Interactive share and subscribe buttons

As usual, my Saturday morning routine this past weekend included poking around interesting websites while I enjoyed my morning coffee. I click here and there, wherever something looks interesting.

More often than not I come across something I want to share here. This last week's discovery is an interactive button that invites readers to share a link with a multitude of social sites and another button that invites readers to subscribe via several different readers. This button is from www.addtoany.com

One option this free service features is a pop up when you slide your mouse over the button. While I think this is a great way to grab the reader's attention and probably increases clicks on the button, I can't decide if this is helpful of simply annoying. What do you think?

Here are both buttons. Slide your mouse over them and then comment with your thoughts.

Share This


Subscribe

PS: No, I haven't added this to any of my sites yet. Just because something looks cool to a blog owner, doesn't necessarily mean their readers like it. And we all know that if the readers are unhappy, that's bad.

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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








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Create your own blog template

Are you bored with the existing blog templates available? Do you have a vision in your head that you want to create yourself?


Just wanted to take a quick moment to tell you about a blog post over at Sweet 'n' Sassy Girls about how to make your own blog design. If you feel so inclined to do so.

Here's the link!

http://www.sweetnsassygirls.com/2009/02/how-to-make-your-own-blog-design.html

I have put it in my sidebar under Blog Bling for future reference.

Cheers!

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Create a Scrolling Marquee for Images & Buttons

The other day I was looking for a hit counter and came across an interesting feature. Unrelated, of course, but it piqued my interest and thought I'd share it with you.

It's a scrolling marquee for images like this ( I used images from my sidebar. You can use whatever you want.)











I saw this feature on sister sites: http://www.sweetnsassygirls.com/ and http://barefoot-mommy.blogspot.com/

Not only is controlling clutter an ongoing issue at home, but also on one of my other blogs. I had to find out how they did it. A little research revealed the nuts and bolts of this scrolling feature.

◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘

Would you like to add this to your Blogger blog? Here's a simple tutorial.
Note: Each set of steps shows you how to add one image to your marquee. Repeat these steps for each image you want to add.

In Blogger, go to your Layout tab and click to add new element. Choose Add HTML. When pasting in the code, do not leave any blank spaces between one section of code and another unless instructed to do so.

1. Copy and paste the following code into the box:
<a href="
Paste the URL of the site your image will link to. End it with:
" target="_blank">
This will open the link in a new window so your readers don't lose your page.



2. Copy and paste the following code:
<img alt="
Type in what you want your readers to see if they hover their mouse over the image. You can just type in the name of the site that it links to.



3. Continue by pasting in this code:
" src="
Then paste in the image URL. How do you find it? There are a two different ways you can locate it.

a) In the text box where the site invites you to grab their button, look for code that starts with http:// and ends with .jpg Highlight and copy the entire bit of that code. To make it easier to find, you may want to copy all of the code from the text box and paste it into a notepad document so it's easier to see. In the case of Sweet 'n' Sassy Girls, their image URL is

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii296/strawberyred/sassybuttondots-1.jpg

b) If you right click on the picture, you'll see a menu pop up. One of your options may be to copy image location. If you see that option, click it. That's what you need.



4. Next, copy and paste in this code:
" title="
Type in the name of the site that this image goes to (it can be the same thing used in step 2.)



5. Finish up by copying and pasting this code:
"></a><br/>



Repeat steps 1-5 until all your badges are in place. When you are done, end the whole thing with this code:
</marquee>

◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘

Now, would you like to customize this a little?
The different elements for how your marquee behaves are:

onmouseover="this.stop()"
This stops the marquee from scrolling when you hover your mouse over it. You can delete this code if you don't want it to stop.

onmouseout="this.start()"
This resumes the scrolling when you move your mouse off the marquee.

scrollamount="2"
This is your speed. I can't tell you what number is what speed, but 4 is approximately twice as fast as 2. You can experiment with this, but make sure it's slow enough for people to read as it zooms by.

loop="true"
This makes your marquee scroll endlessly. If you want it to scroll once through the list and stop, change true to false.

direction="up"
This scrolls everything in an upward direction. To scroll down, change the word up to down. If you want it to scroll from right to left, change the word up to left. From left to right, change it to right.

align="center"
This places your marquee in the center of your space. You can change it to left or right if you want it aligned with either margin. For a marquee in the sidebar, my personal preference is to center it.

width="150"
height="300"
You can adjust these to fit them within your space. If the width is more than your sidebar, the images will be cut off, which doesn't look so great. If you're scrolling from side to side, you can change the width and height to fit the space you're using.

For more details on how to customize your marquee, check out this blog post by Kang Rohman.

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Countdown Clock

While building my school's website, I wanted to add a countdown clock for the reunion.

Did you know there are a LOT of free countdown clocks out there? I think I looked at about 20 before I found one I liked.

Many don't allow you to change the size of the clock, which was a problem for me, since it couldn't be wider than 150px. I also understand that free widgets like this usually come with a link back to the site that provided it. That's fine, but not if the link overshadows the countdown clock. That's just tacky.

I finally found one I like at: www.sofotex.com
It uses flash instead of java, looks cool, and the free one can be customized to a degree. You can pay for the clock and open up more customizable options, but for me the free one works nicely.

Here's what my clock looks like:

Here's a direct link for you to get one for your site:
http://www.sofotex.com/CountDown-Timer-in-Flash-for-Website-download_L96240.html
Click Download Now to customize and get the code.

I've added a link under Blog Bling in the sidebar so you can find it again when you need it.

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Blog Header for Etsy Tutorial

About six weeks ago I showed you a fun tool called a Blog Header Generator. While this would be nice for a blog, this could be awesome for Etsy.

If you missed the earlier post, you can check it out here: http://www.pamhawk.com/2009/02/flickr-blog-header-generator.html

I am currently building a website for my high school. The school closed in 1990 when the school district dissolved (very sad for all of us) and now we have an all school reunion being planned for next year. I'm using this technique to create a header for the website, but you can use this technique to a header for your Etsy shop, your blog, a website, or wherever.
This is soooo easy.

1. Find a picture you want to use.
In this example, I'm using a photo scanned from an old yearbook.

2. Run your picture through the blog header generator (There's a link in the sidebar, too.)
After trying it with Center, Upper Left, and Lower Right, I decided on Center. Here's the blog header that was generated. Save it to your computer.

Why not just crop and edit in flickr or another program? I could, but this crops it to ideal dimensions and scales the picture to the correct width. It's just easier and faster this way.

3. Upload the picture you just saved to your flickr account.
Click Edit, then click the tab that says Create.
Now click Text to add your title. Adjust the color, size, font, and placement until it's perfect.

In this case, I used the name of the school, since that's also the name of the website. You could use your blog name, your Etsy shop name, and if you're using this header for a special sale or special event you can customize your text to promote this event.


Ta dah! Finished product. You can see that after adding text, I also clicked Frames and added rounded corners.


If you want to see this in action, you can take a peek at the school website at www.ondossagonaggies.com

Meanwhile, if you try this, please comment here with your links so we can all visit your shop and see your handiwork!

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Adding an Etsy Mini to your site

Many, if not most of you have put an Etsy mini on a blog, either your own blog or someone else's. Here's an Etsy mini idea for you to play around with...


One evening when I was fiddling with Etsy, I received a message from SweetSeaJewelry who asked,

"How how how did you do that with the etsy mini? it looks GREAT on your website, but when i tried to do it it didn't work on mine. i have the google apps site... "


She is talking about my use of a giant Etsy Mini on my main website, http://www.passitonplates.com/

Here's a screenshot:



My reply was:

Oh, no bother at all. I built my site with FrontPage, so I just popped in the code...
...I wanted my home page to look like a store and that was the fastest, easiest way I could think to do it. :o)

That was the key. I wanted my website to look like a store and I had been driven to tears trying to configure shopping cart software. Adding Etsy's mini to my site was the fastest, easiest way I could set it up without throwing my computer out the window in frustration.

While SweetSeaJewelry mentioned using Google sites, I tried adding an Etsy mini to a Google site I manage and while I think Google is wonderful, their sites just won't accept the code.

Had you thought of making a big Etsy Mini (should we call it an Etsy Maxi?) as the main crux of a website?

Where else could you put a maxi sized Etsy Mini?

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New widget test

I'm testing out a new widget for a blog I manage. The computer I'm presently using has several things blocked, so the widget doesn't show up for me.

Can you see a big play button? If you click it do you hear what sounds like a school song? Please comment here with your observations.

(Extra points to you if you can identify the school...)

-----------------------------------
Click the button to start the song



-----------------------------------

Thanks for the help!

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Button with HTML Code Box Tutorial

&lt;a href="http://passitonplatesblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/Web%20images/3205407818_d1cef2eecc_m.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;

Ever stumble across a blog that has something like this in the sidebar on in a blog post? Would you like one for your blog? It's actually pretty easy.

Before starting, I just wanted to make sure you know that if you want the badge to point to your website, blog, or etsy store, you cannot use your Flickr account. Sure, you could use Flickr to edit the photo and add words or whatever, but you need to upload it to Photobucket.

If you're not too familiar with Photobucket, here's the skinny - it's kinda sorta like Flickr, but with different TOS. Photobucket allows photos hosted there to be used as links to other sites outside of Photobucket. Photos hosted on Flickr have to link back to the original photo on the Flickr site.

1. Upload a picture to Photobucket.

2. When the picture is uploaded, click to edit the photo and resize it to either 125x125 or 150x150. Save.

3. Open another tab or window and go to your blog. Start a new post. If you have a private blog for testing things, use that one. (If you don't have a private blog for messing around and testing things, I recommend starting one. But more on that later.)

4. Go back to Photobucket and hover your mouse over the picture and you'll see a menu appear under the picture. Click the code where it says HTML Code. It should automatically copy for you.


(Yes, I realize how ironic it is that this picture is hosted with Flickr. I prefer blogging from Flickr. Actually, I just really really like Flickr.)

5. Go back to your blog and paste Photobucket HTML Code that you just copied. It should look something like this:

<a href="http://www.pamhawk.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/giveawaybadgefeb1-7-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Example Badge"></a>

6. Change URL to point to you. This is the yellow highlighted text in the example above. I have changed it to my own URL.

7. Change alt to your blog or website title. This is the turquoise highlighted text in the example above.

8. Below this, add the following code.

<textarea name="textarea" cols="30" rows="5" wrap="VIRTUAL">

9. Below this, copy and paste another copy of the photobucket code that you edited above.

10. Below that, copy the following code.

/textarea

Make sense? Your completed code should look something like this. (In the box below.)

<a href="http://www.pamhawk.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/giveawaybadgefeb1-7-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Example Badge"></a>

<textarea name="textarea" cols="40" rows="4" wrap="VIRTUAL">


<a href="http://www.pamhawk.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/giveawaybadgefeb1-7-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Example Badge"></a>
</textarea>

It's ok to leave the line breaks in there. In fact, if you take out the line breaks, your text box will appear next to the badge instead of under it.
Here's the code with the line breaks:

&lt;a href="http://www.pamhawk.com" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img src="http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/giveawaybadgefeb1-7-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Example Badge" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;

Here's the code with no line breaks:

&lt;a href="http://www.pamhawk.com" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img src="http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/giveawaybadgefeb1-7-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Example Badge" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;

Now test it.

If this blog post is in a private blog you use for testing, just publish it.

If you opened a blog post in your regular blog, click on Post Options (above the orange Publish Post button) and back date it (to maybe a month ago) before publishing it. This way you can test it without interfering with your current blog posts and subscribed readers.

Open a new tab or window and open the same blog where you are currently working. Open another new post.

Navigate to the published post and click on the code in the box. Paste the code into the new blog post. Publish (or back date and publish.)

Look at the published new post. It should be just your badge without the text box.

Good? Yay! Delete this second blog post (with the badge only) and go to the first blog post where you created this. Save it as a draft for future needs. Copy the code and paste it wherever you want.

Not good? Examine the steps above and see if something was overlooked. You may have to "read" the HTML word by word to see if something's missing or incorrect.

...One last request? Post your blog URL here in a comment so we can all admire your handiwork.























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Make a badge to promote yourself

Last August I posted a tutorial on using Flickr to design a Project Wonderful Ad. Today I'd like to expand on that and show you another neat thing you can do with the graphic you made in that tutorial.

If you are a more recent reader or would like to review, here's the original post:

Six Steps To Designing A Project Wonderful Ad

Picking up where the last tutorial left off, open a new tab or window and go to Photobucket. Don't have an account? It's free and you can't complete the rest of the steps on Flickr because of Flickr's TOS. (There may be other photo sites you can use; I'm familiar with Photobucket, though, so that's the one I'll explain.)

Photobucket allows you to link the image to any URL you want. Flickr only allows you to link the image back to its original page in Flickr. If you break this rule, Flickr could suspend your account, and that would be bad.

Upload your newly created picture/graphic to your Photobucket account.

Once the picture is uploaded, click edit, then select resize.

Change the dimensions to 125x125 for sidebar badges. You can save it in other sizes as well. I highly recomment naming it with the size so whenever you want to find it quickly, you can. An example of this naming technique would be something like : Feb promo 125x125 and if you save it in another size for another purpose, you could name that one Feb promo 250x250.

When you hover your mouse over the picture in Photobucket, you get some code choices. (You can click Link Options to see all the choices.)

So now you're ready to have some fun. Try inserting it in blog posts, emails, Craig's List, MySpace, Facebook, other forums and message boards (if images are allowed)... Think of it like a sticker. Can you think of other places where you can stick your image?

Here's the key: Whenever you post the image somewhere, make sure it points to you: your blog, website, Etsy store, or to what ever you wish to promote. Depending on where you're posting it, you can either click on the image and turn it into a link (just like how you turn text into a link) or you can change the HTML to link it to your preferred location.

To change the HTML of the link, look at the code. At the beginning of the code, replace the text in blue with your link URL.

<a href="http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/Web%20images/?action=view&current=giveaway1-09.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/giveawaybadgefeb1-7-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

For futher tweaking, look where it says alt="Photobucket"

This is the text that will show up when your viewers hover their mouse over the picture. I'd recmmend changing that to the name of the item in the image, your site or shop name, or something that relates to what you're promoting.

That'll get you started. Come back Wednesday and I'll explain how to use what you've learned today to make yourself one of these:

<a href="http://not-a-real-namespace/http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/?action=view&current=giveawaybadge2-09-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://not-a-real-namespace/http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/PassItOnPlates/giveawaybadge2-09-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Enter our Giveaway Feb 1-7!" /></a>

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Flickr Blog Header Generator

I was dinking around online the other day and came across another neat application by Big Huge Labs called Flickr Blog Header Generator. I experimented with two pictures of my Pass It On Plates, shown at the top and directly below.

What you do is upload a picture from your computer to the blog header generator, tell the generator if you want it to crop at the center, the bottom right, or top left of your picture, then click Create.

Ta dah! You've got a cropped version of your picture.

I wanted to see how the cropping would vary, so I used a picture from last week's Super Family Fun Day (that's what I call it at home when everyone pitches in with housework then we go somewhere fun for the rest of the day. We went to the beach. Yes we're in Oregon and it's still winter... that's another story...)

Here's the original picture:

Here's the same picture cropped...
Center:

Upper Left:

Lower Right:

What I was thinking was that while this would be nice for a blog, this could be awesome for Etsy.

Stay tuned for another easy tutorial on how to Etsy-size this. Meanwhile, I put the link for the Blog Header Generator in the sidebar under Blog Bling. And you can click here for the link, too.



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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.)

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How to add a signature to the bottom of your post

A little while ago I introduced you to MyLiveSignature.com where you can create your own signature to add to the bottom of your blog posts.

Today I'll share a little tutorial on how to add your signature to your blog posts. This tutorial is for Blogger blogs, since that's what I'm familiar with. If you use Wordpress, TypePad, or another platform, you may know of some resources for you to tweak the appearance of your blogs. I'm sorry I'm not able to help you here.

First, go to MyLiveSignature.com (open it in a new tab or window) and create a signature that you want to use. Continue to the end where you get the HTML code for your new signature. Select all the code and copy it. (You can click your mouse on the HTML then on the keyboard hold down CRTL while hitting the A to select all, then hold down CTRL while hitting the C to Copy.)

Next, open your blog ...again in a new tab or window, so you can keep your signature and this tutorial visible, just in case you need to refer back to either one.

In your blog, click Customize in the upper right hand corner, then click on the Settings tab.

Now click Formatting. (It should be under the three tabs, third link from the left.)

Scroll down until you see Post Template.

Paste the code from the My Live Signature into the Post Template box.
If you want a line of space between your blog post and the signature, add </br> in front of the code you just pasted in. For each extra line you want, add one more </br>.

Save settings, and you're done. Every post you make from this point forward will have your signature added to the bottom.

If you want to test it, go ahead and write a little blog post to show off your new signature to all your readers. And if you do that, leave a comment here with a link to your post so we canall swing by and check it out ...and leave you our congrats in your comments!

I still have to tell you how to find out where other bloggers get their neat widgets and gizmos from. Stay tuned for that little tidbit...

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

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Blog Bling: My Live Signature

Hey look at my name at the bottom of this post. That's fairly nice looking, isn't it?

I was bopping around the blogosphere this morning and when reading From Dates to Diapers and Beyond, I noticed Christine had a nice looking signature at the bottom of her post. My first thought was "I want one."

Since I learn more about blogging (and blog bling) by casually visiting other bloggers than by looking for stuff and/or reading about little widgets and gizmos, I looked at her code to see where she got it from and visited the site: MyLiveSignature.com And yes, I put a link to this in my sidebar under "Blog Bling" so you can find it later.

Neat. You can use their wizard to make a signature that looks similar to yours, which is what I did. (It's free, so of course I took the free option.) You can also use your mouse to write your own signature or scan in an actual signature and their artists will render it into a graphic you can use.

Next week I'll tell you how to add your new signature to the bottom of your posts, and I'll also tell you how to look into blog code to find out where bloggers get their blog bling. Of course, you can always check out other blog bling from the list in my sidebar.

So now... if you like this and decide you want a signature at the bottom of your posts, (and you know how to add the code to your blog) go do it! Then leave a comment here with a link to your blog so we can all check it out.

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

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Embed your comment form

My Pass It On Plates Blog recently switched to using an embedded comment form, like WordPress blogs have. I didn't think much of the change until I logged into my Pass It On Plates Blog and saw a comment from my funny friend Laurie B., who asked:

Laurie B. said...

Hey, how did you get this comment format? I love it....much better than what I've got...oh wise one, can you share your wisdom with this grasshopper?

Pam Hawk said...

Ohh...I have to think about that. What did I do?

As usual, I was fiddling around and saw something intriguing, so I clicked it to see what happened.

Hmmm, let me look into it and I'll let you know.
-Pam December 7, 2008 10:08 AM

A minute later the lightbulb came on and I remembered. It's so easy.

For those of you who have Blogger blogs, you'll love this.

1. Go to your Blogger dashboard. In the address bar on your browser, replace the www with the word draft. Or open this link in a new window/tab: http://draft.blogger.com/home

You'll see the little orange B in the upper left corner switch to a blue B. This will let you know which version of Blogger you're using. Blogger in Draft is just where Blogger adds and tests new features before they add them to regular (orange B) Blogger.

2. From your Dashboard, click Settings on the blog where you want to change the comments form. Now click on Comments.

3. Look for "Comment Form Placement" and click "Embedded below post" then save.

That's it. This will change the format for all the comments on your blog, not just starting with today's date.

Bonus: If you like this, then you have to see what else Blogger is working on. (I love those guys...) Click your Layout tab then click Add A Gadget. This is where they test out new gadgets. Some new ones you may have seen, others may be totally new to you. IOne of their new ones here that they don't yet have (as of today) in their regular Blogger (orange B) gadgets is the "Search your blog" button.

How do I know about all of this? I cheat.
I'm one of the 792+ followers of http://bloggerindraft.blogspot.com/2008/06/new-feature-embedded-comment-form.html and I keep tabs on new stuff in my Google Reader. They tell me when they have something new; I'm not out there searching for it.

Speaking of "Followers," do you have a Follow Me gadget on your blog? It's a Web 2.0 gem, baby. You can see who reads you and get to know them... and if you follow someone's blog you can read the blogs of their other followers and get to know them as well. I love that gadget. But that's another Blog Bling post here. Maybe next week...

If you change your comment form, leave a comment here so we can all swing by and leave you a comment as well.

Cheers!

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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!

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Blog Bling: BlogUpp!

Today's Blog Bling: BlogUpp!

Instead of writing something new about BlogUpp!, I will copy and paste the Etsy forum post I made in mid July, inviting Etsyians to add a BlogUpp widget to their blogs. The nice folks at BlogUpp! also sent me an email clarifying how the widget works, and since I want to keep everything I do transparent, I have not edited anything. When I started with BlogUpp! I was in a hurry (as usual) and did not read the entire FAQ and didn't realize that if I spread the word about BlogUpp! it would benefit me. I am not posting here for my benefit, either, I just think it's a great tool to promote one's blog and invite you to give it a try if you haven't already done so..

I'd like to mention what I like best about this tool (besides the fact that it is very easy to set up and install,) before I give you the copy/paste. You know how when you shop at Amazon.com they tell you "People who bought this item also bought..." What a great tool to show you similar items that may be of interest to you. BlogUpp! has used a similar approach by promoting similar blogs on your widget. This means that your blog will be promoted on other blogs similar to yours (based on your recent posts) and you will most likely discover other interesting blogs on the widget installed on your own blog. It's a win-win, in my opinion.

On to the cut & paste. I initially introduced BlogUpp! in the Etsy forums like this :

Posted 7/8/08 at 11:32am
A new blog widget called BlogUpp! doubled my blog traffic but most of the blogs are mom blogs. We need more crafty blogs on the BlogUpp! network. It's free to join, no signup required - takes <1>http://www.blogupp.com/
-Pam
PS: Thanks!

Oh - if you want to see it in action, take a look at mine.
http://passitonplatesblog.blogspot.com/
It's on the sidebar under my Project Wonderful ad.
Hover your mouse over the images and you get the RSS feed from those blogs. Click and it takes you there. But like I said, they're all mom blogs - which is fine, but I'd love to see more crafty blogs out there so they'll get promoted on my site.

Once you put the link to your site in the box and hit the "Shoot ahead!" button, put their code on your site. Their admins take a look at your site, check the code, and (within about a day in most cases) you're live. Give it a day or two from the time you put the code on your site and you'll start seeing some nice results.

When you first put the code on your site, the BlogUpp! bar is grey. When you're approved the bar is blue. I think not approved is red, but that would usually be the case for gambling, and adult sites. Not a prob here, right?

Wow - when I started this I figured there would be maybe a handful of responses. I promised myself I would do my best to visit every blog adding (or using) BlogUpp and thank everyone personally for joining and helping to promote each other.

I think I visited all the blogs listed in the first 3 pages here, maybe 4? I'll have to check back tomorrow and try to thank everyone else who is participating.
Meanwhile, * * T H A N K Y O U * * to everyone!!
And holey cheese, people - do you realize just how much talent we have here? I have spent a wonderful evening visiting some amazing blogs showcasing all kinds of incredible things.

Posted on 7/10/08 at 2:51pm, about two days into the project...
Wow, I'm seeing a LOT more crafty blogs in rotation on that nifty little widget. Thanks everyone so far!

I went back to the BlogUpp site and clicked on stats.
Have you checked this out? They show you how many times your blog has been viewed, how many clicks you've gotten, etc. And if you post about it in your blog they give you more blog impressions on other peoples' blogs.
That's extra free advertising, baby!

During all of this, I had asked BlogUpp! a question about how it works. Their quick response:

Thank you very much one more time for sharing your finding of the widget. We are impressed how receptive has been the Etsy community to your invitation. As mentioned in our earlier email, we've updated our records and your weblog was assigned  additional bonus impressions, for its extra-promotion. You can see that in your stats under "Additional impressions".

Concerning your questions, you understood it right. Everything that's related to the promotion of your blog, stands under "Inbound", i.e. the clicks to your blog and your blog views within the community. Whereas "Outbound" stands for the clicks and promotion from your blog towards the community. And it's important to mention that for each 10 impressions displayed on your blog in the widget, your blog gains 9
more views in the community, which accumulate in your balance.

You might be seeing in your stats not big figures for the "inbound impressions" lately. That's only because you've been an active clicker, and the system looks to promote your blog on other community blogs with relatively the same click activity, in order to increase the number of actual visitor to your blog. It means that your
impressions sharing is more qualitative rather than quantitative. The growth of the community from your lovely category will render better results, and more new connections for you and your blog.

Please don't hesitate to let us know should you need further information.

Thank You!

Sincerely,

The BlogUpp! Team
http://www.blogupp.com

As usual, when you learn about a new bit of Blog Bling here, (don't you just love alliteration?) post your URL in the comments so everyone can check out this bling on your site. Remember too, that all blog comments are DoFollow, so leaving your comment plus link is an extra shot of Goggle juice for your site. Win-Win.

Ok? So come on, comment comment.

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.