I can’t help but notice the explosion of apps on mobile devices, namely, the iPad (affiliate link). If you bother to take a close look, you’ll be blown away by the level of engagement.

We’re not just talking about reading text with pictures, or even watching videos, or tweeting, or Facebook liking— but combining all these activities into ethereal experiences supported by intelligent content and handsome design.

Take, for example, the Glee app. Glee is a hugely popular drama tv show that blends teenage hormones with raw vocal talent. I turned over the app to my daughter, and within 5 minutes she had recorded herself singing one of the episode’s covers (Poker Face, complete with harmonies and instrumental), which was then uploaded and broadcasted worldwide to other Glee app users.

Before too long she had gotten a few “gleeks” (Glee speak for votes) on her impromptu performance, which in turn boosted her confidence (she’s a talented and aspiring vocalist). Not soon after she was eager to purchase the next $1.00 sing-along in the queue.

How could this possibly go wrong?

The experience was unreal — a huge leap from the typically linear act of top to bottom, left to right reading we’re so accustomed to. It took me awhile to conceptualize what the developers had to do to deliver such an pioneering experience.

If you can find anything of marketable interest and turn it into an app, you’ve got a future in publishing. The key, however, requires brute force creativity: how will your content come to life and how will you get people hooked on it? How quickly can you do this? How will you make money?

And while we’re on the subject of content — an app’s core product — it’s safe to say that it has to be mobile and social to succeed. Gone are the days of inert content.

So count me in. I’m hooked on apps. I seem to have missed the blogging gold rush, so it’s time to move on to something with an undoubtedly promising future.

How about you?

The Time for Apps is Right Now is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. Will Readers Embrace the Vook?
2. How Will Publishers Humanize the Ebook?
3. Why Publishers Must Be Nimble

If you’re a serious web publisher of any kind I recommend you immediately read “Nimble: a Razorfish report on publishing in the digital age” by Rachel Lovinger. It’s an excellent, transformative and highly creative treatise on the future of digital publishing.

The bottom line on Nimble is this: make your content available anywhere and everywhere at all times.

In other words, now that we’re beyond the space constraints of newspaper and magazine columns—and even the garden-variety website—we need to design our content to be mobile and social across all platforms—even ones that aren’t yet invented.

Metadata: a new concern for publishers

As modern digital publishers, we have 3 big concerns: editorial, revenue and delivery.

Editorial and revenue have always been factors in our business models (and yes, they’re still searing hot topics), but delivery is compounding in complexity. How will our readers be just as informed, delighted, educated and entertained as they move from one device of convenience to another?

Lovinger says that delivery has much to do with structure:

Structure and definition…allow the elements to be isolated and identified so that the content item can be broken down and recombined in countless variations that are free to fly to all corners of the web…

While HTML and CSS are used for display and layout, they fail to define content (metadata). We need additional tagging systems even more sophisticated than XML to express more attributes such as usage, trust, value, versioning, etc. Continues Lovinger:

We should be able to take a single piece of collected content and easily mark which parts go on the website, which get fed to the mobile app, what part gets extracted as a tweet…which parts are free for everyone, which parts are premium, which are only available to mobile subscribers…

Why being nimble is so important

I’ll admit that Lovinger is projecting beyond what’s available or currently supported, but I have no doubt she’s right on the money, literally.

Nimble content represents the value behind a publisher’s brand. Producing content that’s mobile, social, easy to find and enjoyable to use lets us not only pioneer but also prosper from the new business of publishing.

Now go read and thoroughly absorb the Razorfish Nimble Report.

Photo by blakespot.

Why Publishers Must Be Nimble is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. How Will Publishers Humanize the Ebook?
2. The Time for Apps is Right Now

Are you also seeing this message on your Facebook account?:

Apply to be a beta tester and get the first look at upcoming Facebook products.

After clicking through, you’re presented with a page titled “Help us build the future of Facebook.” There’s some description about the “launch of a brand new product to the world” and how you can apply to be a beta tester.

Normally I’d ignore something like this, but what Facebook is proposing is too fascinating to pass up: a chance for my writing to be seen by “tens of millions of people — including job recruiters” as well as a visit to the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto (where my awesome sister Blair lives).

Too good to be true? How about an attempt to exploit masses of struggling, web-savvy writers? Hmmm…

To be considered for “exclusive beta access” you have to submit on the page a question and its answer about something interesting that you’re familiar with. They provide a sample question you can reference for editorial guidance.

I scrapped my first question/answer—How close can you get to molten lava?—in favor of this one:

In surfing, what’s the difference between a longboard and a shortboard?

With respect to length, longboards are generally nine feet or more and shortboards range between five and seven feet.

Longboards are also wider in the nose and tail, which gives them more stability and flotation for quicker paddling and easier wave catching. These factors make them for ideal for learning how to surf.

Shortboards are designed for maximum speed and maneuverability through turns. They require more responsiveness from the rider and therefore deliver more performance than longboards.

Variations in wave size and shape as well as surf conditions often dictate which boards are being used at a particular break. It’s easier to catch a wave that’s small, slow and mildly-sloped on a longboard than it is on its compact counterpart. On the flip side, you’d fare much better on a shortboard if the wave you’re riding has a steep take-off with quick and hollow sections.

There’s an entire culture and science built around surfing and surfboard design. You can learn much more by checking out Surfline’s surfology at http://www.surfline.com/surfology/surfology_a2z_index.cfm

Aloha!

It’s been submitted and I’ll basically forget about it, unless I get magically chosen for “exclusive access.” Then things might get interesting.

That “including job recruiters” phrase concerns me. It’s feels like Facebook is dangling a carrot in front of enterprising writers while indicating they won’t be directly compensated in any way (like a job) for their efforts.

Fair enough, but this “opportunity” could mean Facebook is attempting to leverage an army of volunteer writers who can quickly produce a massive cache of quality content. They can then contextually match that content with any of their tens of millions of users.

See where this is leading?

For example, anyone talking about surfboards on Facebook might see a link to my little write up. Or maybe they find the page (ranked high) in Google. Either way, they’ll get to the page which will inevitably be monetized with Facebook ads.

Owning socially-endorsed content on one of the world’s largest websites/ad networks sounds like a goldmine to me. Not just for Facebook but their opportunistic advertisers as well.

But there are issues: they absolutely must establish strict editorial control from the start or they’ll end up like Yahoo! Answers or worse yet, Mahalo.

The other and perhaps bigger issue is where does this leave the hard working niche bloggers? Wouldn’t it be easier to find what you need in your favorite, trusty all-consuming Facebook account than to go out and seek multiple bloggers with varying degrees of answers?

If there’s any truth to this, then bloggers are in for a Mega-Challenge. They need to be well-poised not just creatively or editorially but as powerful publisher brands with nimble content. And that’s not such a bad thing.

Image from benstein.

Is Facebook Trying to Become a Content Network? is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. Where Content Marketing Meets Branding

If you’re enterprising, have a penchant for web publishing and need some direction, try this tantalizing opportunity: publish a site around a niche that exists in your local geographic vicinity.

The gist is to build an online community that uses specific content to directly enhance the lives of interested people in your area.

No personal branding, no blogging for sales leads, no SEO — just good old fashion editorial content.

The best part is you don’t have to rely so much on social media to market yourself. All you need to be is social.

Why Do It?

Because nobody else is. The competition is very low right now.

Most mainstream niche sites these days are too large, messy and clunky and void of local perspective. Launching a micro-publishing venture could attract people who are savvy to RSS but continue to value the character and nuances of their home community.

Another reason to go local is because it’s much easier to build trust when people can get to know you in person. What might take someone 1 year to make 10 good acquaintances online, you could probably make in 1 hour in real life.

Low competition and easy-to-build trust aren’t the only benefits to local publishing. Remember that:

• People appreciate a local’s perspective, especially in today’s anonymous world.
• You’re more likely to find work or other business leads in your area.
• People you meet provide an endless supply of content, because people are interesting to write and read about.

Your Editorial Mindset

As a local publisher you want to possess the virtue of being a good editor. Strive to position yourself as someone who has a solid grasp on the subject matter but doesn’t dictate every thought in your head onto the screen. Don’t be just another blogger.

What I suggest you do is build a site that is one part Seth Godin Tribes (you lead by passion and direction), one part Copyblogger (consistently useful content) and one part Paris Hilton marketing (constantly promote other people, products, programs, etc. in your niche).

Publish what your readers need and want to hear without losing your personal touch.

Want an example of a local site in my area that publishes like this? Check out Share Your Table. New York City? Try Curbed.

Cheap and Easy Setup

Theoretically, you could be up and running in 10 minutes if you follow this simple and affordable website setup formula:

1. Come up with a brilliant domain name. Here’s a 3-step plan for that.
2. Purchase a hosting plan that includes a free domain name. ($7.50/month)
3. Login to your hosting control panel and install Worpdress.
4. Start publishing.

Because good design matters, I also recommend you look into purchasing a premium WordPress Theme from Organic Themes. They offer beautiful out-of-the-box themes with solid support. A theme costs $69, and it’s worth every penny.

Going Local

You hear the expression all the time when it comes to food — “buy local,” “support your local farmers,” etc. So why not push it with your website?

There’s not much difference in asking your community to support their local website like they would their farmer’s market.

If you can create a well-designed site with awesome content and a empathetic voice—with the added advantage of actually knowing your readers —you have the makings of bright and lucrative future.

Photo by cjmartin.

Why Local Publishing is a Golden Opportunity is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. 3 Proven Ways to Succeed in Publishing
2. Publish or Perish, Then Try Marketing
3. Who Are the Outliers of Modern Publishing?

Right now the progressive talk among publishers centers around pricing, ebooks, gadgets, branding and community/social media (in somewhat loosely connected terms). All important stuff, but we need to focus even more on choosers.

Choosers are people who share and recommends things to others, and they’re at the center of the evolving social web.

They decide what’s what sticks and what flops, where to go, what to read and—let’s not forget—what to buy. If you’ve ever shared anything online, then you’re a chooser, too.

If publishers want to save publishing, they need to start nurturing the choosers of their industry—readers, writers, editors and critics.

Creating the Channel

The platforms already exist, but the channels don’t. Kindles, iPads, Kobos, Nooks are nifty, elegant platforms, but really—they’re just another way of reading (and buying) a book.

Publishers need to create channels over these platforms so niche, book-loving communities can blossom and thrive.

For example, the channel for people who love innovative business books would have a place for Seth Godin readers to congregate over his ideas while allowing Seth Godin himself to directly connect with these readers (and critics, too).

After devouring his latest book, any influential chooser (including Seth himself) could lead the group to the next book or author. In this natural reading ecosystem, good authors and books get rewarded based on the wisdom of choosers and their communities.

Running the Channel

The publisher’s job is to keep channels running smoothly and to collect reader data that will enable them to sell the right books to the right people at the right time.

The editors? It’s their job to serve as stewards of the channel while procuring authors and their works.

If the channel thrives, more books get sold and everyone profits:

• Readers buy books they truly want to read
• Writers sell more books to readers they’re organically connected with
• Publishers can pinpoint their sales using detailed reader data
• Distributors (Amazon, Apple, etc.) get a cut of higher book sales

Facebook is a Threat to Publishing

This discussion isn’t complete without considering the social juggernaut that is Facebook.

The new ‘like’ button, while seemingly small and unassuming, contains the early DNA for the next generation of social choosers, which inevitably affects publishing.

Using the ‘like’ button, Facebook is reaching across multiple channels and allowing people to easily share the things they like. If they narrowed down their business to ebook publishing and integrated ‘like’ buttons into every ebook they produced, imagine the data they would own on all of their readers.

Facebook could then use that data to make book buying the most intuitive and personalized experience ever. Choosers invested in the Facebook platform (many of us already are, deeply) would have no reason to leave.

Yes, this would be a major coup on the publishing industry.

So Let’s Get to Work

But enough of this doomsday scenario. Publishers need to start building channels for choosers.

Remember, the question is not whether iPad this will topple Kindle that, but rather: Can publishers find books for their readers instead of readers for their books?

Photo by Tommy and Georgie.

Want a Future in Publishing? Focus on Choosers is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. 3 Proven Ways to Succeed in Publishing
2. How Will Publishers Humanize the Ebook?
3. Who Are the Outliers of Modern Publishing?

The delectable scent of fresh pages, the curious art of the dust jacket, the weight of a title in our hands—how will the ebook ever measure up to its sliced-tree ancestor?

The immediate and obvious answer is it can’t—there is no nostalgic substitute for ‘curling up with our favorite (paper) book’.

But that’s certainly not an answer future readers will accept as we enter the age of digital reading.

Ebooks must offer a Proustian experience equal to if not better than that of traditional books. The publishers who pick up on this will be the ones who stay in business.

Smart, Good Looking and Charming

Smart, good looking and charming are qualities that attract us to potential partners. Ebooks should be no different in how they attract readers.

Gadgets like the Kindle and iPhone give ebooks a platform to be smart. They remember your page, let you take notes and make it easy for you to download books instantly.

The iPad takes it one step further by giving ebooks a platform to be beautiful. Publishers no longer are constrained by blah grayscale artwork (Kindle) or a tiny screen the size of our palm (iPhone).

E-reader apps will soon be charming us by transforming the act of reading into something deeply engaging and personalized. These apps will know exactly what we want and how we want to hear it based on what they learn about us.

How many publishers are paying attention to this? How many are busy fighting the price war crusades?

It’s Still Early…

If we compare the invention of the ebook to the invention of Gutenberg printing press, then it’s safe to say we’re still tadpoles.

It took several hundred years for printed books to become commonplace. During this time bookmaking blossomed into the art form we now cherish.

Ebooks are still a novelty—the technology that powers them is outpacing and overshadowing those small but important craft details that make printed books so humanized: rich artwork, colophon, bookshelves, used book stores, the freedom to share them with friends, etc.

…but Time Will Tell

Half the remedy for readers totally smitten with the printed book is having the patience for publishers to catch up to the aesthetic wisdom of the Apples and Amazons of the world.

The other half are publishers willing invest their energy into extracting the deeper value of the ebook. It’s more than just spreading ideas at low cost replication, convenience and portability—let’s not forget the printing press offered this as well.

When this value proposition is made clear, then publishers will have smarter, better looking and more charming platforms of their own.

Photo by eflon.

How Will Publishers Humanize the Ebook? is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. Want a Future in Publishing? Focus on Choosers
2. Why Publishers Must Be Nimble
3. 3 Proven Ways to Succeed in Publishing

Vook offers an enhanced, alternative reading experience by publishing books combined with videos into desktop and iPhone applications called Vooks.

Sounds simple enough, but what do readers think?

So far I’ve downloaded two Vooks and I’m mostly impressed with what I see. There are a few areas for growth, which I’ll get into. First, the good stuff:

What strikes me about a Vook is its downright remedial simplicity: a story in text complimented with video. We’ve been doing this for years with blogs, but never have we seen it constrained and packaged into linear book format.

I’m about halfway through the desktop version of Unleashing the SUPER Ideavirus Vook by Seth Godin. I turn pages using arrow buttons, can switch between full-screen text, full-screen video or a hybrid of both, and each chapter has a play button for a short 1-2 minute video that  features people embracing the ideas of the chapter.

The Vook also lets me change font size, bookmark pages and — I’m sure they’re still testing this — share my thoughts via Facebook Connect and Twitter API apps built into each title.

Social connectivity is definitely where Vook plans to leverage its power, which is not only wise but inevitable for any publisher in this digital age. Vook’s latest blog post describing a Facebook fanpage chat with Anne Rice and her fans (she just released a Vook of her own) sums up the notion:

[Anne Rice] would certainly agree that Vook was great outlet, not just as medium for creative innovation and inspiration, but also as a way to reconnect with her audience.

I could and should talk more about how the social graph is vital to publishing, but that’s for another post…maybe even a manifesto.

Now for areas some of improvement:

The Vook desktop app runs in Flash, which is a drag. The developers have it set so I can’t select or search the text. This gives the Vook a waxy, sterile feeling — like being in a place where you can you look at but not touch the goods (several examples come to mind — use your imagination).

If they’re doing this to deter piracy, it’s at the cost of someone using their Vook  for research who would need the text to be pliable and portable and, ultimately — shareable. The same thinking applies to highlighting and annotating text, which Vook doesn’t yet offer (but the Kindle does).

Despite the addition of video, Vooks are actually pretty static. I don’t get the impression my Vook would be automatically updated if a new version became available. It doesn’t save my page if I get logged out, and a few times I’ve come back to my Vook to find it’s been reset to the beginning (the cover).

The social media “engaging” tools are certainly pioneering but at the same time primitive in relevancy. You can post a Facebook update or tweet from within the Vook, but there’s no clear, living connection between posting an update and the content itself.

In other words, I’m not automatically compelled to share my thoughts on what I’ve read in my Vook just because there’s a place to do it.

***

Don’t take my criticisms too seriously, though.

I’m in the middle of reading Jason Fried’s new book Rework (affiliate link) which is about the ultra-streamlined, guerrilla-style, ass-kicking approach to launching a business.

I have a hunch Vook is following this line, and as attention and demand tilt in their favor, they’ll be sure to turn up the mojo for their readers.

Will Readers Embrace the Vook? is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

No related posts.

Scribe SEO is a paid WordPress plugin with a catchy name that helps your content rank higher in search engine results.

With a click of a button, your content is analyzed and given a score based on its structure and keyword density. If your score is less than 100%, Scribe will tell you exactly what to do to make it higher.

The higher your score, the better chance you have of ranking. Think of it like having a personal SEO consultant look over your content every time you publish something.

It really works.

I’ll make a long story short: the day after I installed Scribe SEO and optimized this blog’s most popular post, I saw its ranking in Google go to #1 from #3.

Keep in mind that a number one ranking in Google is like the difference between an Olympic gold medal and a bronze…or no medal at all. It means you’re considered a top authority for a given search term, which could be a really big deal.

So even though the post was good enough to get to #3, it wasn’t perfectly optimized. Scribe SEO did all of that behind the scenes with a click of a button.

Scribe is for writers who don’t like SEO.

ScribeSEO is pretty forgiving on people who love to write but hate to optimize. It has a rather pleasant way of eliminating the fear, impatience, frustration, confusion or anger you may feel about SEO.

What I like about Scribe is its simplicity and ease of use. It merely suggests you place the right amount of keywords in the right places. Nothing tricky about that.

It also has a few other perks, such as keyword analysis (shows you which keywords you’re targeting), search engine results page (SERP) preview and my favorite — tags, which gives you a list of suggested tags to use on your post.

The happy ending with Scribe is that you never have to worry about compromising the integrity of your writing. For writers, this is everything.

It’s not the kitchen sink, thank goodness.

I’ve explained before why SEO is a complex but necessary discipline. People build their entire careers around it.

A more robust SEO strategy relies on other things like inbound links, domain authority and site structure, and this is where Scribe falls short. It only covers the words on your page.

As a writer and editor who leans on the creative side, I don’t have the time, energy or resources to commit to anything but the words on my page. I mostly adhere to these 5 simple SEO rules.

Here’s the Link to Buy Scribe

Click here to buy Scribe SEO (affiliate link). There is also a free trial version available.

Scribe is priced as a monthly subscription service. It’s available in 3 different price levels based on how many content evaluations you’re given per month: Starter (30 evaluations @ $27), Publisher (120 @ $47) and Advanced (300 @ $97).

The Starter is perfect for one-person blogging operations. The Publisher and Advanced options are ideal if you have clients. There are no limits to how many websites you can install Scribe on.

Last thing: Scribe SEO works with WordPress sites that run the Thesis Theme, Hybrid theme, Headway theme and the (free) All in One SEO plugin. Support for Microsoft Word, Joomla, Drupal and Moveable Type are due in the coming months.

Scribe SEO Review: How a Little SEO Goes a Long Way is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. 5 Gentle SEO Tips for Creative Writers
2. Thesis WordPress Theme Review — An Editor’s Perspective
3. Make Money Online by John Chow Book Review

For the sake of clarity, the term “creative writer” in this article refers to anyone who considers their writing a gift of art long before it serves a function of marketing.

Not everyone who blogs or writes online is trying to get a sales lead or talk about their business. And not everyone who reads online is looking for a product, service or idea to solve their problems.

Some writers just want to express themselves more creatively, hoping that—somewhere along the way—a community of impassioned readers take notice.

So it’s understandably frustrating when the web feels like one big marketing machine and the only way to get a respectable search engine ranking is to bend our writing to follow the rules of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). As Jack Johnson sings in Posters:

All caught up in the trends
Well the truth began to bend
And the next thing you know man
There just ain’t no truth left at all

If you’re a creative writer, you need not erase the truth nor corrupt your art to get found. Ranking well in Google and other search engines all starts with basic SEO awareness and a few fundamental on-page SEO techniques.

Here are 5 basic SEO tips to get you started. Keep in mind that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Always Keep Your Reader in Mind

Creative writers tend to struggle with this far more than copywriters, but keeping your reader in mind is the most important rule of SEO.

If you’re trying to attract an audience–which is why I assume you’re reading this—your content has to be either useful or relevant or both to your reader. There has to be something in it for them every time you publish.

The rule is: nobody cares about you until you care about them first. So if you feel like you’re writing solely for, to or about yourself, it’s time to inverse your approach.

Continue to Write Naturally

That’s right, keep being yourself. Artists can thrive using SEO.

Unlike what you may think, Google does not favor writing that sounds artificial — basically stuff that sounds like it’s written for a search engine. Remember — we’re writing for humans.

Keep your writing rich and unique. According to Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz, the quality of your writing is “always the number one most important factor in blog readership, return rate and longevity.”

Stick to One Idea per Post

Think sharp and singular: each piece of writing should cover no more than one main idea. Everything else goes towards supporting that idea.

This is basic and fundamental if you publish on a post-by-post basis, and where some discipline is useful.

Brain Clark of Copyblogger recommends writing the title first, then working off of that. I often like to write first, evolving the idea like sculptor would a sculpture, then distill the title from my finished work.

Calculate Your Keyword(s)

Sticking to one idea per post should leave you with one or two words or phrases to describe it. These words are called your keywords.

Most posts have primary and secondary keywords. You should know what yours are before you write.

Keeping the previous rules in mind, you should still be able to write naturally while focusing your post on your keywords. This is not hard to do once you get used to it.

For example, this primary keywords for this post is “SEO”, and the secondary is “creative writers”. “SEO” is too broad to rank for anything, but “SEO creative writers” narrows it down to something someone might actually search for.

Hopefully we’ll see a top result in Google soon!

Fill Out Your Title Tag and Meta Description

The title tag is one of the most important factors in on-page SEO. This makes perfect sense when you think about the searches you’ve done. The first thing you look at is the title, right?

I’m willing to bet the second thing you look at is the little blurb below the title which describes the page you’re searching for. This blurb is called the meta description.

If you don’t fill out the meta description yourself, Google and the other search engines will do it for you by stitching parts of your post together into something quasi-coherent and sometimes amusing.

Leaving the meta description to Google is a hit and miss strategy. It’s always best to fill it out yourself so you have precise control over how you want to sell the page. Aim for a compact summary of your page, with a maximum of 200 characters (about 30 words) or less.

Some WordPress themes such as Thesis have title and meta description fields built into the post page. If you don’t have Thesis, you can use the All in One SEO Pack.

***

Up next here on Wordful is a review of the Scribe SEO WordPress plug-in that ties all this SEO stuff together in a nice clean, no-hassle interface.

Photo by Rita Willaert.

5 Gentle SEO Tips for Creative Writers is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. Why Creative Writers Need SEO
2. Scribe SEO Review: How a Little SEO Goes a Long Way
3. Thesis WordPress Theme Review — An Editor’s Perspective

One of the 2 WordPress products I’m proud to be an affiliate reseller of is the Thesis WordPress Theme by DIY Themes (the other is Organic Themes — more on that in a future post).

For a non-code-loving writer and editor like me—and presumably you—the real selling point about Thesis is the no-hassle, back-end control panel that allows you to control its powerful features with deft and ease.

What this means is we never have to look at, let alone touch, steaming piles of PHP, CSS or HTML — just some well-labeled check boxes and the amusing  ”Big Ass Save Button” to confirm my changes.

Well-Balanced Readability Design

Any writer, blogger, journalist, editor or publisher worth her salt knows that good readability design is not about flashy, bursting colors or excessive illustrations — it’s about simplicity, elegance, structure and type. 

Readability design is where Thesis takes a holistic high-line. The WordPress theme was built specifically to support the presentation of content, and it does a great job doing so.

Without any alterations, a fresh install of Thesis looks somewhat plain but not ugly. Thanks to some recent upgrades you can now change the colors, add columns, adjust column width, choose your type size, etc. — all through the easy-as-pie visual control panel.

Like, Totally SEO Friendly

Again, if you’re a content maven and have little penchant or patience for web marketing, Thesis has built-in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools.

This is a major feature, mind you, as SEO is the sister discipline to social media when it comes to attracting readers and building your platform (this isn’t always easy to accept, but you must).

Right under your post box are fields to populate a custom title tag, meta keywords and description, nofollow, etc. 2 quick rules of thumb:

• Titles are ranked high in search algorithms so keep them concise, unique and specific. Lead the title tag with the most important idea of the post.
• Always fill out the meta description. Use it to sell the page in the 1-2 seconds you have with someone scanning it. Keep it to a maximum of 200 characters or about 30 words.

It wasn’t until recently when this blog started ranking in Google for “how to name your blog” that I appreciate the value of SEO.

Customizable to the Hilt

People call Thesis a “framework,” which means if you have an inspired design in mind, chances are it can fit right into Thesis. This means you can use all the publisher-friendly goodies without cramping your style.

The best way to get your design into Thesis is to hire a professional web designer to produce a Photoshop layout of your site, then turn the file over to a WordPress developer.

There are tons of WordPress developers out there. Try to find one that works specifically with Thesis — they’re a very passionate bunch and can be found in the Thesis community/support forums (which of course is included with the purchase of your theme).

Take a look at this screen shot of a new Thesis installation and then compare it to this site, which I had customized. You can also check out the official Thesis gallery.

…And It’s Cool

Design and code don’t always mix well with writing content. Or should I say designers and coders don’t always mix well with content writers. We’re just different breeds.

So let me end with this: you know the people behind Thesis (Brian Clark and Chris Pearson) are pretty cool guys when the default 404 error message says this:

You 404’d it. Gnarly, dude. Surfin’ ain’t easy, and right now, you’re lost at sea. But don’t worry; simply pick an option from the list below, and you’ll be back out riding the waves of the Internet in no time.

• Hit the “back” button on your browser. It’s perfect for situations like this!
• Head on over to the home page.
• Punt.

Click here to purchase the Thesis WordPress Theme. $87 for a single, one-site license or $164 for a developer’s license.

Links in this post are affiliate.

Thesis WordPress Theme Review — An Editor’s Perspective is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Related posts:

1. Scribe SEO Review: How a Little SEO Goes a Long Way
2. 5 Gentle SEO Tips for Creative Writers
3. The Changed Design and Content of this Website