A few Cool Changes

I just wanted to tell you that I have made a few site updates that I think you have already seen. I try to increase the appeal of Serradinho to all ages and styles and hope that it has been accomplished.

Note and Alert Boxes

I have changed the note and alert boxes for Thesis to have an icon displayed on the left hand side and changed the background colours of the boxes too. You can view the changes below.

This is an example of the alert box, what do you think?

This is an example of the note box, what do you think?

I will soon be creating a post to show you how to create the above using Thesis and will probably have a few more boxes for my personal use. Be sure to check later and not miss out.

Grab My Button

I have added a page whereby you can Grab My Button to be displayed on your site. I have also added a widget in the sidebar which directs you to the page. It has banners as well as the html code to make it easier for you to implement on your site. I currently only have 4 banners available, but I will be creating some more soon. You can read more about the banners if you like :)

Twittley

I originally had the Tweetmeme button on posts and I was happy with the results. I then read an article on Tycoonblogger.com named, Is Twittley better than Tweetmeme? and I was convinced it was better. So I decided to replace the button with Twittley, there are much more benefits in using Twittley. If you are thinking of changing to Twittley, then do yourself a favor and read Supercharging your Twittley button, it will help a lot.

Better use of white space

At the bottom of all posts, I display related posts which might interest you. I originally had some white space to the right of this and thought of using it. I eventually opted to put some Google Ads in there, both links and images.

Best posts

I will be creating a post every Monday detailing the best posts of the previous week, just in case you missed out on them. At this stage, this is done manually as I select the posts worth mentioning myself. I do know that there are plug-ins to do this, but I would like to keep my plug-ins to a minimum and might want to exclude some posts.

So, what do you think? Do I need something else? Am I missing something that you recommend? Your feedback would be appreciated as always :)

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  • Published Date: 2 July 2009
  • Post Time Span: 427 days ago
  • Word Count: 466
  • Author Post Count: 756
  • Categories: Website Updates
  • Comments: 17
  • Trackbacks: 0
  • Pingbacks: 0

This blog is using the Thesis theme & WordPress blogging platform. Customizations on this blog have been done by myself.

I currently freelance as a part-time web designer whereby I offer a variety of web related services. You could alternatively browse through my portfolio for examples of work completed.

{ 17 comments }

1 Karen @ Blazing Minds July 2, 2009 at 1:35 pm

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Hi George, I must admit that I do stop by your blog and read regularly, but don’t comment, so I thought it was about time I did ;) I love the layout of your blog, it’s clean, easy to read and the posts are always informative 10/10…
Karen @ Blazing Minds´s last blog ..Is twitter free on Orange dolphin? My ComLuv Profile

2 George Serradinho July 2, 2009 at 3:50 pm

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@Karen – not a problem, nice to hear from you again :)

3 Atul July 2, 2009 at 3:30 pm

nice changes George… wish u gud luck..

4 Tycoon Blogger July 2, 2009 at 4:13 pm

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George-
Great changes..and thanks for the mentioning my twittley review article. I like the best post idea. I usually stop by every day but I will now make a special point to visit on Monday to see if I missed anything.
Tycoon Blogger´s last blog ..Top 10 Blog Designs My ComLuv Profile

5 George Serradinho July 2, 2009 at 4:31 pm

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@Tycoon – not a problem about the review article, you really changed my mind.

6 Metz July 2, 2009 at 5:24 pm

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Hi George,

You have been tagged so your it :) hehehe Enjoy the friendship chain – Keep safe and healthy always :) xoxo

Here is the link just in case you need to look for it :)
http://emptystreets27.blogspot.com/2009/07/empty-streets-special-friendship-chain_02.html

PS. I love this layout – it is easy on the eyes and more importantly easy to understand hehehe :) keep it up :)
Metz´s last blog ..Empty Streets Special: Awarding Fantastic Blogs My ComLuv Profile

7 George Serradinho July 2, 2009 at 5:57 pm

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@Metz – thanks for the friendship chain, will read about it and then create a post. Thanks for stopping by :)

8 Michael Aulia July 3, 2009 at 12:23 am

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I still don’t like the background but I think it’s a matter of taste :D

Maybe you should write a post yourself about Twittley and why you are not using TweetMeme anymore
Michael Aulia´s last blog ..Gmail labels, labels, and labels My ComLuv Profile

9 George Serradinho July 3, 2009 at 6:49 am

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@Michael – I will see what I can come up with regarding the background.

10 Sire July 3, 2009 at 1:38 am

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All good ideas George, especially the best and related posts. great for internal linking and for reducing the bounce rate.
Sire´s last blog ..To Blog Or Not To Blog, That Is The Question My ComLuv Profile

11 George Serradinho July 3, 2009 at 6:52 am

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@Sire – I hope it decreases my bounce rate :)

12 Curious Little Person July 3, 2009 at 6:01 am

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All nice changes George! I need to learn about tweetmeme and twittley!

Thanks for keeping us informed as we get to learn things from your experience!

Cheers
Sandeep
Curious Little Person´s last blog ..Blog Error & Solution: How to Remove Comments are Closed My ComLuv Profile

13 George Serradinho July 3, 2009 at 4:26 pm

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@CLP – we all learn from each other, thats life!

14 Harsh Agrawal July 3, 2009 at 3:56 pm

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Hey George
you have been doing great in terms of utilizing space and design of your blog.
Though I have few suggestion in terms of monetization and that will be

1. Beside related post, instead of using adsense use direct advertisement else use buy sell ads.
2. Please avoid using Entrecard, I feel it’s a waste of such precious space.

3. Put a prominent RSS and Email subscription option at the top of the sidebar or either at the bottom of the post.

You can make changes if you like to, else your blog is looking great. And few changes will keep coming with the time :)

15 George Serradinho July 3, 2009 at 4:24 pm

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@Harsh – thanks for your suggestions, appreciate it.

1.I will probably use your suggestion with this white space area, still thinking of what really.

2. I have a lot of entrecard credits and I’m trying to cash them in or sell them. Once that is done, then I will be removing it.

3. I have the email subscription in the sidebar and at the bottom of all posts, will try make it more prominent.

16 Nihar July 9, 2009 at 9:35 am

Great. I am also using similar kind of things to mention download, note, warning, etc.

I like the pepsi kind of can’s at the bottom of the post.

I too have entrecard and lots of credits. How do i sell? do let me know by email if you can.
Nihar´s last blog ..Google’s own Operating System – Google Chrome OS My ComLuv Profile

17 George Serradinho July 9, 2009 at 10:47 am

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@Nihar – happy to hear you the the social cans. I sent you an email in connection with the Entrecard credits.

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