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iBlog Sneak Peak: Simplicity

May 14, 2013 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

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The three winners of my iBlog giveaway are: Rachel R., Tara T., and Karen B.

I will be in touch with each of you! But wait, everyone is a winner today… Here is a very short excerpt from my chapter to give you a preview of the kinds of info shared in this e-book.

simplicity blogging

As you know the internet is quite large. There is a lot of content out there and more being produced every single day. The truth is, there is a lot of noise and a lot of content that is competing with yours.

Fortunately for you and for me the majority of content publishers out there don’t get the idea of simplicity. Rather than pulling back and creating something special, most sites just turn up the volume. Tons and tons of sites end up becoming hectic and busy billboards. You know the sites I’m talking about. You don’t know where to start and you just end up moving on because it hurts your eyes to stick around.

Remember we are talking about Curb Appeal. I am all for really fun, unique, and detailed posts. However, is your design simple? Intuitive? Easy to navigate? Is it easy to load?

Here are a few ideas on simplicity:

  • Navigation: I would encourage you to limit your site to have 4-6 tabs or pages when it comes to the navigation. Once you get beyond 6 tabs you can end up with lots of layers or nested navigation. This can be too much for someone to digest. It ends up looking busy.

navigation

  • Widgets and Gadgets: You can install a number of elements into your site that can assist with simplicity. WordPress calls them Widgets and Blogger calls them Gadgets. To put it simply these are plugins you can install into your site to help its functionality.
  • Mobile Responsiveness: Massive amounts of web content are being viewed on these tablets and smartphones every single day. Yet the majority of websites are not mobile responsive. Mobile Responsive is a design or a plugin that will adapt the layout of your site for a mobile device.
  • Load Times: If you are anything like me, if a page doesn’t load in about 5 seconds, I move on to the next site. I consider something to be wrong with it. I would suggest a Load Time plugin. There are a lot out there, find the one that suits you. The primary idea is that it will prioritize the order in which your content loads. Text first, pictures next, advertising last, etc.
  • Easy to Contact: As your blog grows people will want to contact you. It may simply be through a comment on your blog or the desire to send a personal message. Either way, make sure that your readers can easily contact you.

One of the primary elements of your design can be found in your consistency of creating new content. Think about your blog like a magazine. As you stand at the check out lines the new covers of a magazine draw your eye. Imagine if every week for several months the magazine covers never changed? Eventually you would lose interest because “I’ve seen that before.” But at the end of the day it’s about what is inside your home (aka blog) that makes it truly special. Be smart in your initial design, tweak as you go along and learn more, but keep the consistency of fresh new posts at the forefront of your work and your site will turn out just fine!

I wanted to share a few tips and encourage you that I think this e-book is a great read. If you didn’t win a copy, You can still buy one here.

Thanks so much for all your support!

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iBlog Book Giveaway

May 12, 2013 By Erica Deuel 8 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day sweet friends!

I am so thankful for my sweet mama and the awesome job she did with me and my eight siblings. The older I get the more I realize what a sacrifice she made and incredible job she did. I would not be the kind of mom I am today with out her guidance and love as she helped mold me.

happy mothers day

I am also incredibly grateful to be a mom. My three sweet kiddos make me laugh everyday as they are a joy and light in my life. As they are still young, I know Mother’s Day can be a big task for the dads out there. Thank you Matt for making me feel so loved today. It’s been an amazing day.

me and kids

Homemade pancakes out on our deck,

homemade cards that made me teary,

a little family thrifting,

a picnic lunch at a new park,

and now I am blogging.

I am so blessed.

Now on to some exciting news for today… I am honored to be a part of a new e-book. It is my first public work to be out there to buy, and I cannot believe it. I was so blessed to be chosen to collaborate with 29 other bloggers to make iBlog.

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It is a new e-book all about blogging. With nearly 400 pages and 38 chapters it is a how-to manual on blogging. A few of the chapter titles are: Getting Your Blog off the Ground, Building Your Brand, How To Get Traffic, How To Get Subscribers, Guest Posting, Link Ups, The Power of Attending a Conference, How to Write a Blog Review, and Time Saving Blog Tips are just a few of the many awesome chapters!

online home image

The chapter that I contributed is Blog Design 101. You know my amazing husband helped me write this, but it is something we are both really proud of. I have been holding off to reading this e-book until I had a good chunk of unpacking done. I think I will finally get to start it this week! I am so excited!

Will you read it with me?  With the content being everything you need to know about blogging, I know I have a lot I could learn. I am honored my name is mixed together with so many incredible bloggers on this production.

Today, I get to give away three copies of this book! I am so excited! If you would like to enter to win one of these three copies of iBlog simply let the rafflecopter widget load and enter as many ways as you want. I will release the winners to this giveaway this Tuesday. There isn’t much time to enter, so enter now! Happy Mother’s Day!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you don’t want to wait, you can buy your iBlog e-book today for $7.99. To help support me, please buy it from this link. 🙂

If you haven’t entered my Mohawk Rug giveaway there is still time. Finally, the winner to my “how many boxes did we pack” is Cheryl Gannaway. Her guess was 108 and our final count was 114 boxes. Great job Cheryl! I will be in touch!

I hope you are having an amazing Sunday with your families. I am off now to go back and hang with mine.

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