A mere ebook can make you seriously rich.

Creating and selling a reasonably priced, instantly downloadable ebook is the kind of blog monetization strategy many bloggers have only just come to realize. I usually see it as the next step in blog monetization. The first one being revenue through adverts.

It’s fairly easy to write and create an ebook if you are well-versed in your niche, but the real problem arises when you think of ways to market your ebook. This seemingly daunting problem can delay, or worse, maim your plans.

Many full time bloggers have sold ebooks with such success that even they didn’t expect. It’s time to discard the thinking that people don’t buy information products online, and that bloggers should keep on churning out free high quality content.

Breaking: Those who enjoy reading your free content would not mind paying a few dollars to read your premium content.

It’s not my intention to sell you on the idea of selling ebooks. This post is for the converted who are trying to figure out ways to market their ebook.

I usually don’t go into too much detail, but this post warranted detail. So here are 11 strategies for successfully marketing your ebook.

1. Create hype and anticipation

You know it works. You must have seen the teaser ads on TV where they show a brief intro of a new product or service for weeks before revealing the full commercial. Regular TV users curiously wait for the full commercial that contains more information about the new product. And they become more likely to buy the product when it finally comes out.

To adapt this tactic for your medium, you need to blog about your upcoming ebook project and ask your readers for suggestions. This way, you’ll not only make them a part of your project, but also get their feedback and increase their anticipation.

Since your readers will already have made up half of their mind about buying the ebook, they’ll be more likely to make up the other half after the ebook launch.

2. Use word of mouth marketing

Your readers are your ebook’s first buyers. And they care about you and your efforts. Ask your readers for the following favors:

• Email their friends to urge them to buy the book.
• Tell their colleagues about the ebook.
• Mention and review the ebook on their blog if they have one.
• And promote it on social media.

If you feel shy, you don’t have to ask them directly. Create a list of recommended actions similar to the above list and urge your readers to help you out. What happens is, even if they don’t go out and start promoting your ebook right away, they’ll remember your ebook whenever their friends and colleagues have the needs that your ebook fulfills.

Don’t be surprised if you get overwhelmingly supportive response from your readers. It’s only a teaser of what to expect later in your campaign.

3. Give away free sample chapters

People love to taste the food before deciding that they want to consume it as a meal.

Also, there is a certain charm attached to Free offerings. We are instantly drawn to the things that bear the word free.

If you have a fairly lengthy ebook, it will be a good idea to give away the first few chapters for free. This will not only attract the hesitant buyers to your ebook, but also give your real buyers a taste of what to expect in the full package.

Once your prospective buyers consume the free chapters, they’ll be itching to read the whole ebook. And what other choice do they have than to buy the ebook?

4. Create a landing page for your ebook

A simple page with a photoshopped cover of your ebook, a description, and a ‘buy now’ button is not very appealing.

Spending time on creating a landing page for your ebook is worth the effort.

Create a special page on your blog that is meant to convert the prospects into buyers. A good landing page must contain:

1. A descriptive heading.
2. A hype-less description.
3. A list of chapters from the ebook.
4. An appealing list of practical benefits one can get from reading the ebook.
5. Testimonials from your satisfied readers and well respected bloggers (This is a must have).
6. And of course a buy now button.

Remember, your landing page must not look like an ad. People have grown aversion for ads. Keep your description as friendly and realistic-looking as possible.

5. Keep the price reasonable

Keeping in mind that people are attracted to free offers, they are also more likely to buy cheap products.

Internet is the ultimate treasure chest of free content and information. We expect the information on the internet to be free. If it isn’t free, we expect it to be the closest thing to free. We expect it to be cheap.

An ebook is an information product, so we naturally don’t want to empty our wallet for an ebook.

Keeping your value-packed ebook reasonably priced (or very cheap) is going to make you more money than if you put a high price tag on it. Why? Simply because the number of people buying a cheap ebook will far exceed the number of people who even think of buying an exorbitantly priced ebook.

6. Get other bloggers to review your ebook

Every bloggers has a unique group of readers who trust the blogger’s recommendations and follow his advice.

You can tap into the audience of other bloggers in your niche by getting them to review and recommend your ebook. Leo Babauta, the author of Zen To Done ebook, has successfully used this strategy.

Send the bloggers with large audience personalized emails, and offer them a free copy of your ebook. Ask them to kindly recommend the ebook to their readers. Some might ignore your email, but many will respond positively, and a few will review your ebook on their blog too.

7. Buy reviews from related blogs

Don’t worry if the above strategy does not work as expected. There is still hope for you. You can buy reviews from related blogs through services such as PayPerPost and ReviewMe.

These reviews will cost you money, but if you spend the money wisely, the return on investment will be huge.

If your pocket and conscience allows you (which they should) to pay the bloggers for reviewing your ebook, do it. Otherwise, stick to free and less devious strategies.

8. Share profits with referrers

Sharing is caring. If I refer a buyer to you and make you money, I’ll be more likely to keep sending you new buyers if, as a result of sending buyers to you, I make some money too.

Aaron Wall of SEO Book has made thousands, if not millions, with this strategy. Almost every guy related to SEO and internet marketing is a passionate promoter of SEO Book, simply because he can pocket some cash on referring buyers to Aaron Wall.

By giving your affiliates a share of the profits, you’ll make sure that the stream of buyers never stop, and you make constant profits in the long run.

9. Grab testimonials from the A-list bloggers

I’ve mentioned this strategy before, but I am going to emphasize it again.

People don’t buy on the internet unless they trust you. Internet is a playground of scammers and fraudsters. So it’s only wise to use one’s money with caution.

To get people to trust you and your ebook, you have to get your customers AND the trusted and respected bloggers to recommend your ebook.

If you email the bloggers politely with a free copy of your ebook, and ask for a review, some might think you are demanding too much from them. So if they ever reply back, ask them to give you a short paragraph of feedback. Chances are they won’t disappoint you.

If a kind blogger reviews your ebook, copy a few lines from the review and slap it on your landing page as a testimonial.

Getting testimonials from the customers is slightly easier. Grab their emails before finalizing the purchase, and email them a week later to ask them if they liked the ebook and if they would like to give their feedback. You can automate the whole process, but I’ll leave the details for another post.

If you don’t feel comfortable with the above process, simply put a line on your landing page urging the buyers to give their feedback about the ebook. Many will get back to you with positive reviews.

10. Advertise on online communities

Online communities are great free advertising places. Throngs of people frequent niche specific forums to get help and advice. All you have to do is find the right forums to tap into the forum–loads of prospective buyers.

Some forums such as Authority Blogger Forum and BlogCatalog allow you to announce your unique content in a separate thread. You can take such opportunities to advertise your ebook.

But remember, don’t come across as spammy, and don’t bother creating such a thread if you haven’t been active on the forum before.

You can also place a link to your ebook landing page in your forum signature, and post on the forum often in a hope that people will notice you and trace you back to your blog.

11. Write follow-up posts and talk about your ebook’s success

Your marketing efforts don’t stop with the launch of the ebook. You still have some readers who want more proof that your ebook is worth reading before giving you cash.

What they want to see is a proof that others have bought the ebook. So how are you going to convince them?

You’ll have to write follow-up posts and boast about the huge success you have seen with the ebook sales so far, giving them all kinds of stats and quoting positive reviews from other bloggers. Tell them how surprised you are at the enormous response you have received about your ebook.

To revive the buzz, release ebook updates, and make special offers such as discounted ebook price for a limited period.

Just keep things alive. Don’t let your ebook die in the flood of regular posts.

——————

Making money with an ebook is a hot trend in the blogosphere, so cash in on the opportunity, and make some regular, steady income. The kind you have only dreamed of so far.

Even though there are plenty of books available in stores on almost all aspects of web design, you don’t need to spend a dime when you can get all the basic information for free. The following list of free web design ebooks and guides will get you started building accessible, usable, and useful web sites in no time.

General web design ebooks

WEB STYLE GUIDE - It is a practical guide to help you design Web sites for the long run. This book offers basic design principles that you can use to make your content as easy to understand as possible.

Web Typography Style Guide - This guide covers the basics of good typography on the web, explaining theory behind font choices, and the details of providing accessible and good looking text.

Web Design at Wikiversity - Includes topics that help provide a pathway for you to learn the main skills of web design.

Web design from scratch - Your complete guide to web design.

Getting Real - Getting Real details the business, design, programming, and marketing principles of 37signals. Anyone working on a web app — including entrepreneurs, designers, programmers, executives, or marketers — will find value and inspiration in this book.

Laura Lemay’s Guide to Sizzling Web Sites - This book is a must for you if you are a Web designer and require a hands-on reference with practical and conceptual techniques to expand your knowledge and enhance your work.

Web Design Reference Guide - This guide provides a snapshot of everything Web design. The information in this guide includes reference, news, and access to the Web design community.

Eloquent JavaScript - Eloquent JavaScript is a digital book providing a comprehensive introduction (tutorial) to the JavaScript programming language.

Accessibility

Access by design - The Universal Usability site houses an unabridged, online version of Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers, by Sarah Horton.

Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design - This book tells you how to integrate accessibility throughout design.

Building Accessible Websites - Explains how to design, develop, and program Websites (Web sites) that are accessible to people with disabilities (blind/visually-impaired, deaf/hard-of-hearing, mobility-impaired, learning-disabled).

Dive Into Accessibility - 30 days to a more accessible web site.

Usability

Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines - Current research-based guidelines on web design and usability issues.

Current Issues in Web Usability - Usability expert Jacob Nielson’s column on web usability.

Task-Centered User Interface Design - The central goal of this book is to teach the reader how to design user interfaces that will enable people to learn computer systems quickly and use them effectively, efficiently, and comfortably.

Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design - Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design is an intermediate-level book about interface and interaction design, structured as a pattern language. It features real-live examples from desktop applications, web sites, web applications, mobile devices, and everything in between.

CSS and (X)HTML

Complete css guide - Complete CSS Guide is a reference to every aspect of cascading style sheets. If you need help learning CSS or if you’re looking for info about selectors, properties and all the other aspects of cascading style sheets, this is the place.

Cascading Style Sheets, level 2 CSS2 Specification - CSS2 reference.

CSS CHEAT SHEET - Also available as PDF download.

HTML Dog: The Best Practice Guide To XHTML and CSS - Welcome to HTML Dog, the web designer’s resource for everything HTML and CSS, the most common technologies used in making web pages.

USING HTML, Second Edition - A comprehensive book covering basic to advanced web design techniques using HTML.

When a new visitor comes to your website for the first time an initial impression will be formed pretty quickly. A good first impression will drastically increase the chances of that visitor returning again, and a bad first impression will be difficult to overcome.

This list looks at 21 factors that will influence your visitor’s impression within moments of arriving at your site. These are just some of the factors, not a comprehensive list. Feel free to list some others in the comments that you think should be included. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Load Time – Most of us are very impatient and slow loading pages will not make us want to return. On the other hand, pages that load quickly will encourage visitors to navigate through your site knowing that they won’t have to wait very long for each page to load.

2. Error Messages – If new visitors to your site are getting error messages and are unable to access your site, they’re not going to be impressed and they won’t be back. There are a number of different errors that can occur. BlogStorm recently published an article Why Businesses Need a Website that Works, which takes a look at one unsuccessful website with an obvious problem.

3. Colors – The look of your site will obviously be a factor in your visitors’ first impressions. The colors of your website can have a huge impact on the overall attractiveness of the site. Choosing the right color combinations can be difficult, but fortunately there are a number of online tools that can help. For a list of resources and links to some articles on the psychology of colors, see Find the Perfect Colors for Your Website.

4. Logo/Branding – Another factor in the overall look of your website is the logo and branding. Most importantly, the logo should help to brand your business in the way that you want visitors and customers to think of you. For more information, see What Makes a Great Logo? from David Airey.

5. Header Images – Dominant header images are often used and they can have a strong effect on first impressions. Personally, I’m not a big fan of large header images for blogs, but some blog designers use them with great success. I like to see the content start higher on the page, but many visitors don’t share my opinion (I’d be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments below). Nate Whitehill uses a very attractive header image on his blog to make it stand out.

6. Typography – A somewhat subtle influence is the typography and fonts. A change in the typography may not be a drastic change, but it can make all the difference. See Five Simple Steps to Better Typography by Mark Boulton for a more complete look at the subject.

7. Layout – One of the most important design elements is the layout. Whatever layout you use should draw the reader’s attention to those items that are most important. Layout can be used not only to create an attractive design, but also to make the site easy for visitors to use. While most websites use a fairly standard design, a good way to make your site stand out is to use a more creative layout. Of course, you’ll want to make sure that your creative layout adds to the effectiveness of the website rather than detracting from it.

8. Advertisements – One of the easiest ways to make a bad first impression is to have a website that is full of advertisements. Most of today’s internet users have come to expect advertisements to be present on most websites, but too many ads, the wrong type of ads, and poor ad placement can be a big turn off for visitors.

As a general rule you should avoid placing ads in places that will interfere with visitors being able to read your content, unless the goal of your site is to make money through ad clicks. Animated ads are also a touchy subject as they can also easily distract and annoy readers.

If you use advertisements that are relevant to visitors and are kept out of the flow of your content, visitors generally will not mind.

9. Your Reputation – Some of your first-time visitors will be familiar with you or your website before they even visit. In many cases they may have read about you on another website that links to you. This is especially common for bloggers. If that visitor has read a positive recommendation of you before visiting your site, you will have already developed a little bit of a reputation in the mind of that visitor that may affect the first impression. This can also work the opposite way if they have heard or read negative things before visiting.

10. Ease of Navigation – We’ve probably all been at websites that looked like they had great content that we wanted to read, but just couldn’t find what we wanted. I’m not sure if there is anything more frustrating on a website than poor navigation. On the other hand, well-constructed navigation can help visitors to have a very positive experience on the site.

11. Clarity of Purpose – New visitors should be able to very quickly determine the purpose of a website. Many sites effectively incorporate this into their branding by using a descriptive tag line that sums up the site’s purpose. About Us pages are also helpful for communicating purpose.

12. Unprofessional Items – Some items like low-quality animated GIFs and hit counters can give a negative first impression. Generally anything that makes your site look like it was designed 10 years ago should be avoided.

13. Quality of Images and Photos – It’s amazing how much impact a high-quality photo or graphic can have on a design. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources online for getting high-quality, low-cost photos, and some are even free. Searching for a good free picture may not be worth the time it takes when you can find one faster and pay $1 or $2. For a list of places to find photos online, see Stock Photography Resources.

14. Accessibility – Accessibility is a big buzzword in web design. The reality is that not all of your visitors will fall into the mould of the average visitor. Some will have handicaps, some will use older browsers, some will have slower connections, etc. If your website is not accessible to a visitor it’s almost guaranteed to create a bad impression.

15. Popups and Pop-unders – Most internet surfers now have some sort of popup blocker, but some websites are still using them. Most visitors don’t appreciate popups that aren’t blocked, and this can create a bad impression. Some sites, however, still use popups effectively, so it’s something that you will have to weigh the pros and cons.

16. Video and Audio – As more and more internet users have high speed connections, audio and video will continue to become more common. Some visitors appreciate these elements and it’s evident by the success of such sites as YouTube. A general rule with both audio and video is that it should not start automatically without the user choosing to have it start.

17. Associations – Visitors may be new to your website, but they may be impressed with associations to someone or something they know and respect. An example of this is web hosting provider Media Temple. Visitors to Media Temple’s website will see testimonials on the homepage from Nike, Sony, and Starbucks. If that visitor is wondering about the competence and capability of Media Temple, associations with these large, well-known companies will have a huge impact on the first impression. Another example is a website displaying a badge that shows membership in the Better Business Bureau.

18. Quality of Content – Of course quality content cannot be left off this list. While content may not have an instant impact like some of the factors that relate to the design of the site, it will have a significant impact on visitors that stick around for a minute or so. This is a big factor especially for blogs. A first-time visitor that finds really great content will remember their visit in a positive light.

19. Tone – In addition to the actual content, the tone of the content can also have an impact on first impressions. I’ve been on a few blogs that have strong content, but an unnecessarily negative tone by the blogger created a poor first impression.

20. Number of Comments and Trackbacks – New visitors to blogs will often notice the number of comments on posts. A lot of comments and trackbacks show that other readers are involved, and it indicates that this is likely a valuable resource. On the other hand, seeing no comments often causes the visitor to wonder how many other people are reading.

21. Flash Intros – Positive or negative, flash intros will impact the first impression of visitors. I’m not a fan of flash intros on most websites. I think they have their place on websites in certain industries, such as websites for movies or rock bands. Unless visitors will expect a website in your industry to have a flash intro, I would avoid it.

What would you like to add to the list?

Taken From http://vandelaydesign.com

Web design is a profession that requires constant growth and development of abilities in order to remain competitive. Technology is obviously changing constantly, and design trends certainly do not stand still either. A designer who is not committed to improvement will eventually become a designer that is searching for work.

A few weeks ago I published a post that examined a number of different skills that web designers can work to improve, including coding, graphic design, project management, SEO, marketing, communication, and more. If you haven’t seen that post there are links to some great resources that you may want to check out. Taking that idea of constant improvement a step further, putting yourself in challenging situations is a great way to promote growth. Sure, challenges are sometimes uncomfortable, but if you are actively seeking out the right types of challenges you can drastically improve your marketable skills as a designer.

Areas for Potential Challenges

A Different Style of Design

Many designers use a particular style for a lot of their projects. If you find yourself designing almost exclusively in one style, why not try to challenge yourself by creating a site with a completely different style? Do you design primarily minimalistic websites? Try your hand at creating something a bit more involved. Do you often find yourself creating sites with a typical two or three column layout? Challenge yourself to design a site with a unique and creative layout. Being able to design effectively in a wide variety of different styles can be difficult, but it can give you an edge over other designers.

Designing for a Different Industry

Typically, websites within a particular industry will be somewhat similar to other sites in that same industry. Because of this, designing a website for an industry that you have not been involved with before can be a good way to stretch yourself. Some designers and design firms specialize in a particular industry, which can be a good strategy, but if you are looking for a challenge to improve your skills, look for some diversity in this area.

Building an E-Commerce Site

E-Commerce websites can help you to develop several different skills. In order to be effective the site will need a shopping cart system that is easy to use, a search function, proper design and layout that features the products appropriately and encourages sales, and more. If you haven’t yet developed an E-Commerce site, it could be a good experience.

Designing Your Own Icons

Many websites use icons for visual attractiveness as well as to communicate with visitors and improve usability. Some designers create their own icons, but others use icons that are freely available or those that have been purchased for use. Have you ever tried creating your own icons for a specific project? Unique, attractive, and intuitive icons can really have a significant impact on the quality of a design.

Learning a New Coding Language

Which coding languages do you currently work with? If you stick to HTML and CSS, why not learn JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, etc? Expanding your knowledge and your experience can greatly increase the amount of opportunities that you have and the different options that you have for your projects. In addition, the added skills will make you more valuable than you are currently.

Re-Designing a Site with Only Changes to the CSS

CSS Zen Garden shows how much can be accomplished simply by changing a stylesheet without touching the structure and contents of a page. When re-designing a site, have you ever tried to limit your changes to CSS, or do you always rebuild the site? Of course, in order to pull this off you will need to be working with a website that is coded very well in order to have a good starting point.

Building a Full Website on WordPress

WordPress is the most popular choice for bloggers, but it also has the capability to run an entire website. A growing number of designers are using WordPress’s CMS features to create a full website rather than just a blog. Once you have an understanding of how the WordPress system works, designing for WP is not much different or more difficult than designing a standard website.

Fluid Width or Fixed Width

Do you almost always build sites with a fixed width? Why not develop your skills by working with a fluid width on your next project, or vice versa? Of course, the decision of fluid width vs. fixed width is something that should be considered on each project and you should make that decision based on what is best for each specific situation, not what is best for the development of your skills. With that being said, keep an open mind to the layout options and be ready and willing to try something new when it is appropriate.

Increased Use of Photoshop and Graphical Elements

Some designers are very skilled with Photoshop and the graphics design aspect of web design. On the other hand, some are lacking skills in this area. The graphic design of a site can make a huge impact on the overall quality of the site, so this is definitely a skill worth developing. If you are looking to learn more about Photoshop there are a number of websites and blogs dedicated to tutorials, PSDTuts is my personal favorite (also see our collection of Photoshop tutorials for better navigation ).

Coding from a PSD File

Many designers prefer to start their designs with a PSD file and then develop the code from there. Larger design firms will often have people dedicated to designing the PSD files and others dedicated to coding the site from the file. There are also a growing number of services available from companies that will take your PSD file and create the code for you. If you haven’t worked with this method before, it can be another challenge that will improve your abilities as a designer. Try taking a PSD file that has already been created and code the site based on the file.

Creating a PSD Mockup

Looking at the same issue from the other end of the spectrum, if you typically create your sites from scratch by coding the pages from the start, try creating a design with Photoshop before doing any coding. If you can develop this skill effectively you may be able to save a considerable amount of time by not coding for a design that really isn’t going to work.

Working with a Team of Designers

While some designers typically work on their own, others spend a good portion of their time working on projects with other designers and developers. If you normally work by yourself, this is another potential area for growth. Being able to work with others is necessary for larger projects and it will open up the possibilities and opportunities for you in the future. Regardless of whether you are working with other freelance designers or if you are working with other designers who are your co-workers, it will be a different process than if you were working on your own.

Outsourcing

Many designers and design firms outsource a portion of their work. Do you have experience with outsourcing? While outsourcing work can bring new challenges and potential pitfalls, if done well it can increase your productivity and profitability. If you have more work than you can handle on your own, outsourcing may be a good solution.

Horizontal Layout

Typically pages scroll vertically and not horizontally. There are a small number of websites that are designed just the opposite (see The Horizontal Way to see a gallery of some examples). While I’m not personally a fan of horizontal design, some clients may want this type of layout. Being able to effectively design a horizontal layout can make you more versatile as a designer.

Design a One Page Site

One page websites can be a great choice in the appropriate situation. Most projects demand more information than can be presented on a single page, but you are likely to run into a client at some point that wants an attractive one page site. This is just one more style of design that you can challenge yourself with.

Design a Logo

Some graphic designers also do logo design, but good logo design requires skills that many web designers do not have (including me). Being able to design a high quality logo can improve the overall product that you offer and it can help clients by keeping more services in one place rather than going to multiple different designers.

What’s Your Experience?

In what ways do you make an effort to challenge yourself? How does it affect your skills and your abilities?

Taken from http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/design/challenging-yourself-as-a-designer/

Web designers have plenty of online resources available for design inspiration. There’s no shortage of CSS galleries out there to help you by displaying some creative and high-quality work, but offline sources of inspiration can provide new perspectives and encourage you to stretch your boundaries further than you have before. Looking at other websites for inspiration can only take you so far, and sometimes you’ll enjoy taking in the design concepts used in other mediums.

Design inspiration can come from just about anywhere, and in this post we’ll take a look at a number of the best places to look. There are several links and resources included in the post to demonstrate how inspiring these sources can be and to make the post as useful as possible. However, don’t limit yourself to just visiting these links or you will be missing the point of offline inspiration. Look to some of these sources and see what you can find to be applicable to your web design projects.

Magazines

Designing for print is obviously much different than designing for the web, but there is plenty of inspiration available in magazines. Magazine are often very creative and many of their design concepts can be applied to web design. Additionally, the page page layout, pictures, and advertisements throughout the magazine can be extremely helpful as well. Visit a large bookstore and check out the magazine rack. You’re sure to find something you like.

Photo from Tokyofortwo.

The website of the American Society of Magazine Editors has a collection of the 2007 best cover winners.

Another collection on the ASME website shows the top 40 magazine covers of the last 40 years.

YourCover has a list of the top 15 covers since 1960, but disappointingly the images do not link to larger versions.

CD and DVD Jackets

CD and DVD jackets design are critical to the sales of those products, so there is a great deal of effort that goes into creating the best looking product possible. As a result, you’ll see a lot of ideas and design elements that can be used in web design. There are so many stores that sell CDs and DVDs that this type of inspiration is very easy to find any time you need some new ideas.

Sleevage is a great website that is dedicated to album art. It’s very easy to search and browse through the gallery.

Inspiredology recently compiled an exhaustive list of the 99 Best Designed Album Covers.

Devlounge produced a similar list of 21 Album Covers for Inspiration.

COLOURlovers has a collection of album covers from 2007 Grammy Award winners, plus they included the color swatches used in each of the designs.

MegaSearch is a search engine for album covers. It can be a great tool if you know what you are looking for. SlothRadio, Albumart.org and FindMyCover are similar search engines. AllCDCovers has a search engine, but it also provides some other useful features such as browsing through popular searches and downloading covers.

While you’re looking around for design inspiration, why not take a short humor break and check out this collection of the worst album covers ever.

Posters

There are tons of different types of posters that can be used for inspiration. Movie posters are often a great source. Next time you’re at the theater, take a closer look at the posters that are being displayed.

Movie Poster Addict is a site dedicated to, you guessed it, movie posters.

GigPosters is a pretty cool site for music fans. It has posters from shows for an unbelievable number of bands.

Movie Poster Awards has a ton of posters that you can view.

Galleries of Posters:

Premiere created a gallery of The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever.

Billboard has a similar gallery of The 25 Best Rock Posters of All Time.

Eloquation has a nice collection of 10 movie posters.

Cinemacom has a large gallery of vintage horror and sci-fi posters through the 1940s.

Movie posters aren’t the only ones that can provide inspiration. Smashing Magazine compiled over 50 Breathtaking Typographic Posters.

FilmSchoolRejects has the Ten Best Movie Posters of 2007.

Movie Poster Addict has collected 79 Years of Best Picture Winners in Posters.

Movie Poster Addict has posters from the 2007 Key Art Award Winners.

Here is a Flickr gallery of 19th Century Circus & Magic Posters.

Newspapers

Not all newspapers use a boring layout and design. Some of the more creative newspaper designs can be very applicable to web design. Newspapers also have to find ways to fit a lot of content onto a page, and some of these layout techniques can be used by websites.

The best online gallery of newspaper design that I have seen is Smashing Magazine’s Award Winning Newspaper Designs.

Newseum provides quick access to todays front pages of 561 newspapers from 52 countries.

NewsDesigner.com is a blog that focuses on newspaper design.

NewsPageDesigner.com has a similar focus.

See some of the best front pages at BrassTracksDesign.

Billboards

Billboards are designed to draw attention and make a quick impact, something that is also important in web design. If you live in a city, chances are you see billboards everywhere you go.

Photo from Fatty Tuna.

Billboardom is a blog that focuses on creative and funny billboards.

Bored.com has a collection of some of the most creative billboard designs you will ever see.

Business Cards

Occasionally you may see a business card design that stands out for some reason or another. Some of the same design concepts in business card design may be applicable to web design as well.

Faveup is a design inspiration gallery that includes business cards.

At Freelance Switch, Collis Ta’eed put together a collection of 18 Smokin’ Hot Business Card Designs .

Creative Bits has their own collection of Cool Business Card Designs.

Tutorial Blog has also gathered some Creative Business Cards.

Design News has a rather large collection of The Coolest Business Cards - Use of Cool Shapes, Textures, Creativity, and Talent.

Inspiredology has a huge gallery of Cool Business Cards.

Dzine Blog has 27 Creative Business Cards You Should’ve Seen.

Flickr has a nice gallery of business cards.

Photographs

High quality photography can be one of the best sources of design inspiration. The balance and colors that make a photo beautiful may also be able to help you with web design.

The best places online to see photos include Flicker, iStockphoto, and StockXpert.

Book Covers

The cover of a book has a similar impact on sales as the covers of CDs, DVDs, and magazines. By browsing through the shelves at a book store or a local library you’re sure to find some inspirational designs.

The Book Design Review is a blog dedicated to book covers. Two posts worth checking out are My Favorite Book Covers of 2007 and My Favorites of 2006.

This Flickr gallery has a large collection of book cover designs.

Covers.fwis.com is a gallery of book covers.

Art Galleries

If your city has an art gallery, take some time to visit and get inspiration from the art work on display. Paintings, sculptures, and other types of art can be excellent examples of design.

Food Packaging

Some food products take advantage of very well-designed packages. In Asian culture colorful and creative packages are very common.

Flickr has a useful gallery of food packaging, and another gallery of Japanese packaging .

PingMag has several different collections of Japanese packaging, including Cardboard Box Designs, Snack Characters, and Gifted with Beauty.

 Taken From http://vandelaydesign.com/

Mubashar Iqbal 

CSS galleries can be a great source of inspiration, but if you’re looking for something in particular they can be a bit of a nightmare. They can also be a little repetitive, you’ll often find the same design repeated on many of the galleries.

Since niche galleries have a tighter focus it allows them to be more detailed when adding sites to the gallery, and although they don’t update as often the quality usually makes up for it. Given their focus the same design is a lot less likely to be featured on more than one of the niche galleries.

This is not to say the general galleries are going away, they provide a steady steam of inspiration, but when you’re looking for something in particular niche is nicer.

Below you’ll find a list of niche galleries, that focus on things from color schemes, to layout, and specific content types.

Color Schemes

Light On Dark
http://www.lightondark.com

Light on Dark is a showcase of well designed & coded web sites with light text on a dark background.

Online since January 2006, with approximately 1,000 items of inspiration.

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CSS Nature
http://www.cssnature.org

CSS NATURE is a showcase of well designed css and xhtml nature based website designs.

Online since July 2007, with approximately 200 items of inspiration.

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Layout

Design By Grid
http://www.designbygrid.com

Design By Grid is a resource to promote websites designed with grids, and the tools and techniques used to make websites with grids. You’ll find a gallery of great grid based designed, as well as links to tutorials and invaluable tools for anyone designing with grids.

Online since May 2007, with approximately 100 items of inspiration.

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The Horizontal Way
http://www.thehorizontalway.com/

Most websites display their content vertically, making the user scroll down the page. In some rare cases however the website can be laid out horizontally making users scroll to the right instead, The Horizontal Way is showcase for just these sites. You won’t see to many of these sites, but if you do ever need to design a site that scrolls horizontally, this is the place to go for inspiration.

Online since November 2006, with approximately 40 items of inspiration.

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No Resolution
http://www.cssliquid.com

There has long been a discussion on whether websites should be fixed in width or adjust to the size of the users browser. All arguments aside, see some great examples of fluid and elastic designs at No Resolution (formally called CSS Liquid). You’ll also find some resources and tutorials to help you make you next design fluid, or you can use some of the open source templates.

Online since November 2005, with approximately 300 items of inspiration.

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Content

I Heart Blogs
http://www.iheartblogs.com

I Heart Blogs is a showcase of well designed and well written blogs.

Online since February 2008, with approximately 40 items of inspiration.

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eduStyle
http://www.edustyle.net

eduStyle is a web design gallery dedicated to higher education websites and powered by higher education web design professionals.

Online since January 2007, with approximately 700 items of inspiration.

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Carted Up
http://www.cartedup.com

Carted Up is a showcase of online stores, beautifully designed, and easy to operate.

Online since October 2007, with approximately 50 items of inspiration.

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Feed My App
http://www.feedmyapp.com

A showcase of web based applications.

Online since June 2007, with approximately 2,500 items of inspiration.

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Size

Full Single
http://www.fullsingle.com

Sometimes all you need is one page to convey our message, Full Single is a showcase of full websites that fit in a single page.

Online since January 2007, with approximately 200 items of inspiration.

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One Page Folios
http://www.onepagefolios.com

Collection of one page portfolio by designers and developers.

Online since April 2006, with approximately 850 items of inspiration.

Geographic

CSS Design Yorkshire
http://www.css-design-yorkshire.com

Although not exclusively dedicated to the region, this gallery showcases web sites created by css web designers in the Yorkshire region of England.

Online since October 2006, with approximately 2,000 items of inspiration.

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Oriental Gallery
http://oriental-gallery.com

For those designing for an oriental audience it may be helpful to view websites designed by oriental designers. Differentiated not just by language Oriental designers have different culture and experience than western designers.

Online since 2007, with approximately 60 items of inspiration.

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Content Management Systems

WP Cube
http://wpcube.com

A showcase of the best designed Wordpress sites.

Online since December 2007, with approximately 300 items of inspiration.

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We Love WP
http://www.welovewp.com

Those Wordpress users really like their CMS, another showcase of Wordpress powered sites.

Online since June 2007, with approximately 350 items of inspiration.

We Love TXP
http://www.welovetxp.com

Not be left out users of TextPattern showcase their best sites.

Online since July 2007, with approximately 450 items of inspiration.

LoopPress
http://www.looppress.com

Had to sneak in one more Wordpress showcase.

Online since November 2007, with approximately 400 items of inspiration.

Moveable Love
http://www.moveablelove.com

This is a place to show off interesting and beautiful sites built with Moveable Type.

Online since February 2008, with approximately 10 items of inspiration.

Web Development Frameworks

Drupal Sites
http://www.drupalsites.net/

A directory that lists websites powered by the open-source content management system Drupal.

Online since November 2005, with approximately 2,000 items of inspiration.

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Happy Codr
http://happycodr.com

A showcase of websites built using the Ruby on Rails web development framework.

Online since November 2006, with approximately 700 items of inspiration.

Other

LogoPond
http://www.logopond.com

User submitted gallery of logos, with a hand selected collection of the best logos.

Online since July 2006, with approximately 20,000 items of inspiration.

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IllyPads
http://www.illypads.com

A showcase of the best user submitted illustrations.

Online since March 2008, with approximately 100 items of inspiration.

CSS Princess
http://cssprincess.com

Website designed by Female designers are showcased at CSS Princess.

Online since July 2006, with approximately 200 items of inspiration.

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Launching Soon Pages
http://launchsoon.com/gallery.php

A new gallery that showcases placeholder pages, for websites that have not launched yet.

Online since February 2008, with approximately 10 items of inspiration.

Business Cards
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailypoetics/sets/72057594104389710/

A collection of inspiring business card designs.

Online since April 2006, with approximately 700 items of inspiration.

Colour Lovers
http://www.colourlovers.com

COLOURlovers gives the people who use color - whether for ad campaigns, product design, or in architectural specification - a place to check out a world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and read color related articles and interviews.

Online since December, 2004, with approximately 1,000,000 items of inspiration.

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Elements of Design
http://www.smileycat.com/design_elements/

Elements of Design is a different type of web design showcase focusing on specific aspects of web design. It is brought to you by the Smiley Cat Web Design Blog.

Approximately 600 items of inspiration.

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Typesites
http://www.typesites.com

Typesites is a weekly showcase of websites with interesting typographic design.

Online since January 2008, approximately 7 items of inspiration.

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CSS Drive Menu Designs
http://www.cssdrive.com/index.php/menudesigns/

A gallery of website menus.

Approximately 75 items of inspiration.

I’m sure there are a number of deserving niche galleries that I’ve missed, leave a comment and I’ll keep the list updated.

Gallery inspiration counts as at March 2008.

Rainer Maria Rilke was a modern poet who was born in 1875 in Prague. He spoke German. His “Duino Elegies” and “Sonnets To Orpheus” are collected in a work entitled “In Praise of Mortality.” Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry calls his reader to appreciate life and to accept his or her own mortality. He writes much about the Divine and how it can only use humans because they are ephemeral. His poetry sounds almost zen buddhist in tone, reminding his reader of impermanence and the transcience of life itself as well as the world. Rilke also mentions nature and especially animals, admiring animals for the way they percieve the world. He says humans are the only creatures that look backwards in time and are the only creatures that seem to labour burdened under their own lives’ weight. Rilke also mentions the Machine and how humans have created it and that since humans have created it is should serve humanity, but that instead it enslaves humanity both creating and destroying equally. Rilke writes as one who is in love with life itself, a human being who has passion and desires and hungers and who can enjoy life to its fullest because of his mortality. He writes that only humans conceive of themselves as proceeding without an end and that animals deaths for them are already completed. Because of this way of percieving, animals can see a flower blooming forever in the moment. He also praises animals’ ability to listen. In one his “Sonnets to Orpheus,” Rilke writes of a child eating an apple and basically says that the taste is nameless, the fruit itself, humans have called apple, but that that apple is the work of sun and earth and an immense act of condensed sweetness all devoured in one moment of pleasure by a child. Rilke also writes that humans are simply children of nature. In fact Rilke writes lofty praise of nature and animals and mortality itself and calls his readers to enjoy the moments of life fully and to accept the fact that he or she will cease to be one day. Rilke writes, “Be. And at the same time know what it is not to be.” What a challenge to his reader. In other words simply exist and at the same time no what it is not to exist. Rainer Maria Rilke is an amazing modern poet who calls his readers to live and enjoy life to its fullest by accepting his or her own mortality. Rilke praises nature, sounds buddhist in his poetry and lofts much praise on animals and their abilities and the way they perceive things. Many literary devices that are all used effectively to create the masterworks, “Duino Elegies” and “Sonnets to Orpheus” which are contained in the collection “In Praise of Mortality.”

Rainer Maria Rilke was a modern poet who was born in 1875 in Prague. He spoke German. His “Duino Elegies” and “Sonnets To Orpheus” are collected in a work entitled “In Praise of Mortality.” Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry calls his reader to appreciate life and to accept his or her own mortality. He writes much about the Divine and how it can only use humans because they are ephemeral. His poetry sounds almost zen buddhist in tone, reminding his reader of impermanence and the transcience of life itself as well as the world. Rilke also mentions nature and especially animals, admiring animals for the way they percieve the world. He says humans are the only creatures that look backwards in time and are the only creatures that seem to labour burdened under their own lives’ weight. Rilke also mentions the Machine and how humans have created it and that since humans have created it is should serve humanity, but that instead it enslaves humanity both creating and destroying equally. Rilke writes as one who is in love with life itself, a human being who has passion and desires and hungers and who can enjoy life to its fullest because of his mortality. He writes that only humans conceive of themselves as proceeding without an end and that animals deaths for them are already completed. Because of this way of percieving, animals can see a flower blooming forever in the moment. He also praises animals’ ability to listen. In one his “Sonnets to Orpheus,” Rilke writes of a child eating an apple and basically says that the taste is nameless, the fruit itself, humans have called apple, but that that apple is the work of sun and earth and an immense act of condensed sweetness all devoured in one moment of pleasure by a child. Rilke also writes that humans are simply children of nature. In fact Rilke writes lofty praise of nature and animals and mortality itself and calls his readers to enjoy the moments of life fully and to accept the fact that he or she will cease to be one day. Rilke writes, “Be. And at the same time know what it is not to be.” What a challenge to his reader. In other words simply exist and at the same time no what it is not to exist. Rainer Maria Rilke is an amazing modern poet who calls his readers to live and enjoy life to its fullest by accepting his or her own mortality. Rilke praises nature, sounds buddhist in his poetry and lofts much praise on animals and their abilities and the way they perceive things. Many literary devices that are all used effectively to create the masterworks, “Duino Elegies” and “Sonnets to Orpheus” which are contained in the collection “In Praise of Mortality.”

An expired domain name could be a wonderful opportunity for you to make money by using its hidden advantages and benefits. It is a boon to those people, who make it a point to study and understand its essential principles and meaning. Here are some salient points and issues that make up an expired domain name:a) Most people buy an expired domain name either to build a web site over it or to sell it at a higher price. Of late, trading or reselling in expire domain names is a cherished industry for many people.

b) With it, you can make money from the traffic arriving at that domain during the time tenure that you own and manage it. If you feel that you have a good amount of targeted traffic that comes to your site, then you are probably sitting on a gold mine.

c) Expired domain market is a busy place, where people buy and sell hundreds of domain names everyday. Though most of the domain names are available at cheaper prices, some of them are quite costly and premium.

d) All expired domains in the market are unique in their own respect. No two names are similar! However, there may be some names that may carry similar meaning and syntax, just to confuse site visitors.

e) When you buy one, there will be general costs attached to it, apart from the ones that you need to pay to the reseller. Costs involved are registration fees and penalty fees, if you are buying those domain names that are on hold and redemption.

f) Maintaining it will also involve some costs like an annual maintenance fee to be payable to the registrars.

g) Expire domain names are very liquid in nature and highly volatile in their behavior. You may need to keep your domains for a log time before you can expect them to sell to others.

h) Once you buy it, you must ensure that you are not keeping it inactive at any time; it must either produce a substantial amount of traffic or sell at a higher price. Otherwise, it will have a zero value.

i) An expired domain market could be a busy and bustling place with many players vying for a breathing place. There are many conflicting and contradictory scenes that make up a domain market.

j) If you are intending to sell it, you may need to incur some costs as well, like paying a fee towards auctioning or a commission payable to a reseller.

k) It is always very difficult to know and fix an exact cost of a particular expired domain name. The real value of them may vary at large and from time to time.

l) Right now, the available data on the expired domain names and their volume of trade is very scanty and rare, as most of the inferior domain names are still unsold.

m) The price for a particular expired domain name is always uncertain and unsure, as the price is always negotiable between the buyer and seller at the point of transaction.

n) Dealing in domain names could be a risky venture, as wrong expired domain names could spell a big trouble to you.

As of now, effective and profitable trading in expired domain name depends directly on your knowledge and skills in choosing the best and most practical names and later registering them for either reselling or to develop a web site over it.

About the Author

John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is the owner of the path breaking web site called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.

by David Crestrum

The allure of the world wide web with its ability to quickly open up global markets to smart ecommerce business owners with product and services to sell but one of the drawbacks is that the good domains are gone, right? The days of quickly finding several good .com domains have all but disappeared and it’s getting harder and harder to even find good domain names with less attractive extensions like .net, org, and .biz. If you don’t act fast, you’ll be stuck with a lowly .info domain.If you actually believe that, think again because it’s far from the truth. If you just use a little imagination and creativity, it won’t take very long to find a memorable .com name for your domain but it might take a bit longer than it did a few years ago. Then again, you might be surprised to find your first choice still available.

A recent domain shopping spree left me almost shocked at how easily I found good domain names. The first domain was for an information product that demonstrates how to create, produce, and ship a DVD for free. My first choice was createdvd.com and it came as no surprise that one was taken but CreateDVDProduct.com was available. The second domain was for a DVD I created to show how simple & easy it is to create customized CD & DVD covers. This one wasn’t quite as easy but it didn’t take more than a few minutes before I chose DVDnCDCovers.com over many other good choices. Both of those sites are now live.

CreateVideoProduct.com is the domain I selected for a product that shows you how to create your own online video course. That domain was surprisingly easy to find too. “Webmaster Basics for Internet Entrepreneurs” at TheWebmasterBasics.com is a popular 3 volume DVD set for anyone who wants to learn the basic webmaster tasks required to run a successful Internet business. These domain names may be considered too long by some but they describe the products to a “T” and are attracting search engine traffic already.

I’m not always this lucky. Sometimes it really is difficult to find a good domain name but with some creativity you’ll eventually find a good one. Try putting a letter or short word in front of your desired domain name like a or e or i or the. Use the letter n in place of the word and. Instead of an s, use a z. I did that with BlogCarnivalz.com. The key word phrase “blog carnival” is still in the domain. Use that lump on your neck and I’m sure you can think of lots of other ideas. It just isn’t difficult to find good .com domain names.

About the Author

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