The primary purpose behind the creation of this site is to share and educate others in areas of weakness, or provide informative information which will in turn allow our readers to “make your websiteDazzling;” hence the name “WebDazzling.” With that said, there’s more to making your website “dazzling” than the content and graphics.

Brand Identity

It is important to think of yourself as a brand. What does that mean? Today’s technology allows anyone the ability to search the Internet for information. Potential employers/clients in today’s market are making use of Google and other search engines to find out information about you. Your name is a brand.

What is Your Online Identity Score

Online Identity Calculator  provides you with a quick rating of your name as a “brand.” Look to the right sidebar on this site for an example of their widget (put one on your site too if you like). It uses information proved through Google in order to determine if your “Online Identity” is positive, negative, or non existent. Credit to @marenhogan from Twitter and http://marenated.com/ for bringing this to my attention.

How to Create a Brand

Create a FaceBook account with your name. FaceBook, unlike MySpace seems to be where the “professionals” hang out. I have an account on both; however I use my FaceBook for more professional acquaintances and socialization. With that said, my advice to anyone on either of these two sites would be to use caution and be careful who you accept as a friend. I had a bad experience on one of these sites. Someone created a fictitious profile and decided to send horrible messages and make profound comments regarding my family. So, if you are always wondering why there is only 1 photo of Chris Hebert on any given site – this is the reason. I immediately pulled any personal information pertaining to my family and made all social media 110% professional.

Kicked to the Curb

The best advice I can give is this: do not make friends with people you may be embarrassed to expose to other potential employer’s/clients. In other words, if your 30 something years old and have a bunch of friends showing themselves naked and drunk on the floor passed out, you may wish to evaluate your selection of friends. I try to carefully research each person prior to accepting a friendship. Also, do not be afraid to terminate a friendship if they are potentially dangerous to your image. Put yourself in the employer/client’s shoes. Would you hire yourself giving the negative media exposure surrounding your name? If you answered “no,” it is time to re-evaluate and make some serious changes.

FaceBook Guru

@marismith on Twitter is who you should follow for exceptional tips & advice pertaining to FaceBook. Mari Smith, also quite a few wonderful sites as well:
http://whyfacebook.com/
http://facebook4pros.com
http://marismith.com
Mari Smith is recognized as an expert on giving helpful information pertaining to FaceBook, go ahead and subscribe to one of her blogs & tell her Chris Hebert said “hello.”

Put Your Face On

Basically, choose your photo (avatar) carefully – it is a representation of yourself. In addition, be cautious which friends you allow into your social media life. When creating social media accounts – try to use your name as a “user name,” in order to continue to create a brand for yourself. Lastly, make wise choices in life and use common sense. If it would embarrass you in front of your children later in life, DON’T DO IT NOW!

One final thought, go to http://www.godaddy.com and see if your name is available for a domain name. I didn’t jump at the chance when I was advised to, and now my name has been taken by a gentleman with the same name. The early bird gets the worm, as they say.

Continue down the brand identity path, and good things will follow.

Drop us a line and let us know what you have done to benefit yourself as a “brand.”

Tags: Misc, Social Networking by Chris Hebert
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Currently, there are many individuals down and out, financially and emotionally. Many of us are struggling to make ends meet in today’s society. While families struggle and business owners want to give up, this empowering video just may change how you feel about “giving up.”

Thank you WhiplashDesign.com for sharing this on your site, I would like to Pay it Forward:

Tags: Misc, Social Networking by Chris Hebert
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Recently I changed the header of my site to reflect the season of Christmas.
For some strange reason, individuals were frightened away from the aesthetics of the blog. It was never my intention to stop giving advice regarding “help” issues. Sorry about the “Mommy Blogger” look and feel of the site. All is well and things are put back to normal.

Hope to see you around here move often now that I took down the Christmas curtains.

Happy Holidays!

Photo compliments of http://www.freefoto.com/

Tags: Misc, Social Networking by Chris Hebert
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Are you to busy to buy the perfect gift for a family member. Would you like to be able to purchase the perfect gift without even leaving your home?  I have just the solution for you.

Recently, I stumbled on a great gift idea, sent as an advertisement in my e-mail. Blurb.com is a wonderful site which allows you to make your own hardcover/softcover book full of your very own family photos and illustrations.

Download the free ”Booksmart” software from www.blurb.com to start the process of making your book. In my opinion, their prices are extremely reasonable. For a hardcover book 7 x 7 inches, with “0 - 40″ pages and color photos, the starting cost was $24.95. It also comes with a paper jacket for the hardcover, you create (shipping not included, but look for promotions). Here is a link to their holiday pricing:

Fun Gift to Give and Make

For a newbie, this was extremely easy. I started the project as a gift idea for a family member, until my husband took over (it was for his mom anyway).

I simply used the digital photos located on my home computer hard drive, and uploaded them into the Booksmart software.

There are several picture layout templates to choose from for your books page layout. You can quickly change the graphic design of each individual page.

Each pages can have a different pattern, different color, various font styles, and “1 - 9″ photos per page. The list goes on and on with what your imagination can create.

You can choose to create your book and keep it private, or you can choose to allow others to view the book online.

Not Just for the Holidays

Other ideas for these books include weddings, baby showers, birthdays, business, portfolios, and someone even told me they used it for their final project at college.

Needless to say, my husband had all the fun creating a book with our newest member of the family! Let me share a secret with you too; promise not to tell him I told you, ok? The website suggests “strongly” you print out your book prior to submitting it for print. We used the software spell check feature, and he proof read it on the computer screen. Feeling quite confident, he submitted the book for print. Let me tell you - there is no turning back once you submit it for print. Errors and all, that is what you will get in the mail. My husband submitted the wrong birthday of our daughter in the book he created. Ouch!!!

I will just have to make my own version of a book for a different family member, so I can play and have fun too.

The book should ship within 7 days, so plan ahead in order for it to arrive for the holidays.
Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Tags: Mac, Misc, PC by Chris Hebert
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Mac or PC

I have had a Mac G5 computer sitting at my house since 2005. My husband used it for his media business for only one year. After his project ended, the Mac sat in a corner very lonely and unused.

Recently I decided to up my skill-set of graphic design to a higher level by enrolling in a local community college. Here I met some wonderful individuals of all backgrounds. My instructor has a vast amount of knowledge in many areas within graphic design, and I thank him for his patients with my many questions.

Back to School

During my quest to learn Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator better, I decided to dust off my husband’s Mac G5. Using the Mac at home made the transition to and from school much easier. I found myself using the wrong fingers and keystrokes using a Mac at school and a PC at home.

Since I am a curious geek chick, I enjoy breaking and exploring computers as much as possible. Sometimes I get myself into a pickle, and other times I feel well accomplished by my success to push the envelope and conquer the situation between machine and computer geek.

The Basics Can Drive You NUTS

Recently, I felt intimidated using a Mac. I wasn’t familiar with how to install software, eject a USB device, delete a program, or burn a CD/DVD. I lacked the basics. I always understood the cosmetic appearance between a PC and a Mac were 100% opposite. Browser open/close are on the right in a PC environment and on the left in a Mac environment. However, beyond navigational purposes I was quite lost.

Prior to these college courses, Adobe lived on my PC. Anything which had to be done within web design or graphic design was completed on my lovely PC. Yes I was a die hard PC user, I must admit. In addition, I guess one could say my recent purchase of an iPhone helped me to evolve to a Mac user.

Conquer This Baby!

Along the way of learning how to set up my Mac to resemble the comfort zone environment on my PC, I had a great deal of road blocks. My lack of knowledge could even be frustrating at times. This only made me dig deeper into to the situation to “conquer.” If you are a computer geek, you can understand this gut wrenching notion of feeling helpless to a hunk of metal.

During my quest to dust off a wonderful piece of machinery, I have learned a great deal of programs available to the Mac world. Needless to say, I am the proud owner of my husband’s Mac G5 and would love to own a Mac Book Pro in the near future! Hint Hint!!!

Tags: Computing, Mac, Misc, OS, PC by Chris Hebert
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