Randa Clay Design

What to Buy a Blogger for Christmas

2008-11-13T23:54:04Z

Wondering what to buy that person in your life who is addicted to the computer and blogging? Christmas is just around the corner and I have some ideas for you:

Journal

Every blogger needs someplace to jot down their thoughts and plan out blog posts. There’s something about getting away from the computer and sitting down with a journal that helps get the flow of ideas started. This leather journal from Kiki James is one I recently received and it is simply beautiful. The cover is a soft, buttery leather and the pages have almost a handmade paper feel to them. They have a variety of colors and styles- I got the pink one. The paper is unlined, so it’s nice for doodling design ideas as well as scribbling notes.

ProBlogger Book

ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income is required reading for anyone who is new to blogging, as well as those who have been doing it for years. Just take a look at this story of what one experienced blogger learned from the book and the difference it made in her career and life. I’ve read the book and highly recommend it.

T-Shirt

How about a blogging t-shirt? The WiFi Detector t-shirt is genius!

Membership to a Forum or Training Program

The gift that keeps on giving- a membership to Performancing Hive or Authority Blogger would make any blogger happy.

Anti-Glare Filter for the Computer Screen

Staring at the computer for hours and hours can be very hard on the eyes. An anti-glare filter screen is a perfect gift for computer addicts.

Desk Lamp

Good lighting at one’s desk is essential. I have this one from Target and it’s beautiful.

Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse

I have this awesome Microsoft wireless keyboard and optical mouse and I LOVE it. The keyboard is not SO ergonomic that it’s difficult to use, but it just has a little curve to it that makes it much more comfortable.

Caffeine

Coffee is always a great gift for those who drink it. If the person you’re buying for is not a coffee drinker, then how about some candy? I hear that Shock-A-Lots are awesome, and this caffeine candy sampler is pretty cool too.

A Massage

Sitting in front of the computer for a long time can lead to a stiff neck and shoulders, and bloggers are notoriously bad about getting away from the desk to loosen up a bit. A massage would definitely be a welcome gift.

What about you? What do you want for Christmas?

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Free Diamonds and Squares Bullet Set

2008-11-06T12:12:56Z

It’s the small details that can make all the difference in a site design. Just using a fancy bullet instead of a disc or square can really dress up your lists. It’s difficult to find good bullet sets out there, so I’m offering this set free for any use, commercial or private.

Download transparent PNGs here or if you have a high percentage of visitors still using IE6 (and your background is white) you might want the non-transparent PNGs instead, as IE6 does not support PNG transparency.

Wondering how best to set up your CSS to use an image instead of the standard options? Here is a quick run down:

Instead of the standard:
ul { list-style-type: disc }

Make the bullet the background image of your list element, like so:
ul { list-style: none; }

li { padding-left: 12px; background: url(“images/diamond.png”) no-repeat; background-position: 0 4px; }

In the background position element, the first value is the horizontal position and the second is the vertical. The top left corner is 0 0. You’ll likely have to play around with the background positioning to get the bullets centered, and be sure to check the appearance in several browsers.

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5 Plugins to Make Your Site Look More Professional

2008-10-17T20:58:03Z

One of the reasons I love WordPress is the plethora of amazing plugins available. Here are 5 plugins that I recommend for getting a professional look to your site:

Featured Content Gallery

This plugin is amazing. It’s so easy to implement and really makes a big difference in a static site. Check out this site or this one to see it in action. To use, you simply install the plugin, and then set your preferences in the admin panel, add the bit of code to your theme files, and start posting in your featured category including the use of the custom field for the featured image. Just an FYI, for you techie types, I have found that this plugin does not work on a site that is also using “Moo Tools” javascripts. Click here to visit download page.

Breadcrumb Navigation XT

Another simple one to implement and a must if you have a site of any depth. It ads “breadcrumb” links to make it easy for the user to navigate, especially as they get deep into your content. Click here to visit download page.

Multi-page Toolkit

If you have content that is quite lengthy, this is a perfect plugin to help your users wade through it. There are many options for customizing it in the admin panel, and you can style the display by adding some plugin specific CSS to your theme’s stylesheet. Check out this post for an good example, and click here for the download page.

Related Entries

This plugin gives your readers suggestions at the end of each post for other posts that may interest them, and is a great way to increase the time they stay on your site. You can even include exerpts if you like! Click here to visit the download page.

CForms

This is simply the best contact form plugin I have ever come across. It allows for multiple forms, custom form styling and it’s very easy to insert your forms into posts, pages or your sidebar. Download page is here.

And, while I’m in plugin mode, here are some plugins I couldn’t live without:

Ozh Admin Drop Down Menu

Just Do It

2008-11-12T01:53:55Z

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Have you ever worked on a project with a group of people, and one of them drops the ball and makes you look bad even though you did everything that was expected of you? Recently there have been some difficulties at Perfomancing Ads because of the negligence of one person. Articles are being written calling the program a scam because payments are somewhat delayed, and attacking the whole group of people who participated in the launch of the service, including me because I did the design, though I haven’t been involved with the project since the design was complete several months ago.

Performancing Ads is a great concept and there has been a hitch in the startup because one person hasn’t followed through with their responsibilities. Does that make it a scam? Of course not. I know all the people involved in the project and they are some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. Even the “ball dropper” was pretty good to work with. Performancing is taking measures to get the situation rectified and I’m confident payments will be sent as soon as possible and in fact, I believe at this point, payments have gone out.

What’s my point?

I’m not writing this post because I’m concerned about my reputation. Anyone who knows me and has worked with me knows that when I say I’m going to do something, I do it, and that I’ll go above and beyond to make sure those I do business with are completely satisfied and happy with the results. My main thoughts about this are that working in an online environment poses some very difficult challenges. When people are hired to work on a project, it is far too easy for them to flake out and leave others holding the bag. The relative anonymity of the online world means that people end up doing things that they would likely not do if they were working a regular day job and had to face people in the office every day.

Just a minute, let me step up onto my soapbox

If you say you’re going to do something, just do it. If you break it, fix it. If you screw up, make it right.

We all fall short of this at times in whatever business we’re in- I’ve certainly done my fair share, but you always have to keep in mind that when you drop the ball you’re not the only person it affects. Through your negligence you can damage someone else’s reputation and that’s much worse than damaging your own.

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No related posts

Link Love and Eye Candy

2008-10-30T14:22:07Z

My friend and genius designer Natalie Jost has a new site called TwitterPatterns, which has lots of free backgrounds for your Twitter page (check mine out). There are even some great “pink for October” patterns! She is also selling some beautiful brushes and patterns on her OliveManna site that you should definitely check out if you’re a Photoshop user.

Fellow Perfomancing Hive member, Sid Savara recently reviewed a new virtual assistant service that offers unlimited tasks for just $59 a month. Take a look a the article not only for an interesting review of the service, but also for an excellent example of how to write a review article. He is clear, easy to read, offers visual aids and very thorough.

Just a side note… what do you think about the above service business model? If you’re in the virtual assistance business, does it concern you?

Considering using a VoIP service like Skype or something similar? This article compares the 10 best free VoIP options.

A great post from Char: 5 Easy Ways to Market Yourself Online

I recently did some work modifying the premium WordPress theme One Theme for a client, and found it to be an excellent theme right out of the box. There are many options for layout, featured posts, header and logo customization and ad management in the admin panel, and without any custom modifications at all you can have a very sharp looking site.

And finally, some more recent work of mine: two sites still a bit in development, but nearly finished, and I have really enjoyed working on them with some wonderful clients.

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Reasons Your Business Needs a Blog

2008-10-15T13:36:19Z

I’ve been a fan of Fast Company Magazine for a long time, and have recently been invited to be one of their “Expert Bloggers”. My first post is up, taking a look at reasons companies should be in the blogging business:

1. Build Relationships

2. Build Reputation

3. Build Customer Loyalty

4. Build Authority

5. Build Traffic

Check it out, and be sure and subscribe to the feed while you’re there!

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Learn to be an Authority Blogger

2008-10-15T13:20:01Z

I don’t recommend stuff here much- only things I really think are awesome, like the Perfomancing Hive forum for example. One of the “Hivers”, Chris Garrett, has a new Authority Blogger course that IS awesome. Everything Chris does is quality, and this course is no exception. He’s in “pre-launch” mode right now and that means you get a special deal - the upgraded “Accelerator” version for the Basic version price!

Here’s what you get:

Three 30min 1:1 coaching calls (!!!)
Email support
Private forum members area
Early access to all the content as it is added daily
Group conference calls, with recordings and transcripts
The full 3 month course when it officially launches

I have taken a peek at the material, and it’s oustanding. Chris is one of the most experienced bloggers in the business. I have learned a lot from him and I’m looking forward to learning more through this course! Check it out!

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Trying out Google Chrome

2008-10-15T13:12:11Z

When I first heard that Google was releasing a new browser, I was a little annoyed. I wondered if we really need another web browser. Then I read the comic book style explanation behind the browser’s development. It’s very well written and explains some complicated concepts in a very clear way that I think even a non-techie person could understand. After reading it, I couldn’t wait to download the browser and give it a try. Will I switch from Firefox? Probably not for a while, because I rely heavily on the plugins for web development that are available for Firefox, but there are also a lot of features that I really appreciate.

The installation was easy and it imported all my bookmarks from Firefox without a problem. Some nice feaures of the browser include:

a great start page that shows thumbnails of your most most visted sites, along with a search box and your most recent bookmarks
one-click bookmarking
a single bar for everything - search, address, history
lots of added security to keep malware from being installed and warn you of phishing sites
popups will no longer be a problem
Every tab you’re using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it won’t take anything else down- you just close the tab

Sounds cool doesn’t it? What do you think? Do you see this as just one more step in Google taking over the planet? Or, do you think it’s a good step forward in the “evolution” of the web browser?

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How to choose a good designer

2008-10-15T13:11:48Z

I have had several clients tell me of bad experiences with designers in the past who were difficult to work with and they didn’t feel they had gotten a good value for their money. In the end, they regretted having hired them. When you are looking to launch a new site and have chosen to invest in a professional design, how do you go about choosing a good designer? How do you tell a good one from a not-so-good one?

What is “good”?

“Good” is a rather subjective term isn’t it? There are designers who do great work, but who are not necessarily great to work with and vice-versa. I won’t get into what good design is here, because others more expert than I am have written on the subject quite well. In the end, you will want to find someone whose work you admire who creates visually appealing, easy to use sites who is also helpful, responsive, flexible, and sticks to established timelines.

Start with their portfolio

A good designer will have examples of their work available- not only graphic examples, but live sites as well. Does the majority of their work appeal to you? Are they easy to navigate and use, or merely pretty to look at?

Get some references

If you’re not referred to the designer by someone you know who has already worked with them, it is a very good idea to get some references, just has you would if you were going to hire an employee. I recently had a call with a potential client who said he had contacted a former client of mine to ask about their experience working with me. That was the first time to my knowledge someone had done that. Why? If you’re going to pay for a professional service, and in many cases give them a deposit up front, don’t go into it blindly, hoping it will turn out okay. There is no way to know what someone will be like to work with unless you ask someone who has “been there, done that.” Any decent designer would be glad to give you some references to contact.

Good designers are in demand

Unless they are just starting out and looking for new clients, a good designer will be in high demand and will be booking work out weeks and months in advance. This might be frustrating if you’re in a hurry to get a site up, but you may need to be willing to wait for the person you want.

Good designers are not cheap

As it is with most things- you get what you pay for. That is not to say that you won’t run across someone who is undervaluing their work and end up with a great deal. But for the most part if you want a good designer, you need to know that their time is valuable and that ultimately the money you spend is an investment in your own success.

Good designers ask a lot of questions

Good designers want to know what appeals to you, what your goals are for your site, what your target “customer” is like, and what is going to make your site unique. They are going to have to ask plenty of questions to get a good sense of what is going to make your site successful and make you happy.

Making clients happy is the goal of any smart designer, because we know that the best way to get good clients is for them to be referred by other happy, satisfied clients.

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Redesign Inspiration and Process

2008-10-15T13:10:37Z

As I’m always interested in other designers’ process, I thought I’d share mine along with some of the tools that I used for the recent redesign of my site.

Concept

As I begin the design process, I look through my inspiration folder in my bookmarks, and through inspiration sites like Best Web Gallery. I particularly liked that site because it includes a small site preview when you mouse over the thumbnail. To get color inspiration, I use ColourLovers and ColorSchemer. As I page through the color schemes others have created, I make screen prints of those that I like and paste them into Photoshop and then narrow down to one that suits the site the best. Once I have design and color inspiration I go away from the computer and close my eyes. That might sound a bit strange, but I find that I must have some time to visualize the site before I do any sketching.

Sketch & Mockup

Once I get a visual idea in my head for the site, I then either sketch the layout on paper or begin sketching in Photoshop. I wanted to move to a grid layout so I downloaded the outstanding 960 grid system, which includes Photoshop grid templates that I used to lay out the site.

Once I had the body of the site complete, I had a really hard time deciding on the background. I had a great time using the pattern maker at Colour Lovers, but never ended up with something that looked good. So, inspired by sites like N Design Studio, I used a set of brushes found at Brusheezy. Though the background is wide, It was worth it to design for the wide screen since over 70% of you are using something wider than 1024px.

Code

I fully intended to use the code that came with the 960 grid, but as I got into it, being anxious to make my design a reality, I gave up too quickly trying to figure it out and instead used a totally cool javascript grid bookmarklet that allowed me to dynamically overlay the site with a grid. It made it easy to tweak the margins and padding to line everything up as I had it in the mockup.

As always happens, I got everything set up and then checked it out in IE6 and of course, the code required some minor changes. I bring this up because 9% of you are STILL using IE6! I know some don’t have a choice, but if you do, please, I beg you, upgrade! Better yet, switch to Firefox.

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