John Faubion's Blog

If you’re new to WordPress you may be wondering what’s the big deal behind Pages and Posts. At first glance they appear to be one and the same: if you were to create either a new page or a new post you’d be presented with nearly identical interfaces and in many cases the public appearance of pages and posts will look the same.

Don’t let this fool you. There’s a very fundamental difference between the two and that difference is what makes CMSs, like WordPress, great platforms for integrating blogs with traditional websites.

Think about the kind of pages that make up a typical website. Most often you’ll see pages like “Home”, “About Us”, “Services”, “Contact Us”, etc. Within WordPress these are often treated as Pages; documents that have no particular regard for the time they were posted.

For example, when you visit the “About Us” page of your favorite company’s website you don’t expect the content to be very different from what was available there a week ago.

Now take a moment to think of your favorite news website. A news site is an ideal example of when you’d expect content to be different from the last time you visited — after all, news just wouldn’t be news if it weren’t current. In the case of news sites, Posts are most often used to write articles.

When you publish a post within WordPress it knows to treat the post differently than the way it treats a page. For example, when you enable a blog within your BoldGrid theme, it will list all of your published posts in reverse chronological order on your Blog page.

Your BoldGrid site can contain both pages and posts, i.e. you may have an “About Author” page to compliment your weekly blog. When done well, utilizing pages and posts in this way can help you build a more engaging experience for your visitors.

The post Blogging 101 first appeared on Unusual Fiction.

If you write about a variety of subjects, categories can help your readers find the posts that are most relevant to them. For instance, if you run a consulting business, you may want some of your posts to reflect work you’ve done with previous clients, while having other posts act as informational resources. In this particular case, you can set up 2 categories: one labeled Projects and another labeled Resources. You’d then place your posts in their respective categories.

Categories are accessible from the post editor. There you can create new categories and assign them to your posts.

Tags, on the other hand, allow you to label your posts with relevant topics. For instance, within one of your resource posts you may choose to write about a set of project management tools. While you can certainly create a new category called “Project Management Tools,” you may not plan to write about the topic often enough to justify giving it a dedicated category. Instead, you may want to tag your post with several topics that exists within the post; e.g. project management tools, communication, time tracking, etc.

What’s great about tags is that they are searchable and provide your users another way to find content on your site. Anyone searching for “project management tools” will be able to locate any posts you’ve tagged with those words!

The post Basic Taxonomies first appeared on Unusual Fiction.

If you’re considering adding a blog to your site, you’ll want to have a plan beforehand. Planning your blog will help your subject matter remain consistent over time. It’ll also help you determine whether or not there’s enough material to maintain a steady stream of posts.

One pitfall many new bloggers run into is starting a blog that isn’t posted to frequently enough. A shortage of recent posts can give your visitors a bad impression of your business. One may think “I wonder if they’re still in business” or “they may want to hire a writer.”

A blog, like any other customer facing aspect of your business, communicates your brand. If it isn’t maintained and given proper attention, people will notice. Post regularly and keep your content fresh. Give your audience a reason to visit often.

While on the topic of audiences, you’ll likely want to identify yours early on. If your blog is going to be set up to compliment a business, your target audience will likely be the same as your consumer base; you’re then writing for the same people that buy your product. You’ll want to allow any marketing material you’ve used inform the style and tone of your writing. Think of your blog as an extension of your company’s brand.

If, on the other hand, your business is completely new or you don’t happen to be selling anything in particular, this is the time to start thinking about your brand …

The post Tips For Better Writing first appeared on Unusual Fiction.

Christian Suspense - High Contrast Fiction -- by John Faubion. comes to you from John Faubion at Christian Suspense.

Here’s why I like reviews. But first, I’ve also got to tell you that sometimes they — well, they upset me. More about that later, maybe. Comments like this recent one on Amazon make my day: “I will read more Christian novels, based on the fact that this writer has convinced me that Christians can actually […]

The post Why I Like Reviews appeared first on Christian Suspense.

Christian Suspense - High Contrast Fiction -- by John Faubion. comes to you from John Faubion at Christian Suspense.

The Virtual Soul I’m writing about today is — maybe — quite a bit different than what you were expecting. And just possibly a whole lot cooler than you would have imagined! I’m a big fan of church history. The early stuff, before it became all about the Roman Church. I’m going to take you […]

The post The Virtual Soul appeared first on Christian Suspense.

Christian Suspense - High Contrast Fiction -- by John Faubion. comes to you from John Faubion at Christian Suspense.

On January 10, 2014, the movie Her  was released into theaters. Her  isn’t only a science fiction film, but a romance. “A Spike Jonze Love Story.” The strange thing about it, is that it is a romance between a living human man, and an operating system characterized as a female. For anyone wondering, an operating […]

The post The Movie HER Reviewed appeared first on Christian Suspense.

Christian Suspense - High Contrast Fiction -- by John Faubion. comes to you from John at Christian Suspense.

I got a question a couple of days ago asking what my writing desk looked like. That’s a pretty good question, because I have two desks in my office. One is for the day-to-day finances, emailing, music, and all the rest. The other one is my writing desk. I planned it with the idea of […]

The post My Writing Desk appeared first on Christian Suspense.

Christian Suspense - High Contrast Fiction -- by John Faubion. comes to you from John Faubion at Christian Suspense.

Protecting Your Kids from Internet Predators… | Today’s Christian Woman buff.ly/1jLNuAs

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Christian Suspense - High Contrast Fiction -- by John Faubion. comes to you from John at Christian Suspense.

In The Matrix, Morpheus offered Neo two choices: The red pill, or the blue pill. The blue pill would allow Neo to remain in his virtual reality… the Matrix. The red pill would take him into reality. The real world. The rush is on to make the blue pill real. A way to escape the […]

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Christian Suspense - High Contrast Fiction -- by John Faubion. comes to you from John at Christian Suspense.

Don’t get freaked out by this, but Teddy Ruxpin is back — on steroids.   We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about virtual people, artificial intelligence, and the like. As you know, Friend Me is all about illicit romance with an AI (artificial intelligence) entity. You owe it to yourself to […]

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