5 Most Useful Blogs for Web Design & Development

I have found 5 Most Useful Blogs for Web Design and Development. Almost all of them are daily updated, and cover a wide range of topics including inspiration, design trends, tutorials, interviews, website showcase, programming techniques and resources. Add them all to your RSS reader and receive these useful information every day.

GoMediaZine is a group of guys and girls who are passionate about art and graphic design. The blog filled with lots of helpful tutorials and advice about business and design. (RSS)

WebDesignerWall serves as Nick La’s public blog where he posts his design ideas, tutorials, and talk about modern web design trends. (RSS)

Fubiz site is focused on the subjects of the graphic world. You can get some really inspiring and creative pictures from Fubiz. (RSS)

Veerle Pieters is a graphic/web designer living in Belgium. Veerle’s Blog is an online source for topics ranging from XHTML/CSS to graphic design tips. (RSS)

AdGoodness showcase only the best advertising and design around the globe. This site is there to start a conversation, to inspire, to enjoy great work, or to just talk about what your views are. (RSS)

7 Ways To Learned About Twitter

I've been involved with Twitter for approximately 1 month now, and I've learned a few things that have enabled me to use Twitter very effectively:

1. You need to have a clear and concise vision how you're going to use Twitter. You need to know going in exactly what you want from Twitter. Are you going to use Twitter as a serious business tool, or for casual, social purposes? What is your end game?

2. You can use Twitter anyway you like. You can use it to build a mailing list - to announce specials or discounts - to take surveys - to announce new blog posts. Brick and mortar stores can use it to pre-take orders for pickup, like one coffee shop is doing. Authors can use it to post book excerpts.
3. Twitter works. In the approximately 4 weeks I've been using Twitter, I've increased my affiliate sales and my traffic. I've made invaluable business contacts and a few friends.

4. It isn't necessary to follow thousands of people to get the most out of Twitter. You can if you want to of course, but in my opinion, following that many people is counter-productive. Besides, it's impossible to follow thousands of people and actually read what each one of them has to say.

5. The people who are the most successful on Twitter give value. Be it business tips, articles, free reports, free software downloads, etc. They spend the majority of their time giving value, and helping others. They don't bombard their followers with spam, and they don't spend the majority of their time talking about what they had for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

6. You have to participate. Get involved in conversations. Even if no one responds to you everytime, people do take notice of who participates and who sits on the sidelines. If someone tweets something you like and you think others would like it as well, retweet (RT) it to your followers.

7. Reach out to others. Even though I'm new to Twitter, I've already reached out to people who can help me get to where I want to go. For example, I've reached out to one lady who is a PR expert, and is constantly being interviewed on national television. I've also reached out to a blogger with a national radio show and 100,000 followers. A few people have reached out to me as well. Reach out!

5 Easy Ways to Market Your Blog

Marketing your blog is really no different from marketing a traditional website. With a blog though, especially if you are building all of your websites using blog software, your site tends to rank higher in the search engines.

There are many ways to get traffic to your blog. To help you get traffic easily, here are five ways to get started:

1. Submit your sitemap to the major search engines.

2. Ping your blog.

3. Use trackbacks to get your blog noticed.

4. Comment on other blogs.

5. Build backlinks to your blog.

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