1. The WordPress architecture was preventing me from using newer plug-in, themes and features
2. With almost 300 articles to date I needed to backup my database and get it to the most stable release of WordPress up and running
3. The WordPress theme I was using before was looking tired, it had started to break in the newer versions of web browsers and was taking more time to update and fix to the point where it wasn’t feasible to use it anymore.

I hope that you enjoy the changes to the website and I welcome any feedback as well.  This brings me to the topic of this article.  Recently someone asked me “I was just wondering, that amazing page corner button on your top right corner that opens to a Squeeze Theme, what is it and how can I get it?”

I’ve been focused on monetizing my site lately since about March of 2009 using affiliate marketing techniques.  I decided this was the best way to continue to run the site as it currently is because it costs money to host, renew the domain name, my time to produce articles and content and the occasional email marketing expense as well.

Affiliate marketing affords me the ability to generate some income without the headaches of selling, physically storing and then shipping products out to customers.  The “page peel” also known as a “peel” you see in the upper right hand corner of this site is one of the options or tools that I have when promoting the Squeeze Theme from Unique Blog Designs which I recently wrote a review about.  It’s a smart idea to intrigue readers on your website and get them to click on something other than a banner advertisement.

The “Pre-Peel”

With “Ad Blindness” on the rise in the world of internet marketing it takes something kind of different and unique to pique the interests of your audience.  The “Page Peel” is one of these tools than can help you raise a little interest over a product you are promoting.  Most page peels are comprised of a Javascript that performs the actual “peel” action, the images associated to the pre-peel and post-peel and lastly but most importantly the affiliate tracking link that is needed to make sure that when your page peel makes a sale you are credited for it.

The “Post Peel”

If you are involved in affiliate marketing or you use this method of marketing to market your product on the internet then developing a page peel for your latest promotion can help you increase conversions and sales of your company’s products.  Affiliate marketers out there just remember that not all affiliate marketing programs have this tool currently at their disposal and having said that you could always take the product you are promoting and create a page peel for it.  You just need to know a little coding to get it operational.  Whatever way you “peel” it, page peels can add a new take on traditional website monetization methods and can in turn drive more profits to your website.

As a web designer or anyone looking to do web design it’s all about getting your name out there like in any business. As web design has grown it’s only natural that it becomes a something of a “conversation piece” to be judged and rated.

Sites like THECSSAwards.com are nothing really new but that doesn’t change the fact that people are looking for recognition for their work from reputable, industry known websites. THECSSAwards.com was started in the summer of 2009 they officially started in October of 2009. Oscar Perez, the CEO of TheCSSAwards.com, started the website, which gets and gives some great traffic to its “site of the day” and “site of the month” winners in the range of 2,500 to over 5,000 a day for winning sites and continues to grow rapidly according to Giuseppe. This gives a winning web design and the web designer who created it some well deserved website traffic and recognition.

On top of the traffic, the winners at THECSSAwards.com have also been winning iPod Nanos but lately they’ve focused on giving out mentions and awards. Clearly the biggest benefit is the traffic that winning provides.

Unlike most web design award and inspiration websites, THECSSAWARDS.com website is paneled by a jury of web design professionals including Brian Hoff of thedesigncubicle.com, Jacob Cass of JustCreativeDesign.com (who I’ve had a chance to interview in the past) and Paul Mosing from CreativeSpaces.net.au. This definitely gives THECSSAWARDS.com website creditability because when you submit a site that is recognized as the “Site of the Day” or “Site of the Month” it is coming from the best of the best in web design today. To have a look at the full Jury that the THECSSAWARDS.com uses click here.

So what does it take to get recognized by THECSSAWARDS.com? Simple, they’ve designed a system of valuation which I think is quite ingenious and incorporates valuing Design (50%), Creative (25%), Content (15%) and Usability (10%). Now why does usability score lower? I am not fully sure because too me usability is more important in good design then the content is but needless to say you know where you stand when THECSSAWARDS.com rates your site. To check out their system of valuing web designs click here for the whole scoop.

With all this said I had a chance to ask them a few questions about THECSSAWARDS.com, why they started the website in the first place and how they promote the website and what kind of money they make from THECSSAWARDS.com.

Luc @ SWD: I see that you offer cash and technological prizes. What is the biggest prize you’ve ever given to a winning website?

Giuseppe says: In the beginning we were giving as a prize and iPod Nano, but recently we took out this prize because we prefer give mentions and awards, which is already enough. And use our resources in promotions.

Luc @ SWD: For a site that wins, what kind of traffic is generated from the promotion of their site on THECSSAWARDS.com?

Giuseppe says: Actually the site of the day receive more less 2,500 visits and the site of the month more than 5,000 but every day the traffic increase a lot.

Luc @ SWD: Do you feel that a site like THECSSAWARDS.com accurately give exposure to the most talented designers or is there some bias when reviewing a submission by of the designer’s name and track record?

Giuseppe says: Our goal is that thecssawards.com will be a good tool for promoting websites and get to know the newest web trends.

Luc @ SWD: How much money does THECSSAWARDS.com make monthly and how have you monetized the website to keep it operating strongly?

Giuseppe says: We made and inversion about 30.000 Euros and actually we are creating various web campaigns through banner. The websites are: Abduzeedo, Web Designer Depot, Creattica, SixRevisions, Toxel, and CSSmania.

The website (THECSSAWARDS.com) will be monetized by submissions and banners.

If you get a chance to submit your website to THECSSAWARDS.com and you win you should definitely see a nice spike in your website’s traffic and it might even help the word of mouth about your business. Who knows? You may have what it takes to win the “Site of the Month”.

Luc Arnold

Luc Arnold

There are plenty of resources out there to help you find and bid on web design projects and YourWebJob.com is a very useful resource to help web professionals find jobs. The site is focused on promoting both freelance and full-time positions to web design professionals. Everybody from freelance web designers to web analytics managers can find jobs and available work on this growing site. For employers looking to post a job the rates that YourWebJob.com gives are very reasonable when you consider how targeted the traffic is and the fact that freelance positions can be posted for $49 and full-time web positions can be posted for $99. The job posting stays active for 30 days.

I had a chance to ask Tony Chester who is the Principal and Director of Operations of OnWired, the company own runs YourWebJob.com, a few questions about the site recently and here is what he had to say about YourWebJob.com.

1. What was your idea when you first built YourWebJob.com?

We (at OnWired) were trying to hire a Project Manager. I went to all the popular web-related job boards, but they seemed to cater only to designers and developers. There wasn’t really anywhere for the firms that need to hire SEO talent or Social Marketing folks. So it hit me: let’s build a job site that caters to as many web-related positions that we can think of, all while keeping the navigation simplified.

2. How long has YourWebJob.com been in operation and what kind of traffic do you see on a monthly basis?

The site was launched in mid March of 2009 and has received some really nice reviews. As the hiring market is a little slow, I didn’t expect much out of the site too soon. With that said, we are averaging around 5,500 visits a month. We figured we would take advantage of some free targeted traffic by getting listed in some design galleries to start.

3. What can employers looking for web professionals expect from the site?

Employers can expect to have their job listing seen by lots of talented, web savvy professionals who are passionate about their work.

4. What can freelance web professionals interested in positions expect from this site?

Web professionals can expect to find the latest and greatest jobs from a wide variety of web-related fields including project management, copywriting, SEO, usability, social media, and yes, even design and development.

For those of you interested in promoting your freelance business or interested in finding a new fulltime career in the web field this is an excellent resource to find web professional jobs in your skill set.

SpicyWebDesigners.com is quickly becoming a great way for people to find the web designer that they are looking for which is what i wanted to create when i set out to build the site.  As for who was the “Most Viewed” web designer this month that falls to Navdeep Raj.

… Look for more featured web designers February 2009 and as always feel free to email SWD if you are interested in being interviewed for the site.  Keep building cool sites!

Luc Arnold

founder

SpicyWebDesigners.com

December 2008 was a great month full of a lot of hits for a growing site like this one. The average number of page views per day was approximately 108 per day. In other words, people are reading a lot of the site and finding it useful. The average number of visitors was an average of 50 per day. Feel free to check the general site stats here…

… Some of the top web designers of the month were the following…

…Note that the CSS Gallery List got a good number of page views. Our top viewed web designer was Tim Van Damme with 172 page views for the month. Not too shabby Tim!

Soon I will be producing a year in review for 2008 so keep your eyes open for it on SpicyWebDesigners.com.

Luc Arnold

Founder

SpicyWebDesigners.com

In my quest to keep SWD fresh and interactive for those who use the site and after a few questions from web designers and the audience I’ve had a chance to allow people to rate their favorite web designers on here. By simply clicking on the number of stars you want the web designer to receive and this will recorded by the system and added to the list of most ratings and highest ratings on the sidebar of SWD. Enjoy rating other web designers!

Luc Arnold

founder

With the New Year coming and all, I’ve decided that it is unfair and not really a good question to ask any web designers “How much do you charge for your services?” To date, SpicyWebDesigners.com has interviewed 62 web designers, front-end developers, web developers, etc and almost all with the exception of one design if I remember correctly have trouble giving a good answer to this question.

Now this could be for various reasons including losing negotiation ground if people inquiring about services come knocking or could be that people simply cannot price out an “imaginary” web design project because of all the variables involved and they don’t want to give a flat hourly rate in case they scare of potential clients. So I am retiring this question from future web design interviews but I’d like to hear what other people think.

Luc Arnold

founder

I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a safe, happy and healthy holidays (Even though it’s hard to stay away from mum’s cooking and baking). To date, I’ve had the chance to interview just about 60 web designers from various countries and various backgrounds and the site is just growing larger month after month. So take some time this holiday season to give thanks and we’ll see you in the New Year when we interview more web designers (contact us if you’d like an interview), build the Spicy Web Designer Network and work on a few other initiatives that I have planned currently for SpicyWebDesigners.com. Suggestions for the site are always welcome (Tell me what you think). Merry Christmas!!!

Luc Arnold

founder

SpicyWebDesigners.com