If you are looking for tips on how to be a bigger/better/more successful blogger, reading blogs about blogging can be a great source of information. Those of us who have been at this for a while generally feel like others can benefit from our experiences. One such blog is Zero and Up, with the tagline “Learn to grow your earnings while watching me grow mine”, written by Alan. On just the main page alone, there are articles on the importance of setting goals for your blog, why bold fonts help your post content stand out, why you should be using Entrecard (which reminds me, I need one for this blog), and my favorite post which happens to be his most recent one, titled “Don’t Forget: Even Big Blogs Started Out Small“. It is nice to know that even Problogger and John Chow started out with small blogs that got few comments

Sharing our expertise and experiences as bloggers helps all of us. Everyone has their own perspective on what has and hasn’t worked for them as a blogger, and it’s good to find blogs to read that can offer a different look at the “science” of blogging. I recommend you check out Zero and Up for Alan’s take on how to be a successful blogger!

Attention dancers and cheerleaders! Just For Kix carries everything you need for both practice and performance, and I mean everything. Whether you dance modern, tap, jazz, or ballet, Just for Kix not only has the dance shoes you need, but also dancewear and accessories like rehearsal bags, books, CDs, hair and makeup items, and tons more.

And for cheerleaders, they stock cheerwear, shoes, bags, poms, megaphones, books, CDs, and DVDs. You can request a free catalog if you live in the U.S. or Canada, but they will ship outside the U.S. It’s everything you need on one easy-to-use website that looks great. Just For Kix also runs camps and has dance team classes available in the MidWest, check the site for locations.

I’m not a dancer nor was I ever a cheerleader, but I’m happy to pass on this information about this website to anyone reading this who might need to purchase dance or cheer supplies!

Now that I have learned to make simple 125 x 125 banners, I tackled my next challenge-creating blog headers. I did some googling and found a VERY easy, step-by-step tutorial from Paul Stamatiou. I followed his directions and made this (except bigger to fit across the top of a blog page):

I then used the new, FREE, and very cool editing features on Photobucket to add some cute stickers:

And there you have it, a very easy and fun blog header, which you can see on my cooking blog MomCooks.

Do you run a small business? Do a lot of shipping? Are you still standing in line at the post office, mailing center, or Fedex Kinko’s to get your postage printed? Well, if so, you need to take a look at the Dymo LabelWriter.

The Dymo LabelWriter offers a complete solution for printing address labels, postage labels, and online stamps from home. With a DYMO Stamps™ account, you get a no-fee, no-commitment printing of postage for First Class Mail, Express Mail®, Flat Rate Priority Mail®, postcards, and more.

I don’t have a small business, but I do ship out DVDs and other items that I give away in contests on my other blogs. I drive down the street to Mailboxes Etc., owned and run by two very nice ladies who are always patient and helpful with me, and then I spend the whole time I’m there trying to keep Kaitlyn from popping all the rolls of bubble wrap, using the mailing tubes as swords, and trying to climb the shipping boxes out on display. It’s stressful to say the least. I would LOVE to be able to print the postage from home and then just drop it off to be picked up.

I also have my eye on the Dymo Handheld Labelmaker, which is $39.99 and looks really easy to use. It comes with 6 font sizes, 7 styles, and 8 different boxes to put around the text. I could have so much fun labeling all the storage boxes in the house!

So anyway, do check out the Dymo LabelWriter if you are looking for a way to save time on shipping. Dymo products are available in office supply stores, click the “where to buy” tab at the top of any page on the Dymo website for more information.

Nominations are open at Webware for the top 100 Web 2.0 apps in ten different categories. From all the nominations, the top 300 were chosen. You can vote for up to three nominees in each category. The categories are:

o Audio: Music, podcasts, audiobooks.
o Browsing: Browsers, start pages, RSS readers, widgets, runtime engines.
o Commerce and events: Retail, auctions, travel, real estate, concerts, conferences.
o Communications: E-mail, chat, voice.
o Productivity: App suites, to-do lists, groupware.
o Publishing and photography: Blogging, content management, photo sites.
o Search and Reference: Search engines, encyclopedias, mapping.
o Social: Social networking, family sites, recommendations, online worlds, contests.
o Utility and Security: Infrastructure providers, storage, online protection.
o Video: Video storage, playback, streaming, editing, and animation.

Voting ends March 31st, and the winners will be announced April 21st. So get on over there and vote!