I never get tired of featuring knowledgeable designers who utilize blogs to put forward their business. It’s just good business.
At Alpha Blog Designs, right there in the welcome she he has: “Here we display our work, and give you the opportunity to hire us. However, we also discuss and share all things design related. Please take the time to read our articles, and comment. We’d like to get to know you.” Pretty straight forward (and one to take note of perhaps?).
I’m also a sucker for all things running a design business, so obviously I’m going to click on 5 Steps to Kickstart Your Web Design Business. Solid, but nothing earth shattering new there.
What she he has done is share two blog posts of note (not of her his blog). Dosh dosh with How to Use the Web to Build A Powerful Reputation In Any Industry. And Relationship Marketing with Get a Grip! You would be lucky to have TOO MANY CLIENTS! Both good reads.
And here’s a post I really enjoyed, 101 Heinous Website Sins to Really Freaking’ Annoy Your Visitors. Ah, let me count the ways … [wink]
And (saving the best for last) one more for the road, 1 Reason Why You Need to Give Your Website a Hickey. For those of you designers who blog (me included) this is a must read.
For one, the statement about categories (getting rid of categories). Glancing to the right. Ouch. 42. When did that happen? I’m not 100% in agreement with getting rid of categories, but I could certainly use a paring down (understatement).
Ok, now on to Archives. Again, something I’m going to keep. After finding a decent archives plugin (SRG Clean Archives by Sean R.), I can actually show the real archives by title (click ‘expand all months’). Yes, it’s a great deal more useful than January, February, yadda yadda.
And to the blogroll (ditto). Well, DWB is about designers who blog. Right? And well, I don’t really care about the reasons passed around about not linking to a zillion blogs. I guess it’s because I’m not posting here to be king of anything. I’m posting to share blogs. Designers who blog (and writers, photographers, marketeers and on and on). And it’d pointless if I don’t have the actual blogs handy for readers to do a quick skim. Well, that’s my thinking anyway.
What I have done (thanks to PowerBlogRoll by Guilherme Zühlke O’Connor) is move the large blogroll off my sidebar and onto an inner page. Again, this page can be located in the top nav, under Blogroll. What you see on my sidebar to the right are blogs I read often. Written by bloggers I have real contact with. Bloggers I meet even, or plan to meet. In real life. Bloggers I admire.
MyBlogLog (ditto). Hmmm. Well, I’ll have to think about that one too as I do understand the point on slow loading. But you see, I use MyBlogLog’s recent visitors to follow those who, um, visit (and just look at all those smiley faces :-). It’s similar to the plugin I use showing the last blog post of those who comment (Commentluv by Andy Bailey). It’s a community thing.
But, I do recognise the spirit in which the points were made. So, starting with my monster categories, I’ll keep them in mind as I get closer to the final redesign of DWB. Honest.
EDIT: I was so excited about the ideas Armen was discussing in 1 Reason Why You Need to Give Your Website a Hickey, that I forgot to mention she he was actually going over the pros and cons to Chris Pearson’s post, What Every Blogger Needs to Know About Categories. Both posts are equally well written, with each grabbing the imagination. But with time so limited (I was rushing off to the Moors with camera in tow), I made the choice to stay at Armen’s due to the clever way her his post was themed around Hick’s Law, “the time it takes to make a decision increases as the number of options increases”. To which I’ll add, “the time it takes to make a decision decreases to fit available time”.
Again, thanks Armen, for a thought-provoking post! (And with all those strick-throughs, clearly thought-provoking in more way than one ;-D
Technorati Tags: blog designer, design, graphic, Inspiration
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WOW! I don’t think “thank you” is sufficient, but, thank you!
Just to clarify, in the ’1 Reason to Give Your Website a Hickey’ article, I confess that I’m not sure about removing categories completely either; that’s what Chris Pearson is suggesting.
Also, I didn’t suggest removing archives either, just place them on a single, dedicated page. This is what I’ve always done, and I do it by using the plugin you’ve linked to (SRG Clean Archives). I recommend it to all. It’s much better than a list of monthly archives in the sidebar.
I suggest reading Chris Pearson’s article, which inspired my own. It’s a good read.
Anyway, I just want to say thanks, and I’ve ended up writing an essay! Keep up the good work; you’ve got yourself another reader.
Armen’s last blog post..24 Checkpoint Signs Your Obsessed with Web/Graphic Design
Welcome Armen! I so enjoy reading your blog as you write about what I’m interested in reading.
And oops. Apologies. I forgot to mention your post was written about Chris’s post (I’ll edit that point into the bottom of my post).
But I enjoyed yours so much, I guess I got wrapped up in the idea of it all. It certainly got me thinking, that’s for sure.
And it also gave me a chance to give link love to the authors of the plugins I use (bless them for all the work they do for the blogging community).
Thanks for posting this Cat! This has been a really helpful post for me. I’m just getting my own design blog off the ground, and certainly would like to make sure it’s as useful and easy for readers to navigate as possible, as well as being as useful to my own design business as it can be. Browsing the Alpha BlogDesigns site after reading your post, I can see it’s going to be a huge help to me. I’ve already started making a list of some changes I want to make (showcasing my own work more, for instance, is a big one). Thanks again; I’m sure I’ll be adding Alpha BlogDesigns to my daily “must-read” list!
shannon’s last blog post..Today’s Free Images
Hi Shannon, my pleasure. The post at Alpha BlogDesigns (even though I was in a total rush and misconstrued some of the points she was making) had me take a sharp look around here too. And I know Chris’s blog. so shame on me for ignoring him for so long. Luckily, she’s pointed me back to reading his. And of course, I now have hers too :-)
Armen’s definitely one of the good guys who operate a blog. No surprise to see him featured, though I’m surprised he didn’t mention he actually is a ‘he’. Maybe he’s making some changes in his life? ;)
David Airey’s last blog post..Creative resources 07 April 2008
Oh, well, cacca. There I go again, TWO snafus in one day?
Armen, PLEASE get an about! ;-)
lol
Thanks David! As I mentioned to Cat in an email, I thought she was referring to the site, like someone might refer to a nice boat, “she’s a beauty”.
Shannon – Glad to be able to help. Thanks for the encouragement too.
Cat – I’ve been meaning to get an ‘about’ up, but I’m in the middle of some client work, and releasing a premium theme. I will do it though. However, maybe if you had known I am a guy, you wouldn’t have featured me? ;)
Armen’s last blog post..24 Checkpoint Signs You?re Obsessed with Web/Graphic Design
I see. ;) Well, I’ll go with that. She is, after all, a beaut.
David Airey’s last blog post..Spec work in the internet age
she he
her his
Blushing. Since this might not be the last time, I’ve added the strike-through code to this site.
(embarrassing, but not as bad flirting on and off via email for six months, only to find out she’s a she and not a he)
Armen,
“I’ve been meaning to get an ‘about’ up, but I’m in the middle of some client work, and releasing a premium theme. I will do it though.”
Looking forward to both the about and the premium theme.
“However, maybe if you had known I am a guy, you wouldn’t have featured me? ;)”
I actually feature more guys than gals so I guess in a small way I was featuring you because I thought you were a gal. But in a big way, not. (how am I doing?)
How are you doing? I think the hole is deep enough now ;-)
Again, thanks for the laugh. Now that you know I’m a ‘he’ and not a ‘she’, I hope you’ll not be flirting!
Armen’s last blog post..Defeating the Enemy: How to Conquer You!
No flirting? That’s like, like, taking away the air I breath ;-)
(now off to read Armen’s latest post … ‘Defeating the Enemy’ … sounds good!)
It’s a shame that he is using a free theme without crediting the designer. If you are going to use a free wordpress theme at least have the decency to keep the credit link.
Hi Bruce,
That’s extremely informative. Would you like to tell me where you can download this free theme?
Armen’s last blog post..Custom WordPress Theme Competition Winner