This is one of these small forum signatures I made for posting in this blog. Not because of I am so generous, I just need to staff this blog with content.
Here it is, some pop art mixed with space-like atmosphere. Hope you will like this mixture:

To Download the free .PSD file, click here - complete_psd_sig.zip

After you have finished making a tutorial, made sure it’s original, interesting and worth massive exposure, all you need to do is to submit to the major tutorials databases and enjoy massive traffic.

Don’t forget that in order to be accepted in most databases, you need:

1. To host the images / illustrations on your own server, or on the same server the tutorial is posted on (such as DeviantArt). Hosting images elsewhere or on free servers will result in declining your tutorial.
2. You have to provide a thumbnail of your tutorial (small preview) 40*40, 45*45 or 50*50 dimensions, depending on the website you are submitting it to.
3. The tutorial should be ground breaking. If they already have something similar in their database - you will be declined.

So, getting started. Where to submit?

• good-tutorials.com - PR7 - will send you massive traffic, though it’s very hard to be accepted. This is the only database site who demands a preview image .jpg format (optimized, below 5k).
• tutorialized.com - PR7 - will also generate massive traffic for your site, though visitors will see tutorialized’s frame above your site (on which they will be able to rate your tutorials).
• pixel2life.com - PR6 - large database of tutorials of all kind, the only website who will notify you by email regarding every tutorial you submit weather it was accepted or not, and provide a reason, if declined.
• pslover.com - PR6 - one of my top 25 traffic generators, though the only inconvinience is that the thumbnail has to be 45*45.
• tutorial-index.com - PR4 - not much traffic will be generated in total, but easy listing.
• tutorials-db.com - PR 0 - another newly born database, no much traffic but easy listing as well.
• pixelgroovy.com - PR 4 - despite the average traffic generated, I like this database, it’s cosy and not hard to get though.
• tutorialvault.net - PR 5 - the traffic they will send you is small though you easily get a backlink on a PR5 website.
• tutorialkit.com - PR 6 - Very had to be accepted, only exclusve tutorials will be listed, however, don’t be sad if your tutorial was not appreciated by tutorialkit’s editors, the traffic they deliver is measly (a few clicks a day).
• tutorialmix.com - PR 0 - Easy and fast listing, though as a rather new database they will not be very benificial for your overall site’s ranking nor traffic.
• capitaltutorials.com - PR 5 - Not the kind of traffic you will feel in your stats, but I’d recommend to submit anyway, this site’s pages are very well indexed in Google.
• xtreme-pixel.com - PR 5 - Again, this site maybe will not send you too many visitors, but PR5 free backlink worth it.
• tutorials-expert.com - PR 0 - excellent database that provides a fast submission, not a lot of traffic, though the site is getting gradually promoted.
• tutorial-search.com - PR 0 - comprehensive database with easy listing that will deliver avarage-size traffic to your website.
  

That’s about it I think. You can also try listing your website in rnel.net and photoshopdepot.com .

Even though some websites, as I said, generate small traffic and little exposure, if you take the time to submit all your tutorials to each of them, alltogether you will gather a good amount of daily visits and a successful submission to all of them (means if they all have accepted your tutorials) can guarantee you a steady traffic of a few thousands of unique visitors daily. Good luck!

Even though there are only a few simple steps, this tutorial is more advanced users, in my opinion. Today, you will learn how to take an ordinary photo and turn it into an artistic sketch on a rough canvas.

The purpose of this tutorial is to use all the filters that highlight the main lines of the photo and turn then into a flat line upon a one-colour canvas.

1. For the start, open your photo. It does not have to be black ond white like in our example but it must have a good contrast.

2. Go to Filter >> Artistic >> Photocopy and set these settings for photocopy effect.

3. After clicking “OK”, go again to Filter >> Artistic >> Cutout and apply these settings for a smoother cutout effect:

This should give your image, which was turned to a photocopy, more visible edges and wil outline the main curves of the photo.

4. Go to Image >> Adjustments >> Brightness / Contrast and dramatically reduce the brightness.

5. Duplicate the Layer, so that you will be able to apply layer styles.

6. Go to Layer >> Layer Styles >> Bevel and Emboss and apply these settings for emboss and then for texture. This will give our canvas a feeling of rough texture, as if it was really drawn on paper.

The Texture emboss filling is what important here:

7. Flatten the image, and now let’s give it a warm hue. The easiest way is to go to Image >> Adjustment >> Photofilter and add a default warm filter 81.

8. Last thing is very simple yet in my opinion shouldn’t be skipped. When an artist is making a sketch with a pen, he is often smudges the edges, trying to give the canvas some more depth… we will do the same here, only without getting the hands dirty. So, for the final touch, go to Filter >> Artistic >> Plastic wrap and set these settings, using any pleasantly light colour.

That’s it, here is your result…

This is probably the easiest tutoral ever. We are going to take a simple and well known gold effect, but because of we will use an artistic, hand-brushed font - Broken Stick (Download it free at dafont.com), this will give the letters a bit of a melting, liquid effect.

Free .PSD File of this tutorial is available for Lorelei Web Forum members.

So, we will be making this text effect in mere 4 steps.

Make a new canvas - 450*150 px. Fill it with the black colour. The background hue is optional, but this particular tutorial won’t look good on a light background, as the text’s shine will not be visible.

1. 
2. Type your word inside this black box, using the “Broken Stick” font.
3. Go to Layer >> Layer Styles >> Options, and apply these settings:
4. Use #eab000 for the Inner Shadow settings.
5. 
6. Outer Glow is what will give the gold text it’s shine. We used the #febf01 colour but you may want to choose a darker hue to give it less “pimpy” effect.
7. 
8. Use the “Roling Slope - Descending” gloss contour for shading effect.
9. 
10. Last but not least - Gradient Effect. This will give the text, what I call - “hot honey” (not ment erotically! ) effect. The colors are #000000 to #fcb904.

Guess what? That’s it! The image is ready. Lorelei members can download the .PSD file for free.

Tutorial written by Liza Kliko ( Lorelei).

Note: ALL images are hosted on our server, only because this blog was put on a top level domain later, some URLs still point to the previous location. This it the first tutorial I am writing especially for TopTut.com, and just like with the forum, I decided to start from easy tutorials such as text effects.

Download the FREE .PSD file of this tutorial, for Lorelei Web Forum members only.

Today we will make this herringbone metallic effect:

1. Make a new canvas, 500*200 pixels.
2. Fill it with a light grey color, we used #6b6b6b.
3. Type the word you want in a middle, preferably using a bold, big font. On the example above we took one of the default Windows fonts - Impact.
4. 
5. Go to Layer >> Layer Styles >> Options, and apply the following settings:
6. 
   
7. For the Inner Glow settings we used a dark olive colour (#54532d) to transperant.
8. Bevel and Emboss is an important step that you shouldn’t miss. It gives the text it’s depth… Use the #e5d266 colour for Highlight Mode and #5a3015 for Shadow Mode.
9. Texture Fill is the leitmotif of this tutorial. This Texture is called ‘Herringbone’ and comes default in Photoshop CS2.
10. Use medium dark green colour for Satin - #254e46.
11. Any pattern that immitates wood, marble or any other natural texture will be good. If you can’t find anything good enough, you can download the image we used as a .pat file
    
12. For “Stroke” gradient, use #000000 … #FFFFFF … #000000 colours.

This is it, 12 Very very simple steps for making this rather stylish text effect. We also made a new layer, made a “frame” using the brush tool and applied same Layer Effects to it, to give the image a more finished touch.

Don’t forget that if you are Lorelei Web Forum member, you can download the .PSD file for free.

Many people ask in forums and other blogs this eternal question: How much can I earn from Adsense? While someone would come and say he earns a few thousands of dollars monthly, others will complain about hardly managing to earn a few measly dollars.When

I started with Adsense, it was about a year and a half ago, after my first month I earned 2$. Yes two dollars. In order to be eligible to receive your first cheque, you need to generate 100$, so I was very eager to collect enough for my first payment after 4 years. It definitely did not look back then as if all the effort I put in my site (and I spend many months building it) was worth it. Back then, I also heard about someone complaining about his AdSense revenue, his main concern was that he earns “only” a few dollars daily. It seems like a dream to me back then…

Everybody in the world seemed to earn more than I did, and I couldn’t figure the reason. I decided to set myself what is called an “earnings challenge”. The goal was, the double the revenue for the next month. I know, it sounds ridiculous, setting myself a goal of earning 4$ in 30 days, but it was a challenge for me, and I made it! However, I decided that setting myself a daily goal is far better, in the end of the day I know what were my aim and was this aim achieved or not. If it was not - I need to work harder tomorrow to make up for the day that has passed.

Over a year has passed, and now I do understand the concern of that guy who made only a few dollars a day, it really is a problem when you reach a certain PR, steady traffic and standard.

Let’s say an average salary in your area is 2000$. This might not be something mind blowing, but earning from Adsense is still far better than to work in a factory or wait tables. So, 2k is the goal. 2k, divided by 30 working days turns to be 65$, which is your daily aim. I know what you are thinking now - “eh, easy for you to say, ma`am!”. No, it is not easy, we all start somewhere. After all, 65$ is just 65 clicks, each of which is worth 1$. While this is a bit too good to be true, lets be more down to earth and say that this is 325 clicks, 13 cents each. That’s a pretty low payment per click, means you might need even less, if you go though all the ‘Smart Pricing Optimization’, filter MFA (Made For Adsense) websites etc.

Set a reasonable goal and go for it… Good Luck!

This high resolution photo was made by me, in Tiberias. I used Minolta, old school camera, from the times when they were all manufactured in Japan… Anyway, this is a photo of Papaya Tree, made in autumn, hence the yellow leaves around it, but, it’s winter now and the tree is still green, so I come to think that this is an ever-green tree.

If you use this photo on your website, blog, or design, please give credits to toptut.com. If you wish to share this pic with your buddies, link to this post and not to the direct download. Thanks!

While some people spend money like crazy of buying tons of links on high PageRank websites, others work their way slowly by swapping links, promoting their websites in forums and submitting to free directories.

Those who pay for a PR link normally only do so to increase and help their own ranking in Google, rather than generating actual traffic. Eventually, developing a higher Page Rank will help their site to appear at better positions in Google and Other Search Engines, and drive more potential visitors from SE. But, it will happen only AFTER their own PR will grow.

It’s important to remember that one link on PR7 will not improve your ranking dramatically, you need hundreds, if not thousands of back links to pull your own rank higher, and the question is, will you be able to afford it? Assuming that an average price for a PR6 link would be no less than 5$, and for PR7 no less than 15$ (by the way, good luck finding one for that price! :D), and, as we already said, you need about one thousands of them… It comes to a lot of money, ain’t it? Multiply 15$ by 1k and you will realize that there is nothing wrong with PR3!

Personally, I never hunted the PR, not saying that I’d not want to see my main site - LoreleiWeb.com becoming PR8 one day, but I’d never pay for a link on a particular PR, unless it will guarantee me real traffic. Your best bet would be, if your are ready to invest in adverting, to find a site that has both high PR, massive traffic (above 3k daily) and is related to your website’s theme. In this case, you don’t pay only for improving your ranking, but also pulling visitors. It worked for me, and I hope will work for you.