Things have been fairly quiet here on the blog recently – but it hasn’t been for lack of writing!

This last month, I’ve been asked to participate in several interviews (including a yet to be published group interview). If you’ve always wanted to know more about the face behind iDesign Studios, you’ve come to the right place!

Below is a bit of a sneak peek into more in-depth interviews at Michaelbox and The Geek Talk that answer a few questions about who I am, what I do, some of my favorite practices in web design and freelancing, as well as a few off-the-wall questions…

Anyone up for a game of Rock / Paper / Scissors? LOL

I’m happy to officially announce the re-design of iDesign Studios!

The new site has actually been in the works for a few months now, and is finally ready to make it’s debut. In truth, I unofficially launched the site on March 29th, but it’s taken a few extra days to get the time to put together the announcement post.

So, What’s New?

I had three main goals in mind with the updated site.

• updated content
• better readability
• a clean and minimalist design

As my occasional guest posting continues, this week I was asked by Char Polanosky to participate in a regular series over at Essential Keystrokes, featuring web professionals and the Essential Tools that they use on a regular basis to run their business.

This is a long time series – first started in 2006 – and features the likes of Randa Clay, Chris Garrett, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Deb Ng, Wendy Piersall, Liz Strauss and more. I’m definitely honored to be in such great company!

Essential Tools of Web Design Pro Selene Bowlby

Just a very quick note to ask you to please pardon the dust on the web site and blog – especially if you are subscribed to the feed!

The last few weeks have found me hard at work moving the site to a new web hosting company, Blue Host (which happens to be the #1 recommended web host by WordPress).

Making The Most of My Time

Having the freedom of a private server address that worked separately from the live site, this served as the perfect opportunity to make several upgrades to the site itself – both in terms of the WordPress theme, as well as some of the content.

Today’s post started out as a short one, to thank the Geek Girls Network for asking me to participate in their interview series. But I soon realized that I’ve been interviewed several times in the last year, and wanted to share those with you, as well.

Most of the interviews focus on my experiences as a web designer, business owner, and as someone who has recently taken the freelance plunge.

I’m honored to have been asked to interview by so many great bloggers – they all ask some very interesting questions, which give you a bit of an insight as to what makes this “geek girl” tick…

As I focus more and more on designing and developing custom WordPress themes for clients, I’ve realized that there is a core set of plugins that I regularly setup with every new site.

My latest guest post on Freelance Folder details some of the basic and essential first steps…

10 Essential Plugins Every Modern WordPress Site Should Have

As I work on achieving my small business goals for the month, I’ve just finished my latest guest post on Freelance Folder…

15 Incredible WordPress Theme Customizations

Freelance Folder recently posted an open thread asking the question “How Do You Stay Sharp?” The post has some great discussion in the comments section, where many people said that it’s through web sites and blogs that they are able to keep up to date on developments in their particular fields.

Web Design / Development Blogs You Should Be Reading

I myself have a set of design and development related blogs that I read… whether for the latest xhtml/css and WordPress tricks, for design inspiration, etc.

I asked my designer friends on Twitter which sites they thought were the best design blogs to read. You know, the old question “if you were stuck on a desert island and could only have one…” LOL

Without a doubt, the number one answer was Smashing Magazine – for good reason! But there were many others, as well. So for all of the web designers and developers out there, below are 17 essential design blogs you should be reading!

Continuing on the theme of guest blogging, my second article on Freelance Folder has just been published…

10 SEO Techniques All Top Web Sites Should Use

There’s a current trend in the blogging world of guest posting and contributing articles to other blogs. As of today, I am very happy to announce that I’ve just dipped my toe into this trend!

I was recently approached by Freelance Folder about contributing design related articles to their blog. I’ve been a big fan of the site, especially in reaching my goal of taking the freelance plunge a few months ago – so it was an honor to say the least.

As Freelance Folder debuts it’s new design today, I am making my debut as a guest writer, too! If all goes well, this could become a regular thing, with a second post already in the works.