J-Blab from KweenBee.com

Fantastic Free Websites to Advertise Your ArtFire Shop

2010-11-10T13:08:00.000-08:00

I originally published this in the ArtFire forums, but since I went to all that trouble I felt I should add it to my blog. Here it is...

These are the links I have found to promote my ArtFire shop - and all are free. I am currently using or have used most of these. Others have been recommended, but just haven’t found the time to add myself.

http://www.craftytips.com/
http://www.yaami.com/
www.aluminouspublishing.com/linkexchangepage.php
http://www.freecraftylinks.com/ (can only be a link to your shop. Links to individual items don’t work on this site. It also runs an Artist of the Month. I was selected!)
http://www.thecraftshopper.com/ (US only)
www.linkreferral.com/
http://www.ebayclassifieds.com/ (US only)
www.gumtree.com/ (UK and Australia)
http://www.craigslist.com/ (careful not to over-post or post out of your area)
http://www.stumbleupon.com/ (sign up and use that link! It's right there in your shop for goodness sakes!)
http://www.digg.com/
http://www.craftjuice.com/
www.attackofthecraft.com/stage/
http://www.craftersbuzz.com/ (links only to your shop, but can advertise single items)
http://www.thehandmadecafe.com/ (advertise single items in their classified ads and add your shop to the list of sites. Also have a forum and blog section.)
http://www.kijiji.com/ (Canada only)
http://www.thehandmadedirectory.com/
www.unanimouscraft.com (create an account and link to your shop. You can then update with your new listings)
www.boingboing.net/submit/
www.kaboodle.com
www.100craftlinks.com/cgi-bin/ldb/ldb.pl
www.widgetbox.com (great use for your ArtFire feed - shows a photo, title and description of your listings. It also, adds you to their directory and lets others easily post your feed on their site.)

The following list of websites can be used to promote your blogs or other websites you run and host yourself. Most require you add a reciprocal link which is commonplace.
www.gotop100.com/directory/ (exchange banners with established users or create your own banner exchange program)
www.craftseekers.com/
www.aussiecrafts.com.au (for Australians)
www.relevantdirectory.ca/ (Canadian based)
www.relevantdirectory.com/ (for anyone)
www.2handmade.com
www.greatpremiumdirectory.com/

I have noted extra information accordingly. Some are area specific so make note of it. I suggest that you don’t add your site to a place where you don’t live even if you do offer shipping there. It may be considered spam by the webmaster and get you banned from the site.

I have also tried to add only those that allow clickable links and that are free to use. I know I have a very limited advertising budget and assume that most of you do too. This will, hopefully, improve your page rank and enable higher listing for your ArtFire shop during searches.

Other tips you may find useful:
If you have a blog or other website, make sure that you offer a section with reciprocal links. Add others’ links to your site in exchange for them adding your link to theirs. Make your ArtFire banner into a link. This is a more advanced and you’ll need to know some basic html. A quick search on any search engine will give you plenty of links to many helpful html sites.

An easy way to do it is through widgetbox.com It uses your ArtFire feed which you can find in the left hand column of your shop marked “STUDIO RSS FEED”. Click the link to your feed and copy the address from the address bar. Click the feed logo in widgetbox to create your widget. Paste your feed link into the appropriate spot and it will take care of itself. You can also customize your widget to match your shop colour scheme. This is a free service and you can pay to upgrade, but it’s still very good even though there are ads on the widget.

Another benefit to using these widgets on your blogs and outside websites is that, the code for the link is automatically generated. This makes it easy for anyone to copy and paste it onto their sites and blogs which is great for creating reciprocal links back to your shop. This is very advantageous for us who are somewhat computer challenged but still want to share links.

If you do run reciprocal links on your website and want to know who is and who isn’t linking to you go to Google and enter this including the brackets:

[link:www.somewebsite.com]

Of course, enter the url (the www.somewebsite.com) of your ArtFire shop or other website you want to know more about. A list of every site linked to this url will be there.

Facebook and Twitter are also very good. You can find some useful tips and hints from other users of these sites and can easily promote your latest items. ArtFire is great for allowing you to link easily to these.

Look for local classified ads on the web. Web entrepreneurs are always looking into ways to cash in on a local market and may have started an online classified ad listing for your community or surrounding area. It could be free or not. Every place is different.

A final note: I am undecided about identical listings on the internet. Some say it doesn’t matter and others says you should never do this. In the excess of links and websites on the internet, I find it hard to believe that any search engine can determine that a description is the same and going to penalize you for that by not listing or downgrading the links.

On the other hand, I feel it would be better to use a distinctive title and as much unique description as possible to help customers find you and your handmade stuff. The more keywords that trigger your item to come up in a search can only benefit you in the long run. But in saying that, I understand that not all of us have the time or patience to rewrite every listing we have.

If you know of any other websites that you’ve used successfully, please share it! We’re all in the same boat and need to help one another ;-)

- - Happy Promoting and Good Luck - -

New Stuff...

2010-04-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

I was starting to feel kind of guilty for not posting anything for such a long time. I do have a good excuse...I've been making stuff and just enjoying the nicer weather that we've finally been blessed with. In a few more weeks the snow should be completely gone and then let the good times start! Whoo Hooo!

So here's what I have to share with all the good folks. I've been making and designing all sorts of new stuff over the last while. Here's a couple of things starting with this necklace...

and this one...

I've also been on a bit of a tear for making the bracelets that I've designed. I had an urge to do a more varied and embellished version and this is how it turned out...

Of course if you are interested in seeing what I've been up to it would be best to see my Etsy shop. Just follow the link on the right. I'm currently working on a 5 braid bracelet that's turning out quite well. Once it's done I'll make sure that I post a photo of it. Don't hold you're breath though, it may take longer than I would like to admit.

But as a final note...I found a website through LinkReferral that you may be interested in. It's called TheHandemadeCafe.com. It gives you 30 days for free to try it out so that's okay. It has classified ads, photos and groups. It's obviously fairly new so I'm curious to see how it ends up but free advertising is always okay by me. Once again I'll keep you posted.

I Made A Treasury List!

2010-02-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

I was just checking my emails from the weekend and boy was I surprised! Turns out a I was added to a treasury list on Etsy! It's called Warm Winter Woolies and they highlighted my blue hand knit slippers! I guess my hard work over the last little while did pay off. But anyways, I'm busy making a bracelet right now and am feeling that good ol' creative urge again.

Since treasuries only last so long I'll post another link to my slippers for later perusal...

I've Been a Busy Little Bee...

2010-02-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

making, listing and selling! It's been a busy time for me the last little while. I was inspired lately and between knitting and beading I haven't got a whole lot of postings done.

Here's what I've been up to so far...

My totally awesome ear flap toque

Some socks

A cocktail ring

Another ring

and of course my latest obsession, more slippers...

So how do I have time to make all this stuff? To be honest, some of it I found when I was cleaning out my wool supply. Like always, I have left a bunch of knitting with only the ends to sew in; my least favourite part. So I sew in the ends and there you have it...new products to list. It always amazes me how I'll spend hours knitting something but then not be willing to put in the 30 minutes it takes to finish a project off. It's almost embarrassing.

And yes I am ashamed to say that there is a few more pairs of socks, slippers and such that need some ends sewn in but for right now I just can't bring myself to do it. See, I've got this idea for another ring and if I can just....

Learn to Knit Socks....

2010-01-14T20:06:00.001-08:00

I know I promised that I was going to post the tutorial for the sheep slippers and still it hasn't arrived. I have many reasons, side-tracked by other crafty pursuits, food poisoning, carpet cleaning and a cranky baby. A varied list to say the least but all are now over and I can get to work.

First things first, to make the slippers you will need to learn how to knit a basic sock. Nothing fancy, just a basic kinda sock knit on double pointed needles. In particular you will need to know how to turn a heel and how to graft the stitches at the toe so the sock looks finished. If you know how to do this already you're in luck. If not then I found some patterns that may help you. I found that Lion Brand Yarn has some great sock patterns. One of them is at the following link and is for a very basic sock. The only problem is you will have to sign up to get access to the free patterns and you may not want to do this.

I also found a couple of other really great sock websites. One has a calculator so it will give you the pattern for the size foot that you need. It's pretty cool and it's called The Knitting Fiend - Sock-u-lator Socks.

This final site is a sock pattern website on steroids! It has just about every pattern for every type of sock you may ever want to make in your life. The website is called Knitting Pattern Central. If you knit you've probably already found it.

All patterns have slight variations in how to make the heel, in particular the flap. Some knit purl for a ribbed effect that helps the sock last from rubbing on the back of a shoe. Don't worry about this, my slippers don't do this at all, but you may want to do it for fun on your practice socks. Also, I don't use fingering or sport weight yarn like some of the patterns. I use regular worsted weight yarn, preferably something with a wool blend if I can find it. I don't like knitting and knitting a bunch of small stitches because it drives me nuts. I use usually less than 40 stitches around for an adult size and you can easily knit a slipper in a day. And I ain't no rocket scientist but that means a pair in 2 days. Not bad in my books.

Alrighty then. You get knitting and I'll get knitting, taking pictures and writing and I'll see you back here in a couple weeks barring additional cranky babies, food poisoning, craft projects, custom orders, etc.

Current Projects

2010-01-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to everyone and I hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday. I certainly did with too much food and lots of family time. Good thing it only comes once a year or my diet would be out the window permanently.

Right now I'm trying to create the tutorial for my sheep slippers. It's been a while since I made a pair so over the holidays I was working on an adult sized pair. They're almost done and will hopefully be posted on Etsy soon. Now that I remember how to make them, I'll take photos of each step of the next pair that I make. Right now I'm not sure if this will be a free tutorial or not. If I do charge for the pattern, it will be for very little; just enough for me to be compensated for my time and effort into creating it. If you have any feelings about it please let me know...

For the time being the posts will be kept to a minimum until I get this done, but I just want to let everyone know that it is coming. Creating these tutorials takes a lot longer than you could ever imagine. Not only is it the length of time to make the item, but you need multiple photos of each stage then you need to describe in detail what you're doing. Sounds like a walk in the park but trust me, it takes DAYS to complete.

On a brighter note, before the Christmas break I took a leap of faith and submitted my bracelet tutorial to Bead & Button! I haven't heard back from them yet so I'm not sure what's going on there. It would be lovely to be published (and even get paid for it) but having it up on my blog for everyone to see and comment on is a rewarding thing too. Anyways, wish me luck and I'll certainly keep everyone posted on the outcome.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-20T14:45:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to post between now and the New Year so I just want to wish everyone a great holiday season! Don't eat too much and remember the pleasure is in the giving and not the receiving. Anyone with small children will certainly understand and appreciate that!

Art and Craft Bloggers Unite...Gimmie Your Links!

2009-12-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

If you've got an art or craft blog and want to exchange links let's do it here. You can either add your link as a comment for instant gratification or I can add it for you. Just contact me through my email address at adminATkweenbee.com (that's so I don't get spammed!) Just change the AT to @.

www.rattytattysblog.blogspot.com

So You have a Craft Site...Now what?! (pt. 2)

2009-12-18T07:06:00.001-08:00

Enough about links, let's look at the website itself and how it all comes down to one simple statement...Content is King. It's not necessarily how pretty the pictures are, how well you've made something, the how original or soul stirring your artwork is. It's the actual words, where and how they appear in your website that's important. Think of yourself as computer. You can't really appreciate that certain something that makes you either love or hate a piece of art. All you have to go on is the words that are used to describe it. Makes you glad you aren't a computer I bet.

Another thing to keep in mind and one of the least creative parts of your art or craft website is optimising. It makes mean cringe in pain to even think about it! Blah! The webby crowd refers to it as SEO or Search Engine Optimization. What this means is that while you need to build a pretty site that looks good, underneath you really need to make it look good for search engines like Bing, AOL and Google. Most of what you do for these guys is never seen by the average surfer to your website and you don't even know it's there when you look at others'.

The following ideas will help with both the content of your website and getting that soulless computer to think your website is the epitome of awesomeness. These are simple tips to always keep in mind whether it's your personal craft website, blog, or even your shop at one of the online marketplaces.

The Topic of Your Site
Stick to as limited a topic as you possibly can. I find this tough because I make a bunch of different things. I crochet, knit, bead weave, and sell antiques on my sites. They're not overly related so I've tried to keep them as separated as possible. You could make up separate websites for each type of thing you make but for me that would be too much of a hassle and I just don't have that kind of time, or patience!

Another word about keeping your content as focused as possible...There are lots of affiliate marketing companies out there like Commission Junction, LinkShare, and others. Just because your art site has been approved or you've been approached by advertisers doesn't mean you should include their content. If you operate a woodworking site, yes it would make sense to advertise tools, but not fabric, beads or scrap booking supplies. Yes we all want to supplement our incomes and make a little extra cash on the side, but doing this will only hurt you in the long run and you probably won't get a whole lot of people who want to click the ads anyways. Besides,they came for woodworking, not a sale on ribbon.

I'm not going to get into creative ways to generate ad revenue on your website right now. I may do it as another topic at a later date, but if you're interested do your own search and you will find a bunch of information on it. If you are interested in advertising for your website there are two other options; Google and running your own paid advertising plan. Google is a best bet for new and smaller website owners as it is pretty much self-contained and low hassle. All you do is add a snippet of code in your site and you're done. It also offers ads in many formats so it's easy to make them fit into your site. The ads also know what your content is and adjust the ads to suit the topic you cover. You get paid each time someone clicks on these ads. See mine on the right hand side, up top and at the bottom...Click them and I get $$.

Running your own advertising may be another thing that interests you. With this method you can charge what you like for however long of a time frame you want the ads to run. Unless you have a very popular art or craft website, it may be very difficult for you to get advertisers but you never know until you try.

Descriptions
Give detailed descriptions about the items you are listing or the information you are providing. For example, if you are listing the necklace you just made on your website or Etsy shop, describe it using as many descriptive words as possible in the title and description section. Make sure you add common key words like jewelry and necklace. Also include colours, length, size, materials you used and how you made it, if applicable. If it looks like something or has important features like glass flower beads make sure you mention it. An example of these techniques can be seen at my Sunflower Ring that I have for sale in my shop (Note the link title like I mentioned to do in Part 1!).

Break out the thesaurus and use words that also mean necklace. Try to think outside the box and think about what search words other people might stick in a search bar to find what you made.

Name your photos! DSC12345.jpg does not tell anyone about the photo. If it's a picture of a pair of slippers you knitted call it knitted_slippers.jpg. If you have more than one photo of the same item put a number in the title so it looks like knitted_slippers001.jpg, knitted_slippers002.jpg, etc.

Another thing you can do is fill in the alt tag for your photos. When you insert a photo into your website the code will look something like this
<img src="http://kweenbee.com/photos/knitted_slippers.jpg" alt="Knitted Slippers">. The words in the quotes behind the alt tag is what appears in broken photo links and as more key words to the search engines. This is also a good thing to have for all the real world users of your website. If your photos aren't showing, people can at least read what it is supposed to be. This would be what it would look like:

Update and Add New Items Regularly
Another thing that may seem like a no-brainer. Fact is, search engines love to see that your content is fresh, up to date and always changing. One way of doing this is changing what you already have or creating new pages in your craft website. This can mean adding a new section of craft projects or dividing your information into more or different categories. If you make something new, list it of course!

This also means removing anything that is "dead" on the web. If you exchange links with someone and their website is no longer in operation get rid of their link. It's no longer relevant content so don't link to it. Keep in mind that if you sold something you've made and still have the page on your website, this may work against you and lower your page rank. You would be better off to delete the page completely or relist it if you have another for sale.

Warning! Computer Geekery Content!
I'm only going to mention the following in passing, but I found a few websites that are focused on html code that will explain this better than I can and offer even more suggestions that can help. These are a few that I go to whenever I need a bit of extra help:

http://searchenginewatch.com/2167931

http://www.pandia.com/features/meta-tags.html

Meta Tags
This actually consists of two parts, key words and descriptions. Key words are primarily for the search engines and descriptions, while also useful for the search engines are seen by regular folks on the internet. These are two parts of your website that you may end up fiddling around with for a while before you feel you've got it "just right".

Key Words
These are the words that trigger your site to appear in the search results. These MUST be words that specifically apply to your site. Keep these as relevant as possible to the content of your site. Don't add words to this list simply because it's a popular search term and you want to be found. You're better off to have a less common term but one that results in more clicks on your link in the search result. Generally speaking, search engines only go through about 20 keys words that you'll list for your website. You can add more but there's no guarantee that it will increase your chance of being found.

Also when you are listing key words don't use deceptive tactics. Don't overload your key words with the same word over and over. You also don't need the singular of a word. For example, if you are selling hand made shoes on your website, you can add the key word "shoes" only. The word "shoe" may not even be what you should list because search engines may interpret this as you trying to be deceitful.

What happens with key words is based on Boolean searches. Your key word "shoes" will be triggered by the key word "shoe" and the key word "shoes". Whereas the key word "shoe" only gets triggered by the key word "shoe". Anyone entering the term "shoes" will never see your site through searching with that term if you only list "shoe" as a key word. People will mistype "shoes" as "shoe" and this way your website still get's triggered even though there was an accidental search.

A final note about keywords. Don't ever think that you will improve the content of your site by hiding keywords in the content. Don't hide words in your site by using really small font size or by blending them into the background by making them the same colour. Key word loading is something that the search engines are specifically designed to look for. Just like link loading this can get your website banned permanently from the search engines.

Description
The description is what appears beneath your site name in search results. People make their first impression of your website based on what you say about yourself here. Be as specific as you can. Say what you specialize in, if you're having a sale, what you have to offer. Think of incorporating your key words into your description add them in a way that makes it appear as a normally written, logical sentence.

Also keep it brief. Most search engines have a very limited amount of space allotted to show a description of websites. This is where you really need to think about what you want potential customers to know about you.

So Simple Everyone Should Do This
Go to search engines and enter your name, name of your art or craft business, or your domain name. If you click on the link search engines see it as people looking for you and your creations. This makes search engines believe that your name and creations are something people want and are interested in. Enter KweenBee and see what happens. Yup! That's me! Even my Etsy shop is listed! Cool or what. That's the power of a constant name, keywords and branding. And you thought brands were only good for athletic shoes, colas and fast food chains!

If you would like more tips on how to improve your art or craft website make sure you check out So You have a Craft Site...Now what?! (pt. 1)

So You have a Craft Site...Now what?! (pt. 1)

2009-12-16T18:20:00.001-08:00

As most of us find out the hard way, having an art or craft website to sell your creations is simply the beginning of the process. It isn't enough to put your heart and soul into creating your art or design a website that matches your vision and creativity. People won't magically find you no matter how great and original your work is or what your site looks like though many of us, myself included, wish it would. Sigh!

What all of us want is to have other people, besides family and friends, to stop by and take a look around. The ultimate goal if you are selling your crafts online is to have people purchase your products. But first things first, you need to get people to find your online presence.

Well, you may be asking yourself, how do I do that?

With a lot of hard work. You need to be conscious of a few basic web tricks that can help you in the long run. A quick word before we get into this...I am not a web guru nor do I claim to be. These are a few things that I've tried and had success with. I've also kept this as simple as I can and will try to keep the techno babble to a minimum because if you want to really "get into" website creation, SEO, optimization and other programming then you need to find that on your own. What I've given here are basic things you can do as an average user to help yourself and your website become more successful in selling your art and crafts online.

Now let's get started...One of the first things you can do is make your website as convincing and legitimate as possible so people will develop trust and hopefully buy something from you. A good way to start building that trust is to include your contact information. This means adding your name, location, phone number, and an email address. Be as honest and transparent as possible.

Another good way to build confidence in a potential customer is to include reviews from your customers. Also include articles written by the local paper, photos of your stall at a local craft fair, or list consignment shops where potential buyers can purchase your products. If you are lucky enough to be spotlighted by an online marketplace you sell at, mention it. Basically, if it involves where you have sold or are currently selling, add it! The more the better.

One of the simplest and most time consuming things you can do to build up your online reputation is to build links. That's what it's all about links, links , links! (And content but that's coming up later in Part 2.) The internet is built on links, hence the names "net" and "web". It makes sense when you think about it. So how to you go about building these links? Here's a list of a few ideas:

Blogs (hence this one. Yeah, I just used the word "hence".)
Link to everything you have on the web...your Etsy or Artfire shop, website, Facebook page...but offer something useful for the readers that isn't just about you and the crafts you are selling. You'll get more hits and keep people coming back if you are entertaining or offer useful information. I don't know about you but I love to get stuff for free. Offer something that user's can't find anywhere else. I'm pretty creative and I'm always making something so I have patterns and tutorials I post (Well, I'm just starting out but I have ideas for beaded snowflakes, candle holders, rings, bracelets, necklaces, slippers, socks, arm warmers....).

Message Boards or Forums
Try to mention yourself in passing and be informative. Share pertinent information about yourself, but don't be a jerk about it. Nothing ticks users off more than blatant self promotion though some forums provide a section specifically dedicated to this. You can also post links to other sites, give advice, chit chat, or make comments and compliments to fellow posters. The best thing to do...your signature or what you add in the comment section should always include a link back to your website.

Payed & Free Ads
Take out space in your local paper or try listing your site on places like Craigslist or Kijiji. These a free and have sections dedicated to artists and crafts.

You can also buy ad space on the web through Google, Facebook and other sites. Sometimes you pay per click which is exactly how it sounds. You pay a fee every time someone clicks on your ad. This can be pricey if your key words are popular (more about that later). Other websites run your ad for a specific length of time.

Create a Business Card
Another great way to generate traffic to your craft site is to create business cards with your URL (website address) on them and hand them out at trade shows or craft fairs. Include these business cards with all purchases! If you sell a necklace in your ArtFire shop, throw your business card into the package. At a craft fair, put it in the bag with their purchase, or better yet; staple it to the receipt! Offer a discount or free shipping to those who purchase through your website and mention it on the card. This does two things: it encourages your buyer to keep the card and it encourages him or her to purchase through the website versus in person. It's easier to sell on the web than to be at a craft fair for 12 hours a day for a week and there is no commission to pay!

Other Places for Links
- Anywhere that is focused on crafts or art that allows link posting. FreeCraftyLinks, Yaami, Crafter's Buzz are my favourites. For a complete and frequently updated version you can check out this blog page

- Add your URL to directories that are craft related or not. These are list of websites that are organized by topic. There are directories specifically for arts and crafts and there are those that include an art or craft section. You can try DMOZ though I've never gotten a response from them. When you go to a directory site look for the suggest URL, add your URL or submit your site links on the page. Click it and add yourself to their list.

- Get yourself accounts on networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, StumbleUpon and any others. These are free and are great places to find new resources and fellow crafters. These are all about you so brag it up! Show off your latest creations, comment on upcoming sales and successes you've had, frustrations with current projects, join relevant groups, post photos...Make sure you add links back to all the websites you sell your art.

- Facebook is awesome! Sorry to be so gung-ho on it but it does offer a lot of opportunity for average people to reach a wider audience. I'm not on MySpace because I've only got so many hours in the day but it's probably great too. Which ever is your favourite create a group or join a group! Create a fan page. Do whatever it is you can do.

- Trade links with other crafters and artisans. This may seem like a no-brainer but most have a links section. Send an email and ask nicely. After all, he or she wants links too!

- Link exchange programs, though I haven't tried this since the 90's, I never found they worked. This is where you place a banner ad code on your website and your banner ad is shown on other websites. They usually work as a percentage of views. For example, for every 10 ads viewed on your site, you'll earn 9 views on all the other participating websites. You can try it but I'm not.

- Web rings work along the same principle. You add the code to your page and join the group. Websites are then linked together through this hub. It's also a remnant from the 90's and I don't use it. I've seen them on other sites so I assume they are still around.

A Final Word (or so) on Links
Not all links are equal and this is where page rank comes in to play. You want your website to be listed on the highest ranked pages you can find. One link on a high ranking page is worth tons of links on pages with no or low ranks. But...low pages now may not be low pages in the future. It all depends on who they are linked to and how many links they have. That's that web thing in action again.

Also note that the rank of a page is divided up by all the links on the page. If your site is listed on a page with a rank of 4 but it has 400 links on it then that's not going to do much for your site. If a site is ranked 3 but there are only 20 links, you'd be better off at the lower ranked site. I would add myself to both regardless.

You can check the page rank of any page by going to a variety of websites all of which are more than happy to do this for you. Most work by typing in the URL and the information about the website is displayed for anyone to see. You can check a page you're interested in being listed on and you can check to see how your page is ranked by other search engines. I'm not going to recommend a specific site for this but if you enter page rank checker into any search engine you'll get a list as long as your arm (and maybe your leg). Find the one that works best for you. Just don't pay for this service because there are lots of them out there that are free.

If you're a fan of Google they have a page rank checker tool that you can download to your computer that runs at the top your web browser. It automatically tells you what Google thinks of the site and can be an effortless way to have at least one quick opinion of a website in question.

Use links to other websites to your advantage. Don't just title your link "click here" or "this link". Say what it links to. If the link is to customer reviews the link should should say customer reviews (see how handy that is). Don't make your links like this...Check out this link to see my customer reviews. It goes to the same place but with the first example you have linked key words in your site going directly to pertinent online content. Search engines really dig stuff like that.

Last but not least...Don't believe the hype when it comes to the folks who promise to submit your site to hundreds or even thousands of websites or search engines. Many of these use what are known as "deceptive tactics" to try to fool search engines. If they figure out that you're trying to generate a higher page rank by having tons of links you may be banned from appearing in their results! Forever!

For more information on how to improve your art or craft website, please visit part two of this tutorial. So You have a Craft Site...Now what?! (pt. 2)

If you have any other ideas or suggestions on art and craft websites that may be of use to other readers of this blog, please post them in your comments. Think of it as adding a dose of good to your karma pot. We all can use a little more of that!

Free Beading Resources

2009-12-15T07:56:00.000-08:00

I'm sure we've all be in the position where we're looking for something on the internet and just want to find it already! Here's a quick little list of resources that I really like. Please note that some of these sites have very specific use guidelines and it's just not right to claim and use these resources for profit and not acknowledge them appropriately. Ethically, it's just wrong!

This first link is great for free beading graph paper. It let's you plot out what your pattern will look like based on what type of bead weaving you do and it's proportional which makes your end project turn out great! It also prints out the full page which is very handy.

Shala's Graph Paper

Another great resource is Bead & Button Magazine. They give tutorials on every type of off loom bead weaving techniques that there are. They also have a great forum and other free patterns to check out!

Bead & Button Magazine - Beading Basics

Handy Links to Promote Your Website...

2009-12-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

These are super useful links that I've found on the web. All of them allow you to post links to your website or online shop on Etsy, ArtFire or where ever else you are selling your goods. I'm currently writing an article on the importance of linking to your website and all of these are great resources to get your handmade products out there and help increase your page rank. More to come on what that's all about....

FreeCraftyLinks.com - I found this on Craigslist and this is dedicated to art and crafts. Yes, it's free and a great way to promote a website. Also, there are links to all sorts of other craft resources that you may find useful. New stuff is being added all the time and it's a great place to find websites that I never even knew existed! And now for a little techno babble...They recently increased in page rank so this is great for any links that you add to their site.

100CraftLinks.com - Another way to promote your site. Users upload their URL and description to the site. As new links are added, the old ones drop down the list and are eventually removed. You need to resubmit your site every now and then so check back to see where or if you are still listed there.

CraftersBuzz.com - I've actually posted a bunch of my stuff on here and looking at my stats for the website I do get hits from it; over 800 so far. I've never sold anything though, so it's tough to know how effective it is. But on the bright side, a link is a link so good enough! Anything to help raise the rank of the page.

Yaami.com - I just found this. This is a great place to link everything that you have on the web together. For example, I sell on Etsy, have a website KweenBee.com thanks for asking, and this blog. I listed all of my projects together so I'm now easier to find. You can be too! They even have a shout-out box for your Twitter account, plug your items at the top of the page, have a resource section (I posted my bracelet tutorial there!), and a forum for users.

LinkReferral.com - I just signed up for this so I can't be sure about it but in reading other reviews, they suggest that it may work! A quick update for you...within 24 hours of signing up for this I received 6 hits to this blog and made 1 referral. Take that for what you will.

Bidvertiser.com - Make money from your Website or Blog with BidVertiser. This is an alternative to Adsense that you can try.

AddThis.com - Another way to help increase your links and page rank is to offer the AddThis toolbar. At the bottom of each of my posts you see that bar that says "Share" and has three little icons (one being Facebook). This lets people share your site with other social networks. Make sure you have this on yours somewhere. There are many to choose from and are for all types of websites, blogs, etc. There's also a very good how-to section if you need some help in putting it on your site.

TheHandemadeCafe.com - This is a new website but does allow you to post links to your websites. If you are a new member you have access to all the features for 30 days, but after that you have to pay for it. So far, I've posted my sites and classified ads. We'll see how it goes.

Christmas Rush

2009-12-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

Glad to say the rush has slowed down a bit and real life can carry on. So far I sold close to $200 worth of goodies over the internet. Not bad if I do say so myself. Hopefully things will still be doing okay even when people are done buying for the holidays. Supposedly the recession is coming to an end so maybe that will make some sort of difference.

But for now I'm just going to get my family and myself ready for the holidays. We did lights outside over the weekend and still have to put the tree up in the house. We were supposed to do it yesterday but I had a terrible headache and really didn't want to do much of nothing. Today though is a different story. I've got to send a pair of sheep slippers out today and then I think I'll start making some jewelry again. That old itch is starting to come back! And here I was getting worried.

Knitting Like Crazy

2009-11-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd give the ol' blog a quick update. I've been knitting like crazy trying to get stuff made for the Christmas rush. So far I've posted some stuff on my website and on Etsy. Here's some of what I've got...

So far I'm only selling the sheep slippers that I have done. In total I have three pairs of these in various sizes but I just don't have the gumption to make any right now. I used to take custom orders but they take a while to do and I can churn out the regular slippers faster.

But good news for those who are also handy with a knitting needle; I plan on putting up instructions on how to make these. This will probably be sometime after Christmas when I get some time to do it. So come back later and hopefully it'll be here.

On a happier note, I sold these ones within days of my listing them. Awesome!!!

I even got a custom order for the exact same size (different colour) on the same day! I'm working on them right now as a matter of fact and should have them done by tomorrow.

I'm on a real slipper knitting kick as of late and jewelry making seems to have lost it's appeal but I imagine that'll change when I'm sick of making slippers. I've been making all sorts of colours and sizes and hopefully I'll get some more orders.

I'm trying to come up with a bootie sort of pattern but have been too busy to give the time neccessay to the project. I always seem to have more to do than I have time for. I have noticed that when I get on my creative kicks I always get inspired by what I've been doing. It sort of opens a window for the old, "I wonder what would happen if I tried..."

Well, enough of the chit chat for now...After all, I've got slippers to make!

Some stuff that I make...

2009-10-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

I have a thing lately for recycled purses. I think they are super creative and I certainly haven't seen any around like them before. My inspiration comes partly from an environmental motivation but I think it's amazing what you can make out of stuff that most people would call junk: in particular old ripped jeans and beer cases. The only thing that's new about these is the sealer (yes they are waterproof) and the aluminum rivets that hold it all together. Let me know what you think...

And here's another one...

And the last one. This one I made out of old records!

My first blog post!

2009-10-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well it wasn't as much of an issue as I thought. Actually, I knew it wasn't going to be hard but I've sort of avoided this scenario for a very long while now. There's a part of me who thinks this is just another thing to occupy my time, but then again, maybe some good can come out of this. After all, I should just give it a chance and see where it takes me.