Blog.SpoonGraphics

Web Design Ledger

Six Revisions

10steps Photoshop Tutorials

GoMediaZine

Web Designer Wall

Speckyboy Design Magazine

1stwebdesigner

Spyre Studios

Fudge Graphics

Marcofolio

Naldz Graphics

Noupe

One Extra Pixel

PSD Fan

PSD Vibe

Smashing Magazine

Vandelay Design Blog

Tutorial9

Tripwire Magazine

Hongkiat

PSD Tuts

Webdesign Tuts

UX Booth

Abduzeedo

Inspired Magazine

Build Internet!

The Design Cubicle

Design Informer

DesignM.ag

What are your favorite design blogs?

If you’ve got a favorite design blog that’s not currently on the list, drop a comment and let us know.

Interested in how to make money from your blog? Well, making money blogging is DEAD! I’m sure you’ve heard that before, right? Just like we’ve heard that this industry or that industry is dead and it’s time to move on. Well, I can assure you that making money from your blog is getting easier and easier. Today I am going to go over 10 different ways you’re able to make money from your blog, starting today! No need to wait months upon months in order to start generating revenue, you can (and should be) monetizing your blog now.

Monthly Advertisements

One of the main ways blogs start to make money is by selling advertising space on their pages. You know, the 125×125 sidebar ads you see everywhere? Yeah, those are the ones I’m talking about. There’s a reason everyone is using them – because they work and they make you money.

The beauty of it is, with a place like Buy Sell Ads to run your ads through, you can virtually sit back and watch the ads get purchased and run without requiring you to do anything. You could also sell advertising directly on your site with an “advertise here” page letting the visitors know how to pay you for the ads, which works well because you don’t have to pay a % of your profits to Buy Sell Ads, although you’re going to have to do more work (add their advertisement to the page, remember when to remove it, etc).

Pay Per Click Advertising

The next most popular way to make money with your blog (it’s even the most popular for some sites) is with PPC advertising. The most popular way to run PPC ads is through Google Adsense. With Adsense, you’re able to pop some code into your website and let Google pick out the proper ads that match up to the content on your pages.

Then, every time someone clicks on the link in the ad, you get paid. Pretty simple right? Yup, and thats why most people use Google Adsense when starting out.

Digital Downloads

You can see this type of money making method in use on websites that sell ebooks or other digital download products (ie: WordPress themes, premium design resources, textures, etc). This works great because its a more passive way to earn income from your blog. Once you set the link up for people to pay & download, you never have to touch it again and it can make you money over & over again.

To streamline the process of digital downloads, I’d recommend checking out e-junkie. With millions of users and the ability to sell your products for as little as $5.00 per month, e-junkie is the perfect solution to have someone pay (to your PayPal account) and instantly download your files.

Affiliate Promotions

Here’s a method of making cash off of actual products that you can promote on your blog without actually needing to make the products yourself. Becoming an affiliate for someone else allows you to make a cut of the earnings when you send them traffic and sales.

For instance, you can sign up and promote WordPress themes from Elegant Themes, Books at Amazon, Audio files at AudioJungle, etc. It’s a great way to mix up your earnings through your blog and if you’re promoting quality products, your visitors won’t mind a bit.

Donations

Another way to make money from your blog is to push out tons of useful, free content and just ask for donations. You may not get donations from every visitor (in fact, I’d bet that you don’t) but you will get people who feel like you’re providing too much value to just take it and run & they’ll donate to you.

You can do this by setting up a PayPal donate button in your sidebar or at the end of your articles. Let the visitor click the button and then choose what amount they’d like to donate to you. Lost & Taken is a website that provides tons of useful texture downloads for free and has a donate button at the end of each post.

Membership Packages

When you run a blog, you can always set up a membership area with various membership scripts like amember or wishlist member that allows you to post your regular content for viewers to check out for free and then also offer up that “extra special content” that the user has to pay for. You know, the downloadable source files for tutorials, ebooks, free themes, etc.

Chris over at SpoonGraphics is a perfect example of how you can turn your blog into a membership package machine. Chris regularly posts up “premium” content that is only available to it’s members, while the rest of the blog remains free and open to the public. This generates interest because he always has amazing content, so you just KNOW that the membership package is going to be worth it.

Sell Your Services

If you run a blog and also work as a freelancer, the odds of you being able to make some cash from your blog by offering your services is pretty great. For instance, if you run a blog that teaches people on how to make money from their blog and you also design blogs, why not promote your design services right on your blog? People who are interested in that topic should also be interested in the importance of having a killer design for their own blog.

You may also want to showcase writing you do for blogs if you’re looking to write blog articles for other websites. This shows that you can write on a variety of topics and also puts your name up their as an authority who knows how to write content that generates traffic.

Reviews

There are a couple of different ways you can go about building a blog that generates money through reviews. First, you can toss in some product reviews of related products to your blog topic and let your readers know that they’re paid reviews. The App Storm websites run by Envato does this pretty well.

Another way to do this is by building an entire blog around product reviews. You see these a lot with web hosting company review blogs and others in that market but there’s no reason you couldn’t venture out into a music review website, movie review website or something completely different.

CPM Advertising

If you’re building a website and relying on lower quality traffic sources like Stumble Upon or other places that generally send visitors who don’t click ads or buy products, then CPM advertising is probably a perfect solution for you. What CPM advertising is, is a payout for every 1,000 ad views you generate. So, if you can get 10,000 visitors to each post from Stumble Upon, but they’re not clicking on any ads, it might be time to switch to a CPM advertiser like Casale Media or Tribal Fusion.

Consulting & Coaching

This is a bit different than the services we mentioned above because here, you’re basically offering up your time instead of a service. When you run a blog and become an authority on the topic, odds are that some of your visitors will turn to you for advice. Instead of giving personalized advice away on a regular basis, why not offer consulting to them for an hourly fee?

Michael over at Remarkablogger turned his blog into a consulting machine and generates income from his website by offering personalized consulting & coaching to his visitors while still regularly pumping out awesome content. Why can’t you? If you’re an authority on your blog topic, you can – and should.

What methods do you use?

Out of the above list, which methods are you currently using on your blog? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

Quick Nav

• Mind Mapping and Cluster Diagrams
• Using Statistics
• Browse Through Related Blogs
• Social Media
• Use Your Own Growth
• More Useful Tips
• Tools

In this post we are going to take a look at the fine art of brainstorming. Analyzing the ways and means that some of us use to get those clouds rolling in, and the storms raging relentlessly inside our heads.

I have talked in the past about the importance of the content on your blog, especially for garnering new readers, and so I decided that I would do a post that could help you achieve this content for your site. In this post we are going to take a look at the fine art of brainstorming. Here we will examine the important role that this plays in the creative process, and how it can be a blogger’s most invaluable content contributor.

The creative process is an involved structure with many pieces, fueled by our imaginations. In order to run wild with the process, we need to have the idea that is steering the wheel. For bloggers, this process is no different. But how do we find those ideas when we are facing this topical drought? Well, below are some ideas that tend to work in our house for this pair of creatives, so I thought it was time to share the style behind our storms, in hopes that they might work for others as well.

Mind Mapping and Cluster Diagrams

Cluster Diagrams, sometimes more commonly referred to as Mind Maps, are often times the visual representation and centerpiece of a brainstorming session. Transferring virtual thought clouds to paper have long been a staple in the productivity arena. By generating ideas that center around a single topic, and allowing for sub-categories to emerge through this mapping of your thoughts, you can help maximize the output of your storm.

Most of us, whether we have used them ourselves or not, are familiar with this type of thought structure, and have seen them in some form or another. They can be used to thoroughly examine a topic by allowing you to group information into clusters, and follow multiple avenues to draw connections to other areas or ideas. This can lead you to all kinds of content ‘clusters’,  allowing you tackle a topic from every possible angle. This also deters areas of your discussion to fall through the cracks, leaving gaps that readers will want filled in.

Using Statistics

A great way to understand your readers is to use your site statistics, such as Google Analytics or Mint. This offers some perspective as to what people are interested in. Find out what your readers are seeking, and then work towards giving it to them. This at least gives you a direction in which to point your creative output.

Now if you find that you have covered the area that is being searched, and are bringing people in to your site to the degree that you really cannot find a fresh approach, or at least an updated approach, then don’t. Have the presence of mind to know when enough is enough, and remember that re-hashing the same content over and over only diminishes the impact and effectiveness of your site’s posts.

Browse Through Related Blogs

Do not mistake what I am saying here. I am not advocating content theft or idea stealing by any stretch of the imagination. Copycatting is not exactly finding your way to your own content, as much as it is, helping yourself to someone elses. But simply browsing through blogs related to your topic can often times spark ideas separate from what you were looking at, yet still would not have come to without this jaunt through the blogosphere.

Another way that this can be especially useful is if you take the time to read through the comments to see if the readers are asking for more information, or have questions that were not addressed. Then you are not stealing their ideas, but you are expanding on them to help supplement the original post (which you should link to and credit so that readers can get the whole pie not just your piece), and fill in any informational gaps on the topic that have gone unbroached.

Social Media

Another great way to find content that is needed by the community, is by of course, going social. Media, that is. Get out on the various social media networks and find out what questions are being asked, and more importantly, which ones are not being answered. (I should qualify that with relevant questions.) This is another way to connect your content with the community, and that always helps it land.

Try to work a little social media into your brainstorming sessions, and you may just find that they tend towards the more fruitful end of the scale. Though, once again, be self aware and know if this media reach is actually helping, or simply distracting you from your search for content. And know that if you cannot find any questions that need tackling, take the initiative and ask some of your own. Find out via the SM outlets if there are any topics or questions your followers would like to see you take on for the blog. The outlets are there at our disposal, so make the most of them.

Use Your Own Growth

Another great place to look for ideas when you are brainstorming, is you. Look at the path that you have been on, and the many ways in which it has grown, and splintered, and what those changes have meant to your development and shaping. What have you learned on this road that you wished you had known before you got started?

What bumps in the road did you encounter, that had you known about them ahead of time, you would have avoided?

Your personal experience in your field can offer a look into that arena that others may not have noticed themselves. And as unique as you feel your tale will be, it can always assist others in their journey, even if their path does not always resemble your own. As you learn and grow in your craft take your readers along with you. You are a cog in the machine that is your industry, add value to your contributions by offering helpful insights to others from your own growth, so as to help them do the same.

More Useful Tips

• Schedule 1 to 2 half hour sessions a week for brainstorming to keep a cache of ideas. Try to make it a time when you can get through the half hour without any interruptions at all.
• Write down everything, even incomplete ideas. Don’t judge or criticize your ideas while brainstorming, just let them come, write them all down and make judgments later. This is the one time you want to go for quantity instead of quality.
• Keep a small notebook with you at all times so that you can jot down ideas as they come to you – it’s really easy to forget an idea if you don’t get it out of your head immediately.
• Set goals for brainstorming sessions. I might spend an entire session focusing on just freelance article ideas.
• Know the limits of an idea, and extend it as far as you reasonably can. Let it lead you to other places and down other avenues.
• Gap Filling. Identify your current spot – Point A – and your end goal – Point B. What is the gap that exists between A and B? What are all the things you need to fill up this gap? Write them down, and find out what it takes to get from point A to point B.
• Have a backup of your ideas. I recently lost aprox 40 article ideas because I only had them stored in one place.
• Free writing, free speaking, word association and the spider web
• If you feel like you’ve completely run out of ideas, free write for 5 minutes. Write anything and everything that comes into your mind.

Tools

Freemind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java. The recent development has turned it into a high productivity tool. We are proud that the operation and navigation of FreeMind is faster than that of MindManager because of one-click fold / unfold and follow link operations.

Mindmeister brings the concept of mind mapping to the web, using its facilities for real-time collaboration to allow truly global brainstorming sessions. Users can create, manage, and share mind maps online and access them anytime, from anywhere. In brainstorming mode, fellow MindMeisters from around the world (or just in different rooms) can simultaneously work on the same mind map and see each other’s changes as they happen.

StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click

Stumble!, we deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended by your friends or one of 8 million+ other websurfers with interests similar to you. By rating the sites you like () it automatically shares them with like-minded people – and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend. Use the search feature to stumble specific topics for ideas.

Cluster diagrams are a type of non-linear graphic organizer that can help to systematize the generation of ideas based upon a central topic. Using this type of diagram, the student can more easily brainstorm a theme, associate about an idea, or explore a new subject. Enchanted Learning offers a collection of printable graphic organizer templates for creating cluster diagrams.

Dabbleboard is an online collaboration application that’s centered around the whiteboard. With a new type of drawing interface that’s actually easy and fun to use, Dabbleboard gets out of your way and just lets you draw. Finally, the whiteboard enters the digital age!

Your Turn

What are some brainstorming techniques you depend on when your mind is on empty. Share your thoughts with a comment below.

Making New Friends

Twitter has allowed me to connect and network with other design creatives from all over the world, people who in a normal situation I would have never crossed paths with. I always love to share new ideas with creatives, and gather advice from people who are more successful and knowledgeable in their field of expertise. As I have matured using Twitter over the past few months, I have grown to love some very special people.

Lauren Thompson: @nymphont

Lauren is someone I have found a great joy to communicate with, she is often looking for a designer’s feedback on web templates and other works. So I have the privilege of having a peak at the work she is soon to release and discuss the finer nuances of her brilliant web design work and font design.

Mia Zoe: @Vegagirl5

Mia is someone I have only truly begun to converse recently with on a daily basis, she is always offering me positive feedback and lines of communication relating towards my article writing over at Design Something. She has a brilliantly diverse portfolio and I have found it a rewarding experience when talking to her about all things design related. She has been a massive help in my ideas and thoughts of my own personal website design and future thinking, offering me useful links and information on a range of topics I would otherwise be lost in.

Christy Latz: @OuttheOtherSide

Christy is probably the first designer I have had the chance to speak with on a regular basis when first setting up my blog and design portfolio online, Twitter allowed me to reach her either privately through direct messages, or simply hitting her with a quick message. She provides me with positive thoughts and always makes me smile when I’ve had a rough day with work, I attempt to do the same when we both come to discuss our workload and experiences from each week.

Chris Trude: @trudesign

Ask and he shall deliver, I wanted someone to collaborate with on a professional level and work with me on a guest posting. Chris straightaway delivered and I get a real good vibe whenever I have the chance to speak further with him, he works hard on his personal blog ‘Ruminations of designer.’ This blog holds great articles on design and everyday life.

Amanda: @GritFX

Forever working hard with her own community and website I know that if I send a message she will endeavor to take a moment out of her time to get back to me on Twitter. She is on the other side of the world in Australia and of course in different time zones but this doesn’t stop her from taking time out to communicate with me.

Special mentions must also go towards

• Andrew Houle @myinkblog
• Karen McDade @KarenMcDade
• Roberto Blake @robertoblake
• Franz Jeitz @fudgegraphics

Keeping in touch with Old friends

Facebook is often cited as the main place with which social events are seemingly organized through Facebook events, groups and wall posts. But if I want to write a quick message to friends I would normally contact by phone and text; then I am able just to address a quick point or question towards their inbox. Posting this information on Twitter means that it can be accessed by others but it does also offer the flip-side of hearing their opinions. I have left questions for friends only for another person to have seen it and offered me help in return.

Networking

Twitter is a fast acting and non-stop feed of information, you can reach so many people with a tweet and instantly receive feedback and information on an idea or problem you have undertaken. I have often found a quick precise tweet which can be responded to within a few lines, that very often sees some great useful feedback received from people. This back and forth is a quick form of communication and can often build relationships and bring to you new followers and friends.

Promotion

Twitter has helped massively in spreading the word on all sorts of activities I undertake in my online experience, the creation of my twitter page directly stemmed from me blogging about design more seriously. I wanted an outlet where I could direct people to the articles I was creating and network with other bloggers, designers, and creatives to gauge feedback, understandings and any questions helping me to improve my way of working.

Promoting My Blog

Twitter helps me to tweet about all my articles and get other people to quickly pass or RT the articles to another set of followers, which only goes to improve the possibility of the article reaching as many page views as possible. Constant re-tweeting of a personal article is counter-productive though, and I would definitely recommend to only tweet it a few times. Although the flip side to this argument is the more you tweet about one thing the bigger expanse of people you are going to reach by them clicking the link and exploring your site.

Other things which I find are helpful in promoting through twitter are Flickr groups in showing off people’s work and this promotion can also bring to it new articles. Having your own Facebook page for your blog is invaluable by increasing the page views on your site and then can be further promoted on Twitter. I have been fortunate enough to connect with some great creative personalities through my Twitter feed, this has further lead to articles being written with some people as guest authors and performing informative interviews on the blog. It is always refreshing to work with new people, and working alongside someone on an article is something which really ignites creativity and a willingness to work as hard and productive as possible.

Promotion of my personal portfolio and the work that I have created online can further be spread to large numbers of followers that will hopefully equal to more opportunities for people to be interested in my work, and can later lead towards an increase in job opportunities. Connecting with more experienced Twitter creatives and designers is often invaluable, if they become interested in your work it can lead to more exposure of your work, articles, and thoughts; if the right people tweet your links to their large numbers of followers. Increasing the amount of people you can reach can mean increased opinions, job opportunities and constructive feedback on work.

What do I Update twitter with?

Echofon was my first twitter tool I used over an extended period of time. This is a small Firefox plug-in resides on your toolbar and updates periodically alerting you of messages, tweets and direct messages. I found the user interface easy and simple to deal with, and its settings could be easy adjusted to the amount of times that the icon popped up notifying you of new messages. It also offers you the opportunity of turning the add-on off when you don’t want to be interrupted with notifications.

I have only begun to see the massive advantages of using Tweetdeck, it’s a program which is widely spoken of in twitter circles as being a great program to keep up-to-date with all things relating to your twitter account. It works as a fully functioning program and offers a lot of customization in its layout, and the settings are so minutely adjustable you will have a program which can either bother you every minute or just once an hour on your coffee break. The program also offers the advantage of working with Facebook and other social network sites so you can monitor several social network sites at once.

I am here to offer a different approach, one that is certainly less narcissistic and self-serving, but that indirectly benefits you and your online status among the community. Because generally if you set out to improve and aid the community, then the community will respond to what it is you are doing. You will garner the traffic and attention that you hope will find your blog and your work, but you will do so in a thoughtful, less antagonizing manner. And given that you are responding from a place more true to yourself, that means you will be more passionate about it. That always makes people respond to what you have to say.

So here are a few Shakespearean words of advice that can apply in the search for clout for your design blog. Tips that will tend to draw eyes from the community, while keeping you in a helpful, favorable light, and less of a self-serving narcissistic one.

To Thine Own Self Be True

Be honest with yourself and your audience is key to gaining clout among the participants of the online design community. In fact, if you speak to them honestly and share your opions and ideas as I previously mentioned, chances are, more people will respond to what it is you are saying. Rather than just saying whatever it is you think will be the most contraversial and challenging.

Another great quote from the Bard that applies in this aspect is the following.

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

Again, if you are not speaking from a place of honesty, then you have to don a false face and argue points that you do not necessarily stand behind. This will automatically diminish your points and the effectiveness of their reach. So be true to yourself, the benefits are numerous.

Ambition Should Be Made of Sterner Stuff

Once again, it is not all about you. Your goals and intentions should be overall about serving the community you are working in, not just about serving your own needs. This will garner positive growth of your blog’s readership because you will prove that you are not just out to serve yourself, and that your ambition is fixed on improving and contributing to the overall whole. Not the individual.

Another great Shakespearean quote that serves as a reminder in this area is the following.

As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him.

Not that the blogosphere is so ruthless that you can expect someone to be slain over self serving exploits, but if you are only pushing yourself and your site on social media, the only honor that you are likely to receive is to be unfollowed. A social death of sorts as you relegate your role to that of a veritable social pariah.

For My Part, it Was Greek to Me

Know your stuff, and do the diligence to have a firm grasp of your topic, otherwise your ignorance will immediately be recognized and called out. This will have a huge impact on your readership, just not the kind you are hoping for. If people come to your site and are immediately turned off by your unresearched, unthoughtout discussion it will more than likely be a while before they come back.

To further elaborate on the point, here is another quote from the Bard’s pen that is just as applicable.

I say there is no darkness but ignorance.

Plain and simple, the words near speak for themselves. There is no way you can shed light on a topic for your readers, if you, yourself, remain in the dark about it. So be sure that when you decide to tackle a topic, that you research it from multiple perspectives so you deliver on the promise you made by undertaking it.

The End

So those are a few words to take to heart if you would like to raise your clout among the online masses, while simultaneously building and strengthening the community at large. Leave your thoughts on the topic below.

The more blogging and freelance work I do, the more I realize how terrible I am at time management. I spend far too much time getting distracted by Twitter, Emails, RSS feeds, Facebook, sports, news – oh wait… where was I? Oh, that’s right, be careful not to get too distracted.

I’ve just now begun to realize the importance of scheduling and prioritizing my tasks. I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned and how some of the design community deals with time management.

Making a To-Do List

First off, you should start with an overall to-do list? Afterall, it’s impossible to remember all your tasks, and amazing post ideas. Try to keep a pen and paper handy, or some kind of note taking app of your choice. I love using Evernote, it’s a cool web app that allows me to jot down all my tasks and ideas, and it’s as simple as pie.

Prioritizing Tasks

Now that you have all your tasks in one place, it’s time to prioritize them. Many of the note taking apps allow you to do this. Some folks just use a color coded spreadsheet. With different colors representing different levels of importance. The main thing is to get a system in place that helps you organize which tasks to do when.

Be careful not to keep pushing the same tasks to the bottom, or else they will never get done. It’s wise to schedule some specific time for these bottom feeder tasks.

Setting a Schedule

Speaking of a schedule, now that you have a to-do list all prioritized you can began to compile a daily schedule. I know from personal experience that It’s nearly impossible to stick to every detail, but it’s quite helpful to outline your day. I’ve found that even a flexible schedule is much better than a fly by the seat of your pants approach. A simple list of work times and tasks is usually sufficient.

Be sure to set aside times for social media, email and rss feeds. These things are important, but you should do so in moderation. Many designers/bloggers (including myself) have a tendency to be obsessive compulsion about checking these areas.

During your scheduled work time, turn off the email client, twitter and anything else that proves too distracting. You’ll find you’re so much more productive when you spend an hour focused, rather than a bunch of 10 minute bursts.

Reaching Out to the Design Community

After much thought about what I should be doing to improve my time management skills, I decided to pose a series of quick questions to some of my favorite bloggers in the design community. Their answers were honest and helpful. Here’s what they had to say…

Chris Coyier – CSS Tricks

Do you set a schedule? If so, what does your daily routine look like?

I work from home, but I probably have more of a schedule than many home-workers have. I basically work 8-5 at “the day job” right now. I spend time before and after that working on my other projects, so I put in a lot of hours at the ol’ desk. The routine is basically a hodgepodge of Communication (Email & IM), Designing (Photoshop), and Coding (Coda).

Do you use any sort of app to help you keep track of your to-do list?

I’m a Mac guy and I use Things for my to-do lists. It’s pretty nice, but I don’t “live by it” like some folks do. It’s more of my reference guide and for longer term “don’t forget this” stuff. My actual to-do list, unfortunately, is my email inbox.

What are your biggest challenges for sticking to a schedule?

Because of the expectations of my day job, I don’t find it particularly challenging. If I wandered off, or sat around watching TV all day, I wouldn’t have a job for very long.

What advice would you give for someone trying to improve his/her time management skills?

Obviously distractions is the biggest time killer. If you are putting in hours and hours at the computer only to stand up and find you didn’t accomplish anything, you have a problem. It might be time to turn off IM, quit your Twitter app, and focus on the project at hand. I do that a lot. If I start dragging I start quitting applications to prevent distractions. Apparently my brain is that easily fooled.

Chad Mueller – Inspiredology

Do you set a schedule? If so, what does your daily routine look like?

I am a freelance designer as well, so Inspiredology is another project for me, I try to keep the to-do lists separate. I try to set a schedule for posting, as well as I try to have 5+ posts sitting in WordPress ready to go if I need it. I am not a daily blogger, so I don’t have a routine, I tend to just write blog posts as they come to me.

Do you use any sort of app to help you keep track of your to-do list?

The only real app that I have been sticking to that takes care of my to-do list tasks is Gmail. I have tried Doomi, Things, Remember the Milk, but I found that since I spend so much time in my web browser, and email, it is just easier. I use a really good system for archiving emails, adding them as tasks, and such. I have also used Ta-Dah Lists – I really loved this, and I do still use it, it super simple, easy to use and looks great.

What are your biggest challenges for sticking to a schedule?

I have a full time design job 9-5 then I come home and work on my freelance stuff, and in between there I have to manage and write for Inspiredology. So it’s very tough keeping a good schedule, and finding the right time to do blog tasks, or working on projects that help pay for bills. Time management is a great skill to master, and its a very challenging thing to do. So all in all, I would say prioritizing between projects, as well as being effiecient.

What advice would you give for someone trying to improve his/her time management skills?

You definetly need some sort of to-do list, whether it’s pen and paper or a great to do app or program. Organize yourself with a good system, whether it’s rating tasks with stars, colours, tabs and etc… You will find that if you are organized, you don’t need to manage yourself as much, you can concentrate on managing your blog and projects.

Sam Dunn – Build Internet

Do you set a schedule? If so, what does your daily routine look like?

My idea schedule goes something like this:

• Check and respond to Email
• Hit up Twitter/blogs for latest in community
• Work on blog post or client projects
• Check Stats sparingly
• End day with a smile

In reality it goes something like this

• Check and respond to email
• Get hung up on twitter/articles
• Explore new Photoshop/jQuery/CSS trick
• Check stats more than I should
• Work on blog post/client work amongst all of this

Do you use any sort of app to help you keep track of your to-do list?

I have sampled both Hit List and Things for the Mac, but somehow always deteriate back to Stickies (the default note taking app for OSX). I have a rather large one on my desktop at all times with a hefty to do list. I don’t really need a calendar/to-do list application to manage that for me, I like how quickly I can deal with my Stickie note, it’s rapid fire.

What are your biggest challenges for sticking to a schedule?

Sometimes I’ll be trolling through articles or CSS galleries and stumble upon something that inspires me to write a tutorial or learn a new jQuery technique. When I get excited about something like that I get terribly sidetracked, luckily I have deadlines to rope me back in before the point of no return. I used to get hung up checking stats and responding to email all the time, but I’ve recently pumped the brakes in that regard and limit those addictions. As a result I have bundles more time now.

What advice would you give for someone trying to improve his/her time management skills?

I just read the book Four Hour Work Week by Tim Feriss and sweet goodness did that open my eyes. It’s a New York Times bestseller for a reason, definitely worth a read for those that need a new perspective on time management.

Your Turn

Please join the discussion. I’d love to hear about your time management experiences. Drop me a comment below and answer the following questions…

• Do you set a schedule? If so, what does your schedule look like?
• Do you use any sort of app to help you keep track of your to-do list?
• What are your biggest challenges for sticking to your schedule?
• What advice would you give for someone trying to improve his/her time management skills?

1) Get Exposure

Due to the digital age we’re living in, it is extremely important that you have an online presence. Contributing to a blog is a perfect way to accomplish that. You get your name out there to fellow creatives, and potential clients. If you have something important to say, you’ll definitely be noticed.

2) Establish Yourself as an Expert

Someone that is considered an expert is not only respected, but also trusted. How do you do that? Well, the question to ask is, “What information do I provide to my niche?” Again, we live in a digital world and your online presence is key. If you have no meaningful online contribution, it is as if you don’t exist. This is sad to say, but there are way too many people that haven’t caught up with this yet. As a side note, make sure the impression that you are creating is truthful; no one likes a phony.

3) Engrave Your Knowledge

As with most things, the more you talk about a given subject, the more you understand and comprehend it. Even if your knowledge is very little, you still have something to contribute. No one can say something the same exact way that you do.

4) Polish Your Skills

The famous saying goes, “Practice makes perfect”. Make a cool tutorial with an effect that you know. Kill two birds with one stone and use the pieces that you make for your portfolio and polish your skills at the same time. It’s a great way to get away from work that you have from clients and have some fun. Also, more often than not, the pieces that you make for yourself will be your best work. Why? Because you know what looks nice and you have no one else to please other than yourself.

5) Make Some Money

For many, this is the most important reason. In this tough economy, we don’t always have design work. Why not take the time to share your knowledge with others? You get to put in practice the first four reasons and make some money! That’s awesome! It won’t be enough to pay all your bills but it’ll be some extra cash that you probably weren’t counting on.

Conclusion

This post was a contribution by Tim Smith. I would love to include more voices from the design community on this blog. If you are interested in contributing to MyInkBlog because of some of the reasons described above, or you just want to help out, be sure to comment.

How to grow you blog

I’ve found the best way to grow your blog is to be consistently plugging away at it. I’m not saying you have to write a post each and every day; sometimes that’s just not possible. But, it is wise to do something for your blog just about every day. I do suggest getting away now and again to unplug and rejuvenate your creativity. But on those other days, keep plugging away, here is what you can do.

Write a post

This is the most obvious option, but also the most important. Your readers want to be consistently fed with new stuff. It’s just a natural progression of an information-driven society. If your blog becomes stale, your readers will throw you away like an old bag of potato chips. I try to write a post everyday, but because of time constraints I’ve found that around 4/5 per week does the trick. Every blog is different, but feeding your readers quality new posts is the only way to keep loyal readers

Improve the design of the site

It’s real easy to become complacent with your site design. You shouldn’t change it so often that it’s unrecognizable each time, but there are always some tweaks that you can do to improve the look. Just be careful you don’t screw up the identity you’ve worked on. Familiarity can breed loyalty. So, if you’ve got a logo that works and colors that are consistent, then let that be. You can still improve headers, footers, line-spacing, lists, images, and the list goes on and on.

Improve the site’s Navigation

Is your navigation easy to follow? If not, change it so that it’s less confusing. Scattered navigation can lead to frustration, which will lead to a reader not coming back. Consider adding related posts to the end of each post, or breadcrumbs at the top to help readers know where they are on the site.

Add some interactivity

Here at My Ink Blog the community is growing, and I hope it continues to do so. Your readers should have things that they can do or contribute to the site. Right now I’ve got a User Community Link Feed, so that readers with relevant links can post them on the site. I also plan to add a Flickr group, so that people who have work they want to showcase can post that to my Flickr group. You could also add polls, or a suggestion box. The options here are numerous; this is a great way to improve your site.

Network and socialize

Send out emails. Ask to exchange links. Respond to comments, write comments on other sites. Contribute to social media sites like twitter, digg, facebook, etc. You can find me on Twitter now, this is one of those things that I did for my blog. It’s by networking in with a like minded community that you’ll develop beneficial relationships. You’ll also learn a lot, and stay informed about the latest news and trends.

What about you

Honestly, this is the tip of the iceberg. There are so many things you can do to improve your blog on a daily basis. What’s been your experience? What would you contribute? Drop me a comment using the form below.

I try to add a post to my blog about 4 or 5 times per week. Without doing so, I see my numbers begin to nose dive, and it drives me crazy. It’s as if by staring at my stats and contemplating what to do, I can somehow translate that energy into more visitors. It’s when you begin to put that much pressure on yourself, that your creative energy slips away. For designers, that pressure can be your kryptonite.

I work a full time job, have a wife, family and friends, that leaves me struggling to find enough time to write something consistently. I want to, but writing till after midnight, then waking up at 7am tends to make a person, (saying it nicely) difficult to be around. And there is only so much coffee in the world!

So How Do You Unplug

• Schedule a Day Off

  One day per week would probably be best. But if you don’t actually put it in your schedule, it’s most likely not going to happen. It’s funny that most of us schedule and plan everything, but we rarely plan time off, give it a try, this will certainly help you unplug.

• Shut the Computer Down

  Shut the computer off completely and do not be tempted to turn it back on. I know the shear thought can be difficult, however a day with it off does worlds of good for your creativity. If you must check email, do so real early, but limit your time, and then shut it down and wait till the next day to look again.

• Get Far Away From the House or Office

  Go out and do something! Go to a movie, museum, park, etc. Whatever it is you do for fun. Not only will this help you unwind, it will keep the temptation to hop back on the computer to a minimum.

• Inspiration is Everywhere

  Sure you want to unplug, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look around and get a few design ideas in. An unbelievable amount of design inspiration can be found just by looking around. I’m constantly checking out billboards, magazine advertisements, and so on. If you must stay plugged in slightly, then take your camera along and document some things, take pictures of textures, or interesting things you see.

You really can get bogged down pushing to get something great out consistently. Schedule a day off and enjoy the increased productivity.

What About You?

What do you do when you need to unplug? Where do you go, what do you do, what are your suggestions?

Well it’s almost been a month already since I’ve started MyInkBlog. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster, but ultimately the experience has been very worthwhile. It’s like anything else I’ve learned along the way in web and graphic design; although painful and difficult at first, new things become more exciting, easier and tend to feed off of one another. It’s very much worth it!

Here’s a list of what I’ve learned so far! I can’t wait to see what next month has in store…

1. People Love Lists…

   That includes me (as evidenced by this post). It’s rational that people love consolidated content that is organized and informative. Making a concise list, simplifies things, and provides readers with an opportunity glance through only the most important points. In a society that is information-driven, it is no wonder that lists are very popular.

2. Socialize…

   What a tangled web we weave… It’s amazing how many social sites exist right now. The social site phenomenon is at an all time high, and as a blogger it is wise to hop on board. You add the social site craze with glossy buttons, icons and nav bars and you have what many in the industry have deemed web 2.0. Although I knew of about many of these social sites, I really hadn’t explored much of the trend, that is not until I ventured into the blogging world. Although it is fun and addicting, the main reason for a blogger to get involved, is to plug into the vast opportunities to get your site seen. I post almost all of my articles at sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, DesignFloat, and innumerable more. This is a great way to drive traffic to your site!

3. Optimize…

   Ultimately, it’s all about getting more traffic to your blog. In my month long travels, I’ve learned a couple of more tricks. One of which is diving deeper into Search Engine Optimization. Their are three basic ways that people come to your site. The first is direct traffic, which is when people know about the site and type the URL directly into their web browser (hopefully Firefox :)). The second is referral traffic, which is other sites linking to you, either by finding out about you and posting a link or encouraging other sites to exchange links (which we’ll get into more later). And the last way, is through search engines like Google and Yahoo. The study of Search Engine Optimization is extensive and somewhat exhausting. Some great resources on the subject can be found in articles like, Web Designers Wall’s article SEO Guide for Designers and Smashing Magazine’s Complete List of SEO Tools. Finding ways to get your site higher on search lists, will do you worlds of good.

4. Talk to People in the Same Genre as you…

   Generally speaking people in a similar position as you have a great understanding of what you are going through and what you can expect. A support group of like minded bloggers can go a long way to helping you get through down times and encouraging you to look forward to better times. Not only is it a great way to pick someone’s brain that is already ventured into what you are doing, but it’s also a way to network and drive more referral traffic to your site. Many like-minded bloggers will be more than willing to exchange links with you in a mutual-beneficial arrangement to try to drive more traffic to each other’s site. Even if it’s only a couple of people a day, it is still more than you had the day before!

5. Blogging is Time Consuming…

   It’s not going to be all peaches and cream, so enjoy what you are writing about, because you will be spending a lot of time doing it. You will end up spending countless hours writing, optimizing, and contemplating. Although it is time consuming, getting encouraging comments and emails is very rewarding. For me, it’s about trying to give back some of what has been given to me. Without many of the excellent resources available, I would not have been able to learn half of what I’ve learned in the past 5 years or so.

6. Be Patient…

   This goes hand-in-hand with the last item. Success won’t happen overnight. Blogging is a lot like developing personal relationships, in that you have to gain people’s trust consistently over time. Also it takes a good deal of time to develop enough quality content and traffic for your site to improve in SEO and referrals, which are two very key sources of traffic.

7. Keep Track of What Works and What Doesn’t…

   This sounds simple, but it’s good to keep in mind. You don’t need to be writing on topics that waste your time, and are not going to be viewed by anyone. Write on things that interest you, but will also interest others. Then, keep track of what works and what doesn’t. Keeping tabs can easily be done with a ton of different apps that keep track of user statistics. Most of the time your hosting company has a place in their control panel to check out your site’s stats. GetClicky and Google Analytics are two of the industry standards that you can use. Lastly if you are using WordPress check out plugins like wordpress.com stats and statpress.

9. Worpress Rocks…

   Although their are many alternatives available like blogger, blogspot and many more, wordpress seems to be the best and most popular option. And for good reason… WordPress is infinitely customizable being that it’s open-source. And it’s trusted by so many people, it’s constantly being tweaked, fixed and improved. Not to mention the add-ons are incredible and plentiful. Check out my 5 favorite.