Decisions: A Blogging or a Magazine Theme?

HELP?! Does anyone have any advice? :)

I write in a dilemma today!

As some of you may know, I am transferring my blogspots to self-hosted wordpress blogs. But I am simply overwhelmed with the sheer amount of choices of wordpress themes out there - I have literally downloaded 100s, but of course I cannot possibly be the author of so many blogs - duh! (although I do have many planned for the future).

The Plan - First WP Blogs!

For the moment, I plan to have two 'flagship' blogs to start with, including of course:

1. a continuation (albeit better quality version) of this SelfHelp4Growth Blog at www.selfhelp4growth.com (empty at the moment), and
2. a diary of my online Journey over the last 2 years or so, in developing ideas, projects, blogs and lessons learned from the social media and resell rights world (including lots of resources I have found to make other people's online journey easier) (a similar but broader version of my current Resellers Delight and Web2.0 Marketing Blogspot). This will be housed at - www.bloggingalltheway.com

I will also be setting up some product review (niche) blogs soon, thanks to a great product - instant install and customizable product review blog theme - created by Alex Sysoef and his partner (I will write a detailed review for you on that soon, once I have tested it for myself, but it looks great and Alex's products are always top quality, as is his main blog, wordpress and web2.0 guide).

But if you want to find out more now, you can visit the info. page by left clicking here (aff).




My Dilemma: Which theme do I choose?

So - I only have 2 main blogs (for now), yet I have 100s of themes, of different styles, colors and customizability.

Do I go with a paid 'Magazine' style wordpress theme, with powerful back-end panels that make customization of one's blog easy (at least for technophobs like me!) - for example, the 'one-theme', with many fantastic features including multiple colours, 3 different default page layouts (blog, news, magazine), and multiple page templates (archives, contact, sitemap, category, info, no sidebars), customizable graphics, ongoing updates and support, among other things? (to solve all of my issues?)



But then there are Brian Gardner's Premium Revolution Magazine themes (now free!) - in fact, all of his Revolution Premium themes are now open source. In particular, I thought that the 'Lifestyle' Magazine theme, might be great for this blog, when more content (including 'tutorial-type' or ongoing article series) have been added.





Or should I go with a more standard blogging theme to start?



Yes, one-theme also has a 'blog layout'. And so do Brian's Magazine themes! Just in these themes, I get a 'choice' - a decision to be made.

But what about all the others out there? And should the theme be a 2 column, or a 3 column theme? Left or Right columns? What colours? Do I find one with featured tabs? How easy are they to customize? Are they compatible with wordpress software updates? What if I like multiple themes?? Should I create my own graphical logo (more time and choice!). What if I like ALL of them! What do I do if they have no support (ie. free themes)?

Here are some of the options to consider .... (eek!)

Brian's Revolution Blogging Themes:



Or what about some of the padditsolutions blogging themes?




How about a landing page-type theme, which leads into the blog (a more 'professional' look)? For example, Brian's Revolution 'Office' Theme, or the premium 'Essence' iTheme?
Or should I use such themes for my forthcoming 'branded' service sites - freelance writing and editing :)

What about all the fantastic word press themes from dailyblogtips and other great sites?


Or what about some of Brian's multimedia themes, such as the revolution chrome theme, or the internet tv theme? Why not create a Vlog? But I can do that anyway, with all the other themes - well, how about focusing on videos/photos? hmmmmmm.....



(btw - if you are interested in Brian's Revolution Themes too, Left Click Here - there is a very, 'incy, tincy' small download button at the bottom of each theme, unsupported) :-)

So these are the options .... but there's more....magazine, standard blogs, news, multimedia, free and/or do I invest money in a premium theme to include the upgrades, support, and the easy backpanel, such as 'one-theme' above, or the easily customizable WP-Vybe' theme below, which comes in multiple color options??

Then there are the free non-premium versions, which are also very customizable, such as the flexibility theme (which also comes with free extra graphics)?

And of course, I could get a 'custom-designed theme', which would cost quite a bit! (perhaps I will leave that for later, for my future millions of readers!)

:0)



Life is full of Decisions! Sometimes we just need to Act!

I think perhaps, the only way, is through actually 'DOING' and to stop downloading even more themes, making my life and decision more difficult! I read that many people have this problem in finding themes, sometimes spending a lot of money before they find the right one.

Talk about a prime case of 'information-overload' and 'decision/analysis-paralysis'! (that's my contribution towards a 'self help' topic today!)

Perhaps I should setup a test blog first, have a look at how the themes work and let you, the reader help me decide. I can always change it later, right! :-)

I know - I will ask my Coach! Problem solved! :-)

Calling Mert! My very close friend and blogging coach Mert at searchforblogging! Yes, perhaps I will ask him - hehe!

Do you also have any thoughts on this?
Any ideas to help?
Any Lessons you have learned perhaps?

And to top all of this off - I have soooo many great wordpress plugins to choose from. Of course, I am not going to overload it with 'widgets' like I have with this blog here, and I do know the particularly important plugins. But there are just so many!

Again, trial and error :)

AHHHH (its times like this that I wish I could find my 'belly-laughing, crazy smily emoticon!) - hehe

Its late, I can't decide, so my response - rather than become stressed, will be to smile, laugh, and go to bed and sleep on it! Because I love WordPress and I know it will eventually happen :)

---
So, once again, this wasn't really a 'self help' focused post - just hints of the problems we face in life in terms of information overload, choices and decision-making, even in the smaller areas of our lives (or bigger, depending on one's perspective!). I also wanted to show you my dilemma (to let you know that I am working on this)..... perhaps get some advice - and be a little more gentle on myself. It WILL happen.

And yes, while content is MORE important, design is also important, and I do at least, need a blog to write in and I don't want something awful to start with.

We shall see what happens and I look forward to any comments/suggestions :-)
(calling Blogging Coach Mert!) :-D

Until then, and coming soon - an actual self-help related post - oops!
(this is a 'self help' blog after all)

Be kind with yourselves :)

Meg

Posted by Megan McCarthy, PhD (Meg) Adelaide, South Australia