This article was published on October 2, 2008

The ultimate personal branding WordPress theme


The ultimate personal branding WordPress theme

Blogging has become a major business.

Bloggers have become super powerful. Bloggers like Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, Pete Cashmore of Mashable, Arrianna Huffington of the Huffington post and Geenstijl (Dutch) are influencing their thousands of readers on a daily basis.

Another indicator of the importance of blogging is the number of conferences and events about blogging. We’ve had Les Blogs in Paris, US-based Blog Her, our own BLOG08 and many, many others.

Gurus and authorities

Blogging is not only used as a news portal tool, a lot of people use their blogs to promote themselves. By sharing their thoughts on their favorite topics they became gurus and authorities in their field. Robert Scoble, Hugh Macleod, Loren Feldman, Fred Wilson all became famous because of their personal blog.

Ask around what blogging have meant for the people who are passionate about it and blog on a regular basis. Tim Ferriss, author of the Four Hour Workweek said it really well when we were in Greece on a beach: “There are more currencies than money, take this as an example, we’re here because of blogging”. He is so right, although a small amount of people can actually live of blogging alone, there are a lot of bloggers who get other currencies than money out of it. They get jobs, invitations to parties and conferences, they meet people and get into situations that people who don’t blog (as passionate) miss.

Personal brands without blogging works for some as well. Photo by ∗natsu∗
Personal brands without blogging works for some as well. Photo by ∗natsu∗

Ultimate personal branding WordPress theme

Blogging is a really important tool for personal branding. So is being present on social networks, having your photos on Flickr, share thoughts and ‘mindfarts’ on Twitter etc. etc. But here comes the question, if blogging is a must in personal branding, how come that there is no ultimate personal branding blogging theme for WordPress?

I was looking for a new design of my personal blog. I wanted an upgrade, something that would

  1. look neat.
  2. would make it easy for me to update on a regular basis.
  3. a blog that keeps track of what I’m doing all over the web, so my parents, less web savvy friends and people who are interested in me (for business purposes) get a one stop shop blog with all (interesting) info.

I couldn’t find the ultimate theme. I’ve thought about just using Facebook, but that doesn’t do it for me. I’d love to use Facebook as a marketing tool, but as a stand alone personal blog it’s just not good enough, maybe not different enough.

How would the ultimate personal blogging theme look like?

I’ve made a list of some things I’d like to see. Feel free to add your wishlist to it. I’ll get in some of the best designers and we’re gonna build this thing. If your suggestion is integrated (and you’re the first) you’ll get this theme for free (when it’s done)!!

Wishlist:

  • Twitter integration – show my tweets on my blog, but let them fade out and disappear after x minutes / hours (option in the settings)
  • Show my Flickr photos – not all but only my photos with a certain tag
  • (Livestream) video – Vimeo, Youtube, Qik, Kyte. I want to show the last video I uploaded to one of these services (maybe two videos, for frequent vloggers. one featured) I think this should be continues on the frontpage
  • Where am I – It would be cool if there is a map with my current location, but also where I’ve been traveling.
  • Testimonials – display at random one testimonial in a widget in the sidebar and give the opportunity to write one
  • Where can I be found on the web – some icons of all the services where I have presence.

All this in a stunning design (of course) and widget compatible.

Well it’s a beginning, I’ve left enough room for your creativity. What do you want for your own personal branding blog?

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