Browsing Category: "Blogging - Design"
I’m sure for all you affiliated marketers out there reading this (probably like 2 of you guys), you know website colors can affect a conversion or not. But can the same thing be said about making money with your blog? Does color really have such an impact on your daily lives that it could influence you to not click on an ad or visit a specific site? Well, the answer is yes .
Color does affect many aspects of our lives. For instance, they say red symbolizes power, intensity, passion and courage. Now, have you ever wondered why so many businessmen wear red ties?
Now, let’s stick with the color red example. On the other hand, some people say red can symbolize sexual impulses, danger and quite possibly shame. Now, have you guys ever been to a porn site before?
Yes, you say? *cough* Pervert… just joking, I mean, it’s pretty hard to avoid stumbling across one nowadays, huh? But a large majority of porn sites have some sort of red theme, and most of them that have that color know that red symbolizes sexuality and sexual impulses.
Now, I’m not saying every site would or should have red but that was just a simple observation.
Since we’re stuck on red , did you guys know that the percentages are higher for red cars to get pulled over by a cop than any other colored car? Also, car insurances are usually higher for red colored cars as well.
Can you believe just a simple color can affect our daily lives?
I recently read on Uberaffiliate.com and Paul mentions that landing pages for affiliate marketing should have “happy colors” such as blues , greens , oranges and reds . According to Paul, “The most popular color is probably blue, although I’ve had some success with orange pages on a white background. In most cases keeping the background white is better, black looks much too dark and almost depressing.”
He also mentioned the fact that people should stay away from gloomy colors like grey (did you guys notice me changing my colors last week?).
Now, Paul is an “Uber Affiliate” marketer, he obviously has lots of experience with landing pages. And the color schemes can be said about blog themes too!
What I’m trying to say is colors can affect your daily life, but at the same time, it can also help you adjust to have readers stick around a little longer. Maybe have an additional conversation? Maybe get a few more ads clicked on?
Some tips about website color schemes that I have read:
- Black text on a white background is dull but it is the most readable and pleasing to the eye
- Yellow text on a light or white background is not only unreadable, but causes eye-strain which equals people not staying on your site very long
- Blues and white backgrounds work best for business sites
- Maternity sites should consider using some pink
- Golf or lawn sites should consider green
- Food sites should consider red
I’m sure I left some off but I hope you guys get the point: website colors can affect your blog as well; if your visitors can barely read your site then I bet you won’t have many people returning. And if you don’t have people going to your website that means you’re probably not going to make money.
As a lot of you guys should know, web design is a very important aspect of making money online. I mean, it’s the first thing people see when they arrive on your website, blog or forum. The more you know about custom web design, the better it is for you in the long run.
Well, recently I stumbled across this web design blog which caught my attention mainly because I do a lot of banner designs so I figured it’d be useful for me. I mean, it doesn’t hurt to learn the aspects you don’t know, right? Plus, even if I knew, there’s no harm in getting a refresher. And yes, there were definitely quite a few articles and information that has helped me.
This design blog is at Stylish Weblog in which it’s strictly about web design, money and life. Honestly, I wasn’t too interested in anything else besides the design information, well, at first. But since the navigational menu had various categories that just stood out, you know my curiosity got to me and I had to check them out!
And I’m glad I did.
There were other articles that were just plain interesting. I mean, they have such categories as a health section, finance, internet, personal, programming, technology, tools and videos. I think every single one of these are key elements that would help you make money online.
This design blog has a lot of basics for people who might not know about IP addresses, CSS, general design information but it also goes in depth with articles such as “How do I optimize pictures for quality web designing”, “The power of Flash text animation”, and “Why do you need to redesign your website?”
I bet just from those three articles, you’ll learn a lot more about how important web design is. As a semi-designer myself, it has given me great knowledge in which I never knew.
Now, I just have to figure out how to use this added knowledge to further my design work and money making.
So, feel free to check out the site, I bet you’ll get some added knowledge you probably never knew!
With all the recent updates with Google and their pagerank, I didn’t care too much. Matter of fact, it was a slight turn-off for me to read it on every single blog I went to this past week. Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration. It wasn’t on every blog, but doesn’t it feel like that? But I’m still a PR4 here but I did notice that some of my individual posts were given pagerank’s too!
So, why should you care? Well, you shouldn’t. But if you’re interested, one of the pages that was given a PR was my Banner Design’s page. It was bumped up to a PR3. And yes, that sparked some business motors that was running in my head.
I have decided to give permanent ad spots and backlinks on my Banner Design page. to anyone who purchases a full banner, header or logo design from me!
Not only will you receive a great design (see my examples), but your design will be displayed on my Banner Design page with a backlink to your site, permanently!
So, first of all, you will get an ad spot on that page for as long as I make banners/this site is up and running which can equal some traffic. But more importantly, since the permanent backlink to your site will be coming from a PR3 page, it will help your site with search engines results and help with your pagerank in general!
So, let’s recap just incase you decided not to read any of the above. If you purchase a full banner, header or a logo design from me you will receive a permanent backlink to your site and ad spot on my PR3 Banner Design page.
So, what are you waiting for? I would start ordering! I don’t know how long this promotion will last! Go to my Banner Design page for details on pricing and examples of my work.
*Please note: This offer does not include 125×125 button designs, only full banners, header and logo design.
Forums are a great way of not only getting traffic to your site, but getting quality traffic. More importantly, you learn and build relationships with other bloggers.
Whether you’re posting at forums just to meet new people, learn new things or even teach; forums are definitely an essential part of blogging. I have seen so many familiar faces already and have built friendships with a bunch of people from forums. Not only that but I continue to learn from more experienced webmasters.
If you haven’t tried out any forums as a blogger, then you are definitely missing out. Below is a list of blogging forums (in no particular order) that I think you should check out (and join):
I put it into a table so you don’t have to scroll down on my site, but just scroll down within the post.
The one and only, Digital Point.
If you have never heard of this forum before, you are definitely missing out. This is probably one of the biggest and well-known forums out there now (in general). It’s not only a forum for bloggers but for anyone doing business online.
It has almost everything that I can think of – search engines information, marketing, web designs, advertising, tools… and the list goes on and on.
Matter of fact, a lot of people who are now rich from their internet businesses, first started off just learning at Digital Point. That says a lot.
This site is not only a high ranked directory where you can submit your site to, but they also have blog reviews and a forum. This forum has a great environment with lots of friendly people and it continues to grow everyday.
Matter of fact, it’s ranked pretty good in search engines and when you’re able to post in the “Show Off your Blog” section, you also get a linkback and authority in Technorati!
This site is a good overall community. It’s not filled with thousands of people that will bury your topic, but there are plenty of people that are willing to lend a helping hand.
Though, I just feel like it’s missing a couple things a forum should have like a quote button, and certain limitations to prevent from possible spammers. I mean, I haven’t seen any spammers yet, but just a heads up.
This site is a very simple and straight to the point forum. There are actually a lot of interesting bloggers on there, and pretty friendly. Though, they are starting to become a little stricter to prevent from people just spamming their links and never coming back. But that’s a good thing! Plus, you always, I mean, always have a moderator there to help you out and answer any questions needed.
The main thing I didn’t like was the fact that everything is a little clumped up. I think it should have more sub-categories and more posts rather than one very large post. For instance, the “Introduce Yourself” thread has about 16,000 views and over 700 replies. Did I mention that it’s all in one thread?
But I think they did this so it doesn’t get all jumbled up and unorganized with hundreds of different threads. That’s just not my personal preference, but hey, it seems like its working.
This site is fast growing forum with lots of information on internet business and entrepreneurship. It’s not only limited to that, they also have “members only” sections to further help you with successfulness of internet businesses, and yes, that includes blogging.
One thing I’m not a big fan of is the fact that you have to be a member to read certain sections. I’m just not too fond of the forcing people to register to simply read something. I can understand if I want to post something, but I don’t want to log in each time I want to just view a specific thread.
But I guess it’s their way of attracting more members to register. And with 2,447 members, I guess its working!
It is exactly what the title says – it’s a community for web development. So, if you’re a blogger or just want to know anything about web development, then this is the place to go.
I haven’t had a chance to experience it personally, but I just signed up. They have a lot of interesting posts, and with almost 40,000 members, you know that there are plenty of people to build relationships with and learn from!
This site is a good way to learn how to build a better website. Though, just browsing through some of their sections, there are a lot of views on each thread but I don’t see too many responses. Now, that’s not a bad thing. I mean, one person can really answer the question and tons of people can just learn from that one answer.
But when you have over 1,000 views and about 7 responses, I just find that a little weird. And I’m not a big fan of the layout, but luckily it’s all about the content and the community!
This site is a very detailed forum for web development. It doesn’t really focus on blogging but very, VERY detailed aspects on web development such as XML, CSS, Site graphics, technology issues, ecommerce, and good lord, the list just goes on!
This forum has well over 50 sub-categories, which is a lot for a forum, but that’s how much they go into detail.
They do not reveal how many members but just based on some of their sub-categories and the number of threads on there, I would assume there are thousands. I mean, some single sub-categories have 6-figures in posts.
For instance, “Google Search News” has 454,369 posts. If you ask me, that’s a whole lot!
Is a forum focused more on the hosting aspects of the web world. If you have questions or concerns on hosting, then this is the place to go.
It is exactly what it is, a forum to discuss webmaster topics. I particularly like the “Marketplace” section because they have tons of things for sale from templates to domain names to advertising to even web hosting deals!
I think the downfall is almost similar to Cre8aSite, there are plenty of threads but not too many replies. At least from the ones I got to glance at. But don’t get me wrong, at least there are replies.
This forum is different from all the other ones I have mentioned. This forum actually focuses on the writing aspects whether it’s your grammar or if you need tips on how to write a short story, this is the place to go for it.
And I know a lot of you guys need help with your grammar! Okay, fine, I do too. So what?
This forum was actually one of the first forums I ran across when I first started blogging. I ran by this forum because they actually have a bunch of free template designs, which I did use some of them in my blogging lifetime.
On top of that, they also have a bunch of the standard blogging topics. This forum is still growing, with over 6,500 members.
And lastly, The Blog Experiment forum
This forum is basically like a Blogging 101 class. I think this blog is focused for the beginning bloggers to ask the questions they need answered. Things like choosing the right blogging platform, what makes a good blog, topics, etc.
Again, basically covering the basics of blogging.
So, there you have it. The 13 forums that I have come across that I think would really help any blogger out (beginners or experienced).
Blogosphere
Blog forums
As many of you guys already know, this past month I started to design custom banners/ads for people. I first started with the 125 x 125 buttons (primarily for Entrecard) and held a promotion of $1.00 USD for each through this entire month of January, which went very well. So, thank you to all those that decided to buy one, and a VERY special thank you to those that liked my service enough to tip me.
Please check out some examples of banners/ads I have done!
Since this month is about over (last chance to get your orders in for the $1.00 USD promotions!), which means my $1.00 USD promotion is over, the prices will be going to $6.00 USD for each 125 x 125 normal button. Though, this is still very cheap compared to those people who charge $20.00 USD for the same type of quality.
In addition, my normal standard full banner prices are being increased from $20.00 USD to $21.00 USD.
So, why the sudden raise and why those prices?
Well, originally I was going to charge $5.00 USD for each of the 125 x 125 designs, but realized that each transaction through Paypal takes about $0.50 per transaction, depending on how much the payment is, so I look at that like its tax.
Plus, if you ask my customers, they are plenty happy with it. Just read some of the reviews people wrote about my design services:
EZdiyelectricity.com
LinkVillage.blogspot.com
KnupNet.com
TheSavvyTourist.com
Now, here comes the NEW addition to my design services. If you noticed I bolded the word “normal” to emphasize the standard designs. Now I will be implementing animation and flash for those that have been asking for it. So, if you are looking for specific words to flash or pictures to change, I will be adding that as a feature. But keep in mind, this new addition will NOT take place until I work out the minor details, but I will keep you all updated.
And just to add, this animation feature will cost a little extra because it does take some more time to actually do, depending on what you guys are looking for exactly. The price is to be determined; I’m still working out all the potential things I will be making for people to make sure I’m actually capable of doing it upon request(s).
Update on my blogs:
I started to expand out a little bit and I’m testing out a few things. One of the tests that I am trying out is guest blogging/posting which I will be doing (or have done) for various sites such as for Mr. Tyler Cruz, JackBook and Blog About Your Blog. So, thank you to the owners of those sites! I hope you guys look out for those articles as well!
Lastly, I will be hosting a contest VERY soon which will include cash prizes and Entrecard credits. And I might toss in some custom made banners as well. So, please do check back or subscribe to my RSS Feeds so you don’t miss a thing!
Designs
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Advertise
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Guest Blogging
