This video shows you how to install WordPress fast on your website using Fanastico in Cpanel.  It’s the quickest and easiest way to install WP that I know of.  I am using Hostgator to demonstrate this.. they offer cpanel and fantastico with their hosting plants.

And I’m sick right now so sorry for how I sound.  More videos to come.  If you like these videos let me know!

Quick video on how to embed screenr screencasts into wordpress.  It’s super simple and fun!

Matt Cutts from the Web Spam team at Google showcases the good and the bad of WordPress as seen through the eyes of Google, including basics on how Google search works and how you can boost your blog’s results in Google searches.

Felix over at Richwp.com has come up with yet another great new wordpress theme called Showcase (Photo). This theme is exactly that… a wordpress theme to showcase your photos/designs/products etc.

What’s unique about Felix’s themes are that they are clean and minimalistic meaning that the focus goes to the content (your images) and that’s what I like about them. They aren’t cluttered up with stylized design that goes out of fashion in a few months time. The focus should be on the photos and that’s why this theme stands out from all of the many photography wordpress themes out there.  And I dig that the navigation menu is condensed down into a simple drop down menu.

Simple homepage with image slideshow.

Gallery page displaying all your images.

Normal blog section so you can blog like normal.

Showcase Theme Features:

• Easy standard size banner integration for 234×60px, 250×250px, 125×125px banner
• Two color schemes – Bright and Dark (see Live Demo and Screenshot)
• Widget Ready
• Automatic image size generation. All photo sizes needed across the theme will be assigned and generated automatically.
• Easy installation and setup with included documentation.
• Threaded comments support
• Gravatar support for comments
• Extra “Sitemap” page template
• Fron Page Templates: Slideshow, Blog, Gallery
• Compatible up to latest version – WP 2.8.x
• Works in all the latest major browsers Firefox V2.5 and up, IE6, IE7 and up, Chrome V1 and up, Safari 4

Be sure to test drive the live demo (theme is located towards the bottom of the homepage) to get a feel for this theme. I think you’ll be quite impressed.

If you’ve been blogging for awhile or looking to start up a more professional blog for your business then ultimately you’ll want to invest in a premium blog theme. Premium blog themes offer benefits that free themes do not such as support, admin control panel options, advanced ad features, etc. Since I am a huge fan of wordpress and have been using it for over 4 years now I have come across (I think) almost every premium wordpress developer ever. This isn’t however an exhaustive list because I looked at which developers are still upgrading their themes (to atleast WP 2.8). If I found a developer who’s last blog post was several months ago with no mention of theme upgrades I didn’t include it. There’s no reason for me to promote outdated themes so I excluded them. So here they are, wordpress developers currently producing the best premium themes on the market.

	Thesis stands above all the rest in its advanced features. From layout options, typographic control to built in SEO capabilities Thesis is really a steal at the price. This site is powered by Thesis! Be sure to check out the demo.
	iThemes has been around a long time. They offer a wide array of premium wordpress themes for every type of site imaginable. From corporate themes to themes for photographers iThemes offers something for everyone.
	StudioPress premium themes are perfect for a small business or an individual looking to establish their online presence with WordPress. We offer professional services for internet marketing, search engine optimization, content management, blog and web design.
	Woo Themes have made a name for themselves by offering a large number of high quality premium wordpress themes. You can join their membership club or purchase only one at a time. You’ll be hard-pressed to not find a theme you’re looking for.
	RichWP offers a number of professional themes to choose from. Even though they are new to the theme market they offer themes that are unique and worthy of promotion. Especially unique are their photoblog themes.
	Elegant Themes offers a wide range of themes you can gain access to by joining their club. And for only $20 a year this is one of the cheapest clubs around. Elegant Themes also releases themes on a regular basis so be sure to check them out.
	Gorilla Themes really shines when it comes to producing premium themes for real estate agents. They offer quite possibly the best looking wordpress themes for real estate around. Don’t overlook their other themes though.
	Graph Paper Press offers a wide range of premium wordpress themes. From magazine style themes to themes built specifically for photographers or media producers. A lot of the themes are free as well. Great use of javascript should be mentioned.
	Arthemia is only one of the main themes that Colorlabs produces. Perfect for blogs with a lot of content, If you are running an online magazine or a corporate website, Arthemia Premium might just be the solution you’re looking for.
	Wp Remix makes all you control freaks content with a premium blog theme that is highly customizable. If you’re comfortable with a WYSIWYG editor and want a theme with unlimited ability then check out WP Remix. You won’t be disappointed.
	Theme Galaxy offers 8 premium wordpress themes to choose from. If you’re comfortable editing theme files you might want to take a look at their theme andromeda. If you’re developer these could be the themes for you.
	Unique Blog Designs offers a great niche of premium blog designs for those that are concentrated on earning money from their sites. They really focus on the affiliate marketer and offer a range of themes that don’t disappoint.
	Gabfire Themes offers premium wordpress themes that are perfect if you want to run a magazine style blog or have tons of content. They currently offer 5 different themes to choose from and from the demos you can see that content is what these themes love.
	Zidalgo is a premium wordpress theme vendor that offers 4 premium wordpress themes with clean code. If you can’t find what your looking for from the many other wordpress vendors try them. Definetely worth giving a look.
	Themeshift is run by Simon Rimkus, a German web designer who has been designing wordpress themes since 2007. His designs are very clean and professional looking. What others offer in quantity Simon offers in Quality. Check them out.
	ThemeForest… What’s there to say. If you you haven’t browsed the unique wordpress themes at Themeforest you’re really missing out. Tons of designers and tons of themes. You’re bound to find what you’re looking for here.
	PremiumThemes offers a theme club where for one price you can download and use any theme you like and they create new themes every month. R.Bavesh is the founder and has produced some nice themes to check out.
	SoloStream designs and delivers Premium WordPress Themes that make it easier and more cost effective for small business owners to connect with their customers, make a name for themselves and earn more money.

If you’re a wordpress theme developer developing premium themes and you’re not on this list please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Listed below are 12 of the most popular portfolio wordpress themes out of 52 listed over at themeforest. Some of these themes are as cheap as $20. The majority of them contain some pretty cool javascript effects. I’m still amazed at some of these themes. The quality of design is pretty outstanding compared to the price and what you get for your money elsewhere.

12 Popular Portfolio WordPress Themes

In a hurry? Click any of the thumbnails to jump to the theme and description below.

Sleekslide, Your Folio, Briefcase, Folio Theme, Design & Photography Theme, Blue Leather Theme, Design Showcase, SleekTabs, Sketchbook, Showcase Theme, Photo & Graphic Studio, Ambiguous, Leviathan

Why use wordpress to power your portfolio?

Same reasons why you should run any website on wordpress. It’s easy to use, free, customizable, easily updatable content and search engines love wordpress.

SleekSlide Portfolio Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Sleekslide Portfolio is a Portfolio Theme with 4 different Skins (View Demo).

The theme comes with a sleek portfolio item slider to promote your latest workpieces.

The Mainpage also contains your latest blog entries as well as some personal information, a typical mash for portfolio themes.

Sleekslide features beside the Sleek Slider are:

• 4 different styles to choose from
• Admin Page to easily switch between styles
• Ajax improved contact form
• Jquery multilevel dropdown menu
• Psd Files included
• 3 different Widget areas for posts, pages and mainpage/portfolio page
• Unobtrusive Javascript, Fallback scenarios if Javascript is turned of by the user
• Works in all major browsers (notice:slightly different sliding animation in IE6 because of browser limitations

Purchased 388 times

(by 385 customers) WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price: $30.00

SleekSlide Portfolio Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Your Folio

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

Your Folio is a wordPress portfolio theme designed to be used as a personal online portfolio as well as personal blog. This theme has 5 different styles to choose from, allowing the user different color and font options. The homepage is a dynamic mashup of your recent blog posts as well as your recent portfolio work.

UPDATE – 4.10.09

Updated files, fixed a few bugs people reported. Fixed non looping issue, collapsing issue, added an auto-rotating feature to the featured items area, added extended basic formatting support, and a host of misc updates.

Your Folio Features Include:

• Rotating JavaScript Featured Area on Homepage
• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Sidebar Widget Ready
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Seperate Portfolio Section
• Seperate Blogging Section
• Sidebar About Me Widget
• Integrated Flickr Showcasing
• 5 Built In Selectable Color Settings
• And Much More…

Purchased 376 times

(by 375 customers) WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25.00

Your Folio <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Briefcase Portfolio WordPress Theme

Your WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 1, Widget Ready: No, Functionality: Blog

Briefcase is a fun, bold, portfolio theme for WordPress. This theme allows you to showcase your work, while adding subtle personal touches. With a large billboard featured area on the homepage, to large bold, list and post views on the interior pages this theme will enable you to showcase the best of your work.

This theme comes with 4 color options available through the theme settings in the admin section, as well as the ability to post a project and determine whether you want it to be feature in the homepage Javascript billboard area.

The comments are is nicely done making it easy for reader and users to read through comments left on your posts. The comments box itself floats down the page with the user when there are multiple comments on any given post.

Features Include

• JavaScript Based Featured Area on Homepage
• Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Homepage About Me Bio Section
• 4 Built In Selectable Color Settings
• Flickr Photos Integration
• Floating Comments Form
• And Much More…

Purchased 287 times WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 1 • Widget Ready No • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25.00

Briefcase Portfolio WordPress Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Folio Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

Folio is a theme designed with the intent of being platform for your personal portfolio showcase as well as working blog. The themes homepage highlights your most recent featured project as well as posts in an easy to navigate format.

This theme comes with 5 different color accent options.

Features Include

• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Gravatar ready
• Sidebar Widget Ready
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Flickr Showcase
• Sidebar About You Bio Area
• Much More…

Purchased 285 times

(by 284 customers) WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25.00

Folio Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Design & Photography WordPress Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

This is a cms premium wordpress theme optimized for gallery and portfolio websites (webdesign , photography ,3d design, or use your imagination)

Features:

• TWO theme formats :
• Thumbnail at the bottom with full content area at the top.
• Thumbnail on the right and content area on the left (optimized for photography 3:2 aspect ratio)
• Automatic image resizing and elegant lightbox effect(custom field) :
• Atomatic thumbnail creation
• Optional : atomatic resizing + lightbox effect for the gallery
• Automatic thumbnail resizing for the blog section
• Blog section :
• Optional : you can use a category as a blog section.( and enjoy all classic blog features ), this category will be automaticly excluded from the portfolio.
• Easy to manage options from the theme admin panel
• Choose the portfolio format
• Choose featured category
• You can select a category for ” the blog section”
• Excluse pages from page navigation
• Excluse categories from category navigation
• Order categories in the menu.
• Feedburner feed replacement
• Insert code in footer
• Featured section
• optional: choose a featured category to be displayed on homepage

• Flexibility and functions:
• you can use “different” widgets on home page and blog section
• The Slider – you change the slider options
• automatic sliding (on/off)
• animation speed
• type of movement
• More features:
• Full support threaded and paged comments .with elegant style (wp 2.7)
• Support for gravatar
• Widget ready ( prestyled widgets)
• Paging navigation instead of next and previous links
• And a lot of other style improvements

• 9 COLOR schemes
• red , blue ,light green , orange, yellow , pink ( feminine )., dark green , purple , and brown.
• very easy to customize the logo. It is on a white background just place your logo and you’r done
• Package Includes:
  • Theme files :Valid Code , seo freindly , support for all major browsers.
  • PSD file for the logo.
• Documentation:
  • Pdf Help File (with screenshots).

• Compatibility . wordpress 2.7.x (recommanded) , wordpress 2.6.x
• For the image resizer Be sure you have PHP 4 .3 with GD-library installed on your server. or just PHP 5 ( is better.)

Purchased 274 times

(by 273 customers) WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25.00

Design & Photography WordPress Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Blue Leather WordPress Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Blue Leather is a wordpress theme for anyone who wants to display photos, designs, projects along with other business info in a complete CMS theme.

• CMS functionality
• Widget ready
• JQuery Slider for featured projects
• Easy featured projects setup using custom fields
• Easy general setup

Purchased 195 times WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $30.00

Blue Leather WordPress Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Design Showcase

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Design Showcae is a highly customizable WordPress Showcase Theme with a lot of Javascript goodies and administrative options.

The theme supports community building through the possibility of letting logged in users create a favorite post list of entries they like. It makes great use of space through sleek tooltips, automated sidebar tabs and dropdown menus.

Other features:

• Breadcrumb navigation with nested page/category support
• CSS Drowpdown Menu enhanced with jQuery
• Gravatar Support
• Comments of Post Author and admin are highlighted
• Seperation of comments and trackbacks
• PSD for logo and Buttons included: the text is made out of layer styles and fully editable so you can easly change the name of the site.
• Valid HTML /CSS works in every major browser (Firefox 2+3, IE6 , 7, Safari, Opera)
• All Javascript options a really unobtrusive: if javascript is turned off no dead anchor links or similar remainders will be displayed

Purchased 183 times

(by 181 customers) • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $30.00

Design Showcase <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Sleek Tabs 3-in-1 WordPress Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Sleektabs is a jQuery enhanced, premium WordPress Theme that loads all contents dynamically via AJAX and displays this content with a smooth sliding transition.

Sleektabs comes with 3 different skins you can choose from: standard, grunge and coffee

Features:

• Sleek content sliding animation. Sleektabs does NOT limit you like other themes do: the content box adjusts its height automatically so you can load whatever you like. From static pages, to portfolio items to blog entries or categories, Sleektabs can handle everything
• Option of preloading content, linked in the main navigation, for smoother transitions
• 3 Skins to choose from (see Screenshots)
• Unobtrusive Javascript: unlike similar themes Sleektabs does work 100% without javascript, so you can reach people with javascrit turned off as well
• Ajax contact form
• Many more: Valid HTML & CSS , ajaxed comments, widget ready, works in all major browsers (IE6, IE7 , FF, Opera, Safari, Chrome) etc
• All PSDs included

Purchased 172 times

(by 170 customers) • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $30.00

Sleek Tabs 3-in-1 WordPress Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Sketchbook Portfolio Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

Sketchbook was created with the online professional in mind and is geared towards an online showcase of blog and portfolio for the creative individual.

This theme comes with a few custom options, such as you can select if you would like an overall light clean airy feel (view the screenshots), or if you would like a more bold dark impressive look and feel.

This theme also comes with the feature of 6 built in header color options to choose from by default.

The homepage is complimented with a billboard type javascript featured portfolio items area to showcase your latest work right away for your visitors. This feature will display the 10 most recent portfolio posts along with that portfolio items image.

The homepage will also display your 3 most recent blog posts below with the option to modify the number of posts you would like to have displayed in this area.

Features Include

• JavaScript Based Featured Area on Homepage
• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Sidebar Widget Ready
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Seperate Portfolio Section
• Seperate Blogging Section
• Sidebar About Me Widget
• 6 Built In Selectable Color Settings
• And Much More…

Purchased 168 times

(by 167 customers) • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $30.00

Sketchbook Portfolio Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Showcase Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Showcase Theme Features:

• 125×125 sidebar adds, fully managed by a Custom Admin Panel in wordpress admin.
• Footer is widget ready, right and left side.
• Custom random image rotator in the middle of the footer.
• Browser compatible (IE6, IE7 , Firefox 2+3, Safari, Opera).
• Thumbnails and larger images are inputed using custom fields.

Purchased 125 times

(by 111 customers) • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes • Documentation Well Documented • Layout Fixed

Price $30.00

Showcase Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Photo and Graphic Studio Theme

WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

This is a very unique and stylish wordpress theme suitable for photographers, graphic designers and web designers.

Features:

• Valid CSS /XHTML Files (1.0 Strict)
• Commented and clean CSS /XHTML, and theme files
• Full layered PSD Files
• All browser compatible
• Flash like, jquery based 2 type showcase (Easy setup with custom fields)
  • Fullscreen background for photography and graphics
  • Fixed size in content for web works
• Modern look WEB 2 .0 style layout
• Editable auto cycle and dotted pattern on background (showcase)

Includes:

• Main and detail PSD layouts
• Photo & Graphic Studio WordPress Theme Files
• Help Document

Purchased 93 times • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25

Photo and Graphic Studio Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Ambiguous Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

Ambiguous Portfolio WordPress theme was developed to showcase your work. Ambiguous has a large featured portfolio items area well placed on the homepage showcasing the best of your work. Also on the homepage are your most recent blog posts. In the sidebar there is a custom twitter feed feature, about widget displaying brief info about yourself, and a site search feature.

This theme comes with 6 selectable color settings built in. Buy today and have your own personal portfolio up and running in no time at all.

Features Include

• Rotating JavaScript Featured Area on Homepage
• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Sidebar Widget Ready
• Gravatar ready
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Seperate Portfolio Section
• Seperate Blogging Section
• Sidebar About Me Widget
• Custom Twitter Syndicator in Sidebar
• 6 Built In Selectable Color Settings
• And Much More…

Purchased 65 times • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Ambiguous Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

Levitation Portfolio Theme

An outstanding wordpress portfolio theme… Levitation has a ton of features and has been super succesful so far. Levitation is a WordPress Theme (works with 2.8+), best suited for Business and Portfolio sites. It comes with 5 sleek skins and 2 different front page designs.

Some Features:

• Valid XHTM Strict1.0 and CSS 2 .1, (tableless Design)
• Multiple Page templates:
  • Index Page
  • Alternate Index Page
  • Static Page
  • Blog Overview Page
  • Blog/Portfolio Single Page
  • Portfolio Overview
  • Contact Page
  • Error pages, archives etc etc
• jQuery Support:
  • 2 different Portfolio/Item slider, supporting unlimited items
  • Dropdwon Menu, improved with jQuery
  • jQuery 100% unobtrusive wich degrades gracefully if javascript is turned off
  • Gallery Page with lightbox
  • Working ajax/php contact form
• Huge admin area to customize the theme from your WordPress backend. want to edit the image slider, need to add multiple portfolios or a different sidebar widget for each page? no problem at all
• Font Replacement for headlines with cufon
• All PSD files I used are included for easier modification
• Extensive Documentation Included

Check out the Demo.

View 41 more portfolio themes over at Themeforest.

^ Back to top

New Photo Nexus Theme (NEW)

Photo Nexus wordpress gallery is a 2 column , 2 color variation ( Bright and Dark) theme.

This theme is great for those who need a convenient way to publish and showcase a self managed Gallery of Photos, Art work or Designs.

The theme features modern yet minimalistic style so that your work will be guaranteed to be on focus. The theme comes added with Admin theme options so you won’t need to manually edit the files to get it running.

Features

• Two themes. Bright or Dark
  
• WordPress 2.7 Compatible
• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Valid CSS and XHTML 1 .0
• Gallery page with dynamic thumbnail creation.
• Browser compatibility: IE6 , IE7, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome

Website Effects Features

• JQUERY Slide for Featured photos
• Fade in Fade out for Category photos
• Glow thumbnails

Easy Customization

• Easy to customize logo
• Full CSS
• 1 PSD file for logo
• Uses FREE District Thin font for logo

Compatibility and Guide

• Works across all Major Browsers
• Valid XHTML and CSS
• Commented Code
• Getting Started step-by-step guide INCLUDED

Photo Nexus wordpress gallery – View Demo & Buy – Price $20

NOTE: This post is kinda old.  You might want to check out this WP plugin for setting up a calendar on your site.

You can easily add a Google calendar to your wordpress blog using this handy plugin.   All you have to do is download the plugin, add it to your wordpress plugins folder like usual and activate it.  You’ll then have to grab a Google data api key here, then create a public calendar in Google Calendars where you’ll need to grab the public XML feed for your calendar.

Below you can click on the first screenshot to figure out how to find your calendar XML feed URL to use in the plugin settings.

Having a public calendar is very useful for those who need to display events on their site. Photographers, musicians, event cordinators, etc. can make use of Google calendars right inside their sites running wordpress or even on static html pages.  If you don’t use wordpress you can embed a Calendar using the iframe embed feature inside of Google calendars.

Hope the screenshots were helpful if you had a hard time finding the XML feed URL to use.

Note: that you need to include the XML feed URL to the full feed, not the basic one for this to work. So you need to replace the word basic to full in the feed URL. There is no link to the full feed that I know of in Google Calendars.  So this http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/youremail@gmail.com/public/basic becomes http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/youremail@gmail.com/public/full. Note that I just changed the last directory from basic to full.

Interested in seeing the Google Calendar in action on a wordpress blog?  Visit this page: Charleston Live Music Events -Link is no longer working.

Update: There is a new wordpress calendar plugin you might like.

SEO WordPress theme video where I reveal Brian Clark reveals some aspects of the theme I’m using here and why it’s great for SEO.  I go over the main aspects of why this theme is SEO friendly.

You can read more in dept at my post titled “Best WordPress SEO Theme“.

If you want you can purchase this theme here.

Looking for the perfect wordpress theme to display your photographs? Are you looking for a more professional photography website? Or maybe just a photo blogger?

If you’re a photographer or artist and you want to use wordpress to run your site there are some themes available that focus on photography you can use. WordPress is free to use and it makes running a website a lot easier then it used to be. Below is a list of wordpress themes specifically geared towards photographers.

WordPress Photography Themes

In a hurry? Jump to any theme now: Showcase Theme, Gallery Theme, Pixelhappy, Photoblog, Flash Frame, RichWP Photo Theme, Photo Nexus(NEW), Revolution2 Album, Fresh Folio, eGallery, Digital Gallery, Viz Biz, Photo Gallery, Snapshot

The Rich ShowCase theme is a well-designed solution for your portfolio and photo gallery demands. The theme lets you publish photos in hierarchical galleries, and albums. Besides that, the Rich ShowCase theme takes care of all your blogging needs as well.

Pixelhappy theme from Studiopress is a clean and versatile theme which you can use for your photography business. It has many options including 1, 2 or 3 columns, multy-threaded comments and drop down navigation.

Photoblog Theme

Photoblog is a nice looking theme from WPZoom that includes many cool features like drop-down menus, featured slideshow on the homepage to display featured posts, widgetized sidebars, dynamic image resizing, integrated social media icons and comes with different page templates such as full width pages.

What’s really unique about this theme is that it has a built-in image resizer so you can upload very large photos and they’ll be resized with links pointing to each of the various sizes… great if you want people to download your images.. maybe say.. if you’re giving away free wallpapers. This theme is perfect for photobloggers. Compatible up to wp 2.8+

Gallery Theme

Gallery theme by WPZoom is another great looking theme to display photos or any type of imagery you can think of from landscapes, design, architecture, screenshots, photos of your family… you name it. It comes with really nice drop-down menus, a themes option page, widgetized sidebar, 5 color styles and gives you the ability to link to all your social media profiles (which is very important these days!). And also threaded comments which allow your commentators to reply to each other.

Flash Frame Theme

FlashFrame is a very clean photography theme from Shutterthemes.com and seems to be very popular. On your homepage it displays one image at a time and fades into the next to produce a nice slideshow. Then it gives you the ability to also blog in a seperate section of your site. So your homepage is very subtle and clean and then you can display all of your other blog posts and pages on subpages of your site. This is by far one of the most clean and elegant wordpress themes for photographers.

Rich WordPress Photo Theme

This is a new theme that offers a bit of a change of pace from the usual layouts scene on photography blogs.

Fast and Easy Installation
The RichWP Photo Theme is easy to install. You don’t need to hack the source code. So o PHP or HTML knowledge is required. All configurations can be made from within the WordPress admin panel.

Easy Content Management
Upload your photos in any size you like. Add additional information like title, description and meta information. Choose a category and publish. It really is that easy. WordPress and the RichPhoto theme ensure that your photos will be resized to require minimal download time with the highest photo quality possible.

Features

• Automatic Image Size Generation. All photo sizes needed across the theme will be assigned and generated automatically.
• Easy installation and setup with included documentation.
• Gravatar support for comments
• Free updates
• Compatible up to latest version WP 2.7.1
• Works in all the latest major browsers Firefox V2.5 and up; IE7 and up, Google Chrome V1 and up

New Photo Nexus Theme (NEW)

Photo Nexus wordpress gallery is a 2 column , 2 color variation ( Bright and Dark) theme.

This theme is great for those who need a convenient way to publish and showcase a self managed Gallery of Photos, Arworks or Designs.

The theme features modern yet minimalistic style so that your work will be guaranteed to be on focus. The theme comes added with Admin theme options so you won’t need to manually edit the files to get it running.

Features

• Two themes. White or Black
• WordPress 2.7 Compatible
• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Valid CSS and XHTML 1 .0
• Gallery page with dynamic thumbnail creation.
• Browser compatibility: IE6 , IE7, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome

Website Effects Features

• JQUERY Slide for Featured photos
• Fade in Fade out for Category photos
• Glow thumbnails

Easy Customization

• Easy to customize logo
• Full CSS
• 1 PSD file for logo
• Uses FREE District Thin font for logo

Compatibility and Guide

• Works across all Major Browsers
• Valid XHTML and CSS
• Commented Code
• Getting Started step-by-step guide INCLUDED

Photo Nexus wordpress gallery – View Demo & Buy – Only $20

Revolution2 Album Theme

Revolution2 Album theme is very clean looking. It comes in many very attractive styles to choose from including two columns, fixed width, blue, brown, gray, purple, red, rust and sepia tone.

The below Reveolution2 Album is completely free, but the catch is that it is unsupported (It’s no longer free… seems this has been changed). If you want support which most people need you’ll have to sign up for it.. The price however is the same as you’d pay for any premium wordpress theme. And I believe you get updates with it as well.

Brian Gardner the originator of the first Revolution wordpress theme has joined up with Jason Schuller to make all their wordpress themes open source which I think is fantastic.

Fresh Folio Theme

Fresh Folio from Woo Themes is a very nice looking theme with clean lines. It’s not focused solely on images but it does give you the ability to display one large image on the top. And it has a gallery section where you can really show off your photographs. It comes in many styles so you can pick and choose. Below are just two of the available styles. It includes 7 diverse styles to choose from.

Some other features include :

• Portfolio oriented
• The template will automatically (visually) separate your blog & portfolio content, making this an amazing theme for aspiring designers, developers, artists, photographers etc.;
• Unique page templates for the portfolio, blog, blog archives, tags & search results.
• 7 diverse theme styles to choose from.
• Built in Flickr and Twitter widgets to show your thoughts and photos

eGallery Theme

eGallery is a theme from ElegantThemes.com made to transform your blog into a fully functional online gallery. This theme has been created with simplicity in mind, and is designed to emphasize the artwork you choose to showcase. The design has been greatly enhanced using javascript, and is easy to implement.

• Netscape compatible
• WordPress 2.7.1+ compatible
• Featured Articles
• Gravatar ready
• Firefox compatible
• IE7 + IE6 compatible
• Safari compatible
• Opera compatible
• Widget ready sidebars
• Theme Option Pages
• Custom thumbnail images
• PSD files
• Valid XHTML + CSS
• Smooth tableless design

Digital Gallery Theme

Digital Gallery is another photo based theme released by Shutterthemes.com. They don’t say too much about it so you’ll have to give it a test drive yourself.

Viz Biz Theme

Viz | Biz is a premium portfolio theme for creative professionals to showcase their work online from ShutterThemes.com.

Theme Features

• NEW! Automatic Image Resizing – A built-in script automatically resizes your images for the thumbnail and feature images
• Integrated blog – You can also have blog and put your thoughts and ideas online
• 4 Feature Boxes – Put your services and contact info in the areas of the footer
• Graphical header – Use the built-in option to upload your own graphic from within WordPress

Photo Gallery Theme

PhotoGallery is a premium WordPress photo gallery theme series for photographers. It actually has 5 different styles to choose from each with a different way to display photographs on your site. It’s also from Shutterthemes.com and you can see a demo of it here.

Snapshot Theme

Snapshot is a free wordpress theme to showcase imagery and is available from Woo Themes. It looks like it gives users the ability to rate images so this might be good if you want to start a photo/website/people rating site. It comes with 3 different styles. Those below and also a red version.

Of course you don’t have to choose a wordpress theme that is geared towards photographers to get a great looking site, although I do have to say some of them are pretty nice looking. You can turn any wordpress theme into a portfolio site, even using the Thesis theme. Check out Thesis with Slideshow pro. I’ve added a slideshowpro slideshow to the right sidebar to display images.

I’m intending to add some more info on how to further help your photography blog or website. If you’re interested then please leave a comment and let me know what you want to know, or learn. I’m happy to help photographers in any way I can so let me know what you need help with and I will try and answer your question in a new post. Hope this post has been helpfull.

If you liked this post you might also like 3 ways photographers can boost business in a bad economy.

Also be sure to check out the new Showcase Photo theme from Felix over at Richwp.

Photography HTML Templates

Are you good with HTML or editing web templates? You might want to consider using an HTML template for your photography site instead of using wordpress. WordPress has a lot of advantages but some people might not need all the features. In that case you can build your site using simple HTML.

I wanted to list this template because its one of the nicer looker templates I’ve seen and its super cheap. But cheap does come at a price, because after all you still have to personalize it for your business.

Modern Business Template perfect for Photography Businesses

If you need help customizing your photography theme or template, or are looking for a designer to help set up your wordpress site please contact me.

HTML Email Template for Photographers:

As a photographer you might also may want to send out a newsletter to remind your clients of upcoming events or specials you may be offering. In that case here’s an HTML email template you can use. Simply copy and paste in your content.

Photomail Template

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