"If you have researched how to increase your on-line sales, you’ve surely been told to start a blog. Blogging is a trend that has passed the test of time; I have even seen people’s “dogs” blogging.

Blogs can certainly increase traffic to your on-line shop, but traffic doesn’t always mean sales. You will have to work for your blog if you want it to work for you.

Blogs aren’t something to take lightly. They can be time consuming, and an out-of-date blog can damage your on-line presence. If you already feel pinched for time, this might not be the right time to start a blog (unless you’re ready to juggle your time even more)...."


To keep reading my article please visit the Handmade News Marketing Department where it was first published.

There's not a whole lot of change to share with you since last week but I took pictures to document my garden adventures anyways! 

I think the pepper plant and the tomato plant have grown a bit. The pepper plant is definitely standing up straighter. Other than that we only seem to be growth lots of fungi! lol! 

Oh, and I also couldn't resist showing of our doggies (what else was I supposed to entertain you with? hehe). 

Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have more "growth" to show you than just the ridiculous mushrooms :) 








During the month of May I'm featuring the "Super Resource List Series". These links are taken directly from my Safari Bookmarks! That's right, I'm sharing all my secrets with you he he. 

Watch for a new post every Monday

Here's the schedule:

Monday May 4Crafty Blogs
Monday May 11Blog Stuff
Monday May 18Twitter Stuff
Monday May 25Miscellaneous Resources

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Here's a Mega List of all the Miscellaneous Resources I have bookmarked: 

Etsy

Etsy Fee Calculator by Ryan Olbe
Etsy :: 25 Marketing tips to get your products moving!
tips for selling on etsy increasing sales and blogging
top 10 tips for newbie sellers on etsy
3 fixes for low views on etsy
Ultimate Newbie Guide 4 Etsy
Etsy :: LLDesign :: NEW---Etsy Seller Calculator 2009- Profit Loss Pricing - Excel Spreadsheet
increase yoru etsy shop traffic
Guide To Etsy
Let's Ets - Tools for Etsy Sellers


Miscellaneous 


Welcome to Goodreads
brightkite.com
Technorati: Front Page
Picasa for Mac: Free download from Google
GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program
Slide - MySpace Slide Show Creator -- Photo Sharing For MySpace
Holiday Graphics
Craftzine.com blog: Ask CRAFT - New Weekly Column!
Search Engine Guide - Small Business Help for Website Promotion and Increased Search Engine Traffic
Website Marketing SEO Score Tool
The Importance of Google PageRank: A Guide For Small Business Executives
Internet Marketing Kit
Google AdWords: Keyword Tool
SoapCalc 9
Mashable | The Social Media Guide
Yahoo! Avatars
Bravenet Web Tools
ImageShack® - Image Hosting
Arts and Crafts Business Starting and Running a Successful Craft Business
How I organize myself in my Craft Business: Part 1 - Paper Work | CraftBoom!
How I organize myself in my Craft Business: Part 2 - Time Management | CraftBoom!
How I organize myself in my Craft Business: Part 3 - Staying Seasonal | CraftBoom!
27 Web Site Marketing Ideas That Have Nothing to do with Google or SEO | Sparkplug CEO
An Introduction to Social Media Strategy and Socially Driven Content | Sparkplug CEO
Crafts Marketing Success Secrets
popurls® | the genuine aggregator for the latest web buzz
The To Do Wish List Group Research Project | Sparkplug CEO
WordPress Theme switching made easier - SEO Ladder
Trading Card Maker: Create a trading card from your digital photos
FeedBlitz - The Email Marketing Service for Blogs, Social Media and RSS
Main Page - EtsyWiki
Crafty Hosting - web hosting especially for crafters artists and small business
CutePDF - Create PDF for free, Free PDF Utilities, Edit PDF easily;.
Openzap - A steady stream of links from cool people using social networks
free samples canada
Project Wonderful How To
Project Wonderful
25 tips
Promotion on a budget
3zArt Land: My Daily Coffee & Promote Checklist
:: FoundHandmade :: Advertise Your Handmade Shop
Entrecard
10 Rare HTML Tags You Really Should Know - Nettuts+
Quantcast - Home
chic chick advertising for women
getting more AF views from google searches
Royalty free stock images | Lightbox | iStockphoto.com
Mailing Label PDF Generator.
Craft Submissions Magazines, Books and Publications
Marketing your Arts and Craft Site Offline
Magazines, Books and Publications
Country Sampler Craft Fair
Why and How to Unfollow People On Twitter | Singley's Blog Thoughts
Marketing Methods: Direct Marketing - Relationship Marketing - Advertising - Public Relations
On ArtFire, I'm not just a seller, but I'm also involved with a number of Guilds. Guilds are great way to meet other sellers while working towards a common goal. The goals for each Guild are specific to that particular Guild, but many are focused on promoting the member's shops. 

I'm the Guild Master for

 Guild Description:
A guild for artists who celebrate Halloween and all things spooky year around! Halloween just isn't one day in the year for us, it's a life style!
 
 Guild Mission:
To connect guys and ghouls together who love halloween and halloween culture. We will share ideas, techniques, and promote our shops together. We will connect like-minded people together and share our spook!




Other Guilds I'm involved with include:



 Guild Description:
Bloggers on Artfire - we blog about crafting, art, and selling online. Guild blog is at http://blogfireguild.blogspot.com. We''re on twitter too http://twitter.com/blogfire
 
Guild Mission:
To share, to help, to inspire.





Guild Description:
The Artfire RS Guild is open to all persons who use rubber stamps in their crafts and to rubber stamp suppliers.
 
Guild Mission:
Our mission is to foster new creative ideas in addion to connecting sellers with buyers. All members should be either buyers or sellers of handmade crafts that contain rubber stamped images or rubber stamping supplies.





Guild Description:
A Guild For Buyers & Sellers Of Art & Craft Supplies, Commercial, Vintage Or Handmade, All Are Welcome.
 
Guild Mission:
The Purpose Of This Guild Is To Connect Supply Buyers & Sellers Within The Artfire Community, To Provide A Place For Networking And To Cultivate Friendships.





Guild Description:
A community of crafters that enjoy working with paper to design and create greeting cards, embellishments, paper piecings, scrapbook layouts, altered art, bookbinding, and more. All paper crafting artists are welcome and encouraged to participate in our discussions and events. Blog:http://artfirepapercrafters.blogspot.com/ FlickR:http://www.flickr.com/groups/artfirepapercrafters/
 
Guild Mission:
Our goals are twofold: To support and inspire each other in our creative endeavors, and to provide a web presence to promote and share our work.





Guild Description:
Crafting For Animals Guild is a group of artists and crafters on Artfire.com who are dedicated to catering to the needs of animals by either creating and designing items for animals or by raising funds for charitable animal organizations.
 
Guild Mission:
The mission of the Crafting for Animals Guild is to provide a networking resource to animal lovers and to share each other''s love for animals
 

"I once read a quote that said, “Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.” This simple quote is one to live by for crafters who are trying to make a living by selling their creations. 

In my previous article, “Starting a Home Arts and Crafts Business”, I mentioned the need to manage your time wisely.  Not only will managing your time keep you on track with your goals, but it also reduces stress and helps to keep you from procrastinating. When working from home, without a boss breathing down your neck, one can easily be sidetracked. Don't let all your hard work go down the drain because the latest day time talk show is calling your name; it’s time for a plan!..."


To keep reading my article please visit the Handmade News Marketing Department where it was first published.

If you're like me, you can't get enough of twitter! I actually had to use Twitter Karma the other day because my following/followers ratio was all out of whack! Thank goodness for Twitter karma because I was able to see who was actually following and who wasn't - that cleaned up my list and got things back on track pretty fast :)  

Since I've been on the twitter scene for a while now, I've realized the importance of following like-minded people to really enjoy the whole twitter experience. That's why I love connecting with fellow ArtFire members! A thread was started in the ArtFire forums some time ago for anyone on ArtFire to post their twitter channel. I'm still working my way down the list but I have connected with some really great people so far - including some from the Ghouls Guild of which I'm the guild master for. Have a look at the thread of ArtFire people on Twitter if you want to throughly enjoy your twitter experience like me. I should also mention that I wouldn't love twitter as much as I do without TweetDeck. With TweetDeck I've created groups for my favourites, ArtFire members, Ghouls Guild members, Animals Shelters that are on twitter, etc. I can also get my direct messages and replies in separate columns. I highly recommend TweetDeck :)

P.S. My twitter followers are always the first ones to know what I'm up to in the studio, when my shops are updated, and even get to take advantage of sales JUST for my followers! Go ahead and follow me if you want to be in the know and get the best deals too :) 

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