Update on The Stormy Teacup Crowdfunding Campaign

I thought I would do an update and let you know how my crowdfunding campaign is going for my new business venture with my friend Martins. Last time I checked in, in this blog post, we were just 5 days into our campaign to open the crafty cafe The Stormy Teacup. As of today we have 9 days left and are coming into the finishing stretch. We've managed to raise just under €5,000 and now have to make €1,000 to reach our goal, but if we don't get over the last hurdle we get €0, eek!

Neither myself and Martins are very good at asking for help, both of us are doggedly stubborn, and prefer to work all the hours under the sun rather than admit we need someone's help (something I'm working on!!). So it was quite surreal to so publicly ask for help and money. But we had a business idea that we knew would work, we just needed help getting it off the ground. We all know that banks are not lending to small businesses at the moment, so we needed to think outside the box if we were ever going to get this started.

It's been a really crazy and emotional process, we've both been amazed at how generous people have been. We knew that our friends and family would show their support, however much they could afford, but we were really amazed at the amount of strangers that donated to the campaign. It totally renewed our faith in humanity and also showed that there is a real desire for something like this to open in Limerick. We've been really touched by the outpouring of positivity and goodwill towards our project. Even if people haven't been able to afford to donate money they have been enthusiastically sharing and liking our pitch.

If any of you are sitting there at your desk daydreaming of the amazing boutique/cafe/barber/bookshop that you could open, maybe think about really doing it. Crowdfunding is a way for communities to help themselves, taking out the middleman of the bank. It gives people with the drive, energy, and ideas the power, rather than those who tick the right boxes for getting a loan. Over the years we've all seen small businesses dwindle in our towns and cities. I really believe that crowdfunding is a way for people to invest in a small way in the businesses/project that they want to see in their community.

If you would like to read about our experience over the past month with this campaign head over to Write on Track to and interview I did with social media guru Lorna Sixsmith. Also if you would like to donate to our teashop head over to our campaign, the clock is ticking!

Wish us luck!

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Lovin' the Bloglovin'

Source

I've been trying to dip my toes back into the world of blogging this week. I've been writing posts for this blog and also my new and still very small site Bazaar Tales. My friend Rebecca reminded me about the site Bloglovin and I thought I would give it a go. Basically it's an account you log into where you can read all of the blogs you follow. I find the Blogger reader a bit clunky and I never really got into Google reader. I like how easy Bloglovin' is to use, just simply add the address you want to follow and click. I also like that you can heart a post, sometimes I don't really have anything to say but I want to let people know it was a good post.

I'm also making a concerted effort to comment on more blogs, and Bloglovin seems to be an easier way to go about it. Just like most bloggers I would like to reach a wider audience, especially with my new blog, and commenting on others posts is always heralded as the main contributor to this. I'm enjoying all the reading and commenting I'm doing, but boy does it eat up time!

So if you are a Bloglovin' user say 'Hi' in the comments section and I'll come follow you, and if you're not yet then I would highly recommend it. If you want to add your own blog to the site it's really easy, they just ask that you put one of their buttons on their site. But it seems even if you haven't set your blog up on their site people can still follow you through it anyhow, smart huh?

To follow my Nice Day Designs page click here, and to follow me for Bazaar Tales click here.

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Un_Noted Online Marketing Workshop Tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be doing a workshop/lecture on creating an online identity in the Belltable ad part of the Un_Noted series of professional practice workshops. When I saw the event on Facebook I thought it was a fantastic idea to give this series, as it was an area that terrified me when I finished college. There was a real lack of information about what to do when you got out into the real world. Un_NOTED.

My workshop starts at 1pm, and if you are interested in going please contact Orlaith Treacy for booking info, it's only €5 to attend! I will be talking about the importance of Blogging, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, for the first half. Then people can have a Q&A where they can pick my brain for technical info.

Here is the press release:

Occupy Space presents:
UN_NOTED, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS FOR ARTISTS.

Un_Noted Professional Development Workshops are a series of workshops aiming to provide the practical tools required to work as a professional artist in a competitive art environment.
Serving as a bridge between the culmination of fine art education and the professional art community as well as being a resource for those further along in their career, we will begin with a workshop by curator Kate Strain covering topics such as the various formats of an artist C.V. and creating an artist statement. The following workshops will then progress into discussing areas such as web presence, preparing submissions and applying for residencies.
These workshops seek to provide practical information about the opportunities and resources available to artists. They will also provide opportunities to interact with a variety of individuals across the art community from established artists, curators and those involved in art education. The workshops will be a platform for discussion of the provision of professional development for artists and the changes that should be made in this respect.
The workshops will commence on the 4th of October from 1pm until 2:30pm each Thursday in the Belltable Arts Centre running for eight weeks with a break of one week after the first four, recommencing on the 8th of November in Ormston House. Entry fee is €5 per workshop, €15 for 4 workshops, concessional rate €3.50 per workshop, €12 for 4 workshops when student card is produced.
Please email un.noted.occupy.space@gmail.com to book a place as numbers are limited.
Project Managed by Aimée Lally, Alicia Lydon and Orlaith Treacy.

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Nominated for Best Craft Blog 2012

I discovered at the weekend that I have been nominated for Best Craft Blog in the Blog Awards Ireland. I'm really shocked and delighted; shocked because of my technical difficulties this month which I had assumed ruined any chances of progressing any further. The nomination really means a lot to me as I've put a lot of extra work into my blog this year; trying to post more regularly, do more tutorials, and drastically improve the design. So it's really nice to be recognised for all the extra hard work.

I've made it to the final five nominees in my catagory, going along side some fantastic other blogs(go check them out you are sure to love them); La Creature and You, Mollymoo, Stitchlily, and This is Knit(jeepers creepers that's some hefty competition-gulp!).

I'd also like to thank Belleek for being the sponsors of my category, it was always the byword for quality and something precious in my house. My mother has one small vase that she treasured that we were not allowed to touch as children. I can still remember hearing her yelp 'Be careful, that's my Balleek!' while I was doing the dusting.

I'm not sure if I can make it up to the ceremony itself, I'd really like to go. It would mean taking the Sunday off work, and hopping on a bus straight after work on Saturday to make it on time. If I can arrange lifts from my brother and his wife who live near Naas I'll probably go(even though I won't know anyone else there!).

I'd just like to say thanks to all my readers for sticking with me over these past 5 years. Only when my blog died last month did I really understand how much this outlet means to me, both personally and for my business.

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I Have Returned

First of all I just want to announce I'm not dead! I just did something really stupid. You know when you get (yet another) bill in the door and you think it's OK to ignore it? Well I got a few Google warnings saying my domain was going to expire and I needed to update my payment settings. I got these at a really bad time when every bill in my whole life seemed to be late, so it seemed pretty low down on the list after lighting and my rent.

Oh how silly of me!

I didn't give it too much thought and I let the domain name expire, thinking it would be really easy to fix. But it really wasn't. At first I thought someone has purchased it and was squatting on the site. Queue complete hysterical freak out where I had a shouting melt down in my kitchen(I thought I lost 5 years worth of a blog). After consulting a few tech savvy friends I found out a bit more(thanks Dave and Jess), but I was still no nearer to a solution.

Then two things happened; A)I arranged a meeting for Limerick Craft and Design B)some of the committee were late, so I had an hour to chat to Neville about my problem. Add in a dash of free Wifi, and a sprinkle of an iPad and we were a few steps closer to resolving the issue. Neville then donned his super hero cape and called over to my house to save the day, and my website. 

Neville is not just a tango teaching, fencing, photo taking mastermind, he is also a computer superhero too in his spare time. If you have a moment head over to his website and have a gander through his lovely photos.

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Advertising Slots on My Blog

I've been mulling over the idea of having ads on my blog for a while. I put loads of time into blogging and it makes sense to see if I can make a bit of money out of it. I've been doing it for nearly five years now, but in the last year I've seen my traffic nearly quadruple( which is really nice!). I think this is down to having more how-to articles, being more active on Facebook and Pinterest, and writing regular pieces like What I'm Wearing and Hotty but Notty.

Having said that I really didn't want to have ugly Google ads popping up underneath my posts for weight loss and anti-aging creams, it just seems a bit crass really. Recently I started reading The Dainty Squid and Elycia and they do sponsorship slots on their blogs, the ads are done really tastefully and they match what the blogs are about, it seemed like a perfect idea. So I bit the bullet and came up with two payment options. I decided to start pretty low (affordable!) and see how it goes, I'm not in the mega blogger league yet but I have a steady flow of traffic every day, so my prices reflect that. 

There are 3 slots for large ads at €20 per month and 10 slots for regular ads for only €10 per month. They will be allotted on a first come first serve basis. To read more about what's on offer head over to my sponsorship page now. When someone opts to go with the large sponsorship they can opt to have me host a giveaway of their work. This will be limited too, so jump in there quick! I will reserve the right to refuse advertising, I won't allow anything unethical or illegal (obviously!). I expect that these ad slots will peak the interest of other craft/style/lifestyle bloggers as that's who my readers are. Since this is my first month doing this, I'm giving one month extra free. They will be starting in September, which means that you will receive a slot of the same size for October too. If you are interested just email at ruthcrean@yahoo.ie and I'll be in touch.

Another thing that Elycia does that I really like is to have a top 5 picks of the month feature, showing some of her sponsors. She chooses her favourite shops, tells a little about them and links to their shop, site, facebook etc. I've found loads of new blogs from these articles, and they feel less like advertising and more like 'look at these super cool blogs'. I will definitely be doing this with my sponsors!

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Blog Signature How-To(Kinda!)

After much to-ing and fro-ing over the past few months I'm eventually happy with the box at the end of my blog posts. It's gone through a few variations, and to be honest if I was on Wordpress it would have been as easy as a few clicks and a plugin. But sadly blogger is a bit more fiddly!!

Eventually I found some html code for making a box with some text on the inside of it(if you go to the link it's at the very bottom). It gave me the basics to start with then I did loads of editing on the code to make it the colour and dimensions that I wanted. I'm not very good at coding but I have a few scraps of knowledge in the recesses of my brain, but to be honest it makes my head hurt.

I had seen these boxes on Wordpress blogs and thought the looked lovely and was convinced that they would improve return traffic. I especially liked the ones with the pictures in them, so I made it my mission to figure out how to make one! Firstly I copy and pasted the code into a new blog post and went into the html view and then made the following changes
widened the bar to 680px
shortened the height to 80px
background colour to white
lowered the font to medium
font colour to black
(all this can be changed by reading the html carefully and changing the values accordingly)

Then things started to get a little tricky. I started with my basic sentence 'Thanks for stopping by my blog!....'You 'll see the highlighted area above listed as number two, place whatever text you like in here, I recommend typing the full sentence first then add your links afterwards. To get your Rss Feed just highlight 'rss feed' and click link enter what you see inside the quotation marks at number 3, but make sure to replace my url with your own before it says 'feeds/post/default'. To add links to your facebook/twitter just highlight and click link and put in the appropriate links when prompted. I also like to add target="_blank" after the link  and before the '>' bracket as this opens the page in a new tab.

The next tricky bit is the image.Firstly I uploaded my image to photobucket and copied the link. See the
I do apologise for not being able to post html that you can copy and past(I don't know how to do it!, when retyped it it came up as another image box), but if you retype exactly what I have in the image above, but just replace it with your own links you should get your own text box for your blog posts.

All you do to make sure this shows up on each of your blog posts is to copy the finished html go to 'settings', then 'posts and comments', and paste into 'post template'. If you can figure out my half baked code gibberish and you attempt this please let me know, also if you have any questions just leave them in the comments section and I'll try my best to help you out.

Good Luck!!

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Teaching Facebook Classes in Limerick

As any of you who follow me on Facebook will know my page is very active, I have nearly 1,300 'likes' on the page, made up of a good community of fans. Last year I also set up the Limerick Milk Market page and gathered 2,500 fans, before a member of staff took it over a few months ago. A lot of people have been asking me how to get this kind of following, and I've written a couple of articles online to help people out. But these make more sense to someone who is experienced with Facebook. Recently I've started teaching one-on-one classes in setting up and running a business page. It's kind of been a word of mouth thing, but I figured I would spread the word about it here too. 

Usually people call to my house (and I give them a nice cup of tea/coffee), firstly I gauge what level they are at and what they need from the class. From there I can teach them the basics of setting up their page and running it. Or for the more advanced client I can go through the ins and outs of running a successful page, ways of gathering more fans and keeping them interested.

Over the past couple of years I've set up and run several pages, so I've learned every trick in the book that there is to know. Ideally these classes are geared towards a small business trying to spread their name locally and built up a brand identity. 

I've devised two price plans based on the experiences from previous classes:

Beginner Class: €45

Who is this for: This is for total beginners who either aren't familiar with Facebook at all or have a personal page but don't really know how to set up, or don't know what to do with their existing business page. Depending on the ability of the client I can get into further detail of marketing strategies for business pages. 

Result: A comprehensive knowledge of Facebook, and how to make it work for your business. During the class we will set up a page, or flesh out your existing page. The client will learn how to gather a following and  establish their brand. Also a full set of notes will be provided to help them afterwards while developing their page.

Duration: One class for 2hrs -2hr 30 mins (depending on the needs of the client)

Intermediate Class: €35

Who is this for: This is for someone who know how to use Facebook already, but has hit a brick wall when it comes to their Business Page. A lot of people find that they set up their page, gain about 40-80 likes and interest seems to dry up. This class is to tackle that problem

Result: Build on their knowledge of the tools on Facebook. All the ins and outs of Timeline will be explained, showing how they can be used to flesh out a page. Tactics for gathering a following, and creating relationships with your fans on Facebook. Also a full set of notes will be provided to help them afterwards while developing their page.

Duration: One class for 1hr 30 mins- 2 hrs ( depending on the needs of the client) 

I am available to teach classes Mon-Fri daytime or evening. Please email me at ruthcrean@yahoo.ie to check times and availability. 

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15 Tips for Using Pinterest

I mentioned last week that I would write up a guide to Pinterest, it seems like my Timeline and Blogging articles were popular so I might as well continue imparting my nerdy skills. If you are at all involved with crafts/design you will probably have heard of Pinterest, that is if you are not already a member. It's a website where people share their taste via virtual pin boards, basically it's like bookmarking with pictures in a shared community. For designers it's an amazing resource for two reasons, one it's fantastic for research and information; I've learned tonnes of new techniques for both crafts  and computers since joining. Secondly it's as a way of sharing your own creations, I 'pin' most of my blog posts and some of my etsy listings so my 'followers' (and virally millions of others) can see them. Even though it has one twentieth the users as Twitter it generates nearly the same referrals, which just shows you the power it has to generate traffic for your brand/website. I've been addicted since before Christmas (go here if you would like to follow me) so I've learned a few things along the way:


1. Set up an account;
For some weird reason the site is still invite only, but you can either request one when you go to Pinterest, or if you leave your email in the comments section I can send you an invitation.


2. Don't just repin;
There are two ways to pin; either by repinning an item that someone else has pinned or by pinning something new to the site. After you've been on the site a while you will see lots of the same tutorials floating around, the community depends on people adding fresh items or it's gets stale very fast. Some of the hardcore Pinners say you should contribute 1 new pin for every 5 that you repin. But I'm gonna be realistic and say that I do 1 for every 10, I see way too many cool things not too. You can install the pin button on your tool bar that makes pinning cool stuff from the internet really easy.


3. Pin with the correct link:
After a while you will notice that not everyone knows how to use Pinterest properly and that some images don't link to the proper site, as a user this is insanely headwrecking!! Please don't be one of those users. For instance if you are on a blog and you see a great post, don't just pin the whole site and click the picture you like, you have to click into the link of that individual blog post and then click your 'pin it' button. Otherwise other people will be brought to the main site rather than that specific post. I hate it when I see a pin for a fantastic tutorial and then I can find the page. Another thing that people do is pin images directly from Google images, giving that as the referral link rather than the website, leading people to a dead end, which is also really annoying and breaks the rules of Pinterest.


4. Find a lost pin: 
If you get stuck in the above situation but you really really want to find the source there is a way. Right click on the pin, then 'open image in new tab', right click on that and 'save as'. Open up Google Images and drop the file into the search bar, it will then give you a list of sites that this image has appeared on (this is also a good way to see is anyone stealing your images online without permission).


5. Organise your brain and your browsing:
I used to use bookmarks but I really hated them as I always lost sites of forgot what I named them. Pinterest is fantastic for sorting out this kind of information. I have a board for loads of helpful articles for selling online that includes loads of marketing tips that I can refer back to when I need them. The same goes for card making, sewing tips and cookery. Now when I sit down to make cards I take a look at my board first and scan for inspiration(just like I do with my scrap booking magazines). I also keep a cookery board, so if I can't think of anything to make for dinner I can take a peek at my board and see if anything takes my fancy. I use Pinterest as a place to store ideas until I need them. 

6. Add text to your image;
This is something I haven't quite gotten in the habit of doing yet, but I see it used a lot to great effect. If you are doing a blog post that you intend to pin, or something useful that you would expect others to pin then add text to one of the images. For instance for my blogging article I made images to go with the piece and included the phrase '20 blogging tips' in the picture. There is a pin description, but sometimes people leave this blank, for these instances your pin will still have an explanation embedded into the image. Another tip I read was also to include your website address in the image. This has two benefits; 1.If the link gets lost along the way or someone pins it incorrectly then people can still find your site. 2. It creates brand awareness on Pinterest, if your posts get popular people will start to recognise that brand.


7. The ins and outs of linking to FB and Twitter;
I have to raise my hand and say I learned this info the hard way. In my settings I linked my account to my Facebook timeline, thinking it would show on my page; not knowing that it would update all my friends about each pin(can I add that I'm addicted so that's a lot of pins). When pinning something it gives you the option to share on Facebook and Twitter, you can do this sporadically so you don't spam all your friends. At the start I was frustrated that I couldn't share to my business page, but I figured out how to do it. After you pin something a box appears asking if you want to share your pin, click the Facebook one, then go to your page in the drop down menu.


8. Write good descriptions;
Writing a good description makes it easier for people to search for this item. Even though it's tempting to write 'amazeballs' as the descriptions, ''chocolate sponge with caramel glaze,they are totally amazeballs cookery# baking# cake# chocolate#' will mean that more people will find it. I must admit that when I'm repinning I don't always edit them to make them better for searching, but it's worth the effort. You can also use the @ and # symbols like you do on Twitter.

9. New profiles;
Pinterest just changed their profile layout recently, and you can now choose what image represents your board. Just click the main image and choose your cover image from your pins. Pinterest users are very visual so try to curate your profile like you would an Etsy treasury, I thought about what images and colours matched each other. Also make sure to add all of your relevant links to your profile, I've stated following lots of new blogs and Facebook pages because I've been interested in their taste of Pinterest. I also added my business name in brackets after my own name just in case people don't know me as Ruth.


10. Find out who is pinning you:
I pin quite a few of my blog posts, but other people pin them too, and it's nice too see what is popular. Just type in www.pinterest.com/source/yourwebsitehere/ and you will see all the pins that link to your site.


11. Be Seasonal;
Every time a new holiday/season rolls around Pinterest is flooded with pins for that event, so at Christmas and Valentines there are endless recipes, present ideas, craft tutorials and shopping guides. If you are trying to promote your own seasonal wares or articles make sure to post them early so that they have time to circulate. Or if you like writing craft how-to's then think about the seasons ahead of time and write up some tutorials geared towards these holidays.


12. Share your profile;
Add links to your Pinterest on your blog and business page. Promote it just as much as the other sites that you are part of, if someone finds you on one platform they will want to know where else you are. Make it easy for people to follow you. I even mention that I'm addicted to Pinterest in my twitter profile. You can also add a link to your account to your email signature. Recently I started using social networking icons on my business cards and labels, and on my latest batch I added the P to represent Pinterest.


13. Add the Pin It button to your posts
Sometimes you will see a little red Pin It button on blog posts, this is just like a facebook or twitter sharing button. You can go here to get your button and just paste the html into you post template so that it appears in each of your blog posts like a signature. You can find this in Settings, and then go to blog posts, and paste in the html.


14. Pinterest is a community
You are able to like and comment on pins just like on Facebook. To take part in the community more comment on other peoples pins to interact with them. You can also use the ' symbol to tag another user if you see something that you think they might like, or to let them know you are talking about them. I must admit that I'm guilty of not doing this, but I'm very excited when i do get a comment because it happens so rarely!

15. Set a timer/limit;
Be warned Pinterest is incredibly addictive, and time can easily fritter away. Because of the nature of the site it always leads you to more sites, with more cool stuff, with other links, and so on. They estimate that the average regular user spends 1 hr 17 minutes on it per day. To stop yourself whiling away the hours looking a pretty things set a deadline for yourself, trust me I've learned the hard way.

Helpful Links:
Pinterest deconstructed infographic
Guide to Pinterest infographic
Marketing tips for Pinterest
How to find the original source on Pinterest
7 Ways to use Pinterest
and saving the best til last...
The ultimate guide to Pinterest

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Blogging Part 3: 12 Steps To Increase Traffic To Your Blog

This is the third and final part of my blogging series, this installment is about increasing your traffic. Follow the links to read part 1, blogging basics, and part 2, blog design.I don't claim to be an expert in getting traffic to my site, to be honest it's probably the thing I'm weakest at. But I've made lots of mistakes along the way which means I've learned loads too. Here are some tips that I picked up:

1. Use Your Tags:
When writing a post make sure to use your tags, it will help people who are searching on Google. On blogger there isn't a categories option but I used tags as a way of making easily defined topics, each of my posts uses one of my 12 set tags. Try to think about your article and how a reader might describe it if they were trying to find it.

2. Share on Facebook and Twitter:
Make sure you share all of your new blog posts on your social networking sites. My facebook business page has been a massive help to my business and my website, it is a large source of my daily traffic. Some people prefer to comment on fb or Twitter on your posts rather than comment on your site, make sure to engage in these comments. I also like to share specific links with other users if their conversation is relevant to one of my older posts. For example if people are talking about good films they have watched recently I might comment with a link to a review I wrote. Be careful not to do this too much or in a spammy way, only post it if you genuinely think people will be interested.

3. Join Pinterest:
Pinterest is an amazing site where people 'pin' or bookmark images from sites, and create virtual mood boards that are catagorised by topic. It has been great for bringing new traffic to my site, from other members pinning my posts. I also pin some of my own posts too, like this series on blogging and other crafty how-to's. I will be doing an in depth post on the ins and outs of Pinterest in the next two weeks for those of you unfamiliar with the site.

4. Ditch Your Networked Blogs Feed:
I used to use Networked blogs as an automatic feed for my Facebook page, and I thought it was great as I didn't have to manually post the link. But I noticed that Facebook has started to group topics in the news feed, so all posts from Networked Blogs would come up as one single update. This means that if 10 people that I follow were using this tool had new blog posts in the same day I would just see one update in my news feed, something that could be easily missed. To avoid this just uninstall the tool, and go back to manually linking from your Facebook.

5. Guest Post on Other Blogs:
A great way of reaching a new audience is to do guest posts on other blogs. Lots of people that have never heard of you before will be able to see your site. I really enjoy writing for Etsy Ireland, and last year I was thrilled to guest on my favourite blog Lupin.

6. Add an RSS Option:
To be honest I've never used RSS, and didn't know what it was until recently, so I didn't pay any attention to it. But other people use it to follow blogs and find out about new updates, so you need to add the option to your site. Blogger have a gadget which you can add to the sidebar. I noticed that Wordpress sites have welcome box that can be added to each post with invites people to follow via RSS. I tried to get a posh one online but it wouldn't work, so I just added a basic text one. A simple bit of text can be added to the body of each of your posts by going to Settings-Posts and Comments- Post Template, in there just enter your html for your RSS welcome message.

(Note: I created my html by going to New Post, typing in 'Did you find this post helpful or interesting? To follow my other posts here is my RSS feed'. I changed the background colour to blue, and changed the text colour to white to make it stand out. I then highlighted RSS and added the link to my RSS feed. I then switched to html view and copied this text over to the Post Template. Here is the code you will need for the atom feed, just make sure to replace your own address in the text)
 http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
(Also note that RSS feeds do not work for Google Chrome)


7. Do Featured Posts:
I regularly do posts based on a theme usually around something that is trendy at the moment, like beards, alternative weddings, or tattoos. I usually feature lots of images from Etsy shops or crafty how-to's. I make sure to link to these shops, and then I let them know via a convo to their Etsy shop. I normally say that there is no need to reply but a comment on the blog or sharing on the fb or Twiiter would be greatly appreciated. I prefer to do these posts than make treasuries on Etsy, as I think they get seen by more people. They also help traffic to the site as people will find them in Google searches, I still get lots of traffic from my post about weddings.

8. Host a Giveaway:
I haven't done a giveaway in ages but it really helped me at the start to get some followers. Make it a condition of entry to become a follower, and give bonus entries for sharing on Facebook or Twitter. If your prize is from your Etsy shop make sure to post it on Etsy Giveaways to let people know about it. Or alternatively you could host another persons goods as a guest giveaway, Ruby Clover did this with great success, and even hosted one of my own giveaways many moons ago.

9. Add Your URL to Your Email:
It's such a simple thing but lots of people forget to do it. Create an email signature with links to your site and your shops. Also when ever you send a convo  on Etsy make sure to have a link to your website, fb and Twitter, it's annoying that you have to type it out each time, but it's worth the effort. Here is a great article on creating an email signature.

10. Business Cards:
If you are blogging for your business make sure you have a card, or even if it's a personal site it might be fun to have cards too. I hate when I meet bloggers in real life and we have a great nerd chat about blogs and neither of us have cards on us. Even though I have my flyer that I use for work with all my details on it, I still get Moo cards printed just so I can always have my business cards handy in my key ring. I also enclose my flyer in every online sale, and in the bag with every real life sale, you never know who will hang on to that info or pass it on to someone else.

11. Add Share Buttons:
Make sure to have share buttons on your posts, both Wordpress and Blogger have options for this, so there is no excuse not to have them. You want to make sharing your posts as easy as possible for readers.  To add the tool on blogger go to Template, and click the middle box that says Blog Posts, and you will see the option there. I also added a Pin It button to all of my posts since I became a Pinterest addict. This is a little bit of code I grabbed from the site and added below my RSS signature, so that it comes up in each post.

12. Use Images:
I talked about using images before and how important they are in breaking up the space and making your blog look prettier. But images are also great for searches too, a lot of people do Google searches through images instead of text. Getty Images is a good source of free images if you don't have your own graphic or photo. Always make sure to link back if you are using somebody else's image.

I hope this series has helped you all, I mostly did it for fun, and I must say I learned loads while researching it. If you have any more tips please leave them in the comments section, I certainly don't claim to know it all, and I'm always hungry for more information, so please share!

Helpful Links:
21 tips to increase blog traffic
25 tips for blogging
Creating an email signature
Hosting a blog giveaway

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Tackling Timeline

Those of you who run business pages on facebook will have noticed that they are phasing in Timeline for pages. You have till the end of the month until it's mandatory, so that gives you a bit of time to figure it out and play with your page design before it goes live. At this stage I'm a bit of a business page expert, for anyone looking for tips on setting up a page I wrote this article last year on 'Facebook Pages:An Idiot Guide'. Whereas today's article is a bit more advanced for those with established pages who know the basic ins and outs already.

Firstly I cannot overestimate the amount that facebook has helped my business, it may be time consuming but at the end of the day it's free, and it's a form of advertising that customers actively opt into and pay attention to, you just can't buy that kind of press. I've had my page for about 2 years and it has brought me lots of new customers, real and online sales, and helped me build a personal relationship with the people who buy from me. They get to put a face to my business and I get invaluable feedback, it's a win win situation.

In the past few months facebook have been making lots of little changes that at first seemed very limiting to pages, but now that they have unveiled Timeline most of it gels together very well. The most obvious difference with Timeline is the appearance, it's a much wider 'wall' with two columns instead of one. Older stories are now accessible by date from the panel on the right hand side, giving the lifespan of the page. They have added a new tool which means that you can bump up old posts by Pinning them, this is done by clicking the pencil icon on the right of any post and choosing the option 'pin to top'. This brings this post to the top of your timeline on the left hand column. It's a good idea to regularly pin popular posts that reflect your page so that prospective 'likers' can gauge quickly what your page is about. Once an item is pinned it remains at the top for 7 days.

Another way to make a post more noticeable is to star it(do this by clicking the star icon on the right of any post) this makes the item double width, and much more noticeable when scrolling through older posts. It's good to punctuate the timeline with a few of the favourited posts to break up the double column layout.

When I first went onto timeline I was disgusted that landing pages were made defunct as there is no longer control over what tab a new viewer arrives on. Previously I had designed a landing page that reflected my business and brought me lots of new 'likes'. Facebook have replaced this with a cover photo, a large image that sits behind your profile picture. It is fine to use an image of one of your products in this window but to get the best results it would be better to have a text and image graphic. Although be careful facebook have some rules about what text can go here, you are not allowed to point towards the like button, include sales promotions or other info that should be in the about section. The dimensions for the cover photo are 851 px wide and 315 px tall, and make your document 72 dpi.

They have also added 'milestones' to the timeline, which act like starred posts(double width), but are designed to highlight key events in your business like awards, press etc. Your chosen event date will then be marked in your timeline. You can create these in your status bar, next to ask a question, and you can upload a photo with your description, the picture dimensions are 843 px wide and 403 px tall. This new feature can be used to great effect to give the history of a business in a dynamic way, especially for older businesses as they can mark events and trivia through the past decades. There is a lovely example here at Leo Burnett Worldwide.

Facebook have added a handy admin panel at the top so all traffic and notifications are easily available. Thank goodness the days of no notifications on business pages are over, that was a nightmare! You can monitor traffic, reach, and who is talking about your page. They have also added a private message section which is really handy rather than people having to discuss sales on your wall. During my research for this article I found out that pages can directly message their 'likers', although be careful not to abuse this and alienate your readers by spamming them. But you can only message people who have already send a direct message to your business page, you can not start a new conversation with one of your fans. It would be a good idea to post an update letting your fans know that they can now send you a direct message, as most people don't know the mechanics behind a business page.


You should also note that the amount that your updates appear in peoples news feed has changed over the past few months, someone who interacts with your page is more likely to see your updates that people who don't. This means that you need to post more regularly, and at different points in the day. It is also advised that you post different types of things, not just talking about your business all the time. Use pictures, ask advice, questions, share finds from Pinterest etc (For more info on this large topic head over to this great article).

The magazine format of timeline has meant that facebook is becoming a much more visually based forum. Do things like share photos of work in progress, a yummy muffin you are eating, or materials you just purchased. There are lots of ways to vary your updates, just start thinking outside the box.  You'll soon start to notice your 'talking about' numbers increasing, and afterwards your likers. Try to post information that people will want to share, George Takai (Ensign Sulu from Star Trek) has a great business page where he posts loads of funny geek pictures, he gets hundreds of 'shares'  every day because his content is great.


All in all I'm pretty happy with it now that I've learned all the new features. At first I hated it because it meant that I had to relearn lots of things. One frustrating thing is that they don't have an attach link function anymore in status updates which leaves an ugly pasted link at the end of the update, it seems like a pointless change. But the overall benefits outweigh any clunky problems. Knowing facebook they will come up with a whole host of new changes in another 6 months just to annoy everyone!

Helpful Articles:
Involver
The Drum: 5 ways timeline will impact business pages
CMVLive: Timeline, what's it all about?
How to get more interaction on your business page

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Freebie Magnets With All My Orders

For years I've been giving away free little 1" badges with all my online sales; ones I ordered well before I bought my own badge maker. I was parceling up an order yesterday and I noticed that the website address on the badges was out of date, and had been for ages. Rather than put it on the long finger(as so many things seem to be residing at the moment!), I sat down and reworked one of my old designs. I picked 'join the craft revolution' for a few reasons; I could use it for my my craft and supplies shop-it being applicable to both, and also I thought it was a catchy phrase that might make people intrigued enough to go visit my website. I'm choosing to give away magnets this time as it's a handy thing to have, especially if people have a magnet board in their studio. Also someone is not too likely to wear a badge that has someones website address on it, whereas on a magnet it seems more innocuous.

Blog Layout

I eventually got an 'about me' and 'contact' tab, I don't know why it took me so long to figure it out!I've been meaning to do it for ages, but I couldn't find where to add it. I know it's a small niggling thing but I wished it looked more like a tab, if the blue background went up and around it in a curve it would be far prettier I think.

The next thing I'd love to add would be the networking options at the bottom of each post. Does anyone know if I can get those on blogspot? You know the little gadget that says share, facebook, twitter etc. If anyone could fill me in, I'd love to hear from you.

Are there any other bells and whistles that you like to see on a blog?

Does anyone know where the option for the 'you might also like' at the end of a blog post, where it gives a link and thumbnails to older and similar posts. I've always liked that on other blogs, but I just went looking and I couldn't find it.

Also I'm going to be updating my links soon, so if you want me to link to your lovely blog just leave a comment here and I'll add you to the list.

I Caved and Joined Facebook

I eventually caved and I joined facebook. I've been hearing so much about it in the forums on Etsy that I thought I would give it a shot. It ends here though, I will not join twitter. I'm already starting to feel a little bit of social networking burnout between the 2 shops, 2 blogs, my own facebook page and a fanpage. I know other people do a lot more but I still want to have time to make things...and oh have a life too.
When I was setting it up I found it a bit clunky, and it's pretty annoying that I can't sign on seperate from my personal account. When I eventually connected to the 'My Etsy' tab though it works a lot better. I'm rather impressed with the live feed to my blog too. Hopefully this drive more traffic/sales etc and make everything link together a bit better. There are loads of people I know who are on facebook who are otherwise internet/computer clueless so maybe it will reach a different market.

So if you wanna become a fan click here, or go to the shiny new button I made for my sidebar.

Note: I love this picture, I typed in internet networking into getty images and this is what popped up...I love it!