I love my 'stats'!

Most days I check my blog statistics. Maybe this puts me in the nerd group, but it really is fun! For example this morning I can see that I had a visitor from Kathmandu in Nepal - that's pretty neat! I can see they came to me through my Blogger profile and stayed to read some things. I am wondering who they might be and what it's like in Kathmandu, and even if it's common to have your own internet connection there or if people go to internet cafes.

[caption id="attachment_1166" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Kathmandu"][/caption]

Besides being fun, checking your statistics is also a good way to find out how well your blog is doing. Online blogs often come with built in statistics, but if you don't have any and wish you did you might consider Statcounter.  I've been using them for years now and really like all the information I have access to.  A starter account is FREE which is always nice, this lets you see the last 100 entries, or pages that people have looked at.  It keeps track over time of how many people visit your blog or webpage and you can run reports to see graphs of how your traffic looks for the last month, year etc.  Another nice feature is that you can have a visible or invisible counter on your site/blog.

You can also see a wealth of other information -

• how long your visitor's stay


• which pages they visit


• which search engines they used with what keywords


• if they are new or returning visitors


• even which browser they are using!

[caption id="attachment_1167" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="You can find ways to increase your site's popularity!"][/caption]

That might all sound a bit boring, but if you've got a website or blog and are using it as a business tool it really is a necessity.  Statistics can tell you how your visitors found you!  This is very useful information if you are trying to build a bigger presence.

For instance, if I post pictures of my latest beads in online showcases I can see the number of people who clicked through to my website from there.  Similarly, if I was paying for online advertising I could tell how effective it was - something that's very important if you are spending money.

[caption id="attachment_1168" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Track whether paid advertising is bringing you results"][/caption]

You can see that besides being an interesting thing to watch, your website or blog statistics are also a very important way to gauge your success!

Developing Your Web Presence #5 - Online networking

Just a short post on this subject, but a very important one none the less! There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything you can to network online AND create AND live your life, so pick which are most enjoyable to you and try and stick with them - persistance is the key so they say!

[caption id="attachment_784" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Just a few social networking sites!"][/caption]

Consider ways you can network with others (and here are just a few!) -

• Forums - both in your special interest field as well as others, be active!  Show what you do!


• Social Networking Sites - Facebook, MySpace, IndiePublic, Beaders' Showcase etc. - again choose some that are specific to what you do and some that are broader based.


• Groups - once you have some online contacts, consider creating a group to discuss how you can help promote each other!


• Etsy! - If you belong to Etsy, join one or more Teams in areas of your interests - again these can be specific to your art or craft, as well as broader interest based groups.


• Flickr! - If you belong to Flickr or another image site, don't just post pictures - again join some groups and share what you've got to show.


• Twitter - Blogging in miniature - one sentence blog posts, it doesn't take long and again, you never know who might find you!


• Read Blogs - sign up for Google Reader or Bloglines or something similar and keep up to date with your favourite blogs, comment on them!  Leave your mark!

These things just scrape the surface, there are all number of other specialised networking tools out there, the main thing is that you network in a way that you can enjoy, so that it's not a chore and so that you will keep it up - most of the time anyway ;o)  Good luck!  I hope I run into you in my networking travels!

Let me know if this information is useful and if you have any other good ways of networking online!

Developing Your Web Presence #4 - Do you need a Blog?

I've had a blog for a while now, but I remember thinking 'why do I need one?' and 'what on earth will I put in one?'.

Here are my thoughts on why you need a blog, and it follows along with building a presence for yourself on the web.

If you don't have a website a blog can be your central place on the internet. It's one address that you can use on your business cards and other marketing material that will drive people to a spot where they can link to all your other web places. If you have an Etsy shop you can put an Etsy mini in your blog, you can advertise your Ebay or Justbeads address, and you can use your Flickr or Photobucket (for example) accounts to create galleries and slideshows to add to your blog.

A blog can also let people know that you are out there and active! Blogs allow you to update very easily, you can keep people informed on what you are doing and show new items that you've created. This can be much more effective than a website. Unless you are able to update your own website, you might find that it becomes stale very quickly, yes, it links to all your other things but information on the site about you and what you are creating can soon get out of date, leaving visitors to wonder if you are serious about what you are doing.

The other real plus about a blog is that every time you make a post or add an image it is giving people another opportunity to find you! I've found that things in my blog posts that I thought were insignificant have actually led a lot of traffic to my blog, they show up in search engines with great success!

There are all kinds of free blogs out there - this being one of them! Have a search around and see what is offered. Blogger - www.blogspot.com and WordPress - www.wordpress.com are two of the most popular - which means they also have bigger communities of bloggers - another way to network! Blogger is very easy to use and you can customise by adding your own graphic to the top of many of the templates available.  I have to say WordPress is my favourite.  Why? Because it allows you to have multiple pages! It might not sound very exciting, but think about it - your Blog can become your website!! That is what I've done with this one.  You can have your blog, but also add pages that contain static information - i.e. a Gallery page, a Contact page, a page that explains how you do what you do, or anything else for that matter! These static pages are just as easy to update as your blog page.

If you've got a Blog the possibilities are almost limitless!

Developing your Web Presence #1 - Being Everywhere and in One Place all at the same time!

This is my first post in what I hope will become a series, designed to offer ideas on how to have a good online presence for yourself or your small business.

Do you have business cards?  Advertise in different places?  In that case you've probably realised that what you need is one web address to direct potential clients to.

How do you acheive this when you've got what seems like a gazillion different places on the web that belong to you?  For example, I have - my blog, which is also my website (where you are now), my Etsy shop, my Beader's Showcase, my Flickr account, my Ottawa Glass Bead Artists' group, Facebook and probably a few others!  I'm all over the place - which for once is a good thing!



How are people supposed to find you in so many places, or how are people supposed to find you in one of those places in particular i.e. Etsy?

You need to have one address on the web that you can use on your business cards, at the bottom of emails, and in forums etc.

This single address can be any number of things providing it allows you to have links to all the other addresses.  It might be your blog, or maybe a website, or perhaps just a single page that acts as the sum of your presence on the web.

[caption id="attachment_627" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="With one central page clients can find all your other items"][/caption]

When you are planning something like this, it's important to think ahead, and also to understand your skills and limitations.  This way you can set something up once that will serve you well into the future.

Which one are you -

1. Little or no knowlege of how to build/upload/maintain websites - (you've probably got much better things to do with your time!)


2. Know some .html, can make basic changes, understand how to resize pictures and how to upload or ftp files and images to a site.


3. Have a greater understanding of .html, can create websites, graphics, can ftp, understand c-panel and how to install programs etc. with your hosting company.


4. Are a whiz, completely up-to-date on everything new as it comes out, code your own sites in 20 different languages and probably make good money doing it!

I think I'm a number 3, I know for sure I'm not a number 4!!  If you are a number 3 or 4 you don't need to read any further because you've probably done all this already.

If you are a number 1 or 2 you've got options!

Things to Consider

You can use your blog or website to link to all the other things, I'm sure many of you already do this.  If you haven't got a website or don't want one you can have a simple one page presence that links to all your other places.

A blog is a good tool as it helps you to get noticed in search engines and can be a central place for viewers to find you.  You can add images / videos / slideshows to you blog so it's also a good place to showcase your art, work, product - whatever it is you want to tell people about.

A quick word on the www's

As far as I'm aware if you have a blog that is hosted online - Wordpress, Blogger etc. you are stuck with their url -- i.e. fireseed.wordpress.com I've found out that you can have your own domain name with Blogger see here and also WordPress see here.  If you have a different blog - check and see if they offer this feature!  If you have your own server space with a hosting company you can install a blog and then the url will be what you choose to register.  That's how my site runs.  It's a Wordpress blog, but my url is simply www.fireseed.ca

I'm not a guru -- yes, I know, you already knew that ;o)  so feel free to comment, tell me if you know something different to what I've posted here, or if you have an idea to share.

That's it for now, next time I'll write a bit about having your own domain name and what you need in order to do that.

CLICK HERE FOR #2 - The WWW's and YOU

If a tree falls. . .

Writing a blog post can feel a bit like that. Does anyone hear it? See it? Much less take time to read it. Flaming Hot's subject of the week is What does your website do for you?

Since my website and blog are one and the same I certainly hope they are promoting my beads and myself. My goal is to have a site where I post my latest beads for sale and have them fly out the door the same day. Impossible? No, there are artists out there doing it, but I know it will take more than putting a page up on the web and waiting for visitor's to come flocking.

I am constantly working towards getting more recognition on the web and in the real world. At the minute I almost feel like my website is one of my offspring! I tend to it regulary, and worry and fuss when somethings not working right. I had a stupid technical problem this week, that has meant disabling some of my plugins one of which is the 'shop', and I just can't find the answer to that which is frustrating me no end.

Here are some of the tools I use to make my website do as much of the work as possible.

I use Wordpress a blogging tool that lets you have multiple pages - a website! Everything in one place with links to my Etsy and iCraft stores.

I blog regularly, (this is why I joined Flaming Hot - sometimes I need help figuring out what to write!), its no use having a website that is static, it won't attract many people and those that do come won't keep coming back if everything stays the same. I'm also realising that blogging can be a very interesting tool for driving traffic to your site! I wrote a post about Nortel's Mega Minor and have had all kinds of visitors because people have been typing 'mega minor' into google and my blog is coming up in the listings. How do I know this?

I use Statcounter it's free, and it tracks who is coming to my blog with wonderful detail - if they've searched it shows me the terms they were searching, I can see where they are from, which pages they visited and for how long, even what browser they're using. It's fun and I have to admit a little bit addictive to see who's stopped by for a visit!

I link my site to others where possible to try and drive more traffic my way. This might be from another site or an online directory. Here's a new one that has just started Glassdir.com they are listing Glass Artists by country. Don't forget to put your site address on anything you can that is not on the internet as well ;o)

And I scour the net looking for sites that offer tips on building business online and off. I just discovered Lori Greenberg's Bead Nerd blog which has an amazing amount of information for anyone wanting to turn their beadmaking into a business. Thank you Lori - I'm learning a LOT! I even just got one of those neat little favicons that show up in your browser bar when someone is looking at your site, I've wanted one of those for a while :o)



I guess at the very least my site is keeping me out of mischief and helping me retain some of my brain cells. It's a challenge to see what I can do next to get more people to visit and keep them coming back and it beats playing online games because hopefully there will be some real rewards at the end of it all!