You have a blog. It works okay. You may even be making an income from it. But you need it to look great if you ever want to take it to the next level. For years, I have been instructing bloggers and content creators on various basic graphic design skills. In this post, I will explain why you need a beautiful blog. Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links.

I’ve been blogging for close to three years, and designing for five. When I first started, I didn’t understand why some blogs were so hard to navigate, and seemed so cluttered. Their photos were simply not up to par with the basic standards. Then , as I connected with other bloggers more and more, they started to ask me design related questions. I saw questions posted in groups, and some were directed right at me. I realized that, many simply did not know how to do it, or that they needed to.

This brought to my attention that there is very little design direction out there for bloggers.

I decided to take it upon myself to educate fellow bloggers on basic graphic design principles – starting with the WHY.

That’s why I went ahead, and after working on it for over two years I published the book How to Build a Beautiful Blog.

I decided to share some of it with you here.

Why you need a beautiful blog…

1. Your Audience – You are writing to reach an audience. Having a pretty blog means that it’s easier to reach your audience. It means your social media images will stand out OFF of your blog too, pulling in readers, getting you pageviews.

It makes your posts easier to read. Using the right balance of legible text with a clean design will allow readers to stay, read, click around, and subscribe. In my book, I discuss blog legibility, which fonts are best to use, and how to find them in depth.

2. Your Brand – But there’s a lot more to it than that. Your blog is your brand. Your brand is determined by your branding style, the graphics you use as you go along. You want it to be customized to your target audience – to attract sponsors, and of course, to attract the right followers to your blog so that sponsors will want to pay you.

If you plan to earn money off it, you need to have a solid brand in place. You need others to recognize you outside of your blog because they see your face in whatever it is you’re posting. In How to Build a Beautiful Blog I take you through branding your blog, and creating a high quality logo, for a tiny fraction of what it would cost to have one made by a designer.

3. Professionalism – Want people to take you seriously? You need a professional looking blog, following basic and proper design use. You want your “resume” (that is, your social media profiles, top posts, and more) ready and handy so that you show everyone you mean BUSINESS.

4.  Sponsor work – Beyond just showing you have a specific audience by defining your brand, you want to showcase sponsored products in the best light possible. Learning the basic skills for presentable photography, plus some amazing (almost magical) photo editing skills will get you ahead of the game with sponsored campaigns. In my eBook, I teach you the basics of photo editing using Photoshop, and suggest a few free alternatives.
 

 

I see blogs primarily in two categories.

The first hired a professional to design and build it. How to Build a Beautiful Blog will ensure that you know how to guide your designer to create something that suits YOUR brand. It will teach you how to work individual posts, how to capture readers with imagery.

It will teach you how to pull people in via Pinterest – what type of imagery works best for which type of post.

The second is, like me, stuck with little or nothing to invest and is doing everything on its own. How to Build a Beautiful Blog is here to teach the DIYers how to DIY. Learn how to do things on your own so you don’t need to hire a designer, for a fraction of the cost of having a designer even think of doing a job for you. 

It educates – teaching you basic design rules and principles. It will train you in a huge range of design-related skills, as it applies to your blog – from creating pin images that get repinned AND clicked, to fixing up your photos to make them look more professional. It will train you to understand the basics of design programs, while teaching you what to do if you can’t afford expensive software.

The best part? It has a whole section dedicated just to Pinterest!

Purchase How to Build a Beautiful Blog below. 

The post Why You Need a Beautiful Blog appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links.

So here’s the secret to getting it done quickly: you don’t need to create every single graphic from scratch.

Fontbundles.net and Designbundles.net are sister sites that have scores and scores of free and inexpensive graphics, fonts, backgrounds, clipart, hand-drawn elements and more… The cool thing is, that they offer extended licenses at prices you can afford.

So here’s the deal: you can create beautiful DIY wall art for your own home. For that all you need is a personal license.

With the extended license, you can actually sell the products that you make using these fonts and graphics. Extended licenses are typically prohibitively expensive, but Fontbundles.net turns that around, and offers them at affordable prices (and sometimes even free!)

But there’s more: their clipart isn’t, well, clipart-y. They have chalk and watercolor elements that look like true art, because they ARE true art.

The tutorial below was made using the massive Christmas Design bundle, which has everything you need for Christmas DIY wall art, invitations, posters, scrapbook pages, gift tags and cards, and more. Much of what you get in the bundle is good for year-round as well, so you have an enormous value there. To be clear: you get $557 worth of fonts and other design goodies for 94% off the individual prices.

Now on to my tutorial… Here’s the step by step on how to make your own DIY wall art:

What you need to make DIY wall art:

• Your graphic elements – I used the Christmas Design bundle. (You can find the current bundles here.)
• Photoshop
• A printer and paper
• 5 minutes or so…

How to make  your own DIY Wall Art in minutes:

1. Go to Fontbundles.net and get the package, fonts, or elements that best suit your needs.

I used the Christmas design bundle. See which limited-time bundles are live for the best deal and the most options. Download your bundle, and install your fonts.

2. In photoshop go to File -> New and open a new document. You can choose your size. I went with an 8×10 portrait (under the photo presets) to fit into a photo frame. You can choose 8.5×11 (letter – under the US paper presets) if you want to place it in a document frame. Make sure your resolution is set to 300 for good quality, and your color mode is CMYK (so you get accurate colors).

3. Background: Start by choosing a background graphic. Open the background you like in Photoshop. Ctrl+A selects the entire thing, Ctrl+C copies your selection. Go back to your new document and Ctrl+V to paste it.

Ctrl+T will open the resize box around your background image. Hold shift while resizing to keep the proportions in place and not to skew.

4. Graphic elements: The cool thing is, you can have a real artistic effect by using hand-drawn artwork, as opposed to clipart. You have clipart in your bundles as well, in case you want a more fun and carefree look. Open your elments in Photoshop (you can do this by opening the folder and dragging it onto the top menubar)

Transfer it to your wall art document by copying and pasting it the same way you did the background (Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C on the clipart file and then Ctrl V on the wall art file to paste it.) Arrange your graphic elements how you like them.

5. Add your message: Play around with which font works best for you. The Christmas bundle includes some hand drawn text as well, that I used in the other two designs that I created.

Pick a color from your graphic elements to make it fit in.

6. Fine tune: Add elements as needed, play around, move things around, and duplicate until you are totally satisfied.

When you are done, save it (File -> Save as) and print it out!

The Christmas bundle had cool mockup backgrounds as well, so that I can show you how it looks in context, without printing and photographing it (though I like to do that as well.)

While the design in the tutorial is a holiday related design, I decided to make some more DIY wall art to show you how easy it is to create totally different looks from the same bundle.

Plus, you can do things that are totally not seasonal.

If you fell in love with any of this DIY wall art that I made, you can download them right here.

[convertkit form=5124932]

Learn more about fontbundles.net and their inexpensive and free fonts and design bundles. Have you ever tried making your own DIY wall art?

The post How to Make Your Own DIY Wall Art (plus free printables) appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

Now for an exciting announcement: I will be starting to redesign Moms & Crafters! When I started it, everything just “fell together” and was not planned out in the least. Going through this series made me realize how much I need to change to have a really well designed blog.

I will be using this as  a checklist for myself as well and can’t wait to show you the results!

11 Steps toward a well designed blog:

1. Know why it’s important that your blog be beautiful. Learn what pixels are, and some other little words you’ll need to know. Start saving your graphics in an SEO optimized format from the start.

2. Start planning out your branding. Yup, if you want people to remember you, you need to be well-branded!

3. Start creating your elements! A logo is the perfect place to begin. Make sure to follow some basic guidelines to ensure your logo is clear and professional looking.

4. Design a seamless background to match your branding! I’d recommend going with a non-intrusive, subtle pattern.

5. Add social media icons that match. You’ll find a huge list of free ones for commercial use here, including a tool to customize it. Or you can use the ones I designed for you.

6. As you customize your theme, choose colors to match your branding, and fonts that work well. 

7. Get posting! Make sure the visuals on your post are stunning to grab those readers. Start by improving your basic photography skills and learning how to enhance your images just a bit. 

8. Sometimes you just need a good stock image, and you can even get it free! Just make sure to check your image licenses (it’s not that hard).

9. Make sure to feature images on your blog posts in sizes that make them easy to share, and that will have the most impact when you share it.

10. Pinterest is a major traffic source for me. Make sure to have a Pinterest-perfect image on every blog post. Use online software such as Befunky to make it.

11. Use your design skills for actual site content! People love free things, and you can give one out digitally. It’s a great way to get people to subscribe, write a quicker blog post in a fix, and make your existing followers happy. Make sure these are in the correct format for print. Create it using programs such as Photoshop or Publisher, and then offer it in a new blog post. 

Want more info? Recommended reading

One of the best ways to expand on this knowledge is to read up on the subject! Here are some awesome books on the various subjects discussed. Note: I haven’t read these personally (I took a course) but the ratings are great both on Amazon and other sources. These are affiliate links.

• WordPress Made Super Simple

• Blog Design For Dummies

• Logo Design Love

• Brand Identity Essentials

• Designing Brand Identity

• Photo Editing in Photoshop

• Editing Digital Photos For Dummies®

• BetterPhoto Basics

I’d love to see what you’ve done with yours! Comment below with your well designed blog OR your tips for a well designed blog!

The post Steps toward a Well Designed Blog appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

Pinterest can be a real driver of traffic. Without Pinterest, Moms & Crafters would have about a quarter of the traffic that it currently has. You probably found this post on Pinterest too. It took a while to get here. Next week I will be taking a break from the series (here’s your heads up). After that, I will share my pinning strategy that is working out great, in addition to more information on the power of Pinterest. The first step, though, is to have a perfect Pinterest image on every post.

Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links.

How to make a perfect Pinterest image: 

1. Vertical

This is possibly the most popular tip you’ll see. Your image should always be vertical – meaning portrait mode. You can see from the way the feed is set up that vertical images stand out, and have more real estate, since Pinterest first limits the width.

You can also see that it limits the height eventually too, so making crazy long collages no longer will “conquer the feed.” You can see the ideal sizes for Pinterest and all social media images here. 

2. Great photo/imagery.

It should be sharp, clear and bright. See how to take better blog photos here, and my favorite blog photo editing tools. You can also look toward BeFunky for fixing the images.

For non-craft or recipe posts, you might want to use a descriptive image, or a great stock photo. 

3. Clear Agenda

Your cover/hero image should sum up your post, giving pinners a clear message of what to expect. The issue with very long images is that the bottom is often cut off. If you want to make a super-long collage graphic for Pinterest, make sure to START with a clear, bright image of your final product.

If your post is a roundup of multiple things – show it. For example, a roundup of multiple product suggestions should show more than one product. A roundup of various crafts should show a few crafts. It does not need to have every one, but multiples already show the pinner that there is more to be seen.

4. Don’t disclose everything

You want your repins to end up with clicks through to your blog. Make sure you don’t give everything away in your image! The truth is, for many crafts this is hard, as people can somewhat figure things out by seeing it. But if you include images of the steps for making it, thy  most definitely don’t need to click through!

Another example of disclosing everything is an infographic, or similar image that gives away actual information for an article, such as the image below. This is great to make for fun, but not to rely on actually driving traffic to that specific article.

5. Be Bold

Make a Pinterest image that stands out and is bold. I have read in the past that red-toned/warm images get more repins. I have not seen that in action, however I do know that those colors are bolder and stand out more. Bolder images I HAVE seen get much more action.

6. Text that stands out. 

Text is a bit of a controversial issue here, so I will speak as a pinner, not as a blogger. I like to know what your post is about, especially with handmade goods that look professional… I am careful not to pin handmade merchandise as “DIY” so I would love to see text that shows that it is indeed a link to a “DIY” or craft.

Text helps you big time with #3, especially when you’re dealing with an article, not a craft or recipe. The boldness of the text should depend on what kind of pin you’re dealing with. A craft can have subtle text, and an article should have bold text. A recipe doesn’t need any text in my opinion, but as a pinner I still like to see it.

Make sure your text stands out on the background. You can do this by using an outline, drop shadow, or a shape behind the text when it does not occur naturally.  Make sure to retain legibility. 

Images that illustrate these steps: 

I will include some case studies from my own blog, so that you can see the points above illustrated. These are some of my top performing pins (as measured by visits to my blog). Some are continuously top pins, and some were at one point. I have linked to them for your convenience.  These are my top referring pins of all time:

It has a clear agenda, is bright, but does not disclose everything. The text is bold and understandable.

The above post did so well, it inspired this follow up, which follows the same rule and is also doing very well.

This one is a bit of a mystery to me. It was an old pin that suddenly took off like crazy. Today, I would probably include a couple more foods in the image. But I can attribute its success to very bold text and a very clear agenda. It also doesn’t disclose too much.

This new-ish post has taken off to a great start! It contains subtle messaging in the image and a clear agenda. It doesn’t give away too much.

I attribute the success of this pin to the bold imagery involved. I made it by finding a simple photo, outlining the basic lines in Photoshop, and filling it in.

Once again, a bold image that I took (but it could just as well have been stock) gives a clear message, with the text supporting it in a noticeable way.

This one is mostly text, with a quickie Photoshop background I made. And it’s bringing me hundreds of visitors daily.

And finally, to include one of my best craft posts, this one has been bringing in consistent traffic too. It’s from Valentine’s day, but due to NOT being branded that way, it is still alive and thriving. I did not have a good vertical image, so I made a collage without the steps…

Some bad examples: 

Yup, there was a time before I “lived and learned”. Here are some of my lessons I learned the hard way:

This image totally sums up the post… but a little too much! It gets repinned a lot, but people have little motivation to click through.

This links to the same “top tips” post, but does NOT sum it up. It gets little in the way of visits to my blog, but has plenty of repins.

And finally, this gives away a little too much… While I would still include these graphics in my post as they are GREAT visual references, on a blog that tries to be as visual as possible, I would not rely on them as my Pinterest image.

And one final tip for today:

Think of the perfect Pinterest image as the “cover” of your blog post. It sums up its story in a clear, aesthetic way, but doesn’t TELL the story!

Do you have any tips to add, any success stories, or questions? Comment below!

The post 6 Steps toward a Perfect Pinterest Image appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

The key to driving traffic with Pinterest is magnificent, eye-catching images, with a clear agenda. Next week, I will elaborate more on the key factors of a Pinterest-perfect image, and the kind of traffic it drives. For now, I will offer a step by step tutorial on how to use the BeFunky app to make one.

About BeFunky:

BeFunky is a web app and mobile app that has some amazing photo editing capabilities, as you will see. It has an artistic edge to it and is extremely easy to use. There are both free and paid options. As a blogger, you probably will want to pay, however you can play with the free version first. I am extremely impressed with the pricing, and find it affordable even for bloggers who are on a tight budget.

Ease of use: I found BeFunky very quick and easy to learn. A simple and clean interace keeps away visual tension. Discreet but clear hover notes ensure that you know what each symbol represents. And my favorite: a generous work space gives you a much better experience.

BeFunky has both a web app (use it online) and a mobile app. I personally prefer working on blog images on my laptop, where I blog from, so that I don’t need to worry about transferring images back and forth. The mobile app, though,  is great for when you want to accomplish on the go, and for processing images you took on your phone.

How to Make Pinterest Images using BeFunky: 

Open the BeFunky app, and choose a photo to upload. This can be a photo you took of a craft you made, or a stock image for an article.

If you image is in landscape, you’ll want to crop. Start by resizing. You’ll find the options under “Edit” in the toolbar on the left. Make sure your aspect ratio is locked, and set your HEIGHT to the height you will want. You’ll be cropping from the width.

Next, choose crop. You’ll notice, while you are in editing mode, there are two symbols to the left of your options. One has a serious of lines (takes you back to the original toolbar); the other a series of squares (takes you up one).

Make sure to select “portrait” and then unlock your aspect ratio. You can now set your ideal pixel width.

After each step, once you are satisfied with results, click “apply”.

BeFunky has a vast array of enhancements and effects. I decided to use a new one for this tutorial’s cover. You can play around with the various effects to gain the look you like.

Note: I only recommend using effects when you are enhancing an illustrative image, not a descriptive image. Meaning, you an use an effect on a stock photo for your parenting article, but not on the image of a craft you made.  (I will elaborate more on this next week). For those, I will show you soon some enhancements you can do to get eye-popping images.

If you navigate back to the main tool bar you can add text. You have a choice of using your own (fonts on your device), or theirs. You can add outlines or a background color to make your text stand out.

If you are creating an image for a craft or recipe, you’ll want it to be a sharp, bright image with no effects. My favorite enhancement to start with is the “beautify” option. You can play around with the strength to get the most realistic, but most vivid result.

I followed that up with brightness, contrast, and temperature adjustments. As you go along, you can compare results at various stages! Simply click on the history button – the middle button above your image, and you can step back to any stage. This helps you avoid over-processing your image.

Click the save icon above your image. If you plan to use this in a collage later (or if you want to store it in your account), choose to save to BeFunky. If you are done and ready to publish, you can save to desktop. Choose the file size that is smaller when saving for the web. 

Sample Results: 

Here are some “before” and “after blog post covers, all made using the BeFunky web app. Which one would you repin?

How to make a collage with BeFunky:

I recommend collages mainly when doing a roundup post, however, they are popular for all sorts of crafts and recipes. The trick is: Don’t disclose everything. Make sure potential readers have a reason to click through.

Once you’ve enhanced your photos, you can easily switch to the collage maker via the “B” symbol in the top left corner.

You have various templates you can choose from, including some valuable social media options. Choose Pinterest. You can now also choose “create your own” to make it the way you want it.You can also impose images on top of each other.

Select the layout that works best for your project. I chose a long one with fewer images. Since this is not a roundup,  I don’t want to give away too much in the picture.

If you photos are not yet uploaded, choose that option.

You can choose to auto fill, or place your images by dragging and dropping. I always put a descriptive image at the top, so that pinners can right away know what they are looking at. I left one slot blank for text.

Add and format your text the same way you did above. Here, you’ll want to choose a style with a  background, and make sure it fits nicely in the slots you left for it.

You can set border size, color, etc. At any point you can click on an image in the collage to open it in the image editor. When you are satisfied, save your final image.

There are many more features that you will discover as you go along. The Pinterest tip image above used various blur and colorizing effects. You’ll have the time of your life playing around with it, and you’ll love the usability and the final results.

Access the web app, or download for mobile.

Have you tried the BeFunky app yet? Comment below if you have any questions about the features. Follow along so that you don’t miss next week’s installment on making these images the stars of Pinterest. 

Disclaimer: This tutorial has been sponsored by BeFunky. The user experience, and any opinions described above are solely those of Moms & Crafters.

The post Make Pinterest images that drive traffic: BeFunky Tutorial appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

Have you ever wondered how to make a printable for your site? Or maybe how to make a simple printable for your everyday life? Today I am going to share with you how I create all the free preschool printable worksheets (I am a preschool blogger at Learning 2 Walk) as well as other worksheets that I create for my daughter and readers.

First of all met me say that there is more than one way to create a printable. There are some who create them in Microsoft PowerPoint, there are some who use Photoshop and others who use Microsoft Word. I on the other hand use Microsoft Publisher and I love it. Think of this post as a tutorial on how to create a simple printable.

HOW TO MAKE A PRINTABLE:

Step 1: Launch Microsoft Publisher. Select NEW and choose the orientation of your paper.

Step 2: Select Text Box

Microsoft Publisher is a bit different in that you cannot just start typing your text, yo need to create a TEXT BOX. Once this is selected you create the box anywhere on your page and start typing.

Step 3: Edit Fonts

Okay, you now know how to add fonts to your printable but what happens if you want to change the font or make it a different colour? Easy, simply highlight the text and choose the font that you desire.

Step 4: Create What You Want

Now that you have a few basics down, the rest is pretty easy. If you want to create a shape, simply select SHAPES and choose the shape that you desire. To draw the shape click and drag.

Eventually you will end up with a printable that you are proud with after you have added the words that you would like as well as the shapes. There are a few other things I would like to point out before I show you an example of one of my printables.

1. ALWAYS save your work. Save it once it is created, save it while you are working (CTRL + S) and save once you are done.

2. You can easily add images to your printable by clicking INSERT (right beside HOME) in your Navigation Bar. If you want the freedom to move your image anywhere, then simply RIGHT CLICK the image and choose WRAP TEXT and then THROUGH from the drop down menu.

Here is an example of a page from my Spring Free Preschool Printable Worksheets:

You can see more of Alecia’s printables here – check out what you can do with these simple steps!

And make sure you check out how to upload a printable on your blog!

Alecia is a mom of 2 and preschool blogger at Learning2Walk where she strives to create a preschool resource (preschool science experiments, preschool sensory activities etc) for homeschooling moms. Be sure to follow her on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

The post How to Make a printable for Your Blog – Part 4: Publisher appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links.

Printables can include:

• Worksheets
• Home signs
• 3D items such as these pillow boxes
• Labels
• Basically anything that can be printed (hence the term “printable”) that can take many forms and functions

This post just shows you a basic outline of how to use some tools, and how to create your file so that it is, indeed, printable. From there, you can search the web for a vast array of tutorials on the specific type of printable you want to make. Practically, I’ll guide you through making a home sign, since that is such a simple, straightforward thing to start with.

I will show you the ropes using Photoshop. Photoshop is my go-to program for creating printables of all kinds! The only need it DOESN’T cover is the vectorizing process that I do with my coloring pages. For that I use Adobe Illustrator, which is included in their Creative Cloud package.

Next week, we’ll discuss making printables using Microsoft Publisher, so follow along if that’s what you prefer!

How to use Photoshop to Make a Printable for Your Blog:

Step 1: Create your file.

Click file > new to open this window. This is where you choose your file size and color format.  Make sure you choose print size and format, as pictured. Your file size should be the actual size that people will want to print it. Click “OK” to create your document.

Step 2: Create the base of your printable.

If this is a particular shape (such as in the case of the pillow boxes) that would be it. Otherwise, we’ll just fill in a background color or texture. Use the paint bucket tool in the toolbar on the left. At any point, if you don’t see a tool I refer to, you may need to long clic on the “partner” tool, to bring up the various tools in that selection. Choose your color at the bottom of the left toolbar. Click on the background to fill. Make sure your background layer (the only one you have so far) is selected.

Step 3: Next, we’ll add some text.

Find the type tool in the left toolbar. Click wherever you want on the screen, and type. If you want your text to fill an exact area, you can click and drag to create a text box.

On the top, you’ll find type options. For more text formatting options, click the “A” symbol on the right. If you don’t see that, you can go to windows > character, and that will bring it up. Play around with the options, until you’re satisfied.

Step 4: Create a new layer

Any time you add a new element, you want it to be a new layer, so that you can resize it appropriately. On the layers palette, click the second to right icon to create a new layer. Double click on the text of the layer to rename it, so you know what that layer is for. Click on it to make sure it’s selected, and you’re actually using the right layer.

Step 5: Draw away!

Photoshop is much like an advanced drawing/painting program in its capabilities. I’d recommend you start with some simple shapes. Play around with the tools on the toolbar. You can also put in some free vector images and photos,  just make sure it’s allowed to be used this way.

Step 6: Satisfied with your drawing? Time to save it!

You should have been saving this file as you go along (a good rule of thumb in general) in case your computer suddenly shuts down, or another catastrophe happens.

Go to “File > Save As”. If you didn’t, save the file as a “.PSD” file (a Photoshop document) so that you can edit it later on if you choose. If you are ready to publish it for your readers, you can save it as a PDF or a JPEG. For this, we’ll do JPEG, as people are likely to print it as a photograph. If you do “PDF”, make sure you disable the option to “preserve Photoshop editing capabilities” to protect your copyrights (you’ll see that option on the front screen). Otherwise, do the highest quality JPEG you can, for a top quality print.

Step 7: Save it for Web.

There are a few reasons you need to save a separate file as the “display” file for your website, so that your readers can see what they’ll be downloading. You can read more about that here. Now, you want to “save for web” and make it as small as possible. Go to File > Save for Web (two below “Save As”) or Alt+Shift+Ctrl+S.

You can choose to have up to four previews. Make your file size smaller (I usually go for a 600 pixel width for Pinterest), and then choose the option from the previews that has a good quality preview, but as small a file size as possible. Make sure you’re converting it to RGB by keeping that box checked.  Rename this file so that you know which is which (For example “File-Name-Web.png”.

If you’re on a different program, and don’t have this option, you can still edit your file size and colors (look for these options under “edit”).  You’ll just need to make sure to “Save as” so you keep the original quality one.

There, you have it! You made a beautiful printable home sign!

You now need to upload it to your blog, using the instructions found here.

And… you can download this printable as a bonus right here! Once I made it special for this tutorial, I might as well offer it to you too, no? Enjoy!

Any questions? Comments? Feel free to share below – I always answer your questions!

The post How to Make a Printable for Your Blog – Part 3: Photoshop appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

These steps will show you how to upload these files and offer them in an easy and aesthetic way, both on self-hosted Wordpress and Blogger.

How to offer printables on your Wordpress blog: 

PDF Files

Step 1: Upload your files to your media library by clicking “add media” as you would for any photo. For this step, upload both the printable file, and a web image that represents it.

Step 2: Make sure your PDF is selected. In the area “attachment display settings” copy the URL that’s highlighted. Don’t change anything.

Step 3: Now select the image file that will link to your printable.

Step 4: In the “attachment display settings” switch “media file” to “custom URL”. In the box below it, paste the URL that you copied in step 2.

Step 5: If you’d like your download to open in a new window (I prefer this so that people can continue to browse my blog), Make sure the image you just inserted is selected. Click on the link icon in the text editing area, and click on the “open link in a new window/tab” option.

JPEG Files

The step by step process is much the same. However, instead of your PDF file, you’ll want a print quality jpeg file. You’ll create a web quality image, with the proper color formats for web so that your readers will be able to see an accurate preview. You’ll then link this image to the full quality, CMYK mode jpeg. If this confuses you, make sure you’ve read part 1 of this mini-series, which explains sizes, color, and file formats for printables. You can also read “What are pixels?” to learn more about these terms that I keep throwing in…

Whichever option you choose, make sure to specify that that image links to your download. You can also insert a “download now” hyperlink, obtaining your download link in the same way as mentioned above. Or, you can substitute the preview image with a “download” button. I prefer the preview image, as it’s less reminiscent of spam sites and ads.

You can see some examples of how I’ve uploaded printables here. 

How to offer printables on your Blogger blog: 

As far as I know, blogger does not have file hosting options like Wordpress does. You’ll need to use an external file sharing program. Here are some of my favorites:

Google Drive – The advantage is: almost everyone has a Google account. The disadvantage is you have only 15 GB of storage, and if you use it regularly, you probably won’t want to sacrifice too much of it. This includes your Gmail, and G+ photos…

I also find that for those that DON’T use it regularly it’s not so easy to use.

Dropbox – This is another popular one. You get very limited storage free – 2.5 GB to be exact and that’s only if you use my referral link. The advantage is that many people use this as well and are very comfortable with it. You can earn more storage by referring others, up to 16GB, so if you don’t use it otherwise it’s a great idea.

This is very easy to use as it works similarly to a regular folder structure on any computer.

Copy – This is my favorite, and my go-to choice. They offer generous free storage (15 GB, 20 if you use a referral link, and 5 extra for anyone your refer.) As far as I know, they have not capped this. The one disadvantage is that not everyone recognizes this company as they are less-known.

Copy’s usability is similar to that of Dropbox and is very user-friendly.

Once you uploaded it, you can link to it in your post by finding the file sharing options on that image or folder. You can then link to it in your blog post.  (Note: the Dropbox and Copy links above are my referral codes. If you use them to sign up, I get some extra storage.)

If you liked this, you’ll love:

• How to design a logo for your blog
• How to create a blog background using a seamlessly tiled image
• 50 places you can get free stock images
• Lots of custom social media icons for your blog
• How to make your blog easier to read by using proper typography

The post Blog Printables Part 2: How to Offer Printables on your Blog appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

I’ll be approaching this topic in a few stages. The first will explain the principles of designing for print. I will then provide instructions for adding it to your blog. I’ll also give some pointers for designing a printable using Photoshop. Then, I will have a guest post that will explore a different type of printable, using non-graphic programs. These posts will be published one at a time, on Fridays so stay tuned!( Update: you can find them all in my blog design section.)

Designing for Print vs. Designing for Web

There are a few differences between designing for print and designing for web. When you design a cover photo for your blog post, or a photo to share on social media, you are designing for the web. A printable is, obviously, for print. You can read more terms related to graphics here, as I’ve dedicated a whole post to it. I will however provide a brief summary of what you need to know below.

1. Color format:

Your screen uses a mix of red, green, and blue color formats (RGB) to make all the different colors it does. All images for the web should be in RGB color mode.

Your printer uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK) to make the colors. All graphics for print will be in CMYK color mode.

This is important, as if you use the wrong mode, it will display differently on the screen. Here are two examples of the same exact image in CMYK and RGB modes as it shows up on your screen:

2. Image Size:

You are probably used to using the term pixels when creating graphics for your blog. If not, read more about what pixels are here. 

Images on the screen display at 72 pixels per inch. While you’ll usually just use the pixel measurement, if you did want to show an accurate size measurement, that’s the resolution you’d use.

When creating for print, you’ll want to use images at 300 pixels per inch. That means that an 8×10 photo print, such as the “Where we love is home…” print above, your pixel measurement would be (8×300) 2400 by (10×300) 3000. The same size in a screen image would be (8×72) 576 by (10×72) 720.

It is critical to create your print image in the correct quality, as otherwise it will look grainy and pixelated. While you don’t have to have your screen image in the correct screen size, it is highly recommended. Larger images create larger file sizes, which causes your site to slow down.

3. Image format: 

This isn’t always different, and you can use JPEGs for many things, however, you will sometimes want to use a PDF. Here are some examples of such situations:

• If your printable is in multiple pages, such as a calendar.
• If your printable needs to an exact size, such as labels that follow an exact template, or a printable that follows a die cut pattern.
• If you want to make a printable that can be edited by others

Unless I’m making an art print that is likely to be printed as a photo, I will create it as a PDF. It’s a way of “playing it safe.

If you’d like to follow along with the rest of the posts teaching how to make a printable for your blog, make sure to subscribe for blog updates!

If you liked this, you’ll love: 

• 50 Places to get free stock images
• What are Pixels?
• The best sizes for social media images
• Why you need a beautiful blog
• Knowing your image licenses

The post How to Make a Printable for your Blog – Part 1: Format and Size appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

The best practice is to check each image individually for license details. There are so many websites that offer free images, it’s easy to make a mistake otherwise. Even if you do pay for an image, you need to know what kind of uses are allowed.

Photo Licenses you should recognize:

Creative Commons: You will see this all the time when searching for free images, because this is actually a CLASS of licenses, with a variety of individual licenses within. All of these are set to help the creative world with their work. You can learn more about the Creative Commons licenses here, but I will not elaborate on the class as a whole, as the practical terms vary.

Here are some terms of the Creative Commons license. You’ll see different combinations of these terms used to explain what you may or many not do:

• Attribution – You must credit the original owner when you use it.
• ShareAlike  – Your new image, that was based on theirs, must be licensed under the same terms as the original image was.
• NonCommercial – You may not use it for commercial use. If you are a blogger who earns a penny off your blog, you may not use it.
• NoDerivs – You may not modify it.

Public Domain:  Public domain images are free to use, for anyone, for anything. You may see such images licensed under a CC0 license (Creative Commons Zero). That basically means that it’s a “no rights reserved” image – use it as you want.

Other Photo Licenses You May See: 

Private Licenses: Many websites that offer only their own images, (as opposed to image search engines) will have their own terms. Many will require fair use terms, such as not using too many high quality images from one place on one website, not redistributing it, not selling it, not claiming it as your own, etc. Always check each site’s terms. In general, even when using public domain images, be a fair.

Extended License: This applies to paid images on websites such as Shutterstock. I’m including it here, because someone close to me was affected by a designer’s ignorance in the matter. Just because you paid for it, it doesn’t mean that you can use it however you want. When you pay for a stock image, you are paying for a license. Make sure you know what the terms of that license are.

Many stock images will have a “standard license” that works great for bloggers looking for website imagery or graphic designers for promotional materials, and an “extended license” which includes making actual merchandise to be sold. So, if you’re a blogger making merchandise (such as a calendar or worksheet) to sell on your blog, make sure you double check that the license you purchase includes that. You may need to pay an arm and a leg for the “extended” license.

While you may find other licenses around, this is typically what you’ll see when looking for images on the websites I mentioned here. Most places will include a link to the license, although knowing the terms can help you save time and browse more easily.

If you liked this, you’ll love the rest of my blog design series, including: 

• Why you need a beautiful blog
• How to make your blog easier to read
• How to design a logo for your blog
• How to take better blog photos
• Free social media icons for bloggers
• What are Pixels? And other image and design terms you should know

Read through the whole series to gain valuable information that will give your blog a well-designed, professional look.

The post Knowing Your Photo Licenses appeared first on Moms and Crafters.