Blog

January

Instagram challenge: Grow your account in 7 days + new Resource Library!

January 23, 2017

Ready to give your Instagram account a boost? I've prepared a challenge with a total of 7 actionable items, one for each day of the next week (or whenever you want to start it). The main idea behind this challenge is to incorporate the following actions into your routine, some of them daily, others once or twice a week. If you do it that way, you will probably see an important increase on your account numbers as well as on the engagement level of your followers. Where can you download the Instagram challenge? On the new Sombras Blancas' Resource Library! I've gathered all the printables, checklists, tutorials and other freebies I've been creating since I started my business and I will keep adding more...

December

19 essential WordPress plugins that will supercharge your site + WordPress lessons via Skype

December 5, 2016

In Web design

By Cris CM

If you have a WordPress website you probably know that, along with the theme you are using, plugins are the biggest power source of this platform. However, when it comes to choose the right ones for your site, it gets trickier. There are almost 40,000 options on the WordPress Plugin Directory to achieve different functions so a little help doesn't hurt. Here you have a list of essential WordPress plugins I use and love. Avoid spam comments Akismet. This is probably one of the best known plugins because it comes included by default when you install WordPress on your server. It is a comment spam filtering service that will make your blogger life much easier. Secure your site against unwanted login attempts Limit Login Attemps / Whitelist IP...

November

18 Happy Fonts to Download for Free

November 25, 2016

In Freebies

By Cris CM

Here you have a new collection of free fonts to use on your creative projects! These are perfect for designing birthday cards, children books and any other fun graphics. Most of them are free for personal use and some of them even for commercial use. Don't forget to check the license for each one. Click on the following names to download them: Sugarpunch · 2Peas Goofball · Delius Swash · Gaitera Ball · PastelBlock · Idolwild · Vanilla · Keyboard Plaque · Ruffle Beauty · Nickname · Sketch 3D · KG Strawberry Limeade · KG Happy · Pecita · Flavors · Billy · La Unica · Giddyup Enjoy, create and don’t forget to share! :) [Tweet "18 Happy Fonts to Download for Free"] If you are...

November

Instagram Stories: 7 tricks and 7 ideas to market your business

November 2, 2016

In Branding, Business, Social Media

By Cris CM

This functionality may be new to the Instagram platform but it has been out there on Snapchat for quite a while. Instagram stories are similar to Snapchat stories in every possible way: you can post both photos and videos, customize them with text and color doodles, add filters (though not as elaborate as on Snapchat), only your followers can see them and they just last for 24 hours. I've had a Snapchat account for some time now but I have never posted a public story. The amount of work that goes into growing an audience on a new platform has been keeping me from adding it to my business strategy. That's why I got really excited when I heard Instagram was launching their stories. We now have the...

October

How to schedule Twitter and Facebook posts for a more efficient social media strategy

October 5, 2016

In Business, Marketing, Social Media

By Cris CM

Right now, we want to be present on all the available platforms to promote our business and connect with our audience. We all learn pretty early in the journey that social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools we have. But managing all the social media accounts of a business can be a very time consuming task. Additionaly, if you want to post daily and at different times depending on the platform, it can lead you straight into multitasking, which is the shortest road to the land of lost concentration. This is a quick tutorial on a super simple strategy that will save you a lot of time and it can be summarized in 3 words: schedule your posts. This is...

September

How to set up an image-based email signature on Gmail – Step by step tutorial with images

September 6, 2016

In Branding, Tutorials

By Cris CM

Whenever I create an image-based email signature for any of my clients, the next natural question is always "How do I set it up on my email account?". After a pretty long time offering this service, I can say most small business owners I've worked with manage their emails through Gmail. That's why I have decided to create this quick tutorial in 5 easy steps including images for reference. Other email services may have a different interface but I'm sure the process is very similar. I hope you find it useful! Step 1. Prepare your images The first thing you need is obviously your signature images. Your email signature can include one or several images. What you need to keep in mind is you can...