Tutorial Blog » Misc

How Can a Marketer Take Advantage of Facebook’s New Send Dialog?

FletcherT — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:00:52 +0000

Back in April, Facebook rolled out the Send button, a function that provided a simple and direct way for users to privately share content through the platform. Though it has not garnered as much attention as the Like button, this feature can be viewed a huge success considering that the social network says it has already been installed on more than 100,000 sites. Nearly two months later, Facebook has followed up the Send button with a new feature called Send Dialog. In this article, we will discuss the feature in more detail and explain how a marketer can take advantage of the Send Dialog to engage their audience. (...)
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4 Reasons You Should Add Photos or Illustrations to Every Blog Post

Barbara Holbrook — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:11:17 +0000

Humor me for a moment and go dig out a copy of the White Pages — you remember, it’s that 10-pound behemoth gathering dust under the sink. Now, flip it open to any page and tell me the truth? Are you pulled into the content? Do you have any desire to continue reading or have you already closed it up and moved on to the next thing?

Online or offline, people constantly come across content and make a split-second decision about whether to stay or go. Often, the decision is made before the content is even assessed. It’s a sub-concious decision to leave based purely on looks. (...)
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How to Choose a Web Design Agency to Build Your eCommerce Site

gary.stonehouse — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:00:52 +0000

These days, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can build a website. The question is, what kind of website will you get? Will your new website function well and be able to expand as your company grows? Your website is often the first impression that clients have of your business, so you need a professional web design agency—not some guy who pirated a copy of Dreamweaver with a stack of business cards using a VistaPrint template.

There are a few things which you need to check before signing a contract and handing over a deposit—especially if you are building an eCommerce site. Below are some of the key points to check before deciding which design agency to use.(...)
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Social Networking Software: 12 Ways to Build the Next, Best Social Network

Barbara Holbrook — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:01:23 +0000

Do you want to be the next YouTube, Flickr, Match.com or Facebook? Then, you need to find the right social networking software. Dating sites, friend networks, video sharing portals are all built on networking platforms that give members control over their personal profile and encourage user-generated content.

If you can get it right, Social Networking is the key to the kingdom. You will never have to worry about your next blog post, because users will post and manage their own content. You will be free to focus on the important stuff like marketing, partnerships and monetization.

Of course, great social networks need great software. No one wants to play on a slow network and users won’t create profiles if they think your software isn’t secure. When choosing a social networking platform, you need to make sure the software looks professional, is stable and will be around for the long haul.

Here are the programs and platforms you’ll encounter in your search for social networking software. (...)
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5 Photo Gallery Plugins for WordPress

Spencer Spellman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:28:11 +0000

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, then these photo gallery plugins for WordPress must be worth volumes. Each plugin creates the photo gallery a bit differently — jquery slideshows, flash slideshows, automatically from your flickr set — which you choose is purely a matter of preference.

Image galleries are one of those features that can help your website or blog rise above the rest. Quality photos can draw in your visitors and keep them on your site longer. Sure, you can still add eye candy to your blog using the default installation of WordPress. But if you really want to go for sugar-overload, then you need to include a photo gallery.

Here are five WordPress photo gallery plugins that can add some interactivity and pop to your blog. Now that’s sweet. (...)
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Software Review: Vertus Fluid Mask 3

Charles McNally — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:00:27 +0000

I was a little hesitant when I signed up for this review. A masking program? I’ve seen quite a few masking programs that were hard to work with, with steep learning curves, bad tools, poor quality and more. I went in to it with pretty low expectations, to be honest, so I was blown away when I encountered the level of quality in Fluid Mask.

Most of the time I create cutouts using photoshop layer masks and spend a lot of time zoomed in up close. It’s seemed to work pretty well — I thought I was doing a good job, and fairly quickly. That was before I tried Fluid Mask…

Wow. Just wow. All that time I wasted! All those images that could’ve looked so much better! I wish I’d discovered Vertus Fluid Mask 3 sooner. (...)
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10 Places to Download Free Icon Sets

Joel Reyes — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:00:52 +0000

Whether you want to spice up the look of your desktop, create a unified theme on your website, or use them for graphic design, matching icon sets come in handy. Although in recent times the use of icons has shifted towards web and interface design, icon sets are useful for many purposes.

If you have the proper skills, you can use applications such as Illustrator to customize your vectors and design a spiffy icon set, but why re-create the wheel?

Here are 10 top resources for free icon sets. Download them directly onto your desktop for instant beautification. (...)
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How to Add HTML Code in WordPress — Try Embedit

Spencer Spellman — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:00:21 +0000

If you have a WordPress blog that you want to make more like a website, then at some point along the line, you’re going to want to add specialized code to it to give it some flare. This may be in the form of advertising, affiliate links, videos and something else. Whatever you want to add, chances are it’s going to require a little snippet of HTML. In this post we’re going to look at how to easily add HTML code to your pages and posts.

Sometimes you may just be able to copy and paste code or write HTML code directly into your posts. To do this, you just need to click the HTML tab at the top of the post and then write or paste the code into your post and publish it. (...)
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Remove Moiré Patterns in Photoshop

Barbara Holbrook — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:28:35 +0000

A TutorialBlog.org reader writes us today with a question about how to remove a moiré pattern using photoshop.

Are there any plugins for photoshop to reduce/eliminate moire patterns? — William

For those of you that don’t know, a moiré is an unsightly pattern that emerges when “two grids are overlaid at an angle, or when they have slightly different mesh sizes.” (Thanks, wikipedia.) (...)
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Photoshop Tutorial: Plain Pic to Glamour Girl, Retouching Techniques. (part 1 of 3)

Charles McNally — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:00:33 +0000

Greetings, pixel pushers! Today I’m going to teach you how to subtly transform a good picture into an excellent picture in just a few easy steps. By the end, you will be able to turn your pictures into beautiful portraits for business, friends, family members, even touch up your own myspace pics…

This will come in handy when using your own photography on a website, or using your friends for product demonstration photos. This process is very similar to what magazines do to make sure skin is smooth, color is correct, and there are no visible blemishes. We all get zits from time to time, but you never see them in advertisements right?

That said, I picked my friend Nikki’s MySpace picture to use for this tutorial (with her permission of course) because the on-camera flash is something you see a lot and this lighting style really shows off even the slightest imperfections in her skin. We don’t really notice these imperfections in peoples’ skin most of the time because we don’t walk around with large, high-powered lights strapped to our foreheads. At least most of us don’t… but our cameras pick them up, so we have to get rid of them.

(...)
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