What we’re loving right now:

Sketch it out

If you’ve ever fancied yourself an artist (or a wannabe artist–ahem), check out Odosketch, a Flash drawing application that allows you to create “drawings” that look like they were done in an actual sketchbook.

Fall-ready

Fall is here! We love the idea of using accessories to add a pop of autumn color to your neutrals like IN3GUE.

The fashion font

Have you ever wondered what the alphabet would look like as a fashion show? No? Us either, but artist Yvette Yunjung creates interesting–and slightly disturbing–lettering from each season’s runway collections.

This is a guest post by Josephine of Basic Expressions. If you’d like to write a guest post for Style Sample, check out the guidelines and submit your idea.

When it comes to blogging, especially about fashion, there are three blogging networks that bloggers turn to: Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr. But which one should you use?

I have used all three platforms, and am here to tell you the pros and cons of each so you can decide for yourself:

Blogger

Pros:

• Blogger is the most popular blogging network. Putting anything on this website is very simple because most other websites and applications consider Blogger and make it possible to connect.

• Since it’s owned by Google, there are many features you can add to enhance and promote your page like Google Reader, Google Friend Connect, and Google Adsense.

• Blogger is easy. If you’re new to blogging, Blogger lays out everything for you.

Cons:

• There are a few technical issues with Blogger, like the clock or even uploading photos to your page. Different blogs experience different difficulties using this platform.

• Template choice is limited. You can change the backgrounds and colors, but it comes down to pretty much the same thing using the standard templates.

• Blogger has the right to delete your blog without any warning if they don’t like your content or think it is spam.

WordPress.com

Pros:

WordPress is a bit more advanced, and includes integrated blog statistics (so you know how many people are visiting, and when), as well as built-in spam protection for comments.

Plenty of attractive themes available.

Tech support in the form of helpful user forums–if you have a problem, there’s probably someone out there  with a solution!

Cons:

• Some bloggers find it difficult to use at first, but with time you will learn it and enjoy the benefits!

• Customizing your template requires a small yearly fee and some knowledge of CSS.

• Looking for publicity? Find it somewhere else. WordPress is a popular site but unlike Blogger, you will have to publicize your blog on your own.

*Ed. Note: There is a difference between WordPress.com and the blogging software available for free at WordPress.org (self-installed WordPress).

Tumblr

Pros:

• Easiest place to share tons of pictures of your outfit–and you can get reblogged on the site easily!

• Large variety of free templates.

• Easy-as-pie posting.

Cons:

• A place mostly for just pictures, videos, quotes or short pieces of inspiration, not long-form writing.

• A picture that you posted today could be posted by someone else the next day, and you may not be credited as the original poster.

• It can be repetitive. Most of the supposed new and original art, photos and etc on Tumblr are often re-blogged.

• Comment boxes are not automatically a given. You have to create your own through Disqus or another third-party application, then add it to your Tumblog.

I don’t use any of the major blogging networks anymore (though I refer to Blogger for other needs). I have switched to the OnSugar network, which was created for fashion blogging. It has served me as a good blogging platform just as Blogger and WordPress would. I do have my complaints, but what site doesn’t have its pros and cons?

It’s up to you to check out these blogging networks to determine the best place for you and your ideas. It’s your blog!

If you’ve ever browsed photographic inspiration on sites like ffffound! and WeHeartIt, you’ve probably seen and admired pictures with the dramatic colors and contrast characteristic of cross processing and Lomography.

While you could achieve these effects using expensive photography equipment or by making multiple adjustments in Photoshop, there’s an easier way: Phixr. It’s free, it’s fast, and the results look pretty good!

Original photo

Upload your photo at Phixr.com. You don’t have to register–just click the green “Get started” arrow and start your upload from your computer or via a link to a photo online.

Once your photo is uploaded, select the Color Effects button, then choose Cross Process. Check the preview and adjust brightness, contrast and opacity as needed. Click Execute when it looks the way you want.

To add the Lomo effect, select Camera and Lens Effects from the left-hand menu, then choose Lomo effect. Adjust the intensity, saturation, brightness, and opacity until it looks the way you want, then click Execute.

How very Mad Men!

When you’re finished, just download your stylized picture et voila! Let us know if you try it!

This is a guest post by Precilla of FashionArtExpression. If you’d like to write a guest post for Style Sample.com, check out the guidelines and submit your idea.

When I started blogging, I came across a lot of confusing things. I didn’t know what to expect or how to best use my resources, so I thought I’d help other new bloggers by sharing some important tips I wish I’d known.

Growing your readership

Once you’ve started your blog, you’ve probably realized the readers don’t come to visit all by themselves. You have to put forth some effort to make them come back again and again! Here are a few things you can try:

Choose your content with care

I’ve seen a lot of blogs do 5-7 posts a week, but the content might be average to not compelling at all. That’s not going to get you more readers, so you need to change your game. Choose quality above quantity! Combining your own opinion with researched facts gives you more credibility and makes it interesting to read. Honesty is the best policy, so don’t lie. Don’t say you like something if you really hate it. People appreciate honesty more than you think.

Here are 10 tips I use that guarantee growth for your blog:

1. Write something newsworthy
2. Write something insightful
3. Write something that elicits an emotional response
4. Write something inspirational
5. Write something that tells a story
6. Write something that gets a laugh
7. Write something opinionated
8. Write something about something cool
9. Write something controversial
10. Write something unique

Develop your unique writing style

The best tip I can give you is to write as if you’re talking to someone. Express your true opinions and don’t try to write like someone else – find your own voice. Find topics that keep your readers interested and take risks! Don’t be afraid to experiment with different subjects.

Learn accurate punctuation and check your spelling and grammar. This is very important because you want the readers to understand what you mean and to avoid miss communication. Use quotation marks when you’re writing something that is not your own words, and remember to link to those who inspire your ideas.

Make your blog search-friendly

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. It helps search engines direct people interested in what you talk about to your blog. SEO requires a lot of work, but there are a lot of websites that can teach you how to use SEO to your advantage. The two sites that are the best in the field are Problogger and SEObook.

Participate in communities and social networks

Participating in different communities and social media is also a great way to increase your readership and establish new friendships and business opportunities. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help! I’ve spoken to a lot of bloggers to see how they’re doing and mutually broaden our knowledge by sharing information.
Some popular communities include:

• Independent Fashion Bloggers
• Delance Fashion Community
• Lookbook.nu
• Chictopia

If you’re leaving comments on other blogs, try to make them more worthwhile. Instead of just saying “cute dress!”, try writing something more in depth, describing why you like something, or what you thought was unique about the post.

Send newsletters

I’ve recently discovered something cool: newsletters. There are loads of benefits to starting a newsletter for your blog, including traffic building, monetization and building a rapport with your readers. As I’m working on my own newsletter, I’m thinking about what makes a good newsletter and what makes me mark the sender as spam!

I advise keeping your newsletter small and personal–people love blogs because they have an individual touch. Campaign Monitor offers 30 free email templates, or you can use Feedburner to automatically send RSS newsletters to every subscriber.

In the current issue of Style Sample, Fajr of Stylish Thought wrote a great article about hosting your blog on your own domain. She recommends using WordPress (so do I–both this site and my personal blog run on WordPress), but it can be confusing if you’ve never purchased a hosting account or registered your own domain name. Here’s a great video tutorial series to show you the basics:

How to install WordPress from scratch (Part 1)

How to install WordPress from scratch (Part 2)

This video is a few years old, so make sure you download the most current version of WordPress. As of today, it’s version 2.9.1.

This guy uses Host Gator, but there are multiple site hosting companies to choose from. Some of the most popular are:
BlueHost
GoDaddy
Host Gator
1&1
DreamHost

Let me know if you have questions or need help!

~Tamia

In 13 tips for keeping your blogging resolutions, we suggested using an editorial calendar to plan your blog posts. While the concept isn’t all that complicated, sitting down to brainstorm ideas and determine what you’re going to post when can really help you stay engaged and on schedule, thus avoiding “So sorry I haven’t posted in a while guys!” syndrome. Here are some great resources for learning more:

Your Blog’s Editorial Calendar: Get Organized, Then Relax

Why You Need an Editorial Calendar for your Blog

Creating an editorial calendar for a blog

The main points

1. Choose a few categories for posts and come up with ideas for those categories– anything from outfit posts to shopping suggestions to what you ate for dinner.

2. Use your time to research upcoming topics and write awesome posts that will keep your readers coming back–which will also bring more advertising opportunities.

Simple, right? The hardest part is actually sticking to it!

Blog Editorial Calendar Template

If you don’t have time to create your own calendar format, here’s the really simple Google spreadsheet I started using to plan posts on my own blog.

Now, go forth and blog! And let us know if you need some motivation…

You know how sometimes you’re cruisin’ the ‘net and you see something that triggers an idea for a post? You know how you subsequently forget the idea and the reference within 2.3 seconds of obsessively checking your Twitter feed for the 87th time? Well, there’s a better way to remember and document your inspiration!

Bookmark it!

Online bookmarking tools are a great way to store and save information and ideas for later reference, and are extremely helpful for those of us with short memories and even shorter attention spans. Here are three of the best:

Evernote

By far one of the most popular bookmarking and storage applications out there, Evernote allows you to “clip” links, webpages, online text, photos, documents, voice memos, and pretty much anything else you can think of, to your own personal account.

All tags and text are searchable–even images of printed and handwritten text! You can send notes to Evernote using Twitter, and there are also Evernote apps for your iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, and Android phone for clipping on the go.

Best for: Organizing your entire friggin’ life.

Instapaper

If you like simplicity, Instapaper is your best bet. Sign-up requires nothing more than your email address, and bookmarking is made easy by dragging the “Read Later” button to your toolbar. When you come across a page you’d like to bookmark, simply click the button and voila! Your link is instantly saved.

If you’d like to take it further, you can add folders to organize your saved articles, create an RSS feed of your bookmarked items (which you could add to your blog’s sidebar to share what you’re reading), and download the app for your Kindle or iPhone.

Best for: Simple, no fuss saving.

Bonus tip: If you use Google Reader, you can add your own Send To buttons for Instapaper and Evernote to share articles right from your RSS reader!

Read It Later

Read It Later allows you to save pages from your computer or phone using their easy bookmarking tool. With Read It Later, you can download your pages before disconnecting, so even when you don’t have internet access, you’ll still be able to read your saved pages!

You can add tags to categorize your entries, and it automatically integrates with Google Reader so you can save directly to your reading list. Read It Later is available as a Firefox extension or as an app for your iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or Pre.

Best for: Reading when you’re not connected

It’s a new year, a new decade, and a fresh start.  So, you make a few blog resolutions: Post more often! Attract more readers! Make some money!
As always, it’s easier said than done, but here are some tips to keep you on the right path:

Set specific goals

Everyone wants to attract more readers, get more comments, post more regularly, etc.

1. The trick is to set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-based):  How many readers do you want to attract?  How many comments would you like to see on each post? What’s the deadline for all this to happen?

Post more often

It happens to the best of us: life gets a little out of control and we don’t have time to write/take pictures/cruise the web, let alone set up an entire blog post. To prevent these lapses:

2. Designate blocks of time for writing, research, and taking pictures and develop a schedule. Set a time (like Sunday afternoon) to schedule posts in advance.

3. Create an editorial calendar and make sure you have a place (a notepad, Google doc, whatever works for you) to jot down ideas as they come.

4. Write about two weeks worth of “evergreen” posts and save the drafts to your blogging platform. When you’re crunched for time, all you have to do is hit post and you’re done!

Attract more readers

5. Promote your blog by commenting on other blogs, joining topically related social networks, and participating in events with your target audience.

6. Set up multiple outposts and use social networks to spread your content. Don’t be scared to re-post your articles and images elsewhere; it will attract new readers to your blog.

7. Add Google alerts and Twitter searches for the types of content you post to your RSS feed, and participate in the discussions taking place around those topics.

Earn money

We’d all like to be compensated for our time and effort. There are a number of options here, the most prominent being:

8. Advertising from a direct contact or through an ad network. If you have a large enough readership, you may want to contact companies that are interested in reaching your target audience.

9.  Affiliate programs let you earn commission on sales you make of someone else’s products. You can find more information about affiliate sales here.

10. Direct sales mean you make money by selling something you create. You can sell your artwork, your writing, vintage clothing, or crafts you make to name a few.

Add some glamour

Fashion bloggers like pretty things (duh!), so use your skills to help you spruce up your blog.

11. Learn HTML and CSS so you can edit your blog template to add a column, expand your header, or insert a signature image. Check out some design galleries for inspiration.

12. Find a favorite font or image and create a new header.

13. Learn to use a graphics program (like Photoshop or The Gimp) to create colorful and enticing graphics for your sidebar and posts.

If you have a blog you’re already ahead of the game, so if you put your mind to it, you can stick to your blogging resolutions!

Image by Katerha

If you’re a passionate blogger, running your site probably feels like a full time job. So how can you make it pay? As a fashion blogger, your content taps into a demographic that advertisers clamor to reach: women aged 13-35.

If you’re open to running ads, ad networks are a great way to get into the monetization game.

Before you begin:

1. Know your numbers

If you understand how many people visit your site and who they are, you can make a strong pitch to ad networks. Install Google Analytics, get set up in Google Ad Planner, and register with Alexa. Most bloggers say it’s not worth compromising the design of your site with ads until you have at least 500 pageviews per day, as you’ll only be earning pennies a month.

2. Own it

Buy your own domain name. Networks prefer that your home page is not a subdomain (“mypage.blogger.com”), though there are exceptions. I use Go Daddy to check availability, buy, and manage domains.

3. Carve out a niche

For ads, that is. Be prepared to place common ad sizes like leaderboard (728×90), medium rectangle (300×250), and wide skyscraper (160×600) “above the fold,” where your reader won’t have to scroll down to see the ads. Many networks require that you place ads in this prime location, which commands the highest rates.

4. Get serious about content (and copyright)

Ad networks love focused, original content and engaged audiences. Update frequently, encourage commenting, and be sure to cite your sources. Some networks will boot you for “adult content,” so think twice before posting those nude Italian Vogue editorials.

Get Started:

Google AdSense, AdBrite, ValueClick and Yahoo Publisher Network (still in beta) don’t require huge pageviews to join, but might not offer the most attractive or relevant ads.

Cliquesound: I co-founded this new network, which targets fashion and beauty blogs with enhanced-content ads. Cliquesound curates and supports emerging indie music. Ads run within a music module that offers readers a free song download a day, without ever leaving your site. We require 500 pageviews per day. To sign up, email beta@cliquesound.com.

Blogads: This network groups blogs into “hives” by subject and their fashion hive is not overcrowded, so there could be great opportunities. They look for at least 1,000 pageviews a day.

Indieclick: The Urban Outfitters of ad networks, Indieclick aggregates hip culture sites. They look for pageviews of 1,000 per day at a minimum.

Glam Network: This network’s requirements reflect their reputation as the leader in women’s lifestyle site aggregation. They look for at least 100,000 pageviews a month (over 3,000 a day), a strong brand/voice, and excellent editorial content.

The bottom line:

Ad networks look for loyal, engaged audiences, so it’s never worth compromising your content to drive pageviews. If you take your site’s design, editorial voice, and readership seriously, your site will grow and so will your ad revenue.

About the author:  Blogger Ann Colville Somma (www.holierthannow.com), co-founded  Cliquesound.com, an enhanced-content ad network.

Dear fellow fashion techies,

In fashion, aesthetics matter. Blog readers want to see the pretty. PR agencies look for well-designed sites to partner with. Fashion bloggers, by definition, like to dress up and accessorize. In short, your blog should look good.

In Style Sample Magazine issue #3, Michelle of Decline Designs gave us step-by-step instructions for designing blog themes. If you don’t have the time or energy to create your own design, there are plenty of pre-designed templates and themes available online. We’ve done the research and developed a listing of the most helpful places to find templates, themes, and tips for the three most popular blogging platforms:

Blogger Templates

BTemplates is a good old classic offering up options and style.

BlogSpotTemplates provides a nice variety of fun and artistic templates with a clean, easy on the eye layout.

Pyzam has options, options, options! With several categories to choose from, Pyzam helps to point you in the right direction, and where you go with it is up to you!

QuiteRandom offers a mix of some free templates in combination with blogger tutorials.

Blogger Styles definitely scores in terms of variety.  From technical specifics to theme composition, this site is worth taking a glance.

Final Sense is another good site for theme variety and a few extra freebies.

WordPress Themes
ThemeSplice contains hundreds of user-submitted themes sorted by category. The “Fashion” and “Magazine-style” and “Photo Blog” templates work well for fashion blogs.

Top WP Themes has over 100 free professional designs as well as installation instructions and live previews of each theme.

SkinPress has a selection of beautifully designed free themes as well as premium templates. Many come ad-ready and all have demos available.

Smashing Magazine put together a tightly edited list of well-designed free WordPress themes for 2009. The list includes screenshots of each theme as well as a convenient download link.

Free Theme Layouts calls itself the largest collection of free premium WordPress themes, and it aims to deliver. Rollover each screenshot to see a larger version, or click on the demo to explore each theme in full-screen mode.

Typepad Themes
Typepad users might need some extra luck to find templates–there doesn’t seem to be much out there, and those that are out there are very basic. You could try:

UK Blogger’s Guide has a lot of general information about Typepad thoughout their blog.  A lot have to do with modifications but no so much on free templates.

Save a Few Bucks has a bit information about templates in general and points out to a few spots where you get them.

Typepad also offers over 100 basic designs that are customizable if you’re comfortable with CSS.

How did you create your blog? Share your favorite design resources in the comments!

According to their website, “Looklet is a brand new styling studio where you can combine every piece in our fashion collection to mix, match and create your personal looks. All clothes are real, selected by stylists, from real designers.”

What that really means is you get to play fashion stylist with a virtual model on a virtual set using real clothing, and will probably spend precious hours playing around with different combinations of all of the above. It’s sort of like your own private episode of Stylista, minus the faux-bitchy boss.

There aren’t as many clothing and accessory items to choose from compared to similar applications like Polyvore and the “model’s” pose gets a bit repetitive, but keep in mind that it’s still in beta and is being further developed every day. Check it out and see what you create!

As fashion bloggers, photos are often the main (sometimes only) feature of our posts. While a simple picture may suffice most of the time, sometimes it’s more fun to dress it up!

Photo editors like the ubiquitous industry standard Photoshop and its open source cousin The Gimp definitely have a place when it comes to creating sophisticated layouts, but browser-based image editors make it fast and easy to create and upload customized pictures at any computer, no downloads or installation necessary.

Here are three that get the job done:

Picnik

Picnik has a simple interface and should be easy to use for inexperienced folks. Even so, I was impressed with the neat fonts and shapes (called stickers). Your images are easily retrieved from and saved to your flickr, Photobucket, Facebook, or MySpace account, making it convenient for sharing. On the downside, the neat “premium” effects are only available for a fee, and there’s no way to combine images.

FotoFlexer

With FotoFlexer, you can edit photos from and save to almost any online photo storage account (flickr, photobucket, FB, myspace, etc.) out there, which makes it very easy to share finished creations. In addition, it is available in seven different languages! Some of the more useful options include layers, “smart” scissor and cutout functions, and the ability to apply simple effects with one click. Make sure you have a fast connection, though–it took a while to load.

pixlr

If you’re familiar with Photoshop and it’s ilk, pixlr will seem very familiar. It has a similar interface and many of the same shortcuts and layer styles. There is also a convenient Firefox add-on that will allow you to quickly open images from your computer or online. Most impressively, the application imports fonts from your computer, so you have access to all of your favorite typefaces! Less impressively, your finished image has to be saved to your computer, which means you’ll have to manually upload it for online use.

Note: all of these applications are Flash-based and are best for editing images that will be viewed online, not in print.

What’s your favorite?

When you’re creating photo collages, sometimes it’s handy to have screen capture software to create screen shots–plus, it’s useful for copying Flash-based zoom images on shopping websites that won’t let you copy by right-clicking.

A favorite tool is FastStone Capture, which will allow you to crop, resize, add text, create basic special effects, watermarks and more directly from the image editor! You can download the latest freeware version here, or download a 30-day trial of the updated shareware here.

If you have any other favorites, share them in the comments!

We all know about the requisite style.com, elle.com, firstview, etc. for fashion images, but sometimes you need stock photos for inspiration boards, fashion collages, or even your blog’s background.

Here are some great resources for free stock images for fashion blogs:

Flickr Creative Commons: All images contained here can be used for free as long as the photographer is attributed with a link. It’s extremely easy to search by color, location, event, etc. in order to create your mood.

StockXchng: You’ll need to register, but once that’s done you can download images and save the ones you love to your very own lightbox. You can search for images and illustrations, and browse user-generated blogs and tutorials.

PhotoXpress: The newest of the bunch, you’ll find photography and vector images sorted by category or tag.

All of these resources allow credited use of their images, so have fun searching!

Image: david.nikonvscanon