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Archive for the ‘Accessories’ Category

Today I’m happy to announce two great new additions to our collection of premium themes.

First, we have Standard, a sleek, exacting theme designed by 8BIT for professional blogging with an emphasis on contextual display of your content.

Your content, in each of its various forms, deserves to be presented with unique distinction. Thanks to Standard’s support of post formats, it can. Image, video, quote, status, and link posts all receive a beautiful visual treatment.

If your visitors are browsing on a mobile device or tablet, Standard has got you covered. Its responsive layout adapts gracefully to smaller screens. View it in action on the demo site, or head on over to the Theme Showcase to read more about Standard and its features.

Next, we have Chalk, an innovative theme designed with a strong focus on online educators by The Theme Foundry.

Posts containing to-do lists, chats, links, podcasts, photos, and video are beautifully styled. Chalk comes equipped with a responsive layout allowing your blog to look great on screens both large and small. A custom options screen is also provided enabling you to change colors, add social media links and much more. Want to discover more about Chalk? Head on over to the Theme Showcase and read all about it or take it for a test-spin in the demo site.

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Once in a while, it’s important to stop, catch your breath, and look at your accomplishments before you move on to the next thing — to put a stake in the ground that says, “I made it this far!”

Today, we’re rolling out a couple of notifications to help you celebrate your blog activity milestones. From now on, whenever you hit a milestone for how many followers your blog has (5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and beyond), you’ll get a badge:

We also created badges to celebrate when you receive lots of likes from visitors:

In addition to celebrating your achievements, we wanted to notify you when you’ve had a particularly good day for receiving likes or new followers. From now on, we’ll let you know of your best days for such activity:

Keep in mind that we’ve only started counting your best days this March.

We all blog for different reasons. Some might chronicle their travel adventures, others might detail their culinary undertakings. If you find a post or a blog you enjoyed, like it or follow the blog — your action might send them a badge and make them smile. It’s easy to find great new blogs to follow using the Reader.

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Today, I’m excited to introduce the latest additions to our ever-growing collection of free themes.

First up is Ari—a responsive and minimal blog theme designed by Elmastudio. This theme is beautiful out of the box but it’s also packed with cool features including two color schemes, three custom color options, a custom header image, a custom background, and a custom menu. With all of these features, the Ari theme will be suitable for a wide range of blogs. Yes, for yours too! So be sure to read about it on the Theme Showcase page.

Ari Theme

Next up is San Kloud—a bright, colorful theme with a playful feel—perfect for a tumblelog or journal. It features three color schemes, fun post format icons, and support for a custom header image and custom background. See more details on the Theme Showcase. San Kloud is designed by Theme.fm.

San Kloud Theme

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After moving from New York City to Chicago and getting married, Rachel Bertsche realized that her new life was missing one crucially important thing: a local best friend. So she decided to go on one friend date every week for a year, and she documented her quest on a WordPress.com blog at MWFseekingBFF.com.

But before Rachel even started the blog, the 27-year-old writer put together a book proposal based on her search for a local BFF, and successfully pitched it to agents, and then editors. She says, “After I sold the proposal, I decided to start a blog so that I could have a place to document my journey and some of the research I was finding. I also wanted to start building a community and to engage with readers.”

It’s now been over two years since Rachel first launched MWFseekingBFF.com. So did she accomplish her blogging goals? “Absolutely!” Rachel says, “When my book, MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend, came out, I had a whole audience for the memoir that wouldn’t have existed without my blog. And I made new friends through blogging — I’ve met some of my readers, and other bloggers, in real life. My book ended up becoming a National Bestseller and hitting the NY Times Extended Bestseller List. I continue to update the blog because I enjoy it, and also I have a lot of loyal and wonderful readers who seem to enjoy it.”

Rachel says that the discussions generated by her blog posts were a great aid to the book writing process. “Blogging also helped me uncover what issues surrounding friendship were most interesting to my readers, and brought me new ideas. Readers said things in the comments that would switch on a light bulb for me, or they often alerted me to new research on friendship. While my book is very different than my blog (it’s not a compilation of blog posts by any means), writing my posts made me feel like I had a platform to bounce book ideas off of.”

We asked Rachel to share her advice on how to grow your blog audience. Here’s what she had to say:

The first thing I did was to read and comment on other blogs that I thought had a similar audience to mine. Leaving thoughtful comments with a link back to your blog is a great strategy. But you need to actually engage, and respond to the post. Readers are smart. Comments that are clearly only self-promotion will be obvious. Don’t write, “Great post! I think you and your readers might also be interested in my blog [link here].” Instead, get into the discussion. Respond to the issue at hand.

When you go to leave a reply, don’t post your blog link in the comment. Readers understand that they can click on your name and I think leaving the link in the post reeks a bit of self-promotion. (To change the link, go Users → Personal Settings in your dashboard and find the Website field under Account Details.) If you regularly comment on someone’s blog, that person will likely eventually stop by and read your blog, too. I’ve found the blogging community to be one of the most inclusive and generous out there.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help. When I started out, I emailed some of the bloggers I most admired. I told them I loved their blog and asked their advice on how to find success. They were people who had clearly cracked the nut and each had their own tips for what worked for them. Then you can pick and choose.

Finally, give credit where credit is due. When I read a blog post that I love or that spurs an idea for my own blog, I always reference the post and link back. Blogging is about community and sharing, and this sets the tone. Just recently, I wrote a blog post inspired by a post on 1000AwesomeThings.com. I linked back, and hopefully turned a bunch of new readers onto the site. Because there was a decent amount of traffic sent to his blog, or maybe because he received a pingback, Neil Pasricha then came and commented on my blog! This is the author of two #1 International Bestselling books! I was so thrilled. I emailed Neil to thank him, and that began a back and forth, where I was able to ask him his blogging tips.

The bottom of line of all these lessons is to engage. Blogging is about community. It’s most successful not as a solitary endeavor but when you enlist the help of others, and in turn help them, too.

Learn more about Rachel and her book at MWFseekingBFF.com.

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It’s been just over two years since we first launched our Posterous importer and I never could have predicted how the blogging space would evolve so quickly in that time. As you may have seen in the news today, the Posterous team is joining Twitter, which we know will be exciting for our friends at Twitter and well-earned for Posterous co-founder Sachin Agarwal.

We’ve had an over 250% spike in the number of imports the past few hours, so it seems timely to recap how the importer works:

1. Sign up for a new WordPress.com blog.
   
2. In your dashboard, go to Tools → Import and click on “Posterous.”
   
3. Enter your Posterous login details, and we’ll email you when the import completes!
   
4. Take the time while it’s running to have a sarsaparilla, then explore some of the great designs available for WordPress.com, and start following your favorite blogs from your WordPress.com account so that you can read them all in one place.
   

Once you’re all set up, you can easily create new posts with the New Post button at the top of your screen, and you can also publish posts by email.

If you have any trouble, don’t hesitate to contact our 24/7 support staff for help.

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If you’ve ever wondered where on Earth all the visitors to your site are coming from, this feature is for you!

Mosey on over to your My Stats tab on the WordPress.com homepage:

…and check out the brand new “Views by Country” panel.
Now, you can see at a glance exactly which countries comprise your audience:

When you click on or hover over a country name, the map zooms in so you can really get a feel for all the parts of the planet your content has reached:

The Summaries page shows you country stats for the previous week, month, quarter and all time, but keep in mind this feature is new and views by country are not available prior to March 2012:

We are tremendously excited to be working on new features like this for your WordPress.com My Stats tab.  Stay tuned for the next evolution!

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Today we’ve got two great new free themes for you: Sunspot and Triton Lite.

Inspiration for Sunspot came from one of our older and beloved classics, Sunburn (and perhaps a bit from the recent solar storms). A sharp theme with subtle grid lines and sun-splashed accents, Sunspot is a great all-purpose canvas for your blog, especially if you prefer a dark color scheme.

Sunspot offers two arrangements for posts on the front page: single-column (default) or double-column (pictured above). Additional features include a small, logo-sized custom header for the top left corner, a custom background, two optional widget areas, and a responsive layout that adapts gracefully to smaller screen sizes. Read more about it on the Theme Showcase, or head over to Appearance → Themes in your Dashboard and take it for a spin.

Next up is Triton Lite, a clean and simple—yet versatile—theme designed with photographers in mind. Its home page and archive pages offer truly dynamic layouts that snap to both the heights and widths of all available content on a page, thus creating tight and tidy post arrangements that beautifully showcase your images.

Designed by Towfiq I., Triton Lite comes bundled with three different widget areas, a featured post slider, custom accent and link color options, and a full-width page template. As usual, read more about Triton Lite and its features on the Theme Showcase, or, if you want to start using it right away, visit Appearance → Themes to activate it on your blog.

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The process of publishing new posts just got simplified big time. Starting today, any time you’re logged in to WordPress.com, you can create and publish new posts without the leaving the page you’re on. So instead of having to visit your blog’s dashboard each time you want to publish a post, now you can start a new post the very second you’re inspired to create one.

Simply click the New Post button on the right side of the toolbar, and you can instantly start a new post with the editor that slides down from the top of the screen:

First, select the type of content you want to share (text, photo, video, quote, or link).

Use the Write a Post tab if you want to include multiple images in your post (or if you want to write a text-only post). If you just want to quickly share a single photo, select the Post a Photo tab.

When the post is ready, add some tags if you like, then choose the blog you want to post to (if you have more than one) using the drop-down menu below the post editor:

When you’re done, hit Publish Post, and you can go right back to whatever you were doing before you started the post.

Note that if you have a theme that supports post formats, posts published with the Post a Photo, Video, Quote, and Link tabs will be displayed on your site with a nifty, visually distinct post format:

An example of the Esquire theme's video and quote post formats.

Lastly, there’s also a New Post tab on the WordPress.com homepage for quick access to the new post editor:

Keep in mind that if you want to add categories to a post, preview it, or schedule it to publish at a later time, you can still create and edit posts with the dashboard editor by going to Posts → All Posts.

So what do you think of this new way to publish posts? Leave your feedback in the comments below.

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I’m excited to introduce a brand new free video theme brought to you by the team here at Automattic.

Despite its minimalist design, Sundance was crafted with clean, elegant typography and close attention to detail.

The home page offers a featured video carousel where you can highlight a maximum of ten posts that are assigned to the video post format. In the sidebar, you can add your social network links — Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Flickr — so that your readers can stay connected.

Sundance is designed with responsive design in mind. It provides a tailored layout depending on the device you are using. This makes your blog look good not only on desktop browsers, but also on devices with smaller screens, such as the iPad and iPhone.

Sundance supports an optional widget area in the sidebar, a custom background, and custom header image. As always, you can click on over to the Theme Showcase to read more about Sundance.

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For nearly thirty years, ArLynn Presser avoided leaving her neighborhood in Winnetka, Illinois, as she would experience debilitating anxiety and panic attacks when visiting public places and interacting with people outside her home.

But once she turned fifty, the romance writer decided that she was tired of living in isolation, and ready to face her greatest fear. On December 31, 2010 she started a blog at ArLynnPresser.WordPress.com and wrote in her first post, “My New Year’s resolution is to meet every Facebook friend I have.”

And so she spent 2011 visiting friends all over the world (and meeting some for the very first time). Her son Joseph accompanied her on the journey, recording video clips for ArLynn to share on her blog, which she’s been updating regularly since announcing her resolution on New Year’s Eve 2011. By the end of the year she had been to 13 different countries and met with 292 of the 325 friends she had as of January 1, 2011.

“Without WordPress.com, this project wouldn’t have happened,” she says. We set up an interview with ArLynn to learn more about the role that blogging played in her mission to face her agoraphobia. Here’s what she had to say:

Had you ever blogged before New Year’s Eve 2011? Why did you choose WordPress.com to share your resolution?

ArLynn: I had never blogged. I wasn’t sure I had anything to say. And I’m not sure blogging necessarily was about speaking to an audience so much as me creating a record of my experience. I chose WordPress.com because it was easy to use and allowed for customization.

What role did your blog play in the project?

ArLynn: It was absolutely vital. It gave me the discipline to say, “I will blog about every friend and publish posts nearly every day.” So that kept me moving forward. I could have made a diary of the project using Facebook or Twitter, but that would not have allowed for the kind of reflection that comes with blogging. A blog requires me to think about what I’ve done, what I’m going to do, and what I’m going to write.

How did it feel to put yourself “out there” on your blog for the world to see? What was the actual writing process like?

ArLynn: It took me all day today just to figure out how to encapsulate my experience with Facebook friend #298. I like to bring out the best parts in people I meet so I really choose my words carefully. As for putting myself out in the world, I think the only thing we can do is embrace being vulnerable and hopelessly flawed. I’ve learned to say, “Sure, I’m a total screw-up, but I accept it. If you want to read about it, fine by me.” I’m now fifty-one years old so it’s time for me to be liberated from worrying about what others think of me.

What advice do you have for people who are thinking about using a WordPress.com blog as a tool to help them achieve their goals?

ArLynn: I truly believe that if something doesn’t at first appear to be impossible then it’s not worth doing. I advise people to blog every day or nearly every day. It won’t just push you to reach your goal, it will completely overtake you. Last year changed me completely.

Do you still consider yourself agoraphobic?

ArLynn: Yes, but it’s gotten easier for me to leave the house and travel. I used to be terrified of getting on planes, and sometimes just thinking about leaving the house could induce a panic attack.

What are you up to now?

ArLynn: This year, I continue to travel and see friends, but I am focusing more on meeting those who have trouble getting out from behind their computers, whether because of agoraphobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other anxiety disorders. You can find out more by checking out my blog at ArLynnPresser.WordPress.com.

Thanks for sharing your story, ArLynn!

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