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!

Trying a Flickr Slideshow!

I want to see if I can put a flickr slideshow into a post -



Apparently I can! That was quite painless, I think I'm Flickr challenged, it usually takes me forever to find instructions on the Flickr site to do what I want to. There's a little slideshow icon above your Flickr images that you can click to create a slideshow, and once the slideshow starts you can click the 'share' button to grab the code you need to place it into your blog or webpage. Too bad it resizes the smaller images to fit, making them look very pixely.

An Etsy a day

They (whoever they may be), do say, that to be successful on Etsy you need to list items often, daily if possible.  So, this is my new goal - to try and list daily, or at least every other day.

I spent the best part of yesterday cleaning, photographing, processing and creating listings for the coming week.  I'm beginning to think it takes longer to do all that than it does to make the beads!

Last night I listed one of my two faced monkees - I like this design because it doesn't matter which way the bead is facing, you have a silly monkee face staring out.  I was idly thinking that they could be used like the 'Magic 8 Balls' - you know the ones you ask a question to, shake and then look at the magic answer.

You could ask these monkees a question, and depending on which one is facing you the answer might be "I don't have a clue" or "Don't ask me! I'm only a monkee!" - Could prove to be a big selling feature don't you think ;o)

[caption id="attachment_793" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Magic Monkees!"][/caption]

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 #3 - Branding! Or 'Ouch! Don't come near with me that hot poker!'

To see all posts in this series click here

Seriously it's not half as painful as it sounds - Branding - and it doesn't involve anything hot - except your image when people see it and love it.

An example of excellent branding would be Apple - Mac - Imac - Ipod - Iphone - all those products.  What do you think of when you hear their name?  I think of the apple logo, and I think of bright colours and cool products.  Why?  Yep, because they've done a remarkably good job of Branding themselves.  If you look around you, you'll see company logos everywhere.  They might be text - like IBM and DELL, or they might be graphics like the Apple or ReMax with the balloon.

Now, I can't say reading this is going to give you the ability to become the next Apple, but it might make you consider how you can brand yourself a little, so that your image is consistant and reflects who you and your business are.

Back to Apple for a minute, I know what to expect when I see anything related to them - it's the image I spoke about above.  If I went to Apple's site and found a grey and blue page, with no apple logo and no bright colours I might be confused - I might wonder if I were in the right place.  The same idea can help you!

Think of all those web places again.

Are they connected visually in any way?  Do they have a theme to them, or are they all bursting with their own personalities?  If you are anything like me, when you start something new you are excited and want it to look fresh and different.  What we should be considering is - 'how can I make this new thing fit with my other things'.

I'll use myself as an example for this, because I'm trying to connect my places and things with a similar look and feel.  See my header at the top of the page?  I've had that there for a while, and at the minute, my Etsy header is similar.  On my business cards I put that little dingbat logo thingy I created and that helps to tie everything together.  BUT I have a problem!  It's those darn monkees!!  Since I first created these graphics my focus has changed a bit, and somehow I don't think they quite reflect what I'm doing now - I want to include my monkees in my banners.

I signed up for Entrecard and needed to create a graphic for it, this is what I came up with -

I thought the monkees looked cute, so when I signed up for Beader's Showcase I made this for my avatar



Then I created a header graphic for my Beader's Showcase page.



See a pattern developing?

Then I signed up for the new 100 lampwork list - Wall of Flame and needed a banner for it

Now a pattern is really starting to appear!  Problem now is that my Etsy header and the header for this blog are different.  I'm going to change those as well, just as soon as I get myself on task!

Hopefully people will start to connect these images to my beads and myself.  If I make signs for shows or sales I'll try and carry the theme over to them, and if I were to do any advertising I would include similar images.  Instead of being ten different sites all over the web, I am starting to look connected, and starting to generate a Brand for myself and my beads.   I'm not going to be the next Apple either, but my web presence will at least be consistant!  ...Now I just have to hope that I don't go off monkees ;o)

If you found this helpful, I'd love to know, and again if you've got any questions I'll answer them if I can.  Thanks for reading!

Next up - Why do I need a Blog?

Comments on the Web Presence series

I've changed hosts and am posting this list as the only thing I haven't been successful in transferring over are the comments for the last two posts.

1. 
   
   Tammieon 28 Sep 2008 at 11:05 am edit this
   
   Thanks Louise! This is great information.


2. 
   
   # Paulaon 28 Sep 2008 at 2:39 pm edit this
   
   Thanks for the advise I know I want something more as website or web page with all my places. I’m going to go back and read your blog again. : )


3. 
   
   # adminon 28 Sep 2008 at 3:57 pm edit this
   
   Thanks Tammie and Paula, I hope some of the information I put up will be useful. I take a lot of it for granted because I’ve been working with websites for a while, but I know it can seem very overwhelming if you don’t understand it, and after all - you’ve got better things to do — like make beads! :o)


4. 
   
   # Dianeon 29 Sep 2008 at 9:14 am edit this
   
   Thank you louise! this is great! Diane


5. 
   
   # Linda Robertson 29 Sep 2008 at 1:45 pm edit this
   
   I was happy to see this discussion mentioned on Beader’s Showcase as I’m in the same situation of having several sites that are not linked - so I’m interested in hearing about ways to do that. My hosting site is 1and1 Internet Inc and I was able to get 2 URL’s through them for free by signing up. Of course all the short names were taken, so I ended up with a longer name http://www.myheartbeadsforyou.com. But the cost is only $5/month for the “home” package which seems to be fine for me right now. I purchased Net Fusion 10 through an offer from my hosting site for about $90 and used this to set up my website. It’s a pretty thorough pkg and I haven’t begun to explore all it does - just set up a basic site with a shopping cart and tied it to paypal. I know how to set up links to other sites, but I’d like to be able to add the html for a button on the home page. Lots of learning to do and so little time.


6. 
   
   # adminon 30 Sep 2008 at 5:50 am edit this
   
   I’m glad this is sounding useful! I’ll try and address questions and issues that come up in the comments - I’ll have to try polishing up my propellor beanie ;o)

Developing your Web Presence #2 - The WWW's and you

This post comes back around to your business cards and other advertising you may do, and why you probably want a domain name all of your own.

The free services on the web are great, they help us get ourselves out there in many ways and are invaluable for networking. Also it's easy to create online links to these things no matter how long and wordy the address may be.

BUT when it comes to your printed advertsing they are not so good.  The url's are often long and can be complicated.  Imagine you pick up someone else's card and it's got a web address on it that reads something like www.firebrandlampworkbeads.wordpress.com - that one's available and there's a good reason why!

You are mildly interested in what they do and consider visiting their site, but are you going to type all that into your browser?  If you do are you going to spell it correctly?

The shorter and more memorable the domain name is the better - I bet you knew that already right! ;o)

Picking a name

Assuming you have some ideas already it's just a matter of checking to see if the name is available.

It's easy and fairly inexpensive to register your own domain name.  You can go to a site like whois.com and check the availability of names.  Unfortunately Whois.com is geared more towards U.S. domains so you might have to poke around to find one that offers the .ca or .co.uk etc. for the country you are in.

If you are unsure of what domain name you want you can try using a site like Nameboy to generate some ideas.  Be prepared for some stupid sounding domain names, but hopefully it will give you some decent ones too!  Remember! Using the generator or whois.com does not mean you have to purchase the domain name from either of these sites!

Don't forget!

In order to be able to use a domain name you have to have somewhere to 'put it'. This means you need some kind of online hosting that will allow you to have your own domain name.  Free hosting packages usually don't allow it, and you'll probably find the webspace that came free from your internet provider doesn't allow it either.  Normally you will have to purchase a hosting package through a hosting company.  When you sign up with a hosting company they will explain how to point the domain to your hosting package.  The best bet is probably to register your domain name through the company you are buying your hosting from.  It may not be the cheapest option, but it's the simplest as they will likely set everything up for you.

What hosting company should you use?  The best thing is to research!  Search the web for hosting companies and then search again for reviews on them before you sign up.  Some let you pay monthly, some prefer at least 1yr up front.  If you know someone who's using a hosting company, ask them if they are happy with them, ask them if they offer good support, and be comfortable with your choice before you make it!

Next we'll talk a little about 'branding' - I promise it won't hurt a bit!

CLICK HERE FOR #3- Branding - or 'OUCH! Don't come near me with that hot poker!'

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

I found another Monkee!!

Well this one's a CHIMP but he was cute enough to make me want to find out more about what he does.



His name is Mail Chimp and if you've got a mailing list he might be useful to you!  Of course you can pay for his services but if your list is under 100 emails in size and you send no more than 6 mailings a month you qualify for a FREE account!  Yes, it will have the mail chimp logo in your emails as advertising, but it seems like a small price to pay when he's so darn good looking!!

Now all I need is a mailing list... I'm trying to figure out who should go on to it.

The site?  Oh www.mailchimp.com !

Do you read blogs?

I know I have several that I like to visit, and it used to be a bit of a chore going to all the different web addresses only to find that they hadn't been updated.  Then I learned about RSS feeds!  This is a way where you can save all the blogs you visit in one place.  You can visit one site ( I use bloglines, but there are others), and see which of the blogs have been updated.  You can read the updates right there on the bloglines site, or you can click through to go to the actual blog page you wish to read.

If you've got a blog - consider adding a 'feed' button to make subscribing easy for visitors, and if you read blogs, take a look at bloglines -it's free and gives you one stop blogging!

A picture?



I love looking at bits of beads in closeup!  This is one of my organics with silver foil, isn't the silver pretty!

Are you your Avatar?

A lot of folks on Lampwork Etc. forum are making avatars using a website called blessthischick.com - it's a fun way to waste half an hour and end up with a cute looking graphic!

Here's mine - it's hard to tell because the flag is in the way, but have a mouse/rat suit on!



And here are a whole lot of really talented artists! Most of them have websites, blogs or are Etsy sellers - click on their links, you won't be disappointed ;o)

Here's Jane



I just KNEW she would be a hippy chick!



Valentina's looking very cool and LOOK! She's number one!! :o) Valentina Creations



Isn't Maggie pretty! She looks like a real Lady! Maggie's site is Bead Towne



Maxine wants a real life sparkle wand ;o) - here's her Etsy



Trish, I'd like to know how you found a lampwork tool for your avatar, at least that's what it looks like to me! You can visit Trish's site here

Everyone is joining in! This is fun!

Here's Paula, complete with her beads and knitting ready to be felted - and Paula's Etsy



Samma - I love the hair! I'm thinking of changing mine, maybe I should choose this style ;o) - Samma's Blog



Sueze - I hope that's glass you've been shopping for :o) -Sueze's Etsy



Sweet Mallory! And here's Mallory's Blog



Diane likes pea green but she didn't use any in her avatar ;o)



Gladys, hehe, I didn't know which one was most like you so I chose the wild and crazy one to put here! I'm glad I'm stealing avatars, I get to peek at everyone's site - you have some beautiful jewelry on yours! Gladys' Site



Here is Joy's alter ego! And Joy's Etsy!



Diana is a cowgirl at heart. Here's her website.



Tammie looks like this in the morning ;o) - I wish I did too!



Sabrina's blog is here - check it out - she and her husband sound dangerous!



Sheila's happy she's got a new leopard purse!



Here's Susan, if you are looking for some very pretty fused glass check out her Etsy



Looks like Deborah is another hippy chick!Her Etsy is here



Ananda!  I wonder what the 'R' stands for?


If you make one and send it to me I'll try and add it to this post ;o) And if you've got a website or blog I'll link to it too.

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!