October 12, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

We just quickly wanted to announce that this will be the last opportunity to take the live four-week workshop that teaches you how to build your own design business from the ground up! 

Many students have graduated from our workshop, and we have seen them go on to form businesses and develop their talents in incredible ways.  We have something exciting up our sleeve for the coming months, but this will be the last intensive workshop dedicated to helping students start their OWN businesses! Check out the details below, and if you’d like to get up to 40% off, be sure to check out Twitter and Facebook!

April 3, 2011 By April M

Ever wonder how someone was able to center a button or image. Maybe you loved the way their blog looked because all their buttons and images were the same size. Here’s how to do that and make your blog look organized and together.

I will give you an example for a button in your sidebar.

Step 1: When you add a button in your sidebar the HTML Code will look something like this:

Step 2: To have your button centered in the sidebar add the code

at the beginning and
at the end. It should look like this:

Step 3: Now to adjust the size of your button/image you will need to add a code for the height and width.

You can change the width to what ever size you need or like. Change 100 to 125 or 80… whatever works for you!

You can use these same tricks in your posts but you need to be in the “Edit HTML” area. Leave me a comment below if you need more help with this.

June 1, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

May’s featured designer is Lynne at Visual Serendipity!

Here is what some of her former clients had to say in their nominations.

I am nominating Lynne because not only did she create a beautiful blog for me, but she has gone above and beyond with her customer service. She makes sure that everything is perfect for me and that I am happy with anything she does for me at my website. Anytime I have had any sort of question or problem, she has been there. Many times, she has literally been up into the wee hours of the morning working with me, when she did not have to be. She’s kind, she’s creative, and she has become my friend.

Lynne took a few simple words, phrases, and color preferences from me and was able to design a blog that I absolutely love! She drew an avatar based on a photo of me, too. That was really fun to see. Her work is amazing. – Nicole, Mom Always Finds Out

Lynne was a pleasure to work with, I love the header that she designed for me and how great she is at communicating with me what’s going on. Nothing better than a designer who communicates with her customers! — Christa, Little BGCG

She rocks! She had this done in a day and made it like I imagined it. She is a really good designer. — Blue Monkeys, She Calls Me Yiyah!

Here are some examples of Lynne’s work:

You can follow Lynne on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to check out Visual Serendipity!

October 24, 2012 By katieprice

The Blog Designer Network is so excited to announce that we are planning to hold our first conference in late Fall 2013!  We want this conference to be beneficial for new & experienced designers, as well as anyone interested in learning more about design, development, business management, social media, and so much more. To aid us in planning the conference, we have created a short survey to hear more about what you are interested in.

The survey should only take 5-10 minutes to complete, and we will choose 3 participants at random to win one-month of free standard advertising space on TheBDN.com (a $25 value)*.  We appreciate your honest opinions!

*Survey and content close Friday, November 9, 2012.

Update 11/11/12: Congratulations to Stephanie, Amber, and Shan for winning the giveaway. Please check your email for instructions.

January 16, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

I am very excited to tell you about an online blog design course that is being offered for those interested in learning about blog design. No, not from me, because remember, I’m not a blog designer, just a design lover. The course is taught by Amy Bayliss, an amazing speaker, writer, blogger and designer.

The price for the course is amazingly wallet-friendly – only $29. She doesn’t get into in depth graphic design, but will definitely get you started in the right direction. Don’t have Photoshop? No problem, she will show you how to use free online editing programs to create your graphics.

There are several sessions available and she’s keeping the class sign down so that she can effectively help those who attend. Interested? Head over to her site to see how to sign up.

We are excited to officially announce that we are in the planning stages of hosting the First Blog Designer Conference!

This conference will focus on inspiring, teaching, and expanding the knowledge of those who attend.

Speaker and Sponsor Proposals are now being accepted. Use our contact form to inquire.

November 6, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

Just a few months ago we signed up with Passionfruit Ads, and had to share this cool system with other bloggers who are interested in monetizing their own sites simply and easily. It has saved an incredible amount of time and energy managing ad spots and keeping track of sponsors.

For example, on our site there are three areas in which you can advertise. The top sidebar is the Premium option, the bottom of the sidebar is the Standard option, and (new!) you can also elect to appear in the footer.  Passionfruit provided a code to paste in these widget areas, and when a new sponsor signs up, their ad automatically appears.  Sign-up is simple too!  Click over to our advertising page, where we’ve pasted the code Passionfruit provided.  All your ad spots and prices are clearly displayed!

The entire process is easy and automated both for the sponsor and the blogger/site owner.  Also, the fees for the service are small, simple, and based on how much you sell.

To celebrate this cool new system, we’re having a special sale for ad spots on The Blog Designer Network! Check out these reduced rates, and head over to Passionfruit Ads to monetize your own blog!

 We apologize, refunds or rebates are not available for those who already purchased ads.

May 1, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

May’s featured designer is Amber at Zany Dezines!

Zany Dezines started with Amber and her mission to provide fellow bloggers with new and creative designs that were both fun and affordable. After falling in love with web design in high school, she’s taken her love of making things pretty to the blogosphere!
Determined to master her craft and further drive her passion, Amber is currently working towards a Multimedia Technologies degree in Web Design at Rasmussen College. On her personal blog, Ambers Life, she shares recipes, blog designing tips and stories about college life, family and her dog, Cali.

Here is what some of her former clients had to say in their nominations.

She is an amazing talent to work with. She took my vague ideas and turned my site into a place I even love to visit! Its fun and bright yet still appealing. I have had work done by a couple other designers and Amber is by far my favorite!!!! I have also had her design my logo for another business and plan to work with her more in the future. Amber is always pleasant to work with, sends timely responses, and is friendly and helpful too! Anyone that works with her will for sure be a client for the duration — Jacque Stanwood, Get 2 Scrappin’

I gave Amber the photo used in the header and a set of colors to use…she came up with everything else! My last design was nice (not done by Amber) but I think my new design is IMMENSELY better! She was able to take just a few pieces of information and turn it into a perfect reflection of my personality. In addition to the main design, she did quite a few blog buttons for me and everything just came together wonderfully! — Jackie Snow, Lessons Learned

I have worked with Amber on numerous projects! She is a very creative & talented Web Designer, she always gets my vision and creates really fun and unique websites. I always come to her and Zany Dezines anytime I need something designed, even if its only a Twitter Background. Amber is always expanding her talents by learning new techniques and thinking outside of the box. She is bubbly and a real gem to work with! She rocks my socks! — Megan Hendershott, The Higgins Family Happenings

I absolutely love the fact that I only gave Amber a few ideas and she came up with my blog design all by herself. She is so good at listening to the client’s ideas and giving them her own spin. She is also very patient. — Jayme Weiden, The Random Blogette

Here are some examples of Amber’s work:

You can follow Amber on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to check out Zany Dezines!