And even more true: No WordPress theme framework is perfect for everyone. That said, I overall like the Headway theme more than any other WP theme. It’s flexible, innovative and a huge productivity booster… But alas – it’s not perfect! I have a widescreen monitor… Gimme a widescreen theme […]
How to Design a WordPress Theme From Scratch: No Coding!
As a professional WordPress web designer I often meet clients who would love to design their own WordPress theme. They wanna be able to move stuff around on the page, change font sizes, play with colors, build tailor-made landing pages, etc. All without needing to hire the services of a pro like me. I’m fine […]
Review of the Canvas WordPress theme framework from WooThemes
This is a review of the Canvas WordPress theme framework from well-known premium WordPress theme makers WooThemes. A framework is a clean theme, ready for you to skin/customize with your own design preferences. Why use a theme framework? The benefit of a theme framework is that you start from a more or less blank starting […]
The Genesis WordPress theme framework 2.0 – Have you seen the new preview?
Version 2.0 of a major WordPress theme framework is always exciting! October 1’st last year, DIYthemes released Thesis 2.0 – which, as you may know; I was sadly quite disappointed with. Luckily I have the Headway theme framework which I love for its drag’n’drop layout editor. But, some people prefer to code the their WordPress […]
Interview with Grant Griffiths from Headway Themes [podcast]
Note: There’s now an audio transcription at the bottom of this blog post:-) Today I had the pleasure of speaking to mr. Grant Griffiths from Headway Themes. Grant is dad to Headway lead developer, Clay Griffiths. We had a talk about how it works out working together in a son/dad constellation, as well as the […]
The Soliloquy WordPress slider plugin – Does it kick SlideDeck 2 in the pants?
I’m a SlideDeck 2 user, a mammoth, very flexible WordPress slider plugin. I’d never heard of the Soliloquy WordPress slider plugin until I read about it on Chris Lema’s blog. According to Chris, Soliloquy is considerably faster than my usual go-to slidedeck plugin, SlideDeck 2. When I also came across a video about Soliloquy, made by the […]
Is SlideDeck 2 the worlds best WordPress slider plugin?
Sliders, slideshows, slidedecks… Whatever you call them, they’re ubiquitous. They’re everywhere. For good or for bad. Mainstreamed and popularized by Apple. So if you have a WordPress website, chances are that you’ll also want or need a WordPress slider plugin of some sort. But which one? Free or premium? Simple or advanced? Basically, the way […]
Website Copywriting Made Simple? Try the Scribe WordPress Plugin!
Panda and Penguin killed old school SEO copywriting. Scribe v4 makes website copywriting simpler and more effective. The ultimate SEO WordPress plugin.
Giving a talk on Headway at WordCamp Denmark 2013 in Copenhagen
I’m happy to announce that I’ll be delivering a kick-ass presentation on the wonders of the Headway theme framework at WordCamp Denmark 2013, here in “Wonderful” Copenhagen as the tourist agencies brand it. WordCamp 2013 will be the third time I’m presenting at WordCamp Denmark! First time was back in 2010, about WordPress SEO. Second time […]
Headway Templates vs Headway Child Themes – The Difference!
Headway being a WordPress theme framework, and not a canned, ready-made WordPress premium theme, ready to go out-of-the-box, makes Headway a great tool for custom wordpress designers like me. To create a web design from scratch is always the way to go if you want to create a tailor-made website, specific to a clients needs and […]
PageLines theme framework – Does it beat Headway?
I’m a huge fan of the Headway theme framework, but I’ve been asked by a few readers for my opinion on the PageLines theme framework. I’ve had the chance to work with the PageLines theme for various web design clients during the last couple of years. Both PageLines v. 1.x (branded “PageLines PlatformPro”) as well as […]
WordPress ecommerce themes: Headway Storefront for WooCommerce
Yesterday Headway Themes released Storefront which is a free Headway plugin that elegantly brings full WooCommerce support to Headway. In case you don’t know, WooCommerce is the fastest growing shopping cart plugin for WordPress. Storefront essentially brings together the best of both worlds: Worlds best WordPress theme framework (Headway) + Worlds best WordPress ecommerce plugin […]
Best of the Best WordPress Hosting? My Media Temple (gs) review
If you’re a small business owner like me, you probably also have a few websites. Your business depend on them being online, accessible, stable and reliable. Tip! Check current hosting discounts, offers and coupon codes here » Choosing a web host can be a frustrating experience! And I’ve been there: Horrible support and unstable, slow servers, […]
Free Headway Tutorial Videos (UPDATED)
UPDATE!! Check out my Headway online course featuring Headway video tutorials, plus much much more than tips and tricks: it’s a full course on how to design your own, custom and 100% unique WordPress website, zero coding skills required! As you may already know by now, I’m a big fan of the ultra unique and […]
Thesis 2 Skins – Where are they?
Ever since Thesis 2 was finally released by DIYthemes aka Chris Pearson in early October 2012, customers have been waiting for the release of the promised, supposed-to-be-bundled, Thesis 2 skins. Namely the Pearsonified skin, and the Social Triggers skin. But these two Thesis 2 skins… Still aren’t available! In my popular (and quite frank) Thesis 2 […]
Mayan Calendar Predictions vs Terence McKenna
Fortunately, the world didn’t come to an end on December 21’st 2012. That’s obviously a good thing! I never expected it to, though. What most people don’t know, is where that whole “the world will end” idea originated from. Yes, almost anyone has heard that it’s because of the ancient Mayan long count calendar ending […]
Scrolling vs The Fold – What Should YOU Do?
Many people – fellow web designers and clients alike, often hyperfocus in an obsessive compulsive manner about “the fold” as if scrolling is this dirty bitch that should rather be hidden down in your basement. There is this common perception that scrolling is always bad. That having *anything* below the fold is somehow dirty, and […]
Save 33% on The Headway WordPress Theme Framework
Just wanna let you know that the great guys behind Headway – Grant Griffiths (dad) and Clay Griffiths (son – they’re family, isn’t it cool?) are running a time limited Fall Promotion on Headway – my favorite theme framework for WordPress by far – it simply kills the competition! Now’s the prime time for you […]
Making It All Work – The New Testament of GTD
Productivity guru David Allen is the man behind the Getting Things Done productivity system, aka GTD. A phenomena with many fanatic fans and dedicated followers. Some even say GTD is the holy grail of personal productivity. When I first “read” David Allen’s first book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity I got intensely […]
DIYthemes Thesis 2.0 – Less Than Impressed. Depressed.
Thesis 2 by DIYthemes was vaporware for years. Now that it’s here, I gotta say it sucks! Built for everyone, yet only geeks will be able to figure it out.
Pump up your business with The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz
A few years ago I was at the annual entrepreneur fair Iværk & Vækst here in Copenhagen, at which a guy called Mike Michalowicz was booked to deliver a talk on entrepreneurship. When Mike entered the stage I must admit my first thought was something along the lines of: Oh no… That guy looks exactly […]
Why I love my Fuji X100 camera
I love my Fuji X100. First of all, it has saved me a lot of money. I was strongly considering a Leica M9 or Leica M9-P. Thanks to the wonderful guys in the Photografica camera-store here in Copenhagen, I had a chance to play around with, and shoot with, both the FujiFilm X100 and the Leica […]
Create Your Product **Before** You Create It
As Stephen Covey (who sadly died recently) proposed in his classic 1989 book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – you should start with the end in mind.