Everything Typepad

Featured Blog: Holding On To The Little Things

NAME: Jordan Marie Schilleci
BLOG: Holding On To The Little Things
TYPEPAD MEMBER SINCE: 2011
WHY WE THINK HOLDING ON TO THE LITTLE THINGS ROCKS: Parenting blogger Jordan Marie comes complete with a degree in Web Design and Interactive Media, so her blog packs a one-two punch of great content and a fantastic design. She blogs about her daily life as a new mom to Scarlett-Marie, the things that inspire her, and her DIY projects, many of which end up in her shop, Vintagemade.

FOLLOW: TypePad | Twitter

Did You Know?: No www Needed in Your TypePad URL

It's a fairly common practice to go to every URL on the Internet by adding a www in front of it.  Did you know that with your TypePad domain that this isn't necessary?

When you register for a TypePad URL, you pick your own subdomain, like the everything.typepad.com that's used here.  Other examples include our featured blogs like thescenestar.typepad.com, riffraf.typepad.com, and intuitivecreativity.typepad.com. This replaces the www in the URL, so it's no longer necessary.

While you can put a www in front of your TypePad URL and it will still work, this can cause problems for password protected blogs.  Additionally, some third-party systems, including domain registrars and FeedBurner, might have issues if you use the www.

Don't forget that if you ever want to use your own domain, like www.stayatstovedad.com, it's as simple as setting up domain mapping.

We hope you found this useful! Check back every other week for more "Did You Know?" tips to help make your blog even better!

Featured Blog: A Dose of the Delightful

NAME: Natalie
BLOG: A Dose of the Delightful
TYPEPAD MEMBER SINCE: 2010
WHY WE THINK A DOSE OF THE DELIGHTFUL ROCKS: A Dose of the Delightful was created after blogger Natalie rekindled her love of her favorite hobbies following a time of grief. Since then, it has grown and expanded to encompass not only her love of décor and domestic projects, but also things like gorgeous illustration, design, pretty packaging, and lovely clothing, all wrapped up in a design that is as gorgeous as it is fresh.

FOLLOW: TypePad | Twitter

7 Things Making Digital Publishing Better Now

If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative. Woody Allen

This is it: the golden moment when digital media can really come into its own. To create a new standard in quality digital publishing, we need to recognize it as an entirely new medium and rethink the relationship between content, editorial design and user experience. Sometimes that means borrowing from and improving on trusted old standards. At other times it means pushing into new frontiers. In the SAY Media Lab, here's how we're seeing this start to happen.

1. Web typography no longer sucks. The rapid adoption of new standards and technologies, as well as the launch of services such as Typekit (or even Google’s free alternative Web Fonts), has essentially fixed the Web’s typography problem and is ushering in a renaissance of editorial design.

2.There is no mobile Web. The separation of desktop and mobile devices is quickly becoming moot. We use our phones to browse the Web from the couch and we work from our laptops while sitting in the park. There’s only one Web. Your publication needs to exist everywhere it does.

3. App or website? Easy decision. We have a simple rule: if it can be done on the Web, build it for the Web; if it can’t, build an app.

Read more at SAYDAILY's Week In Venn

Introducing Element, a new theme from TypePad

Today we're introducing Element, the latest in our series of brand new themes that are designed with your content in mind.

Coming in six different color combinations, Element is chock full of sweet design elements (pun intended) that will enhance your blog's content.

Here's why we think Element could be your new favorite theme:

• Displays in a one-column layout only, which means your content is the main focus and visitors aren't distracted by sidebar content (sidebar content can still be added, but will appear at the bottom of the blog);
• Uses a subtle herringbone pattern for the banner background image, making it suitable for a wide variety of blog types;
• The wide column is perfect for images, videos, or showcasing your text;
• Set a post to be featured and it'll stand out as a great way to grab your readers' attention (e.g. disclaimer; a slideshow; thumbnails of products you're selling; and so on); and
• Showcases stunning fonts, suitable for a wide range of blog types and content.

Loving it? We are, so we hope you'll take the time to apply Element to your blog and let us know what you think!

Featured Blog: Paper + Ink

NAME: Jennifer Pebbles
BLOG: Paper + Ink
TYPEPAD MEMBER SINCE: 2005
WHY WE THINK PAPER + INK ROCKS: Blogger Jennifer Pebbles is a Work At Home Mom, freelance graphic designer, amateur stylist, product designer, small business owner, and crafter. Every day, she shares her discerning taste for eye candy and uses her beautifully designed blog to connect, inspire and grow along with her readers. Bravo!

FOLLOW: Twitter | TypePad

Finding Your Blog & Getting Listed In Search Engines

When you first start blogging, you want to get your blog seen across the internet. You can visit your blog in any browser by directly visiting your blog's URL. Click View Blog within your TypePad account to open your blog in a new browser window. Then, you can copy the URL in your browser's address bar to get the address to give to your friends and family. Additionally, you will want people to be able to find your blog with Google and other search engines. TypePad provides all the tools you need to optimize your site for search indexing.

First, make sure your site is public when you are ready for the world to see it. If you want to keep your blog private while it is in development, you can toggle the publicize this blog setting at Settings > SEO. You'll want to make sure to enable the publicize option when you are ready for your blog to be live. (more info)

With your site public, your blog is ready to be crawled by search engines and included in search results. All public TypePad blogs are available to be indexed by search engines, and the indexing will happen by all search engines once your blog is public and content has been added. We also recommend enabling a sitemap for your blog at Settings > SEO. A sitemap is designed to make it easier for search indexes to know what pages are a part of your site. All pages, archive indexes, and recent posts are included in the sitemap. (more info)

What's SEO? SEO is short for "search engine optimization" and refers to the strategies used to increase your blog's chances of being found in an online search.

You can also submit your blog to search engines to initiate the indexing of your blog. We recommend verifying your blog with Google, for instance, if you want to set up Google Analytics. Step by step instructions can be found in the Verifying Your Blog With Google article. You can also verify your site with Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines.

Please note it can take some time for your blog to found in search results. Don't be discouraged if you don't see your blog come up in search results right away. It may be that your blog has been indexed but is not high in the results. As you add more content and utilize the SEO tools provided with TypePad, your blog will be indexed and be easy to find in no time!

Additional resources:

• TypePad offers an Advanced Tune Up specifically for SEO
• TypePad's SEO Overview
• Google's SEO Guide for Webmasters
• Top Ten Traffic Tips Series on Everything TypePad