Monday, May 31, 2010

Latest Work...

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I have been blessed by so many ordering lately and as a 'new' thing I will be featuring each client on my site with a direct link to your site to help drive more followers/traffic to your blogs/sites.

Check out this great blog I had the pleasure of designing for, "The Art of Being Mom".
She has great giveaways, contests and great articles you won't want to miss out on!



 
"The Art of Being Mom"
http://theartofbeingmom.com/
Wordpress Blog / Professional


Twitter Background

This is a request for a Birthday Invitation to her daughter's 14th birthday bonfire party. We used a kit that had a camping theme. She received this in 300dpi ready to take it anywhere to be printed by her local printer.

"Birthday Invitation" (print)

Here is another great website that won my recent Mother's Day Contest and got a Free Twitter Background! She holds regular giveaways and contests!
"Mommy Has To Work"
Twitter Background
 
 This is a neat store that has Vintage, Shabby Chic, Cottage Style Decor for your Home and Restoration Hardware! 
"The Doves Nest"

Twitter Background
This one I designed personally for my husband's Twitter account. 
He wanted something simple, masculine but showing off his family.

"Gregory Wright"

http://www.twitter.com/wrightgregory
Twitter Background

*note* - On all Twitter Backgrounds, I do my best to make sure they fit resolutions from 800px to 1900px.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Tips & Tricks #2 - How to Backup Your Blogger Posts

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If you are like me and  have been on Blogger  or Blogspot as some may know it, since the beginning of time, well not quite the beginning of time but over a year or more...(me, since 2007!); you have precious information, posts you dont want to lose or may even want to use in a scrapbook.

So, how do you back-up your posts on Blogger / Blogspot?

Well there is really only one secure way to do this and it can take some time, but who of us doesnt have all the time in world to do that, right!? Not me!!!

So to back-up your Blogger / Blogspot posts, just do the following:

When you use your archive or labels, you notice on the URL it will list the latest N (number) posts from your blog for that search request (archive, label, etc.)

http://blogname.blogspot.com/search?max-results=N
In place of the N, type the number of posts you want to show maximum of. If your blog has less than 1000 posts, you can save the whole page at one time. Just type the following, replacing with your blog address.
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/search?max-results=1000 OR
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?max-results=1000

Now what??? Open a Notepad window (Start menu>Accessories>Notepad or Wordpad)
Now highlight all your Blogger / Blogspot post results and copy/paste them into Notepad.
Save them to your harddrive in a folder

Okay but what if you are like me and have over 1000 posts?
You will use the first URL and at the end just click Older Posts and it will give you the next 1000 results.

My advice for backing up your blog through Blogger, is to do this either weekly (if you are a daily blogger) or monthly.

Just imagine what you would feel like if you lost everything in your blog.

Now, how do you backup all your videos and photos? Well, if you dont use Flickr or Photobucket and Youtube for all your photos, graphics and videos, then I might suggest you doing that from here on out.
If you maximize your accounts with Flickr, Photobucket or youtube, just open another one!

Another great tool is called DownThemAll.  This is a Firefox Plugin extension, so if you don't use Firefox as your browser, just go to Firefox.com and download it for free. You can have more than one browser service. I have Google Chrome, IE, Firefox, Safari and Netscape, but my most used and favorite is Firefox because they keep up to date with the latest and are much faster!

Down Them All allows your to download all the images.  Just click here to go get the plugin and install. It will show up on  your tools or toolbar. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201/

Next week, I will feature using Down Them All and would love to hear your comments this week if you try it.

Okay, now I have to go back-up my blogs! See ya!

**TinyTip** If you are like me and busy and easily forget everything you really "want or need" to do, just put a weekly reminder in your google calendar to alert you to backup. If you don't want to back up weekly, you might still put in a weekly reminder just in case you "intend" to do it that week but "snooze" that timer that week and that way you will just get reminded again the following week and will hopefully be okay!!


Saturday, May 22, 2010

Ready to Order?

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Monday, May 17, 2010

Tips & Tricks #1 - Using Linkwithin.com to Feature Other Posts

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Every Monday, I will be featuring a Tip or Trick for you to use on your blog to enhance or improve your blog! I know you are so busy, so just subscribe to my blog posts (theblogcafedesigns) or follow me, so you automatically get the latest each week.
If you have a tip or trick you'd like me to feature, just contact me with your idea or request!

How to Add Linkwithin to your blog
Have you ever visited someone's blog and noticed they have these neat little boxes that show other posts listed at the bottom of their post using Linkwithin?  


I personally, love seeing Linkwithin boxes at the bottom of posts. Using Linkwithin, helps you get visitors to stay longer on your blog and that is good for both your rating. You ad sponsors have a better chance of being seen if you use Linkwithin, because people will have more chances to notice all the great blog buttons and ads on your site.

So if you are a PR friendly site, sell ad space, Linkwithin is a great tool you want to use.

So, how can you use Linkwithin on your blog?

It is so easy. Just visit their website at http://www.linkwithin.com.  It's Free, and easy. It is actually a widget, that you place just below your "main post area" for those using Blogger. 

Just put in your Email address, Blog URL, Blog type (blogger, wordpress, etc) and choose a width (how many links you want to show).  If you have a dark background instead of white, you want to make sure you click that special link "My blog has light text on a dark background" just above the GET WIDGET button. 

So now, you've clicked GET WIDGET.. what now? 
Linkwithin is so easy, they have a quick tutorial of exactly what to do. They show you, based on your blog type (blogger, wordpress), step-by-step how to install. It's almost as easy as boiling water.

Are you ready to Linkwithin? Just click here to get started.  If you have any problems or questions, they have a support box at the bottom of the page or you can email them directly at support@linkwithin.com

Happy Blogging!


Saturday, May 15, 2010

Gift Certificates - Great Gift for anytime and anyone!!!

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Did you forget a friend, sister or fellow blogger for their birthday? or maybe you need a quick gift for a friend just to give them a "pick-me-up"?

Order a Gift Certificate!  I can do them in any amount you need but here are the quick new build-a-blog package amounts... $35*, $60, $85, $115. (*based on personal blog).  

I can do it through paypal to make it quick and easy! I have a printable GC or I can email the blogger or you can with the special gift just from you!



Check out my...twitter and facebook to sign up to get special deals only through those links!!!


Feel free to look around and if you have any questions, just contact me and I'll do my best to answer any question.

If you don't see something on my menus, please do not hestitate to ask, I might be able to accommodate you with a Special Order Request.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Announcing Winners for Blog Design Mother's Day Giveaway Contest

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I'm excited to announce the winners of the recent Mother's Day Contest....
Thanks to all those that entered...if you missed out.. join my twitter, facebook, rss and blogfrog community so you will be able to enter the next contest coming up this month!
 Using "random.org" the following are winners...
Ladies, don't forget to add your "special button" to announce your prize!




Just copy the code here.
   
CONGRATULATIONS LADIES and THANKS FOR FOLLOWING THE BLOG CAFE!!!