Promote your blog via Flickr

Do you use Flickr? You'll love this tip to use Flickr to promote your blog.

1. First of all, when you log into Flickr, click on the drop down arrow by the tab You and select Your Account.

2. This will bring you the the tab that says Personal Information. Click the tab that says Extending Flickr. Look for Your Blogs and click Edit.

3. Click Add A Blog and follow the instructions. If you want to add more than one blog, repeat the process for each blog you want to add.

4. Next, go to a picture that you want to use in a blog post. Above the picture, click Blog This and follow the instructions to post it to your blog. You'll see that there is a place for you to add text to the blog post. If you know a little HTML you can also include formatting like bold and italic, as well as links.

5. Post the picture to your blog, then click the link provided by Flickr to visit your blog. (It will open up in a new window so you won't lose your place at Flickr.)

Here is an example of one that I posted to my other blog:
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Ta-dah! Dressed up gift box, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

You can make this in my quick and super easy tutorial: How To Dress Up A Gift Box

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6. While at your blog, copy the link for the blog post you just made, then go back to Flickr and click return to this item's page.

7. Just below your picture there is a box to add a description. The box turns yellow when you hover your mouse over it. (It's above Comments.) Add a description and invite viewers to visit your blog post for more information. Here's where you'll need a little HTML to insert the link. If you're not sure how to add links with HTML, just copy this code:
<a href="
then without adding any spaces, paste your link and follow it by
">
next, type in the text you want people to click on and follow that by
</a>
Your completed link should look something like this in HTML:
<a href="http://passitonplatesblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-dress-up-gift-box.html"> How To Dress Up A Gift Box</a>
and your readers will see:
How To Dress Up A Gift Box

8. Add tags to your picture.

9. Now you're ready to promote your blog. Near the top of the Flickr page, click the drop down arrow for Groups and click on Search for a Group. Start searching based on your keywords, but don't forget to use category keywords as well, such as craft, food, family, etc. Join any and all groups where sharing your picture would be appropriate. The more, the better. I really don't know how many groups are on Etsy, but I guarantee there are thousands and thousands and I'm sure you'll find at least one that your picture fits into.

Do you sell on Etsy? Try these groups:
Etsy-Look and Learn
Craft
Get Crafty
Crazy For Knitting
Artisan Jewelry on Etsy
Painted Furniture
Softies

10. Watch your blog traffic. Depending on the "interestingness" of your picture, you could get a lot of traffic. This gift box photo has given me a nice bump in traffic, and even though I posted it over a month ago, I'm still getting a trickle of traffic from it. Your Flickr stats also show how many views that picture gets and you can even learn what search keywords people are using to get to your photo. If you include these words in your actual blog post, that will help guide search engine users to your blog post as well.


Two very important notes:

1. Flickr TOS requires that when you blog about a picture, the picture must link back to its page on filckr. If you like messing with your HTML, don't change where the picture leads to.

2. Flickr TOS also forbids selling on Flickr. If you have photographed something you have in your shop, you can blog about it but you cannot include links to your Etsy shop or mention that the item is for sale in the Flickr description.

(And remember, all comments are do-follow, so your comment left here supports YOU.)

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