Design Chicky — Domestic Chicky

Extreme Makeover, Blog Edition

July 26, 2010 By Deanna Filed Under Design Chicky

UPDATE BELOW!!!

As much as I loved my last look, it was time for a change

Something LIGHTER

Something INSPIRING

Something NEW

If you’re reading from a feed reader, you’ll have to click over to see, and as a bonus…

To celebrate the new look and my upcoming birthday (44 in 1 week – eek!), every comment to this post will have a chance to win a whole new blog look from me!

Leave an answer to the following question:

What is your favorite cake?

I think my favorite cake is my wedding cake – white chocolate cake with raspberry filling, and white chocolate cream cheese frosting – it was So yummy!! Pineapple upside down cake runs a close second though…

I will draw a winner at random on my birthday (August 3rd), and the winner will recieve a brand new blog design!

Some of my most recent work includes:

In addition to what you can see on Design-Chicky.

So come on over and comment, if you can’t use the makeover yourself, maybe you know someone who does!

THE WINNER OF THE BLOG MAKEOVER IS #7, 100 Days in Bed – Congratulations! I will be contacting you shortly, and I will be sure to show off the new look right here!

16 Comments

Full Feeds vs. Partial Feeds – THAT is the question

December 12, 2009 By Deanna Filed Under Design Chicky, Domestic Chicky says...

As an avid blog reader (seriously - over 400 in my google reader!) of course I want EVERYONE to have full feeds, so I can read as much as I can in one place…it has cut back on my commenting, but I have made a better effort as of late, and I love finding new blogs to follow in people’s comments…

…and, I understand when bloggers choose not to use Full Feeds. They want the page views, they want to avoid scrapers (bots who copy and republish your content without your permnission), and they want to benefit from the ad revenue that blogher or other “pay by the eyeball” ads can generate.

However, as a blog designer, I will tell you what I tell my clients – the benefits to full feeds far outweigh the drawbacks. I tend to unfollow many blogs that only publish partial feeds (or in a few instances, NO feed at all-just a title!). It feels like I am being FORCED to click through if I want to enjoy the post of my favorite bloggers – and who are you to tell ME what to do? : P Not that hard-headedness is a character trait *I* possess (STOP laughing!).

Switching to full feeds may result in a few less page views at first, but people who read and clicked through their reader will eventually continue to do so. You will probably notice an upswing in the number of subscribers you have (you DO have feedburner to tell you how many subscribers you have, right?!?) - which are becoming just as important to advertisers and PR people as well. Feed reader readers (try saying THAT 5 times fast!) are practically a captive audience!

Which brings me to advertising – if you are currently taking private advertising or posting affiliate ads, posting a discrete graphic ad or two or a few text ads aren’t obtrusive and has resulted in significant extra clicks on the feed ads I have placed on The Apronista.

Ultimately, it’s a blogger’s own choice, and every blogger does things their own way. It’s what makes us all interesting, isn’t it?

PS – I love to share my favorite posts with my friends, and you can see those in my sidebar – which is on my blog -which you have to click through to see…which, um…crap. Oh! Unless you already use Google Reader, then you can find me there under domesticchicky (DER) and my shared posts will pop up in your reader too!! (whew – I nearly negated an entire post in one fell swoop!)

PSPS – I will love you forever if you know the connection between this post and the picture at the top of it

9 Comments

Some More of my New Blissdom Friends

March 15, 2009 By Deanna Filed Under Chick-ventures, Chicky Loves, Design Chicky

I met so many wonderful women at BlissDom that I couldn’t even begin to name them all – but I am going to share with you my lovely Next-Door Roomies:

First there is The Nester – she’s so popular now you have to capitalize her - THE NESTER. I worked with her a while back when I did some mommy cards for her, and she is just as nice and sweet (and funny) as she seems on her blog. I love looking at all her “mistreatments”, and I have taken a bit of what I have learned there and used it in my own home.

Melissa was a witness to my devastatingly embarassing dognapping/shoplifting incident, and don’t let her sugar-y sweet exterior fool you – this one is as devious as they come…NOT! Melissa is a genuinely funny and humble person – if her Inspired Room blog isn’t one of your daily reads, go fix that now…I’ll wait.

Emily is The Nester’s sister - her Chatting at the Sky has to be one of the prettiest blogs I have ever seen, and she takes GORGEOUS pictures. She also has the black cabinet kitchen of my dreams, and is BEYOND sweet.

Then there is Sandy – I don’t think I have ever met a more gracious, lovely, genuine, thoughtful lady in my life – she is the EPITOME of a lady. 4 Reluctant Entertainers is not only a beautiful blog, but I could spend hours in her archives and never get enough. She is an inspiring mother, wife, and friend.

I was so blessed to not only have 3 wonderful roommates at Blissdom, but 4 just-as-wonderful next (nest?) door roomies – I hope I get to see all of you next year!!

PS – one of my most recent clients was someone in the audience during my session, and I am just finishing up her blog – but here’s a sneak preview!!

trees-bird