Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of speaking at a One More Referral “Brown Bag Lunch and Learn” on the topic of social media and blogging. After attending that seminar, Diane DeVries of Digrafika, a graphic design studio in Dover, NH, started the digrafika blog.

Diane blogs about graphic design, printing, advertising, marketing, and photography. What I like most are the cool marketing ideas Diane comes up with for inexpensive printing items like business cards and bookmarks. If you’re looking for new, creative marketing ideas, you must read her latest post,  The Bookmark: More Than Just A Place Holder.

Another new blogger I admire is Joanne McDonough owner of Joya beauty, a makeup and esthetics studio in Dover, NH. Joanne hired me to give the Joya beauty blog new life and to show her how to make her blog successful.

Generating topics for the blog and finding the time to write about them were Joanne’s biggest challenges. Not only did we give the Joya beauty blog a more custom look with social media sharing features, but we also created a blogging editorial calendar for Joanne. Taking into account Joanne’s busy schedule, the calendar lists blogging ideas as well as and the dates she should blog for the next few months.

What I admire most about Joanne is her excitement and positive attitude towards blogging. Once she had the editorial calendar in hand, she immediately started blogging, and kept to her schedule.

Joanne recently designed bridal makeup looks for a photo shoot at her studio. Read her blog about the shoot: Bridal Photo Shoot hosted at Joya beauty Studio.

Check out Digrafika and Joya beauty blogs and share your thoughts.