Design it Chic: August 2010

Blog Banner Giveaway

*GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED!!!!*

Hi all! Today I have exciting news! We're having a blog related giveaway sponsored by Lost Between Colors. I know many of you have emailed me asking for a new blog banner, and now here is your opportunity to get one for free!! This giveaway has 2 prizes, each containing one brand new blog banner!!! :O yeah i know, my face dropped off too;) But put yourself together and read on to see how you're singing in for that!

To participate in this giveaway the 1st thing you must do is to become a follower of Design It Chic, then leave a comment saying that you did. That's it!!! It's as simple as that!!! This is just one entry to sign up!

Normally it would be one entry per person, but to make it even more interesting, you can gain extra entries only by:

a) Blog about this giveaway with a referring link back to Design It Chic, then come back and comment in 3 separate comments that you did that and leave the link to your post (3 entries)

b) Add Lost Between Colors button to your blog and then come back and tell me in two separate comments that you did and leave the link to your blog as well so we can check! (2 entries)

c) Add my button to your blog and then leave a separate comment back telling me that you did and leave the link to your blog as well so we can check! (1 entry)

So in total there can't be more than 7 entries per person(that's if you follow Design It Chic, post about the giveaway, add Lost Between Colors button to your blog and add my blog button to your blog, all together)... we gotta give a chance to everyone;)
But just know that the winner gets checked at all these things they say they did, just because we don't want any fake entries(yeah we're serious business like that;) anyways..

This Giveaway is WORLDWIDE open August 31st through September 8th midnight Central Time Zone.(so Wednesday to next Wednesday)
I'm so excited to see 2 of you lucky readers have brand new blog banners to brag about! Enjoy and let the giveaway fun begin!!!!

Here's where you'll find me today:

If you follow me from any of these hops or something else, let me know so i can come check your blog back;)

Pop up window for comments

Hi all! New week starting off great! SO we're here with more awesome blogger tutorials, handy-dandy blog tips, SEO advice(search engine optimization), the scoop on easy HTML and all news on technical features and softwares.. or for short: Technical Support, as everybody already knows it:)

The topic for today is: how to make a pop up window for comments!

This tutorial is going to be easy, but i received a lot of requests asking how can they make their comments appear in a pop-up window rather than a new page.. so here it goes:

First you need to go into your blog's Dashboard then hit the Settings button:

Then you need to get to the Comments page where you can find your setting options for comments:

Now you scroll down and where it says "Comments form placement" you check the "Pop-up window" and hit Save settings. And that's it folks!!!
Hope it helped! Okay there is a more complicated way of doing that, by messing with the entire HTML script, but this should be enough if you haven't worked your ways through your HTML script before:)

Now that's it for today! Check back to see what comes up next in Blogger tutorial section, SEO tips department or how we teach new HTML tricks & tips every day!

Boost My Blog Friday 8/27

Today it's Friday, that means it's time again to catch up with Boost My Blog Friday:
BoostMyBlogFriday

It's simple.. the only rule is: no rules!! That's right!! This blog-hop is supposed to be a boost in our blogs' asses... friends-wise:)!!
SO just make sure you link with us, follow me as the hostess (just cause i took the effort to babble here and add this form:P) and then feel free to follow whoever you want to, leave nice comments, send them love notes and chocolate boxes *WOW scratch that last part:P* and don't forget to do the happy dance!

And as always, today I have another question for you guys:
What's the story behind your blog's name?

Well mine is simple. I love designing new things, discovering and always inventing something new, pushing my limits to create something greater and nicer. Since i love everything chic, i naturally added that to the designing concept and voilà: Design It Chic was born!! As you probably already know I'm here to share my tips & tricks to better our blogs for SEO, teach some of the HTML tips i learned myself in time, help cleaning our blogs together and for the fun of life throw some: Boost My Blog Friday blog-hopping.
Now what's the story behind your blog's name??? I'm so curious!!

Happy Friday!
And don't forget to check Blogger tutorials for more blog-handy tips and easy HTML, plus you can check SEO or Unclutter tips for more improving your web traffic secrets!:) I'm out now!!

Unclutter your blog - comments

Hi all!! Mid week, so we'll clean a bit our blog, to keep up the "unclutterness". Yup that's right, today we'll look into few ways of helping your blog look cleaner by focusing on the comments department. I know, all of us want comments & appreciation, but there are a few things that we can do to make life easier for our visitors.. ok... here it goes

1. Remove all the extra widgets that provide "secure commenting". They just add one more step for our readers to complete. And since they just want to drop us a line or two, sometimes more steps just make people give up and drive them away. So getting rid of that, will definitely make our readers' life much easier.

2. Lose the captcha image. You can add comment moderation to ensure that you receive no spam. But adding a captcha image on top of it, only adds one more step to the process, and there's no point in that. I always say you take one for the team, check through the spam in the background and spare your visitor of that unnecessary extra step.

3. Don't use different, colorful fonts for each individual comment. This step is only creating more distraction, and our goal is to keep distraction to a minimum. Too many colors create a visually cluttered field, and people often shift away from that.

4. Also , if you choose to use one of those fancy "secure comment" widgets, at least lose some of the steps people have to take, like adding their email address or typing some text in there etc. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can always visit their blog and catch up with them that way. I'm sure they would appreciate your visit and this way you can also make connections, not just individual touch-and-go hi-five's!

5. Don't make individual pages for comments. It's easier to use a pop up window if you need, rather than a different page. Pop ups don't load as slow as a new page.. and remember not everybody is high tech. And people love things that load faster rather than slower:)
I guess this is it for the comments department uncluttering tips today.

How to make an ordered list

Hi all! New week starting off great! SO we're here with more handy-dandy blog tips, SEO advice(search engine optimization), the scoop on easy HTML and all news on technical features and softwares.. or for short: Technical Support, as everybody already knows it:)

The topic for today is: how to make an ordered list!

This tutorial is going to be useful for those of you that hold giveaways and contests, but not only. I will explain how to create a numbered list, or ordered list, that makes it easier for you bloggers to introduce the people who enter your contests in it, or rank some winners in a contest, etc.

It's so easy you will wonder why didn't you do this earlier:) *I do that sometimes:P* Anyway.. Here's how it's done: you first need to open and close the list with these HTML tags:

Then you need to add this tag before and after every participant's name:

And that's kind of it:) Here's how it will look like when written in HTML:

And here's how it will turn out to be in real text:

entry 1

entry 2

entry 3

Easy, right? Now this will make life easier for those who hold contests, giveaways and other blog things that require ranking of any type:) Now that's it for today! Hope it helped!! Check back to see what comes up next in Blogger tutorial section, SEO tips department or how we teach new HTML tricks & tips every day!

Boost My Blog 8/20

Today it's Friday, that means it's time again to catch up with Boost My Blog Friday:
BoostMyBlogFriday

It's simple.. the only rule is: no rules!! That's right!! This blog-hop is supposed to be a boost in our blogs' asses... friends-wise:)!!
SO just make sure you link with us, follow me as the hostess (just cause i took the effort to babble here and add this form:P) and then feel free to follow whoever you want to, leave nice comments, send them love notes and chocolate boxes *WOW scratch that last part:P* and don't forget to do the happy dance!

And as always, today I have another question for you guys:
Now that the summer is almost gone, what is one thing you love about autumn?

Well fist is the cooler temperature, then the cute clothes and scarfs and then definitely the tan, rusty colors all over the places! I love autumn just because it reminds me that is not gonna be long 'til my favorite time of the year is coming: Winter:) Ok i can go on for hours talking about winter and Christmas, but i will just spare you of all that and let you guys tell me what's you favorite thing about autumn. So.. start sharing!!

Happy Friday!And don't forget to check Blogger tutorials for more blog-handy tips and easy HTML, plus you can check SEO or Unclutter tips for more improving your web traffic secrets!:) I'm out now!!

3 SEO tips not everybody knows

Hi all!! Today we'll be on with some new SEO tips not everybody knows! If you're here for more easy HTML tips, unclutter your blog advice or Blogger tutorials, you can find that by clicking the direct links or checking the top page!

Today's topic: 3 SEO tips not everybody knows

We already defined what SEO stands for and what does it mean. Anyway, there are millions of tips on this subject but as always i will focus on some that actually helped me. Everybody wants to be found by search engines these days:) Why, you may ask? Because used properly, search engines can drive tons of traffic, and traffic helps the ranking. So here's 3 SEO tips that not everybody knows (and this is smth that I keep improving myself):

1. Submit your blog to Social Bookmarking Sites! Your blog must be so great and useful, but as long as it is isolated, nobody will find out about it! So another way to scream your blog's name out of the top of your lungs, is to submit it to bookmarking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and there's plenty more like them!

2. Submit your blog to Google Blog Search! Well most of you know about Google as being the one almighty! And it is.. but not everyone knows how to use it in their advantage! So what you need to do is submit your blog post's URL to Google and i linked that here, so i can make it easier for you.

3. Submit your blog to other search engines! Submitting your blog to other search engines is as important as it is to submit it to Google. So here's a list of other engines and the direct link you can do that at: FeedBurner, WeBlogAlot, BlogRolling and IceRocket! There's many more but these are the highest ranked ones:)

And these are the 3 SEO tips I'm giving you today! More useful tips on the next SEO post! If you want to know more on this subject you can find other SEO tips here, or if you need help tweaking your blog you can find that under Blog Tips, right at the top of the page. :)

Unclutter you blog - footer and sidebars

New week's starting, so we'll hop on the horses and start riding, and what better way of doing that than cleaning a bit our blog. Yup that's right, today we'll look into few ways of helping your blog look cleaner. ok... here it goes

1. Remove links of what versions of Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, you are using. They just take up your footer space and there is no useful information for your readers in it.

2. Remove contact forms! They are not really useful, as they prevent readers sending you attachments plus they might be used as spam tools as well. If there are companies or persons interested in contacting you, a simple text or image button of your email address is enough!

3. Don't display your email address other places than where it makes total sense: like on advertising-related pages, or if you are a shop, on customer-service-related pages. There's no reason to place it among other email addresses or in the middle of the clutter. Be smart!

4. Remove or at least make a special page for Alexa, Technorati and other ranking widgets.. no one cares.. and in case someone is interested in that, you can make a special page called "Media Kit" or "Advertising" where you can release your ranking stats and other marketing tools for people or businesses that are interested to be working with you. Or you can simply use Blogger's new Stats tool in the background and you'll get the same information if you need it for marketing purposes.

5. Remove automatic translators... even tough the gesture to make your site available for non-English speakers is nice, the translator widgets are not quite effective, and they just take up your blog space. So just get rid of 'em!

Ok, enough for today's tips to fight blog clutter with Tinkerbell's magic wand:) Make sure you check the other Unclutter tips and don't miss any of 'em!! Also if you need more help tweaking your blog, easy HTML tips, SEO advice and more, you can find all of them right here on our blog!

Boost My Blog Friday - 08/12

Today it's Friday, that means it's time again to catch up with Boost My Blog Friday:
BoostMyBlogFriday

It's simple.. the only rule is: no rules!! That's right!! This blog-hop is supposed to be a boost in our blogs' asses... friends-wise:)!!
SO just make sure you link with us, follow me as the hostess (just cause i took the effort to babble here and add this form:P) and then feel free to follow whoever you want to, leave nice comments, send them love notes and chocolate boxes *WOW scratch that last part:P* and don't forget to do the happy dance!

And as always, today I have another question for you guys:
What was the best day of your life so far?

I have many favorites days that i love and treasure, cause my life is awesome like that;) But the best day of my life was my wedding day! It was so perfect, so serene, my husband was so perfect and smiled at me all the way to the isle.. BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!! So what is yours??? I'm so curious of this one:)

Happy Friday!And don't forget to check Blogger tutorials for more blog-handy tips and easy HTML, plus you can check SEO orUnclutter tips for more improving your web traffic secrets!:) I'm out now!!