Here's a compilation of useful articles on improving your product photographs.
Shop Makeover: Before and After With Photoshop
Small Object Product Photography for your Online Shop
Photography Tips for Crafters
How To: DIY $10 Macro Light Tent for Handmade Artisans
Batch Processing Plugin for GIMP - Speed up editing your photos by batch resizing and converting file formats using GIMP.
Senin, 24 Januari 2011
Jumat, 21 Januari 2011
Weekly Inspiration
Submit your photos for consideration as a Weekly Inspiration by adding them to the Flickr Group.
Senin, 17 Januari 2011
Blog Tracking
No, this isn't a post on google analytics or any other stats program. It's about how to increase your exposure on blogs by getting organized. You will need only 3 things for this: email, spreadsheet software (excel, open office, etc), and this article from Modish on how to approach blogs. Optional tool: Google alerts.
In your spreadsheet you will need various columns to track blogs that have featured you or that you want to feature you. Here's what I have for mine:
Contacted - Yes/No
Featured - Yes/No
Blog Name - Noadi's Art Blog
URL - http://noadi.blogspot.com
Topic - Handmade
Notes - Blah blah blah
Editor Name - Sheryl
Contact - NoadiArt@gmail.com
Date Contacted - 1/1/11
Date Featured - 1/1/11
Feature URL - http://noadi.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-year-new-ideas.html
I use Google Alerts to see new mentions of my name, business, name, or URLs so I know of blog features where the blogger hasn't emailed me that I've been featured (this happens frequently).
I first input all blog that have featured me (that I know of), then add those I want to feature me. This can be a time consuming task as there are a lot of blogs on the topics I want to feature my work. This is the main point of this spreadsheet, create a big list of blogs you want to feature you then contact one or two of them every day making sure to mark that they've been contacted and the date. If you don't hear back from them or get a feature in a few months, send a reminder (and only one, if they still don't feature you they probably aren't interested).
The blogs that have featured your work can be your list of blogs to contact again in the future when you have something new and special to share like a brand new line. They already like your work so don't be afraid to contact them again.
Contacted - Yes/No
Featured - Yes/No
Blog Name - Noadi's Art Blog
URL - http://noadi.blogspot.com
Topic - Handmade
Notes - Blah blah blah
Editor Name - Sheryl
Contact - NoadiArt@gmail.com
Date Contacted - 1/1/11
Date Featured - 1/1/11
Feature URL - http://noadi.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-year-new-ideas.html
I use Google Alerts to see new mentions of my name, business, name, or URLs so I know of blog features where the blogger hasn't emailed me that I've been featured (this happens frequently).
I first input all blog that have featured me (that I know of), then add those I want to feature me. This can be a time consuming task as there are a lot of blogs on the topics I want to feature my work. This is the main point of this spreadsheet, create a big list of blogs you want to feature you then contact one or two of them every day making sure to mark that they've been contacted and the date. If you don't hear back from them or get a feature in a few months, send a reminder (and only one, if they still don't feature you they probably aren't interested).
The blogs that have featured your work can be your list of blogs to contact again in the future when you have something new and special to share like a brand new line. They already like your work so don't be afraid to contact them again.
Jumat, 14 Januari 2011
Weekly Inspiration
Submit your photos for consideration as a Weekly Inspiration by adding them to the Flickr Group.
Rabu, 12 Januari 2011
Use an Eye Catching Signature
Email signatures are great. They get attached to all your outgoing emails and can be a simple, passive, means of advertising. There are definitely more effective ways to market, but since creating a signature takes all of 5 minutes at the most it's worth the time.
If you use an email program like Outlook or Firebird you already have easy tools to create an attractive signature but if you use web based mail you may not be able to create an html based signature. However there is a solution for web based email services if you use Firefox or Chrome. A little while ago I found Wisestamp which is an extension for Firefox or Chrome and is compatible with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, Hotmail, and several more services. It has a nice interface that makes creating a signature very easy with some nice tools like social media buttons and the ability to display items from an RSS feed.
Senin, 10 Januari 2011
Managing Goals
So you have some business goals for the new year. How are you going to keep yourself on track to complete them? Here are a few ideas for managing your goals.
Time: Say your goal is to blog 3 times a week but you're good at forgetting. Google Calender to set up recurring event reminders that are sent to your email a set time before you want it done (e.g. 2 hours).
Sales: Tim Adams of Handmadeology has created a free sales goal tracking spreadsheet. It's aimed at Etsy sellers but will work whatever venue (or multiple venues) you use.
Shop: Overhaul your shop for 2011 with this article from Handmade Spark that compile a great list of ideas for improving your shop and sales for the new year.
Time: Say your goal is to blog 3 times a week but you're good at forgetting. Google Calender to set up recurring event reminders that are sent to your email a set time before you want it done (e.g. 2 hours).
Sales: Tim Adams of Handmadeology has created a free sales goal tracking spreadsheet. It's aimed at Etsy sellers but will work whatever venue (or multiple venues) you use.
Shop: Overhaul your shop for 2011 with this article from Handmade Spark that compile a great list of ideas for improving your shop and sales for the new year.
Kamis, 06 Januari 2011
Happy 2011
As you've probably noticed the blog went on unplanned hiatus for a bit. Things just got way too busy both personally and with the business over the holidays for me to get posts written. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and welcome to 2011! What are your goals for the new year?
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