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All responses Most smiled responses
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A clean and simple look will never prevent your blog from getting noticed - and in fact some of my favorite blogs have very simple and minimalist designs. For my own blog design, I also try to keep things relatively simple and clean, with lots of white space so that the reader's eye doesn't get overwhelmed, but also with a bit of color, femininity, and whimsy thrown in. I think a blog design should be a reflection of its authors style and personality, so if that's simple and clean for you, then go for it!
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I'm afraid I don't have many resources to recommend. To the extent that I design, I'm really a self-taught hobbyist and haven't used any books. I've picked up most of my tips from Google searches (particularly when it comes to html and CSS code) and just trial and error using programs like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. There's one design blog called Bittbox that is pretty helpful and taught me how to manipulate brushes and create self-repeating patterns in Illustrator, but that's the only one I can think of at the moment.
In terms of blog traffic, the best recommendation I can give is to reach out to fellow bloggers and do some Google research on how to improve your SEO ranking. Improving your blog traffic usually comes one of three ways: search engines (which is why SEO matters), getting onto the blog rolls or being linked to from other blogs, and guest posts on other blogs. But definitely don't e-mail an established blogger asking to be put on their blog roll - just e-mail them to let them know who you are and what your blog is about and if your content is good enough then things will flow from there. Building your website traffic will always flow from a combination of good content and building relationships with other people in your community - one doesn't really work without the other. -
Great question! My first piece of advice to new bloggers is always to make sure that your voice and personality shines through your blog posts. I've seen some new bloggers try to keep themselves out of their blog thinking that it's best to have a neutral, clean slate for the actual content, but I think blogs need a personality of their own in order to stand out. Without exception, I associate each of my favorite blogs with the personality and taste of their author. Finding your voice can be a difficult process for new bloggers, and all I can say about that is that you'll know it once you've found it and you just have to keep trying until you do.
On getting noticed, I think it's important to keep in mind that blogging is a community and bloggers are people. Having good content and a pleasing blog design are the foundation of a good blog, but if you want to make connections with other bloggers, the best way to do that is by sending them a personal e-mail to introduce yourself and let them know what your blog is all about. With wedding blogs in particular, since it's already a pretty saturated environment, having a unique angle and carving out a niche for your blog within the existing wedding blog environment will go a long way in helping you form connections and get noticed by people in the industry. I hope that helps answer your question! -
This is a funny question, since I consider marketing (for myself) to be one of my weak spots. I'm a terrible self-promoter and tend to be on the shy side, so marketing and pr definitely does not come naturally for me. To the extent that I have marketed or promoted myself and my blog, it's been through establishing personal connections with fellow bloggers or designers via e-mail, meaningful comments on their blogs, or attending conferences like the B List and Altitude Design Summit. As a blogger, I always appreciate it when someone reaches out to me personally (as opposed to bombarding me with comments or sending out mass e-mails), so I've just tried to keep things on a personal level when reaching out to people in the blog and design community. But as I try to grow the blog a bit more, it's definitely an area that could use some improvement and additional attention.
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asked by DesignCrush
I would absolutely make a career change in two seconds if given the opportunity, but I would want it to be something that complements, rather than competes with, OSBP. I studied journalism in college for a couple of years and would love to do freelance work if the opportunity came my way.
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Thanks Katy! If I didn't blog about stationery, I'd probably focus on home decor and fashion. I try to incorporate some of those topics into OSBP for additional design and visual inspiration, although paper is definitely my first design love.
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If by coding you mean my blog design, that's mostly self-taught. My husband taught me some basic html code a couple of years ago, and then I spent a LOT of time doing google searches for CSS code that would allow me to customize my blog design. But I've mostly hit my limit on the design coding front, and recently hired a web design company to help me with a site redesign that should be finished in a few weeks.
If you mean SEO coding, I've been very fortunate to have blog friends who have generously shared their advice and suggestions for SEO coding. I also took a course with Liene from Splendid Communications, which I would recommend for bloggers that are just starting out and learning about SEO strategy and coding. -
I think this is a challenge that every blogger struggles with, whether we blog full time or have day jobs, and I don't think any of us have really found a good answer - yet.
These days, with essentially two full-time jobs, I don't get much sleep and devote quite a bit of my "free" time to working on the blog and all the things that come with it (research, e-mails, photo editing, etc.). As I transition to full-time blogging, I'm hoping to establish more regular blog work hours, set an editorial calendar and introduce new features that will make my blogging process a bit more consistent so that I can do a better job of balancing work and personal time. -
Right now I use a combination of Google Analytics, StatCounter, and QuantCast. Each one provides a slightly different service, so using all three helps give me a better picture of who is coming to my blog and why.
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I do have a full-time day job in addition to the blog, and although I'm afraid I can't really go into detail about my job, it has absolutely nothing to do with design or weddings and I don't particularly enjoy it. I started blogging in part because I needed a creative outlet that I couldn't find with my day job. I'm hoping to make the transition to full-time blogging this year.
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Ooh, that's a tough question! I love fonts, so I have a hard time picking just one. Lately I've really been enjoying Aphrodite for script and Mr. Eaves for sans-serif, but I have a huge, huge font crush on Neutra as well. I also really love Jessica Hische's Buttermilk font and another font called Memoriam - both are just very cool, very unique fonts and I'd love to see them used more often.
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My banner currently uses Burgues Script by Alejandro Paul. You can find the font for purchase right here: http://www.veer.com/products/typedetail.aspx?image=UMT0000267 You can also find a list of the fonts that I use throughout my blog on my about page.
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Like most bloggers, I'm largely driven by visual inspiration, which can be anything from photography to cool typography details on a billboard. If I'm working on a personal project, I usually start with a color palette and typography or font choices as my starting inspiration and then go from there. But as a blogger, I'm truly inspired by all the amazing work from so many talented designers and artists that I see on a daily basis around the blog world!
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I'm a bit of a mix. My mother's side of the family is primarily Irish and English, with her ancestors having emigrated to Virginia back in the early 1800s. My dad's side of the family is English and eastern European and a bit more recently established in the U.S. - my great-grandfather's family came to the United States from England just a couple generations ago and my great-grandmother's family emigrated from Latvia.
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nole’s Bio
founder/editor of the wedding and design blog Oh So Beautiful Paper
