Custom Blog Designs by Blog Theme Machine

Listing Wordpress Pages Multiple Levels Deep

I was recently working on a client project that required the ability to show a “sub menu” when you’re on a specific page and also the sub-sub page for the first sub page. So for instance I have the following:

1. HOME PAGE
2. HOME PAGE – FIRST PAGE
3. HOME PAGE – FIRST PAGE – SECOND PAGE

Now, I needed to be able to call a list for the FIRST PAGE to showcase any of the SECOND PAGE links, but also pull a list on the SECOND PAGE for anything under that one (ie: THIRD PAGE). I found a quick solution to show sub pages by using a simple piece of php code, but that wouldn’t work for a SUB – SUB PAGE, thus, after some digging and piecing together, the code below works like a charm.

<?php
global $post;

if ( $post->post_parent )
$parent = wp_list_pages(”title_li=&echo=0&hierarchical=0&include=” . $post->post_parent); else

$thispage = wp_list_pages(”title_li=&echo=0&hierarchical=0&include=” . $post->ID);
$children = wp_list_pages(”title_li=&echo=0&depth=1&sort_column=menu_order&child_of=” . $post->ID);

if ($children) { ?>
<div class=”sidebox”>
<img src=”<?php bloginfo(’stylesheet_directory’); ?>/images/side_subnavigation.jpg” alt=”Navigation” />
<ul>
<?php echo $children; ?>
</ul>
</div>
<? } ?>

Now you’ll notice that I added a <div> around my ul list because thats what my design called for but you can remove the div, change it to fit your needs, or style the ul by adding a class to it, ect. That is a whole other subject, but for now, at least I have a working piece of php code that will display a SUB navigation and also a SUB SUB navigation when needed on the site.

*Please note due to the way that the blockquotes work in wordpress, the above code will need the ” replaced. Just highlight each ” and retype it out yourself once you paste the code into whatever editor you’re using.

Interviewed at Fuel Your Creativity

A quick note to let you know if you’re wanting to know a little bit more about me (Mike Smith) you should check out the interview that I recently did over at Fuel Your Creativity. It was a lot of fun and shows the more laid back side of me with answers to some of the questions. Learn about my love for art among what other things I have in the works. Check out the interview here (or by clicking the image above).

25 Awesome Wordpress Designs

This post covers some of the best wordpress designs that were designed in the last year or so. I used We Love WP to pick and choose my favorites but there are many more gems there, so head on over to We Love WP and check them out. (a plus: if you hire me to design your blog, I will submit it to We Love WP to gain you exposure ).

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Blog Theme Machine featured on the following

So it’s been 8 days since I launched the new blog design for Blog Theme Machine and also released the free vector icons and I’m happy that the new site has been received so well by various css galleries and websites. Below is a list of the sites we’ve been featured on.

• CSS Mania
• Fave Up
• CSS Design Yorkshire
• We Love WP
• CSS Based
• Vecteezy ( for my hand drawn vector icons)
• CSS Creme
• CSS Container
• Boxed CSS

I appreciate the love I’ve received for the new design and the new design jobs I’ve closed deals on solely because of the redesign of the site. Since the launch I’ve had three clients contact me and hire me and they’ve told me that they seen the site before and since the redesign, they knew they had to hire me. I guess the redesign was a success

Over the next couple weeks I’ve got some new portfolio work going up and I also have some great articles coming up. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention how much I love twitter and talking to some of the coolest people in the world on it. You guys are GREAT! (Follow me here).

Simple Affiliate URLs in Wordpress

Gone are the days that a 100 character link with a bunch of id’s and question marks makes it past the viewers eyes when you’re trying to promote your sponsors or affiliate links. So, what can we do to change that and make it easier to generate leads and clicks? There is one simple way to do this and it’s being done by some of the biggest wordpress users out right now. I’m talking about the www.blogthememachine.com/go/sponsor.php links you see on blogs. This is simple to create and will only take you 1-2 minutes per link (even less once you get used to it.

Your first step needs to be opening up notepad or any other text editor you might like and pasting the following code into it:

<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;url=http://www.youraffiliatelinkhere.com”>

*note: make sure you retype the four ” because they will not work when copy and pasting from the box above.

Now, after you paste this into the text editor and add your actual link in, you’ll want to save it as “sponsor.php” replacing the word sponsor with whatever name of the company/product you’re linking to is.

All that’s left to do is create a “go” folder in your favorite ftp program (or cpanel, ect) and add the file to that folder.

Optionally, you can also make the folder “favorite” or “product” or “site” or “out”. You don’t have to use “go” if you don’t want to. Personally, I use “recommend” on some of my websites. It’s your call.

So, there’s not many steps. I hope you weren’t looking for a long drawn out process That’s not what we do here. Simple solutions to simple problems is our motto!

Enjoy

Welcome to the new Blog Theme Machine

Welcome to the new version of Blog Theme Machine. You are now viewing the blog, which at the moment only has this post, but trust me, over the next couple days, it’s going to be filled with tons of awesome content. With everything from a free icon set release to information on the one year anniversary deal that I’m going to be running. So, if you’re reading this right now, stick around because we’ve got some great things in store for the upcoming year.

With over 100 clients this year, I’m looking to hit 300 by the end of my second year. I’m also looking to build this blog to be a premier blogging and design blog. With everything from tips on how to hack your wordpress theme to design tutorials, tips and resources. Since I already have a small business blog, I want to touch base with my core now; the bloggers.

Bare with me while I get the rest of the blog in order and get everything loaded in. It’s an exciting time for me to launch the new version of Blog Theme Machine since it’s had the old version up for a year now. The old version, admittedly, was thrown together to get launched and I always had plans to go through and redesign it. But when client work overtakes the majority of my time, I put it on the backburner. It wasn’t until I realized that the one year anniversary was coming up, that I noticed the design STILL wasn’t updated. So, check out the image below and tell me I should have kept it another year

Told you it needed updated

So that about covers the launch post. Like I said earlier, just stick around and ensure you do not miss the free icon sets, the free wordpress layouts and the free tips and tricks on blogging, gaining more subscribers/traffic, social media information, and so on. It’s going to be a fun ride, and I’d love to have all of you on it with me!

Blog Theme Machine Social Media Links

I’ve recently got involved in more social media testing and wanted to share with everyone all of my social media links. Below you can find links to various profiles of mine on Flickr, Stumbleupon, DIGG and more. If you’d like to friend me, or if you’d like to link up (or whatever slang term the particular social media site uses), just leave a comment here or contact me.

• DIGG - http://www.digg.com/users/blogtheme
• TWITTER – http://www.twitter.com/blogdesigner
• STUMBLEUPON – http://blogthememachine.stumbleupon.com
• REDDIT – http://www.reddit.com/user/blogthememachine
• DE.LICIO.US – http://delicious.com/blogthememachine
• MIXX – http://www.mixx.com/users/blogthememachine
• SPHINN – http://sphinn.com/user/view/profile/MikeSmith
• NEWSVINE – http://blogthememachine.newsvine.com/
• PROPELLER – http://www.propeller.com/member/blogthememachine/
• FLICKR – http://flickr.com/photos/BlogThemeMachine
• TUMBLR – http://blogthememachine.tumblr.com
• TECHNORATI – http://technorati.com/people/technorati/blogthememachine/
• YOUTUBE – http://youtube.com/user/blogthememachine
• VIDDLER – http://viddler.com/explore/BlogDesigner
• SQUIDOO – http://www.squidoo.com/blogthememachine
• DESIGN FLOAT – http://www.designfloat.com/user/view/profile/blogthememachine

Hand Drawn Vector Icons

Welcome to Blog Theme Machine’s first ever free giveaway. This was my first try at creating my own vector icon set. I hope you like them. Inside the zip is an AI file with 22 icons that range from RSS icons to copyright icons and email envelope icons. Below you can view a screenshot of the icons placed over top of a wood texture as well as see the complete list of the icons in this set. I hope you enjoy them and if you have any questions or any tips for me, feel free to let me know.

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Ten reasons why you should hire me

If I couldn’t give you a good reason to hire me for your next blog design project, why would you? Yeah, I thought the same thing So that is why I compiled this list of ten reasons why you should hire me; not only to show you why I am the right person for the job, but also to show you that I know how to meet your needs and exceed your expectations. After you read the list, if you have the sudden urge to hire me, please feel free to contact me

* please note the list is in no particular order or importance. I believe all 10 reasons are important

1. I am a blogger too – Not only do I design blogs, I write them. From this design blog I am just starting to the small business blog I have been running for just as long as this website has been live, I cover a lot of various topics. I understand what a blogger needs as far as functionality goes and I understand the end result of a great blog design; a great blog. Thats the goal for every blog right?
2. Exceptional customer service - Unlike some blog design companies, I do not take 24-48 hours to reply to emails. I have email open and around me during most hours of the day. I work in the morning (US time) in order to catch the early workers and bloggers that need my help and I also work late at night (10pm-5/6am US time) in order to catch the night owls here and also my clients from overseas. There’s no reason that because of the time difference they should receive any different quality from me as far as customer services goes.
3. I love wordpress – Why should this matter to you? Well, 99% of my clients run wordpress and if I love wordpress, then that means I am constantly learning the ins and outs of how to manipulate it, stretch it and bend it to do things normal blogs do not, and that is where me loving wordpress comes in handy. I can turn your website into something noone else in your target market has seen before.
4. Experience and expertise – I have been designing blogs for a long time and I have been blogging for even longer. I know the ins and outs of how the blogging world works and I know how wordpress and other Content Management Systems work, so I can provide you with top notch quality every time we work together. From designs that are nowhere near cookie-cutter, to special codes and hacks I provide, your website will definitely show the experience I provide is a positive.
5. This is how I survive – This is the only way I make money so why would I mess that up? If I screw this up, then I am out of money, out of a house and out of a life. I will end up homeless on the streets without a dime to my name and no means to provide for myself. Knowing this ensures that I do everything I can to provide you with the best quality work possible.
6. I’m completely transparent – Have a question for me? ask me. Want to know what I’m doing with your project? ask me. Unsure if there are hidden fees for your work? ask me. I do not like to or want to hide anything from my clients. Curious as to what I cooked on the grill last night? ask me
7. High quality designs - OK, so maybe I covered this a little bit in point #4 but I thought it was good enough to have on it’s own My designs are top notch. I do not like to give out crap work and I turn down projects because the client wants me to “just make something simple” or tells me “if I give you half of your asking price, can I just get half the quality – I just need something up quick”. You know that if you hire me, you will get top notch quality when it comes to my design work. A lot of my designs have been featured in various CSS galleries and if you hire me, we can get yours featured too.
8. Cross browser compatibility – This is a positive reason to hire me because if your website doesn’t show properly in different browsers, then different visitors to your site see different things and that could possibly turn the off to your website, your work and or hiring from you. When you hire me, my work is valid xhtml/css tableless code and is compatible with all modern browsers (Firefox, IE7+, Opera, Safari, Chrome ect). We can’t afford to let one visitor pass us by and being cross browser compatible helps to not let that happen.
9. My designs increase your profits and branding - It’s been said before that because of the work I’ve done, websites have increased their readership by X amount of subscribers, increased their profits by X amount of dollars and/or increased their visibility in the blogosphere due to the logos created or the entire layout in general. When your niche is filled with the same things, being a bit different can skyrocket your profits and branding because people love change and people love to try different things. My designs do just that.
10. I’m a lot of fun to talk to – Some people might think I’m a bit too “professional” in conversations but thats because they haven’t got to know me personally yet. I tell jokes; a LOT. I like to laugh and keep conversations as light hearted as possible. I’d rather talk about how screwed up politics are and how weird music is nowadays then to talk about the 1000 lines of php I had to edit yesterday. Don’t believe me? write me and find out