Customize my wordpress blog - Programming Skills a plus

Need help to customize my new wordpress blog. => Wordpress/Social Networking experience. Programming experience is a plus. ## Deliverables ----------------- WHAT DO I NEED ----------------- I need help to customize my wordpress blog. I recently set up a wordpress blog. I actually do know something about websites, but have not been really active in the last 3 years and somewhat missed web 2.0 ... ------------------- INSTALLED VERSION ------------------- - Wordpress 2.8.4 - Default theme Wordpress Default 1.6 --------------------- SERVER ENVIRONMENT --------------------- - Dedicated LAMP webserver - I set all wordpress files as writeable, so it should be possible to make all changes just by logging in my wordpress admin section. FTP access would be possible, but only if really necessary. ---------------------------- WHAT DID I CHANGE UP TO NOW ---------------------------- - Changed the header image by editing [login to view URL] - No display of the header text --------------------------------- WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF MY BLOG --------------------------------- - The blog will be owned by a fictious writer called Sandra, who posts here her daily advice on all kind of topics related around love, sex, etc. - She will also read the blog comments, answer to reader comments, etc. - Will be of course socially integrated like an extra Twitter page, etc. -------------------------------- WHAT HELP DO I NEED -------------------------------- - Display Admin info with a photo - Highlight Admin posts - Add all posts also on Twitter - Blog post also as RSS abo - Option to signup for my newsletter (I have the newsletter files already. I think about using aweber, because of their deals with email providers. Of course there are masses of free email plugins out there, but this does not help if the email does not get through...) [Should be easy as you get the code directly from AWeber and this is then just copy and paste into the blog.] - Small design changes, so it looks not so standarized and this basic setup: x On the left side an extra colummn, where I can put some links to articles (articles should be part of the blog) x Middle as normal x On the right side the normal menu + useful tools (like socialbook marks, etc.) - Some basic SEO optimization - Extra ideas to optimize my blog and especially for more social interaction are very welcome! --------------------------------------- WHAT PROBLEMS DID I ENCOUNTER ALREADY --------------------------------------- Installation worked fine, but somehow I could not highlight admin comments, as my [login to view URL] does NOT contain the variable $oddcomment. I even looked in the original zip file I had downloaded from [login to view URL] and it is also not there. Is this a change in wordpress 2.8.4?! Strange... ---------------------------------------- WHAT DO I EXPECT FROM YOU ---------------------------------------- - Solid experience with Web 2.0 in general and especially WordPress - Of course you already run your own customized wordpress blog - At least basic SEO knowledge - Experience with OO PHP programming would be a plus. ----------------------------------------- WHAT TO DESCRIBE IN YOUR ANSWERS ----------------------------------------- - Your experience/knowledge - Sucessfull projects - Any ideas for my blog, etc.