Mock Newspaper Spread

Creating your own newspaper is difficult work.

In Digital Media class, Dr. Steve Youngblood asked the class to create a 2 page, letter-size newspaper spread using InDesign.

I had never used InDesign before, so the week or so of preparation before was much needed.  InDesign is a program created by Adobe that graphic designers and many other people use to create flyers, brochures, newspapers, books, etc.  Without a proper introduction to the software, it may be difficult to use.

The newspaper spread ended up being pretty fun.  We had free reign on topics, titles, colors, photos, etc.  The guidelines we had only related to design.

Click here to check out my mock newspaper spread:  "Food Chronicles"

And, if you'd like a tutorial on how to use Adobe InDesign, click here.

Photography-- Communication?

Photography is a form of communication.  It's nonverbal and visual communication.

A person can easily tell a story with only pictures and convey the message effectively without ever having to write a word.  It can actually be more effective because a person can see something and put themselves in that spot and know every single description.

I am an amateur food photographer and I could not run What Katie's Baking without photography.  I can write every adjective in the dictionary synonymous to "delicious," but a person won't actually 'get the picture' without an actual picture.  The words create a photograph in a persons head, but the pictures produce the drool.

Before I improved my photography, the traffic on my blog was extremely low.  Once it was improved, though, traffic skyrocketed.  Apparently, the following pictures are communicating more than my words were.

Interesting blog on this topic: Iceland Aurora.

How to Get Traffic in the "Blogosphere"

Getting traffic on your blog can be such a daunting task.  It takes time and lots of effort. I had my other blog, What Katie's Baking, for over a year before I began seeing an increase in traffic.  I started out with 10-40 page views a day and just recently, within the past 6 months, started getting 600-2000 page views per day. So, yes, it is difficult, but possible if you set your mind to it.

Things I did included:

1. Submitting my blog to search engine directories.
2. Changing my titles to be more appealing.
3. Adding more "labels" at the end of my posts.
4. Writing about controversial topics.
5. Adding appealing graphics and investing in a good camera.


Those are only a few things that you can do, but remember that people are coming to your blog to get good content, so don't write if you don't have enough time to provide that to your audience.

If you want to submit your blog to search engine directories click here: Free Web Submission.