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10 excellent SEO plug-ins for every blog. SEO can be a very daunting task. With the help of plug-ins, this daunting task becomes a piece of cake. As we all know search engine optimization is extremely important for any website or blog in order to be found on search engines like Google, Yahoo and others. In order to ensure that we meet our SEO goals, we must make sure that we do it properly. Performing search engine optimization tasks improperly can put you even farther behind than where you started. With this list of 10 SEO plug-ins, I’m going to show you how to easily exploit search engine optimization techniques and do it correctly. As always if you think we’ve missed something, please let us know in the comments. #10) CBnet Ping Optimizer This is probably one of the widest unknown but most needed plug-ins for WordPress. The Good The Not So Good There is very little help inside the plug-in for those unfamiliar with pings.Choosing services has to be done manually, meaning you have to know the URLs to Ping.

Ease of Use Cost: Free. 21 Inspiring Blog Designs. It could be said that with all the themes available to design a blog it’s getting harder to find new and authentic blog designs. In one way this is good because more people have the opportunity to easily get a nice looking blog up and running. However, this makes it ever so important to do something special with your blog design – to set it apart from the crowd, and let people know it’t not just a theme.

After a long time without showcasing Blog Designs – the last post on this topic was back in Jul, 2010 – we decided to gather a fresh batch of blogs to show you, and I have to admit that finding these was a bit challenging. Nevertheless, here are some excellent examples of how designers are approaching blogs, journals, or what’s sometimes called a news section. Jux Blog Blog Viljami Salminen Jaypegams Journal Kyan Blog Ideas – Strange Native Deafpigeon Big Bite Creative Editer Journal A Chronology Elliot Jay Stocks The Brief SimpleBits Pelicanfly Web is Love I Love Typography Blog Jon Phillips Readmill. 6 Reasons Why Your Blog Sucks and How To Fix It. Let’s stop with the petty compliments for a bit and be honest. “Your blog sucks!” Three words no one wants to hear from anyone, however, once you face the truth and realize that your blog isn’t much better than the 1948 by-line from the New York Post, you will soon be on your way to glory.

Now you might be thinking how it will benefit you if someone were to tell you that your blog actually sucks? Well it will in quite a few ways. Firstly, it will make you see past all the petty compliments and kindness of your friends and relatives. Let’s get down to business and see why your really blog sucks. 1. At least 50 other blogs on the internet use the same theme as you do and the only thing that separates you from the rest of them is your content. How to fix this Design yourself a unique theme or get someone to do it for you. 2. I have been the victim of this in the past. How to fix this Don’t focus on inspiration roundups unless you run a inspiration only blog. 3. 4. 5. 6.

15 Inspiring Design Blogs You May Not Know About. In the creative industry, there’s nothing worse than losing the drive to work on a project from lack of inspiration. It’s a sort of writers block that all creatives experience from time to time. You’re likely familiar with the feeling: up late staring at a blank screen, whether it’s on a word processor, InDesign or just an empty piece of paper, grabbing for not-yet crystallized ideas. In this case you’re probably surfing the internet to kill time or avoid the project at hand. Why not search for inspiration on design blogs? 1. A hub for designers of all types, Design.org posts a steady stream of inspirational design work. 2. Future Perfect presents contemporary innovative design from current artists. 3.

Like the name suggests, Desiginspiration showcases user-uploaded images meant to inspire designers and creatives. 4. Design Within Reach is a retailer of the highest quality furniture. 5. 6. A sort of homegrown designer’s eBay, Esty represents the best of DIY design and artwork. 7. 8. 9. How To Run Blogs that I.N.S.P.I.R.E. When it comes to blogging, readers are the blogger’s customer base, because its very survival depends on a stable readership. Unless your blog only serves as a personal diary, you should aim to inspire others with your writings.

You’ll be surprised how your words can lift others up, or given them a great inspiration or help in certain area they need. (Image source: Smashing Magazine) Yes, all you need to concern is not about how much advertising revenue you can gather, but how much value you can provide to your precious readers and keeps them coming back for more.

How do you provide values, or inspire readers with your blog? This subject is so broad that I don’t think I can draw conclusion if I quantify it to a list. 1. If you’re thinking of plagiarizing your entire entry from another source, don’t. Secondly, it won’t make your blog stand out from the large array of copycats out there on the net. Write what others didn’t think of. 2. (Image source: Fotolia) 3. (Image source: Fotolia) 4. 5. If Design Blogs Were People, Who Would They Be? Measuring up blogs against human beings could be dangerous, but what the heck, let’s do it anyway. Late last year Chris Spooner wrote a article titled, “If Design Blogs Were Vehicles, What Would They Be?

I thought it would be fun to follow up that post with this one and weigh the blogs up against people in the world. Now the people that will be affiliated with the blogs are obviously only ranked according to my opinion and not a sure sale list. Let’s see what I have in store for you. Smashing Magazine Smashing Magazine, where do I start? I don’t actually have to say anything except this is one awesome design blog that you have to read. Smashing Magazine is Barrack Obama 1stWebdesigner 1stWebdesigner, quality and wisdom is the first two words that come to mind. 1stWebdesigner is Gandhi Webdesigner Depot Webdesigner Depot, the depot every designer visits when he/she is in need of motivation and quality design articles.

Web Designer Depot is Richard Branson Abduzeedo Abduzeedo is Donald Trump Line25. 6 Useful Techniques to Put Up a Better Blog. It’s an age of technology and internet and these two sources has create a large number of departments for survival, in the flux of internet blogging is also one of the department which is a source of survival for many people. However a new universe on the web, it is starting to become a crowded millions of bloggers are writing on a regular basis and numerous of them are writing on related topics as well. Have you ever supposed why well-named blog’s posts are so remarkable, interesting and professional? I deeply thought about this fact. According to my judgment they are using very simple, easy to understand but effective writing techniques. For example a graphic designer designs printing, flyers, brochures, postcards, business cards, posters, booklets, rack cards, calendars as a user want so in this way he’ll get success same is the case in the field of blogging.

Much like a layout for booklet printing, a well designed blog should allow the reader to get through the content with ease. Use your blog to get design jobs. Are you a freelance designer? Are you interested in boosting your credibility, building your client base and increasing your number of paying projects? The answer is obvious, but knowing where and how to get started can be daunting, especially during the periods of low client work (you know what I’m talking about).

Having worked with a ton of design and development professionals in the field, I’ve seen that some of the most successful, most productive and busiest contractors have a blog attached to their main website or portfolio. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. By not having a blog, you could be missing out on some serious contract work. A blog could be one of your most powerful assets in getting your name out there and securing new jobs. Here are the top three reasons why you, the budding (or even experienced) designer, need to start a blog (and sooner rather than later). 1. Not very. Your next client could be a tweet or Facebook update away. Here are a few tips to get started: 2. 3. 6 Elements of money-making blog design. 10 Easy Ways to Attract Traffic To Your Blog by. You want traffic, and you want it fast. You must remember something that most of the bloggers seem to forget: Blogging takes time.

Don’t start blogging with the thought that you will have millions of follower, subscribes, readers. Think small in the beginning, so you don’t get disappointed in the end. But still I will point out the 10 easy ways you can get traffic. 1. You have probably heard this one a lot. And if you did not understand a thing I just said let me break it down for you.

If you want to write interesting content, start searching and gaining information about the post you are going to write. 2. In the beginning, when your blog has only 5-10 posts, and you don’t have any traffic, the people that will help you out a little are your family and your friends. 3. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Forums will get you some traffic. 4. The tags in your blog are really important. Most people just put “sex” in there and hope to get traffic to their blog. 5. 6. 7. 8. 25 Exceptional Blog Designs. Most of us visit several different blogs every day. While the greatest factor in a blog being successful and useful is the content, having a memorable and attractive design can certainly help. With so many blogs using the same or similar themes, a unique design can have a positive impact on first time visitors and can improve the visitor’s experience on the blog.

In this post we’ll showcase 25 blogs with beautiful designs. Hopefully these examples will prove to be useful for your own design inspiration. Looking for hosting? WPEngine offers secure managed WordPress hosting. Looking for hosting? 10 Ways to Extend Your Blog. There are many different challenges that bloggers face. Continually growing, adapting, and improving your blog is a significant on-going challenge. While all blogs attempt to provide useful content and to connect with readers, sometimes there is a desire and a need to go further. The motivation could be to provide more for readers, to help standout from other blogs in the industry, to bring in more money, or simply for a new learning experience. In this post we’ll look at 10 different things you can do to extend your blog. Looking for hosting? 1. Blogging and email newsletters have a lot in common. The newsletter will give you another method of staying in touch with your audience and you’ll be able to include content that you want to be accessible only to your subscribers.

For managing a mailing list we use and recommend MailChimp. 2. One of the biggest benefits of blogging is that it allows you to connect with your readers as you build a reputation and trust from your readers. 3. 4. 5 Reasons your design blog will fail within six months. Mistakes That Will Make Visitors Lose Interest in Your Blog | Pixel77. This article is strictly based on my experiences as a website and blog visitor and it depicts the situations I have come across and the things that made me lose interest in a blog. Now I’m sure that I’m not the only one which dislikes these things and I wanted to write it down so that maybe the right people will read this and take it as advice.

Working in this field and having to write about design, graphic design, web design I deal with a lot of websites and blogs everyday. I love to interact with people in the design industry, that’s why, when I come across an interesting website I want to come back to it later so I subscribe to it’s RSS; when I love an article or the works of an artist I want to leave a comment and express my thoughts and appreciations and the examples can go on. So here it goes. These are the mistakes that I recently came across on blogs, which made me lose interest quickly. No contact info No RSS/ No visible RSS icon No email subscription option No Site Search option. 58 Topics to write about on your design blog.

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