Categories
blog

The Irony of WordPress Themes

Most of WordPress bloggers know that there are hundreds of themes to make your blog different from others. Some bloggers create lists, contests and other blog theme promotion events. Of course, the presentation is important, there is no doubt about it.

What is, actually, puzzles me is that while we, bloggers, spend tremendous amounts of time tweaking and twisting quite a number of themes – most of the people read blogs through subscriptions – RSS or e-mail. All the beauty of
tweaked theme with endless hours invested is lost on the most loyal part of the audience.

Most people aren’t attracted by the theme the blog is using. They aren’t here to watch how masterfully blogger managed to blend AdSense with content with couple of banners and with affiliate links. They are here for content. They see the blog for a minute or two, or maybe even five, to determine if the blog is worth subscribing for.Then they proceed to subscribe to the feed. That’s about all the time that the theme is watched.

Sometimes the blog’s theme is so cumbersome, overloaded with ads that the content is almost lost. Yet, we can see quite a number of subscribers. They read the blog through the RSS or e-mail. They have something to say.

Strange, isn’t it? Bloggers overall make a hefty sum (that includes those who makes six figures and those who make six cents) off of the ads and affiliate links posted in the blog itself. Maybe, subconsciously, we reward loyal bloggers with absence of ads-in-your-face. Just as a way of saying thank you.

So, if you already reading this blog via any kind of subscription – thank you 🙂

Categories
personal

Melinda Gates goes public (reflection)

Last issue of Fortune magazine features Melinda Gates (yes, wife of most richest American businessman) on its cover. The article is very interesting reading, as it uncovers not only how she became his wife, but also how and why the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has emerged. It is a very interesting reading available here and it made me ponder on a lot of things.

For example – how such decisions are made. It isn’t easy for a person who still remembers what’s it like to live from paycheck to paycheck to understand how people can throw billions of dollars away. Or on some process, the results of which they may never see. Generally speaking, it allows you to see (just a little, though) how rich people feel towards their richness. And that is indeed a good reading.