Today's win-win: Free website giveaway!

Do you need a website? 

I need fresh new websites for my portfolio!

Let's help each other out - it's a win-win.

Whoohoo!

I will build a basic 3-page website for free*, in exchange for allowing me to use it as an example of my work when advertising my marketing business.

You provide the content (text) and pictures, and we'll work together on what design you have in mind.

What do you you get in this free website dealio? 

• You get a basic three page website designed and built. While I recommend one page should be your homepage, the other two can be anything you like. It's your site. Tell me what you want.
• All of your social networking sites will be integrated into your website - Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blog, photo sharing, event calendar, etc. 
• Unlimited emails with your domain name, such as you@whoohoo.com 
• Your site will be listed in all of the major search engines. 
• As an added bonus, you get a QR code that can be used to promote your website in print and online 

How do I get this free website?
Just "Like" my Pam Hawk Marketing Facebook page and leave a comment telling me what kind of business you want the website for. Hurry! The first three comments get a free website. Super simple.

So what are you waiting for? Get over there and tell me about your business! Go on; I'll wait right here.

*Gosh, you say it's free, Pam. So what's this asterisk for? Is there a catch?
Yes, actually I'm glad you mentioned that. I wouldn't say it's a catch, just the cost of having a website.
While I am providing my website building services for free, there is still the cost of publishing a website live on the internet. This is the one cost you'll be responsible for. The cost will vary a bit, depending on what kind of website you're interested in, but I'm all about getting the most bang for a buck, so we'll keep it as budget friendly as possible.


Well can you at least give me a ballpark price? 
Accounting for a little variation, we're looking at your annual cost to be under $120. That averages out to about $10/month. This price includes both your hosting fee and annual domain renewal.


Can you say that in English?
Think of having a website like having a phone.

• The domain is your very own version of www.whoohoo.com and like a phone number, and you have to pay an annual fee to keep your domain. Usually it's about $10/year. 
• Web hosting is like having a calling plan, and you can pay monthly or annually. It costs less overall if you pay annually, of course. This price can vary, but the company I prefer using is less than $120/year. Plus this company uses only wind power for their offices and equipment, and appeals to this Oregon girl. (That would be me. I live in Oregon and am proud to be a dog-loving, recycling, rained-upon treehugger.)

What the heck is a QR code?
This funky little square barcode is cellphone readable and can store any alphanumeric data you can think of, such as website addresses, phone numbers, special messages, coupon codes, email addresses, etc. Here is an example of a QR code:

Facebook "Like" marketing experiment - Part II

Here is the text that I used to get things rolling. I edited and edited and edited until there were no extra words and the message was clear:

This year for Christmas gifts, I'm making calendars from these photos I shot this summer at Swan Island Dahlias - but I have too many pictures.

Will you help? Just "Like" your favorites and I'll use the top 12.

The 12 pictures with the most "Likes" will be featured in the calendar. I'll count up the most popular ones on the weekend before Thanksgiving. (Saturday 11/20/10)

When the calendars are printed, I'll randomly pick someone who liked at least one picture and send them a calendar as well. (Sure, your friends can "Like" their favorites, too.)

Thanks for the help!
-Pam

Update:
Apparently, if your friends "Like" a photo in your album, it doesn't show up in their profile. Any comments they make simply say, "Mary commented on your photo."

That's definitely not going to create a buzz. I'll post a solution here after figuring out the best way to fix this.

In addition to that, Jennifer pointed out some rules regarding promotions on FB (in a comment on the last post here.) I'm working on modifying the thing to make it FB friendly and will let you know what I come up with. Like stated at the beginning, this is an experiment. I'm learning as I go and bringing you along so you can learn more, too.







Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader or by Email?

Marketing via Facebook "Like"

This fall I am conducting a little experiment on Facebook to see firsthand how the "Like" feature can create a viral effect. Like many people, I casually dabble in Facebook but haven't taken any Facebook classes or spent a lot of time studying how to make my concept go from 0 to 1,000,000 in two days.

Many of the businesses that I "Like" are locally owned venues with fans numbering between a handful to maybe a couple hundred at most. These pages use Facebook more as a cocktail hour extension, keeping their fans in the loop with upcoming local events and special deals.

In order to learn more about how I could use the "Like" feature in big ways, I'm going to pose a small contest, of sorts.

It all started when I came up with this year's Christmas gift to the grown-ups in my family. Each household gets the same thing - a handmade or home cooked something or other. Last year it was hand-sewn grocery bags, fresh bread, and homemade jam. The previous year it was homemade BBQ sauce with corn bread mix, and a few BBQ cooking and eating accessories. This year I'm making calendars from photos I shot this summer at Swan Island Dahlias.

My problem: I can't whittle down my favorites from 17 to just 12 pictures.

The solution: Post them on Facebook and ask my friends and family to vote for their favorites by "Liking" them.

Simple enough.

The whole experiment thing didn't occur to me until I was uploading the pictures into an album on Facebook. The ideas flew around in my head -
Why limit it to just my friends? Why not open it up to everyone? (I don't sell photos or calendars, but I suppose I could if I really wanted to.)
Why not take the names of everyone who "Liked" the photos and pick one to win a calendar?
...Why not take some notes for when I want to promote a business in this manner?

And so here is where the project is for today. I'll run the experiment, take some notes, report back here with an update midway through, and share my final result.

If you want to take a look at the rest of the photos - and "Like" your favorites, or not - simply visit my Dahlias Album.

Update : Still learning about Facebook, there have been some changes. The link to the Dahlias Album now points to a different location. Read more about my learning process and reason for the changes in Facebook "Like" Marketing Experiment Part II



Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader or by Email?

Social Bookmarking Icons for your blog

Do you have social bookmarking icons or chicklets on your blog?
Last year's explosion of social bookmarking sites like Facebook and Twitter have shown that people are influenced by their friends and online contacts when it comes to discovering new stuff online.

After a long search for a website I'm working on, I found two different ways to get these kinds of icons. One is super easy and the other, while still pretty easy, offers a ton of design choices.

The super easy method (for Blogger blogs) is to go to Sociofluid.com.
Check off the sites you want to include in your widget, decide on a size and how you want it to act when your viewers hover their mouse over the icons, then generate the widget. Easy Peasy.

Here's an example of their widget. I set the sizes at 32 and 48 and clicked to have it Grow Up with a mouseover. Here's what it looks like. Pretty cool. I wish it had a Flickr icon, though.

The other option offers lots of different designs. There are actually several sites with these free downloads, but the one with the choices I liked best is this page at wpzoom.com - yes, the WP refers to WordPress.

To use these, you'll have to download the file and install each icon individually, but you download each icon in all sizes so you can fit it into your blog or site perfectly. There are some really neat designs here.

As for me, I'll use the super easy method on one site, a hand-drawn design on another site, and bookmark both for when I want more.
Enjoy!


PS: Other sites I like that offer free social networking icons are:
http://www.bloggerplugins.org/2007/11/recent-posts-widget-plugin_25.html
and
http://www.wavemindedstudios.com/site/news/social-networking-icons








Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader or by Email?

Sharing my Twitter Strategy : 11000 followers

I just read through an entire Etsy forum post (26 pages and still growing) about how Etsy's CatherinetteRings has used Twitter to increase her sales. Her info is a fantastic example of how Twitter can help increase your sales, as well as a step by step tutorial on how she made it work.

The entire forum post is here, entitled "Sharing my Twitter Strategy : 11000 followers" and his tutorial is listed in the original post. Please check it out.

A summary of the next 26 27 28 pages includes a more in-depth explanation by CatherinetteRings:
(The quoted text that follows is used with permission.)

How has it increased Catherinette Rings's traffic?
"Whenever i post a link to an item , i get from 30 to 70 hits within minutes . You don't get that many hits by renewing items these days . "

Google Analytics stats:
"1. (direct) / (none) 4,139
2. adn.entrecard.com / referral 1,661
3. twitter.com / referral 1,652
4. google / organic 1,287
5. entrecard.com / referral 798
6. steampunkrings.blogspot.com / referral 551
7. craftcult.com / referral 436
8. facebook.com / referral 251
9. deviantart.com / referral 152
10. catherinetterings.deviantart.com / referral 135
And these figures are growing . 1652 referral would cost me 250$ of google add"

"Everything that brings more traffic , eventually brings sales . twitter is in 3rd position and represent 11 % of the traffic i get . I have received many Direct message after a purchase or note to seller saying they found me with twitter . "

Does this work?
"I get lots of sale from Twitter . Many buyers told me they found me on twitter . "

What does CatherinetteRings tweet about?
"Personal vs. Business :You can use twitter for personal but i recommend that you use a separate twitter account for your business . Personal stuff is not relevant to business , you need to build an image that reflects the nature of your business on twitter , for ex saying that you are going to take a walk because its sunny outside might not interest those who follow you for your craft . This way you can keep tweeting about something relevant to your business . Work in progress , new design , tips ...etc "

"You have to filter what you think will be interesting for those who follow your business on twitter , When you say your working on something , some of your followers sometimes replies to that , that's when you get in and interact with them and engage in a discussion . I dont tweet all day and say everything i do . That would be boring . "

"Also you can comment and reply to others tweet , when you find something interesting . You can RT : retweet content from someone you follow so that your followers can also read that tweet . "

Ok, so how much time do you spend managing this?
"Building a followers list to 11000 takes times but once you have them , you can post tweets that takes just a few second to write and get 100 hundreds of views from just a line less that 140 character long , hard to beat and less time consuming that blogging . Now , i can just sit and wait an still my followers list grows by it self , the more followers you have the more popular you become . "

"One advantage i have is that im a full-time artisan . My priority is custom orders , post office first and adding new rings to my shop . Then when im less busy i put all my effort on promoting . Then i get a rush and i have no time for promoting and i just do customs until it slows down . I alocate time to promoting depending on the flow ."

"The majority of twitter users are already using it to promote their store and I only have about 400 updates , i don't spam twitter . Twitter users have the choice to follow or not to follow so if you don't like the way someone use twitter you simply don't follow them . 56% of twitter users are using it for their business, so there is no reason to be afraid to promote your business with twitter . You can choose the way you want to use it . I use it the way i have learned to use it after reading a lot of business oriented tips from various sources on the web . "

Pam's note: There were a lot of questions in the forum, and several people mentioned their dislike for someone with so many followers, which is fine. Obvoiusly, 11,000 people don't have a problem with this and like CatherinetteRings said in the original post, it took some time to build the list. Other Etsyians voiced their concern over spam tweets, which CatherinetteRings addressed when discussing what he/they tweet about. While I didn't post a chronological repeat of the entire forum here, I did organize the info into an interview style for my summary of the post.

Thanks again, CatherinetteRings, for permission to republish!

On Wednesday, I'll post some of the follow up comments from this forum. Meanwhile, you can learn more facts about Twitter in the second post on this page.

Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader or by Email?

Etsy Hacks

Have you heard of Etsy Hacks?



I stumbled across this site while cruising through the Etsy forums. It's a huge time saver for me, especially since I hate listing new items - what a time consuming pain in the butt.



Etsy Hacks is a site where you can get tools to do handy things such as:

• Heart-Unheart


• Fast Tagging


• Bulk Image Uploader (Upoad all 5 pictures at once! Oh my gosh, how much time will that save you?)


• and more

My opinion: If you sell on Etsy, you need this.



While Etsy Hacks can work through your Internet Explorer bookmarks, it works best as an add on for your Firefox web browser.



When you visit the site, you'll see that when you click on a hack title, such as Fast Tagging, you go to that hack's page to view a screenshot of how it works, installation instructions (pretty easy), and other information. Check it out - it's sure to make your time spent on Etsy much more productive.



http://www.etsyhacks.com/greasemonkey/

Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader or by Email?

Tiny URL

Do you use Twitter, Facebook, My Space, or any other social networking site to promote your stuff? Here's a quick tip I know you'll love.

Instead of sharing links that look like this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&abauth=dc54c8b8%3Abzin0J3kWBexWkninqNwUy5d4_0&sll=45.519836%2C-122.676035&view=map&hl=en&q=the+greek+cusina&btnG=Search+Maps


You can turn them into tiny URLs like this: http://tinyurl.com/cmapvu

Both the long URL and the tiny one are for the same exact webpage - a Greek restaurant up in Portland that I love. (Heck, I even love the big purple octopus above the door. But that's me; I'm a little goofy. Click on the street view to see what I'm talking about. Yes, it's overcast. It's winter in Portland! But I digress...)

I've added the link to TinyURL.com in my sidebar. You can also play around with it below.

Enter a long URL to make tiny:

Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader
or by Email?

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

EntreCard is a waste of time

(I hope I don't catch any flap for negative comments about EntreCard...)

I tried it for several months and discovered three things:
1. You need to take the time to drop your card on a lot of EC users in order to get a lot of traffic to your blog. This takes time even if you have a program to help you with this.
2. When dropping a lot of cards, there is no time to actually read the blogs where you're dropping.
3. Even if you get a lot of traffic on your blog, people are just stopping by, dropping their card, and exiting without reading the content.

I'm just not so impressed with EntreCard.

I've seen high traffic blogs with the EC widget. Once they take the EC widget away, the traffic drops way down. The number of comments on the blog, however, remain the same.

My opinion:

If you want a lot of traffic, join EntreCard and drop your card everywhere.

If you want a lot of quality traffic who reads and appreciates your blog, don't bother with EntreCard.

A friend of mine summed it up by saying "EntreCard is the freeway through blogland. You speed through and miss all the little towns along the way. I like to take the country roads so I can stop and enjoy the little towns I pass through. If I like a particular town, I'll probably visit again."

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

Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader
or by Email?

Newsletter Tools and Techniques

Last week I told you (with a great example) why newsletters are such a powerful marketing tool for your business. You saw in the example, an easy way to encourage people to opt in to your mailing list.

Today I'd like to share some newsletter tools for you to explore for your own newsletter. I'll also share a few techniques you can use to make it the best marketing experience possible.

Newsletters work by both email and snail mail and there are advantages to both methods. You may find that you have both types of contacts, as well. Ask visitors to your site to opt-in to your email newsletter and retain names and addresses of people who:
+ purchase items from you
+ win giveaways (if your prize requires their shipping address)
+ sign up for your mailing list - if you do craft shows, encourages interested people to sign up

When you ask people to sign up, be sure your privacy policy is easy to locate and easy to read.

It's ok to offer an incentive to people for signing up. (In fact, this is a good idea):

+ special discounts

+ admission to members-only type events

+ free merchise or a free e-book on a topic related to your offering

+ automatic entry in a regular drawing

And...

Email newsletters are low cost or free, it's easy to quickly build your contact list through opt-in offers, and you can include links for readers to click to purchase immediately. I did a quick Google search on Email Newsletter Services and found these:

Bravenet (free, supported by their ads)
Constant Contact
My Newsletter Builder
FeedBlitz
AWeber

There are many others available, but this will at least get you started, and you can compare what you find with your specific needs. (Please note: I just grabbed these names off Google. I don't know their track record and am not affiliated with them nor do I receive compensation for linking to them.)

Whichever email newsletter service you decide to try, I'd recommend making sure you have a way to copy all your contacts' information and back up on a CD, thumb drive, or other storage device. The contact list you build is your own personal gold mine and you do not want to lose this information under any circumstances. If an email newsletter service doesn't have a way for you to back up your contacts' information, move on to one that will.

Snail mail newsletters have printing and postage costs, but can be mailed on bright paper, in a bright envelope, or be made so irresistibly attractive that your contact has to open it and see what it is. Attractive snail mail newsletters are rarely deleted or thrown away unopened. If your contact list is small, or you have the time and ambition, you can hand-address each one to give it a personal touch. You can also hand sign the bottom of each one.

You can print black and white on colored paper, use a newsletter publishing program to make a newspaper style letter, print color pictures, include coupons, etc.

Tip: If you can create an email newsletter that can be printed out, you can email your newsletter to your email subscribers and snail mail a printout of the same newsletter to your snail mail contacts. (Just make sure the header and footer don't show the URL of the page. It still has to look professional.)

One last thought... While browsing around, I discovered that Vistaprint offers a postcard marketing campaign, and you can use your own snail mail list or you can buy one. Yes, buying a mailing list is a whole other topic, but if this interests you, it's there. Since this is a whole other topic, I'll post later about this idea.


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

Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader
or by Email?

Got a Brilliant Idea? Here Are 3 Things You Need To Do First

Last month, one of my dear online friends introduced a new design idea that she plans to develop and market. While I'm not going to spill the beans here, I thought you might be interested in learning a little about what to do if you come up with a new product idea or concept.

1. Protect your idea.
Is your idea patentable? Some things can be patented, some things cannot. Figure out if yours can be, then take the initial steps toward a patent. At the early stages, you can do some of the legwork on your own. Visit http://www.uspto.gov/ and learn about patents. If you are in Canada, replace my references to the USPTO with CIPO at http://cipo.gc.ca/. If you are in another country, you should be able to Google the words "Patent office" and your country name to find the appropriate link for your location.

I also recently discovered Google can provide some help in this department. (Maybe just USPTO?) Go to http://www.google.com/ and in the upper left corner you will see:

Images Maps News Shopping Gmail More

Click More and at the bottom of the list click Even More.

Holy smokes! Did you know all this information was packed away in Google? About 2/3 of the way down the left side of the list is a link to search for patents. As I told my friend, if patent searching has been "Googlesized," it's probably been made a lot easier to use than the gov website. (Sorry, Uncle Sam!)

One caveat: Doing a patent search does not replace professional assistance when you are ready to move forward and apply for a patent. Read through (or have someone help you read through) the information at http://www.uspto.gov/ to find out how to apply and to learn the US Patent Office's recommendation regarding hiring a patent lawyer.

Oh, and if you think your idea can't be patented and don't want to take the time to look into it, check out this patent. Now you see why it's at least worth a look?

2. Name your idea.
If you create it, it's an entity. If it's an entity, it has to have a name. This isn't a law, but a piece of savvy marketing advice. Name all products, designs, concepts, sales, programs, etc.

When coming up with names for your creations, make sure they can be trademarked. This means, make sure you can trademark the name(s) that you come up with. From a marketing standpoint, your trademarks can help build your brand, develop name recognition, and do all kinds of other good things for your business.

I won't go into too much more detail here about trademarks, but if you want more info, please read my earlier blog post on the subject: Do you have a ™ ?

3. Copyright your process.
Write up, in as much detail as possible, your idea, concept, or product. Include drawings or photographs if possible. Explain how it's made, what it's made from, and any process or technique used to make your item. Describe its use, features, benefits, accessories, and care/maintenance.

Copyright this very thorough description (see the USPTO "copyright refresher" for details), then store it in a secure location. This will not only flesh out your idea and help you figure out some of the details, but can be the document to which you refer when you're writing up your product description, use and care guide, and marketing materials. This will also serve as a back up to your idea as you work though the other steps.

You can also visit http://creativecommons.org/ for more info on copyrights. Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that (as this is written) covers 50 jurisdictions around the globe.

Tip: While an official copyright is recommended, there is another method you can do in the interim to establish a beginning date for your idea. Name this document you just created, and include a serial number with the name. You can make up anything you want for the serial number. For example, "Three Speed Hair Curlers, serial # 52648912"

Take this document to a Notary Public, have them notarize it with the current date, and in their ledger, write the name and serial number of the notarized document. (In my ficticious case, I'd write "Three Speed Hair Curlers, serial # 52648912") Make sure the serial number is included in the Notary's ledger.

Why? If someone takes your exact idea and uses it as their own, your notarized copy can help to establish when the idea originated, what the idea entails, and who came up with the idea. The serial number in the title links the notarized copy to the same exact copy you hold, which can help to identify your copy as the original, and not a different version of the same idea.

Hope that helps you get started. Any additional tips or suggestions? Have you had any experience with this process? Please share!

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

Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader
or by Email?

Incorporating Video Into Your Blog

Last week I posted a brief video of my car into this blog to show my friend Amador how easy it is to post videos online.

Today I'd like to share a quick how-to so you can post your own videos on your blog.

It's a lot easier than most people think. Like I said last week, I don't own a video camera.

Equipment Needed:
#1 - A digital camera that can shoot video. If you're not sure about yours, check the various shooting modes you have: close ups, scenery, action, flash, movies... Your shutter button may have a little movie camera icon on or near it.
#2 - A method of transferring images from the camera to your computer. Could be a memory card or a cable that hooks them together.
#3 - A computer with an online connection
#4 - A blog or other website where the video will ultimately be shown

If you're reading this, chances are you have #3 on the list. If you also have at least #1 and #2, then you're ready to start.

Ready?
First, decide what you will use for your #4 in the above list. It could be YouTube, but I'll be expanding on this concept in upcoming posts and to take advantage of all the great tips coming up, you may want to have your own site (or blog.) At the very least, you'll want a website or blog that will let you submit your video for all to see (other than You Tube.)

Step One: Choose your subject matter.
This first video will be your demo, so don't stress out about this.

If you want to be the star of your demo, set the camera on a counter or cabinet and step back so it can show your lovely face as you recite a short poem or sing a silly song. Actually, you could simply introduce yourself. That would be a short and sweet 15 to 20 second video perfect for your demo.

If you'd rather not be the star (I understand completely,) then find something interesting, be it a family pet, a tree in the yard, or a goofy kid.

Step Two: Shoot your video.
Don't make it too long, just 30 seconds to one minute is enough.
A little camera shake and wobbliness is ok for your demo. You're a real live human.

Shooting tips:

- Make sure you talk during the video to keep it interesting. Describe what you are shooting and explain something interesting or significant about your subject.

- Talk at a comfortable pace, not too fast, and speak clearly. Smile - people will hear it.

- You may want to plan ahead with what you will say to avoid dead space or overuse of words like "Ummm" and "Uh..."

- Make sure there is sufficient light for your viewers to see the subject.

- When moving the camera from one subject to another, move slowly. Rapid movements make viewers dizzy and disoriented with your scene.

Step Three: Upload your video.
If you can take the memory card out of the camera and insert it into a port on your computer, you can upload the video directly you YouTube.

OR - If you need to connect the camera to your computer with a cable, upload the video to a file where you can find it. You can upload it to You Tube from there.

Go to YouTube and either log in or sign up.
In the upper right hand corner, you should see a button that says Upload. Click it and follow the instructions to upload the video you just made.

Your upload will take a few minutes, depending on how fast your internet connection is.
When I upload videos, I notice that YouTube says to wait until I see a message telling me the video is done but it seems to take forever. Meanwhile, if I open a new window and go to You Tube, my video is there, ready to play with. You video may be ready before YouTube tells you it is - you may want to check on it in a new window after a few minutes.

Step Four: Embed your video into your blog.
Note: What blog would you like to post your demo video to? You may want to consider that at this point. Ok. Open that blog. Ready?

When you see your video, grab the code to embed it, and open a new post in your blog. Click to edit the HTML of the post, and paste in the code from You Tube. Add any appropriate comments and publish it.

Ta-dah!

Once you get the hang of this, you should be able to produce a great little video for your blog in about 15 minutes or less.

Coming up next: I've got some big ideas for you! Check back later this week to find out how you can use video in your blog to increase traffic and/or Etsy sales!

Did you like this post? How about subscribing in a reader
or by Email?

Blog Bling: Slide

Here's a bit of bling for your blog: Slide
I first discovered this at laurie beggin glass musings where she installed an interactive guest book.

Have you seen Slide sliding around the internet? It's a lot of fun to use to make your blog more interactive. Very easy to set up.

I've got a Slide slideshow at the bottom of my family's blog, The Adventures of Pam & Frank, where it chronicles a road trip to Seattle that we took this past summer. A Slide guest book is installed at the top of my Plate Diaries. I installed it recently and very quickly three visitors signed it. I know these people in real life (a very good friend I've known since 6th grade, my sister, and my favorite former neighbor who has stayed in touch for the past 8 years.) What I absolutely love is that while none of these wonderful ladies leave comments on any of my 4 public blogs, they signed my guest book. I had no idea they even read my blogs!

Here's my guest book.

Fantastico!!

Setting up and installing your Slide is so darned easy I'm not even going to give you a tutorial. You don't need one.

Now put your thinking cap on and imagine how you can use Slide to promote your site or product. If you comment here with your idea you get a gold star (figuratively) and everyone will learn what a brilliant thinker you are.

Go forth and slide! Leave a comment here with a link to where you put your Slide and we'll go check it out!

What the heck is Blog Bling?

There are so many interesting and useful blog enhancing widgets available for free I thought you might be interested in learning about what's available, how they work, how to install one, and what you could use it for.

I call all of these little gizmos Blog Bling. Nobody pays me a dime to blog about them and I'm not asked to do any reviews. This is all based on what I find (and I mention where I found it), what it looks like, what my opinion is about the widget, how it works, how to install it, etc.

As I blog about them I'll add a link to my sidebar so you can find the link easily or refer someone over here to grab the link.

If you have one of the widgets I blog about on your blog, please leave a comment here with your URL. I have disabled the nofollow on my comments, so every comment counts. Plus, if you are reading about a widget and want more info before trying it out, I strongly encourage you to check out the URLs in the comments to see the widget in action.

Commenting and following is just good blog karma, anyway.

Blog Bling: Quick Ribbon

Here's a bit of blog bling for you to try out: Quick Ribbon.
I discovered this at Psilology, and had to give it a go. The results - very easy, looks good.

I'm using this tool on my Pass It On Plate blog and Plate Diaries to promote giveaways and sales. The ribbon is a link, so when people click it they go to the blog post that talks about that promotion. You could use it to advertise your special events or just point people toward your store/shopping cart. It's up to you.

The Quick Ribbon website makes it extremely easy to design your ribbon. The trick is installing it into your blog. Installation is easy, but it means you have to go into the actual HTML of your blog. Don't worry, I'll walk you through it here.

Install your own Quick Ribbon in 5 steps.
1. Go to the HTML of your blog. As always, copy and paste ALL your code into a notepad document on your computer before touching anything. Save the document.
2. Near the top of your code, find the word <head>. You could hit ctrl+F and your computer will find it for you.
3. Insert your Quick Ribbon code just under <head>.
4. If you have a favicon under <head>, you can put this above or under your favicon. It shouldn't matter.
5. Save, then go look at it.

One note: I discovered that the code makes the entire corner a hot spot, meaning if you click anywhere in the corner, even if the ribbon isn't covering it, it will take you to the link you programmed into the ribbon. If you are using Blogger, this will affect how you get to your dashboard. Just click New Post and navigate to your dashboard from there. It's a little annoyance in my opinion, but I can live with it for the occasional use of the ribbon.

Ok - go try it!
When you have it installed, be sure to comment here with your URL and we'll all go and check it out!

Are people talking about you?

One thing bloggers do is talk about other bloggers. In almost every case this is a good thing and it can send a nice flow of traffic to the talked-about blogger's site.

So today's question is this:
If you're a blogger, how do you know when someone is talking about you?

Two easy ways to check this are with Technorati or Google Alerts.

Technorati can be used to see what other blogs have mentioned yours. Just type your blog name in the search box. A list of posts mentioning your blog will appear. Click on your blog name under one of your own posts, then scroll down to see blog reactions to your blog. You'll need to visit Technorati each time you want to see what's being said about you.

Personally, I prefer Google Alerts. Instead of searching their database, you tell it what to search for and the results are regularly emailed to you. Not only can you search for your blog name, but you can search for specific keywords. Tell Google how often you want to be emailed, then sit back and don't worry about missing anything.

One thing I love about Google Alerts is their keyword search feature. I have set up Google Alerts to let me know when all my trademarked words and my name are used in any blog. Yes, my own blogs appear in the emailed results, but I quickly learn about every mention of these terms and my name on other blogs as well. It's a simple, no-brainer way to keep track of who's talking about me.

I used Google Alerts during my last Pass It On Plates giveaway. One of the ways people could enter the giveaway was to blog about the contest and/or blog about which Pass It On Plate they wanted. Google Alerts told me who was blogging about it even before I visited my own blog to check the comments.

Do you use any online tools to track who is blogging about you?
Please comment here and share your tips.