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Learn. How to Promote Your Etsy Items via Social Networks.

Posted by christy in Social Media | Tutorials - (0 Comments)

Etsy is making it even easier to promote your favorite items!  They have added page tools on each item.

On this screenshot you can see it in the bottom right of the screen.

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I actually own these rings and Lynette was the one that reminded me of this feature today!

Using the page tools you can easily email a listing and even subscribe to the shop feed.  If you need a little refresher course on how to subscribe to feeds, check out the post I did on subscribing and facebook fan pages.

What I want to focus on today is the Bookmark and share button.  You can find these buttons all over the place.  In fact, at the end of each of my posts there is a bookmark button.  If you click on it, it gives you a number of options on how you can share these posts with others.  At etsy, it does the exact same thing.

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If you click on the button, this is what shows up.  If you’re on Facebook, you can post an interesting item right to your wall.  You can do the same thing with twitter.

Be careful.  Don’t do this too much with your own items!  Find things you love from others and promote them every once in a while, too!  Don’t forget to let them know.  Every etsy seller loves to hear from someone that admires their work.

What are you waiting for?  Go and promote someone’s handiwork today.

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Learn. How to Subscribe to Blogs and Be My Biggest Fan.

Posted by christy in Social Media | Tutorials - (1 Comments)

I’ve had several people ask me lately what I mean when I tell them they can subscribe to my blog.  There are a few options and I’m going to show you step by step how to do it.

1. Subscribe via email.  If you don’t use a subscription service like Google Reader, this is an excellent option.  All you do is enter your email address over there in my sidebar.  subscribertute

Underneath the twitter bird is an area for you to enter your email address.  Click subscribe and that is it!  My blog posts will show up in your email inbox once each day that I post.

2.  Google Reader.  This is one of my favorite web tools.  readertute I manage all of my blog subscriptions this way.  Google Reader shows me when my favorite blogs have updated so I don’t have to take the time to go through bookmarks or remember which blogs I want to read.

In the upper left underneath the logo, you click on add a subscription.  You can type in the blog address and you’re set!  You can organize your subscriptions by categories too.  That comes in handy if you’ve got a long list of blogs you like to keep up with.

If you click on the “Follow Me” buttons found on a lot of blogs these days, all of those can be managed in Google Reader as well.  subscribe

I use this handy little bookmark tool.  If you click on Settings (top right) when you are in your google reader, you’ll see a bunch of options.  Click on “Goodies” and you’ll see this one!  Subscribe as you surf!  All you do is drag that bookmarklet up to your tool bar and anytime you’re browsing around and see a site you’d like to subscribe to you just click on that and it will automatically add it to your reader!  Fancy, eh?

christy-tag300px3.  Be My Fan!

Another way to keep on top of the latest blog posts is to be my fan on Facebook.  If you have a facebook profile,  my blog posts will show up in your status updates.  I’ve also got a few fun things in the works just for my facebook fans (think craft swag!) so become my fan on my brand new page!

I hope this was helpful and you’re all on your way subscribing to some great new blogs.  I’d love to add your blog to my google reader!  Share the link in the comments.

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Learn. How to Use Flickr

Posted by christy in Social Media | Tutorials - (0 Comments)

Some of you may know that I use a Flickr group as a gallery for this website.  You can go there and see projects from readers, my projects, craft challenge pictures, and there is even a space to have group discussions.  Anytime you want to access the flickr group, you can click on the SHARE icon in my sidebar.  It will take you right there.  I’ve had a few people ask me how it works and how they can use it to post their craft challenge entries (due May 27th, by the way!).  I hope this post can help. 

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Flickr is a free photo sharing site that has some great built in tools.  I use these for organizing my blog photos, as well as my personal photos.  image When you sign in, you’ll want to start uploading your photos or videos. 

You click on choose photos and videos and then follow the instructions. 

There are also some great uploading tools you can find if you click on the Flickr Tools page.  You can upload from your email and they have desktop uploaders as well.  I use Flickr Uploadr for Windows.  It is a great application that I can pull up anytime I’m taking the pictures off of my camera.  I don’t have to get online or anything.  From that application I can also name, tag, and describe my photos.

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This is the screen that will come up from the web based application if you upload a picture.  It is still not right side up but this is easily fixed as soon as it is saved to flickr. 

This is where you give your picture a title, description, and tags.  You can also add it to a set.  I keep a set for projects, family, and some other things.  Tags are descriptive words that can help you find your pictures in the future.  If they consist of more than one word, you’ll want to put them in quotes.  I always tag my photos with the year they were taken.  Sample tags for this photo might include: 2009, projects, christynelson.net, skirt, sewing.

One of the options you have when you save your pictures to flickr, is the chance to edit them in Picnick.  If you don’t have some other photo editing software you like to use, this is one of the best free applications I’ve seen.  You can add text to your photos, crop, fix red eyes, and much more.

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This screen shot shows what it looks like once you have saved your picture to flickr. You have options to edit, delete, and rotate.  You can also set flickr up so you can blog directly from there.  You can make any picture a blog post along with your own commentary.

 

You can also send to a group.  Joining groups is a great way to meet new bloggers and other crafters.  Of course, I recommend you join my group!  If you participate in the craft challenge you can send your pictures directly to the group with a few clicks.  image

To the right is the screenshot of my group’s homepage.  Any group member can add their crafty pictures there.  There is also a spot for discussion.  We’ve kind of been neglecting that area but I’d love to see it get a little more action! 

I’ve only barely scratched the surface here with what you can do with Flickr.  I hope you take the time to see what it can do for you!

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