Best Drag and Drop WordPress Theme

Version 2.0 of the Ultimate Heatmap includes new single column layouts. These have proven to be excellent revenue generators when used for video, or content curation sites. The trouble is bending Thesis, or one of the other WordPress themes, to make them look how you want.

What I’ve prepared for you here, is a review of the top three drag ‘n drop WordPress themes. They make it easy to replicate any layout in the Ultimate Heatmap research.

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Battle of the Drag ‘n Drop WordPress Themes

Until recently, like many of you, I’ve had to rely on web developers to customize my WordPress themes. Back in the day Thesis was my first choice, because it was so widely supported by the developers.

Now I don’t have to rely on developers anymore. The moment new data comes in from my Heatmap tests, I can make changes to my layouts, across dozens of affiliate sites. And I can do it myself, thanks to this new generation of drag ‘n drop WordPress themes.

But, I wanted to test the three most popular drag ‘n drop themes in a head to head battle, before deciding on which one to use. I tested Pagelines, Headway and Builder.

A quick disclaimer though, none of them were given to me. I purchased all three. So I didn’t receive any special treatment, or bonuses. Here’s what I discovered…

Pagelines Theme Review

Of all the visual drag n drop editors tested, Pagelines is the quickest to get up and running. Install the theme and within moments, you can choose columns, their position and widths. You can choose a base font – but not the size – plus headers, footers, social icons and more.

Other than creating the bare bones design though, Pagelines is the least intuitive of the three. It took a while to find and test the drag and drop functionality. Although its an interesting approach, and somewhat simple looking at the outset, the more you get into it, the more cumbersome it gets.

The sites that Pagelines creates – out of the box – are square looking, reminiscent of Thesis. You can purchase a premium theme at the store, but there’s only a handfull of choices available. That means if you’re on a budget, you’re stuck with a square looking site.

In addition, to give Pagelines the same functionality of the other two themes, you need to buy each piece separately from their store. This means getting your site to look and behave as you want, could cost as much as the theme did in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong though. Pagelines – although square – is an elegant design. It’s also the fastest to set up with the least learning curve for the basics.

It does give more control over fonts, layout and widget areas than non drag and drop themes, but its layout flexibility isn’t as good as the other two in this shootout. Click here to find out more about the Pagelines theme for WordPress.

iThemes Builder Theme Review

Builder from iThemes takes a little getting used to. It doesn’t look like much out of the box.

You have to install a Builder child theme before it starts to look good. Depending on which option you purchase, you can get dozens of themes and some plugins, so you can get started without needing anything else.

The more you get into Builder, the easier it gets. The training video mentions that its easy to change fonts, but you have to install a plugin to add that functionality. Once you do get into the Style Manager plugin though, it is easy to change fonts, colors, backgrounds, borders and more.

The Builder layouts section, lets you create a “stacking order” for the design elements on each page. You can design top to bottom, adding a custom headers, nav bars, content areas, widget areas, footers and more.

It makes it easy to save a different look, or layout for each page on your site. You can also use this functionality to show different footers on each page. (Very handy if you’ve been link sculpting using my Pumper Linking method from the Dynamic Media Vault.)

One of the few downsides, is that the widget areas are specified in terms of percentage of overall width. So to get a widget area to line up with your post and sidebar, it means setting up two column widget and eyeballing a percentage (say 30/70) and lining them up manually.

Overall the theme feels very strong and stable. Although it does allow drag and drop, it’s not a true liquid layout like Headway. But that said, it can create great looking sites that are easy to edit and undo. You just need to get over the initial learning curve of creating layouts and adding styles to the child theme.

The more you use Builder – and get used to the interface – the easier it gets. Having created a couple of new sites using it, I’m really enjoying the flexibility and getting exactly the looks that I want. This lets me test layouts in the Ultimate Heatmap without compromise. Click here to find out more about Builder theme for WordPress.

Headway Theme Review

Headway is by far the most complex and powerful of the themes in this battle. It has a very fluid layout, where you just drag and drop wireframes onto a grid. You then tag the block you created with a type, such as header, breadcrumbs, widget area, content, footer and more. It’s a great concept.

Headway makes it possible to get the exact look you want, for each type of page on your website and blog, through the use of reusable templates. You can change the column widths, block locations, fonts, colors and more. Each element can be specified right down to the nitty gritty pixel.

On the downside, Headway comes with a massive learning curve and less than stellar documentation. There are settings for the same items in a couple of places, meaning that it can be frustrating, when trying to make rounded corners, but the settings are being overridden elsewhere in the editor software.

Last but not least, it’s not completely stable. Reverting to earlier saved versions leads to unpredictable results. The changes aren’t always accurate in the preview window. And the user interface is oddly squished in a small window at the bottom of the screen, so you’re almost forced to work on a big monitor.

Having said all that, Headway can make your site look however you want, if you’re willing to invest a few hours into the nuances of the editor. It doesn’t feel as polished or stable as Builder, but if you can put up with the shakiness of this early release (version 3.0.4 at the time of writing), you can be rewarded with any design that you want.

I purchased the “Standard” option, which they display as the best value on their order page. Having experienced the value of Child Themes with Builder, I know how valuable they can be when updating your site. As soon as the Headway Child Themes become available, you will be able to redeem your child theme credits. Click here to find out more about Headway theme for WordPress.

Winner of the Drag & Drop WordPress Theme Battle is…

In third place is Pagelines. Although it creates an elegant look, it’s square looking and not very intuitive to learn the drag and drop functionality.

Pagelines offers very few child themes. You need to purchase them and all the other add ons in their store. And on top of that, several hours into it, I still couldn’t figure out how to change the font sizes in their layouts.

In second place is Headway. It offers true design flexibility with it’s grid interface. The new 3.0.5 version – which was just released – promises a more intuitive grid, better stability and SEO functionality.

Headway’s poor documentation though and flaky revert – to previous saved version – means some changes can’t be undone. So I’ve bumped it to second place. Overall though, I think its a good choice, especially if you’re creating a new site from scratch. I love the look of the sites this theme creates, and will continue to use and support it, as it will only get better with time.

The winner of this contest is iThemes Builder. It comes with excellent documentation and offers flexible layouts, so you can replicate any of my Ultimate Heatmap templates with ease.

Builder comes with dozens of child themes to get you started. It also includes plugins like Style Manager to change your design. Billboard for putting ads and images into widgets. It also has Rotating Images, Feedburner, Contact Forms, BuddyPress, SEO and more.

And finally, this may tip your decision in favor of a drag and drop WordPress theme like iThemes Builder… once you get it and learn how to use it, you can stop paying a web developer, every time you want to change the look of your site. Doing so brings the freedom and flexibility to test new layouts, the moment you want, without having to rely on someone else.

Wishing you all the best for success,

Michael

P.S.

Did you like this review? You can get dozens more just like it when you join the Dynamic Media Vault. Oh, and the link sculpting method that I mentioned called Pumper Linking, it’s in there too. So is version 2.0 of Ultimate Heatmap. You can get them all inside Michael Campbell’s private site, Dynamic Media Vault.

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How to be More Productive

15 Tips to Increase Your Productivity

We must work hard and produce more. That’s what Mark Carney – the head Canadian financial guy – said in a recent speech.

He said we’re in great shape as a country. Even though our friends may be hurting a bit, we can get through this, like we have any other rough time, by working hard and producing more.

I think it’s great advice for any country, or people in general. It’s foolish to consume and be lazy. We’ll, maybe for two weeks of the year on vacation, but not as a lifestyle.

It makes economic sense to work hard, and produce more than you consume, both personally and as a nation. So with that in mind, here are my top 15 tips for being more productive.

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15 Ways to Increase Your Productivity

1. Get enough sleep. Contrary to pop culture, sleep deprivation is not a status symbol, or sign of virility. Research with arctic scientists proved they were more productive, more focused and got their work done faster, if they slept at least 9 hours per night, as compared to getting only 6 hours per night.

2. Don’t multitask. Cognitive neuroscientists have proven that humans cannot multitask. It’s merely fast switching from one thing to another. Every time you switch tasks you lose concentration and momentum. The older you are, the harder it gets.

3. Turn off distractions and focus. Disconnect yourself from the grid. The world will continue to spin without you. Shut off the pings, tweets, instant messages, etc and focus your attention. Get off the grid for days at a time if you need to, and get the project done.

4. Make a stop doing list. There are so many addictive behaviours in life. So put down that video game. Stop yourself from doing them by making a list. If what you’re doing is not moving you closer to your goals, stop it.

5. No whining or complaining. Moaning about your situation doesn’t do anything to help it. Nothing changes until you decide to change it. It’s not about having enough resources. It’s about your resourcefulness.

6. Make less more often. Attention spans are down. People are gleaning facts, not looking for deep understanding. Make your content shorter. Make videos under 3 minutes and posts under 250 words, but do them more often, with one key point in each.

7. Hire the talent. If you’re an expert in something, get others to write for you in the form of guest articles or posts. Since you know the field well, you’ll know good content when you see it. Getting more content, produces more authoritative pages and grows your website quickly.

8. Upgrade your equipment. It’s frustrating waiting for machines, uploads, or having to sneakernet data around between computers. I got a Thunderbolt based Mac laptop. Now one computer can hook to the big monitor for production work, or slide into the backpack. All the data is in one place.

9. Repurpose your content. You may have heard it called transmedia, multimedia, or intermedia, but its all the same thing. Shoot a three minute talking head video, extract the audio for a podcast, and get it transcribed for text and slides. Now you can take one message and share it, in different forms, in hundreds of places.

10. Protect your assets. Although not technically a production booster, it will prevent down time, headaches and legal hassles. Get the proper legal pages up on your site, like terms and conditions of use, privacy policy and the rest. It shows that you’re running a serious business and they protect it. Plus as a bonus, its proven to boost consumer confidence.

11. Focus on your core competencies. Learning a new skill is great, so long as you can apply it immediately to what you’re already doing. It’s better to cultivate deep understanding of one thing, than it is to flit from idea to idea, looking for the next quick hit, that never comes. Put down roots and do something you love.

12. Go analog. When it comes time for planning, go low tech with pencil and paper. Research has shown that thoughts are more complete if you write them out by hand. You’re also more connected to them, more likely to complete them and remember them.

13. Make a to do list. This idea has been around for 100 years and its still great advice. Make a list of the 5 top things you want to achieve tomorrow, and number them in their order of their importance. Then do at least one of them and make progress towards your worthy goals, or ideals.

14. Plan in quarters. Divide a piece of paper into four columns. List in each quarter what you want to achieve. Once you have your list, transfer it to a whiteboard within plain view. Then you can keep yourself on track as you aim for your quarterly goals.

15. Quit. Have the courage to quit, or delegate, everything you’re merely average at doing. Good enough isn’t good enough anymore. Everyone’s a channel, a content provider and a brand. What we lack is trust. So make a commitment to be the best in the world at what you love to do, or sell the farm and move on.

I hope this inspires you to take massive action. With massive action comes massive results. If you build on the positive results, it leads to increased belief in yourself and your abilities. Then you can take even more action and continue to build your momentum.

The time for laziness and consumption are over. Like the #1 Canadian financial dude said, its time to work hard and produce more. That’s how you’ll weather the storms, get through the dips, and emerge best in the world at what you love to do.

Wishing you all the best for online success,

Michael

P.S.

Did you like this article? You can get an abundance just like it when you join us in the Dynamic Media Vault.

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Cause Based Advertising

Cause based advertising can increase sales by up to 70% in some markets. So what exactly is cause based advertising?

When done correctly, it can be a portion of net proceeds, that get donated to a registered charity. When done in poor taste, it can be a loose association, showing that the use of your product, will in some way, benefit a charity or cause, but it does not do so directly.

In the first example it’s pretty clear. If you get my product, I’ll donate X amount to a charity, say SPCA, and help save puppies.

The second example is currently exploited by a handful of advertisers, and is in very poor taste, in my opinion. I won’t even explain it, because I don’t want more people – especially ad agencies – doing it. So lets look at the first example where a donation gets made.

Let’s say we’re promoting a 49.95 ebook as an affiliate and get a 50% commission. In normal every day sales, a 49.95 product after Clickbank fees, leaves 45.20 to split between you and the publisher. That’s 22.60 apiece.

Now let’s say you sold 100 units.

22.60 x 100 = 2,206

Not bad. But lets see what happens when we add cause based advertising into the mix. Let’s say that because of our noble cause, we get modest 40% increase in sales (a total of 140), but give a generous 20% of the net proceeds to charity.

22.60 – 20% = 18.08 (our new net proceeds because 4.52 from each sale goes to charity)

140 x 18.08 = 2,531

So if we compare our original sales to the charity one, you can see that we actually increase our net profits by $325.

2,531 – 2,206 = 325 further ahead

Now image you were playing with big numbers and sold 10,000 units. Imagine huge numbers, like a major shampoo brands, or greeting cards, where you’re dealing with millions of units sold.

You can even do this with PPC or CPA ads, selling pet supplies and bypass the search engines altogether. You can put the ad on an ad network like Plenty of Fish, and link direct to the advertiser’s offer, or send traffic to a landing page first.

For example, let’s say you’re an affiliate selling doggie supplies, but in the ad you show a sad puppy saying, “All he wants is a home.” Then say something like, “When you shop with us, 10% of all net proceeds go to the local SPCA shelter. You could save a life, if you shop now.”

That’s powerful stuff. But before you start using this style of advertising, there are a couple of caveats.

Don’t overuse this tactic, or like any other it will quickly lose its effectiveness. Be sure that you actually do donate your net proceeds to the charity that you specified. And that you have the receipts to prove it.

Not only will having the receipt keep you out of hot water with the FTC – because you have to prove all claims – it also provides a return on the back end. That’s right, donations to registered charities can be tax deductions for you, or your corporation.

The bottom line is, cause based advertising increases sales. Up to 70% in some markets. This increases your profits and helps out registered charities at the same time. Plus there’s the added bonus of getting tax deductions on the back end.

Just don’t overuse this advertising tactic and it could serve you well for years to come.

Wishing you all the best for online success,

Michael

P.S.

The affiliate program for Ultimate Heatmap 2.0 is open. If you’d like to join us, you can get a 50% commission on every sale. Direct endorsements leading to the sales page are converting at 11.71%, because this product appeals to such a wide audience, not just the internet marketing crowd.

Every website owner, blogger, designer, advertiser and affiliate can benefit by applying this research. It has a powerful tag line, “Triple the ad revenues without additional traffic.” Plus, there are dozens of banners and ads, ready for you use right now.

You’re the first to know about it. And you can the be first to promote it, starting right now.

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Laughing in the Face of Adversity

When people say something stupid, mean, or evil about you, smile and laugh out loud in five seconds or less.

You can’t control what other people think, or say about you.

The sooner you stop caring what other people think, the happier you’ll be.

Even if they’re talking trash about you in a public place, like a blog, or forum. You can stop a forum fire the same way you’d stop a real fire. Starve it of fuel and it will go out.

Don’t drag your friends into it and pour fuel on it. Be bigger than that. Turn the other cheek. Doing so is not an act of cowardice. It’s an act of defiance.

Reacting is only agreeing with the strength of the attacker. By doing nothing, forgiving, forgetting and moving on, you can stay at peace.

Same deal if someone cuts in line, or cuts you off in traffic. You can choose to get angry and flood your body with toxins, or you can choose to laugh out loud and stay at peace.

Try letting off steam by laughing, instead of yelling, and you’ll notice a big difference in your life. You’ll be happier. And when you’re happy, all sorts of good hormones get released, that make you feel great.

Your job is to smile and laugh out loud in five seconds or less… no matter what.

Go ahead and try it. You’ll feel great.

Even if it’s a fake laugh. Your body doesn’t know the difference.

Why not make it a big belly laugh. Go ahead.

Do it. I dare you.

Laugh out loud right now.

LOL :-)

Wishing you all the best for success,

Michael

P.S.

Want more inspirational material just like this? Stuff that will pick you up, boost your day and help you be more productive? It’s waiting for you inside the Dynamic Media Vault.

P.P.S.

I know you’re super busy this week, so I’m having a sale next week. Lifetime Membership to the Dynamic Media Vault will be 25% off from November 28 to December 2 2011. Go ahead and mark it on your calendar, but don’t worry, I’ll send you a reminder. In the mean time, smile and keep laughing, especially when times get tough!

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Less Choice = More Sales

November 8, 2011

Did you know that limited choice and features leads to happier customers? Think about three match sticks for a second. Now close your eyes, and imagine three of them in a row. It’s pretty easy, but most people can’t image more than five. Go ahead and try it. Imagine a row of six match sticks [...]

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What’s Going to Happen?

October 17, 2011

How to see into the future and scoop affiliate revenue before anyone else. Do you sieze opportunities when they appear? Did you know that you can prepare for them in advance? Let me share a quick story… I know what’s going to happen in advance. I can be prepared with ads and landing pages, before [...]

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How Steve Jobs Gave His Life for Mine

October 6, 2011

Sorry this is a bit late. I was a little too shaken to write it yesterday. Back in the mid 1980′s I was broke and destitute. I was drowning in desperation, 20,000 dollars in debt, living in a single room with a shared bath, one rent payment away from skid row. I had been out [...]

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Dynamic Media Affiliate Program

October 5, 2011

Just a short announcement today. My affiliate program is now open. You can sell Lifetime Memberships to the Dynamic Media Vault. Here is a quick overview… * Runs through iDev and Paypal * 100 dollar commission per sale * Dozens of ads to choose from * 90 day cookies + remarketing * 25 dollar bonus [...]

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How to Increase the Conversion Rate of Your Website by 20% With One Simple Change

September 27, 2011

Increase Website Conversion Rate I apologize for not writing or tweeting lately. I had been meaning to write this post on how to increase conversion rate of your website, when I was suddenly hit with debilitating illness called gout. I thought it was reserved for old geezers, who got a sore toe, if they ate [...]

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Remarketing for Beginners

August 19, 2011

The average conversion rate is 2%. Thanks to remarketing, you can get a 12% conversion rate? That’s a 6X increase. Would you like that? Me too. Here’s how we do it. Now, this may seem weird, but have you noticed ads following you around the internet? You may have searched for a product two days ago, [...]

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Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

August 19, 2011

I’d like to extend a warm personal welcome, to all the Search Engine Academy faculty, staff and graduates, that have recently become lifetime members of my Dynamic Media Vault. In case you don’t know them, few SEO brands have been around as long as the Search Engine Academy. That’s why it’s always my first choice, [...]

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Web Fonts Guide | Best Practices

August 11, 2011

Introduction to Fonts Fonts come in several categories like serif, sans serif, script, ornamental, monospaced, symbols and more. You can start your journey learning about typography by looking in Wikipedia. Traditional Font Usage Serif fonts like Times New Roman have little extensions on the ends of their strokes. This makes them easier to read in [...]

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