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Pimp Your Blog part 2... 10 free header images, marketing week in review

garaughty, The Blog Artist . com

Hi everyone... again this past week there was a lot of talk, activity and still some confusion about using the new customized blog feature by Brad Carroll so to try and simplify things for anyone who needs help, I've designed some graphics that you can use as a starting point on your blog headers and... some ideas on how to use them.

First, let's take a look at the Active Rain Blog Header

I realize that some of this might seem overly simplified but just so we're all on the same page, here is a diagram to illustrate a few basic points.

The blog header is the rectangular area at the top of your Active Rain blog. It measures 950 pixels W X 115 pixels H. A pixel is basically a dot or a point on your computer screen. The most common screen resolution right now is 1024 pixels across X 768 high.

this is an illustration of the Active Rain header area

garaughty, The Blog Artist

When "pimping" (designing) your blog header, you should keep a few things in mind...

- the AR logo & "members online" info takes up most of the area from 700 - 950 pixels (right side)

- try to avoid putting your own image or text in that section

If you use an image that stretches the full length of 950 pixels, make sure it's neutral in color so it doesn't conflict with the AR logo, otherwise it will just look like a mess. Here is a close up photo of my Pimp Your Blog logo as an example that leaves space for the AR logo/text...

If you look at the right side of this header, even tho I used a full length image background(950 pixels wide), the light, neutral color allows the AR logo/text to show just fine.

I don't want to get all "preachy" about any of this because it's none of my damn business what you do or don't do in your blog header. We all have our own personal tastes & preferences when it comes to this stuff, I'm just pointing out what has worked well for me.

Free Blog Header Background Images

Below are some header graphic images I put together for anyone who wants to use them. I realize that not everyone has the time, the software or the patience to do this stuff so these image backgrounds are a good starting point to experiment with. A few suggestions...

- to make your text easy to read, make sure it contrasts with the background color or image

- for a light background, use dark text

- for a dark background, use light text

- for a medium background (i.e. grey), use a very dark or a very light text

If your text or logo doesn't have enough contrast with your background image/color, it will get washed out and will be very difficult to read. Here's an example of what not to do using the words "Where's the text?"...

The color of text in the image above is too similar to the colors in the image so it gets lost and is very difficult to read. Not good! And now... here are the graphics.

From time to time I'll be designing/posting more stuff that you can use to pimp your Active Rain blog. Since we have people of various skill levels and not everyone has access to graphics software, for now I'm providing simple .jpg images that you can use and add your own text, logos, etc...

This week I'm putting out 10 images as a starting point. In the coming weeks I'll be adding more stuff in various colors, textures and styles. If you have ideas, suggestions, requests... let me know and I'll keep them in mind when adding more graphics to use with AR blogs.

Important!!! Read This Before Using These Images

# 1 - I designed these graphics from my artwork and photography, I am the copyright owner.

# 2 - You have my permission to use them in any way you like here on your Active Rain blog.

# 3 - The images are not to be used for any other purpose or on any other blog or website.

garaughty, the blog artist

All of my header images are exactly 950 X 115 pixels so you won't have to resize them to use in your AR blog.

Below are some smaller preview images. Until I figure out where I'll archive them, for now you can download and see the full size images at...

http://www.garaughty.com/ActiveRainHeaders.html

Art Background Images

Balance # 1 (pencil sketch)

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Grey Sphere & neutral background

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Untitled Art with black background

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Color & Textured Background Images

Blue Fabric texture

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Dark Red texture

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Green Leaves texture

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Red Autumn Leaves texture

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Soft Sky texture

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Simple Background Images

White Shadow background

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Grey Spotlight background

garaughty, The Blog Artist

Are You Looking For More Tutorials and Sample Blog Headers? Check out...

- How To Customize and Personalize Your ActiveRain Blog by Brad Andersohn

- Dumb Real Estate Agent Finally Gets It by Margaret Woda

- Tech Support and FAQs for ActiveRain Customizer by Brad Carroll

- First Impression-ist Masterpieces Now Hang in the Active Rain Gallery by Craig Schiller

- Customizing Your AR Blog - 5 Design Mistakes to Avoid by Bobby Carroll

And now, some of this week's must read marketing posts...

garaughty, the art of marketing you

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- Ladies & Gentlemen: I Proudly Introduce..."Your Sphere of Influence" by Lindsay Pendleton

- Does your broker limit your marketing? by David Matney

- Do You Know The #1 Source of Your Business? If Not, You Should. by Fran Gatti

- Social Networking Brain Damage by Bryan Maynes

- The Proper Care And Feeding Of Agents by Katerina Gasset

- Don't Assume Anything About Anyone Inquiring About A Shortsale! by Midori Miller

- New Website for Real Estate Experts & Professionals - Please join me FREE! by Karen Otto

- The pros and Cons of new business models in Real Estate by Ross Quintana

- How do people choose a real estate agent? by ARDELL DellaLoggia

- Zero Comments ... Three New Clients by Chuck Willman

- Unique Marketing Partner- A Little Bird Told Me by Allison Stewart

- 41 Cents, A Post Card & No Website by Chris Elizabeth Griffith

garaughty, the art of marketing you

- Does Your Website Host Have Control of Your Domain AND Your Email? by Laura Monroe

- Craiglist 2.0? New Craigslist Competition by Justin Williams

- Craigslist considers Limiting HTML - "Goodbye vFlyers & Postlets!" by Rich Jacobson

- Services for Technology by Missy Caulk

- Google Uncovering Invisible Web Pages- Will Members Only Posts Be Revealed? by Katerina Gasset

- More Twitter tips... by Lane Bailey

garaughty, the blog artist

- Tuesday Truths... All of Us Judge each other rightly or wrongly... by Kathy McGraw

- Blog It All!!Do You Click The Unsubscribe, Tell Me Why... by Vanessa Stalets

- The Magic Formula Of A Featured Post by Lindsay Pendleton

- Stung!!! by Advance Access Web Site by Pat Walmsley

marti garaugty, the art of marketing you

If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

the art of marketing you, marti garaughty

Posted by marti garaughty on 04/20/2008 12:43 AM

Comments (114)

marketing, branding, blog graphics, pimp your blog, blog headers, blog logos

Originally posted at: The Art Of Marketing You: Pimp Your Blog part 2... 10 free header images, marketing week in review

Post is included in group: Active Rain Newbies
Post is included in group: Realtors®
Post is included in group: Blogging & SEO
Post is included in group: The Art Of Marketing You
Post is included in group: WEEK IN REVIEW

114 Comments on Pimp Your Blog part 2... 10 free header images, marketing week in review

APR

2008

Very Nice information and great looking headers. Thanks for this.

Evening marti, Thanks for a terrific overview of this new trend in headfer design. You obviously have a big talent in this area !

Marti,

I'm just wondering how long it took you to put this post together---such a wealth of information. I'm definitely bookmarking this for future reference. THANKS!!

Thank you for the good info.

Thank you for this great info, I have been having a few problems getting mine together

Thank you again - I need to work on my pimping -- I am not sure how to add some text, so when I get a chance, I will try to use your templates to do so. As usual, your hard work in putting together the week in review is appreciated.

Ok, looks amazing but how do you get the awesome font...Is that paid for?

Marti - these backgrounds are fabulous! You are such a peach for sharing them. Thanks for the week in review.

Marti - Thanks, I pimped my blog OK, but I don't have a Logo, where would I go to make one?

Wendy... thx for the comment on the headers, enjoy the new posts.

Bill... thx for the nice feedback, much more stuff is on the way in the coming weeks!

Diane... hi, since I usually just post once per week on AR I work on my posts in bits and pieces, not sure how long in total.

Andy... you're more than welcome.

Jean... if you're having problems check out Brad Andersohn's & Jeff Turner's videos, they made it really simple to figure it out. If you have a specific question/problem with it, let me know, I'd be happy to help.

Joan... you can add text to the background images with almost any graphics software. I'll cover more about this soon. Also check out Margaret Woda's post that I listed in the resources for some great info and tools you can use.

Sara... thx for the feedback, the "font" is a graphic I designed.

Maureen... I've never been called a peach before, thx. ;-)

Nice headers--but I be pimpin' a little more custom-like. Experimentation is fun!

Virginia... for a logo you'd need some kind of graphics or image editing software if you want to do it yourself. Nite...

Marti, how cool your artwork is! How generous of you to share and let us use your stuff. I'll have to experiment with the red.....;-) Thanks as always!

Kent... absolutely, it's always nice to have a totally custom look.

APR

2008

Teri... thx for stopping by, I was thinking of you when I did the dark red one.

Marti- Thanks so much for featuring my post on the proper care and feeding of agents and mention of my google post.

You did a wonderful job of simplifying this frustrating task of pimping our blogs. Have you checked to see how long it takes to download a blog that is pimped out on a dial up network?

The hardest part is finding the right color because with Brad's place to do that you can not check the color until you apply it and that is a ton of back and forth stuff that I just don't have time for.

Maybe you could create a header that has our green background color and our logo?

OOPs, Can't find my background color right now. It is a muted green like at the top of the globe. If I knew the names of the color that would help. International Properties & Investments, Inc.

Or should I just go with a Florida theme? Hmmm decisions, decisions.

marti- First Thank you!!!!! You have compiled not only ready to go Headers, but your explanation on the sizing and not messing with the AR Logo space is the best I've seen :) A few of the new Headers have gone completly over the AR Logo, so your information can be very useful.

Have a good week :)

Great post! I appreciated reading your blog. I'll probably reread this for some ideas.

Marti you have done an awesome job with making some blogs look fantastic! I have been noticing your handy work quite a bit :)

marti, good tutorial on the headers.That appears the place are stumbling. Hopefully this will help and they can refer to your post. Also thanks for the mention on all the technology links I posted, I also learned from it as some people added theirs to the comments, which I wanted them to do.

I'm curious. This discussion about headers is spreading and more and more members are offering advice and help. At this point, I don't even know who wrote the code for the feature, so many have been offering advice.

Since you mention copyright for headers designed by you for others with limited use, is there a fee for this service??

Another masterpiece by the Canadian crippler! Just something different this week:)

I am glad I subscribe to your blog...I have to re-visit often for the lessons, thanks.

Great overview for sizing the header. Thanks for sharing your graphics.

Great Post!

Marti... again, some awesome information..... I love some of the new ideas for the headers. And thanks for making the pixel explanation very clear. And overall, for the updates on so many great marketing blogs each week.

Marti...

I will be sure to send folks over here when they ask me how I pimped my Blog.

This is really nice of you...Now I must go read: "Social Networking Brain Damage"...

I think that may have happened to me :)

TLW...ROAR!

Katerina... first, thx again for your awesome posts. You're not just prolific but you always add quality info to the group, I really appreciate it.

As for dial up, yes I always double check everything I do on a dial up connection just to be safe. The problem of slow page downloads on some blogs is mainly when someone uses a large background image or too many freekin widgets. I'll be posting about this soon as well.

To match colors, if you use the Firefox browser check out the add-on Colorzilla. It lets you easily see, analyze and select the value for any color you see on a web page. Try it, it's free, I guarantee you'll love it.

Question, where is your logo? I looked at your website but couldn't find it.

Kathy... thx for another excellent Tuesday Truths, as I said before I love your series. Hopefully the mini tutorial will help with the text overlap thing.

Find A Notary Public... thx for the comment, nice to have you here in the marleting group.

Bill... thx so much, I helped out a few people when I had some time so my work is showing up here and there. Have a great weekend.

Maryi,

Great re-cap blog. I am sending this on to someone who is looking to pimp her own blog.

Thanks for pulling this ingo together.

Lenn... hi, the code for the AR Customizer was written by Brad Carroll, see his tech support & FAQ post in my resources above.

The images I designed are free to use, no fees at all. The only limitation is that they are for use here in the AR blogs only. My intention was to help out people who are having a problem getting started or who don't have their own images/graphics to use in their blog headers.

Neal... "Canadian crippler!"???, yesterday Maureen called me a "peach", this is getting interesting. Thx for stopping by my friend, I'll post this to the WIR later. Have a great weekend...

Marti - Great Graphics and Tutorials! I hope you get much needed exposure with your fabulous artwork from these type of blogs!! Once again thanks for the recap on blog reviews its tough keeping up with the many blogs out there and you delivered it once again, keep up the great work!

Gary... we have a very prolific group, enjoy the new stuff.

Michael... thx, enjoy and feel free to use the graphics.

Marti - Linda called me yesterday, and raved about your work. You never cease to amaze me my friend! Thanks!

Missy... thx for the Services For Technology post, excellent tutorial & list, will be a great resource to refer back to. I really appreciate you addng it to the marketing group!

Jeff... nice to see you. It seems a lot of people are enjoying the new blog features. Some very cool looking stuff out there. Later...

TLW... I loved the Social Networking Brain Damage post, it so applies to me and I'm trying to get it under control. Thx for the feedback, pimp on!

One of the better examples I've seen on adding some pizazz to your blog. Nice post. I fear that some will work too hard on this aspect and not on creating interesting and compelling content.

Craig... hi stranger, nice compilation you did. Thx for adding it to the marketing group, nice to see what our neighbors are doing.

Brad... thx buddy, Linda and I connected this week, really nice lady and now she has a great looking blog as well. ;-)

I have a really hectic weekend going on but somewhere along the line I saw a note about you finally meeting your long lost brother today? If so, that is amazing, have fun and let us know how it goes. Later B...

Justin... thx for the graphics feedback, the recaps to seem help a lot of people, especially with the volume of new posts each week.

Joe... excellent point, the pizzazz is nice but without great content, it's pointless.

Marti~ Wow, thanks for sharing the awesome headers and the How To, I always look forward to more pimping:) Also thanks for the mention for this weeks' review!

Laura... thx for the great feedback on the graphics, also thx for the awesome post. It's such an important topic that can put anyone's domain at risk.

Yo, Yo, thanx for the info. (pimp-speak). Now all I need is the time to apply all this new stuff.

Hi Martin. Thanks for sharing the great tips! Keep them coming.

I was going to comment even before I saw that you gave me a mention.. Thank you.

I sat down with gimp and made several headers for my own use. I will rotate them around on some sort of irregular basis ("when I feel like it" is the specific timing). But, the point is that in gimp, as well as many other image editing programs, it is very easy to set up a template and then knock out a bunch of headers.

Heath... thx, it doesn't take too long once you get the hang of it, check out Brad Andersohn's video.

Vincent... you're more than welcome, enjoy!

Lane... thx for the Twitter Tips post, great stuff. GIMP is probably the best free graphics software out there. It can be a little imtimidating with all of it's features but if you have the time & patience to work with it, it's about as good as it gets.

Thanks for the tips and the headers. I think I will use one of them soon.

I pimped to the nth degree and now my blog takes forever to load!!! Guess I need to start all over again! Thanks for the great tips!

Tina in Virginia

I'm saving this, thank you once again. I still haven't had time to go over your last week's reviews. You rock!

It is very nice of you to share your great artwork. Thanks. All the best.

This is great. I love the designs. They are awesome. I love the willingness to help that flourishes here.

Marti, SWEET as usual! I think you're awesome for helping so many out this way.

Russ... nice to hear that, enjoy!

Tina... be sure to optimize your graphics to smaller files sizes so your page doesn't become slow. Also minimize the use of widgets. If you're not sure about the optimizing thing, I'll be posting more info soon.

Ida... thx for the sweet comment, I really do appreciate your kind words.

Bob & Carolin... thx and all the best to you guys as well. Have a great week.

Christy... hi, we have so many people helping each other in the Rain, it's one of the things I like best about being here.

Ray... thx for the really nice comment, it's a pleasure to help out where I can.

Marti - Great info as always - love your art work - one day I'd love to see "you" the man behind the mask :) Hope you had a great weekend.

APR

2008

Hi Marty,

Great information. Thank you for sharing. I bookmarked your post so that I can come back and really sink my teath into this and "try" to get creative.

Cyndee... thx for the art comment, I use my avatar as a pic because it's familiar to a lot of people from other sites I'm on. Will post standard pics later. Nite...

Bill... you're welcome. Try it out, it's not difficult at all.

As always, Marti, you make things look easy. Maybe I'll get over my fear and actually 'pimp' my blog, too!

Thanks Marti

Both for the header tips (which I needed) and for the mention- You rock!

Marti - Thanks very much! I've used the cloud header, and finally figured out how to get basic text onto it. Need to learn more about photoshop.... Thanks again for sharing. I'm subscribing to that I can learn how to optimize, and get a large background image.

Nancy... trust me, it really is easy, just play around with it, the worst thing that can happen is you can go back to your original settings. If you need help, just ask.

Allison... you rock as well. Thx for the excellent post. Parrots are close to my heart so I can see how well they could fit into marketing, fund raising, etc... If you need help with your header let me know.

Penny... awesome to hear that. Yes I'll be posting more info about optimizing images and creating backgrounds that don't slow down your blog.

My posts are getting way too long so I have to break up the info into pieces. Have a great Monday...

Between your blog and the useful links you supplied, I am now finally pimped. Thanks for the great easy to follow info.

Dee Dee... great to hear that. It's pretty easy, just a matter of playing around with the options a bit. Welcome to the marketing group!

Wow - awesome info! I am always looking for new ideas and this fit that need rather well! It has been so much fun playing with the blogs lately! :)

Leesa... thx for the feedback, glad to know the info is helping. Later...

Hi Marti...I'm going to bookmark this, and come back tonight and see what I can do. I appreciate all of the great information...great post as usual!

Patty... thx, enjoy all the new stuff.

Marti... there was a typo in your reply comment. You added a "r" and an "n".

I think you meant HI STAGER... not STRANGER!

This is very helpful Marti! It took me a couple of days to figure out what I was doing with the header and background images. I really enjoy your Marketing Reviews. Thanks for some excellent recommendations.

Craig... re "stranger" I haven't seen you around this group in awhile, but "hi stager" fits even better. Have a great week my friend!

Lola... thx for the feedback, you're welcome for the resources. A lot of people are helping out with the new blog options.

APR

2008

I am so opposed to the new headers. I use broadband but find myself waiting...and waiting for a blog to load when the writer has 10 widgets and a pimped blog.

Vickie... the problem with slow pages is as you mentioned, over use of widgets and people who use insanely large image files for their backgrounds. Not a good combination! Thx for the input.

marti- I just switched to point 2 for our website and have not even added all our listings in there. I don't have our globe logo on there yet, not sure if I will. I need to get a banner made for our site. I am behind on all of that. But most of my business, listings and good buyers and agents to coach, come from our AR blog. So that is always my first priority. Then our website gets second priority. I know that sounds backwards but that is how it worked out for us. My blog is the most powerful listing tool and listing attractor. We now get 2 to 3 listings per week from just our AR blog.

I will try out that add on. I am sure I will love it.

Marti.....this information is absolutely wonderful. I have been wondering where some of the headers came from and I was pointed in your direction. One question I have is what program or what can I use to get the colored letters for the header. Word art in publisher just doesn't seem to have it unless I missed something. Can you point me the right direction. Thank you so much.

Katerina... congrats on the new site, also... you'll love Colorzilla, I use it all the time, it saves me a lot of trial and error.

Pam... hi and thx for stopping by. The reason my headers look the way they do is because I use color samples from my paintings so... unfortunately you can't really do that with just software.

The technique I use is sort of like grabbing a sample of color from a canvas and then spray painting it digitally over the font. I'm not sure if my answer will help or make it more confusing.

Thanks for the great info! This is awesome!

Thanks I appreciate it. It was not too simple. your explainations were just right.

Marti, Most excellent as usual. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and headers. You are the best.

Jeffrey... thx for popping in, you're welcome.

Renee... thx for the input, I'm trying to balance being informative & helpful without confusing the non techies.

Bob... you're too kind my friend, I really appreciate your comment.

APR

2008

Marti there are quite a few posts I happened to miss this week as I was busier at work. I always look forward to reading your post as I know I will be able to find some great material to read.

Bill... thats exactly why I enjoy the general week in review as well, there is so much info to try and get a grip on. Have a great week...

A little late to the party but as always another great post

Jay... it's never too late to the party, thx for stopping by.

JUN

2008

I like Brad's the best...thanks for the tip about the width. I just haven't figured out how to ebed a picture + text and still have it look normal.

Tracy... if you're having trouble with making it look normal, be sure the dimensions are 950 pixles wide X 115 pixels high, otherwise the image will be stretched or distorted.

AUG

WOW! I love what you have done with the site. THis looks great!

Thanks for sharing.

Betina... thx so much, I appreciate your feedback!

Freddy... you're more than welcome, thx for stopping by!

NOV

Marty, I love you for sharing this information. What an incredible blog!!! I feel like a kid in the candy store snatching up as many goodies as I can. I can't get over all the free and valuable design tips that I'm picking up here.

NOV

Tracy... my new AR friend, thx so much for the feedback, I love when I see people getting so much enjoyment & use out of this stuff I post. Have a great day!

NOV

I know I'm late to the party but thanks a bunch. I'm going to "re-pimp" my blog.

NOV

Rhonda... better late than never, enjoy the tutorial, it's pretty easy to get things up & running. Later...

Marti:

Absolutely GREAT Information and examples - Another bookmark! It is amazing the impact the information is making even after 7 months. Thanks again Marti

Gwenn... hi there, yes this post seems to have struck a nerve, a hot topic for sure. Thx for stopping by!

DEC

Marti - Terrific post! I can probably add some life to blog now. Thanks for sharing all this wonderful info.

DEC

Tanya... it's really a pleasure for me to do this, lots more stuff is in the works for 2009!

FEB

Oh wow they are so awesum i love color...Your art is just so beautiful..thank you so much...you are such a fabulous dude to share this with me.. i hope i can share some knowledge that can help you in the future..i tried your cookie ...i almost jumped out of my chair...

i must say i love your art and was an art major/and collect..you really are good.. i have only been on ActiveRain less than a week and feel fortunate to have found you..love your style

aka helpfulhannah

hannah... the great thing about the Rain is that we all learn from each other, such diverse talents & ideas. Thx for the really nice comment!

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