My foray into a custom design

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . August 24, 2009 . 12:28PM

Some of my more observant readers have noticed something different about my page. Those of you that read via the feed may not have seen it yet, but my page has changed, drastically. I have a new look and I couldn’t be more pleased. The look is actually 3.5 months in the making.

A while ago, my friend Jen wrote a series of blog articles on how to market yourself as a blogger and gain readers. One of the items she advised was having your own style of blog that readers could identify as YOU. In other words, a custom design that, when viewers identified it visually, screamed YOU.

I took her words to heart and immediately started the process of looking for a custom design. What I found made my hair fall out. Literally. I was so stressed out that some hair fell out of my head. Everywhere I looked, designers were charging huge bucks to do what I felt like was a small project.

Initially, I was planning on choosing a template that was already out there and having someone do a nice banner and maybe some sidebars. Some of the places that I contacted for quotes wanted over $1,000 to do this for me. With my sponsorship in my sidebar, to date, I’ve made less than $2, which still puts me in the hole for my domain and hosting. To say $1,000 is over my budget is an understatement.

At this point, I almost gave up. I went to my guru, Neil, who has his own consulting and design business. Neil often gives me blog advice for freebies (YES!) and is my sounding board. He giggled when I told him that I had a modest budget. He urged me to remember that I write for free and that a free template should be sufficient.

Neil was right in many ways, especially because I don’t know where I want my blog to go. What I know is that I love writing this blog and I have a feeling that it’s going SOMEWHERE. I don’t know where SOMEWHERE is, but that somewhere is important. And if it’s going somewhere, it needs to be pretty.

This blog flitters from one topic to the next. I wanted my reader to feel like they were on my journey with me.Ok, so I’m a girl. I wanted my blog to be pretty. Sue me.

Neil did the boy thing and said, “Fine, whatever, but it will be difficult to find someone on your budget.”

The man didn’t lie. It took over a month to find someone who did work I LIKED and who could work with my budget. I found that person in Courtney. Courtney has a company called Judith Shakes Designs. I sent her a quote request and I had decided that if I couldn’t find someone whose work I liked and who could do it in my budget that week, that I was going to give up. Unless the blog started making money and I could afford the idiots charging $600-$1000 for a subpar design that was just ok.

I didn’t expect to hear anything back from her. I didn’t just like her work, I loved her work. And I heard back from her within 3 days. She stated that she could absolutely work with my budget and that she mainly caters to mom bloggers in the same situation I’m in–just starting up and with no idea how they will afford the expensive custom designers. Because she is able to work with a modest budget, it would take her a couple of months to get to my design (she’s in high demand!), and would that be ok?

It was more than ok. I was ecstatic.

Immediately, we started going over design topics and what I wanted. I had no idea what I wanted, but I knew what I didn’t want and we started there. All I really knew was that I liked swallows/birds, didn’t want anything too bright, it needed to be soothing and I’m a whimsical person, so I wanted it to be whimsical.

I think Courtney captured that perfectly. When I saw the design I gasped.

Why am I writing this? Because I am a person who believes that I should endorse people that do a good job. It’s part of living in our society. When someone does a good job, we tell it. When people do bad jobs, we tell it. I want people to know about Courtney and Judith Shakes Designs because she did such a great job. She helped make one of my blog goals come true and she did it so nicely.

She’s not giving me a discount for writing this or freebies for saying nice things about her. She’s just really that good and I want you to consider her because I care about my readers and I had such a great experience with her.

Oh, and P.S. check out my twitter background! Thank you, again, Courtney.

Winners of Giveaway #2!

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . July 3, 2009 . 9:05PM

I know you all have been waiting on pins and needles! Sorry about the delay. We’ve been away from home and computer all day, for many reasons, and are just now getting in. I have the results from GIVEWAY #2!

Randomizer.org chose comments #3 and #12 and taking out the comments that were ineligible, that means our winners are Arie and Kelly! YAY!! One pound of candy is coming to each of you. Please email me your physical address (you can click the little email link under my picture on the homepage or email me at jillian at blueshelled dot com) as well as any candy likes/dislikes/allergies/sugar issues and I will run by the mall this weekend. I believe the mall is closed Saturday for Independence day so these will likely go out on Monday!

Congratulations to the winners and to those that didn’t win, don’t worry. I love doing giveways and already have the next one planned. It’ll be coming soon!

A HUGE thank you to all those who participated. I learned a lot about your wants and needs and, as a blogger, that is invaluable information.

Giveaway #2: A request for feedback

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . June 29, 2009 . 5:57PM

I’m a little over 3 months into this blog-writing thing and I’m feeling a little stagnant. New things are coming. EXCITING things are coming. I have a giveaway coming that will have not one, not two, but THREE winners (no, not today’s giveaway!). A designer, somewhere far, far away, is making a template for this blog that will be beautiful and will make blueshelled.com unique format-wise. I’m considering flexing some of my contact skills and bringing in some guest writers in the near future and there are other things that I would like to do in the future that are still up in the air.

For now, though, I want to focus on quality and make sure that I continue to write a post daily, that it is quality work, that my page is working and that I communicate with those of you that take the time to talk to me. Growing this blog is on my mind, but the quality of the blog comes first, always.

The last time we did a giveaway (another huge thank you to Linda Lee) was a great success. I got to read stories about your summers and heard things that took me to a happier place. I met new friends and got nostalgic with old ones. I think that I got more excited than some of you to be giving away free things and it’s encouraged me to find reasons to do so more often.

So, I was looking for a reason and I found one. I don’t want to be stagnant and I need your input. People are more inclined to give input if they have a reason. I have TWO reasons this go around. Let me explain.

A.J. loves to go to the cool, air-conditioned mall in the summertime. His favorite store there is the candy store. It is a small, Wonka-like kiosk, where he can buy 1/2 to 1 pound or numerous pounds of candy for a set price per pound. He loves to pick out different flavors of jelly beans. I love to pick out different flavors of chocolate. They also have balloons and ICEEs and gummy things of all sorts. I want to share the love. Two winners will receive 1 pound of the candy chosen by A.J. Special needs (allergies/likes) will be taken into account (see rules).

Here’s how to enter:

1) Leave a comment before July 3, 2009 at 5pm CST giving me your input on this blog. The input can be favorable (aspects you like about the blog) or constructive criticism (things that are lacking or things you’d like to change). Again, it doesn’t have to be good, just please say it nicely. YOU SUCK isn’t nice.
2) You can tweet this giveway and/or link it on facebook or your own blog for extra chances to win! Make sure you leave individual comments so all of your entries count.

Things to know:
**I only ship in the U.S. for this particular giveaway. This will not always be the case, so don’t despair, my international buddies. There are more giveaways coming soon.
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address in order to receive your prize. When you email me your address, please let me know if you have any allergies and/or if you need sugar free delights. I am not responsible for candy that melts in the mail or any issues that may occur if you give me the wrong mailing address.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the two winners of the giveaway. As long as your answer fits the criteria, you are eligible (unless you are me, Leon or A.J.).