1. Photo, bio: add these two things or get off Twitter. So simple, but way too many newbies out there don’t have a bio. At all. Just write something. I don’t care if you write King of the World. Something. There are also way too many multi-colored Tweety bird images floating around on my Followers screen, and guess what? Those don’t get followed back. Same as those without bios.

2. Don’t even think about auto DMs. Seriously. How many times do people have to post on Twitter that they’re annoyed by auto DMs? And yet, oh look what’s in my inbox: a string of “thanks for following me” auto Direct Messages. These are considered spam, because, well, they are. If you really want to thank someone, send a very specific note such as “Hi Jules! Thanks for following me. I’m really excited about your upcoming tv show. LMK how I can help!” That at least lets your tweep know that they’re not getting an autobot spam note.

3. Stop it with the quotes from dead people. I already know Ghandi wants me to be the change I want to see in the world. Actually, stop it with the quotes from the living as well. Life & business coaches, I’m especially talking to you. Once in a while is fine, but when either all you post are quotes, or you post a quote a day, you don’t give anyone a reason to follow you. Do you have your own thoughts? Of course you do. Those are the thoughts we want to hear.

4. Educate, but don’t preach. Share links your followers may find interesting. Offer up tips that you’ve found useful. Just be careful not to offer unsolicited advice, or come across as an annoying know-it-all by constantly jumping in on industry-related conversations with your “expert” advice. There’s a difference between answering someone’s question about which fast food restaurant makes fries with the lowest grease residue on napkins, and responding to that question with “OMG did you know fast food will kill you? Read this book by Dr. Oz. It will change your life!” Really? WOW! I thought it was so healthy! Thanks for opening my eyes! Unfollow.

5. Engage beyond your circle. There are little cliques all over Twitter. That’s fine. But remember to go beyond your circle. That’s why you’re on Twitter, right? To connect? The tweeps I truly love are the ones who actively engage in conversation, and I love meeting new people all the time on Twitter. We can learn so much from strangers in the Twitterverse.

6. Entertain us. Make us laugh. Make us cry. Just make us feel something. Twitter is about connections and connections are emotional, not robotic. Having a shitty day? Tell us about it so we can make you laugh. Found a funny YouTube video? Send it to the person who tweeted they’re having a shitty day. Your kid spilled a whole cup of water on your Macbook? Ok, so that’s my own true story, but when I did tweet that, I got dozens of responses from folks who had the same thing happen to them, and different options for how to remedy the situation (which worked, BTW, so thank you tweeps! See how entertaining on Twitter can lead to engagement and education? Lovely circle of Twitterlife.).

7. Create your own Follow/Unfollow rules. I don’t follow a lot of the “must follow” Twitter celebrities. I’ve found a lot of them have little substance to offer (sorry Ashton & Demi, but I dropped you both long ago). Also, I lose a lot of followers because I do not follow everyone back. I’m totally ok with that. I’d rather have people following me who will engage in conversation and actually care about design/motherhood/entrepreneurship/food/bacon/beer/work-life balance/music/crafts. I follow people who offer real tweets and not just upper level corporate tweets. Why are you on Twitter? Figure that out, and then follow the people who matter. Only then will you have a truly fulfilling Twitter experience.

8. Stop it with the self-serving RTs. Example: Tweep1 tweets “RT @Tweep2 Thank you so much, @Tweep1! Your brilliant mind & generous advice has changed my life! I love you!” Uh, dude, Tweep1, just say “thanks @Tweep2!” Really, do this kind of self-serving RT once or twice and I forgive you, but you do this a lot and you just come across as a grade A d-bag. Thus, unfollow.

The main advice I give to business clients in consultations and in my social media workshops, is to Educate, Engage and Entertain. You may agree or disagree with some or all of the above, but that’s the beauty of Twitter, and really social media in general: in the end, the rules that matter are your own. You create your social media world to best suit you and your needs, so once you’ve built your foundation, live loudly in it, own it, and party on, tweeps!

-Marlynn (@designmama and also @thepowermob)

find these at murdockdesign.etsy.com

find these at girlsliketrucks.etsy.com

find these at belldesign.etsy.com

Aren’t these all ADORABLE?! Go check out these great shops on Etsy! And if you’ve got more great sources for various button designs, let us know!

1. Stick to a simple color palette. Maintain consistency in your use of color throughout your blog (perhaps choose one specific color for all headlines, and another for all regular text) so that it serves a purpose other than just drawing attention to something. Too many colors causes the eye to go wonky and not know where to focus. Also, avoid using the color red as a main background color with white text: that’s reportedly the hardest color combo for the eye to read on monitors.

2. Use a clean, un-cluttered background. As a designer, a consumer, and just a human being with two eyes, I prefer solid colored backgrounds, but I’ve seen a few (and I mean, very few) patterned backgrounds that had clean lines and did not compete with the content on the site. The background should help bring out your content, not compete with it. By all means, whatever you do, do NOT use a red background with your main content. It is the most difficult to read on the web, and it just hurts the eyes in a short amount of time. Your goal is for readers to stay a while, get comfortable, right? Don’t use red or patterns.

3. If you have ads on your site, create a clean, uncluttered ad display with consistent sizing and location. Inconsistency with ad design makes the whole site seem cluttered, difficult to read, and unprofessional. Create specific design standards for your ads and make sure your advertisers stick to them. Create one consistent location for the ads, or maybe use a top banner ad with a right sidebar ad. The ads that float throughout the main body of a blog are disruptive to the content. Just because large online magazines that rely on massive amounts of advertising do it this way, doesn’t mean you should.

4. Within the confines of your overall brand, create a look for your blog that stands out in your industry. If you’re a tech company, go beyond the same old boring dark blue with dark grey, or stark white with huge black Helvetica titling. If you’re a mom blogger, break out of the overdone cheesy stock illustration of a “modern mom” with perky patterned background. If you want your readers to know that your blog is different from all the others, your design is the best way to do so quickly and effectively.

5. Go easy with the crazy fonts. And by go easy, I mean avoid using them on your blogs when possible, especially in your headers. I just looked at several blogs that had adorable, funky fonts for their headers…and I could barely read the majority of them. Worse than that, the font choice made absolutely no sense – there was no correlation to the blog brand whatsoever. Again, like with colors and background, keep your fonts simple. There are so many ways you can add personality and style to your blogs without cluttering them up with crazy type.

Hope these tips help! If you have any questions or examples of your favorite blog designs, feel free to post them here and let us know why you love ‘em!

You all know we’ve got fun printables in our Etsy store for those last minute kids’ Valentine’s Day parties. So for my Valentine’s Day design post I decided to do a little grown up fun in the form of fashion love. Our (me + my husband/design partner) 10-year wedding anniversary is coming up next year, and I daydream of a sweet sexy vow renewal on some gorgeous beach and I’m wearing a dress that I actually LOVE. You see, my first wedding (and hopefully my last!) the dress was close to the last thing that I cared about. It was a lovely dress, but I was more concerned about the family & friends, the fun activities, the beer & wine & food… If I had to do it all over again? Oh. Yeah. I’d bring it on, baby. I’m older now and the dresses are design heaven. Floral embellishments, flattering wrap styles, colorful gowns, modern cuts. Swoon! Ah, to be young and in love…

Here are a couple of bridal fashion lovelies to help you fall in love with bridal fashion all over again this Valentine’s Day. The left is from one of my fave boutiques in Portland, English Dept.

English Dept {left} BCBGMAXAZRIA {right}

by ENZOANI

Fast forward to 2010. Guess what I am SO excited to sell now on our new Etsy site? Printables. Adorable Valentine’s Day printables with owls, robots, hearts.

New Valentine's Day Printables

Why my change of heart?

Because good design should be accessible to everyone. So much of the design world is shrouded in ego; my design friends will poo-poo amateur work, and yet I’ve received their professional design work on flimsy paper that supposedly had been printed professionally that quite honestly would have looked better had I printed it on higher quality cardstock on my powerhouse in-studio printer.  Product creation is not about the designer & what he or she can or cannot do, it is about the emotions evoked from the end result of that design. It is my responsibility therefore to provide some education to ensure the designs I set free into the hands of non-designers are taken good care of.

So here’s the caveat: I sell these printables as PDF files that come to you via email with my printing and cutting instructions and tips to help ensure that the cards you end up with will look as polished as possible. If you’re not sure which setting to print these at on your home computer? Convo me via Etsy and I can see if I can help. Not sure which cardstock to use? Ask me. I’ve got a ton of favorites that will help show off these designs in their best light.

I want you to have great cards, I love love love designing cards, but quite frankly, with my busy graphic design & communication strategy client load, I just don’t have the time always to create large runs of greeting cards & then promote, sell & ship them.

So think of these as my Valentine’s Day gift to you. For just $6, you get one high resolution PDF file that you can print as many times as you like…along with tips to make sure yours don’t look as grainy, off-centered, off-colored as my friends’ two years ago.

It’s all about sharin’ the love, my friends. Check out the new Urban Bliss Etsy store often for new selection of printables!