Blogging – Page 8 – Pepper Scraps

8 Tips to Conquer the Fear of Change

We have talked a lot about how you can change your blog for the better including: Logo, Header, Blog Posts, and Sidebar. But now lets talk about how to handle this change. How to conquer the fear of change.

Change can be scary. You may be thinking “I don’t know where to start” or “I don’t want to change anything” but deep down you know it’s time. How do you deal with this anxiety?

Relax

Start at the hardest part. Make yourself relax. Sit back with a cool drink and just take a deep breath. Change isn’t always bad, change can be great!

If you change nothing, nothing will change.

Sit Back

If you can’t seem to get yourself to relax then it’s time to sit back. Experts will always tell you the best way to deal with a creative block is to step away and work on something else. Give your mind a break and come back to the problem later.

Don’t use this as an excuse to procrastinate.

Take a break for an hour or a day, but no more than that. Schedule your break and schedule when you are going to work on your site.

Doodle

When sitting back take some time to doodle. You can doodle your thoughts about your web design or just doodle for fun. If you are not artistic just pull out a pen and paper and try it, you may be surprised at what you may come up with.

Doodling helps with focus, concentration, and helps to tap into the problem solving part of your mind. Even though you feel like what your doing is mindless, your mind is at work.

Browse the Web

Take some time and look at the trends. Take notes about things you like or don’t like. You can even use a service like Evernote to clip the website URL or the image of the page and make notes right on your computer.

Some great places to browse for inspiration are CSS galleries. You can find the most current trends and the leading edge designs. A few of my favorite galleries are: The Best Designs, Best Web Gallery, Blog Design Heroes and The Design Inspiration. Or if you want a full list of web galleries CSS Gallery Submission keeps a great updated list.

Read a Magazine or a Book

Nothing starts your creative juices flowing like reading a magazine or book. I’ve talked about using magazines in the past to find great headlines, but I also use them for design inspiration too. This is a great way to find amazing color schemes, unique layout ideas, and find beautiful typography.

You don’t have to be looking for inspiration as you read, you can just read to relax too. But you may find as your brain starts working on your magazine and book that it starts an overflow of ideas.

Visit a Competitor

Now it’s time to really dive in deep to get some inspiration to improve your site. Visit you competitors in your niche. I do not want you to steal there ideas or copy them the goal is to outshine them.

I want you to see what they are doing as an encouragement to yourself to do things better. Figure out what can make you stick out from the crowd.

Create Lists

Sit back and look at your site and really decide what you are comfortable changing and what you really want to keep the same. This way you know you can hold onto the things you really want to.

This will help with your comfort level with the changes, give you a feeling of control. Sometimes we are concerned about change because we feel like we are losing control. Overcome this feeling by making yourself a list of what you want to change, what your okay with changing, and what must stay the same.

Another way lists can help you is by making lists of sites that you like and why you like them. Be as detailed as possible. Especially if you are going to hire a designer. This can be a great conversation starter with your designer. Also you can use this to tell if the designer you are hiring is comfortable with the style you want to achieve.

Talk to an Expert

You don’t have to take this step, but you might find that you are more comfortable with the idea of change when you have talked to an expert. When you know your site is in good hands you can sit back relax and enjoy seeing the creative process of a professional.

Find someone that is willing to talk with you and that you enjoy interacting with. The more you can talk with your designer and the more they seem to “click” with you the more they will be able to do for you. It takes a relationship for a designer to take your ideas and put them on “paper” for you.

Conclusion

Change always leads to something great. You will grow and you will learn. Take grasp of this chance for something greater for you and your web site!

Have you had anxiety when changing your web site? What helped you with dealing with fears of change? Have you had bad experiences with change? How about good experiences?

7 Elements of a Blog Basics Blogging How to Start a Blog

How to Use a Magazine for Easy Headlines

You are stuck in the doctors office waiting for them to call you back. Sure they charge you an arm and a leg for their time but disregard yours. Don’t waste this chance to find some blogging inspiration. You are stuck in a room with a great tool at your fingertips: magazines.

A magazine can be filled with 100s of ideas for you and your blog, even if it’s on a completely different subject. You can use magazines to find great color schemes, learn more about layouts, find out about what people are wanting to learn, and best of all find great headlines and post ideas!

If you have never tried using a magazine for inspiration. Grab a magazine, a pen and paper or I like me your phone or tablet. (Don’t have a magazine check out magazine covers on Amazon.com.)

You are going to start creating headline formulas and build a list of post ideas.

Use Eye Catching Keywords

Original Headline: Have a Stress Free Summer (Good Housekeeping)

Basically Stress Free is your keywords here. So your formula will be Have a Stress Free ________. When I write my ideas down on my tablet if I don’t have an idea instantly I will leave blanks.

My Examples:

Blogging twist: Have a Stress Free Editorial Calendar
Kids twist: Have a Stress Free Play Date
Weight loss twist: Have a Stress Free Date Night on a Diet

Original Headline: Sexy Hair Made Simple (InStyle)

Your formula: ________ Made Simple

My Examples:

Blogging twist: Categories Made Simple
Weight loss twist: Grocery Shopping Made Simple
Social Media twist: Facebook Pages Made Simple

Create a List Formula

Original Headling: 285 No-Fail Ideas to Scrapbook (Creative Keepsakes)

Quickly create your formula: # No-Fail Ideas to ________. I don’t actually add the numbers until I start brainstorming and come up with how many items I will have in my list.

My Examples:

Blogging twist: 10 No-Fail Ideas to Blog Posts
Weight loss twist: 5 No-Fail Ideas to Get Your Exercise
Social media twist: 8 No-Fail Ways to get Followers

Original Headling: 12 Sneaky Tricks to Peel Off the Pounds (SELF)

Formula: # Sneaky Tricks to ________.

My Examples:

Blogging twist: 7 Sneaky Tricks to Get Comments
Weight loss twist: 13 Sneaky Tricks to Healthy Snacking
Vlogging twist: 3 Sneaky Tricks to Awesome Videos

Great Phrases

Original Headline: Pasta Salad! How to Create your Own (Food Network)

The basic formula: ______! How to Create your Own

My Examples:

My blogging twist: Headers! How to Create your Own
Kids twist: Bubble Wands! How to Create your Own
Social media twist: Icons! How to Create your Own

Original Headline: More Energy Instantly (Men’s Health)

The basic formula: More _______ Instantly

My Examples:

Blogging twist: More Subscribers Instantly
Weight loss twist: More Protein Instantly
Social media twist: More Privacy Instantly

See how quickly and easily you can start building ideas and creating great eye catching headlines? The best part of this is you can do this in a few minutes or for a half an hour. It’s quick to pick up and put down.

What’s your favorite way to find blogging inspiration? Have you used a magazine for inspiration before?

7 Elements of a Blog Blogging

How Much is Too Much? Let’s talk sidebars

A chronic disease of that many bloggers have caught is cluttered-sidebar-itis. Have you caught the disease? Let’s talk about how much is too much in your sidebar and how to know what you should add and what you shouldn’t. Even taking a look at my sidebar I realize I need to do some spring cleaning.

The best way to start is to look at your sidebar and ask yourself:

How does this benefit me, my blog, or my readers?
Could I put this somewhere else on my blog?
Does this blend with my blog design or does it distract?

5 things you should have in your sidebar

Social Media – You need people to know how to connect with you! I would put this in your #1 spot on your sidebar. Don’t know how learn, it’s really easy.
Call to Action – Call to action is a great place for one specific goal you have your blog. Are you wanting more Facebook Followers? Add a Facebook widget. Looking to sell your eBook show it off in your sidebar. The key to this section though is to only have one call to action.
Search – If your readers can’t find what they are looking for in a few seconds you are going to loose them. Make it easy and include a search on your sidebar. Make sure this is close to the top also, no one is going to search for a search box.
Newsletter Sign Up – Don’t have a newsletter, maybe it’s time to consider one. That’s on my to do list for this summer. Learn more about how to use a newsletter.
Paying Ads – The keyword here is paying. I know you love your bloggy friends, but this is valuable space! Don’t overdo your ads. Make sure you are charging enough for your space that you don’t look like your selling out to your readers. I would limit your ads to about 4-6 ads.

5 things to consider putting in your sidebar

About You – Share a little something about you or your blog. Make it short, if you want to say a lot link it to your about page. Make it interesting, this would be a good place to use your tagline. You created it to catch new readers, use it here to take
Featured and/or Popular Articles – If you want both on your sidebar make sure you use a tabbed widget so that it doesn’t fill your whole sidebar.
Categories or Tags – Same above you should have one or the other not both in your sidebar.
About Video – This is the newest and coolest thing to do. Instead of an about you section have an about video for your site.
Polls – Polls are great way of interacting with your readers, learning more about your visitors, and giving your readers something to look for updates on.

5 things to delete from your sidebar

Blog Roll – I know you love your friends and have some great blog finds, but really the best place to share these is on their own page.
Badges or Community Buttons – You are using up valuable space to give these communities free advertising. Create a page about the places you have memberships and awards you have received.
Too Many Ads –
Ugly Widgets – Just because your favorite website offers the option for you to add their widget it may not be the best to do it. Unless you are getting something from the widget and you have the option to make it look good and look seamless just don’t add it.
Your WordPress Login – Unless you have an open sign up for your WordPress there is no reason for you to have the login in your sidebar. It’s really easy to bookmark your login page and take out this section no one but you uses.

Okay now it’s time for me to get busy and clean up my sidebar. I hope you will join me and do a little spring cleaning!

What do you have in your sidebar? What is a must keep and what is a must go?

Basics Blogging Social Media

How to Add Social Media Icons

Recently someone asked me where I got the code for my social media icons. I see a lot of blogs that use their icons wonderfully, yet there are a few bloggers struggling with how to set up their social media icons and how to make it look beautiful. Some sites you can’t find the icons because they are hard to read, too small, or too spread out. Worse yet some sites just don’t have any icons so readers are unable to connect to the blog and blogger.

Today I’m going to share with you how to choose your icons, where to find great icons, and how to add the icons to your blog.

How to choose the right icons for you.

Tip 1 – Keep in mind the style of your site. If you have a really clean and simple layout pick out clean simple icons. Icons that are hand drawn or “messy” will be distracting or look out of place. If you have a dark layout you want to make sure that your icons aren’t too dark and blend into the background and get lost. But you don’t want to pick out icons that are too light and stick out like they don’t belong there.Try to match the feel of your site. Try out a few different sets of icons.

Tip 2 – Find a set that has all the icons you need. Consistency is key here. If you choose all your icons from the same set you are going to make it easier for your readers. The group of icons will catch their eye and they will easily be able to identify this is where they can connect with you and your website! If you have one icon that isn’t from the set it will look like it was an after thought and ruin the feel of the rest of the icons.

Tip 3 – If you make money on your blog make sure that you choose an icon set that is okay for commercial sites. Usually the designer will mention this on their site or have it with the file.

Where to Find Amazing Icon Sets

I use a few different resources to find icons for me and my clients. One of the first places I go is Iconfinder.com, this is a searchable bank of icons where designers can get together and share their artwork! There are other icon search engines, but so far I like this one the best. They have a slide bar so you can select the sizes you want to look at. They also have a drop down menu for showing only commercial friendly icons. Also you can see what the icons would look like on a light background or a dark or if you have a patterned background or bright color you can use the grey button to make sure they have a transparent background.

Another tool I use to find icons is Google’s Image Search. Search terms you can use are “social media icons” or “social icons”. You will be able to find the sets because most designers use an image of all the icons together. When you see an image like that of icons that you like. Click on it. You should be then taken to the image in a window. Click out of the box and you will see the designers post about the icons. Or you may be taken to a design site that is talking about that specific set of icons or has a list of great icons. Have fun searching, designers are constantly adding more and better icons so I’m sure you will find something amazing!

How to Add Icons to your Site

Now that you have found a set that you like. Download the set and then pick out the icons you need (twitter, facebook, rss, etc). Upload your icons to your site or where you keep your images for your blog. Grab the URL of each icon.

Are you ready to quickly learn some basic HTML? I’m using twitter as an example but you will use this for each of your icons.

Step 1: Start with the url of your image:

http://www.you.com/yourimage.png

Step 2: Adding the image code:

<img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png" alt="Follow Me">

Note the alt tag. This is good html practice and SEO friendly.

Step 3: Adding your link:

<a href="http://www.twitter.com/YOU" title="Follow me"><img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png"></a>

Note the title tag. This is also good html practice and SEO friendly.

Step 4: Repeat for each of your social networks. And your code should look similar to this example:

<a href="http://www.twitter.com/YOU" title="Follow me"><img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/YOU" title="Like me"><img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png"></a> <a href="http://www.YOURURL.com/YOURRSS" title="Subscribe to"><img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png"></a>

Now that you have your html code how do you add it to your site? If you are on WP you go into your widgets and add a text widget to your sidebar and enter your text. Blogger same idea only you use an html gadget on your sidebar.

I hope this was helpful to you and that you find some great, amazing and beautiful social icons for your site. If you were curious the set I use on my personal blog is from Productive Dreams and is called Page Peel. If you try this out I would love to see it on your site so add your link to a comment! Or if you found an icon set that you really love share it with me, I’d love to see it!

[box type=”info” style=”rounded” border=”full”]Originally posted on my blog at Uniquehorn Designs, but that blog will be closing and moving to PepperScraps.[/box]

Photo by webtreats

7 Elements of a Blog Blogging

7 Trends in Header Design

Your header is the second most important design element of your blog, #1 being your logo. You want to catch your readers attention and tell them something about your site within the first few seconds of loading. Your header is the best area to do this. What kind of header do you have? What kind of header should you have?

Changing Trends

I have talked before about how header trends are changing. Headers used to be large and take up at least half of the screen, but now you will find all kinds of styles. Everything from the traditional to just the simple logo. These changes started because people started using the Above the Fold Theory.

Above the Fold

This is a theory from the newspaper age: that the top half of the paper that is visible when folded should hold your most important story and photography. When this started transferring into web design people started squishing as much stuff as possible in the top of their site. All this did was to make things cluttered and destroy the beauty of the design.

Current thought has started changing. Designers realized people are getting used to scrolling and will look at the whole site. Why should we not start spreading out the elements of the design to make them easier to see and make them eye catching.

From this evolution of design we have gotten tons of new header trends. Let’s take a look at the seven I found.

Traditional Header

The traditional header is still in use, it may not be half a page anymore but it’s still here. This is a great way to either tell a story, showcase your style, show off photography talent, or as above display an artistic ability.

The Small Header

The small header is a hybrid of the traditional header. People loved the space to showcase their photos and personality, but they wanted their visitors to be able to get straight to the content. Creating a smaller, half-sized, header will give you the best of both worlds. This is also a very popular style.

Logo Only

The extreme opposite of the large headers is just placing a logo at the top of your site. This gives lots of space for ads, call to action and content. The content is right at the top so visitors can jump right in and read. One nice feature of the logo only header is that it creates a clean and simple feel.

Featured Section

With all the added space that web designers got from loosing the large headers they realized they could create new elements. One of these elements was a section to feature the newest blog posts, favorite article, or a product (as Darren is doing on his site).

Slider

Another element created to fill up the space from the age old headers was j Query sliders. Sliders are very similar to feature sections but more dynamic and interactive. Usually you will find three to six slides that either slide automatically or by the press of a button. A slider can feature the same posts, articles, and products as a feature section, but adds more content in the same amount of space.

Instant Call to Action

One of the newer trends is to create an instant call to action area. You can use this section to invite your visitors to learn more about you, to buy your book, or to try out a product. You don’t see call to action sectionss on blogs as much as you do on basic web sites.

Typography

The amazing things you are now able to do with fonts in web design has created a new trend: typography. The art of typography is a big trend this year and it will be interesting to see if it continues as more fonts become available. This is also not something you see as much on blogs.

Conclusion

Those are the 7 trends I have seen in web design for headers. Do you have any good examples of headers that fall into these categories? Or do you have a trend that I missed?

What is your favorite header style as a reader? What is your favorite style as a web site owner?

7 Elements of a Blog Blogging How to Start a Blog

Updating a Key Page: All About You

Have you ever read Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog ebook? If not you have to it is amazing. Today I’m going to share my incites on Day 14 of the book. I will be sharing this with other’s who have read the book with me, but you can follow along even if you haven’t had a chance to read the book.

Day 14 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog you are asked to update a key page. Darren gives you multiple pages that you can update: front page, about page, contact page, or a high traffic page. Let’s focus in on your about page.

How important is your about page? You’ve got your readers attention, where will they go next? Of course they will click your “about” link in your menu. They want to learn more about your blog and about you but really they want to know what they will get from reading your blog.

I will give you an easy formula on how to build an awesome about page that will encourage your new readers to stay longer and subscribe.

5 Elements of an Awesome About Page

I will be using some of the great tools that you have already developed as you have made it through the previous 13 days of the 31DBBB. Plus we will throw in a couple extras.

Updated Photo
Tagline & Elevator Speech
A list of What’s In It For Me (your reader)
List of Top Posts
Call to Action

Let’s Get Started

I’m going to walk you through how I updated my very boring about page:

The Original Page

A very typical about page, even I have to admit it was boring. I talked about me, how I met my husband, about my boys, and other things. The page was all about me but basically it was a life story. I wasn’t really sharing very much about what my blog was about. Now it’s time to update it.

Step 1: I Updated my Photo

Use a recent photo that is high quality. If you don’t have a current photo or a photo that is high quality then find someone who can take one for you (if you are not good at self portraits). Find a professional to take a few head shots for you or ask your friends and see if any of them can take a high quality photo with a good camera.

Make sure your photo matches the feel of your blog. If your blog is funny and happy share a picture that is bright and full of joy. If you are writing on a very serious topic make sure your photo has a somber and quiet feel.

Step 2: I Started with my Tagline and Elevator Speech

On Day 1 of 31DBBB you wrote a tagline and elevator speech for your blog. You can now describe your blog with a few short words (tagline) and with a short paragraph (elevator speech). This is great for when you are meeting people and trying to describe your blog but this is also great for your about page.

Even though you have already gotten your readers attention you want to keep it. One of the best ways to start out your about page is to recapture your reader in a few seconds and make them want to read more. You have created a quick and interesting description of your blog, use it!

Step 3: I Created a List of WIIFM

Now that you have described your blog to your reader you need to tell them what they gain from reading and/or subscribing to your blog. On Day 2 of 31DBBB you learned why to use lists; they are easy to scan, succinct, look neat, and are persuasive.

You are going to create a list that explains what your reader gets from your blog in an easy to read format. A list is going to catch your readers eye and you are going to use it to persuade them to subscribe to your blog. You can use anywhere from 5 to 10 points explaining to them what you are offering them.

Step 4: I Gave my Readers a List of Top Posts

At this point your reader should be ready for some more content. They have learned why they should read your blog now prove it to them by sharing a list of your top favorite posts. Make a list of your top favorite posts or if you have the stats on your posts the top most popular posts.

On Day 8 of 31DBBB you learned about the importance of interlinking your posts. Not only will this help your reader find your best content, but it will also help with SEO and page views!

Step 5: Lastly I Called my Readers to Action!

Further along 31DBBB you are going to learn more about call to action or you can learn right now at Smashing Magazine. Basically you are prompting your reader to take action!

Your reader has read through your whole introduction, now is the time to tell them what to do next!

This would be a great place for you to ask them to subscribe to you, subscribe to your newsletter, to follow you on twitter, or to like you on facebook. Choose only one to three of these, don’t overwhelm them with too many options. Make it quick and easy.

Your Turn

Now that I have walked you through updating my page I hope you will now feel like you have the tools to update yours. When you use these steps please share your about page in the comments, I would love to see your outcome!

How often do you visit the about page on a blog you are visiting? Do you always read the whole page? Do you have an example of a great about page?

Hi I am Pepper, yep that’s my real name, it’s on my birth certificate. I’m an old school blogger going back to her roots. In 1999 I wrote out my feelings and shared my silly random thoughts.

Well I’m back! This is me sharing the real me, hoping that it shows you that hey you aren’t alone in those weird, funny, hard moments in life. I’m putting the pieces of life back together after divorce, emotional abuse and starting out on a new adventure. Want to join me?

More about Pepper >>

My Weight Loss Story >>