Some of the nicest Halloween desktop wallpapers I have come across.  Since we’re on the computer so much, it helps to liven things up every now and then.  Enjoy!

Having a good logo or design can work wonders for your blog.  Normally, I have a difficult time trying to decide what type of logo to use and what elements it should incorporate.  It often helps to see what others are doing and learning from the leaders in your field – or the most popular companies.  In this case, I’ve rounded up the logos of the 50 most popular blogs so you can have a little insight into the designs of some of the world’s most-trafficked sites.

While these are great ways to start getting the wheels spinning – use them simply as a source of inspiration for your logo.  You need to be different and creative to set yourself apart from everyone else and give your blog a unique look and brand.

I hope this collection gets your creative juices flowing and inspires you with your own site or blog.

Related posts:

1. Marketing Apple: 5 Secrets of the World’s Best Marketing Machine
2. 240+ Twitter Logos & Icons for Your Website or Blog
3. The Thesis Theme for WordPress – An Overview of the Popular Framework

If you read sites about blogging or WordPress, then you probably have heard or read about the Thesis Theme for WordPress.  This theme has quickly become one of the most widely-used themes (it’s extremely versatile and powerful) for running your WordPress-powered site or blog.  Thesis is really more than just a theme, it’s a framework upon which you can build nearly any type of design or layout that you could want – while being the most search-engine friendly of the themes available today.

While I’m not going to get into a review in this post – I did want to give an overview of the the theme and its capabilities.

Watch a video overview of the Thesis Theme in action »

Optimized for performance

As one of the most powerful themes on the market, Thesis delivers on value, quality, and results when implemented.  I have used it and it makes managing your content, layout, and design very simple.  The major aspects that go into setting up a new site have all been addressed with this theme:

• Optimized for search engines (SEO-friendly)
• User-friendly (you don’t need to know how to code or program)
• Easy-to-use interface
• Typographically optimized for best results
• Support in case you need help with something
• Lifetime upgrades included at no extra cost

Used by the professionals

Since its release, Thesis has become the choice for some of the top web professionals and some of the most highly-trafficked sites including:

• Chris Brogan
• Copyblogger
• Matt Cutts
• Tip’d
• and many other industry-leading sites

Powerful framework

As I mentioned earlier, Thesis is much more than simply a design for WordPress – it is a powerful framework that has features and functionality that put it in a class by itself.

Check out the theme

In order to really appreciate everything it does – you really need to go check out the Thesis Theme for yourself.  You can watch a few of the intro videos that walk you through how it works on their site – and see for yourself why so many people are using it.

Check Out the Thesis Theme for WordPress

Related posts:

1. What is WordPress?
2. Affiliate Theme by Unique Blog Designs
3. 6 of the Most Professional (and modern) WordPress Real Estate Themes

If you have ever wondered how to get an image to appear next to the blog comments you leave – you need to go and sign up for a Gravatar.  Technically known as “globally recognized avatars”, Gravatars are images associated with a particular email address.  Since they are tied to your email, anytime you leave a comment on a blog that requires your email (and has gravatars enabled on their site) your image will appear next to your comment.

It’s a pretty cool way to let people easily recognize you around the web and kind of connect a bit with you when they see your image.

So how do you get a Gravatar?

The great thing about Gravatars is that they are completely free.  You simply need to sign up for one and you can be up and running in a few minutes.

How to create your own Gravatar

I’ll walk you through the process here, and in a few minutes – you’ll have your very own!

1. Visit Gravatar.com and choose “Get Your Gravatar Today“
2. Enter the primary email address that you want to associate your image with
3. Create or upload the picture that you want to use (recommended size is 80px by 80px).  If it’s larger that’s alright, because you can crop it after it’s uploaded.
4. Once your image is uploaded, you will be asked to assign a rating from G (all audiences) to X (extremely graphic)
5. You’re finished!

Using your Gravatar

Now that you have finished creating your gravatar, anytime you leave a comment on a site or blog that has gravatars enabled – your image will appear next to your comment.  Pretty cool, isn’t it!

Anytime you want to change your image, simply log into your Gravatar account and upload a new one – and all of the blog posts you have made in the past will now reflect your new picture.

Related posts:

1. How to Create a Favicon for Your Site or Blog
2. Comment Relish: Automatically Follow-Up with Blog Comments by Email
3. 14 Strategies to Get More Blog Comments

Recently in one of my comments TipTopCat asked:

Question: Love your favicon and your profile pic. I see you have details about how to do the favicon but how do you create the cartoon profile pic?  Think I would like to add one to my site.

I’m not a graphic designer so Photoshop, Fireworks, or some other photo editing or graphics software was out of the question for me.  After doing some digging around I came across several sites that either allow you to upload a picture of yourself, or start with a blank canvas and create a cartoon pic, or avatar that is exactly how you want it.

I used one of these generators to create the cartoon pic that you see on the site here – what’s great is that you can then also use it in forums, on Twitter, and all of the other places where you have a presence.

Whether it’s photos or a cartoon avatar, creating someone your readers can connect with is a great way to get on a more personal level.  I recently wrote about using a persona Create a Persona to Connect With Readers & Convey Personality, that explains how being personal creates a deeper connection with your site visitors.

Here are some cool cartoon generators (most of them are free) so you can create your very own cartoon you:

Meez

Portrait Illustration Maker

Mii

Face Your Manga

WeeMee

Create My Picture

DoppelMe

Create South Park Avatar

Cartoon Me

Related posts:

1. Create a Persona to Connect With Readers & Convey Personality
2. How to Create a Favicon for Your Site or Blog
3. Looking Back on The First 30 Days of Blogging – Stats & Insight for BigManta.com

Favicons are small icons that are displayed in your internet browser’s address bar, in your visitor’s bookmarks, and several other places.  A favicon allows you to give your site some branding and recognition when people visit your site or view your site in their bookmarks – and are a great, simple way to brand your site.

While often overlooked, these little images can be very powerful in reinforcing the image of your site and bringing familiarity to your readers.

How to Create a Favicon

Creating a favicon for your site is very simple and you can have one up and running in a matter of minutes.  There are a few steps to get your very own favicon for your site or blog:

1. Create an image
   Create an image that you would like to use.  You want it to be similar to your site’s design or integrate your logo somehow.  Since the image will be fairly small (about 16 pixels square), you will want it to be easy to see when it is scaled-down.
2. Convert it to a “.ico” file
   Once you have created your favicon’s image, we now need to convert it into a “.ico” file.  The easiest way I have found to do this is by using Dynamic Drive’s FavIcon Generator.  Simply upload your image, click “Create Icon” and then download your favicon to your desktop.
3. Upload it to your site
   Now that you have created your Favicon, you need to upload it to your site.  I typically upload it to the root (the main folder) of my site or blog (i.e. http://bigmanta.com/).
4. Add a piece of code
   The final step is to put a piece of code in the header of your site so that your favicon will appear.  To do this, simply place the following piece of code in your header:

<link rel=”shortcut icon” type=”image/x-icon” href=”/favicon.ico”>

You’re finished, you should now have a fully-functioning favicon that can help your branding efforts and start creating recognition for your site and yourself!

You can see the favicon I just created for Big Manta here: http://bigmanta.com/favicon.ico.

To check to make sure your favicon is working properly, check it in your browser by visiting http://YourSite.com/favicon.ico (if you uploaded it to your main directory).  You may also notice that your favicon might not appear immediately.  If it’s not showing up, you can restart your browser and it should appear.

Related posts:

1. How to Create a Gravatar: So an Image Appears Next to Your Blog Comments
2. How to Create a Cartoon Pic of Yourself – 9 Cartoon Generators
3. Use Interviews to Create Content For Your Site or Blog

Twitter has become a phenomenon that seems to keep growing in popularity each day that goes by.  With millions of people using the service, the demand for Twitter icons and logos continues to increase.  If you have a blog or website, an excellent way to get new followers promote your Twitter account is by prominently displaying it on your site or blog.  Lucky for us, there are literally hundreds of different designs, icons, and logos you can use to enhance your site’s design and encourage people to follow you.

Here I have rounded up some of the best Twitter icons and sets that can add some flair and personality to your site or blog.

Twitter Birdies

Cute Tweeters

50 Free & Exclusive Twitter Icons

Twitter Bird

Twitter Bird

Twitter Square Icons

Twitter Block Icons

Twitter Tweetbird

Twitter Bird Icons

Tweet Tweet Cute Tweet

Twitter Birdy Icon

Twitter Vector Icon Set

Twittercons

Twitter From Monkeyworks

There are tons of great icons, logos, and characters that he has created. You need to dig around, but you will see some cool stuff on his site as well.

Kweet

Twitter Birds

Twitter Badges

Set of 24 Twitter Badges

Twitter Birds

Twitter Fat Birds

Twitter Bird Icons

40 Twitter Graphics

Lovely Twitter Icons

30 Twitter Vectors

Twitter On The Beach

Colorful Twitter Icons

Twitter 3 Types

Twitter More Free Icons

2 Awesome Twitter Icons

Happy Birds

Twitter Bird

Twitter Whistling Bird

Helvetwitca

Check out these other Twitter Icon & Logo Collections

• 350+ Fresh Twitter Icons
• 400+ Beautiful Twitter Icons for Your Website
• 100+ Remarkably Beautiful Twitter Icons and Buttons
• 100+ Free Twitter Icon Sets
• 30 Fresh & High Quality Twitter Icon Sets
• 35 Original and Creative Free Twitter Icon Sets

Related posts:

1. Using Lists & Roundups For Content: 4 Successful Blog Examples
2. Design Inspiration: The Logos of the 40 Most Popular Blogs
3. Why a Fast Load Time For Your Blog or Website is So Important

While website load time was a major focus and concern ten years ago, as internet connection speeds have gotten faster and technology has advanced – many of us have forgotten the impact that a slow-loading site can have on our visitors.  As the internet was in its early stages and just starting to evolve, several studies were done to determine how much of an impact load time had on visitors.  Over the years the recommended time has changed and continues to get lower each year.

The evolution of recommended load times

There have been several studies over the years that show how load time affects your visitors and their abandonment of your site:

• 1999 (the 8-second rule) - A study done in by Zona Research showed that you lose a large majority of your visitors if your site takes longer than 8 seconds to load.
• 2006 (the 4-second rule) - A study by Akamai and Jupiter Research showed that the new rule for load time should be 4 seconds for a site.
• 2009 (the 3-second rule) - Forrester Research released a study that states 40% of people will abandon a site if it takes 3 seconds or longer to load.

You can see from these studies that our threshold for what is an acceptable load time keeps getting shorter and shorter as each year goes by.

Why is my site or blog load time important?

The results from the most recent report by Forrester Research shows you how integral your load time can be to the success of your site.  Stop and think about these figures, if your site takes 3 seconds or longer to load – you can be losing 4 out of every 10 visitors! You have already done the difficult part by getting them to your site – don’t lose them once they are there.  Even with today’s website and blog platforms, you need to constantly be aware of your load time and how to improve it.

Sometimes things as seemingly insignificant as a picture that hasn’t been properly resized, can mean the difference between your site loading in 9 seconds or 2 seconds.

Don’t let your site potentially lose 40% of your visitors

You work so hard to to drive traffic to your site – make sure it loads fast so you can keep those valuable visitors on your pages and coming back for more.

Related posts:

1. How to Create a Gravatar: So an Image Appears Next to Your Blog Comments
2. 12 Essential Elements of any Business Website
3. 240+ Twitter Logos & Icons for Your Website or Blog

There are a few tools that I use on an everyday basis when developing blogs or websites – and the free Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox is one of my essentials.  Even if you’re not a developer or programmer you can use and do a lot of cool things with this add-on.

While there are over 100 different things that the toolbar allows you to do, there are a few features that I use every day.  This toolbar has literally cut my work in half and given me the ability to do things that (before the toolbar) would take me a lot of time and energy trying to accomplish.  What is really neat, is that you can use this on ANY website or blog – not just your own.

Some of my favorite features of the Web Developer Toolbar

• Display Ruler – This feature allows you to measure practically anything on a website by creating a box that you can reposition over different elements.  Whether you need to see how wide a column should be, view the size of various elements on your page, or anything on a site that you would want to determine the size of, can be measured with this feature.
• View Style Information – I’m not a formal programmer or developer and everything I know is self-taught.  When selected, the “view style information” gives you the ability to hover over any element on a page and it will display the CSS information in a box above your browser.  This allows you to easily see how something is styled and to view the CSS of a particular item without the need to view the source code – this is probably my most-used feature.
• Edit HTML – This is yet another really cool feature of the toolbar that allows you to edit HTML without copying and pasting or going in the backend.  When selected, a box of source code will appear in your browser and you can edit the HTML and see the results in real-time.
• Validation - Built into the toolbar are several options that allow you to check the validation of elements of a site including: CSS, HTML, feeds, links, and more.

View almost any aspect of a site or blog

With the Web Developer Toolbar you can view just about any type of information that relates to the structure of any site or blog.  It is by far one of my favorite tools, it’s completely free, and I guarantee it can help you become more efficient and make your life easier when building your blog or website.

Download the FREE Web Developer Toolbar here

Related posts:

1. How to Track Your Website Traffic & Visitors
2. 12 Essential Elements of any Business Website
3. Creating The Perfect Business Card: The Essential Elements

Real estate agents, brokers, and companies have a many tools at their disposal when it comes to gaining new prospects or leads on the internet.  Services like Trulia, Zillow, and hundreds of other sites have helped transform the way that people research and buy real estate.  However, one of the most frequently overlooked (and often neglected) tools that they have, is their own website.  While third-party sites can help you appeal to a wide audience, having your own site can help you build your real estate business, website, or blog into an information source and lead-generation machine unlike any other.

One of the easiest and most cost-efficient ways to set up a real estate site is by utilizing WordPress and choosing one of the wide variety of real estate themes that are currently available.  The real estate category is unique in the fact that there are several companies and individuals who have catered to this market by creating themes designed specifically with real estate in mind.  While these themes are premium (paid), you will find that the cost of outsourcing or hiring a developer can run hundreds or thousands of dollars compared to a premium theme that will run you only $50-100.

Initially I was going to create a list of free and premium themes, but the free themes that I came across contained errors, code validation problems, did not show up well in different browsers, and were very poor in their quality of design.  Below I present one of the largest collections of professionally-designed themes for real estate agents, realty companies, or those who have a site dedicated the topic.

Premium WordPress Real Estate Themes

Agent Theme – Demo | More Information

Homeowner WordPress Real Estate – Demo | More Information

Open House WordPress Real Estate – Demo | More Information

Smooth Real Estate – Demo | More Information

The Bel Air – Demo | More Information

deCasa – Demo | More Information

Related posts:

1. What is WordPress?
2. The Thesis Theme for WordPress – An Overview of the Popular Framework
3. The Web Developer Toolbar: An Essential Free Tool for Bloggers