YouTube and You, Greater Googling, and Ring in a Revolution!

I actually have three things I want to share with you today, things that I think will help you help yourself (Self Help Daily’s favorite scenario).  I’m going to put them all in one post rather than three separate ones… So here we go!

GREATER GOOGLING

My daughters kid me about being the Queen of Google.  Whenever we need to find anything out, my first response is, “I’ll Google it.”  And then I do…  I find what we need, too - as in every time.  I kick some serious search engine butt when it comes to knowing when to add a + sign along with quotation marks and knowing what search terms to use.  Spending your working hours in front of the computer screen has its benefits.

However, and this pains me somewhat to say it, I recently read a post by Jim Edwards that pointed out a few things I didn’t know.  Imagine!  The link is below and it’s a wealth of information for anyone who…. well, for anyone!  We all need information, and usually on a daily basis.  Jim’s post will show you how to make sure you get all of the information you need.

Improve Search Engine Results - 5 Easy Tips

YouTube and YOU!

Another amazing source of information is YouTube. It’s not just music videos and Dane Cook (though I highly recommend each! ).  Wordpress recently came out with a slick new  version - 2.5.  I have 13 of my own blogs and maintain 5 more, so I had a lot of updating to do (which explains why there haven’t been as many posts lately).  Problem was, I had no idea how to go about it or, really, if I even should try. 

Option #1 - I GOOGLED, of course.  There were countless forum and blog postings by experts and geniuses.  But all of the blah blah blahs were flying over my head and the yadda yadda yaddas were giving my headache a headache.  So I thought, “Hmmmm… I wonder if anyone has put up a YouTube tutorial…”  Eu-freakin-reka!  I searched “Wordpress 2.5″ and it produces over 40 results.  There are probably even more now.

If you haven’t upgraded, you should look into it - either by using the Automatic Upgrade Plugin or manually, the old school way.  Some of the blogs I upgraded worked with the Plugin, others had to be led through it step by step.  Neither process killed me, thanks to a great little plugin and to the professors of YouTube.

It made me wonder how many other “classes” were available at the University of YouTube.  I searched for random “How To’s” - some of which I already knew full well how to do (anything related to baking or gardening), others I had no clue about (how to save money on anything), and some I have no intention of ever doing (manual, sweaty stuff… Oh, and saving money on anything.  Sorry, honey.)  Below are just some of the tutorials available - and each has more than one.

• How to Knead Bread
• How to Change a Tire
• How to Save Money at the Grocery Store
• How to Grow Tomatoes
• Organic Gardening
• How to Prune Rose Bushes
• How to Plant Tulips
• How to Clean Your Gutters
• How to Change Your Oil
• How to Make a Million Dollars
• How to Make Fudge
• How to Build a Computer
• How to Build Golf Clubs
• How to Play Golf (over 3,700 results)
• How to Be a Better Husband (about 750 results)
• How to Play the Piano
• How to Play the Guitar
• How to Get into College
• How to Decorate a Cake 

Great stuff!

A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA

Last, but certainly not least:  This is for those of you who blog. My husband recently found (and purchased) some amazing blog themes - The Revolution WordPress Themes Package. He bought the package because we have so many blogs and wanted to use the theme on more than one.  However, the gorgeous themes are also available individually, since most people have only one blog.   

These themes are positively stunning.  You can customize them to the ends of the earth and back.  I’ve already redone three of my own blogs using various Revolution themes, and plan to do at least one more.  I’ve linked to mine below - I redid the colors on a few (simply to “match” the attitude of the blog) and created banners for the top.  Thankfully, the themes are so easy to customize you could change the looks as often as you want.  They’re also beautiful, as they are,  so you don’t actually have to do anything AT ALL in the way of changing the colors, etc.

I’ve used the following themes on the following blogs:

I have the Revolution Magazine Theme on my Kentucky Blog, and Music Blog.  I might use this theme on my Hollywood Yesterday blog as well.  I think the featured video will be perfect, and come on, the thumbnails are crazy cool!

I put the Tech Theme on our Gadget site, All Handhelds.  I wanted it to look like a cross between a website and a blog - kind of a website that happens to function like a blog.  A revolutionary idea that the Revolution Theme plays along with brilliantly.

I know I’ve given you a lot to chew on in this post - hindsight says screams, “You should have made this three posts, not one!”  The links open in new windows, though, so at least you can go check things out and then come back.  You know my door’s always open and the coffee’s always on.