Well people today was the day! I ran a bit behind from a meeting that wouldn’t end, but never the less, I’m finally here with the winners of my very first premium theme giveaway. Over all, it was a great success and if you guys and gals are open to it… I’d be willing to do it again very soon. Interested? Let me know, and I’ll set up another contest!

Just so that you all know what I did, I went to the random.org and had the generator pick numbers. I wanted to video it, nut I’ve got upload issues and I don’t have the patience to figure out why. That said… let the games begin!

Random Linkback / Trackback Winner

Well the winner is number… one! Number one according to my linkbacks is “The Affiliate Post“.

Random Feedburner Subscriber Winner!

So who is it? And the winner is… number seven! mirzania@gmail.com

Congratulations claim your prizes!

Okay winners… head on over to my premium theme section of the site, and dig around a bit. Look for the theme that you want and send me an e-mail letting me know what theme you want! You don’t have much time so, go… go… go!

I need your answers by noon central standard time tomorrow (Friday) so I can get them ordered before leaving town for my conference! Thanks to everyone who participated and don’t forget to let me know if you all are interested in doing it again!

Well today I’ve got tons and tons of stuff that I really wanted to write about but because I don’t have all day, and over posting seems to be a bad thing sometimes, I decided to incorporate all my thoughts into a re-cap list of sorts… you know like a newspaper would do.

PB’s Premium Theme Giveaway is has now been moved up!

2:00 pm Thursday the 26th (central standard time) will be the, new… albeit closer, drawing date for the contest. That’s right people, I’m moving up the contest up few days to accommodate a surprise conference I’ve got to attend at the end of this week. That said, just remember that I’m giving away two premium WordPress themes designed by Adii and all I ask for in return is a little link love. One theme will go to a randomly drawn Feedburner subscriber, and the other to a random trackback post to the contest! Read More…

An Update for a Tweak A Week

I’m really very disappointed in the results of my “Tweak A Week” post. What I thought was a generous and totally awesome offer to help give you guys something cool, didn’t pan out very well. Of course everyone wants something for nothing, but all I asked for was a little help promoting PB. The end result was (0) zero linkbacks… (1) one Stumble, and a handful of comments and e-mails from theme affiliate re-sellers (not the designers) making crude and unwarranted remarks that made no viable sense. So I mean what the heck is the point right? It was flop, and with many hours of work each theme takes… I’m not quite sure it’s something I’m going to continue past the first winner. What do you all think? Remember, I’m running a business!

The Ultimate Mimbo Pro Review is Coming…

As you all know, “Robin” was this past weeks winner of “Tweak A Week“. Hopefully he will be sporting the new theme soon I’ll let you guys know when it’s up!. That said, I mentioned in some of my initial posts that from the start Mimbo Pro was just a big problem. Well… in PB fashion, I stand here ready to tar and feather myself for your gawking pleasure! WIth the Help of Darren, Mimbo Pro works like a charm and I’ll be the first to say that it’s a real winner. I’ll be writing up a full blown review towards the end of the week explaining how my server’s settings were causing the failure as well as my thoughts about what I found under the hood of one of the coolest WordPress themes I’ve seen.  Anyway, more on that soon so stay tuned!

Gearing up for the blog flipping contest

As you all may know by now, Bryan Clark is throwing one hell of an awesome contest and I’m siked about it. Not only am I entered to win it… I’m a sponsor throwing in about $900.00 worth of theme tweak work as a prize as well as a banner ad over here at the now famous PB! Get your asses Registered…

John Joubert is giving it all away!

Mr. Joubert wrote up a great plug for me a while back about my “Premium WordPress Theme Giveaway“. So as any good fellow should do, I stuck around to read more about what he’s doing over there. Now that he’s giving away things like his specialized consulting work and free web hosting for a year… I wanted to let all of you all know that he needs our collective support! Help a fellow blogger gain some publicity and get your self some cool free stuff while your at it.

Alright ladies and gents, I’m a few days behind schedule on my Tweak A Week giveaway due to some errors setting up the theme, but regardless, I’m moving forward and as promised here is a sneak peak at what “Robin” of NOAFILM.be is getting!

The Re-Design of the Re-Design

As mentioned in an earlier post, MimboPro is a bit of a pain in the butt to set up. I was pretty stressed out about it for about a day and a half until Darren offered some help. I’ve got to give it to him, that’s one great way to earn the respect of your peers. So, Darren… good show.

There is a but… The image issue is still not fixed making it hard for me to properly code and test the css and background images the way I need to in order to make this one kick ass theme tweak! After a few days of back and forth with no prevail, I decided to go ahead and re-design, the re-design. So what you see is actually the second version which isn’t as in depth as I would have liked, but hell it got the job done and is looking pretty fricken awesome!

Bunches of changes!

I’ve moved a few elements around, changed some CSS, and of course… I went bonkers with the graphics to just set this MimboPro showcase over the top. I used a number of design stratagies when thinking of both of these re-designs and I’ll be going over those in a later post so don’t worry, I won’t leave you hangin’!

As for the screenshot, you’ll notice that those pesky thumbnails still aren’t showing, so once Darren gets it fixed for me, I’ll be able to get it all finished up with the final little touches.

Comparing apples to apples… I’d like to know.

Just to show you guys what some of the other proud MimboPro theme owners have done, I’m going through the task of putting a few of Darren’s showcase links in here for ya. Take a gander… compare notes… and let me know what you guys think of the ULTIMATE MimboPro re-design!

• http://www.stampersquest.com/
• http://www.nicegirlstv.com/
• http://www.rch103.com/
• http://www.lesenfantsterribles.org/
• http://www.fbodyonline.com/homepage
• http://www.revolverfm.com
• http://www.gitrknowswow.com
• http://www.momworx.de/
• http://www.UrbanSake.com
• http://www.realabaco.com
• http://www.radiolightstream.com.
• http://www.napnam.nl/site
• http://www.Qwowi.com
• http://www.massena28.com/
• http://www.raproject.com
• http://www.adaequat.org

Like tips… great feedback is always welcome!

Now I’m sure that asking for feedback might be like asking for a hole in the head, but I’d like to know what you guys and gals think so far. You know… motivation! We all need it and with so many install headaches and two re-designs just to accommodate the silly error, I’d like to think I’m on the right path with things anyway.

Get your own theme tweak…

Remember that you have way to many chances to get yourself your own custom theme tweaks by yours truly by just checking out some recent posts where I’m selling my soul for some traffic.

• http://thepissbiscuit.com/free-blog-redesign/
• http://thepissbiscuit.com/blog-flipping-contest/
• http://thepissbiscuit.com/pbs-premium-theme-giveaway/

Alright people it was about time that someone offered up another contest! When I saw the post go up on Bryan Clark’s Site Flipping University… I was THRILLED… and then… I was INTIMIDATED! Even though you guys should go read the full contest rules on your own… I’ve put the points system up just to show you guys how well thought out this contest is.

Contestants will be given points based on the following criteria.

• 10 Points for each Feedburner Subscriber
• 2 Points for each unique visitor
• 1 Point for each pageview
• 5 Points for each unique visitor from an ORGANIC source (i.e. Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.)
• 10 Points for listing the auction
• 100 Points for a successful sale (price doesn’t matter)
• 50 Points for having the MOST traffic
• 100 Points for having the most ORGANIC traffic
• 100 Points for having the most Feedburner Subscribers
• 50 points to anyone who opens a new Hostgator account under my (his) affiliate link. The proceeds will be split with the winner of the contest. Pretty good deal right? And it’s $10 a month for unlimited domains, and the best host on the market… (I’m actually the best host on the market)

I Need a Brand New Domain?

After you start reading… you start to understand that this isn’t your normal contest. No way… this sucker has got a twist in the pickle like none other! Holy smokes Bryan… I’ve got to register a brand new domain name? You’re really making this a toughie aren’t you? As if domain names aren’t already hard enough to find we’ve got to find a good one… that’s never been registered before… build a blog around it… and sell it in 30 days!

Who Needs Money When You’ve Got Traffic?

Okay so we all know by know that Bryan’s no push over with his “rules and regs”… but he’s kicking up a notch by not giving ANY credit to the blog that sells for highest price. C’mon Bryan can’t ya give a guy a break! We only get points for organic traffic! When this thing is all done, I’ll never want to sell it after all that bloody work!

Get Over There and Register!

Well I must say that just reading Bryan’s post is bringing out the competitor in me, so I’m seriously thinking about getting on board and joining up even though I’ve now officially got NO extra time! All in all, I think that this is a sweet contest with some pretty sweet prizes that every blogger would want! Let me know if you guys and gals plan on joining… you never know… I might just beg Bryan to let me donate some sort of kick ass prize!

Now go check out the Blog Flipping Contest!

Here’s A Kick Ass Update for Ya!

I’ve just been notified that Bryan has now been persuaded to take me on as a contest sponsor! That’s right people… as if I’m not already giving you guys the world… here’s one more chance to get an awesome theme design worth about $900.00 bucks from yours truly! So get off your rumps and get registered!

Well it’s the moment you all have been waiting for… Okay, so maybe not… but after some serious debate and a whole lot of thinking back and forth, I’ve finally decided who will be getting the totally awesome theme tweak for week one. Drum roll please… and the winner is… “Robin” of NOAFilm.be

What makes Robin this week’s winner?

Contests are a tough thing to hold, especially ones like this, where I have to make a personal decision. Unlike my random winner contest like “PB’s Premium Theme Giveaway“, I’ve made this weeks decision based on what I feel is best for my business.

I feel that while Robin’s site is not in English and making it more difficult to complete, it will truly have an impact on the Premium Theme community. Because he’s already using MimboPro I this makes the buzz factor all that much greater. That said, I chose this site based on nothing more than the potential for future business, traffic, publicity, and a well thought out e-mail explaining what he was looking for… oh wait, he did what I asked for… moral of the story… effort prevails every time.

Robin’s Well Thought Out E-Mail

The thing with my site is that I feel everything looks a bit full on the front page, based on the reactions my clients give me I know that they often just look at the top 2/3 of the site. On the other hand all the info on the front page has to be there. What I was thinking is to remove the vertical boundaries, much like this site: http://www.raproject.com/ and maybe change the color combination as well though I really like combinations with brown and blue.

He also used Mimbo Pro as a base and by removing the side boundaries but keeping the content within boundaries it looks like the site has more breathing space (hope i express myself right)

I also want the header which now contains my company logo and some wedding pictures which I threw together in Photoshop to be redesigned,  f.i. I liked what http://www.queromedia.be/ did with their header, it also spreads itself horizontally over the site and their tree’s roots end were the tags begin, very simple yet elegant. Now i don’t want a tree on my site but something simple incorporating my Logo and some artsy fartsy video/photo related stuff.

Let the magic happen…

Robin has issued me complete design freedom on his site which I’ll take seriously. I’ve already got some mock up done and to be honest I’m pretty excited about it.As you can see in the picture above, he’s already made some tweaks on his own and I’m hoping take it to the next level for him.

I’ve take some design cues from the most popular styles of 2008 and mixed them in with a seductive, sensual, classic feel that is sure to lend a real focus to his business. Robin does some wonderful work in both photography and video so showcasing his awesome talent is something that this theme tweak will aim to do.

Robin mentioned in his e-mail that his readers tend to be interested in the top two-thirds of his site. In the deign world, regardless of the medium, is called “Above the Fold”. I reviewed a little bit about the importance of this area of a site in my article about “Building a Better Blog“.

The nuts and bolts…

I’ve already received the original theme file from Robin and so I guess you could say that the work has officially begun. I’ll make one brief mention though, that I’m not all that impressed as of yet with MimboPro’s image and thumb-nailing system. It’s very cumbersome to implement and even for a seasoned WordPress fanatic, it’s not user friendly in the setup.

Usage is pretty straight forward using “Custom Fields” but wow, I’ve fiddled with it for about four hours and just can’t manage to get the imaging system to work properly. Inevitably, I’ll be writing a review on the Mimbo Pro theme when this is all done so you can fully understand what to expect should you purchase this premium theme in the future so be on the look out for it.

In the meantime, I’ll be finishing up my mock ups and hopefully posting my progress tomorrow. with some totally awesome screen shots. if I can get the darn imaging system to act right, I might even have a live demo for you guys and galls too.

Three weeks to go!

Just remember that you all have three more weeks, with three more winners. I’m hoping that some of you will start to fully appreciate the time and energy involved in doing this stuff… so help me out and spread the word! Until tomorrow…

Say what? Yeh, I know it’s pretty damn cool aint it… I’m begging you to let me re-design your blog’s theme for free! Yes in deed, you heard me right… Free! Yeh, I know I’m going off the deep-end especially since I’m so busy these days, but heck… if you know of a better way to get some great publicity and jump start a new  business… I’m all eyes.

I’ll tweak it for free.

If you’ve got a blog, then you’ve got a theme. No matter where it came from or who built it, EVERY blog could use a nice tweak to make it stand out from the crowd and I’m willing to do it for  ya for free! I know that some of you have hacked copies of Photoshop, and possess a handful of hours of meddling with it’s capabilities… but let’s get real people, you need the whole package from someone who knows what their doing! I’m your man.

What will you get…

Like I tell all of my real world clients, this is my job and I build websites every day. That said, I’ll take a theme that you already own… or already use, and make it your own. I’ll use my talents to not only give you all something that you can be proud of, but also make your blog more profitable. With a background in design, development and marketing… you’ll have everything you need to become a force to reckon with.

While I’m open to hear your dreams and listen to your ideas… what I’m really interested in are folks who can tell me about there goals and let me work some magic to help you reach them. Every blogger has and objective… (except for me)… and as a designer it’s my job to try and make that happen. So if you;re open to the power of persuasion, and keen on having me dig around and twist things up a bit… this is one shameless self promotion you don’t want to miss.

What you won’t get…

I’m not a push over so be prepared! Just remember, I’m the guy doing the work, so while your ideas are important to me, they may not be the best for your blog… that said, I may not follow your direction to the T and you should be prepared to hear it. I won’t re-invent the wheel, so please don’t ask me too. I’m not going to be building you a whole new blog, or recreating your online purpose. I’ll be taking something “established” and hopefully make it “better”. If you sell widgets, but want to sell video widgets, that’s fine… it just means that you’ll have to hire me instead. I simply do not have the time to re-invent what your doing online, so those of you with those requirements need not apply.

It’s time to earn it!

I was trying to think of a good way to build publicity and have yet to figure it out. I could request a post on your blog, or some silly e-mail subscription contest like I’ve got on one of my other giveaways, but nothing really struck my fancy. What’s a guy to do?

I figured that since it’s you all that will get the theme tweaks, I’d like to know why you think it would be good for my business to redo your blog!

Okay so does everyone understand it? It’s really simple. You tell me, why on earth it would help my new business. Tell me things like, I’ve got a page rank 7 blog… I’ve got 79,000 daily visitors… I’ve got 350,000 subscribers… tell me you’ll where a Piss Biscuit T-Shirt… tell me that you’ll do a viral video… just tell me something that makes sense!

As a business man, I need to make sure that whenever I spend valuable time doing something there will be a purpose… and of course a gain. I guess you could say that I, like most, want to be gainfully employed… not just employed. So while I am not trying to collect cash from this awesome offer, I would like to see that my work and dedication to my craft will be put to good use.

Sealing the deal…

Okay so you all now know that the goal here is to promote my business, acquire some great testimonials, help out fellow bloggers, and read all about why it would help us both out if I spent my time working for you. So, in the spirit of things, I’m going to choose four (4)… yep, four of you all who not only make an impression on me, but also make a good impression for this blog and my new found service. That’s one tweak a week for a month! I must really be nuts.

Maybe a good idea would be to blog about it… ask your readers for their thoughts… ask for help from your readership, just as I ask for help from you all. Heck, even though the linkbacks will earn you a bunch of brownie points, I’d love to see your readers come to your aid too! If you blog about it, and people start stepping up, I’ll see that… I promise I read every one of my visitors blogs.

* Credits: Bryan Clark & The Affiliate Post for their help in pushing me to do this. I think it will be an excellent way to create another online business, so my thanks goes out to the both of you for your inspiration.

Oh, I almost forgot…

Stumbles and Technorati Favorites make me smile! I’ve never “really” understood what benefit stumbling has on a blog’s actual traffic, so more brownie points for stumbles and let’s see what it does! Thanks for the help!

Okay people listen up and listen up good! I’ve been asking for help since almost day one and I’ve gotten so few responses it’s pathetic! I was giving away free hosting for a year to someone who could help me figure out how to give away a conference ticket worth almost $1,000.00! I mean c’mon people, I can’t give away stuff… to help me giveaway more stuff to save my life. So, let me try this baby out… How about a free premium WordPress theme?

Here’s the deal…

So you’re interested in getting a free WordPress theme from your pal PB right? Well I thought you would! So here is the deal… Bryan has recently enlightened me to a whole new way of looking at online investing. His formula is to create assets from liabilities. Assests make you money, and liabilities cost you money… pretty simple right. But the most interesting point he made is that subscribers are worth about $18.00 each. I have no clue how that number comes about, but if you’re curious, head on over to his site and ask.

Knowing that figure, and looking at my current subscriber list via feedburner I’d say this blog is worth about… $18.00 thanks to my man Affiliate Post who is the ONLY subscriber I’ve managed to earn… and here I thought you guys were diggin it? I know I’ve got some subscribers in various readers… but I need some e-mail subscriptions to build up the value of my “investment” and I’ll hook you up with a killer theme (I love great design)… for the help. Are we on the same page? Good!

Holy kanibilas Batman! There will be TWO winners!

Okay so if you haven’t got my drift, here it is in plain English for ya.

One random “FEEDBURNER” subscriber will earn his or her choice of premium themes found on my premium themes page.

One random “LinkBack” or “Trackback” with a post written about how cool this blog is will get you hooked up with another chance to get a killer design.

Yes. I said not one, but two people will win the premium theme of their choice. That means if you subscribe, and write an awesome post that you KNOW I’ll appreciate… you’ve got twice the chance of winning. I don’t need posts talking about the “contest” directly… but it might be a good idea. As long as you link it to this post and say something that might make me blush… I’m cool with it!

How long will this thing last… Hmmm how about two weeks? That gives you plenty of time to spam all your friend’s blogs… Kidding… and me time to figure out the next bit of awesomeness I’m going to give away. So… June 28th, 2008 at midnight… it’s all over people. I’ll video tape the random drawing… or handle it via Yahoo Live so you all can see what’s going down and who the TWO lucky winners will be.

Don’t Forget!

Some things to keep in mind… When you ask for e-mail delivery of Piss Biscuit posts via feedburner… you’ve GOT to confirm the registration, or it will not show up in my admin panel!

If you’re going to write a post, please please please make sure that you allow pingbacks and trackbacks… other wise, I wont have a clue that you wrote something nice!

For those of you interested…

I will also check my traffic so that I can DOCUMENT the real live results of your efforts to help me build a better Piss Biscuit. So unlike those people who don’t want to spill the beans… I’m going to kiss and tell which should be an awesome learning experience for all of us! Oh, and while Stumbles and Diggs are NOT required for this sweet little deal… they are greatly appreciated!

PS: If the 1,800 subscribe now links in this post isn’t good enough, then you can always check the top right of every page for the link labeled e-mail.

I know that offering “goodies” has been a way to get things kicked off for many new blogs so I figured what the heck why not try a few things and see how they work out. Now even though I’ve got a handful of real zingers to giveaway over the next few weeks… I’m going to start off small, but, still important none the less.

My Dilemma: I’ve got a habit of commenting on quite a few blogs when I really should be working on other things… like my job. So in a valiant effort to get back on schedule at the office, as well as get the creative juices flowing, I would like you all to tell me how to give away a ticket to An Event Apart worth $995.00!

Bloggers have come up with a crazy number of ways to market themselves and this isn’t any different. Granted, it’s not crazy yet, but I’m willing to get there if someone suggests something new and memorable… remember that’s what I’m looking for. Fresh ideas, nothing stale. Do you have some thoughts?

“I’ll give one year of free hosting away to a random blogger (or blogger hopeful), who offers up a killer idea for giving away my ticket to one of the coolest conferences you can attend… ” -An Event Apart

Simply submit your suggestions via the comments, or write a post asking your visitors to help me decide what to do and presto, you’ll earn yourself a chance at some free hosting. I want this to be fun and worthwhile, so please make sure your ideas and suggestions aren’t boring! I’ll choose a winner on June 15, 2008 and begin preparing for the big giveaway. Let’s see what you’ve got!