Today Bhavesh Radadiya from Templatic joins us and explains why they rebranded from PremiumThemes to Templatic, as well as shares his ideas on the future of Wordpress. Templatic also gives some licenses for their recently launched, excellent WordPress ecommerce theme ‘Store’ for our readers.

Hello Bhavesh, thanks for taking time for our interview. You have been long involved in the WordPress and theme community but somehow are not one of the ‘brands’ out there. Could you quickly introduce yourself to our readers?

Hey everybody. This is R.Bhavesh. A 27 year young net entrepreneur from India. I love to design websites with a blend of usability and a perfect architecture, helping the end user achieve to their goal. Creating products at Templatic.com allows me to do exactly that and that’s why I am working full time at that.

Congratulations on the successful relaunch and rebranding of PremiumThemes/Templatic. Why did you decide to ditch a long standing name and a great URL? Does it mean that we can expect themes for other platforms from Templatic in the near future?

Thank you. After getting started with PremiumThemes.net, I realized that creating templates for the end user tho helps the create a professional, strategic site affordably is what I love doing most. For years to come, I’d be doing the same thing.

And doing something for long time needs a perfect branding. Premium Themes was actually a great URL but its a keyword that only works for WordPress. Over time, popularity of Wp may decrease but we will create templates for other platrorms as well.

Templatic is a keyword that gives an impression of templates/skins/themes – a perfect name for branding that what we are doing.

What do you think has lead to the huge popularity of WP? Was it ‘the right thing at the right time’ after the Movable Type change in license or is WordPress itself the best platform for what it does?

You can say that. But I also believe that WordPress the best platform for creating small websites and blogs is. Easy to use is the best feature of WP have and people love it for exactly that same reason.
At the same time, the actual users of a CMS / Blogging Platform are the people who are getting started / have a small business and they are looking for something cool and a cost-effective solution. WordPress all these uses and covers these needs. Being free, people tried it risk-free and loved it. Movable Type might have thad more potential at that time but charging for something that is available fore free as well does not appeal to me so much.
I’d also say it was a smart move by Matt Mullenweg. I wouldn’t point them out but over the time of last three years, I notice him making several moves at the right time and that keeps the popularity of WP going on.

Do you think WordPress has cornered the market now or is there still place for another platform, and if what would it be?

If we take wordpress as a blogging platform, Tumblr and Postereous are cornering the market. WordPress is now being used to create websites. For now, I don’t see an alternative to WordPress but you never know. Something extra ordinary comes once in a while and the trend changes.

Recently lots has happened in the CMS community: the demise of Postnuke, Joomla seems to be headed the same way as Mambo and some lead developers and users of Movable Type have created a fork of MT, Melody. It seems that the creation of a WordPress Foundation is nearing. Do you think this is a good move for the community or does it involve major risks, could it end in internal war like what we are currently seeing at Joomla? Most of all, are we running out of options?

We have a very good a solid option with WordPress. I always believed that WordPress has the “power of plugins”. The community is hugely involved this way and will continue to flourish. All plugin developer are contributing in their own way while keeping the core code untouched.

I have no opinion on the Wordpress Foundation. WordPress is unique in its own way and I would prefer it as-is.

As a designer I suppose that you always lookout for the newest platform software, who do you think could make an impact next year and is there something that could make a new platform stand out being a viable alternative to WordPress?

Right now, Tumblr is leading on the blogging platform. If you consider WordPress as CMS , I don’t see an alternative at the moment because people are really comfortable using it.

But surely there will be a scope for another CMS that offers simplicity. WordPress is introducing more and more features with each version and I fear, it will become bloated one day. Automatically it will create room for others just like they did for the tumblr and others.

Thanks for your time and we wish you and Templatic a great 2010. We here at BloggingPro are looking forward to new releases from Templatic.

Year 2010 will be the biggest year for us as we definitely have great plans with revolutionary products that we will release in the first half of the year. Also our team is growing 3 fold at our headquarters in Surat, India that will add some great value at Templatic.

Thanks for the wishes. Have a good day.

How To Enter The 2009 BloggingPro End of Year Giveaway?

Until the end of 2009 BloggingPro will host every day a new giveaway and every day a new price can be won. Winners will be randomly chosen and announced here on January 3rd 2010.

Today we have 3 copies of the awesome ecommerce theme ‘Store’ by Templatic for our readers.

To participate to today’s competition and win one of the three licenses, follow follow BloggingPro on Twitter (we will check) and tweet about the BloggingPro giveaway and the Store theme (use this link to have both links included!).

Today’s competition will be closed on December 30th 2009 at 23:59PST.

Hello Jeff, thanks for taking time for our interview. You have become part of the select crew of ‘WordPress Rockstars’, how did you come to WordPress?

I actually began on the WordPress path with b2evolution, which was a precursor to WordPress. At some point, there was a mass exodus from b2 to WordPress and I decided to go with the flow. Working with WordPress 1.2, I began designing many different themes, each of them pushing my knowledge as a designer and WordPress’ capability as a blogging engine. Back then, there was much that was not possible using default WordPress functionality, and at the time, the number and variety of plugins were far less than what we currently enjoy. So, achieving design goals required LOTS of WordPress hacking — themes, plugins, and even the core itself. Fortunately, the many talented individuals working within the WordPress community have, over the course of the past five years, helped WordPress evolve into a much more powerful and robust piece of software. With all of the time and effort that I have spent working with WordPress, I am stoked to see how popular it has become. This is one case where going with the flow turned out to be the right decision.

‘Digging into WordPress’ is hot commodity and seems to be the WordPress Bible right at the moment. We recently interviewed Chris here at BP, how was it to work with Chris? Any interesting things we should know about Chris?

Working with Chris is awesome. He is 100% to the core into his work, and he really knows how to get things done. I have learned TONS of great design and development stuff from Chris and am truly thankful for the opportunity to work with him. Interesting things about Chris? Nothing that his fans don’t already know: he is serious about web design but doesn’t take himself too seriously. He has an incredible sense of humor and yet is very down to earth. He works constantly and is always moving forward, more so than most of the people I have worked with in the past. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. :)

We have seen WordPress used for pretty much everything in recent years: shops, directory, CRM, event calendar, voting platforms. Is there anything WordPress can’t do?

Well you have to remember that WordPress is only a tool for bloggers, designers, and developers to achieve their goals. To the average user/blogger, WordPress can indeed “do it all” because “all” consists of basic stuff like blogging, commenting, and advertising. For intermediate users/designers, WordPress can pretty much do it all as well. Many designers need a good dynamic platform for building new sites and themes, and WordPress does this perfectly. It is only when you begin to consider the needs of developers and advanced users that the limits of WordPress’ potential are reached. But even then, with the right knowledge, WordPress can be extended and customized to suit virtually any need. So I think it’s all relative and based on the ability of the user/developer to use WordPress in such a way as to achieve their design goals. The question isn’t so much “is there anything WordPress can’t do?” as much as it is “is there anything you can’t do with WordPress?” WordPress may always be a viable choice, but whether or not it is the most efficient and suitable choice is of greater importance.

Do you think WordPress has cornered the market now or is there still place for another platform, and if what would it be?

I don’t know if WordPress has “cornered the market” or not. As a WordPress author and developer, it’s certainly nice to think that WordPress is the most popular CMS/blogging platform in the world, but popularity alone doesn’t necessarily mean superiority. You have to keep in mind that the Web is a big place, and that there are many localized communities of bloggers, designers, and developers using a wide variety of different platforms, including everything from Habari and MODx to Expression Engine and Drupal. In these circles, WordPress may be entirely irrelevant, as time and effort is focused on whatever application the community happens to be using. There are many non-WordPress communities that are thriving and growing for many different types of CMS and blogging software. The Web is big enough for hundreds of thousands of different platforms, each with their own micro-community of supporters, developers and users. Remember, this is exactly how WordPress began, as a small, community-supported blogging platform. It’s only when you measure popularity on a global scale that WordPress may appear superior to other choices. But once you dig down and start looking closer at other communities, you will see that there is much life beyond WordPress.

As a designer I suppose that you are always on the lookout for the new platform software. Who do you think could make an impact next year and is there something that could make a new platform stand out being a viable alternative to WordPress?

I do like to experiment with other platforms, but there is rarely any reason to use anything other than WordPress. Usually I can get the job done with minimal effort, unless we start getting into complex user-management and role-based registration systems, for which something like Drupal or Joomla might be a better choice. As for viable alternatives, I think it all depends on the developer, project, and end-user. I have seen beautiful sites built with MODx, Habari, Textpattern, and even with hand-rolled platforms. If you find a good alternative to WordPress that will help you efficiently achieve your design goals, then by all means you should use it. People should not be mindlessly installing WordPress just because of its sheer popularity. It is interesting to ponder whether or not MODx, say, could ever be more popular than WordPress, but ultimately it’s more important that people are using the right tool for the job, regardless of how popular it is. This is one of the things that is so great about the Web — diversity is infinite and the possibilities are endless. We need to evolve beyond the sheep mentality.

I am one of those always on the lookout for the ‘next software’ and have eagerly been awaiting Expression Engine 2. What do you think of the new license structure for EE?

I like Expression Engine. I would like it even more if it were completely free. I think that not providing a free Core version is a bad move, but I suppose a 30-day demo will suffice to get a percentage of users on the hook. It also looks like they hiked up their licensing fees quite a bit, which is also not going to help attract new users. The new “Freelancer” option looks nice, but seems too restrictive for the price. In general, I think EE’s pricing structure is just a bit out of reach for mainstream users, who have no reason to pay for something that they can get for free with WordPress. I think this may be one of the reasons why WordPress is more popular than EE — because it’s free, and people like free stuff.

Thanks for your time and we wish you a great 2010. We here at BloggingPro are looking forward to many more great tips and tricks from Perishable Press. Please tell us, should we get excited already about another book?

Chris and I are already in the process of putting together the next update for Digging into WordPress, which will include new information and tricks for WordPress 2.9, plus some new theme-development techniques and maybe even a free theme or two. So lots of good stuff going there, and we have TONS of new ideas both for the book and the site. Along with producing high-quality web-design content at Perishable Press, Digging into WordPress is my primary focus. I have lots of ideas for books and other projects, but unfortunately I only get 24 hours a day like everybody else.

Thanks again for the interview! Much success to you and your readers in 2010!

How To Enter The 2009 BloggingPro End of Year Giveaway?

Until the end of 2009 BloggingPro will host every day a new giveaway and every day a new price can be won. Winners will be randomly chosen and announced here on January 3rd 2010.

We have 3 copies to give away for our readers. Winners will receive a free version of the Digging into WP PDF with free lifetime updates and a discount on the printed version.

To participate to today’s competition and win one of the three books by Jeff Starr and Chris Coyier, follow follow BloggingPro on Twitter (we will check) and leave a comment with your Twitter ID below or follow us and tweet about the BloggingPro giveaway.

Today’s competition will be closed on December 29th 2009 at 23:59PST.

Thord has been rather quiet in the international WordPress scene over the last months but now is ready to return to the front stage with his soon to be launched book Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog. We were lucky enough to interview Thord and are exclusively giving away a copy of his book for 3 of our readers!

Thord, thanks for taking time for this interview. You have been rocking the WP design community for years with your very own signature style but recently you disappeared. What happened?

It’s my pleasure. As to me disappearing from the scene, well, it’s a mix of work and personal life that switched my priorities. I’ve been doing a lot of writing the last year or so, the book as you well know, as well as doing freelance work for magazines like MacWorld. I’ve also worked with Swedish newspapers to roll out a local blog network, and projects like that. It has been nice to return to my own backyard so to speak, being Sweden of course, at least for a little change in work scenery. It was never a conscious decision to slide out of the WordPress community, and I’ll remedy that by giving the Notes Blog theme a boost early 2010.

You are the next of a very elusive group to publish a WordPress book. What motivated you to write a book about WP and what can the reader expect from your book and when will it be released?

My publisher, Wileys, approached me after having read my WordPress as a CMS post on Devlounge. They liked the basic concept, and since I’ve always felt that WordPress is a publishing tool foremost, and a blogging platform second, I found the prospect of writing a book where I could share my thoughts on this exciting. Luckily the good folks at Wileys liked my ideas, so things went pretty smooth from that.

Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog will help anyone having played around a bit with HTML, PHP, or WordPress to build great sites. While it does indeed tell you how WordPress works and how you can build both kickass themes and plugins with it, the part I’m most excited about is the more conceptual one. There are a ton of things beyond the blogging that you can do with WordPress, and that is what I’m trying to convey in the book. WordPress is truly a great platform, and it gets even better when you understand all you can do with it.

You can pick up the book on January 22nd in the US, and a few weeks later in the UK as well as the rest of Europe.

One thing I always noticed about TDH was that TDH doesn’t really blog. Your brand is well-known but there is no such thing as a ‘TDH blog’. This seems against pretty much any rule of the game, how did you manage this?

It’s madness, I know! I did roll out a blog when I decided to start writing in English, and that landed me the Blog Herald gig under Matt Craven. Since then, I’ve been freelancing a lot, editing the Blog Herald (up until recently), Devlounge, Wisdump, and more, as well as launched a bunch of blogs and sites myself. Those opportunities, along with a great deal of word of mouth, have certainly made this possible.

But yeah, it is most certainly against every rule of the game not to blog. I haven’t had a serious portfolio either, and I’m almost ashamed to say that I’m not even struggling to make that happen either. Things seem to work out for me anyway. That being said, after leaving the Blog Herald I’ve decided that I should indeed blog for me for a while, so that’s why I’ve rolled out TDH.me.

Facebook status updates, Twitter, Status.net and many more. It seems that we are living the era of ‘blogging on speed’ right now. Popular blogs have more and more become high paced magazines. What is the future of blogging according to you?

That’s true, and I’m completely fine with it. Maybe now we can kill this weird idea of “blogging” that we all seem to be carrying around. Blogging is just another word for online publishing, with the difference that it is so easy that anyone can do that. Old media should be very, very, very afraid.

The future of blogging per se is better blog publishing software, social media integrations and whatnot. That’s all completely uninteresting. What is interesting is that this will bring better content from people not tied to the old media outlets, it already is, and that is both changing and shaping the media landscape. Quality content. That’s the future of blogging, online media, and the only way to success in the long run. Content is king.

bbPress will receive Matt’s exclusive attention over the next months. I am, and many more bloggers I know were, a former forum nut. Can we expect a return of the forums if Automattic and the community will focus on the forum plugin?

Perhaps not a return of the forums, because when you and me and all our friends hung around and yapped about this and that, those old school bulletin boards where one of a mere few ways to communicate online. Today we’ve got social networks that make every forum from the 90s look bland. The need just isn’t the same anymore. That being said, there is a place for forums as well, as a part of big sites and for small groups of likeminded individuals to talk freely. In that sense a better bbPress could mean a return of the forums, but it’ll be just one more feature on the magazine-like blogs we spoke of earlier. And that’s fine too.

WP continues to grow. Do you think there are any viable alternatives for the user? What are they and what makes them stand out as alternative?

There are alternatives, and two spring to mind, none of them being Movable Type, I’m afraid. The one thing that keeps WordPress from being used as a CMS on larger sites in Sweden is Drupal. One might say that WordPress and Drupal are entirely different beasts, and that’s true, but at the same time they can fill the same purpose. This is changing as we speak, but Drupal is the viable alternative for the media user, if not the small time blogger hoping to make some Adsense dollars.

The second alternative is Habari. Not that I’d say that Habari is a serious alternative or anything today, although I’m sure it is great, but because of what it stands for. WordPress is getting bigger and bigger, and some say it is in dire need of a complete rewrite. Habari is new and fresh and doesn’t have to cope with the old deadweight. I think we’ll see lightweight alternatives gain some ground, just because they are lightweight and WordPress is not.

Your book will also be released with Smashing Magazine, how was it to work with Sven & Vitaly.

I haven’t had anything to do with them directly yet, they are not involved in the book itself, but rather deal with the publisher on a book series sort of level. All in all, everything I’ve heard is that they are great to work with, so hopefully I’ll get the chance to do that in the near future, as the book nears the counters and whatnot.

Thanks for taking time for this BP interview, Thord. We wish you a successful book launch and a great 2010.

Thanks for having me! Always a pleasure.

How To Enter The 2009 BloggingPro End of Year Giveaway?

Until the end of 2009 BloggingPro will host every day a new giveaway and every day a new price can be won. Winners will be randomly chosen and announced here on January 3rd 2010.

Note

The book Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog will only be released in the second half of January 2010. Winners will be send their copy as soon as the book is released.

To participate to today’s competition and win one of three Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog books by Thord D. Hedengren, follow follow BloggingPro on Twitter (we will check) and leave a comment with your Twitter ID below or follow us and tweet about the BloggingPro giveaway.

Today’s competition will be closed on December 28th 2009 at 23:59PST.

Chris Coyier has been rocking the design scene since a while now with his very popular CSS-Tricks design community but recently Chris made a well noticed intro to the blogging scene with Digging into WordPress which he co-authors with Jeff Starr (Perishable Press).

Only 6 months after starting Digging into WordPress, the duo released the wonderful Digging into WordPress book, 400 pages of useful information for the most popular blog platform, WordPress. Check out the Table of Contents and a sample chapter here (PDF link). Time for an interview we thought.

Chris, thanks for taking time to participate to our interview here on BloggingPro. You are rather new to the design and development scene but are already one of the rockstars. Tell us a little why you decided on web development as a career.

I think this field is just a perfect match for me. It’s art, it’s problem solving, it’s technology, it’s all the stuff I find fascinating. As I kid I was way into computers. In high school I was really into my programming classes and then later into ceramics. When I went to college I ended up going with computer science, and gave up on it right before graduating and switched to ceramics. I always gone back and forth between art and technology. Now I can do design and development, and it’s like doing both at the same time!

You have been working around a year with Jeff Starr on ‘Digging into WordPress’. Congratulations on releasing the book. 400 Pages is no small feat!
Why did you guys decide on WordPress?

Thanks! Jeff actually approached me about doing a book. I had been wanting to do one for a while, and I thought it would be a great idea to co-author one, so we could share in all the responsibilities and hopefully that would be easier than going it alone. Turns out I was right, working with Jeff has been awesome, he’s a talented guy. We chose WordPress pretty quickly after deciding we were going to do a book, just because we both had worked with extensively and both had a lot to say on the subject. Also that we both needed an outlet for WordPress writing, since neither of our blogs is directly focused on that.

Ebooks are a great and practical resource to always have with you when working on a computer/laptop, but are there any plans to release a print version and when?

Yep absolutely, as I write this we are working on getting the final version together to send to the printer. Should be out to them this week and, all goes well, available around the new year. Anybody who has bought the PDF will be getting a fair discount on the print version. I think having both is the perfect scenario. Print is awesome, but the PDF is searchable, portable, and copy-and-pastable, so if you have both you have the best of both worlds!

How difficult has it been to write about a quickly moving platform like WordPress? The book was only just released and WP2.9 is already knocking on our doors with many new features. Did the fast update cycles make writing the book more difficult and will buyers receive updates about new features?

We were trying to be very aware of that when creating the book. The book, right now, is 100% up to date with version 2.8.6. We have been watching 2.9 and are just as excited about it as everyone else. When 2.9 comes out, nothing in this book will be “outdated”. There will be some cool stuff that won’t be covered in the book. But that’s the cool part about this book! When you buy it, you are getting a lifetime subscription. We will be updating the book to add that new stuff. All previous buyers will be delivered that new version (as PDF) for no additional cost.

You are very successful with your CSS-Tricks website. ‘Digging into WP’ and your success as designer makes me wonder: ‘Are you the new Chris Pearson’? Any plans for WordPress themes in the future?

I’ve created a ton of themes, but mostly for clients and myself. I have done an number of publicly released ones as well though. We have a “Theme Playground” on Digging Into WordPress where people can browse our themes and download them for free. I’ve actually been working on a new one that I (as of now) plan to package up and offer with new versions of the book. I don’t know Chris Pearson very well I’m afraid, so I’m not sure if I’m the new anybody =). Would that be good or bad?

Good of course, there can only be one Chris Coyier. ;)

Do you think WP has cornered the market now or do other platforms such as MT and EE still stand a chance? As designer, is your life limited to WP now or do clients running other platforms still get in touch?
What do you think is the ‘best of the others’ nowadays?

I love WordPress but I’m not narrow-minded about it. I’ve actually never used Moveable Type but ExpressionEngine is awesome. One of the things I often tell people is that you should use tools that you can be instantly productive with. If you are a great EE developer, then by all means, reach for EE by default when doing a new project, no need to go through a new learning curve for every project you do. They are both pretty similar in capabilities. WordPress actually isn’t great at a few particular things. For example, I don’t think WordPress is particularly well suited for is restricted-access membership type sites. But in general, if someone is looking for a CMS to learn as their primary tool, I think WordPress is a great choice.

Last but not least, there has been quite some rap around lists recently (Smashing Magazine Killed The Community ). Some of your tutorials have been featured on tons of ‘lists’. How have lists helped CSS-Tricks and what is your take on lists?

I’ve done my part in expressing my disdain for list and roundup posts in the design blog community. In general, I think they are a soul-less attempt at trying to snag some short-lived attention on social media sites. Sites like Smashing Magazine and Vandelay Design have generally been the exception. They put a lot of time and effort into their lists and have a little voice to go along with them. Smashing Magazine lately has been vocally trying to move away from this and into more specialized content.

I don’t do lists/roundups at all on CSS-Tricks unless the context of the post makes perfect sense. For example, I was thinking about putting a post together about Christmas gifts for web designers. I’ll probably title it “Christmas Gifts for Web Designers”. I’m not going to name it “50+ Mouth Watering Gifts for Web Designers”, even though that would probably do better on StumbleUpon. If I ever name a post something like that, feel free to knee me in the nads.

Have list posts helped my site though? I’m sure it’s contributed to my overall traffic, so in that sense I guess it has helped. I don’t want to be ungrateful for that, but at the same time, if CSS-Tricks never appeared on another soul-less roundup post, I would be more than fine with that.

The point: use your voice and write original content.

Thanks for your answers and time, Chris. We look forward to many more great tips and wish you lots of success in the future.

You can stalk Chris at his personal site, keep up with his design tips at CSS-Tricks, become his fwend on the tweeter (emphasis Chris) and keep an eye on Digging into WP.

If this interview made you curious, go grab your copy of Digging into WordPress, at $27 it’s a steal (Big mean affiliate link!).

So, lets start with a little about the 449, and its history. Who is involved, and you mentioned somewhere that you had worked on this idea before?

I started the 449 originally as a spin-off of my main design business, Chris Garrett Media Ltd but about six months ago decided to stop doing it as I’d been doing much more involved work on large web applications. I noticed that a lot of people missed it and discontinuing the 449 had left a large hole in the market, so I reinvented it and bought in my good friends Chris Rowe, Indranil Dasupta and Dave Nichols to help tackle the work. I’m now acting as project manager and the work being rolled out is the excellent result of everyone working together.

Next question: Why £449? Why not more or less, and why in Great Britain Pounds?

I’m based in the UK, and I’ve always considered it professional to charge in your own currency, it also saves my accountant a lot of effort. When I started the 449 I was working at a rate of £150 a day, we worked out that to put together a high quality, bespoke WordPress theme would take about 3 days. We knocked a pound off because “the 450″ just didn’t sound that good.

What is special or different about 449? Couldn’t I get the same thing for $50 off SitePoint?

Harsh! We don’t just spend time pushing pixels in photoshop and hacking together some WordPress code. When you come to us, we take the time to dig deep into what it is your looking for and respond with a design concept that reflects that. We also take the time to get into the head of your user, my expertise lie in user experience design so you can be sure that your theme will be optimised to make life as easy as possible for your readers. By encouraging discovery by cross-pollenating content and defining calls-to-action for the parts of your site that really command attention, we can make sure that your visitors convert to customers, subscribers and lovers.

Our code is also highly optimised, accessible and includes use of cutting edge niceties such as microformats. This alone will get you a major boost in search engine results. We also don’t work off any standard templates, everything we do is unique to your project and we’re always on hand to offer the best support money can buy.

One client even mentioned that we should be charging more for our service, so I think that alone is reason enough to not just buy something cookie cutter off SitePoint.

You guys are the only people that I have heard of that do Microformats for WordPress themes. Can you tell me why that is interesting or even a basic bit on what Microformats are?

Microformats are basically a series of predefined standards for marking up specific pieces of information, such as contact information, events and even blog posts. By assigning specific classes to data, we’re able to add a deeper level of semantic richness to it which makes the data more machine readable (without impacting on human readers). They’re essentially bridging the gap between XML and HTML. Microformats are rapidly being adopted by emerging search engines and can even benefit users with disabilities such as visual impairments, so while the benefits right now aren’t that obvious, in a years time you’ll be glad you ordered a microformat rich blog from the449.com.

Wow that was a lot of buzz words, but it sounds like something serious companies and bloggers will want to invest in.

Why WordPress and is that the only blogging software your deal covers?

WordPress is a fantastic platform, our clients love it, we’re able to work very quickly on it and the community is unprecedented. Having said that, we’re established developers and can work with any platform you need, in the past we’ve worked with Textpattern, Expression Engine and Movable Type. I’m really looking forward to Habari reaching a stable release and hoping some clients will request we use it.

What else can you tell me about the 449 that bloggers en masse will be interested in? Can we expect any freebies from the 449?

Well the site only launched last week so it’s been a hectic few days, but we’re in talks with some very high profile bloggers who will be offering their readers discounts and we’ll also be running a few competitions with free blogs as the prize. But with Blogging Pro being such a cutting edge resource, I think it’s fitting that it’s readers be the first to take advantage of our early bird discounts The first 10 people to email the promo code “bloggingpro” to chris[at]cgmmail.com will receive a £50 discount. A 449 for just £399.

Lastly, if we want to find out more about 449, where do we go, and who do we contact?

http://the449.com is the place to go for more information, I recommend you also check out the blog as we’re in the process of preparing some really good content. To get in touch, you can email me at chris[at]cgmmail.com, give me a call on +44(0)1453890326 or use our contact form at http://the449.com/contact/.

Talking about PayPerPost and its features, he believes that they are the only worthwhile system in regards to companies paying for such content. He talked about the features in the system and their work at combating the issue with review quality, and blogger quality issues that have been plaguing the system. They have added a way for their users to have their reviews ranked by the purchaser, so others have a way of telling how good or bad a writer is.

It is understandable as currently, they are the biggest system that I know of. He brought up the number of features they have brought up over the course of nearly a year. PayPerPost’s one year anniversary is coming up soon.

He also let me know that there is a new release of features, or information coming out in the next week or two. He wouldn’t pin it down any more than that, but he said that it will get people talking again, more than even PayPerPost Direct, one of their newest services.

Overall, he wasn’t as evil as people believe. He really stands behind his product and compares it to paid search results. He believes that the industry of blogging was hurting for a better monetization system, and that is what PayPerPost and its counterparts have provided.

An interesting breakfast indeed.

Check out the interview at OpensourceCMS.

Matthew Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress is one of those young people that your parents like to point to when they ask you what the hell you’re doing with your life.

Last week PC World named him the 16th most-important person on the web (two slots above the of the founders of Yahoo!), which isn’t bad for a 23-year-old who gives it away for free.

But what we find most impressive is if you ever want to check in on his site all you have to do is type “Matt” into Google and he comes up at the #1 return, above Mr. Drudge.

Last night we got to spend a few minutes with him at the Ginger Man in Austin just as last call was being announced.

If you are new to WordPress, its definitely worth checking out.

Being a professional blogger that is trying to educate the masses, what’s the most common mistake you see bloggers doing out there?
The first thing that comes to mind is that I see many bloggers with incredibly potential who give up way too quickly. Building a blog with an income stream takes significant work over a substantial period of time.

While blogging can be quite lucrative, when you look at those that are doing well you generally find that they’ve been at it for at least two years and that they post numerous posts per day (some as many as 20 or so). While I don’t believe you need to post this many times a day to build a successful blog it does give you a hint at the level of commitment and work a successful blog needs.

Many bloggers don’t consider this up front and give up after just a few months.

Another great interview by the BloggerTalks folks, and one with some decent advice to those looking to become the next Darren Rowse.

David: Thanks Marco for talking with me today. Thankfully it seems I have caught you right in the middle of a writers block, but hopefully you’ll have some stuff to say on the questions I have for you.

First off, tell me a little bit about yourself. You aren’t in North America, the UK or Australia, better known as the “normal place” for probloggers right?

Marco: My name is Marco Jardim, although I’m more commonly known as Griffith on the Internet (Griffith, by the way, is the name of one of my favorite Manga characters, from Berserk, by Kentaro Miura). I’m 22 years old and currently I’m a college student and a professional blogger for ForeverGeek.

I have more than 2 years of experience in Web Design and Development for a local company called InforQuali, and I also had a short experience in computer tutoring in another local company called Arquimedes. After almost two years of working with InforQuali, and with my former employers’ support, I decided to take a Computer Engineering course in the only College that had it on my island.

My “passions” are my girlfriend (obviously), computer gadgets (I always seem to find another one that I need want), and web design and development, which were my areas of expertise in InforQuali. I also have a strong interest for oriental cultures, from their history and food to their music and art.

That’s correct about where I live. I am in one of the places of the world where you wouldn’t expect to find a problogger: Madeira Island. A very small island that you can drive around in less than 4 hours. It is situated southwest from Portugal (Europe) in the Atlantic Ocean.

David: Strange place to hail from. Must be hard sometimes as it can’t be known for getting technology first?

Marco: Actually, I get technology last, or on a similar date to some less developed countries. Not only because I live in Europe, but also because I live on an island, therefore I only get the newest gadgets 3, or more, weeks after they’re released in Europe. And sometimes there’s a really long delay between a Japan/American release and a European one.

I guess that that delay is due to the large number of different languages we speak.

Here’s a recent example. Nokia, which is a European-based company, announced that they would be releasing a new N Series phone, the N73, during July. Only recently did it start to be commercialized in my country, and not all cellphone providers have it yet.

In short, the delay is very long.

David: You have been a writer on Forever Geek for quite some time. Can you tell me how you got into that and how long have you been writing on there?

Marco: Ah… my history on ForeverGeek. It’s a very interesting one, or ironic, to say the least. Back in 2004 when Paul Scrivens, from the 9rules network, owned ForeverGeek, he made an article inviting people to join the site as editors. I, with no blogging experience whatsoever, decided to try my luck and sent him an e-mail. And, surprisingly, I got accepted.

At that time, I didn’t have a fixed number of articles I had to write, I was free to write as many as I liked. My payment would come from the revenue earned from those articles, however, since I didn’t consider myself on-par with the other editors’ posts, and I still had much to learn, I decided to let Paul keep my revenues (although, when he sold ForeverGeek, he asked me for my PayPal address so he could transfer my earnings, but I politely declined, for the same reasons as before).

I made a few articles which generated a lot of controversy, and that made a few of the former editors upset. Some of them wanted me out, but, for some reason, Paul decided to keep me on the team, and I learned as much as I could from him, and the rest of team, while he still owned it.

When ForeverGeek was finally sold, most of the former crew left, I was one of the few that stayed. And now, ironically, I’m the editor that writes the most posts-per-day on ForeverGeek. And I hope that I’ll continue to be a part of the team for many years to come.

David: You mentioned learning from Paul Scrivens, which leads to the question of how much of blogging is skill and talent and how much can be learned over time? Do you think you started with skill and talent, or did you learn what you needed to as you went along?

Marco: Good question. As much as some might refute with my opinion, I think that you can only evolve until a certain point without talent. Thankfully, my father was a journalist, and my mother also worked in journalism in advertisements and wrote poems. So I guess you can say I have a writer’s “vein” from both of them. If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have always gotten good grades in my mother language classes.

As to how that was influential in my blogging career, I think that you can say that it helped me a lot. Perhaps Paul perceived that I had some talent, and therefore allowed me to stay, perhaps he was just feeling nice, as he usually is. I guess I’ll never know, but I’m glad that things happened the way they did.

Regarding skills, yes, you need a lot of skill in order to become a great writer, and if you’re not particularly great in writing, that is where you have to dedicate most of your time. My father always told me when I was younger to read as much as I could so I could learn how to write better. Regardless of how much talent (you think) you have, it’s not enough to become a good professional.

However, David, I’m afraid that there’s something else that you need to become a great blogger: you need experience. Sure, your skills will come as you gain experience, but if you don’t exercise your freedom of speech, as much as possible, before attempting a blogging career, you might make some dire mistakes.

I’ve been blogging for almost two years now and I still consider myself rather “novice” in some aspects. There are always new things you can learn, and more ways for you to improve yourself. You can apply that to everything you do in life, not just blogging.

David: Most bloggers trying to go “pro” try to spread themselves outwards onto dozens of sites, and though you work for a blog network, you haven’t gone ahead and spread yourself onto multiple blogs (at least as far as I know). Why is that and do you think that is something you would be interested in doing?

Marco: Jacob Gower, the current owner of BloggyNetwork and ForeverGeek, has given me the opportunity to write on other blogs of the network more than once. Every now and then he sends me an e-mail letting me know what he thinks of my work, and asking if I’d like to try writing on some other blogs.

Until now, I have always declined those invitations, because I don’t have much experience in some of the subjects of the other blogs, and therefore I prefer not to step in, before getting well acquainted with them. I am also a bit sympathetic for ForeverGeek, because it was the blog in which I was nurtured. If I started writing too early on other blogs I’d probably grow “home sick” from FG, starting my own blog was already enough of a challenge for me.

Lately I’ve been trying to write some articles about blogging on my personal blog, like “What Chess can teach Blogging” which was recently mentioned here on BP. Therefore I guess you can say that I am trying to spread myself a little, but not abruptly. But who knows, maybe soon enough I’ll start writing on other blogs, maybe it will even be on this one. That depends on how acquainted I become, and how well received my blogging articles are.

David: If you had to give a tip to all the bloggers out there looking to make a few bucks from blogging. What would that tip or those tips be?

Marco: If you are only in the blogging business in order to make money, you should realize that there are more profitable professions out there. Back when my father managed my island’s most popular newspaper, he didn’t earn a good enough payment for the amount of hours he worked for. Right now, blogging is the same.

Most professional bloggers work arduously, sometimes up to 12 hours a day, in order to make enough revenue just to make a living. There are only a select few that make a lot of money.

Some people are more business-oriented than others, others are just more popular, or better writers, or simply more fortunate. I guess that what I’m trying to say is, if you don’t have a love for this profession, a taste for writing and the yearn to discover new things every day, then this might not be the most appropriate profession for you, but if you do, I hope that you have enough perseverance, and luck, to make it.