May’s featured designer is Amber at Zany Dezines!

Zany Dezines started with Amber and her mission to provide fellow bloggers with new and creative designs that were both fun and affordable. After falling in love with web design in high school, she’s taken her love of making things pretty to the blogosphere!
Determined to master her craft and further drive her passion, Amber is currently working towards a Multimedia Technologies degree in Web Design at Rasmussen College. On her personal blog, Ambers Life, she shares recipes, blog designing tips and stories about college life, family and her dog, Cali.

Here is what some of her former clients had to say in their nominations.

She is an amazing talent to work with. She took my vague ideas and turned my site into a place I even love to visit! Its fun and bright yet still appealing. I have had work done by a couple other designers and Amber is by far my favorite!!!! I have also had her design my logo for another business and plan to work with her more in the future. Amber is always pleasant to work with, sends timely responses, and is friendly and helpful too! Anyone that works with her will for sure be a client for the duration — Jacque Stanwood, Get 2 Scrappin’

I gave Amber the photo used in the header and a set of colors to use…she came up with everything else! My last design was nice (not done by Amber) but I think my new design is IMMENSELY better! She was able to take just a few pieces of information and turn it into a perfect reflection of my personality. In addition to the main design, she did quite a few blog buttons for me and everything just came together wonderfully! — Jackie Snow, Lessons Learned

I have worked with Amber on numerous projects! She is a very creative & talented Web Designer, she always gets my vision and creates really fun and unique websites. I always come to her and Zany Dezines anytime I need something designed, even if its only a Twitter Background. Amber is always expanding her talents by learning new techniques and thinking outside of the box. She is bubbly and a real gem to work with! She rocks my socks! — Megan Hendershott, The Higgins Family Happenings

I absolutely love the fact that I only gave Amber a few ideas and she came up with my blog design all by herself. She is so good at listening to the client’s ideas and giving them her own spin. She is also very patient. — Jayme Weiden, The Random Blogette

Here are some examples of Amber’s work:

You can follow Amber on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to check out Zany Dezines!

April’s featured designer is Heather at Viva La Violette!

Hi there! My name is Heather ‘Violet’ Jones, and I own and operate Viva la Violette. I started Viva la Violette in 2008, and have since expanded my business to offer unique blog and web design services. I have previously designed for photographers, interior designers, event planners, news reporters, novelists, bloggers and other small business owners. I would define my style as feminine and chic with a touch of whimsy.

Here is what some of her former clients had to say in their nominations.

She listened to my jumbled (and analog) thoughts and wants for my website; and she distilled them into something lovely, and something that I am proud to share with the cyber world. Originally, I wanted to work with her because her style is feminine, colorful and clean, but I soon learned that she also was a breeze to work with. I would return to her anytime for any design work. And even thought we never met in person, I feel as if I’ve made a new friend! — Rae Padulo,  Mudstar Ceramics

She is not only talented, but a pleasure to work with. After only a few short emails she was able to translate my ideas into a beautiful design which reflected my personality and my entire blog concept perfectly. She was always available, answered emails promptly and continues to offer her support even after the initial design has been completed. — Piper Chuthakieo,  Coconut & Bean

Working with Heather on my blog was a pleasure. Being someone who has no clue of the web world, she was able to translate my vision for my blog that guaranteed my satisfaction. Most importantly, she was very patient and really took the time to listened to what I was looking for.
Viva la Violette also offers efficient service and outstanding
At first, I was wary about dealing with a designer who wasn’t local, but she reassured me with her attention to detail and her willingness to consider all my request.
After going back and forth to determine how to get my blog to 100%, it was like I was talking to a friend and not just someone who was all business.
I would definitely nominate, Heather Jones for Viva La Violette, simply because she is easy to work with and in the end…delivered! — Wendi Cheung,  Muse of Mine

I stumbled across Heather through a friend and was instantly impressed with her work. At first I was a little hesitant simply because she has a great feminine style to her work. After speaking to Heather and discussing my thoughts for the website, however, she made me feel at ease and then blew me away with the design she came back with for Zen Search Marketing. It was like she literally reached into my head and pulled out exactly what I was looking for!

As a designer, Heather is easy to work with and isn’t afraid to provide her input to help make your website the best it can be while being completely versatile in her skill set for creating beautiful and functional websites.

I would recommend (and have recommended) Heather to anyone looking to build or improve their own websites and feel she is one of the better designers I have ever come across. — Jeff Loquist,  Zen Search Marketing

Here are some examples of some of Heather’s work!

You can follow Heather on Facebook and Twitter.   Be sure to check out Viva La Violette!

This is a guest post by April Patel.

If I have said it once, I have said it 100 times… “I’m going to go kill some time on Pinterest. If I’m not back in an hour, send reinforcements!” Chances are you might not know about Pinterest yet. But then again, it is the fastest growing social media outlet online today. So even if you haven’t heard about it or aren’t on it yet, someone you know IS!

I have been blogging for a year and a half, faithfully for six of those months after I completed a blog design and rethought my blogging direction. Since the new unveiling I have purposely and intentionally sought out creative ways to market my blog and gain readers. I have tried all
the usual tactics recommended by the experts, and tried to come up with some new ones, like promoting myself on Pinterest.

I joined Pinterest around September 22, 2011. Ever since I joined, Pinterest has been the number one referring site to my blog every single day of the week, and not just by a few referrals either. 25% of my daily blog traffic comes from Pinterest. The second top referring site to my blog
only pulls in 12% of my readers. Pinterest more than doubles my blog traffic of any other site! My Alexa ranking has gone from over 20,000,000 to right at 600,000 in that time as well.

I am still small potatoes compared to most bloggers. But those numbers speak for themselves. And those numbers tell me something else, if you are a blogger, it’s worth your time and effort to get on board and join Pinterest. Here’s how:

1. Have a friend who’s already a member email you an invitation, leave a comment to this
post with your email address requesting and invite, or email me at april (dot) patel (at)
gmail (dot) com using Pinterest Invite as the subject line. You will get an email from
Pinterest stating you are on a waiting list but this delay has never taken anyone I know
more than a day to actually be allowed access.

2. Once you’re in, find other boards to follow first if you are unsure what to do and how to
do it. Here are a few ideas of who to look for: other bloggers, friends and family you
follow in other social media outlets. Also, you can search ‘pins’ by topic. Pick topics of
your interest and give them a quick browse for pins that look like they might interest you.

3. Don’t be afraid to create too many boards of your own! I have learned that the more
boards you have, the better. It keeps things well organized. The more relevant, well
described and organized your boards are, the more followers you have that will stick
around for the long haul.

4. Use catchy, creative board titles. But do not make the titles so abstract that people really
don’t understand what they are going to find once they get there. For example, two of
my boards are, “My Type A/OCD Secrets Revealed” and “My Italian Obsession”. I
would venture to guess that you don’t have to think too hard about what the pins are
about on these boards, organization and anything to do with Italian food, the country, the
culture, design, or whatever else I find!

5. This is probably the most important tip: Pin anything that interests you, including your
own content. It’s that simple really. My Pinterest account is set up in my name. But I
have a board dedicated to my blog. Any of my pins that are from my blog and support
the blog vision I have, they go on my blog board. I do a lot of cooking posts on my blog,
too. But I put them on the appropriate food board since I have so many recipes pinned.
I don’t want my important content pins getting lost in a sea of recipes. Plus, the more
articles you pin-yours or anyone else’s, the greater the chances of more people seeing
them, thus the more traffic you will have to your pin boards, and then eventually to your
own content, and so forth, and so on. Get it?

When you first join there are some set up steps you go through. One of them is downloading a little applet that lets you install a ‘pin it’ button to your own web browser bar. This will allow you to pin anything you are browsing on the web, even if that site does not have ‘pin it’ buttons
on their content. I highly recommend you installing this handy feature. While you’re there, add a Pinterest Follow button to your own social media buttons on your own blog. Then let all your fans on Facebook and Twitter know where they can find you.

A few quick little etiquette tips:

1. If you see a pin that interests you, click on the picture and follow it to the original source,
then pin the picture to your appropriate board. If you pin directly from someone else’s
board, it’s not fair to the original creator of the content.

2. If a person’s pin that interests you does not lead to an original source, don’t pin it!

3. Never alter the images, use images for your own profit, or redistribute images for any
reason.

4. If you are a blogger, watermark all your images!

For me the reason Pinterest is so successful is because of the visual appeal. You know how great Google’s search engine is and how you can find out anything you want when you type it in that little search bar… Imagine typing a topic in a search bar and a virtual pin board appearing before your eyes, with an awesome pic representing the content and hopefully and awesome and appropriate title letting you know what it’s about as well. Yeah, it’s great! Normally you would have to click open each search result and see if it’s actually what you want or not. The visuals on Pinterest are usually so awesome you know in a heartbeat whether it’s worth your time or not.

Plus, it’s very effective to use as a social media bookmark. Getting ready for the Superbowl I wanted to try new recipes for appetizers and snacks. I made up a board for Superbowl snacks and as I pinned for a few weeks, anything I wanted to try for the big game, I pinned to that board. A few days before the game, I looked up my recipes, printed them, made my shopping list, and on about my merry way I went. I use this tactic for lots of my pins and boards.

Bottom line, if you are a blogger, you need to be on Pinterest. It’s a lively new pulse in the social media network that will help your blog thrive!

So, who wants an invite?

We have brand new sponsorship opportunities available!  You can download the PDF here, or view the image below!  Spots fill up VERY fast, so be sure to contact us if you’re interested.

Today Facebook announced that business pages will be getting the “Timeline” layout by March 30th, and we have  some excellent tips to help you design and utilize this new layout to your advantage.

You may already be familiar with the Timeline layout on your personal page, but now your business page will have cover photo options and an open graph of feed information.  Here are some features you can take advantage of, as well as important rules to adhere to before starting your design.

Cover Photo:  This is the large image that appears at the top of your page.  It can be pictures of products, or work you’ve done and must be at least 399 pixels wide.  For our image, we used 851px wide, by 315px tall.  Facebook states that you may NOT use any of the following on your Timeline Cover.

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Additionally, Facebook states:

All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.

So what IS allowed in our cover photo, and how can we market our business without infringing on the rules?  While this might put a wrench in your previous concepts, here are some great cover ideas that are a-okay by Facebook, and great for business.

1. Feature a Client.  Remove the gimmicky price points and sales, and simply feature one of your favorite designs.  Your client will appreciate it, and your potential clients can see your work right on your page.
2. Feature a Product.  You may have several templates you’d like to sell, or portfolio examples you want to showcase.  Make a collage of your favorites, and feature them in your cover.  Don’t worry about prompting people to “buy.”  If they like what they see, they’ll interact with your site and find what they want.
3. Feature Yourself.  Get dressed up, organize your office, and show off a photo of you hard at work.  Or really connect with your readers and show them your mess of a desk, and endless supply of coffee.  We’re sure they can relate!
4. Feature Your Inspiration.  From pretty patterns to your favorite websites, highlight something that is catching your eye at the moment.  Use it to create a new product!
5. Change it up.  Your cover photo isn’t like a blog  or web header.  All your business information is already right below the cover photo for fans to interact with.  This means you can change your cover, spice it up, and get people curious about what you’ll create next, instead of filling what should be an image with tons of text.

Here are some more features that the new Timeline layout for Facebook has incorporated for business pages!

1. Use the admin panel to manage your statistics, view messages, and more.

2.  Chat and privately message your clients and fans.  Rather than dealing with issues publicly, you can receive questions or complaints and address them without everyone else seeing it.   Keep in mind, you can’t message your fans – only reply to messages that have already been sent to you.

3.  Highlight and “pin” your favorite content by putting it at the top of your page.  Instead of the most recent interactions, you can pin the most pertinent (like a giveaway) or highlight the positive (like a review) information right at the top!

Other features are the same as your personal Timeline.   Create large “milestones” in your business’s history by publishing stories and allowing them to take up the entire width of your timeline to draw in readers.  Post an album and have a “portfolio” like feature.  Check your history and delete and add important events or past photos.  Lastly, get creative and organize your timeline, both personally and professionally!

February’s featured designer is Lindsay at Happy Potamus Designs!

Hi! I’m Lindsay, a graphic designer and owner of Happy Potamus Designs. I’m also a stay-at-home-mom to a wonderful daughter and am so happy that I get to stay home with her and still do what I love. At Happy Potamus, I specialize in custom blog designs, invitations, announcements, and more. Creating custom designs for each unique client and bringing their ideas to life is one of my favorite things about my business. In my “free” time (which is usually called nap time for the little one), I love making all kinds of crafty things as another creative outlet and sharing my projects on my blog, Artsy-Fartsy Mama.
I am so grateful to be featured at The Blog Designer Network, and I wouldn’t be here without my fantastic clients!

Here is what some of her former clients had to say in their nominations.

When I decided to get a new blog design, I didn’t give a second thought to the blog designer I was going to use! I had seen some the other fabulous designs by Lindsay at Happy Potamus Designs and knew she was extremely talented, but she really outdid herself when she created my blog design! I gave her a few very random ideas about what I wanted on my new design, but I really wasn’t sure what I wanted exactly. Well, somehow, she did! It was PERFECT the very first time! I knew she would do a great job, but I had no idea it would turn out this fabulous! She is super-sweet and so easy to work with! Her rates are also extremely reasonable! Lindsay is definitely who I am going to continue to use for any other design work I need in the future! — Crystal, Homemaker In Heels

I chose to hire Lindsay to redesign my blog after seeing all the amazing things she’s done for other’s blogs! She has been really great in working with me to come up with something that really embodied my personality, as well as my two girls, who inspired my blog, “vanilla bean girls.” She has been a complete joy to work with, and I absolutely love my new blog design, and my readers have been going nuts over it! Lindsay also just participated in my birthday bash giveaway in which she’s giving away a new blog design to our lucky winner! I can’t believe what a generous and talented lady she is!! — Ellie Perez, Vanilla Bean Girls

She did such a great job achieving my vision for my photography site. She is creative, kind, and easy to work with. — Angela McAllister, Angela McAllister Photography

Here are some examples of Lindsay’s work!

You can follow Happy Potamus Designs on Facebook  and be sure to check out her design site too!

If you are interested in the nomination process, or would like to nominate your blog designer – please read this post and fill out the corresponding form. Thank you!

We are excited to announce the implementation of the Showcase, which features the best in blog and web design!  Whether you’re a designer or blogger in search of inspiration, this page will be the ultimate place to find great design using any platform.

1.  How are designs chosen?

We browse the web in search of great design, and pick the sites we like best.  From graphics to code – everything is considered and every platform is fair game.

2.  What criteria must be met?

The design can use any platform, but we prefer WordPress, Blogger, Squarespace, and Typepad.  Obscene or profane sites won’t be listed.  In each showcase submission, we link to the designer, the site itself, and identify the platform in which the design was built – so if any of those change we may not keep the design listed.

3.  Do I have to submit a design to be considered?

Nope, we keep a close eye on great design so you may just find a design or two of yours in here.  If you find one that you’d rather have us remove, just let us know and we’d be happy to remove it!

4.  How can I make sure my design gets in the showcase?

You can read our Tips for Showcase Submissions page, where we briefly cover things we look for in great design.  Then you can e-mail us via our contact form, or tweet @the_bdn or use the hashtag #BDNdesign.

Good luck, and have fun finding and creating great design!

We’re so excited to launch more classes than ever this February!  From newbie design classes in Photoshop Elements, to advanced PHP coding in WordPress.  Check out the entire list of courses via the catalog.

Next, we also want to announce that we are having a Twitter party TONIGHT using the hashtag #BDNparty.  It will last from about 6pm-8pm Pacific Time (that’s  7-9pm Mountain, 8-10pm Central, 9-11pm Eastern.)  We’ll be talking all about…whatever we want!  Topics will range from designs and designers we just LOVE, blog design how-to’s and tips, what makes great design, and so much more!  You’re welcome to join in, and be sure to follow @the_bdn so you know when the party kicks off!

Last but certainly not least, it’s time to announce the winners of the HUGE giveaway we had this month!  Winners were chosen at random from the number of valid entries.

Font of Choice from MyFonts.com  Katelyn Brooke Designs

20 Credits from iStockphoto.com  DIStherapy

Genesis Theme Framework from Studiopress  Vanessa

$25 Gift Certificate to MyGrafico.com  christine

6 Months of Hosting from BlueHost.com  Jaimie

Complete Blogger to WordPress Transfer  pharmgirl

500 Business Cards from Overnight Prints April

6 Months of Sponsorship at TheBDN.com  Elsa M

2 Full Hours of One-on-One Training  Katie Price

$150 Toward the Purchase of ANY Class Registrations  ModernMuse

Winners will be contact via e-mail within 1 week, or you may claim your prize by e-mailing us directly.  Unclaimed prizes will be given to another winner chosen at random.  Please allow up to 1 week to receive your prize, promotional code, or certificate via e-mail.  If you did not provide a valid e-mail, we will do our best to contact you via social media.

Thank you to everyone who entered for supporting the Blog Designer Network!  We hope to have even more awesome giveaways in the future!

SMITTEN BLOG DESIGNS, LLC is looking for 1-2 part-time WordPress.org designers who can work remotely from home on a project-by-project basis. We have a great team of blog designers and are excited to expand into the world of WordPress! This position is for independent contractor work.

JOB REQUIREMENTS
Technological Skills:

• Extensive knowledge of and experience with the WordPress platform
• Experience in modifying studiopress themes
• Experienced at template installation
• Basic to intermediate knowledge of CSS/HTML
• Ability to interface well with clients through email

Design Skills:

• Good eye for design and experience with graphic design
• Access to and working knowledge of Photoshop, Photoshop elements, or similar program
• Ability to adapt to client styles/requests and make changes as requested by client
• Note: We tend to work with clients looking for modern, sleek, simple, stylish blog designs NOT shabby/scrappy/cutesy designs

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Designers work remotely from home on a project-by-project basis.
• Each project will be sent via email and will include all specifications for blog.
• Designers will work directly with clients during design process.
• Designers will let us know how many projects they are able to take on, but depending on our demand, we may be able to offer more or less than the requested amount.
• Compensation is as follows: 50% of the purchase price for each design completed (Ex: WordPress clients pay $395 for a premium design, designer receives $197.50 of that).

If this sounds like a job you’d enjoy, please email us at smittenblogdesigns@gmail.com with the following:

Resume
Any samples of design work you may have done. ((Please send samples (anything!) in order to be considered!))

We are excited to expand our group of designers and look forward to hearing from you!

Kate & Heather
Smitten Blog Designs, LLC
www.smittenblogdesigns.com

We’re very excited to offer this new class on Wednesday evening.  Both designers and bloggers will benefit from this course on making social media both beautiful and functional. Whether you use social media often, use one more than others, or are a total newbie – this course includes everything you need, and you can attend right from your computer at home!  Begins Wednesday, January 18th at 5:30pm MT (Mountain Time) and lasts until 7:30pm.  Read below for details, or register here.

Instructor:  April Durham

Bio:  As a blog and website designer, April has not only created social media graphics for many clients, but has also grown her social media presence in the process.  With over 4,300 Twitter followers, 2,200 Facebook likes, and 807 Pinterest followers, April has built a community around her business and can help you to do the same.  You can follow her @aprildurham on Twitter and Pinterest.

This class includes:

• A video copy of the course to keep and watch. (Viewable on Mac and PC.)
• Over 5 templates to download and use to create your own images.
• A comprehensive e-Book of detailed notes.

Here are some of the things the course will cover:

• Creating graphics
  • Best formats and dimensions for each platform
  • Social Icons for your site
  • Facebook Cover Photos *NEW*
  • Facebook Profile Images
  • Facebook Landing Pages
  • Twitter Backgrounds
  • Twitter Avatars
  • Pin-worthy graphics
• Building a targeted fan-base
• Using social media management tools to simplify managing many sites
• Incorporating social media into your blog or website
• Tips and techniques for Facebook and Twitter updates.

PLUS
Using the *NEW* Pinterest to your advantage (without spamming your loyal followers!)
and more!

Other courses April teaches this month:
The Blog Designer Workshop
Adobe Photoshop (Intermediate/Advanced)

Courses by other teachers this month:
Creating Genesis Child Themes by Lynne of Visual Serendipity
Blogging on WordPress.org (for Beginners) by Jessica of The Frilly Coconut
Blog Header in Adobe Photoshop Elements by Jessica of The Frilly Coconut

Register Here (Price: $65)

Have questions? Send inquires to info (at) thebdn (dot) com or use our “Contact” page!