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 its an amazing resource for two reasons, one it's fantastic for research and information; I've learned tons 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 yourr 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 that 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 to. 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't find the page. Another thing that people do is pin images directly from Googe images, giving that as a 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 want to find the source there is a way. Right click on the pin, then 'open the image in new tab', right click on that and 'save as'. Open up Google Images an 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 or forgot what I named them. Pinterest is fantastic for sorting out this kind of information. I have a borad 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 optiont o 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 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

Blogging Pt III: 12 Steps to More Traffic on Your Blog

This is the third and final part of the blogging series by Ruth from Nice Day Designs, these pieces were originally posted on her website and were republished here with permission. This installment is about increasing your traffic, make sure to 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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Blogging Part One: 20 Basic Tips

This post was originally posted by Ruth Crean on her blog Nice Day Designs, and was republished here to help all the members with their blogs.

This will be a 3 part series dealing with basics of blogging, design, and promotion. Today I'll be doing the basics, I wrote an article last year on this for Etsy Ireland  ,some of the info is out of date because of the changes made this year to blogger, but there are still some helpful tips for total beginners. The following post will be published weekly each Monday, so stay tuned!

Firstly you have to decide if blogging for you, lots of crafts people feel that they have to have one because everyone else does, or that it's hurting their business not to have a blog. Now that we have things like Facebook and Twitter there is really no need to start blogging if it would feel like a chore. It's just as easy to share your new creations on FB/Twitter, and there is not as much pressure to write. So if you like writing, would enjoy getting involved in the community of bloggers, and don't mind putting in lots of work for free then you have found your calling as a blogger. I've been blogging for nearly 5 years now, and I started it because I missed writing. In my day to day life there is no reason for me to write, and between the years of finishing college and starting Nice Day Designs the only things I composed were emails. I don't claim to be a great writer, but it's a hobby that makes me happy, so starting my own blog seemed like a perfect forum for my ramblings.

So now you need to choose who to go with. Most web designers and bloggers will say Wordpress , as it has more potential down the line to make it feel more like a website rather than a blog. I went through a phase of being very frustrated with Blogger, but I've stuck with it over the years. With all the developments they have made in the past 6 months it's an incredibly easy to use site, and might be preferable to beginners. I've tried Wordpress and I wasn't really a fan. but that's probably because I'm so used to Blogger. There is a handy table here to show you the comparison between the two to help you decide. Most established blogs seem to switch over at some point to Wordpress, and to be honest I'm still toying with the idea, but it can be expensive to hire someone to do it. I just found this ebook that came highly recommended to help guide you through the switch over process if it looks like your blog turns from a hobby to a more committed thing.

Tips:
1. Think about your content, but don't stress over it. When starting your blog think about what you are trying to say overall and who your readers might be. This will help you come up with new posts when you are having an off day. Example this is a craft blog and I wanted to keep my own personal voice. Which means I have a mostly female readership, which in turn will be interested in things like fashion and handsome men! Hence the addition of things like my 'What I'm Wearing' series and 'Hotty but Notty'. Content is key, you will not keep readers if they feel you are writing it as a chore to help promote your business. I've seen an endless raft of blogs like this and I never go back to them.

2. Post regularly and consistently. If you are a once a week blogger then choose a particular day. Don't have 10 posts in 5 days and then nothing for a month.

3. Choosing themed days might help you with get over any writers block. We used this to great effect on the Etsy Ireland Team blog, there was how-to tuesday, and fab 5 friday. You don't need to catagorise your whole week but it's handy to have an old reliable, and it's also nice for readers too as they know what to expect. I'm a particular fan of mags Pretty Boy/Girl Friday.

4. Link as much as you can when you are talking about something. People who read blogs want information. If you are writing about crafts link to your shop, where you got your supplies, and what craft books you are reading. This is done by highlighting the word in question and clicking the link option.

4. When linking always have the option 'open this link in a new window', that means that you are not sending your reader away from your site. It's very easy for a reader to get distracted in that new site and not go back to yours, whereas if they still have your site open in a window they will most likely go back to it.

5. Refer back to old articles on your blog when you are writing, like above I mentioned yesterday's post and also the article I wrote for Etsy Ireland. This will get people interested in your back catalogue.

6. Another handy tool for this is Link Within, that's the little pictures you see at the end of each blog post show you older and related posts. As a blog reader find these really helpful and have often spent a half hour on someone's site reading their older posts. It's really easy to install with their step by step guide.

7. Please turn off the Captcha if you are on blogger! Loads of people hate them and it puts them off commenting. If you are concerned about security then moderate your comments, or what I do is moderate on comments older than 14 days. I have had spam bots post tonnes of comments, but after I made the older posts moderation I haven't had any trouble.

8. Scheduling your posts is a great way to get posts written for the week when you have spare time. Monday is usually my blogging day and i space them out over the week.

9.Interact with other blogs, when you read an interesting article, don't be silent, leave a comment. The blogger will appreciate it and other readers will click your link and go to your blog. Try to do this a much as possible.

10. Respond to comments left on your blog. I don't respond to every single one, but when a few have build up I leave one comment responding to a few people at once. If you notice a new commenter visit their site and leave a comment on their blog about something they have written, it's only polite.

11.Give credit. If you are not using your own photos, or if you found a great crafting tutorial make sure to link to the original site, otherwise you are stealing the image/how-to. Most bloggers don't mind if you link to their work without asking permission first as it will drive traffic to their site. Again it's about being polite.

12. Please don't have music on your blog, or if you really want it let it be optional. A lot of people read blogs in the office(when they meant to be working) so the last thing they want is an announcement to other satff that they are skiving off. Even though I work from home I find it annoying and distracting, most of the time I click out of the site.

13. Share your skills. Lots of my favourite blogs are informative by either doing craft how-to's, marketing tips or cookery suggestions. If you have a hidden skill people want to know about it. Do you have an amazing recipe for chili, or a genius list of uses for vinegar? Let the world know about it by writing a how-to/guide.Be careful not to spill all your business secrets though, if you teach people how to make all the products that you sell they might not buy from you. Lupin Handsmade balances this line very well.

14. Don't obsess over you visitors numbers, it can take a long time to get established. It's only in the past year that I'm getting a decent amount of hits per day, and even at that they are fairly small compared to other craft site. Remember to be patient, but also remember to enjoy it and not stress over the figures. In later articles I'll give tips on driving traffic9although I'm no expert!)

15. Use lots of photos, number one they serve to break up the text, at heart we are all children who love picture books. I like to upload my pictures as extra large and centred, this avoids tricky formatting trying to integrate them into the text.

16. Link your images where possible, most blog readers expect this(I know I do). For example when I doing an etsy finds post I link the image to the item(by highlighting the photo and clicking link) I also type in a description and price underneath, and I also link this. I tried using the add caption option and linking this but that means that when you click the image you get an error notice. I prefer to put in the extra effort and link both separately.

17. I prefer having a long list of posts rather than having to click older posts repeatedly. It's totally your preference, but I get get bored if the whole rage has to reload every time I want to read an older article. I limit mine to 15 posts.

18. Intersperse weightier more time consuming posts, like this one, with lighter quick posts like my beardy post last week. Otherwise you will be a slave to your computer and not have a life.

19. Mix things up, don't just blog about one thing. If i just blogged about the crafts that I make I would bore myself and my readers to tears. I have other interests so I share them here, it gives a more personal and fuller perspective about who i am. You never know what will appeal to readers, my most popular post of all time is how hot Dave Grohl is.

20. Don't over share. I'm all for letting people in and showing my vulnerable side, but I still treat this site as a face for my business. I don't talk about my sex life, or bitch about people I have issue with. Your blog, especially  business blog, is about putting your best foot forward.

Most importantly have fun!

Stay tuned next week for part two on the importance of design.

Useful Links:
Blogging Your Passion 
Get a more professional looking blog.
The Backlight-loads of blogging tips
Blogging Myths
50 tips to battle writers block
The Art of the Article

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Positions vacant - apply within!

Hi all! As you may be aware, it's time for Ruth and myself to hang up our hats and hand the admin reins to other team members. That would be the metaphoric picture of Ruth and me sliding off the edge of the leaf there ...


We've broken down the tasks involved into smaller roles, in order to make things more manageable and now need several people to step up and volunteer. Thanks must go to Tanya for all her work in putting together the job descriptions. :o)

So be brave, stick your hand in the air and get in touch if one of the roles below sounds up your street. We can't do this without the support of the team and it would be a shame to see the group diminish given the immense growth and spirit that has evolved over the past few months.

Ruth and I are happy to continue to contribute in a small manner (and of course guide new contributors through the process and provide backup and help) but we need others to pitch in please.

♥ Team Admin ♥ (Rotated every 6 months)
> Responsible for making newcomers welcome and passing on links (facebook/flickr/blog..)
> Encourage members to tag items correctly with 'craftyirelandteam'
> Add new shops to Shop Directory on blog
> Update Etsy teams staff with new member list monthly
> Be on hand for general queries from new & existing members.
> email the New member admin person (see below) weekly with the names of new members for inclusion in the 'welcome' post on the blog

♥ New member admin for 'Welcome' updates ♥ (Rotated every 6 months)
> Announce new members publicly on the blog (Member Update) once weekly email is received from main admin person: this involves visiting each new member shop, getting a pic and title of a current item, creating the collage or composite graphic of that week's members and then doing the Welcome post)

♥ Email Person ♥ (short term role)
> Work alongside Team admin and Blog editor to maintain and update the member mailing list
> We could use a shared document (i.e Google Docs) so that it can be easily edited and used by team admin, blog editor and PR team instead of mass convo's

♥ PR Team/Think Tank ♥ (Long term role for 3 - 5 members)
> A bunch of proactive creative thinkers & most importantly 'doers' to help generate publicity for the team, online and offline. (Press releases/Team promotions/events etc.)
> Responsible for applying for team grants and informing team of progress via blog, facebook , twitter, etsy chat room…

♥ Blog editor ♥ (Rotated every 6 months)
> Responsible for adding new bloggers to author list
> Adding emails onto team mailing list regularly
> Create a blog timetable through shared docs and make visible via the blog
> Editor will be backed up by 'blog hosts' to avoid holes appearing in schedule

♥ Blog Hosts ♥
> Responsible for assisting Blog editor in maintaining a complete blog schedule and help fill holes where necessary

'Fab 5 on friday'
Host will be responsible for sourcing members to participate. Each week a different member will select their fave 5 and pass onto host for blogging.

'Crafty Update'
Host will announce upcoming craft fair details, events, shop promotions/giveaways etc. on members behalf. This feature will act as a noticeboard for the team but its success depends entirely upon the participation of members.

'Treasury Curator'
Host will be contact person for all treasury makers in the team. Regular blog posts (2/3 times a week) with screenshots and links to active treasuries.

'Tea & a chat with' (instead of introducing Monday perhaps?)
Fun, friendly member interview blogged by host - also responsible for sourcing contributors on a weekly basis.

'Eyes Open Ireland'
Snapshots from members hosted by Bridget

♥ All Members! ♥

*** Step in and contribute a blog article once in a while – volunteer! Don’t wait to be asked!

*** Represent your Area! Hosting a crafty meeting is a great way to do that! We need rep’s for Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Limerick and Cork. Each rep will be responsible for setting up meeting time/location and inviting members in your locality to come along. No big agenda! Just meet up, chat, show off your latest makes and have fun. We’d love each rep to blog after each meeting with some photo’s and a little summary of what you all got up to!

Brigitte from Purlsofcolour has already volunteered to pitch in with the blog and Beth from Magpieandbutton is also up for regularly contributing for Fab 5 - thanks guys!

So leave a comment below if you're up for it. Thanks.

How-to on Blogging

As you probably know already there will be a change over of the co-ordinators for the team at the end of the month, Alex will be posting more about this on Monday. I just wanted to do a few posts to help out our new members with easy step by step guides on how to be more active on the blog, and on Etsy.

Firstly I'm going to do a how-to for posting on the blog, this may seem a bit basic, but I know I was put off when I first joined Etsy. I kept hearing about how great blogs were, but that were time consuming and difficult to manage. But this post is here to make it easy.

First Step: If you want to contribute to this blog just contact the team co-ordinator, which at present is me Ruth(Update,our new blog editor is Birgitte, please contact her for new articles) Just say what you would like to post about, and what date would suit you best. I then find a slot that's free and need to sign you up to write for the blog. For this I would need your email address...this is very important, I can't sign you up without it. You then receive an email that contains a link, just follow it and you are now a member!! When you need to sign in just go to blogger and use your email address and password to sign in.

Second Step: Now you want to post something. When you sign in you will see something that looks like the image above, it's called your dashboard, just click the button that says 'New Post'.

Third Step: You will then see a screen that looks like this. It's just like typing in Word when you are in the 'compose' tab. Mostly I do all my typing first and I add all my pictures at the end. Also if you are using Firefox or Chrome it will do the spell check as you go, which is very handy for terrible lazy typists like me!! You can edit just like in word too my highlighting an area, then just click the icon to make it bold, or centred or change colour.Very important: do not edit your text in Word and then copy and paste, it seems to mess with blogger and leads to all kinds of problems when posting!!!

Fourth Step: Now you'll want to add pictures. I'm a firm believer in the need for pictures on a blog, this may sound shallow but I don't have the patience to read lumps of text without images. So either use your own pictures or I often use Getty Images as a good source for free photography. Try not to use a huge file size, try to stick to 72dpi, as you don't need anything higher for viewing on a screen, as it will slow the load time when viewing. About the same size you use for the images in your etsy shop will be perfect.

To upload a picture just click the small icon that looks like a landscape photo. I've never perfected the tool of placing the images within the text, it always formats it weirdly so I always go for the option of centred layout, and large format image. It just makes life easier, trust me!!Then just browse, and upload. Depending on what browser you are using you should be able to click and move the image up and down the article. Last year I was having some trouble with this on my older computer, so I went into the html tab and moved them there.When you first start blogging you don't need to worry about the html tab, but as you get more experienced you can switch over to and edit the code yourself. A way of avoiding doing this is to upload all of your images before you start typing, and then type around them, so you don't need to move anything.

Fifth Step: Links are incredibly important, interconnectivity is one of the wonderful things on the web and the more you can refer to other things the better. I don't mean that you should over do it and have a link in every sentence, but supply your readers with info that they want to know about. Also linking within your typing is far easier on the eye, and much nicer to read. Example:

Tanya uses great colours in her creations, and has really cute insights on her blog.

Tanya uses great colours in her creations,http://www.etsy.com/shop/TanyaMac, and has really cute insights on her blog.http://www.cheekyurchin.blogspot.com/

See how much nicer the former sentance is, and experienced blog readers expect this format, and are put off by the second clunky one. It's really easy to do the first option, first of all highlight the word/s that you want to make into a link, then click the link button (the green globe with a loop over it) a little pop up box will appear, just delete the 'http://' that is there automatically and paste in your address that you want to link to.

See how much nicer the former sentance is, and experienced blog readers expect this format, and are put off by the second clunky one. It's really easy to do the first option, first of all highlight the word/s that you want to make into a link, then click the link button (the green globe with a loop over it) a little pop up box will appear, just delete the 'http://' that is there automatically and paste in your address that you want to link to.

Final Tweaks:You're nearly there!! You just need to think of a snappy title, something short and fun usually works; think newspaper headlines. Also your titles effect your google searches so being obscure is not always the best thing. Also it's very important to add labels, or tags as they are also known as. If you are writing an intro about yourself don't forget your name, business name, locality, what you make, materials, trends. eg:

ruth crean, nice day designs, limerick, buttons, supplies, recycled clothes, ireland, craft, market, etsy, fashion, etsy ireland

So that means if someone types in recycled fashion ireland, or limerick markets, craft buttons ireland into a google search that they will find this blog. The more relavant tags the better, it's really important help people find your blog, and this is one great way of doing it. I know typing in your name might seem obvious but the more web presence your name has, the better for your business. Also you need to separate all of you tags with a comma, there is no use typing them all in one stream. Also if you are writing one of the regular articles on the blog, please tag with one of the following, this is very important:

introducing monday

how-to-tuesday

I'll show you mine Wednesday

trade secrets thursday

fab 5 friday

That's it, all you have to do now is click publish!!! It's nice if the writer checks back in after a couple of days and replies to comments that readers have left. It's common courtesy and also when we were nominated this year for the Irish Blog Awards interaction through comments was one of the catagories that was marked.

I hope this encourages more people to post on the blog, and I hope I haven't made it sound too complicated, it's easy really and loads of fun....that's why I'm so addicted, I've been blogging now for 2 years and I love it!

Side Note: Under post options there is the option to type up an article for it to publish at a later date. Sometimes I've gotten it to work and other times it goes mental and publishes it immediately. I've found if I change the date but not the time it seems to work ok, has anyone had any glitchy problems with it??