Online banners are a great way to advertise your website and increase the number of visitors of your website. These days’ online banners have gained a lot of popularity because advertising through online banners is more effective and less complicated in comparison to print media and advertising. If you plan to advertise online via banners, you need to make sure that you do everything right in order to achieve the purpose advertising online. If your banner is not attractive enough, people will simply ignore the banner so you need to work hard to make your banner more click-able and likeable.

Following are a few ways you can follow in order to make your online banners more click-able:

Be Careful with Color Selection

Your selection of colors will definitely play a very important role in getting your online banner noticed. The best way is use contrasting colors. Always remember, your banner needs to stand out on the website so make sure that you do not use the same colors as of the website you are going to advertise on. This way, the website and banner will merge in a way and your banner’s presence will fade away. Obviously, you do not have to use crazy color combinations but a good contrast of colors will do. It will make your banner look prominent.

Do keep in mind that your banner should not mix up with the website. If people are not noticing your banner, there is no point of having it on a website. If no one is noticing, no one will click and the banner would not be serving its purpose.

Your Banner Should be the First Thing to Load

When a person is visiting a website, he does not wait for an entire page to load in order to browse the website. He will simply start scrolling down to check the website. You need to keep the size of the banner small so that your banner loads before a user decides to scroll down. No one will wait for banner to load and then click on it. Once a user scrolls down, chances are high that he might never notice your banner again.

So, you need to be very careful with the size of the banner as it should be small to load easily and quickly. If you won’t keep this thing in mind, you will lose out on a lot of your possible visitors.

Give People a Reason to Click

A nice layout and good color combinations are enough to catch user’s attention however; you need to give them a reason to click on your banner. Your banner should be self explanatory. Obviously, you cannot put a lot of details in a small banner but do give your possible visitors a rough idea about your product so they know where they will land up by clicking on your banner link. You simply need to include a call to action for instance, you can write ‘Click to learn more’ OR ‘Find Out More’ so that people can click on the link to fulfill their curiosity.

Your banner should be clear enough to convey a general idea about your product and if interests the visitor, he can click on the banner to learn more about the product.

Animation is a Great Way to Capture Attention

Nice flashy videos or animations are a great way to capture people’s attention. I have seen a lot of banners with subtle imagination and not only the look great, they enforce a visitor to click on them to see more. However, you should keep in mind that these flash and animation might increase the size of your file so you do not have to go over board with animations. Keep things simple and to the point and a little bit of animation won’t do you any harm but make sure it is a little bit and not too much.

Clear and to-the-point Message

Do not confuse people and do not make them go round and round in circles. Online banners do not get a lot of space so you have to convey your message in a small box. In order to do this, you need to be very clear and accurate about the message you want to convey. Your message should be short and self explanatory.

Through that small box, you will have to tell people about the advantages of your product and why they should go for it. If you are selling a product or if you have an informative website, give them a reason to click on the banner by being true and exact in your banner message.

Your Banner Should Not Come Across as a Plain Picture

I have often seen a lot of good banners designed in a way that they look like a plain picture and at times they leave the visitor confused if the are click-able or not. You need to make it obvious that your banner is click-able and it will redirect visitors to a link.

Creating an obviously button will help a lot of visitors in distinguishing your banner from a display picture. You will definitely get to see a good improvement in stats of visitors if you will provide them with a proper click-able banner.

Tracking the Stats

As a designer, you need to evaluate your performance as well and this can be done by evaluating stats of your banner. Also, it is a great way to understand which ways work more in your banner so that you can utilize them in the future as well. Stats are a great way to improve your work so one should always track them to see what works and what does not works for them.

Use Reverse Psychology

In a lot of cases, using reverse psychology works for sure. You can use the same for your online banner to increase the number of clicks. If you will mention ‘Do not click’ on your banner, people will click on it for sure and out of curiosity. Now this does not mean that you should not display the rest of stuff properly and use reverse psychology in a way that it suits your product.

Use Attractive Words

As said earlier, you need to catch the attention of the people and other than making a good looking banner; you need to use attractive words and catchy phrases as well. You can always use, free, discount, win etc. These words are a great way to attract a certain kind of target audience and you will definitely see a good increase in the number of clicks on your website.

Advertising a Free Offer

We all love free stuff and all you need to do is offer something for free. For instance, you can have a free offer of any sort on your banner ad and people will definitely click on your banner to learn more about it. You need to attract every kind of audience and this way you would be attracting freebie audience. If they like your offer, they will sign up or read for more via clicking on your banner ad.

There’s a lot to like about Google+ and it has the potential to make a major impact on the future of the Internet. Fortunately for Google, it has the world’s largest search engine to integrate this product with immediately, giving publishers a significant reason to implement +1 within their sites.  Google accounts for more than 50 percent of incoming traffic on most sites, while Facebook is currently running a distant second in referring traffic (more then 10 percent of our own traffic comes from Facebook). For now, the new product is being offered as an experimental service, although there’s no doubt the company plans on making it a widespread feature.

Google’s previous social attempts have been unmitigated train wrecks, if we’re being completely honest. Open Social failed because Google couldn’t get Facebook and other social networks to buy into the idea of a shared social identity. Google Wave missed the target by not being useful enough to attract any users. Google Buzz freaked people out by naively overstepping its bounds on privacy.

So, when Google unveiled its latest social experiment last week — called Google+ — I was extremely skeptical. Still, Facebook is so malignant in terms of privacy and such a mess to use and configure that I was more than happy to give Google+ a try. I just expected that it would be a speed-dating relationship like most of my product reviews and destined to last no more than a few weeks at the most.

Google’s Page upbeat after 3 months on job: 10 million on Google+

After just two weeks in closed beta, it already has 10 million users. Still, it’s far from perfect. I’ve put together my list of the top 10 things Google needs to fix or add in Google+. Take a look at the list and then jump into the discussion and argue with me by adding the fixes that you think deserve more attention in Google+.

Here are just a snapshot of how successful Google+ is so far:

• Over 10 million people have joined Google+
• Over 1 billion items have been shared and received in a single day
• The +1 button is used on average 2.3 billion times a day

1. Let us mute someone from the Stream

On Google+ it is a lot easier to find friends and people to follow than any social network that has been built so far. And, with Circles, you can divided them into groups and then easily jump between the various streams of your Circles. However, there is also the big “Stream,” which aggregates all of the people you have in Circles and this is the default view you see on Google+. The one feature missing here is the ability to mute a person from the Stream (while still being able to see their updates in their Circle). You can mute individual posts from the Stream, but you can’t currently mute a person. This is badly needed so that you can stay connected to interesting people but not have the overly chatty people monopolize your Stream.

2. Let us sort the stream by raw timeline

By default, the big Stream (and the Circle streams as well) are sorted by relevance and popularity, based on the number of +1 votes and shares, so that the most interesting stuff rises to the top of the Stream. However, Google should also give us the option to sort the stream based solely on timestamp, so that we can see the stuff from people who post interesting things but don’t have as many followers to buoy their posts.

3. Show list of my +1 items from Google+

The +1 button allows you to give the thumbs up to really good Google+ posts and updates. However, this should also work like a list of favorites or bookmarks. Right now, there’s no way to see a list of the things where I have clicked +1. If I go to my profile there is a +1 tab, but that’s the list of external items (from web sites or Google search results) where I’ve clicked +1. The items from Google+ itself need to be added to this list.

4. Fix the share and re-share issue

One of the stickiest issues Google needs to figure out is the Share functionality. If you’re familiar with Twitter, this is like a Retweet (RT). However, when you share a post on Google+, it removes all of the comments and +1s, allows you to add your own comments above the post, and then your followers can add their own plusses and comments. That can be pretty cool, except when a bunch of the people you follow all share and re-share the same post. With the approach Google has taken to sharing, there may not be an easy answer, but something will need to be done to sort this out, at least for stuff that gets shared more than 2-3 times in your stream.

5. Integrate private messaging

One of the biggest things Google+ is missing compared to rivals Facebook and Twitter is the ability to send a private message to a mutual contact. Sure, there are a few workarounds and hacks that let you do it, but Google needs to make this part of the product’s primary functionality. It also wouldn’t hurt to integrate GoogleTalk (instant messaging) as well.

UPDATE: Google has added a “Send an email” button in Google+ profiles. So, you can now send an email to anyone with a Google+ profile (by default), even if they don’t have you in one of their circles. This is different than private messaging, which I still think would be useful.

6. Set up verified accounts

Since there are already celebrities showing up on Google+ — and a lot of people who are impersonating celebrities — Google needs to set up something similar to Twitter’s Verified Accounts. Just do a search for “Mark Zuckerberg” or “Lady Gaga” on Google+ and take a look at how many accounts there are. There are also plenty of sneaky imposters, like the person who pretended to be Apple’s Jony Ive (the account has been deleted).

7. Allow comments to be threaded

This is an issue of intense debate, but I think Google should allow threaded commenting on Google+ so that people can comment on and respond to comments, and not just the original post. That would make the threads a lot easier to follow when they get a lot of comments. And, comments on comments could be collapsed by default and users could simply click a plus sign to expand and view them. However, the threading would only need to go three layers deep to allow a response and a counterpoint.

8. Add more functionality to mobile

It’s impressive that Google had its Android app for Google+ ready to download the moment that it launched the “Field Trial” of the new service, and shortly thereafter it submitted an iPhone/iPad app to Apple for approval in the App Store. Even better, the Android app for Google+ is very well done. However, it’s not perfect and it could make the mobile Google+ experience a lot better by adding key functionality — e.g. the ability to +1 a comment, the ability to join a hangout, the ability to easily flip between the big stream and circle streams, etc. While they’re at it, Google should add more core functionality to its HTML app as well. That would be a great way to drive more participation and get a jump on Facebook, which still doesn’t have a great mobile experience.

9. Open it up to Google Apps users

In order to get into the Google+ beta you need a Gmail address (or a Google Account). It does not currently work for the Google Apps domains, which are business accounts where the company is using a corporate version of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and other Google web apps. Google has stated that Google+ pages for businesses and brands are coming soon. Hopefully, Google+ for Google Apps users won’t be far behind. Since some people may end up having separate Google+ accounts for personal (Gmail) and business (Google Apps) use, Google should also consider options for letting those users log in to both accounts from different tabs in the Chrome web browser.

10. Show list of interactions with each user

Another useful feature that Google should add is the ability to go to a user’s profile page and see all of that person’s interactions with you — their +1s and comments on your posts, as well as your +1s and comments on their posts. This would help figure out if you should add a person to your Circles, and if so, which Circles you should put them in or add them to.

Source Article

So the 7 habits of effective internet users are still the same? The below mention infographic was a huge hit on the internet and people find it very interesting and hilarious in many ways when it was published. You people know better how much truth is involved in the infographic but the chart is still the same i think and effective users on the internet are still taking interest in the mentioned websites, specially in twitter and facebook.

Being productive and feeling horny is a very funny and interesting combination but you can find more productivity after your get rid of your horny feelings. And what “DE”… Very natural law of internet i think. If you feel horny and need a partner for some chit chat or have fun, this combination will be very much involved in the internet users because adultfriendfinder is still the most popular community website for adults. View and make decision of yourself that how much truth is involved and what do you think about this chart of the 7 habits of effective internet users.

You can also be the part of the debate about this analysis HERE

Of course, very few people are actually extremists. Structuralists accept that good presentation can enhance information, and presentationalists likewise accept that some structured information can enhance experience.

Since HTML first became mainstream, with HTML version 2.0, there has been a struggle between the structure of a document and its presentation. This battle is symptomatic of two competing visions for the web. One web, two visions.

Structuralists see the web as a vehicle for information: the web is a tool to simplify the lives of over-stressed human beings. Structuralists believe that the presentation of a document is best left up to the individual user, browser or device. To them, HTML is a language for describing the structure of a document, and they view the future web as a universal any-device, any-where, any-time interface to databases, or as the database itself.

Presentationalists on the other hand, believe that the web is for conveying experience – a medium for entertainment and artistic enrichment.Because presentationalists want perfect control over their narratives, they think that HTML should be a language that can accurately present the web designer’s vision pixel-for-pixel, microsecond-to-microsecond, and interaction-to-interaction. The presentationalist sees the future web as a rich form of something akin to interactive super-television, but better.

Stuck in the middle with you

Most of us are realists who see the debate as largely academic until technology has caught up with theory. We are the would-be structuralists who still do page layouts with <table> cells, and the rather-be presentationalists who still type out text instead of wrapping it up in images. The primary justification for most of our design choices is that “it works now.”

So what does work now?

Neither the structuralists nor presentationalists are winning outright. An examination of the latest slew of recommendations coming out of W3C might make you think that the structuralists are winning, but realists will quickly point out that technology has not yet caught up with presentationalists’ requirements. Lone HTML (as it currently stands) is neither a good presentation language nor a good structural language, but the addition of XML and other highly structural languages and specifications is helping close the gap between reality and the structuralist’s ideal.

Do you know if your website’s design is affecting your online business? Here’s your chance to finally find out, so you can spend more time on what’s working with your website to increase profits, and change what’s not and actually costing you revenue!

Through my professional online experience dealing with Think Profits.com Inc., a leading Vancouver website design firm, I’ve learned how crucial it is to understand the three vital elements that make up effective web design. Applying these elements to your website’s design can make all the difference between success and failure of your online business.

According to this top-rated Vancouver website design firm, an effective web design consists of three simple factors that altogether, optimize search engine rank and help convert visitors into paying customers. So without any further hindrance to your online revenue potential, here are the three elements your web design needs to work most effectively:

Easy & Logical Usability

Your website must be simple to use, easy to navigate, and logically built -in other words, user friendly. The navigation system should be in the same place on every page and have the same format. Visitors will get confused and frustrated if links appear and disappear unpredictably. Consider using Server Side Includes for your main navigation system to make certain the navigation system stays consistent.

Don’t make your visitors guess where a link is going to take them. Visitors should be able to anticipate a link’s destination by reading the text in the link or on the navigation button. This isn’t the time to be cute or obscure – visitors don’t have the time or patience for it.  Large or complex sites should always have a text-based site map in addition to text links. Every page should contain a text link to the site map. Lost visitors will use it to find their way, while search engines spiders will have reliable access to all your pages.  Most sites include their logo somewhere at the top of every page – generally in the top, left-hand corner. Visitors expect this logo to be a link to your site’s home page. They’ll often go there before looking for the home link in the navigation system.

Read More About Design Tips Here

Search Engine Optimization

Your website must be properly optimized using relevant, targeted, well researched keywords, so that search engines can index your web pages accordingly, and generate qualified online traffic (users) to your site. The Meta Keywords tag used to be the main tag for telling search engines what keywords were most relevant to the content of a website. A webmaster could include this tag in the head section of their website and fill it with the keywords that they wanted their site to rank for. Eventually spammers caught on to the fact that repeating keywords over and over in the Meta Keywords tag could cause their website to rank better. Google and other search engines eventually caught on to this and made a major change to their algorithms. The major change was to shift focus to links rather than Meta tags. The Meta Keywords tag no longer has an impact on search engine rankings… 
Read More Here

Visual Appeal for Your Market (Not Just You!)

Your web design must possess a unique, professional and inviting presence that builds brand image, and keeps users interested in seeing more. It is also critical to deliver visual appeal specifically to your Target Market; giving them what they would expect to see, and what they are looking for upfront and center when they arrive to your site.

Our leading Vancouver website design firm gives us a clear understanding as to why these three elements must work in tandem to generate effective web design: “Great search engine optimization methods will bring visitors to your website, but your website needs to be easy to use and have visual appeal to keep your visitors interested enough to stay on the site, and convert them into customers.”

“On the other hand, however, your user friendly and visually appealing website won’t serve any purpose either if it’s not optimized so that visitors can find you. Furthermore, if your website is stunning, well-optimized, and can be found easily, but is hard to understand, lacks valuable information, and possesses sloppy navigation, or perhaps even takes too long to load, it will only hold your visitors’ attention for so long before they move on to less stressful websites.”

This Vancouver website design firm also suggests that in this era of highly sophisticated Internet marketing and web design technology and services, there is no reason for any online business to suffer from an ineffective website. Whether your goal is to present a basic business website that briefly introduces and describes your business, or to strive for a full-service, profit-generating storefront, there is a wide array of design choices to cater to all of your needs.

Keep in mind, your website should fit your business like a well-tailored suit. It should reflect exactly who you are and, at the same time, instill confidence in your visitors-your potential customers-that your business is solid, stable, and reliable. Use this article as your starting point to find out whether your web design is truly effective. Don’t waste another minute making web design mistakes that are costing you your online revenue!

Preparing a Long Term Marketing Strategy

Preparing a long term marketing strategy and following through is another essential function that the web master has to be committed to fulfilling, as even the most popular web sites can fall from the top search engine positions seemingly at a whim. These sudden changes in rankings usually occur when the search engine software or algorithms undergo a significant change or update, making it necessary for the webmaster to re-establish most or all of the core key word phrases relevant to the web site at hand. Maintaining this long term marketing approach is a daunting task, and can sometimes discourage even the most effective marketer.

What if your father start a new business and he want a new website to promote his business and want to start things in a proper way as the website is an essential part of any business now. Your father love his business because he love you and want to give you every comfort in life. If you are a web designer then you must be your fathers first priority and he will definitely try to have a website free of cost by his son or daughter. But if you are professional enough you wont let your father use your skills without any payment or some extra new gadgets, and its not a bad thing to consider your father as your client.

Now what are the things  to remember and how to plan  before start doing your fathers company web project in a loving and caring way so your relation with your dad will be more successful and the best.

Wikipedia – The father-child relationship is the defining factor of the fatherhood role in life. A ‘Dad’ does not always have to be a child’s biological father. Some children refer to their stepfathers as dad. A Father is known as a man who exercises paternal care over other persons. Most fathers are naturally protective, supportive, and responsible and are able to provide a number of significant benefits to themselves, their communities, and their children. Involved fathers offer developmentally specific provisions to their sons and daughters throughout the life cycle and are impacted themselves by their doing so.

Now What are the Things to Remember

Now lets discuss some points  that how to start working with your father in a professional way so you can give your father a treat to watch website and have a good amount of desired money and love.

If You Are Good At Something, Never Do It For Free.

Its not only a joker’s quote, its a reality. Every body want to earn as you can’t live and survive without money these days. So why not to implement this reality on your father. Offer your skills according to the market rate and tell your father that your son is a professional web designer and want to earn by his or her own and want you to be proud on your child.

Talk to Your Mother if Your Father is a Bad Client.

Your Mother know many things about your father. As his wife he knows how to handle things and make a settlement with him, so he can help you a lot if your father make things complicated. You can also ask your mother to convince him with her loving nature for him and make things more easy for you.

Don’t Discuss The Project At Home

Make it more professional. Don’t discuss the project at home, don’t allow your father to change his plan again and again or to add things as the project details is already finalize. Discuss these things at his office or the internet through emails or the way you want. You discuss more, you make things more complicated for yourself.

No Need to Worry About Losing The Project

Your client is your father. He loves you and admire your skills, its OK if some times he disagree with you because the business and client process also involves in this matter. So there is no need to think that if your father not happy with your work or if you fail to meet the project deadline on time because this natural law of father and child will save you.

You are the Mirror of  Your Fathers Personality

There are many things already the same between you and your father. Many things you and your father dislike and like in a web design also because naturally you have many habits and personal thinking the same like your father. So this process of  similar thoughts and thinking will make things very easy for you achieve the website design like the way your father want.

Try to Find Your Fathers Ex Girlfriend or Colleague

Still things are not going like the way you want? Your mother is busy in some other work and not helping you to convince your father? Find her, the girlfriend of your father (If Any) or office colleague. She will have some secrets to tell you. He defiantly discuss the project with these people. So if you are facing any problem on some issue related to the project, these people can help you a lot.

Your Father is the only Client Who Loves You

Loving and caring, love for his son or daughter. He will forget and leave many things for you. Maybe he want you to make a design for his company just like you want. He want to be proud on you and want to tell this world that my child is truly a professional and skillful, your father is the master of disguise in a positive manner. Love him and his work. Create something special for him and if you get a chance, launch the website on fathers day and after all the professional and business matters and behaviors, tell him i want to hug you and where is my money?

The demands of contemporary creative work are constantly developing, as more people choose to work from home or independent studios, and as technology advances. Today, much creative work can be carried out on a laptop, perhaps attached to a large monitor, and the development of iPhones and other hand held devices mean that many office tasks can be handled by tailor-made apps. As such office set ups can be arranged with an absolutely minimalist aesthetic, designed to provide the best environment to improve creativity. This post brings together five of the best creatively organized office setups, brilliant workstations for your inspiration.

Creative Setup By Carl-Johan Kihlbom

This cool set up has an airy, accessible feel with light colors and ergonomic chair and desk arrangement all combining to maximize the user’s creativity. The ambient indoor illumination is complimented by natural lighting from skylights. The technical aspects of this superb desk space include a Mac Pro, one 30” and two 20” Apple Cinema Displays, a Macbook and Altec Lansing FX-6021 Speakers. The desk itself is from Ikea’s Effective series, while the chair is a Stoke Duo, a design classic that offers comfort and lumbar support in a variety of positions.

Creative Setup By Mkosut

This office set up is pared down for a completely minimalist, clutter-free working environment, with the large windows offering inspirational views over Brooklyn and the Manhattan skyline in the distance. Some of the windows have been fitted with tinting film for privacy and to reduce glare from the sun, while others have been left clear to make the most of the view. The window to the right of the image is actually used as a dry wipe surface for brainstorming, drawing and schematics. On the technical front, the office features a Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, iPhone, G5 server, all-in-one Canon printer, scanner, copier hidden in a drawer and wireless speakers concealed behind the desk. The desk is an Ikea Torsby dining table, while the seat is an ergonomically designed Aeron Chair from Herman Miller.

Creative Setup By Marc0047

Elegant, refined and minimalist, this office space is arranged for simplicity and maximum creativity. At the centre of the workstation is a Mini Mac with a wireless Mac keyboard and Dell LCD screen. High quality Audio engine speakers provide the sounds. The filing cabinet, plant pot and globe light come from Ikea, as do the Vika Lerberg trestles that support the particleboard desktop with a melamine finish. The Bevco chair and SE Lager single-speed bicycle add the finishing touches to this eminently classy office set up.

Creative Setup By Crouching Donkey

Crouching Donkey employs a variety of screens to help with his work, all set up with Leopard wallpaper in this nighttime shot of his creative desk space. The set up features an iMac and PowerBook, one main screen with a wireless dual screen and an extra screen arranged vertically to the right. The desktop also features a printer, three iPods in their cradles, and a good supply of pencils. The desk’s surface is constructed from tempered glass that is spray-painted black on the underside for a super stylish finish. An Ikea Antifoni angle poise lamp provides the workspace’s lighting.

Creative Setup By Schodts

This awesome set up combines a clean and minimalist workstation with plenty of screen space. At the head of the arrangement is a large Samsung LCD TV. Below are three Acer AL1951 series monitors mounted on a glass shelf with floating brackets. The keyboard is a Logitech G15 working alongside a Logitech Mx518 mouse. Other accessories include an iPhone, vTech Bluetooth Phone, IronKey Encrytped USB Thumbdrive and an old school calculator. A magnifying lamp on an angle poise arm provides the desktop lighting, while hidden backlights create subtle low-level ambient illumination. The designer has successfully achieved his ambition of creating a serene workspace, a fine example of a creatively organized office space.

About The Author

A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. Fields where freelancing is common include journalism, book publishing, journal publishing, and other forms of writing, editing, copy editing, proofreading, indexing, copywriting, computer programming, web design and graphic design, consulting, tour guiding and translating. Freelance practice varies greatly. Some require clients to sign written contracts, while others may perform work based on verbal agreements, perhaps enforceable through the very nature of the work. Some freelancers may provide written estimates of work and request deposits from clients.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, approximately 10.3 million workers in the US (7.4% of the US workforce) are independent contractors. In the past three years, companies have increased their outsourcing by 22% on the internet.

Impact of the Internet

The Internet  has opened up many freelance opportunities, expanded available markets, and has contributed to service sector growth in many economies. Offshore outsourcing and crowdsourcing  are heavily reliant on the Internet to provide economical access to remote workers, and frequently leverage technology to manage workflow to and from the employer. Much of the computer freelance work is being outsourced to poorer countries outside the United States and Europe. This has spurred conflict because American and European workers are not receiving the benefits. The compromise has led to student freelancers who now provide a steady source of cheap labor while keeping jobs American and European – Wikipedia

The Roadmap To Becoming A Professional Freelance Web Designer

Becoming a freelance web designer is a common dream among many designers, although it takes quite a bit of talent, business savvy, committment, and time. With all there is to consider when becoming self-employed, one can become overwhelmed — enough to deter themselves from trying at all.

Realizing many Smashing readers probably already have a head-start into the world of professional and freelance web design, this post is meant to act as not only a step-by-step guide, but also as a checklist for those who have already started their career. Hopefully this guide can cover all aspects of becoming a professional and freelance web designer, from business aspect and working with clients, to creating an effective portfolio and advertising one’s work.

Freelance Contracts: Do’s And Don’ts

In the world of freelancing, the entrepreneur has to take on a number of tasks for themselves that would normally be handled by a separate department at a bigger company. Most of these tasks are not part of the creative processes that freelance workers are used to, but rather are more tedious, left-brain paperwork. Right-brain creatives often shudder at the thought of these forays into linear domains. Such detail-ridden tasks would strain any freelancer who wears multiple hats, but they must be completed.

One such task is contracts. Drafting a contract that covers you, and doesn’t just enumerate information, is more than important: it is a must. Freelancers do not have the benefit of a legal department dedicated to protecting their interests with a watertight contract. Nevertheless, a freelancer’s contract must be comprehensive, concise and clear. It should outline the scope of the job, scheduling demands, the expectations of both parties and more.

Dealing With Clients Who Refuse To Pay

One thing these clients overlook is the community that freelancers have at their disposal via the Web and various blogs and social media outlets. Freelancers have an established network of support and guidance through such connectivity that it almost feels effortless at times. And we have been turning to the community for years now to improve the working environment of designers, by discussing methods and techniques of dealing with common issues that arise in the field. This network has spawned some inspiring ideas for addressing these client-related problems.

Freelancing & Caring for Family

I’m the emergency point of contact for more than a few of my family members: my work means that I don’t have to ask for leave and, at least in theory, I can drag my laptop along to emergency rooms and elsewhere with little concern. The situation makes sense to me and I don’t have nearly the qualms about it that I have when friends and relatives ask me to drop everything and wait for their cable man.

But caring for family can go beyond short-term emergencies. When a longer-term situation comes up, the fact that a freelancer works at home and has more flexibility makes us the obvious solution. My grandmother passed away a few years ago and I spent her last month caring for her. It was a situation where everyone knew what was coming and wanted to provide in-home hospice care for her.

6 Apps for Freelancing on an iPad

Can you work effectively on an iPad? I’m about to find out. I recently joined the ranks of the Apple fanbois.  Well, maybe not completely.  I got my iPhone before it was available here in Canada (the Apple genius kept telling me “It won’t work in Canada”), but I haven’t been able to fully switch from PC to Mac. I like the system but I still find it hard to justify the price difference.  I could have bought two of the systems that I currently use, or one MacBook.  Sorry, but I’m cheap, and when it comes to writing I don’t require the power of the Mac.

That being said – I did get a new iPad.  And while it might not be perfect for every freelancer, it is going to be very useful to many.  Here are a few apps that will make your freelance life easier – or at least help you look cool in Starbucks.  And really, that’s all that matters.

Reconsidering Gifts for Clients: Are Client Gifts Appropriate?

I’ve mentioned a few times that I am still a bit new to freelancing, but I have been lucky enough to have established some outstanding clients, online and offline.

I have enough clients to pay my bills and put away a bit of cash each month to help me prepare for future lean months (Amber Leigh Turner did a great post here on creating a paycheck template).  I have enough clients to understand which ones are OK clients, and which ones are excellent.  The OK clients might have bigger budgets occasionally, but they seem to be sporadic and hard to predict.  And their payment practices may not be the most favorable within the freelance world.  The excellent clients are the ones that have a regular project on a monthly basis.  It might not be the biggest budget, but they aren’t grinding you for every dollar spent.   The excellent clients seem to know what they want, appreciate that you are an expert, and let you do your thing.  And they pay–quickly.

Business Intelligence Tools for Marketing Your Services

Ever wonder how those savvy though somewhat annoying know-it-all’s can always quote the latest statistics or tell you exactly which color converts a sale and why your email newsletter template simply won’t do?

Well I won’t tell you to join the ranks of the snobby-but-accurate, but I will share with you some business intelligence tools to get the inside scoop on what works when marketing your services, not to mention a great method for reverse engineering the competition and showing your client how what you do will help them dominate their industry.

Finding a Niche as a Freelancer

Freelancing can be one of the most rewarding career paths in this technology-dependent age we live in. Earning your own money based on your own sweat and hours laboriously poured into your work – there’s just no better feeling! What many beginners get caught up in are the details of their enterprise. Freelancing is a very general term and there are so many routes to take. You may ask yourself, how do I find a niche that’s right for me? How do I know what skills I will excel at?

Are You Dating Your Client?

The other day I realized that the relationships that I have been developing with my clients are similar to what I remember of the dating world.  Of course, it’s been over 20 years since I was allowed to date anyone other than my wife, but from what I can recall, the similarities are there.  Curse her and her “no dating” rule! What kind of relationship are you in with your clients?

Branding Your Freelancing Business: Personal Name vs Business Name

When you build your freelancing business, at some point the question of branding will come up. What do you want to call your business, and what image do you want to project? This is when you’ll want to think hard about your freelancing business’ name and identity. You have two choices: either use your personal name or come up with a “formal” business name.

Managing Your Client Schedule

Having lots of clients  is the goal for any freelancer who’s serious about business. The money is always flowing, your clients are happy and you’re working hard to maintain your reputation. The problem though, is the fact you haven’t seen the outside of your office for weeks, you dream about the next email you’re going to send to your clients, and you’re constantly checking your phone for client replies when you’re supposed to be like, doing other things.

Being a busy freelancer is much better than being a bored freelancer, but like with everything, it comes with its own set of problems. How do you deal when you have several projects going on at one time, and several more potential projects in the works? Most importantly, how do you keep your sanity?

10 Essential Pages in Your Freelance Site

I saw something interesting on my Twitter stream the other day: “Your blog is the new resume.” How true! Everyone is so web savvy nowadays that we know we can get the dish on anybody by Googling their name.

Even if your prospects don’t have online businesses, they know that they can easily find out more about you on the Internet. And, what are they likely to find? Embarrassing photos in Facebook? Less than flattering remarks you make on Twitter? Or, posts in which you complain about clients on your blog?

How to Get More Done and Have More Fun

Have you ever thought that by simply rearranging your daily tasks you could increase your productivity, get more done and enjoy yourself more? The biggest asset of freelancers worldwide is that they usually do what they love, and love what they do. But, what happens when you get stressed with deadlines, long working hours and lots of clients and you don’t have any more time for yourself, your family or your personal projects?

Most of you are probably organized to some extent. Most of you probably have a to-do list where you add tasks that need to be done and tick them off once they’re completed. However, have you ever thought that by simply rearranging that to-do list you can rediscover that working is fun, pleasant and enjoyable? By simply rearranging to-dos you can give yourself daily boosts.

How? You may ask. In this post, I’ll answer that question and show you how to get more from your work and more time for yourself.

Quitting Your Job to Become a Freelancer

The day you’ve been dreading has finally come–your alarm goes off at 5:30 to get you up for work and instead of jumping out of bed to greet the day you groan and through a pillow over your head. You no longer look forward to getting out of bed at the crack of dawn, fighting hour long traffic and going into work just to be stuck in pointless meetings all day.

It’s true, you’ve hit a job rut. So, what do you do? If you’re like most people, you start looking through job websites for another full-time job. A year later, you’re back at the same place. Now you know just going from job to job isn’t satisfying you. What do you do? Perhaps it’s time to start freelancing.

Social Media has certainly changed the face of advertisement in the Internet. The importance of business followed by the profile is becoming more important today than ever. In the social media platform, profile is the most important aspect of the business. People make decisions by looking at the influence of the profile. Hence, a personal brand is becoming more important than ever.

With the changing time, very few platforms are available to leverage the personal brand over the Internet Space. One popular kind of platform spread over the Internet is the Featured User Program or Sponsored User. It allows you to choose the amount of impression that you want to receive and pay accordingly.

This form of advertisement works in the manner of banner advertisement. The profile of a user is put as an advertisement with basic details. Depending upon the mode of transaction, user would either have to pay per click or pay per impression. Different programs employ different method and some give both. Besides using third party application, user can even make an offline request and put their banner on each other’s website.

But is feature banner efficient?

Effectiveness of feature banner depends upon the kind of site your profile is hosted upon.  Usually, featured banner is not effective everywhere. Few places where they are very useful is in case of social profile management tools.
There are sites like friendorfollow.com, Tweetdeck, HootSuite and Buzzom.com where the effectiveness of the featured Ad increases because the audience is large and highly engaged with the application.
Among these application, Buzzom.com provides a very easy and effective Feature Program. Buzzom is a very popular site where people discover new people and manage their social profiles. Hence, it makes the best place for the Feature Ad program.

Buzzom allows you to choose three different kinds of advertisement:

1. Featured Banner

User’s profile and bio are placed side of the application for users to view and follow them. The user is charged per impression.

2. Grow Banner

Buzzom has a grow feature that lists out new and relevant people. When user purchases Grow banner the Grow system will recommend the profile to users.

3. Search Banner

Buzzom also has a people search feature that allows user to search according to bio, location or tweets. User can buy the banner with relevant keywords.

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I hope the above information was helpful. Please provide with comment and feedback on what other systems are there for similar purpose.

Bhupendra Khanal | Follow On Twitter

Vista Print who gave brand identity and marketing solutions for small businesses all over the world starts a design challenge for designers who can design Business Cards & T-Shirts and the winners can win big cash prizes. The Challenge begins on August 3, 2010 at 12:00:01 a.m. and ends on October 4, 2010 at 11:59:59 p.m.

How it Works?

Cash Prizes

Selected Designs are eligible for the following prizes which may be awarded by Sponsor, in its sole discretion. There will be two Grand Prizes awarded (one for Business Cards and one for T-shirts). Each Challenge participant submitting at least five Selected Designs in a category will be automatically entered into the Grand Prize competition for that category. Vistaprint’s professional design staff will then vote to determine which high-volume designer has the most jaw-dropping set of submissions.

For Business Cards

1. GRAND PRIZE: $5,000
2. Best of “Bold” design: $1,000
3. Best of “Health and Wellness” design: $1,000
4. Best of “Fashion and Accessories” design: $1,000
5. Best of “Open” design: $1,000
6. Best of “Open” design: $1,000

For T-shirts

1. GRAND PRIZE: $5,000
2. Best of “Sports” design: $1,000
3. Best of “Humor” design: $1,000
4. Best of “Fashion” design: $1,000
5. Best of “Open” design: $1,000
6. Best of “Open” design: $1,000

Eligibility

The Vistaprint User Generated Content Design Challenge (the “Challenge”) is offered and open to people who are at least 18 years of age or the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence, whichever is older, at time of entry. Employees, officers and directors of Vistaprint Limited (“Vistaprint” or “Sponsor”), its respective parent, affiliated and subsidiary companies, and members of the immediate family (parents, siblings, children and spouse, wherever they reside) or household members (whether or not related) of such employees, officers and directors are not eligible. By participating, you agree to these Official Rules, Vistaprint’s Submission of Content Terms and Conditions located at www.vistaprint.com/design-challenge/terms-and-conditions.aspx (the “Content Terms”)and all decisions of Sponsor, which are final and binding in all respects (collectively, the “Rules”). Void where prohibited.

Read All The Details Here

Today i look through the biggest and most popular blogs on the web to see that which social media share buttons and API’s they are using as there main sharing option. Obviously there are social media services on the web (like add this) which are offering almost all the social media, sharing and bookmarking websites to share your post but blogs use some main and selected sharing buttons on the page which are there most favorite or the most popular sharing service on the web like Facebook share button and Tweet Mini Green color retweet button. Blogs these days give you all or other sharing options with some exclusive sharing option, most visible and most easy to share on the post pages.

There are 100′s of websites now on where you can share you favorite URL’s, posts and pages  but you can’t embed all the websites;s sharing buttons and icons on a one single page. You have to choose which is the best and the most liked by the people or which service is the most popular and important from these hundreds of websites these days, so you can choose 3 or 4 most exclusive and popular service or share button on your blog or post pages.

If you take a look on the worlds biggest blogs of every nature or they are covering and publishing any kind of  content like mashable, tech crunch, readwriteweb, boy genious, life hacker, gizmodo, smashing magazine, abduzeedo, what they are offering and which sharing option they are using as the most exclusive and special. Well there are some of the most popular and almost the same on these blogs.

1. Retweet Button

The TweetMeme retweet button is for website and blog publishers who want to encourage their audience to tweet their content on Twitter. The button shows a live count of the number of times your webpage or blog post has been tweeted.

Installation Guide | WordPress Plugin

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2. Facebook Share Button

The Share Button is the easiest way to allow your content to be shared on Facebook.

Installation Guide | WordPress Plugin

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3. Facebook Like Button

The Like button lets a user share your content with friends on Facebook. When the user clicks the Like button on your site, a story appears in the user’s friends’ News Feed with a link back to your website.

When your Web page represents a real-world entity, things like movies, sports teams, celebrities, and restaurants, use the Open Graph protocol to specify information about the entity. If you include Open Graph tags on your Web page, your page becomes equivalent to a Facebook page. This means when a user clicks a Like button on your page, a connection is made between your page and the user. Your page will appear in the “Likes and Interests” section of the user’s profile, and you have the ability to publish updates to the user. Your page will show up in same places that Facebook pages show up around the site (e.g. search), and you can target ads to people who like your content.

There are two Like button implementations: XFBML and Iframe. The XFBML version is more versatile, but requires use of the JavaScript SDK. The XFBML dynamically re-sizes its height according to whether there are profile pictures to display, gives you the ability (through the Javascript library) to listen for like events so that you know in real time when a user clicks the Like button, and it always gives the user the ability to add an optional comment to the like. If users do add a comment, the story published back to Facebook is given more prominence.

Installation Guide | WordPress Plugin

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4. The Digg Button

The Digg button, also known as the “Digg This” button, is for website and blog publishers that want to encourage their audience to submit content to Digg or Digg their content. Join thousands of sites that have already added the Digg button and have seen their content exposed to the Digg community!

While we support both a Smart Digg button and a static Digg button, we recommend using the Smart Digg button, as it displays a real-time Digg count and is more customizable.

Installation Guide | WordPress Plugin

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5. Delicious Bookmark Button

With a “Bookmark this on Delicious” link, you can provide your site visitors an easy way to save it to Delicious.

Installation Guide | WordPress Plugin

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6. StumbleUpon Button

Add a StumbleUpon badge to your site so your visitors can easily submit your content to StumbleUpon and you can start enjoying additional traffic from StumbleUpon users who want to see content like yours!

Our new badges reflect a real-time count of how many times your page has been viewed by members of StumbleUpon’s community of over 10 million users. Show off your big numbers! Users clicking these badges will be prompted to submit a page to StumbleUpon’s index (if not already in our index) so other users can enjoy your content or to view the ratings and reviews of your page from other StumbleUpon users. Your site will not be framed when users click any of these badges.

StumbleUpon Button Installation Guide

NO FLASH. NO PROBLEM. Its Pure HTML & JQuery. jQuery.spritely is a jQuery plugin created by Artlogic for creating dynamic character and background animation in pure HTML and JavaScript. It’s a simple, light-weight plugin with a few simple methods for creating animated sprites.

Spritely is a simple plugin with only two key methods, sprite() and pan() both of which simply animate the background-image css property of an element. The difference between the two is that a ‘sprite’ image contains two or more ‘frames’ of animation, whereas a ‘pan’ image contains a continuous image which pans left or right and then repeats. Typically, in either case, you would use a png file (with or without transparency) for this. You might wish to use a transparent gif for Internet Explorer 6, though it probably won’t look as good. Your html elements must already be the correct size you want the sprite to appear, but the background image will typically be larger than the html element, and the spritely methods reposition the background image within the html element.

SPRITELY HAS THE FOLLOWING GREAT ADVANTAGES

HERE ARE SOME SPRITELY EARLY ADOPTERS:

BROWSER SUPPORT

• Internet Explorer 6 +
• Firefox
• Safari
• Chrome
• Opera

CAN ANYBODY USE SPRITELY?

Yes – you’re free to use spritely without charge as long as you comply with the the license. jQuery.spritely is released under Dual the same license as jQuery.

ONE FINAL WORD OF CAUTION…

Use Spritely sparingly. A little Spritely goes a long way, but over-ambitious use of these techniques may lead to poor performance, especially on mobile devices. A little movement on a large page may be better than a lot of movement on a small one. Please test Spritely carefully for your target audience/platforms before you develop your site as performance may vary from platform to platform.

Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter.

So what does Twitter do for businesses?

Twitter is a communication platform that helps businesses stay connected to their customers. As a business, you can use it to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your company. As an individual user, you can use Twitter to tell a company (or anyone else) that you’ve had a great—or disappointing—experience with their business, offer product ideas, and learn about great offers.

So how does it work?

Twitter lets you write and read messages of up to 140 characters, or the very length of this sentence, including all punctuation and spaces. The messages are public and you decide what sort of messages you want to receive—Twitter being a recipient driven information network. In addition, you can send and receive Twitter messages, or tweets, equally well from your desktop or your mobile phone.

When you combine messages that are quick to write, easy to read, public, controlled by the recipient and exchangeable anywhere, you’ve got a powerful, real-time way to communicate. And real-time communication is turning out to be ground-breaking for users and businesses alike.

So how do businesses use Twitter?

Twitter connects you to your customers right now, in a way that was never before possible. For example, let’s say you work for a custom bike company. If you run a search for your brand, you may find people posting messages about how happy they are riding your bikes in the French Alps—giving you a chance to share tips about cyclist-friendly cafes along their route.

Others may post minor equipment complaints or desired features that they would never bother to contact you about—providing you with invaluable customer feedback that you can respond to right away or use for future planning. Still others may twitter about serious problems with your bikes—letting you offer customer service that can turn around a bad situation.

You don’t have to run a bike shop or a relatively small company to get good stuff out of Twitter. Businesses of all kinds, including major brands, increasingly find that listening and engaging on the service leads to happier customers, passionate advocates, key product improvements and, in many cases, more sales.
A key benefit

One of Twitter’s key benefits is that it gives you the chance to communicate casually with customers on their terms, creating friendly relationships along the way—tough for corporations to do in most other mediums.

But Twitter isn’t just about useful immediacy. The conversational nature of the medium lets you build relationships with customers, partners and other people important to your business. Beyond transactions, Twitter gives your constituents direct access to employees and a way to contribute to your company; as marketers say, it shrinks the emotional distance between your company and your customers. Plus, the platform lends itself to integration with your existing communication channels and strategies. In combination, those factors can make Twitter a critical piece of your company’s bigger digital footprint.

For instance, let’s say you run a big retail website. In addition to learning more about what your customers want, you can provide exclusive Twitter coupon codes, link to key posts on your blog, share tips for shopping online, and announce specials at store locations. And you can take things a step further by occasionally posting messages about fun, quirky events at your HQ, giving others a small but valuable connection with the people in your company.

Know More About Twitter 101

Download The Twitter 101 PDF

PageRank is a link analysis algorithm, named after Larry Page,  used by the Google Internet search engine that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set. The algorithm  may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal  quotations and references.

What is PageRank?

PageRank is a numeric value that represents how important a page is on the web. Google figures that when one page links to another page, it is effectively casting a vote for the other page. The more votes that are cast for a page, the more important the page must be. Also, the importance of the page that is casting the vote determines how important the vote itself is. Google calculates a page’s importance from the votes cast for it. How important each vote is is taken into account when a page’s PageRank is calculated.
PageRank is Google’s way of deciding a page’s importance. It matters because it is one of the factors that determines a page’s ranking in the search results. It isn’t the only factor that Google uses to rank pages, but it is an important one.

From here on in, we’ll occasionally refer to PageRank as “PR”.

How is PageRank Calculated?

To calculate the PageRank for a page, all of its inbound links are taken into account. These are links from within the site and links from outside the site.

PR(A) = (1-d) + d(PR(t1)/C(t1) + … + PR(tn)/C(tn))

That’s the equation that calculates a page’s PageRank. It’s the original one that was published when PageRank was being developed, and it is probable that Google uses a variation of it but they aren’t telling us what it is. It doesn’t matter though, as this equation is good enough.

In the equation ‘t1 – tn’ are pages linking to page A, ‘C’ is the number of outbound links that a page has and ‘d’ is a damping factor, usually set to 0.85.

We can think of it in a simpler way:-

a page’s PageRank = 0.15 + 0.85 * (a “share” of the PageRank of every page that links to it)

“share” = the linking page’s PageRank divided by the number of outbound links on the page.

A page “votes” an amount of PageRank onto each page that it links to. The amount of PageRank that it has to vote with is a little less than its own PageRank value (its own value * 0.85). This value is shared equally between all the pages that it links to.

From this, we could conclude that a link from a page with PR4 and 5 outbound links is worth more than a link from a page with PR8 and 100 outbound links. The PageRank of a page that links to yours is important but the number of links on that page is also important. The more links there are on a page, the less PageRank value your page will receive from it.

If the PageRank value differences between PR1, PR2,…..PR10 were equal then that conclusion would hold up, but many people believe that the values between PR1 and PR10 (the maximum) are set on a logarithmic scale, and there is very good reason for believing it. Nobody outside Google knows for sure one way or the other, but the chances are high that the scale is logarithmic, or similar. If so, it means that it takes a lot more additional PageRank for a page to move up to the next PageRank level that it did to move up from the previous PageRank level. The result is that it reverses the previous conclusion, so that a link from a PR8 page that has lots of outbound links is worth more than a link from a PR4 page that has only a few outbound links.

Whichever scale Google uses, we can be sure of one thing. A link from another site increases our site’s PageRank. Just remember to avoid links from link farms.

Note that when a page votes its PageRank value to other pages, its own PageRank is not reduced by the value that it is voting. The page doing the voting doesn’t give away its PageRank and end up with nothing. It isn’t a transfer of PageRank. It is simply a vote according to the page’s PageRank value. It’s like a shareholders meeting where each shareholder votes according to the number of shares held, but the shares themselves aren’t given away. Even so, pages do lose some PageRank indirectly, as we’ll see later.

Ok so far? Good. Now we’ll look at how the calculations are actually done.

For a page’s calculation, its existing PageRank (if it has any) is abandoned completely and a fresh calculation is done where the page relies solely on the PageRank “voted” for it by its current inbound links, which may have changed since the last time the page’s PageRank was calculated.

The equation shows clearly how a page’s PageRank is arrived at. But what isn’t immediately obvious is that it can’t work if the calculation is done just once. Suppose we have 2 pages, A and B, which link to each other, and neither have any other links of any kind. This is what happens:-

Step 1: Calculate page A’s PageRank from the value of its inbound links

Page A now has a new PageRank value. The calculation used the value of the inbound link from page B. But page B has an inbound link (from page A) and its new PageRank value hasn’t been worked out yet, so page A’s new PageRank value is based on inaccurate data and can’t be accurate.

Step 2: Calculate page B’s PageRank from the value of its inbound links

Page B now has a new PageRank value, but it can’t be accurate because the calculation used the new PageRank value of the inbound link from page A, which is inaccurate.

It’s a Catch 22 situation. We can’t work out A’s PageRank until we know B’s PageRank, and we can’t work out B’s PageRank until we know A’s PageRank.

Now that both pages have newly calculated PageRank values, can’t we just run the calculations again to arrive at accurate values? No. We can run the calculations again using the new values and the results will be more accurate, but we will always be using inaccurate values for the calculations, so the results will always be inaccurate.

The problem is overcome by repeating the calculations many times. Each time produces slightly more accurate values. In fact, total accuracy can never be achieved because the calculations are always based on inaccurate values. 40 to 50 iterations are sufficient to reach a point where any further iterations wouldn’t produce enough of a change to the values to matter. This is precisiely what Google does at each update, and it’s the reason why the updates take so long.

One thing to bear in mind is that the results we get from the calculations are proportions. The figures must then be set against a scale (known only to Google) to arrive at each page’s actual PageRank. Even so, we can use the calculations to channel the PageRank within a site around its pages so that certain pages receive a higher proportion of it than others.

What can we do with this ‘overall’ PageRank?

We are going to look at some example calculations to see how a site’s PageRank can be manipulated, but before doing that, I need to point out that a page will be included in the Google index only if one or more pages on the web link to it. That’s according to Google. If a page is not in the Google index, any links from it can’t be included in the calculations.

For the examples, we are going to ignore that fact, mainly because other ‘Pagerank Explained’ type documents ignore it in the calculations, and it might be confusing when comparing documents. The calculator operates in two modes:- Simple and Real. In Simple mode, the calculations assume that all pages are in the Google index, whether or not any other pages link to them. In Real mode the calculations disregard unlinked-to pages. These examples show the results as calculated in Simple mode.

Read The Full PageRank Explanation

Google’s rel=”nofollow”  option

In early 2005, Google implemented a new value, “nofollow” for the rel attribute of HTML link and anchor elements, so that website developers and bloggers can make links that Google will not consider for the purposes of PageRank — they are links that no longer constitute a “vote” in the PageRank system. The nofollow relationship was added in an attempt to help combat spamdexing.

As an example, people could previously create many message-board posts with links to their website to artificially inflate their PageRank. With the nofollow value, message-board administrators can modify their code to automatically insert “rel=’nofollow’” to all hyperlinks in posts, thus preventing PageRank from being affected by those particular posts. This method of avoidance, however, also has various drawbacks, such as reducing the link value of actual comments.

In an effort to manually control the flow of PageRank among pages within a website, many webmasters practice what is known as PageRank Sculpting] – which is the act of strategically placing the nofollow attribute on certain internal links of a website in order to funnel PageRank towards those pages the webmaster deemed most important. This tactic has been used since the inception of the nofollow attribute, but the technique has been thought by many to have lost its effectiveness.

History of PageRank

PageRank was developed at Stanford University by Larry Page (hence the name Page-Rank) and later Sergey Brin as part of a research project about a new kind of search engine. The first paper about the project, describing PageRank and the initial prototype of the Google search engine, was published in 1998,  shortly after, Page and Brin founded Google Inc., the company behind the Google search engine. While just one of many factors which determine the ranking of Google search results, PageRank continues to provide the basis for all of Google’s web search tools.

PageRank has been influenced by citation analysis, early developed by Eugene Garfield in the 1950s at the University of Pennsylvania, and by Hyper Search, developed by Massimo Marchiori at the University of Padua (Google’s founders cite Garfield’s and Marchiori’s works in their original paper). In the same year PageRank was introduced (1998), Jon Kleinberg published his important work on HITS.

Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative  works available for others to build upon legally and to share.  The organization has released several copyright-licenses  known as Creative Commons licenses for free to the public.

These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators. An easy to understand one-page explanation of rights, with associated visual symbols, explains the specifics of each Creative Commons License. This simplicity distinguishes Creative Commons from an all rights reserved copyright. Creative Commons was invented to create a more flexible copyright model, replacing “all rights reserved” with “some rights reserved.” Wikipedia and Flickr are notable web-based projects using one of its licenses.

It allows artists, authors, publishers and musicians the option of creating and defining a flexible copyright for their creative works. Creative Commons was officially launched in 2001 by a group of intellectual property experts, lawyers and web publishers. Creative Commons licenses cover art, music, and writing, but is not designed for software.

How Creative Commons Works

Creators login to the Creative Commons System and select what restrictions, attributes or modifications they wish to assign to their creative works.

The Creative Commons site will then produce a Creative Commons license for the creative works expressed in three ways. Creative Commons will provide: a commons deed clearly stating the licensing rights in plain English, legal code for the license, and a digital license code. The digital code can be embedded into websites and search engines. Yahoo has a new Creative Commons search which identifies works and recognizes any licensing conditions. Searches can be conducted for different types of licenses. The Creative Commons site also provides a website icon that clearly marks the creative work as Some Rights Reserved or No Rights Reserved.

A variety of license options exist for the copyright holder. Assigning a Creative Commons license does not mean that the copyright holder is relinquishing rights to a piece of art, it merely means some conditions could be placed on the use of creative works.

There Are Six Major Licenses of the Creative Commons:

• Attribution (CC-BY)
• Attribution Share Alike (CC-BY-SA)
• Attribution No Derivatives (CC-BY-ND)
• Attribution Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC)
• Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike (CC-BY-NC-SA)
• Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)

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The Kings of blogging world and the people behind the empires. We compile some of the best authors and founders from some of the best Tech Blogs on the web. There thinking and posts on the web inspired millions of people and web addicts all over the web. Lets have a look.

Authors and People Behind Mashable

Founded in July 2005, Mashable is the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Media news. With more than 15 million monthly pageviews, Mashable is the most prolific blog reviewing new Web sites and services, publishing breaking news on what’s new on the web and offering social media resources and guides.

Pete Cashmore, Founder . CEO

Working as a web technology consultant in mid 2005, Pete Cashmore founded Mashable from an unlikely location: a small town in the north of Scotland. Focusing on up-to-the-minute news on social networks and new websites, it rapidly grew to be one of the top 10 blogs in the world according to the blog ranking service Technorati. The site’s writers have been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post and hundreds of technology publications. Pete was selected as a Top 25 Forbes Web Celeb in 2007, while Mashable was chosen as a must-read site by both Fast Company and PC Magazine. In mid 2007, BusinessWeek featured Mashable as one of the world’s most profitable blogs.

Pete divides his time between San Francisco, the UK and technology events around the US, including Mashable meetups in Los Angeles and New York. Facebook | Twitter

Adam Ostrow, Editor in Chief

Adam Ostrow is a new media entrepreneur, consultant, and commentator. As Editor in Chief at Mashable, Adam is responsible for the editorial management and direction of one of the most widely read blogs in the world, covering the latest technologies, trends, and individuals that are driving the current evolution of the Web. Adam is a graduate of The University of Maryland, from which he holds a B.A. in Journalism and was awarded Most Outstanding Senior in the school’s prestigious Hinman CEOs program. Adam has been frequently quoted by mainstream media, including mentions in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, USA Today, The Washington Post, CNN, and MSNBC.
Facebook | Twitter

Sharon Feder, Managing Editor

Sharon Feder joined Mashable in June 2008 and is Managing Editor, responsible for editorial projects and guest writer relations. Prior to joining Mashable, Sharon held positions in communications and media. An NYC native, Sharon attended the State University of New York at New Paltz and holds a BA in Journalism. Facebook | Twitter

Ben Parr, Co-Editor

Ben Parr is the Co-Editor of Mashable, as well as a serial web entrepreneur, sci-fi author, and aspiring world changer. He has been writing for Mashable since August 2008. His previous experience includes project management for Facebook applications and content management in the web health space. Additionally, Ben recent
ly completed his first sci-fi novel, Desel. Ben is a graduate of Northwestern University and earned a B.A. in Science in Human Culture, Political Science, and Business. He is a recent transplant to Silicon Valley and San Francisco.
Facebook | Twitter

Barb Dybwad,  Senior Editor

Barb Dybwad joins the Mashable team with a background in professional blogging since 2004 in fields including technology, gadgets, social media, and video games. She has written for and managed virtual teams at sites including Engadget, Joystiq, Obsessable, The Social Software Weblog, Download Squad and The Unofficial Apple Weblog, and as the former Senior Producer of the Joystiq network founded its spinoff properties WoW Insider (now WoW.com), Massively and Big Download. A recent transplant to Los Angeles, Barb would still be a member of the Ithaca, NY network if only Facebook would let her be in both regions. She is a graduate of Smith College with a degree in Biochemistry, which will surely come in highly useful again… someday. Facebook | Twitter

Josh Catone, Features Editor

Josh Catone joined Mashable in May 2009 and is Features Editor. Before joining Mashable, Josh was the Lead Writer at ReadWriteWeb, the Lead Blogger at SitePoint, and the Community Evangelist at DandyID. He’s written about technology since 1998 for magazines, newspapers, and web sites, and he is the co-founder of Rails Forum, the web’s largest community for Ruby on Rails developers. He attended the University of Rhode Island and Ithaca College.
Facebook | Twitter

Stan Schroeder, European Editor

Stan has been writing for Mashable since 2007, and having the benefit (or the curse) of working in a European time zone, he’s taken the post of European Editor. He’s been a pro IT journalist in Croatia for over 6 years, having written, among numerous other publications, for the biggest local IT paper magazine Bug as well as one of the biggest local web portals, tportal.hr. Interested in writing in English, he started his (now existing only as archive) blog, FranticIndustries, and he also co-founded (and subsequently sold) whoishostingthis.com, a simple tool for determining the hosting provider of any website. He’s an undergraduate of the Philosophic Faculty of Zagreb, working towards a B.A. in English Language and Literature as well as Information Science. He lives in Zagreb, Croatia, and spends his free time pursuing one of his many interests, which include CrossFit, collecting band t-shirts, tinkering with gadgets and hardware and generally leading a frantic lifestyle.
Facebook | Twitter

Jennifer Van Grove, Associate Editor

Jennifer joins Mashable as an Associate Editor. She is a community-minded professional with a passion for blogging and social media. Her experience includes working as a Community Manager and Social Media Strategist. Jennifer is also an active participatant in the San Diego web and technology space. She organizes the San Diego Tweetup group, and is a regular contributor to StartupSD.net, where she interviews and blogs about innovative San Diego startups. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from UCLA. Fcaebook | Twitter

Christina Warren,  Staff Writer

Christina Warren is a writer, speaker and video host. Before joining Mashable, Christina was the assistant lead blogger at Download Squad and The Unofficial Apple Weblog. She has also written for USA Today and for AOL’s StyleList Blog. A technology, popular culture and Internet media junkie, Christina lives in Atlanta with her fiance and their computer collection. A Film major in college, Christina talks movies and TV every week on the podcast, The Flickcast.
Facebook | Twitter

Full Authors & People list of Mashable

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Authors & People Behind TechCrunch

TechCrunch was founded on June 11, 2005, as a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to covering new companies, we profile existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space. TechCrunch has now grown into a network of technology focused sites offering a wide range of content and new media.

Heather Harde, CEO

Heather Harde is the CEO of TechCrunch. She spent the last ten years working within News Corporation. She held a variety of corporate development, strategy and operating roles both in Los Angeles and New York. Most recently, she was part of the founding team at Fox Interactive Media and their SVP Mergers & Acquisitions. Her team spent over $1.3 billion on eight acquisitions and two equity deals during her tenure. Their acquisitions spanned pre-launch start-ups all the way through public-company and pre-IPO buyouts.

Michael Arrington, Founder & Co-Editor

J. Michael Arrington (born March 13, 1970 in Huntington Beach, California) is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of TechCrunch, a blog covering startups and technology news.

Arrington attended Claremont McKenna College (BA Economics, 1992) and Stanford Law School (JD, 1995), and practiced as a corporate and securities lawyer at two law firms: O’Melveny & Myers and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. His clients included idealab, Netscape, Pixar, Apple and a number of startups, venture funds and investment banks. He also co-authored a book on initial public offerings. Arrington worked in an operational role at a Carlyle backed startup in London, founded and ran two companies in Canada (Zip.ca and Pool.com), was COO to a Kleiner backed company called Razorgator, and consulted to other companies, including Verisign.

Erick Schonfeld, Co-Editor

Erick Schonfeld is the Co-Editor of TechCrunch. He has been covering startups and technology news since 1993.

Prior to TechCrunch, he was Editor-at-Large for Business 2.0 magazine, where he wrote feature stories and ran their main blog, Next Net, which had nearly 50,000 RSS subscribers. He also does a lot of video work and hosts regular panels of industry luminaries.

Jason Kincaid, Writer

Jason Kincaid is a writer at TechCrunch. He grew up in Danville, California and later relocated to UCLA in Los Angeles, California, where he studied biology with a minor in ‘Society and Genetics’

Leena Rao, Writer

Leena Rao is a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003.

MG Siegler, Writer

MG Siegler is a writer for TechCrunch. Previously, he’s covered the field for VentureBeat and his own blog, ParisLemon. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan where he studied film. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where he worked in web development. He now lives in San Francisco.

Robin Wauters, Writer

Robin Wauters is an entrepreneur, blogger, conference organizer, social media consultant, startup advisor and allround web addict, based in Belgium, Europe. Robin is a writer at TechCrunch and managing editor of Virtualization.com. He was one of the first writers to join blognation, an ambitious effort to centralize reports about Web 2.0 startups from around the world into one blog platform. He is mostly known for Plugg, a one-day conference in Brussels aimed to raise awareness for European entrepreneurship as well as the continent’s most promising Web / Mobile 2.0 startups. He’s also the organizer of the monthly OpenCoffee Club Brussels meetups.

Full Authors & People list of TechCrunch

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Authors & People Behind Engadget

Engadget is a multilingual technology weblog and podcast about consumer electronics. Engadget currently has nine separate websites, all operating simultaneously with each having its own staff, which cover technology news in different parts of the world in their respective languages. Engadget won a 2007 Weblog Award for tech sites.

Joshua Topolsky, Editor-in-chief

Joshua Topolsky heads Engadget as Editor-in-chief with a firm yet awesome hand. Josh loves to talk, and as a result has been quoted by The New York Times, CNN, USA Today, and his mother. He’s also the resident tech-expert (a real title) at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. A lifelong gadget geek, he had his first computer at age 6 (a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A), and has been breaking apart (and piecing back together) technology since phones had rotary dialers. Before joining Engadget in 2007 he never woke up before 12PM. Website | Twitter

Thomas Ricker, Senior Editor

Thomas’ first gadget memory was typing 7734 into his father’s inverted, HP-35 scientific calculator. Clearly fated to Engadget, he would have to wait another 20 years before the rise of the medium. A degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering led Thomas to Silicon Valley just prior to the dot-com boom. He landed in London after the bust then bounced between New York and London before settling in Amsterdam with his wife and three young children.
Email | Twitter

Paul Miller, Senior Associate Editor

Paul Miller loves technology, but technology doesn’t always love him. He’s burned through half a dozen faulty routers, inadvertently baptized two laptops, and can never seem to get his inbox under control. Despite these setbacks, Paul’s small NY apartment is filled with the gadgets that so beset him, and you can usually find him squinting into his laptop screen, trying to write something or “repair permissions” or something like that. When it’s all too much he likes to escape to the streets with his skateboard and nurse his technological wounds with some frozen yogurt.
Website | Twitter

Nilay Patel, Senior Associate Editor

Nilay drove a Chrysler into a pond when he was four. Everything else has followed logically.
Email | Twitter

Darren Murph, Associate Editor

An unhealthily loyal NC State fan and alum, Darren was once forced to work a modern day CES with a Snake-laden Nokia candybar. He also attended his first LAN party at age seven, and his goal in life is to literally go everywhere. Only two of those points are true, and he might confess to which are which if you’ve got some airline miles you’d like to donate. Or a phone made in the last decade. Email | Twitter

Full Authors & People list of TechCrunch

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Authors & People Behind ReadWriteWeb

ReadWriteWeb is a top ten blog and the number one information technology blog in the world. ReadWriteWeb is known for offering some of the most insightful commentary available about each day’s Internet industry news.

ReadWriteWeb was founded on April 20, 2003 by Richard MacManus and is now one of the most widely read and respected blogs in the world. Our readers are smart, tech savvy, engaged, decision makers. 46% have ‘significant input’ or “make final information technology purchase decisions.” As one advertiser put it, “The real users of the Web read ReadWriteWeb.”

Richard MacManus, Founder and Editor in Chief

Richard MacManus is the Founder and Editor in Chief of ReadWriteWeb. New Zealander MacManus founded ReadWriteWeb in 2003 and grew his blog about the changing Internet into an international team of journalists. ReadWriteWeb is read by millions of thought leaders and consumers, and is syndicated daily by the New York Times. Still grounded in MacManus’ thoughtful exploration of emerging trends, ReadWriteWeb is known for offering some of the most insightful commentary available about each day’s Internet industry news.

Marshall Kirkpatrick, Vice President of Content Development

Marshall Kirkpatrick is Vice President of Content Development  at ReadWriteWeb, and also the Lead Writer. He hails from Portland, Oregon, USA. Prior to joining RWW in Sept 2007, Marshall was Director of Content at SplashCast Media. During 2006 he was Lead Blogger at TechCrunch. You can contact Marshall at marshall@readwriteweb.com.

Sean Ammirati, Chief Operating Officer

Sean Ammirati  is Chief Operating Officer at ReadWriteWeb, based in Pittsburgh, PA. He has also been part of the writing team since March 2007 and hosted our podcast ReadWriteTalk. Prior to becoming ReadWriteWeb’s COO, Sean was a software entrepreneur who co-founded a few venture backed start-ups and prior to that was a research fellow at Carnegie Mellon’s Software Industry Center. You can reach Sean Ammirati at sean@readwriteweb.com.

Sarah Perez,  Writer

Sarah Perez is a Writer for ReadWriteWeb, joining the team in January 2008. Sarah is from sunny Tampa, Florida where she had worked as an I.T. Professional for many years. You can contact Sarah at sarah@readwriteweb.com.

Full Authors & People list of TechCrunch

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Authors & People Behind Gizmodo

Gizmodo is a blog about gadgets and technology. Started in 2002, Gizmodo has grown to be Gawker Media’s largest blog, bringing in upwards of 100 million page views a month in traffic. We post about a variety of electronics, as well as all sorts of things gadget geeks might enjoy.

Brian Lam, Editorial Director

Brian Lam is the man behind the curtain at one of the biggest blogs in the world–gadget site Gizmodo, which boasts an average 3.1 million pageviews a day. In late 2008, Gizmodo made headlines as it aggressively reported rumors about Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ health. While other outlets ignored the story or even criticized Gizmodo’s coverage, the blog was ultimately proved right. Lam himself even stole some of the story’s spotlight when he posted a column ripping into his critics and praising his own coverage. Email | Twitter

Top 100 Blogs on Technorati
Top 25 Blogs from EBiz MBA
Top Blogs ranked within 25,000 Alexa Rank

Photomontage and photo manipulation are actually two different techniques to make a final image. I am going to share with you the difference between these two. We find many examples of photo manipulation on the web but don’t know exactly whether its photomontage or photo manipulation.

Photomontage

Photomontage is the process (and result) of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs. The composite picture was sometimes photographed so that the final image is converted back into a seamless photographic print. A similar method, although one that does not use film, is realized today through image-editing software. This latter technique is referred to by professionals as “compositing”, and in casual usage is often called “photoshopping“.

Other methods for combining pictures are also called photomontage, such as Victorian “combination printing”, the printing of more than one negative on a single piece of printing paper (e.g. O. G. Rejlander, 1857), front-projection and computer montage techniques. Much like a collage is composed of multiple facets, artists also combine montage techniques. Romare Bearden’s (1912-1988) series of black and white “photomontage projections” is an example. His method began with compositions of paper, paint, and photographs put on boards 8 1/2×11 inches. Bearden fixed the imagery with an emulsion that he then applied with handroller. Subsequently, he enlarged the collages photographically.

The 19th century tradition of physically joining multiple images into a composite and photographing the results prevailed in press photography and offset lithography until the widespread use of digital image editing. Contemporary photo editors in magazines now create “paste-ups” digitally. Creating a photomontage has, for the most part, become easier with the advent of computer software such as Adobe Photoshop.

Photoshopping is slang for the digital editing of photos The term originates from Adobe Photoshop, the image editor most commonly used by professionals for this purpose however, other programs, such as Paint Shop Pro, Corel Photopaint, Paint.NET, or GIMP, may be used. Adobe Systems, the publisher of Adobe Photoshop, discourages use of the term “photoshop” as a verb out of concern that it may undermine the company’s trademark.

Some Examples of Photomontage

We find some of the images from Advanced Photoshop Magazine’s Photomontage Category.

The ethics of photomontage

A photomontage may contain elements at once real and imaginary. Two-dimensional representation of physical space in a picture is, by definition, an illusion. Such combined photos and digital manipulation can set up a collision between aesthetics and ethics – for instance, in faked news photographs that are presented to the world as real. In the United States, for example, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) have set out a Code of Ethics promoting the accuracy of published images, advising that photographers “do not manipulate images  that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.”

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Photo manipulation

Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception (in contrast to mere enhancement or correction), through analog or digital means.  Its uses, cultural impact, and ethical concerns have made it a subject of interest beyond the technical process and skills involved.

In digital editing, photographs are usually taken with a digital camera and input directly into a computer. Transparencies, negatives or printed photographs may also be digitized using a scanner, or images may be obtained from stock photography databases. With the advent of computers, graphics tablets, and digital cameras, the term image editing encompasses everything that can be done to a photo, whether in a darkroom or on a computer. Photo manipulation is often much more explicit than subtle alterations to color balance or contrast and may involve overlaying a head onto a different body or changing a sign’s text, for example. Image editing software can be used to apply effects and warp an image until the desired result is achieved. The resulting image may have little or no resemblance to the photo (or photos in the case of compositing) from which it originated. Today, photo manipulation is widely accepted as an art-form.

Surreal Darkroom manipulation

Despite the popularity of digital photo manipulation, darkroom manipulation are regarded as traditional art rather than job related skill. Techniques are very similar to digital manipulation but they are harder to create than ones that are created digitally. For those who digitally manipulated and traditionally manipulated photographs in the past will undoubtedly know the fact that the similarities of techniques are strikingly similar:  Masking, dodging, burning, fading and cutting.

The main reason that it is much difficult to manipulate photographs in the darkroom is the fact that there’s no preview of your work unless it has been processed through the print developer and it is far more difficult to create something that is very surreal. However, it is known that people have wasted an uncontrollable amount of photographic paper because encountering with human error is inevitable.

Some Examples of Photo manipulation.

45+ Amazing Underwater Photo Manipulation
45 Brilliant Examples of Photo Manipulation Art
Photo Manipulation – 40 Examples of Incredible Photo Manipulation
80 Excellent Examples of Photo Manipulation Art | Inspiration
Browsing Photomanipulation on deviantART

Content courtesy of Wikipedia

Most spectacular natural and manmade holes in the face of the earth. Some of these are the result of man’s search for mineral wealth, while some are nature’s work creating some astounding holes.

Darvaza – The Burning Gates

In 1971, geologists discovered a huge underground deposit of natural gas on this site. And while excavating, a whole drilling rig fell into an underground cavern. Natural gas started coming up from the hole. To prevent gasses from escaping, it was set alight and it continues to burn even today. The crater measures roughly 60 meters in diameter and 20 meters deep and is located in Turkmenistan.

Sinkhole  in Guatemala

These  photos are of a sinkhole that occurred early  this year in Guatemala . The hole swallowed a dozen homes and killed at least 3 people.

Diavik  Mine, Canada

The mine  is so huge and the area so remote that it has its own airport  with a runway large enough to accommodate a Boeing  737. It looks equally cool when the  surrounding water is frozen.

Mirny  Diamond Mine , Serbia

I’m  pretty sure most people have seen this one. It’s an absolute  beast and holds the title of largest open diamond mines in the  world. At 525 meters deep, with a top diameter of 1200 meters,  there’s even a no-fly zone above the hole due to a  few helicopters having been sucked in.

Great  Blue Hole , Belize

This  incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is  situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize. There are  numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as  this one.

Bingham  Canyon  Mine, Utah

This is  supposedly the largest man-made excavation on earth. Extraction  began in 1863 and still continues today, the pit increasing in size  constantly. In its current state the hole is ? miles deep and 2.5  miles wide.

Glory  Hole – Monticello Dam, California

This is  the ‘Glory Hole’ at Monticello dam, and it’s the largest in the  world of this type of spillway, its size enabling it to consume  14,400 cubic feet of water every second.

Kimberley  Big  Hole – South Africa

Apparently the largest ever  hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097  meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds before being closed in  1914.

Splash of Color by mrcool256

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Beautiful leaf by orbatid

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Spring Photo by 007TINAR

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I believe in spring by ryothorn

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reSpring Bliss walpaper by obi-s4n

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Spring Fever by taenaron

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Spring Messenger III by webcruiser

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Four seasons by mariusp

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Spring Grass Wallpaper Pack by ythor

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Four seasons wallpaper by dawn42

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Conquer the World by dawn42

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A Beautiful Day by little-stock

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Emergence of Spring by IvanAndreevich

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4 Seasons by vxside

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Blue C4D Wallpaper by dan4archangel

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Blue Days of Spring by GeneAut

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Season Tree by xa0tik

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Appalachian trail spring by Unrestr1cted

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Remember Me by Aeires

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Wallpaper – Water on Leaves by umboody

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Parasol by stargirl82390

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Springtime flowers by infinityloop

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Romance by chilouX

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Reborn by jonathondeans

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Green ears by peehs

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Spring is coming by WoW-Sky

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‘La Solitudine’ by cocacolagirlie

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A violent march bouquet by barnaulsky-zeek

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Spring Wallpaper by tritech

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Spring morning by sensukestudio

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Worshiping spring by SeaWhisper

Spring Time by Tina Jiménez

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Hot spring, Yellowstone N.P. by Kris Taeleman

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I hope now You have enough beautiful, inspiring wallpapers until waiting for spring and summer!