Graphic design prize draw winners

It’s finally arrived, the month of my one year blog birthday, and in celebration, I’ve given away some fantastic prizes, kindly donated by a host of excellent blog authors.
The winners listed below were drawn, using a random number generator, by Jamie (above right) of Terinea, an Edinburgh computer services company. Thanks for your help, Jamie.
Here [...]

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Google search rank drop: advice needed

If you show advertising on your website / blog, or are thinking of doing so, this is something you need to know.
I’ve just removed what little advertising there was on my blog. The ads were shown below my category list, and included just four simple text link ads (two for print cartridge retailers and two [...]

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$4,000 blog anniversary prize draw

To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of my graphic design blog, I’m launching this bumper giveaway to thank you all. You’ve helped make this site what it is today and here are the fantastic prizes up for grabs:
Gold award

The ultimate business blog package:

Logo design from David Airey. Add a touch of professionalism to your business [...]

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Combat DoFollow spammers using this WordPress Plugin

Whatever side of the NoFollow / DoFollow debate you’re on, I’m sure you’ll be against spammers and junk commenters.
I removed ‘rel=nofollow’ from my comments quite a while ago now, but only today did I realise that I’ve been using the wrong Plugin for the job. The way I had it, all comment links weren’t followed [...]

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Your readers are great writing inspiration

Whether you publish a blog post three times per day, once every day, or even once per week, finding inspiration can prove troublesome. I’ve been able to keep a decent level of consistency up on my blog, posting on average more than once every two days. I owe a lot to you, my readers.
When you [...]

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5 things about design, blogs, and me

Brian Gardner recently asked me, and some design friends, five questions related to design and blogs. Here’s the short Q and A session:
What is something that would surprise people about you and design?
Most of my graphic design knowledge is completely self-taught, and I’ve learnt perhaps 100 times more since leaving education. I don’t regret my [...]

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4,000th commenter deserves a mention

Ilker, of The Thinking Blog, recently left the 4,000th comment here on my site. I like to feature each person who leaves a milestone comment, to thank them for visiting, and for participating in the discussion. I also think it’s a good idea to celebrate your blog milestones, and this is a way of giving [...]

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Celebrate your blog milestones

Celebrating your blog milestones is a great way to both thank your readers, and to detail the progress you’re making. When was the last time you celebrated?

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1 year anniversary prize giveaway

Having started my blog last October, it won’t be long before the one year anniversary. To celebrate, I’m running a graphic design / marketing / branding / SEO / blogging prize giveaway, with the aim of thanking each and every one of you for your valued contributions, subscriptions and site visits.
I recently contacted a few [...]

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5 of the best WordPress plugins

I use WordPress to power my website. One of the great aspects of using WordPress is the number of plugins available. They’re simple to install and can improve user-friendliness and functionality.
Here are 5 of the best WordPress plugins available:
#1 Subscribe to comments
The ‘subscribe to comments‘ plugin is, in my opinion, the most important plugin you [...]

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