The reality of cloud computing infographic by Rackspace UK.

There are many interesting and cool graphics on various topics. In this post, we have compiled impressive graphics that are of interest for designers and Web developers.

1. Search benefits of the blog

There are many aspects of the blogosphere that make it attractive to search marketers: the sharing and distribution of content, the potential for viral marketing and link bait, and the associated linking opportunities. But, so much more goes into the relationship we have with blog communities. This infographic describes both the tangible and intangible benefits of engaging with the blogosphere.

2. The hierarchy of digital distractions

Here’s an infographic similar to Maslow’s Hierarhcy of Needs, but instead illustrates common digital distractions (like Twitter, email, and different kinds of users). Its designed by a top web design in Chicago

3. 60 Seconds

World Wide Web is growing at rapid pace. On average, more than a billion new pages are added to it every day. To give you an idea of how big world wide web is, our Infographic 60 Seconds will cover some really interesting facts about websites that we use on day-to-day basis.

4. Awesome Twitter facts and stats

There is no doubt about people love social networking. What do you think people would have said 30 years ago if you told them millions of people would enthusiastically communicate 140 characters at a time? They would probably tell you that you’re crazy and tell you to scram.

5. All You Need To Know About Web Designers

Here’s an interesting graphic that breaks down the demographics of web designers worldwide.

6. The Top Cameras On Flickr

7. Cell Phone Radiation Levels

Although its almost expected that every body owns a cell phone, many people are unaware of the radiation levels that they are exposed to during cellphone usage. after a little bit of research, here are findings on cell phone radiation and how it effects.

8. Mac vs Pc

we explored the differences in personality, aesthetic tastes, and media preferences between Mac and PC users. Since then, the Hunch user base and question pool have grown many times over. The 2009 report started with more than 76,000 responses to its base “Mac or PC?” question. The same question now has nearly 400,000 responses. This is all in the context of the more than 80 million “Teach Hunch About You” questions which have been answered on Hunch to date.

9. Most Powerful Web Colors

10. How Much Do We Really Recycle

As this infographic confirms, we are, for lack of a better phrase, a “throw away” culture. That is, we do ridiculous things like dispose of seven and a half times our body weight each year. As expected, the above infographic makes a compelling case for recycling. It’s filled with tidbits that make you throw your hands up and say, “recycling is best!”

11. Online Communities

12. Following Twitter

Twitter, founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006 (launched publicly in July 2006), is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post updates 140 characters long. Twitter “is a real-time information network that connects [users] to the latest stories, ideas, opinions, and news.”

13. A world Without Facebook

What would you do in a world without Facebook and how big of a role does it play in your life?

Since Facebook’s launch in 2004 its growth has been incredible.The Site has Woven itswlf into our lives,for better or for worse, creating 770 billion page views per month.

14. Social Marketing Compass

This infographic shows the different aspects of social media marketing, and which areas different types of users should be focusing on.

15. Facts about Instagram

I like to be online and I love to try new social networks every time I can. During the last six months I have been using Instagram, a fantastic iPhone app that enables the user to to quickly take pictures, apply several different filters, and share it on the service or with a number of other services like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumbler, etc.._by Obieta.

16. The Biggest Shift

This photo was taken on May 10, 2010.

17. Communication Through Technology

18. Are we addicted to the Internet

While the American Medical Association has yet to officially classify internet addiction as a recognized mental health disorder, the statistics show that this issue is indeed serious – with potentially dangerous side affects. Between 5 % and 10% of web surfers surfers suffer from some form of web dependency.

19. The Mobile Advantage

Nuance Communications has released a new infographic, The Mobile Advantage, sharing the results of their own mobile consumer preference research.  Designed by InfoNewt, this infographic design tells the story of how important mobile apps are to brands.

20. Facebook vs Twitter

21. The Internet of Things

The infographic below provides a visual representation of the increase in “things” connected to the Internet. With this increase, how will you prepare your network for the future?

22. The Amazing Science and Technology of Yahoo

23. Demo Graphics of Facebook Users in India

This infographic looks at the Demographics of Facebook User from India. Giving an eyeful of info on the Facebook statistics on the single male and female from India

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24. The Most Popular Design Blogs

Here’s a great infographic that shows the most popular design-related blogs out there, displayed based on their Twitter followers and Facebook fans.

25. The Darwinian Evolution of Photoshop

This info graphic shows the evolution of Photoshop, including all twelve major releases and the differences between them.

26. The History of Online Video

Most of the major online video breakthroughs happened in the past five years anyway, so this graphic is adequate in that regard. To create this graphic, the Techsmith team worked with The Blog Herald, and they did a stupendous job, as usual.

27. Why Brands Cannot Ignore Social Media Mavens

This informal infographic showcases why social media mavens are vital to a brand’s online marketing success.

28. Is Twitter a waste of Time

For anyone starting a revolution, or a business, Twitter can be a success. For the rest of the world, it can be a waste of time that doesn’t get the message out to people they want to reach. And for some, it’s no more a bunch of nonsense limited to 140 characters—as this infographic shows. I’ll discuss it in more detail below.

29. Evolution of Web Design

Web design has come a long way since the first website was published by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991. This infographic is a peek at the evolutionary tale of web design, which is ironically still in its infant stages. Enjoy the infographic below and let your imagination wander. You might find yourself asking, “Where will web design be in the next 20 years?”

30. How to Use Twitter

31. How do Colors effect Purchases

For retailers, shopping is the art of persuasion. Though there are many factors that influence how and what consumers buy. However, a great deal is decided by visual cues, the strongest and most persuasive being color. When marketing new products it is crucial to consider that consumers place visual appearance and color above other factors such as sound, smell and texture.

32. The increasing cost of dying infographic

33. Music Buying Infographic

Here’s an infographic with just a few statistics on how we buy music today, highlighting the decline in physical sales and the increase in music consumption via mobile internet.

34. Operation E commerce

A Game of Dissecting The Best E-Commerce Software.

35. Which Designer job is best

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs teaches us that food, safety and a roof over our heads all come before “self actualization”. In other words, it’s hard to tap into your inner-unicorn if you can’t afford to pay the rent.

Road signs were probably among the first form of computer graphics with its simple graphics and large type so that all information can be understood by all levels of intelligence in seconds.

Download Trial Set of Icons

If you are looking to have a look and feel of the Icons, you can download a sample set that is available in Icons-Land and purchase the full set once satisfied with the Icons.

Sports Icons

Stock Icons

Stock icons are again categorized into hardware icons, flags Icons, people Icons, transport icons, software icons, and weather icons etc. which are organized easily and available in the left hand side bar and easily browsed through their site.

Transport Icons

Software Icons

It contains new icons and modifications suitable for every type of software and web sites. Base Software Icons offers icons that mean actions, objects and states.

Icons-land.com is the place where you can find Vista style royalty-free stock icons, vector icons, emoticons and custom icon design services. No risk in giving it a try. Head over to Icons-Land for all your icon needs.

If you run a web design business, want to expand or plan on starting a web design business, this is the book for you. It is packed with over 170 full pages and over 50 chapters on everything from picking your business name to marketing your business using the latest methods. It is a truly comprehensive guide to starting, running and marketing a web design business.

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Order today and get 15% off your purchase. This deal will end on 1.31.2012 so don’t delay! Instant download. Enter promo code (dispatch) during checkout to claim your savings.

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Do the opposite if you want a chance at running a successful long-term venture.

They Don’t Know Their Target Audience

Knowing your audience is essential and more often than not, many web design businesses just have the mind set that they will build websites for anyone that needs a website. That just won’t cut it in today’s competitive market. You need to know your target audience like you know your family. The more details you have the better targeted your marketing can be towards them.

A well-targeted marketing campaign is the key to driving in new business. Take some time to figure out your target audience and then start building up general information about them such as age range, income levels, etc. You should also have detailed records of every new client you acquire so that up-selling to them in the future will be easier.

They Don’t Have a Marketing Plan

Creating a formal marketing plan is a great business practice that is often overlooked. Most web design business owners play it by ear and just say: “I’ll do some SEO, maybe some PPC, get into some directories and maybe start a blog…”. This will not work if you want to survive long-term. You need everything put down in writing including every marketing method you want to use, when you will do it and how much your budget is and so on.

The more detailed your marketing plan, the better your chances will be of getting a good return on your investment.

They Don’t Stay With The Times

I have seen far too many web designers who have learned how to code a website years ago and have done little to stay with the times. Web design standards change constantly, so do trends and styles in website design, marketing methods, software and so on.

People who want to run a successful business online look for web designers who can create a website that can compete with their current competitors. If you and your business are not current you will miss out on lots of potential new clients as the years go on.

Stay up on industry standards, follow web design blogs, read the latest web design books, be active on forums and above all else, always try to better yourself and better your web design business.

They Don’t Plan for Dry Times

The economy is always changing, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad, but you always need to be prepared for the bad. If you aren’t, your business could seriously suffer. Even if you turn down clients when you are too busy, save their info and keep detailed records of all your previous clients. This way, if times are dry you can send out emails to see if anyone needs work by offering a killer deal on your services.

You should also be prepared to spend more money on marketing during dry times to generate enough business to keep your web design business in the green. You might also want to create an emergency fund for your business in case something happens.

They Don’t Watch the Competition

If you are not watching the competition then you really aren’t in it to win it as they say. Watching and learning from your competitors is a great way to stay on top of your game. If you don’t, other web design businesses will quickly pass you by in areas such as service, marketing, support and so on.

Make it a habit to visit and spy on competitor sites on a regular basis, setup Google Alerts for their brand names and industry keywords, watch industry blogs and view competitors on sites such as Blekko.

If you are in the web design business for the long-haul, keep these tips in mind and subscribe for even more ways to better your web design business.

Check out these cool calendar designs below and save this post for when you need some inspiration while creating your next calendar design for a client. Head over to Next Day Flyers if you need calendar printing services that are professional and affordable.

Calendar Designs

School Calendar

Everyday is a Color Calendar

CAB Calendar

Events Calendar

String Calendar

Forecast Calendar

Solar Calendar

Nida Art Colony Calendar

Mouscacho Calendar

Letterpress Calendar

Everyday is a Holiday Calendar

September Calendar

The Eyes of Imagination Calendar

Silly Holidays Calendar

Conservatory of Music Calendar

Avoid the five pitfalls below, and you’ll give your client’s brochure the best possible chance to influence the reader and turn potential customers into live customers—buyers!

1. Too Much Copy

More is less. People don’t want to read copy—they want a quick solution to a perceived or real problem. Determine what problems your solutions will solve, and focus your brochure on those points. Write a rough draft, and slice and dice words. Use action verbs and descriptive nouns. That allows you to use fewer adjectives and adverbs, which weigh down the reader and force the eyes to glaze over. And, always ask for the sale!

2. Not Appealing To Your Demographic

To design for your demographic, you have to know what your demographic is. Then, you have to understand your demographic. You don’t want to use “gothic” design elements when you’re appealing to senior citizens—even if it’s “so you.” You wouldn’t want a photo of Liberace in a brochure advertising wedding music, because you’re targeting 20-somethings. It’s all about your market and what appeals to them.

3. Making a Weak Offer

No offer is better than a weak offer. In addition to identifying and understanding your market, you have to know your competition. Keep tabs on them and learn their sale cycle—when and how often they offer specials. If you see them offering a special at frequent intervals, it means that it’s a good offer. You can model your offers on successful businesses in your market space, but you’ll want to do something to set your business apart from the pack. Now, that’s a strong offer.

4. Bad Mailing Lists

Until you have grown your business to the point that you have a solid in-house mailing list, you’ll need to rent lists. You’ll want to work with a reputable direct marketing company with a proven track record. You may pay a little more, but a solid mail list is essential. Renting a mail list that is not regularly “de-duped” and culled will cost you money and dilute your results. Further, you want to narrow your list to match your demographic as closely as possible so that you are targeting the right audience with your direct mail pieces.

5. Bad Timing

What’s bad timing? Have you ever gone to the mailbox and seen a brochure that says, “Deliver by December 10” only to receive the brochures on December 15—after the offer has expired? That’s not the only example of bad timing. Suppose that you are targeting medium-sized corporations with a service. You don’t want your brochures to hit in July when the decision makers are vacationing at their beach houses. Good timing is blanketing your market just as they begin to need your product or service.

Going light on the copy, designing for your demographic, extending enticing offers, using solid mail lists, and timing your offers perfectly is a recipe for success.

I recently had the chance to test out the beta version of one of the leading website builders Basekit and was pleasantly surprised with how far online site builders have come. The full version will be live on the 5th of September 2011. Within seconds I had my website layout in front of me ready to edit using their simple editor.

Once you have picked a template you can start editing text, images and placement of objects on your site right away. All you have to do is double click to change something and the handy lock features keeps many elements locked so you don’t mess things up by accident as you edit.

You can add everything a typical website has including text, pages, header, logo, forms, widgets, images and even social gadgets such as Twitter, RSS, and Facebook. All Basekit plans come with hosting so all you need is a domain name which you can register on your own or get when you signup.

The Basekit web design software can handle all your needs including e-commerce and even with the monthly pricing, you will save a lot of money being able to edit sites yourself instead of having to pay a web designer. If you want a great looking site at a fraction of the cost, Basekit is for you.

Today we will cover three of the hottest ways to make extra money as a web designer which include selling themes, blogging, and selling products and services. The money is there. The question is, do you want it?

1. Selling Themes

The big money right now is in WordPress themes, but new content management systems are always coming out and premium CSS and HTML templates will always be popular. Whether your themes are specific to a niche or just generally useful, there is always tons of money to be made in this area.

If you don’t want to open up your own theme store, you can always sell themes on existing marketplaces such as the Envato network.

2. Blogging

Everyone seems to have a blog nowadays and web designers are no exception. It’s a great way to get more work, become an industry leader and make money if you are smart. The more traffic your blog makes the more money you can make from selling banners and other advertising. Plus, it’s a great way to promote your other products and services.

3. Selling Products or Services

Now this kind of falls under selling themes, but there are a lot of other things you can sell besides themes. Software, graphics, other web templates, ebooks, published books, and other services in addition to web design are just a FEW. The possibilities are really endless, but stick to what you are good at. The better your additional product or services, the easier it will be to market them.

Brainstorm some ideas and once you have 2-3 ideas start doing some market research to see what is out and what there is a need for. Then get to work!

A bad hosting company means lots of problems and that means lots of downtime. A site can’t function and grow fast if it is always down and unavailable to viewers.

This is why it is so important you pick out a reliable, but affordable hosting company that can scale with your site as it becomes bigger and has more needs. The 3 most important factors when picking a host are reliability, affordability and scalability and to find the best web hosting we recommend review sites such as FindBestWebHosting.com.

This website has lots of reviews of hosts including specialty hosting reviews such as ASP.Net web hosting and the ever popular small Business web hosting.

1. Reliability

The most a host can guarantee is 99.9 percent uptime because there will always be at least a very small amount of downtime. Servers are machines and machines are never perfect, but the quality of your host is going to be the deciding factor in whether or not your site will really be up 99.9 percent of the time. Poor hosts have poor equipment, so look for growing hosting companies that are always updating their equipment and have lots of positive reliability reviews.

2. Affordability

It is a well known fact that most new site owners overpay for web hosting. Most sites can function smoothly on very cheap hosting plans for the first year or two or until traffic picks up significantly. Start off with the minimum and if you are meeting your hosting plan limits you can always upgrade. Why waste the money? Don’t forget to look for promo codes and special offers such as free trials and credits towards other useful services web hosts often partner with.

3. Scalability

As mentioned above, at some point you are going to need a bigger hosting plan. Switching plans is easy, but switching to a totally different host is more of a pain. Make sure your host has a variety of plans for small, medium and large websites, especially the option to move to your own dedicated server.

Keep these tips in mind and check out FindBestWebHosting.com for reviews of the leading hosting companies.