Introducing SnapShots, the easy way to "snap" a new design into place in seconds. We have just launched 21 new designs with yummy names like Apple Pie, Blueberry Cobbler, and Vanilla Panna Cotta. These are sure to flavor your BlogSite in style. Activate with one click, and a new theme, color and font choices, and backgrounds, all "snap" into place. One more click syncs all those styles to your SmugMug site, for an instant, cohesive, online presence. We're so excited about our SnapShot launch, we're giving $50 off your first year. Use the code SNAPSHOTS50.* Our video below explains how EASY and FUN Photography BlogSite "SnapShots" can be: *NEW Annual BlogSite subscribers only. Offer good through April 16th.

Posted In: New Features.

Tags: announcements, customization, features, snapshots

WordPress has two built-in privacy settings that allow you to make sure your site is shown to or hidden from search engines. But wouldn't it be great to be able to hide your site while you work on it? Or maybe create a private, password protected site? We've just added four new levels or privacy and visibility that allow you to choose how your site is seen. You can now: Allow everyone, including search engines. Allow normal visitors but block search engines. Allow only logged in users of the entire PhotographyBlogSites network. Allow only users registered to your site. And even block everyone but admin level users of your site - that's just you! Or... Provide a password that protects the whole site! How to use it: Just visit "Settings->Privacy" and choose a level! What can you do with this? This sounds like a small new feature at first but allows you much more control over your site. Some ideas for how you

Posted In: New Features.

Tags: announcements, features, privacy

Announcing HTML Emails for everyone! We recently replaced all the plain text emails that get sent by the site with great looking HTML emails. You may have seen that any emails from us now have our logo and colors in it. Here is an example of the message asking us to approve a comment (contact info blurred for privacy...) : Or you may have noticed that comment notifications coming from your own BlogSite have a new blue title and more attractive message area. Here is a recent one from my personal site, which is of course a Photography BlogSite. :) Customize the Email Template! Each BlogSite can customize the HTML template allowing you to adjust colors, upload a logo, add custom messages, contact information or a signature. Look under "Settings->WP Better Emails" and you will find a text area, similar to the post and page editor. You can simply type straight into the editor, or

Posted In: New Features.

Tags: announcements, branding, customization, features

Did you know that Vimeo allows you to make a video private? You can make it so no one can see it, no one can use the embed code except on approved websites, and can even hide it from Vimeo so it is not listed anywhere. After that, you can add your own site as an approved site so that you can embed it yourself. Grab the code, add the video to any page and password protect the page. If you really want it hidden, you could even hide it from the menu on your site using our new hidden page option. Then share the link to the hidden page and the password with a client and they will be the only ones able to see it.

Posted In: WordPress Tips.

Tags: features, video

Sometimes you want to make a new page but not have it show up in the main menu. Up until now, the only way to do this was by making the page private. But that would mean only you could see it and what is the point of that? Well now you can hide any page you want from the menu but allow it to stay public. We have added a new "Hide Page from Menu" option near the publishing settings for every page. Why use a hidden page? Set up a page for a client. Create a gallery page to share links to. Create a landing page to promote a special sale or event. These are just a few reasons why you might want a page that does not get added to the main menu. If you group some pages together under a hidden page, that whole section will be left out of the main menu. This

Posted In: New Features.

Tags: announcements, features, using pages