Based on the response from Wendy Piersall’s Problogger post, I realized that many bloggers want to use a search engine optimized theme but don’t know how to evaluate the code. I also got many requests to review specific themes. Instead of writing “Best themes for SEO” posts forever, it seemed like a better idea to create a site for this, and that’s the basis of WordPress Theme Review.

The site offers thumbnail images of the theme in use, as well as info on whether or not it supports tags and widgets, if there’s a cost, etc., but the main feature is that each theme is assigned an SEO score (out of 100) that helps the average user know how optimized the theme is.

Bottom line, if you’re interested in getting an off-the-shelf theme (which are usually free or inexpensive), you can easily browse the best WordPress themes for SEO purposes and find one that fits your style and will help you in the search engines.

Social media websites such as Digg, Netscape, Reddit, Del.icio.us, and Stumble Upon send thousands of visitors to blogs and websites everyday. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of articles about becoming a top user of these sites to build your traffic. While they are all tremendous sources of traffic, getting a significant number of visitors from these sites can take a lot of effort—especially with Digg, Netscape, and Reddit.

If you’ve avoided social media marketing because you don’t have hours every day to spend submitting articles and voting on those submitted by other users, you are missing out on countless potential visitors.

For the average user the main problem with the most popular social media sites is that it can be difficult to generate any kind of traffic to your site. Most of us are completely overlooking the opportunity to benefit from 2nd tier social media sites that send decent levels of traffic and can make it easier for the time-starved blogger to succeed.

Literally hundreds of lesser-known social media sites exist that present far less competition for the top spots. Yes, they will send less traffic than Digg, but if you choose the right ones to use you can see substantial results.

Some of My Favorites

DZone: A community for developers that allows users to submit links. Other users then vote for links they like or dislike. The best ones make it to the “popular links” page and get sent out to over 8,000 RSS subscribers.
Alexa rank: 5,196

Sphinn: Targeted towards search and interactive marketers, Sphinn is a new site that was the beneficiary of some good publicity from SEOmoz recently. Sphinn is similar to Digg or Netscape with a voting system for posted articles, but it also has an area for discussion and networking.
Alexa rank: 109,326

Ma.gnolia: A social bookmarking site similar to Del.icio.us, but with a more attractive appearance.
Alexa rank: 7,418

Furl: Another social bookmarking site similar to Del.icio.us and Ma.gnolia. Like Del.icio.us, Furl’s homepage also shows the most popular items.
Alexa rank: 4,052

Listible: Social site that has a voting system for user submitted articles.
Alexa rank: 25,921

This is just a small sample to give you an idea of what’s out there. I have a list of social media sites at www.vandelaydesign.com/socialmedia/listofsites.htm. As you’re looking for sites to join, look first for those that specialize in your particular niche. Those that are of a general nature probably have users that prefer a certain type of content. Take a look at what is popular there and see how you would fit in.

With less users competing for the top spots, these sites can all help to increase your traffic and readership quickly. The best method is to pick one or two of these sites that you want to target, sign up, and become an active member.

How to Succeed with 2nd Tier Social Media Sites

1. Provide good content. It’s the same key to success at any social site, large or small.
2. Be active. Read what other users have submitted and vote for the articles that you like. Also, submit other articles than just your own writing.
3. Build your network. If your blog already has some readers, write a post about the site that you are targeting and encourage your readers to sign up as well. With some of your readers signing up and voting for your articles you will be on your way to being one of the top users.
4. Make it easy to submit or vote for your site. After you join, many of these sites will give you the option of placing a button on your page (similar to a “Digg This” button) for readers to vote for your page. This is especially effective if you’ve already introduced the site to your readers.

The Possibility of Even More Traffic

If the amount of traffic that you can generate from these sites doesn’t excite you, take a look at the bigger picture. People who use these 2nd tier social media sites are probably also using some of the leaders. They may find your website at Furl or Sphinn and add it to Del.icio.us or Stumble it.

In fact, that’s exactly what happened to a few of my articles recently. I am an active user of DZone, and I’ve seen the rolling effect that social media sites can have. Getting to the popular page with DZone is not that difficult with the right content and it can easily bring a few hundred visitors in a day from one article.

I had one of my articles (that was generating little traffic on its own) become popular on DZone and within a few hours I got an email that it had made the front page of Del.icio.us. Sure enough, over 500 people have now booked the article. A day later that same article started getting traffic from Stumble Upon. In the next week Stumble Upon sent several thousand visitors to that page. The point of this example is that all of the traffic I received from major social media sites would probably have never happened if it hadn’t started with DZone.

Make the most of the time you spend marketing your blog by getting involved in some lesser-known social media websites. You may be surprised by the results.

1. Clarify the business goals for your blog
2. Commit to blogging goals for long-term success
3. Why create an “ideal reader”?
4. How to identify your ideal reader

Like most things in life, blogging is most effective when you have a target to shoot for. People write blogs for many reasons: passion about a subject; fame; direct income; getting leads for their existing businesses; even just killing time. Often it’s a mix. At first, the goal is usually more a vague feeling than a concrete set of criteria.

For consultants, business goals for blogging need to be specific and focused, and typically might include demonstrating expertise, creating a national platform, educating existing and/or potential clients, gathering leads, and getting early feedback about new ideas.

Most bloggers pick two or three goals like these to focus on. One financial advisor I’ve worked with is using his blog to test-drive ideas, prove he’s an expert on his topic, and make a little direct income from advertising.

Another financial adviser (referred by the first) is using his blog to educate his existing clients with in-depth reports. His blog makes it easier to distribute the information, and that’s its sole purpose.

Your specific goals will determine what kind of progress indicators you monitor, and will also affect your expectations. For instance, the first advisor might be thrilled when he starts to see a thousand visitors a week. The second advisor would be equally thrilled with 30 visitors a week, if they’re the right ones.

Your turn: Business goals for your blog

Take a moment to think about what you want your blog to do for you. Start out with the vague concepts, for example:

• “Make me famous”
• “Get more clients”
• “Launch a national platform”

Then move to how you would know if you reached your goals:

• “Have 1000 regular readers”
• “Get three inquiries a week through the blog”
• “Be contacted at least twice a month for an interview”

Your goals may be very different from the ones above. The key is to find the core thing(s) you want your blog to accomplish, and then define the concrete results you’ll be aiming for.

This post is a draft excerpt of the blogging book I’m writing for consultants and other experts. Click on the link to find out more and sign up for updates.

Click To Play

XV – Revised

We like this theme’s code because it:

• validates
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• emphasizes your blog name
• emphasizes your blog’s description
• uses unique page titles

Hemingway for Wordpress

We like this theme’s code because it:

• validates
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• uses unique page titles

Hemingway reloaded

We like this theme’s code because it:

• validates
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• uses unique page titles

Rounded Blue V2

We like this theme’s code because it:

• comes very close to validating
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• emphasizes your blog name
• emphasizes your blog’s description
• uses unique page titles

Freshy 1.0

We like this theme’s code because it:

• comes very close to validating
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• emphasizes your blog name
• uses unique page titles

Now, I’m a little biased , but I think one of the best ways to get a great theme with great code is to have it built that way; you get the best of both worlds: a custom theme that represents you perfectly, and great, search-engine-friendly code.

However, I’m also a realist, and know that many bloggers can’t/don’t want to put cash into their blogs, so I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some beautiful WordPress themes that also feature excellent, search-engine-friendly code. Read on to see the first five selections (in no particular order). (Hold your mouse over a “reason” to see a slightly longer explanation.)

Iceburgg

We like this theme’s code because it:

• validates
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• uses unique page titles

Gridlock 1.4

We like this theme’s code because it:

• comes very close to validating
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• emphasizes your blog name
• uses unique page titles

Fresh (Compact) 1.2

We like this theme’s code because it:

• validates
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• emphasizes your blog name
• uses unique page titles

Time Manager

We like this theme’s code because it:

• comes very close to validating
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• emphasizes your blog name
• uses unique page titles

Fluid Solution

We like this theme’s code because it:

• comes very close to validating
• has better-than-average code structure
• emphasizes your post titles
• emphasizes your blog name
• emphasizes your blog’s description
• uses unique page titles

This will be an ongoing series, so if you want to know about a particular theme, leave a comment and we’ll consider the theme for future evaluation.

Wendy of eMoms at Home did a great writeup on ProBlogger yesterday where she talked about the importance of a well-coded blog template and described the phenomenal results she saw when I implemented a much better coded them for her (the number of people that Google sent her doubled the next day). Wendy explored the reasons for that and the result was the ProBlogger post.

I want to go into a little more background here so that you’ll understand why the theme change made such a huge difference. Most people choose a blog theme based strictly on how it looks (and that’s definitely a valid concern, since it’s setting the tone for your blog) but aren’t aware that the behind-the-scenes details of the code can drastically affect the way the search engines “feel” about your blog.

A brief history of blog themes

Way back in the early days of blogging most blog themes were created using the popular code technology of the day: HTML tables. Tables were a nifty way of coding that allowed designers far more control over where things showed up on the web page than we’d ever had before. Designers loved tables, and in 2000 or so, they were everywhere.

But lo, times (and technologies) change. Since that time, HTML tables have gone way out of fashion, and this isn’t just an arbitrary shift. When it comes right down to it, HTML tables were never really intended to be used for laying out a design, and they weren’t very efficient. Along came a new technology called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) that really was intended for positioning designs, and worked much better.

Beyond the fact that CSS was created just for this task, it had some profound effects on the way HTML code is written. It dramatically reduced the amount of “extra” code that’s needed to put things in the right spot, which in turn made it much easier for the search engines to sort through the code and find the meaningful pieces of content. It also helped the search engines identify the important pieces, like titles and headlines.

Because the new code is easier for the search engines to use, sites (and blogs) that use this new code are at a real advantage over sites that use the old code. The technology keeps improving, and now it’s possible to effectively “tell” the search engines what parts of a given page are most important—and the search engines “listen.” A site that uses the new code to the fullest naturally sees much better results.

Enough theory! Let’s get practical.

So what can you do if you have a theme that’s working against you? And more critically, how can you tell if you have a theme that’s working against you? Well, it’s a little tricky, because most people find all code to be equally indecipherable, and kind of like it that way.

One tool you can use is the W3C Validator. This tool lets you put in your blog address and test to see if the code in your theme is “legal” code (meaning it follows the rules). You’ll see either a “Valid” message or the number of errors that are standing in your way. It won’t tell you if it’s using the newest code, but the chances are very good that if your blog is declared “Valid”, you’re on the right track.

Don’t panic if you have a few errors… say, less than 15. A few errors tend to come in just from really common mistakes that often have nothing to do with the theme itself (for instance, if you forget to end a link in a post). If you have more than just a few errors, though, it’s likely that your theme is pretty flawed.

What to do?

If you have reason to believe that your theme is a problem, what should you do?

If you’re a business and even remotely serious about your blog (or website), you should seek professional help. A professional developer can whip your existing theme into shape or create a new one that’s well designed both in terms of look and code. It doesn’t cost much in the overall budget of a business, and it will play a big part in the overall success of your blog or site.

But what if you’re an individual? Most people can’t afford to pay much for a hobby, so if you’re in that category, what you want is a well-designed free theme. This can take some trial and error. (You literally have to try adding the new theme, run it through the Validator, and see how it does. Rinse. Repeat.) You’ll be off to a great start, though, if you look for themes that say they were built using the Cutline theme or Sandbox. Those are two kind of “base themes” that are very well designed, code-wise, and provide a great starting point for other designers.

If there is interest (say so in the comments!), I’ll also be glad to do a list of really well-written free WordPress blog themes.

The primary benefit is not that RSS allows people to aggregate hundreds of information sources. Most people don’t consume information like that (at least not at this stage of the web). Geeks and bloggers do, and that’s the problem. We often explain the benefit that we receive, instead of thinking about how a regular person consumes online information and what their motivations and fears are.

RSS is perfect for content delivery because it empowers subscribers, protects their privacy, and allows for zero-hassle unsubscribing. That’s the story that needs to be told in order for the power of blog marketing to be all it can be in the mainstream.

People need to understand why RSS is better than email for them.

How well are you communicating this benefit to your readers? I know I haven’t done this as well as I could, so if you have any thoughts on how to do a good job of this, I’d love to hear them!