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5 Places to Download Free and Cheap Images to Use on Your Blog

Barbara Holbrook — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:30:33 +0000

A little while back, we talked about the importance of using photos in every post when you’re blogging. Now that you’re convinced that images are an important part of each and every blog post, you might be wondering where you get photos and graphics for your posts. Of course, there are several places where you can find just about any image you might need. Unfortunately, stock photography can be expensive. The secret is knowing where to look to get the best deal, or even find free images that you can use on your website.

Here are 5 places to get started when you need to find free (or at least cheap!) images to use on your blog.(...)
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9 Stand-Out Real Estate Themes for WordPress

Barbara Holbrook — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:30:39 +0000

A friend of mine just earned his real estate license and now he’s in the process of setting up office online. He’s already familiar with WordPress, so he came to me and asked if I had any advice on using WordPress for a real estate website. WordPress is really the hot ticket for building real estate site right now, which is both good and bad.

On the one hand, the demand for real estate themes and plugins has encouraged innovation among developers and they’re coming up with some pretty neat tools for agents to use when managing their properties online. On the other hand, you want to make sure that your website stands out from the crowd of similarly-themed websites so that you can attract clients and impress them with your marketing skills and web savvy. For an agent, a good website shows potential clients that they have 21st century skills and can do what it takes to sell a home in this tough market.

So, in answer to his question I rounded up a list of the top WordPress themes for building a real estate website that is sure to stand out in a crowd and help you—and your listings—get noticed.(...)
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9 Email Designs for Content-Heavy Newsletters

Barbara Holbrook — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:30:27 +0000

I’ve recently been working on a project to design a daily email newsletter that will be powered by MailChimp’s RSS to Email option. In some ways using RSS limits the design, however by automating the email campaign the site owner can focus on creating content rather than delivering content.

The challenge for this email campaign is to create a template that can accommodate between 4 and 8 articles with photos and summaries, a spot for advertising, branding options and of course space for all the “required” information to be can-spam compliant. Oh yeah, the content all needs to fit together elegantly and encourage users to take action by visiting the site, bookmarking an article, etc. What’s the best way to fit that much information in an email and keep it organized?

I went looking for inspiration on Emailium, and found a collection of content-heavy email designs proving that it is indeed possible to fit a mountain of information into a document no more than 600 pixels wide. Want to be inspired, too? Check out this list of email designs for content-heavy newsletters and publishing sites.

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Browse Email Marketing Campaigns on Emailium for Inspiration and Ideas

Barbara Holbrook — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:16:36 +0000

Emailium, an inspiration database for designers who create email marketing campaigns, opened their public beta today. The site is free to join for now, although it makes no mention of what the prices might be once the public beta is over.

The company describes itself as “A filterable, sortable, categorizable, global database of email campaigns for competitive research, design inspiration and industry analysis.” In other words, Emailium is to email marketing what cssmania.com is to web design. (...)
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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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Awesome Customizations: 10 websites based on the Yamidoo Magazine Theme

Barbara Holbrook — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:18:39 +0000

Premium WordPress themes can be a designer’s best friend. But most websites worth visiting know better than to use a theme straight “out of the box.” Your site design is part of your branding and it’s the first impression visitors will have of your product. It only takes seconds for a new visitors to decide whether your site is “reputable.” And, like it or not, they will make that decision based on looks.

That’s why when you’re deciding which premium theme to buy the most important question you can ask is, “Can I make this theme look custom without reinventing the wheel?” To help you make this decision, TutorialBlog will begin showcasing a selection of sites all based on the same theme. Take a look and see for yourself some of the customized themes that started with a premium foundation.

Today, we’re taking a look at customization ideas for the Yamidoo Magazine Theme from wpzoom. (...)
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Sync Your Life: Great Tools to Sync, Backup and Store your Files

Derek Walter — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:00:20 +0000

You probably remember that one time when you really needed a copy of that spreadsheet for the meeting; only to realize it was sitting on your hard drive at home. Or the time you wrote up that great list of ideas and forgot to e-mail it to yourself.

If you use multiple devices for computing, the good news is these potential hazards can be avoided. There are now some great online tools to keep your files, notes, and other essential data synced between your desktop, laptop, and mobile phone.

Here are some suggestions for Getting your Digital Life in Sync.
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Freelancers: Invoice your clients

Oli — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:00:09 +0000

Create invoices and manage account receivables online using one of these 9 web apps. You’ll save time and maybe even earn more money.

The ability to successfully run a freelance design business, requires more than just graphic skills. You’ll need to know how to drum up business, manage competing demands and perhaps most importantly how to get paid.

As a freelancer, choosing the right invoice software can make your job easier. These web apps can create invoices online, track payments, and more. Many offer a free trial, others are completely free. All you need now is determine which online invoice software works best for you.

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Free Photoshop Shapes: Download Custom Shapes Sets

Barbara Holbrook — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:00:41 +0000

Photoshop shapes are different than Photoshop brushes, although some people use the terms interchangeably, they refer to completely different tools. Both tools will allow you to easily add custom elements that be stamped out over and over again, used to create patterns, transferred from one design to another, and stored in your Photoshop library for use on your next project.

The big difference between custom brushes and custom shapes is that brushes create a bitmapped element that is permanently painted onto a layer. Custom Photoshop shapes will add an editable vector shape on it’s own layer. This is especially useful because it makes it easy to change the color or size of your custom item should you change your mind while working on the design.

Adding custom brushes and custom shapes to your Photoshop presets is an invaluable timesaver. Today, we’ll help you start your collection with this list of 10 Places to Download Free Custom Shape sets for Photoshop. (...)
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5 More Places to Buy Joomla Templates

Barbara Holbrook — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:00:38 +0000

Last week we posted an article about where to find joomla templates. After being roundly smacked about by our readers for leaving out some of the larger (and popular) Joomla template design websites, we’ve decided to try and redeem ourselves with yet another article about finding quality Joomla Templates.

Like we said earlier, a well-made template is the foundation for a good website. If the template doesn’t include the right code for proper SEO, then it’s going to make life difficult later. This is as true for Joomla as it is for WordPress, or Drupal. That is why we recommend sourcing out premium template companies that you can rely on. (...)
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