I recently had the opportunity to do some research and writing into the t-shirt industry. One of the things that interested me most was that there are a lot of different ways to alter t-shirts and recycle t-shirts rather than just throwing them away when you don’t want to wear them anymore. Two of the posts that I wrote about this were included in blog carnivals recently.

30 Ways to Recycle Your Cool Graphic Tees was included in the Reduce, ReUse, Recycle Section of the All Things Eco blog carnival. Other posts in this category were on Enviro Produce Bags, Recycling Plastic Bags and Dealing with e-waste.

50 Ways to Alter Cute Tees into Sexier Shirts was included in the Make It From Scratch blog carnival. Some of the other posts included in this blog carnival were on upcycled sweaters, mixed media art education and warming your home.

Lots of good green and DIY posts in all of these carnivals so have a read if you’ve got some free time.

Tags: blog carnival, blogs, eco, edgi

One of the things that I love about writing on this blog is that I don’t limit myself to a specific topic. Diary of a Smart Chick is just about all of the random things that tend to capture my interest. I think that’s how real people are – we get intrigued by tons of different stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into a box. That’s what makes us unique; it’s what makes us who we are.

Because I like so many different things, I tend to read a lot of different blogs. I don’t stick to one topic. I like stuff that’s kind of off the wall. Here’s a glimpse into some of the stuff I read regularly just to keep myself interested in the world around me:

1. Weburbanist. I love to check out the weird and interesting things that are collected on this blog. This stuff is creative, weird, eye-catching and compiled in a way that makes it even more compelling. This is the site that introduced me to steampunk and to storage container housing. I loved the recent post on patching buildings with Legos.
2. Live Science Strange News. I love reading about advances that are being made in science. From nanotechnology to crazy medical discoveries, this stuff is interesting. I particularly love the “strange news” channel of this site which gives you all kinds of info on stuff that is almost unbelievable and yet apparently true.
3. Retro to Go. This great little blog collects information on all stuff retro. I love checking out the furniture, fashion and other fun stuff that they highlight on this blog.
4. Weird Asia News. This blog shares all of the odd news that is printed in Asian newspaper. I just get a huge kick out of some of the things that are shared here.
5. SF Girl By Bay. I used to be a big fan of Apartment Therapy until I discovered this San Francisco-based design and style blog. It’s got a funky edge to it that I adore and yet offers info on so much pretty stuff.
6. Lomography Blog. This is a photo topic that I’ve recently started to take an interest in so I’m enjoying learning more about it from the blog. Cool stuff.
7. Fail Blog. I’ll admit that I don’t check this site out daily but I always get a kick out of it when I do. I think I love this blog for the same reason that I love typos. I love the mistakes that people make that show off our humanity and provide humor for our lives.

Tags: blogs, random topics, reading, weird blogs, what smart people read

One of my recent posts, about using Twitter to learn Spanish, was included in the Carnival of Social Media this week. If you like reading about social media topics then you might be interested in the rest of the carnival which includes post on:

• SEO for Twitter (including hashtags) and also on blogs
• WordPress plugins
• Google tools
• Search engines and trust (interesting one!)
• Marketing through social media and email
• Increasing web traffic
• Tracking info on your website
• Bootstrapping
• And making money with blogging

Happy reading!

Tags: blog carnival, blogs, links, social media blog carnival

EEK – I just realized that one of the articles that I wrote was featured in a blog carnival a few weeks ago and I forgot to post a link to it here. Better late than never!

The article was my review of Buxr, a coupon code site that I checked out recently to save money on online shopping. It was included in the Review Bloggers Monthly Carnival.

Other reviews that were included in this carnival were about:

• Cool cheap cars and fuel efficiency standards
• Cloths for drying wet babies
• Summertime learning
• Tutoring
• Camcorders
• Fruit Trees
• Skin care products
• Traveling to Mexico
• Cigar humidors
• Spring cleaning
• Garlic
• And wedding proposals

There are also a lot of good book reviews including reviews of:

• Getting Out of Debt
• Why Evolution is True
• Midnight in Madrid

Reviews are fun to read sometimes aren’t they? Share any links to your own recent reviews in the comments here!

Tags: blog carnival, blogs, book reviews, buxr, buxr review, kathryn vercillo, links, reviews

Just another quick note to let you know that one of my productivity blog posts was included in the Struggling Bubmling Newbies blog carnival recently.

My post was on the topic of dealing efficiently with email. So many people waste time by mishandling their email. That can be easily avoided if you implement an email routine. I hope that my tips helped with that.

This blog carnival is filled with all different types of tips that could be helpful to both individuals and businesses. There are thoughts on everything from internet marketing to cash back credit cards. It’s worth a gander if you’re looking for some new blog reading for today.

Tags: blog carnival, blogs, email, kathryn vercillo, productivity

It’s been awhile since I participated in a blog carnival but I saw a good one that I wanted to be a part of. It’s the Social Networking Tips and Tricks blog carnival. The post I included was a post on how to streamline social networking to increase productivity in the office which I wrote for the productivity blog over at Cyclope Series.

Other posts of interest in this carnival were on related topics including:

• Small business social media questions
• Twitter stuff like getting targeted followers
• Bum marketing (an interesting topic)
• Making online beats
• Dumb businesses that did well

Lots of good social media information there. Happy reading!

Tags: blog carnival, blogging, blogs, links, Social Networking

When you create a website for your business you need to make sure that you flesh out that website completely with the information that readers are going to want to find when they get there. This includes information about your business, your products and services and where to find additional information as needed. You need to do this not only for the benefit of your site readers but also so that search engines know what’s on your website and can draw attention to it accordingly.

So how much website content do you need to have for your site to be a good one? The answer is really that there is no such thing as too much content. The only caveat here is that you need to make sure that the content is organized in such a manner that it is easy to find and understand and that it doesn’t overwhelm the reader of the site who is looking at it. Beyond that, the more the better.

A blog is a great way to continually add fresh new content to your site in an organized fashion. Blog archives are easy to search through and get stored on the site but they don’t fill your site with lengthy passages of information that would bore readers. Adding video and images to the blog further improves how compelling the site is for readers as well as how attractive it may be to search engines. Never stop developing your content!

Tags: blogs, business, content, graphic design, marketing, website

It’s been awhile since I contributed one of my blog posts to a blog carnival. I love blog carnivals but sometimes it’s hard to make the time to submit posts to them since there are so many other things to be done in terms of web writing work and writing promotion.

However, a post of mine is finally featured in a new blog carnival. My thoughts here on how to be a smart shopper were included recently in the Fabulous Festival which is all about fashion, beauty and shopping. My post was in the shopping category. Other posts in this category were about vintage shopping and buying socks for men. There were also several posts on dresses in this category including wedding dresses, prom dresses and celebrity dresses.

Posts that fell specifically into the fashion category were on a wide range of topics. These topics included military jackets, vintage lingerie, bustiers, pajamas, hats, mending your own clothes and making clothing donations. There were also book reviews and interviews. In the personal style and beauty categories are posts on jumpsuits, recycled fashion, acrylic nails, shoes, spring fashions, big hair, mineral makeup, skin care (including wrinkle prevention) and the man purse.

Happy reading!

Tags: arts, blog carnival, blogs, fabulous festival, Fashion, kathryn vercillo, style

People who do a lot of social bookmarking to promote their own web writing will almost always focus their efforts on promotion through Digg. While it’s true that Digg is a great tool for driving web traffic to a site, I tend to prefer to focus my efforts on smaller niche social bookmarking sites. These sites are easier to gain a following through and that following tends to be more highly focused on the areas about which I’m writing which means that the traffic that is generated through the site is targeted and tends to create longer-lasting followers of my work.

Three of my favorite smaller social bookmarking sites are Mixx, StumbleUpon and Tip’d. Mixx and StumbleUpon are relatively large for social bookmarking sites. They allow for general posts on a diverse range of topics but they are still considerably smaller than Digg which makes it easier to use them to drive traffic to specific types of articles. Mixx has a really great setup for its groups which helps the community feel smaller than it is (in a positive way). Tip’d is a niche social bookmarking site specifically for finance topics which I find to be useful when promoting those types of articles.

I also used to really like Hugg when it was around – it was a great place for sharing articles on green topics – but apparently it couldn’t stand the test of time and ended up fading away. That’s one risk that you run when you use smaller social bookmarking sites. The same thing seems to have happen with Wordsy which was the only books and writing focused niche social bookmarking site I knew of. Which sites do you use?

Tags: blogs, business, digg, internet, kathryn vercillo, marketing, social bookmarking, websites, writing

One of the posts that I wrote about in the not too distant past on this blog was about serving drinks as a career. There are a lot of pros and cons to being a bartender but it’s definitely one job choice for a lot of people. Employment is a big issues for a lot of people right now and it’s discussed intelligently through the many different articles submitted to the Career and Internships blog carnival where my own post was featured.

The other articles that were included in this carnival were on different jobs, careers and job issues. These topics included job interview tricks and tips, looking for and finding a new job using today’s technology, working after retirement, working for love vs. money and the issue of boring employment. All quite important topics for the working world today I think.

What other topics do you wish would have been covered here? It seems that we’re talking a lot about how to get or keep jobs in today’s recession but are there other employment issues that are also pressing which aren’t being covered by your favorite blogs? Tell me, I’d love to know!

Tags: best blogs, blog carnival, blog roundup, blogging, blogs, Careers, diary of a smart chick, education, employment, information, kathryn vercillo, work