A wonderfully crafted and beautifully designed system to help any and all designers when it comes to Grid Designs/Layouts. Thanks for the awesome resource Nathan!!

I guess they are having issues with some of their maps and flash banners…so Here’s a nice looking static banner. Remember! It’s this Saturday!

This is one thing I have been struggling with for several years. Do I spice up my personal blog and use it as my freelance site as well? Or leave it just like it is and have random posts that have nothing to really do with what I do on the side. I’ve tried more than a thousand times to come up with a great ‘name’ or identity for a site that can showcase a portfolio, tell others what I do, and bring in customers that way…but they all sit there wasting away and never come to fruition.

So, my point in this post, is that after the long struggle, and after reading a very insightful post from Jonathon Snook: Maintaining your Personal Brand Online, I have come to the decision that I will keep this site as is, but add all those other elements that I need to create work.

In the coming months I am going to redesign this site so look out if you run into broken links or missing images. The blog will still be here, just will not be the main focus of the main home page. I’ll try to post as I go, so that all of you can follow the progress!

Thanks Snook! for the inspiration to actually do something with my life site!

Today is green day. Go get yourself a green beer, some green eggs and ham, and remember to wear green too so you don’t get a pinch!

I’ve been ‘testing’ website stats software, sites, js, etc for a while now. They all show about the same thing. Although I would love to support such a wonderful app like Mint (not the Money Management site), I just can’t bring myself to pay for it and I’ll tell you why here shortly.

First and foremost is . It’s one of the first and best free site tracking apps out there…but it’s just not for me at this stage. It’s more geared towards large scale, corporate websites. Not my personal blog. I will always keep an account and I might even keep the tracking code on my site just so I can peep on over at the reports they provide. But this is not my favorite any longer. Good, but too much for my needs.

Slimstat: This at one time was a favorite of mine, but hasn’t been updated or touched in a long while by the creator. I’ve also moved away from these types of analytics tools because I’d much rather not have to install, manage, and look for updated versions. I like the idea of just installing a few simple lines of code (JavaScript) and letting them worry about updates, maintenance, etc. Same goes with the above mentioned .

Counterize or Counterize II: this is a WONDERFUL Wordpress Plugin. If you want something simple, installable, and pretty much just turnkey (plugin activation), then this is what you want for Wordpress. It’s easy to install, activate, and read straight from your Wordpress Dashboard. But, as I have said before, I do not want something that needs to be installed. Good, easy, but just not what I am looking for.

: This one quickly became one of my favorites when it first came out…with a Web 2.0 look and feel about it…and also became one of my least favorites just as fast. I don’t know what it is, but something about the site/Dashboard just isn’t doing it for me in the ‘Show me my stats in a cool way’. Good, but not good enough.

Not much to talk about this one. Tried it because a friend said they liked it. It’s bland, not fun to look at, and just flat out isn’t good to me. Sorry, but try again.

mapsurface was once a real cool widget that popped up on top of your site. It was heading in the right direction, but then sold out to some other company. I haven’t seen any new enhancements or updates in a few years. I am removing this from my site now…with a sad face because I had high hopes for this nifty little gadget. ByeBye mapsurface!!

: this was very cool when it first came out…but it’s not doing things for me that I can’t get some place else…Google or one of the two following I am about to talk about.

Well, hmmm…feedburner is trying to be a do it all service. I am still watching over their stats/analytics portion and I will report on this one at a later time. But so far so good!

By far my most favorite of all listed above. The delivery is great, the site is great, the content is great, just about everything is great. I know what I am looking at, and looking for, and it’s easy to find. They even have a real cool Windows/Mac app that streams real time responses to you when someone hits your site…called Snoop! I can go on and on, but I won’t. Just go check this out. I am more than positive this will also be one of your top two analytic tools. (Side Note, for me of course, and for what I need. Google is just too bloated, Reinvigorate gives me just what I need).

I know there are several more, but I have not tried them. I do not intend to try then any time soon either, but here is a list of some others that I have heard good things about:

• StatCounter
• ShinyStat

Yes, this was a very informal sort of a review. I guess my main point was to make a list to start with, and then to justify to myself (if to nobody else) which one or maybe two that I should keep. I hope you find this list a little bit useful. If you know of others, please let me know in the comments. I am always up to trying new ones.

Now, off to write about my methods to monetize my site…and what I have tried and what I think I am going to go with.