Changes {For the Better}

In the past 15 months Beautiful Blog Designs has grown beyond what I ever imagined it would or could. And, with that growth has come new responsibilities and expectations for me. Each week I get emails from bloggers or designers requesting one thing or another, and for a while it wasn't too much for me to handle. However, I have started some new ventures (which I will share at a later date) and I need to streamline and set parameters which will help bloggers, blog designers and me.

Please, please don't take this post for snotty or full-of-myself, because I promise that is not my intent. I just have so much else going on that I needed change things so that I can better help those asking for service.

FOR BLOGGERS:

If you are a blogger, no matter the platform, and you would like me to recommend a designer for you, please copy the following questions in an email and supply your answers in a different color. I will respond as soon as possible (will vary from 24 hours to a week).

1. Do you need a full design or just some tweaking?
2. What blogging platform do you use or would like to move to?
3. What style would you prefer (scrappy, modern, shabby-chic, etc.)?
4. How much are you willing to spend? Less than $100? Between $100 - $200? Over $200?
5. What is more important to you - speed of design & launch or quality, i.e. do you have time to wait in a designers queue or do you want something quickly?

If you are a blogger and you would like me to look over your blog and give feedback, I can help you via a Budget Critic (sorry, had to discontinue the free critics, too many requests and not enough time):

• Budget Critic: $15 - I take a good look at your blog, click through areas, evaluate the overall user friendliness, speed of page loading, etc. and give you a detailed response including links to tutorials to help you improve problem areas. Included with the Budget Critic is a second look once you've made the changes.

To request a Budget Critic simply click on Buy Now below, and once I receive the confirmation, I will email you with a questionnaire for you to fill out and return. I will review your blog within 24 hours.

FOR DESIGNERS:
If you are a designer and you would like to be listed at BBD, please send me an email with the following:

1. Your design studio name
2. The URL address to your site
3. What blog platforms you design in
4. What lists you would like to be placed on (free templates, free backgrounds, premades, custom, etc.)

If you are a designer and would like me to publicize a giveaway on the giveaway page, please send me an email with the following:

• The exact HTML code in a TXT document, with the following information:
• Your linked button
• The giveaway item (and value)
• The giveaway end date
• Where to enter

I would like to keep the Giveaways page more up-to-date than I've been able to in the past six months and if you (designers) can send me that above information in a TXT document, I can easily do so.

If you would like to a sponsor spot on BBD, please email me. All the spots are currently taken, but when I move to Wordpress in September, there will be nine instead of six and I can put you on the waiting list (yes, sorry, there is already a waiting list.)

Sharing About Me, Tell Me About You...

Breaking away from blog design talk to share about me and find out about you!

Most of you who follow this blog do so for tutorials, designers lists and blog design giveaways, and probably know very little about me. Now, I am not that important to the value of Beautiful Blog Designs, but I thought some of you might like to know what I've been up to and what keeps me from hanging out there more. ;-)



During the school year I stay busy with homeschooling my four children. Their grades are 5th, 3rd, Kindergarten and preschool. We are very involved in various clubs like Chess and Lego.


On the weekends and some weekdays I do book fairs and booths for Usborne Books, educational children's books. Sometimes the kids go with me, sometimes not.


Whether I'm at home, at an Usborne event or at a homeschool function, I have one of my Nikon DSLRs with me. I picked up photography as a hobby after my dad died one year ago and it has been so very fulfilling for me.



Over at my personal blog, Moving Forward, I share lots and lots of pictures about all these things, plus life on a farm and occasionally share recipes.


So, what I want to know is what you've been blogging about lately. Also, I'd love to hear if and how your blog has evolved since you started it.

Moving Forward started out as a place to share about my mistakes and how I am learning from them. It is still kind of that, but mostly it's a place for me to share pictures daily and talk about what is going on in our life right now.

A New Design for BBD!

Surprise! Beautiful Blog Designs has a completely new look. I realized the one year anniversary is coming up in January so I decided to give it a new look for the new year. First I went to the designer who had created BBD's old header and nav bar, Summer, however she wasn't taking on new clients right now. Thus began the search for a designer.

After looking for a few weeks at several different designers, I decided to contact Designer Blogs. They had done such a fast and efficient job of installing a premade on Moving Forwrd and I love just about everything they design.

I want to thank Erin at Designer Blogs for really catching my vision for BBD and doing a extraordinary job on it. She was sweet, helpful and a delight to work with. The design was started and finished in one day, and while I had planned to not have it unveiled until my blogoversary, I couldn't wait and had her install it yesterday.

Designer Blogs has a blogoversary coming up in January as well and they plan a big celebration with some awesome giveaways. So, if you are in the market for a new blog design, be sure to check there next month.

Special Note: Design inspiration for BBD's new "do" came from A Soft Place to Land, designed by Darcy at Graphically Designing.

A Few Thoughts

We had a great giveaway last week and I appreciate everyone who participated. I didn't go through my normal posting routine, as the giveaway kind of threw me off. I will be better this week.

In a little while I'll have my next giveaway post published and I am so excited about this one too! It's a little different and I love to spice things up. Then later in the day I will have the Beautiful Blog post ready to go also.

On top of the other weekly things I do, I am going to start featuring blog that go through a redesign, either by a designer or by their own skills, sort of a "before and after" post. I have two in the works. If your blog is getting redesigned and you would like to be featured, let me know so I can snag a screen print of your blog before the changes are made.

If there is anything else I can do to help you or ideas you have that may help other bloggers, please let me know.

How Can Beautiful Blog Designs Help You

I started Beautiful Blog Designs at the end of January, 2008 and it has really grown and changed. It has gone from a site simply listing where to get free templates to a place where bloggers, new and old, can find ways to beautify their blogs.

Along the way I have created a few series to help both bloggers and designers.

• Beautiful Blog Series - Each Monday I feature a blog which is particularly beautiful and reader friendly. See if your blog qualifies by reading this post.
• Free Template Series - Each Tuesday I feature a designer who provides many free templates.
• Custom Blog Designer Series - Each Thursday I feature a designer who creates custom blog designs.
• Tutorials Series (new) - Each Friday I will share a tutorial I recently discovered or used which I think is useful for everyday bloggers like myself.
• Design Giveaways - Each Sunday I will revise the Giveaways page with current giveaways, removing those which have expired.

I have one more series in the works - Before and After. If you are having your blog redesigned by a blog designer, let me know in a comment or email, and I will take a screen shot of your blog before the face lift and then again after it. I will write a post showing the change, linking back to your site of course.

Also, I have started to offer two services:

• Free tweaking of headers (from free templates or backgrounds) with a custom font. Those interested need to email me.
• Private blog critiques. As soon as I offered these, several bloggers ask for them and they have been very pleased (testimonials coming soon). And, they are FREE! I did a search and blog critiques can cost you up to $250! Read about my critiques at this post.

As always, if you use my services (find a free template, hire a designer, get a critique) in any way, please give credit by posting my button in your sidebar or sharing about this site in a post.

I hope you find BBD useful. If there is anything I can do to make it better, please let me know.

New Design Reveal and a Giveaway!

My personal blog, Moving Forward, turned one over the weekend and to celebrate I had Summer design a new look for me. I am thrilled with it (of course - she is so talented!) and wanted to share it with my friends here at BBD.

What the new design has:

1. Lots of white space, loads quickly
2. Clean lines, cheerful colors and simple design
3. A navigation bar to help me keep things organized
4. Wide post sections so pictures I share from my Nikon d60 can be larger
   

Now, to celebrate I am giving away $15 towards any design elements or custom design at Designs by Summer. You are welcome to head over there and participate in the giveaway also. It ends July 17th, so don't delay. Please note that you need to enter there, not here.

About Beautiful Blog Designs

Please read this post to see the changes made recently for bloggers and designers.

What is Beautiful Blog Designs?

Beautiful Blog Designs is a blog dedicated to helping bloggers find free and premade blog templates, as well as showcase the many talented female blog designers. Most of the designers listed here are work-at-home moms who design blogs as a way to bring in extra income for their family. Beautiful Blog Designs is more than just a list of designers, though. Read this post to see all the BBD has to offer.

I do not receive any compensation from any designers or bloggers for featuring their blogs or advertising sales and giveaways. Nor do I receive free designs for this blog or my personal blog, Moving Forward. When I recommend a designer in a post or by use of their button in my sidebar it is because I think they are talented and have a great service to offer.

Giveaways offered here are almost always purchased by me, out of my own pocket. Why? Because they are fun and I truly enjoy helping others. Occasionally a designer will ask me to host a giveaway, and I am always clear that it is coming from them, not me.

How did Beautiful Blog Designs get started?

My name is Amanda and I have been blogging since August, 2008. I was quite satisfied with my generic Blogger template for the first few months until I really started visiting other blogs. I was amazed by the beautiful blog templates and wanted one for myself. After much searching, I discovered Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates and gave my personal blog, Moving Forward, a free facelift. After a while I upgraded to a custom design by Designs by Summer.

Each time I visited a blog, I was very intrigued by their blog design, checking out the designer who created it. Sometimes I found free templates provided by the designer, sometimes premade. I was bookmarking so many, I thought I would start a blog to help other new bloggers find a way to beautify their blog, either with a free template or by purchasing a premade or custom design. Thus Beautiful Blog Designs was born (with a free template from Made by Madeline).

As for the design of BBD, the current design was created by Designer Blogs. Previously I have worked with Designs by Summer for header and custom navigation bar. I highly recommend both designers!

Who is Amanda?

I am a homeschooling, work-at-home mom of four children, ages 11 to 4. I live in rural SC and take pictures of my kids and cows. For the past three and a half years I have been a consultant and supervisor for Usborne Books. How I find time to blog, I do not know.

I enjoy helping others and that is what BBD is all about.

Let others know about BBD with this button:

If you benefit from this blog by finding a free or premade design you like, or find a designer you want to work with, please let others know how you found it by using the button below for a few days after installation. Or, if you think this site is just too darn neat and want to shout if from the roof tops, add this button to your sidebar.

<a href="http://beautifulblogdesigns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z78/mikerin3/Amanda%20Padgett/FinalButtoncopy-2.png"/></a><br/>

Welcome to Beautiful Blog Designs

Hi there! I am glad you have stopped by. This blog is in its infancy, but I hope you find it beneficial anyway.

The purpose of this blog to show case the many women who design blogs either as a hobby or as a part time business from home. I started blogging about six months ago, and really only started following other blogs about two months ago. I was so amazed by the beauty and style of some of the blogs and wanted that for my own. Many hours have I spent looking at blog after blog to see who they were designed by, then going to that designer's site.

Through my researching, I found many, many incredible designers and I thought I would pass that information along to those who may be interested in updating their blog's look. Several of the sites offer free templates, some simple, some more elaborate. Many designers offer premade templates, which can be purchased for a small fee.

Please be patient as I find the right feel and design for this blog. I have dozens more designers to add, and I sure the lists will continue to grow as I discover new ones.

Next week I will be giving away a premade template from a fantastic designer, with the winner choosing the template, so make sure to check back in!