San Saba Clouds 5 was used as a background for my radio show card and San Saba 3 for the banner of my Backyard Deer Hunting blog. These images are available for purchase.

 I receive up to  five inquiries a week in asking what theme and/or design program I use for  Backyard Deer Hunting and  my other blogs and how often do I post.

Clouds San Saba 3

 There is nothing magic here.  For my blogs I use a simple WordPress blog format (Journalist,  as I remember)  to which I add my own photos as  banners and then set in photos/videos, or both, along with assorted widgets as appear appropriate. This allows me maximum flexibility in design to make full use of whatever materials I have to  illustrate the point that I want to make in that particular post.

 I hate templates. I purposefully mix up my photos in size and position on the page. I stick with black and white type fonts as the best for the journalistic style of writing that I do. If you are a more “free-form” person and it appears to suit the topic, then go with colors and non-typical fonts. 

 The more you try to be  “standard,” the less appealing your blog will generally be. Mix it up, have fun, be creative and go for it. If you have fun producing it, chances are your users will have fun reading and viewing it.   You are working in a media that must not only  inform, it should also entertain to gather a returning audience.

  High quality writing and photos are generally a must, but you can cut yourself some slack with the videos. These are the modern equivalent of the hand-written note – a little ragged around the edges, not quite perfect sound, a bit off centered is all acceptable as a  personal product produced by the “real you” for your viewers.

  As to posting, I post my blogs when I have something to say.  Backyard Deer Hunting is my most popular blog, and it gets updated most often.  Hovey’s Outdoor Adventures Radio Show Blog is posted the week before each new episode airs. The others, I work in when I have time. Some bloggers build followings with daily posts, and this method works for them. I don’t want to be quite that tied down. Almost, with occasional exceptions, I produce all of the potographic materials and written content. I did have an intern write the index of the first 150 p0sts, but that was the only blog that I did not produce. Although I may quote others on my blogs, I do not have guest bloggers, and want none.

If you wish to post something of mine on your blog, you may, provided that 1., you tell me about it, and 2., you provide a link back to my blog for your readers.  

 One thing that many bloggers do not recognize is that this is a flexible media. If you want to add to, correct, change or alter a blog entry to provide new information you can at any time. When a blog entry comes up following a Google search, the user does not particularly care when the entry was written. He only cares that he has been provided with good information.

  I sell high-resolution copies of my images to bloggers for their one-time use for $50.  If you feel like some of the San Saba series is just what you need then send me an order and your telephone number to hoveysmith@bellsouth.net. W will talk about what you need, and after payment is received, I will send you a high-resolution image via File Mail.