A lot of people have said to me that they would love to create an ebook cover in photoshop – but they don’t own Photoshop. t is quite an expensive piece of software, so for anyone looking to create amazing looking ebook covers – without Photoshop, consider this great product.

WEB 2.0 Covers

(Click On Image To Learn More)

Web 2.0 Covers allows you to make sure of some fantastic free software and will definitely save you a lot of money in the long run.

Don’t wan’t to design your own? Find a cheap Ebook Cover Designer (For Under $10!)

However if you are looking for a free tutorial (that is quite old and bad (sorry, but I’m not that much of a designer), read my photoshop ebook cover tutorial below.

This is a simple tutorial on how to create a fantastic looking ebook cover for your latest project using Photoshop. For this tutorial I will be designing the cover for my forthcoming ebook series on how to successfully launch a blog.

1. Ebook Cover Template
   Why reinvent the wheel? The people over at EbookTemplateSource.com have created some free black ebook covers for you to work with.Here are their three options:

   	This cover is suitable for smaller ebooks, newsletters/ezines or special reports. (52 KB)
   	Standard “hardcover” ebook. This design is suitable for most ebooks. (33 KB)
   	Tired of the same old covers? This design will certainly set you apart from your competition. Optional: Set your page layout inside your ebook to “landscape” instead of the standard vertical layout. (27 KB)

   For this tutorial we will be using the first ebook cover template.

2. Front Page Design
   Once you have downloaded the ebook template that you want to use, unzip it and open the file titled ‘cover01_blank.psd’

   
   This will be the starting point of your ebook design. Now lets start creating our amazing ebook cover. read this entry »

Goal setting is so important, especially for an unorganized person like myself. Goals keep you on track, they keep you focused, and are just good things to have. Which is why I am pleased to announce that I have finally set up a page just for my blogging goals.

I have created SMART goals, because general goals just do not work. The have to be:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A - Attainable

R – Relevant

T – Time Bound

To make sure that my goals are time bound, I have separated them into 3 categories.

• 1 Month Goals
• 3 Month Goals
• 6 Month Goals

My Goals For July

I want to take some time to look at each of my 1 month goals separately, and talk a little bit about how I see myself meeting them by the end of July.

• Increase RSS Feed Subscribers to over 100 (Currently 30)
  To be honest, I think this goal should be quite easy. I have a lot of things planned to make sure that I meet this goal. As I have mentioned I will not be holding a contest, but instead I will be focusing on providing benefits for my readers and subscribers – making them want to subscribe because they like StandOutBlogger, not because they want to win some contest.
• Write At Least One Ebook
  My sole focus in wanting to create a series of ebooks, is to increase my profile as a blogger, and branding StandOutBlogger as an authority blogger. I have just started writing the first part of my ebook series (and I have already made a killer front cover!) – so I see this goal being met within the first week of July.(If you are looking for an ebook cover designer)
  
  
• Finish In The Top 20% Of Blogging Idol
  This goal is a hard one to judge, because all I know is that there are approximately 90 bloggers that are registered for Blogging Idol at last count. That means that I have to be in about the top 15 to meet my goal. The thing I don’t know is who I am competing against. The rules state that a blog can have up to 1,000 rss readers to enter – and it will be much easier for someone with a higher count to get more readers.

  To make sure that I meet this goal, I already have 4 strategies that when combined will hopefully create awareness of StandOutBlogger, drive traffic, and the convert that traffic to subscribers. I will be announcing these strategies in the first couple of days of July (because I am still finalizing a few of these).

• Make At Least 25 Posts
  This one should be simple, but usually is the one that most bloggers don’t hit. I was going to have the number at 30, but that does not allow for the odd weekend post that you miss. All I have to do to meet this goal is to post consistently.
  
  
• Guest Blog On At Least 5 Blogs
  Ok, so I have announced one of my strategies I wasn’t going to mention until July. All Im can say is “Guest Posts Work!” I have had the opportunity to guest post on a couple of blogs in the last month, namely CarlOcab.com, and TylerCurz.com, and I was very happy with the traffic that I generated from these posts.

  I have already organized for a guest post of mine to be on MixedMarketArts.com (as Colin will be at the Top Affiliate Challenge), so that leaves me with 4 more to find, hopefully I will be able to get another one on both Tyler’s and Carl’s blogs.

  Finding blogs to guest post on are quite easy, if you can’t find any just send a couple of your favourite bloggers a quick email asking if they will accept one from you.

• Participate In At Least 1 Blog Carnival
  I have seen a couple of these going around, and a lot of people have said it is a great way to pick up back links and new traffic, so I have decided to participate in at least one blog carnival and I will decide based on its success whether to continue doing them. This one should help with my Technorati goal as well!
• Decrease Alexa Rating To Under 200,000 (Currently 267,978)
  This morning my Alexa rating was sitting at 307,000, and as I was writing this goal out I went down to my tool bar to check my rating and noticed it had changed already. Hopefully this will make this goal easy to attain also.
• Have A Technorati Rank Of Under 100,000 (Currently 150,025)
  Technorati and Alexa are key factors that affect your placement on lists like 45n5′s Top100 bloggers. Although I have not set a goal in relation to my placement on that list, I still want to make the top100 – I guess it’s an ego thing. To increase my Technorati rank I need to get people linking to my blog. This will be done through the blog carnival, creating content that makes people want to link to me, and blog commenting.

So there they are. My blogging goals for July in a fair bit of depth. What do you think about these goals? Do you think I set them to easy or too hard?

Make sure that I meet my goals by subscribing to our rss feed, or email updates.

I have been thinking alot about the Blogging Idol contest coming up that I have entered into. For those of you that don’t know what it is, it is a contest that will face a pack of bloggers (currently 93) against each other for a whole month – to see who have gain the most new subscribers.

The prize is really nice. $1,500 value to one lucky winner, made up of $800 cash and $700 worth of SEO consultancy.

Just like any other blogger, I would love to win this prize, not only for the amazing prize but also for the fact that I would have increased my RSS feed count dramatically – having outwitted 92 other bloggers – bloggers that would be using every trick in the book to make sure that it is them and not me that takes home to title at the end of July.

Everyone knows the best (or should I say, most popular) way to increase your feed count is to start a competition of your own. All you have to do is contact your network of bloggers and ask them to donate prizes to your contest in exchange for promotion – and ‘ta da’ you have an instant contest and all you have to do is to set the conditions of entry (subscribe to your email feed) and you are easily able to increase your feed count.

But I have A Problem

The only problem is that when I decided to launch StandOutBlogger.com, I promised myself that I would not host a single competition begging people to subscribe – offering prizes as incentives. I wanted to build my blog on quality posting, being active in my niche, and by providing services that would make people want to subscribe because they would be afraid that if they didn’t they might miss out on something.

Enter The Annoying Voice On My Shoulder

I have been wrestling with this dilemma for the last couple of days, because I was convinced that a contest was the only way I had a chance at being competitive. My mind kept telling me things like:

‘You only promised yourself, what does it matter – just start a competition anyway’

‘Just think of all the rss subscribers this competition will bring in!’

‘$1,500 – that is a lot of money to pass up’

Now the first two statements didn’t do anything for me. I hold my word in high regard and try my best to keep even promises I have made to myself, and if I have to break that promise just to get more feed subscribers, I would be content with the amount I currently have.

But then money became the topic of choice to my little friend sitting on my should, and what he was saying sounded good. I mean who wouldn’t love $800 cash? So here I was with this battle raging inside me. Would I keep my word – even though it was only to myself. Or would I compromise for the sake of money? And if so – what was my ‘sell out’ price?

I couldn’t Do It

I am proud to say that I have decided to keep my word. I realised that if I couldn’t keep my word to myself, how could I expect to keep it in regards to others.

I was a little disappointed because I was sure that my chances of winning Blogging Idol was gone, but you know what? Since I haven’t been able to do what I thought everyone else would do – it has forced me to think outside the box and come up with new and creative ways to increase my feed count.

So keeps your eyes on this blog during the coming month because there will be lots of benefits for my readers!

–OFF TOPIC–

You may notice that StandOutBlogger.com’s layout suddenly looks a lot cleaner. Well that is because I have removed one of the sidebars – making it a 2 column blog instead of 3. This was a result of an email that I received from Kevin (BloggingTips.com) as follows:

Hey Thomas,

It’s Kevin from BloggingTips.com. Saw that you commentated today so just dropping by to say hi.

Nice blog you have here. I like the design however I think that the sidebars are a little cluttered with ads etc. I really think that if you remove some ads or make it one sidebar instead of 2, more focus will be put on your content. As it stands just now, visitors eyes are drawn away from your blog posts because of this.

Hope you don’t think I’m being rude saying all of this :) If you need any help modifying it just drop my the bloggingtips forums and I’ll do my best to help you out :)

Best of luck

Kevin

I must say I agreed a lot with what he said, and it convinced me to focus more on my content instead of trying to make money off you guys! I would love to know your thoughts!

If you loved what you have read then I encourage you to subscribe to our RSS Feed or email updates to get each new post to you as soon as they are written!

I have a confession to make. Well actually I just made it, but here goes.

I am not the most organized person in the world.

Ok, that is an understatement, but you get the point. Creativity, new ideas, marketing, these are my strong points. Organisation and planning – not so much.

There are two types of bloggers out there in the blogosphere.

1. Those Who Plan Their Posts
2. Those Who Don’t

No prizes for guessing which category I fall into!

But before you all start having a go at me, I wanted to take a look at any benefits of being unorganized and not planning – if there are any! Obviously being organized has it’s strong points. Planning your posts also has a fair few merits. In fact I might even make a follow up post discussing these benefits (probably not, because that is being organised!)

But in all seriousness, I know I should be more organized. I know my desk should be clean. I know my months posting should be planned before the month even starts. I know my desktop should not be covered in icons. But that’s just not me – it probably should be, but at the moment it isn’t. So being the ‘glass half full’ type of optimist, I would like to take a look at a few of the benefits of being unorganized when it comes to blogging.

1. You Are Not Stuck To A Posting Schedule
   Sometimes things just come up. Whether it be something that happened at work or with friends, that really relates to to your blog. You can’t wait to tell the story, but the you remember – that will have to go on next months blogging schedule, because this month is choc-o-bloc full, with titles written and main points jotted down.
2. You Can Write While The Emotions Are Still There
   This is one of the things I love about not being organized. The fact that I can post about what is happening at the moment. The stories are fresh, the concept is fresh, what better time to write about something than when you first get it – the passion can been felt in the words you write. You can tell when people have a posting schedule, because most times the posts are very structured, very content based – but lacking emotion.
3. I Can Do What I Want, When I Want
   Personally, I can’t to day planners. I have tried – and I have failed! I get sidetracked. Sometimes because I am really enjoying what I am doing and lose track of time. Sometimes purposely, because I don’t want to do what I have scheduled. I don’t like the idea of having to write posts at 10am, followed by commenting from 11. Take a break for lunch, and start working on affiliate marketing.

   I just don’t like the idea of setting times for writing posts. Don’t you have to be inspired to write? Do organized people just automatically get inspired at 10am? I know I am taking it a bit far, but I like to write when the idea comes – spend time perfecting it, and then post it. If that happens at 8am – that is fine. 12 noon during lunch – awesome. Midnight just before I go to bed – would prefer earlier, but least I got inspired.

I know there is the chance that I will get some negative feedback on this post. People telling me that you can’t succeed unless you are organized. ‘You have to plan to succeed’. But this is just what has been on my mind today, and it got me thinking – ‘not everyone is organized, but that is ok – because then the world would be boring, and predictable.’

Let’s face it, you organized people need us unorganized ones around to keep things random, spontaneous and interesting!

If you liked this post make sure you subscribe to our free RSS feed, or our email updates!

Hopefully this is the first thing you noticed on your daily visit to StandOutBlogger.com today!

I mentioned yesterday, in my very short post, that this blog was finally getting its own unique and brandable logo. Well it is finally here – and already uploaded!

Do you love it as much as I do?

I am very happy with the way my logo contest turned out (Check out some of the other great entries)

Who Said You Have To Pay $$$ For Quality?

The thing I love about competitions is the fact that you don’t just have one designer working for you. You are able to leech creative juices off a multitude of quality designers and get great ideas from all of them. This usually results is a superior end product because you are just having the view of one designer , but many.

You will notice I only paid $20 for this design. I think for the quality of the logo, that if I had to commission a designer, even a freelance designer, I would be looking at a price of $50 – $100 – minimum. But with a contest, you are able to get entries from designers who would usually charge more for their services but as they had some free time, they are usually willing to work for less!

Let’s Take A Closer Look At The Logo!

To get a logo that meets and exceeds your expectations, you need to know what you want, and let your designer(s) know exactly what you want. I had a small but precise criteria for all entrants of my contest, to steer them in the right direction. Here they are to see if you believe they met them.

What I am looking for:

• Must stick with blue theme of blog
• Something Brandable – preferably not just text
• not gimicky or fun – prefer professional
• must have icon that can be brandable on it’s own – ie shoemoney’s shield

Let’s take a look at each of this a bit more indepth!

1. Must Stick With The Blue Theme Of The Blog
   Obviously you want brand continuity with whatever you are marketing. Keeping colours the same throughout a website makes not only for an aesthetic design, but it helps with branding. People associate things with colours, and if you are sending visitors a conflicting message, then their chances of remembering who you are is minimal.
2. Something Brandable – Not Just Text
   Sure, it works for massive companies that already have a massive following or awareness, but a logo for a new company has to be eye catching. It needs to give visitors something to remember. Something for them to reference you too – kind of like having a face to put a name too.



You will notice that I got exactly what I asked for – and more. Not only did I get more than just text, but I also got a text that is brandable also.

The text is very unique which would allow people to recognize the logo even without having the icon – although I am not planning on marketing without the icon!




3. Not Gimicky Or Fun – Prefer Professional
   When you are looking at getting a logo for your company, website or blog, you need to not only look at what your product is, but the type of customers you want to attract. If you are targetting kids, you want fun and colourful. If you want to target teens, your design has to be cutting edge and fresh. For me, and this blog, I wanted a professional logo for a couple of reason.
   • I want to be seen as a professional that takes his blog seriously
   • I want something that will look professional on products that I create as a results of this blog (ie ebooks, training, etc)

   While I think the new logo is professional, I love the fact that it is fresh and cutting edge as well. It is not a boring professional logo. this was important as a lot of bloggers are younger people – like myself, and that is what impresses them!

4. Must Have An Icon That Can Be Brandable On It’s Own
   What do McDonalds, Nike and ShoeMoney have in common? They all have an icon part of their logo that is instantly recognisable to the customers and target market. I think this is integral when you are looking at branding – as branding is about recognition.

   This was probably my most important requirement, I wanted something for advertisements that would stand out and make people want to visit my blog, but obviously it had to have something to do with the blogs name or what it did.

   I love it. the designer did an amazing job of making the icon out of the letters ‘s’ and ‘b’ for ‘Standout Blogger’. He made it very creatively by using the bottom part of the ‘b’ to also be the bottom part of the ‘s’. I think you will agree that it is eye catching, and should be easily brandable on its own right – with a bit of promotion.

All-in-all I think the whole process was a big success!

I am guess by now you are wondering who my fantastic designer is?

Well his name is IM3D and he has an amazing portfolio which you would be wise to check out!

After being a freelance designer for 5 years now, he is currently working as a freelancer for the following two companies:

- Tometa Software – graphic design team
- The Success Centre – graphic design team

IM3D comes highly qualified, with skills in:

- Coreldraw
- Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Flash
- illustration/sketch
- Dreamweaver

Aside from all of that, he has kindly mentioned to me that he will be more that willing to help any of my readers by offering to develop a quality logo for you also with prices starting from $20!

If you are interested, then you can contact him through this page here.

If you love what you have read here today, then I encourage you to subscribe to rss feed, or get emailed with each new post!