Las Vegas slot-machine artist, Melissa, decided she had too much nail polish. Her solution? A blog showing one nail-art design every day for a year…

The Daily Nail

Blogger: Melissa

Lives: Las Vegas, USA

Blog: The Daily Nail

Date started: September, 2009

Twitter: @dailynail

What I love about this blog is quite simply, the concept: one nail-art design a day for a year – and I’m not the only one who thinks it’s clever. Not long after being started, Melissa’s blog was featured by many well-known sites. Pretty impressive for a new site!

I think the lesson we can learn from The Daily Nail is that you don’t necessarily need to come up with a blog idea that requires you to write hundreds of words for each post (though I’m sure Melissa is dedicating quite a few hours to nail-painting).

Sometimes the best ideas are right in front of you – you just need to put your own spin on them. I asked Melissa to share her story with me.

How’d you get your blog noticed by so many great sites?
Oddly enough, it started when I painted my nails to look like strips of bacon. Geekologie picked it up, and it went really viral from there. I think those nails are on every bacon-related site on the web! After that, MTV Buzzworthy saw it, and put it on their blog. Then I was contacted by the beauty bloggers at Allure magazine for an interview. It has spread around the world; it’s been crazy! (Good crazy, of course!)

How many visitors is your blog now getting?
I get about 3,000 to 5,000 hits a day. I went from four [Google Friend Connect] followers to 1,183 in a matter of days.

What are you going to do with your blog when the 365 days are up?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I think I’ll continue to post new designs, just not every single day. I’ve also considered inviting others to post their work, too. Or, I might just suck it up and see how long I can go without stopping!

What’s your all-time best nail-art/painting tip?
Take your time, don’t expect miracles, and don’t drink any caffeinated beverages if you expect clean lines.