WORLD CARD MAKING DAY (**weekend**) is HERE!!
- Eh, it's just an excuse to have awesome sales and make lots of cards! --- But, we'll take it!
Speaking of sales ... wanna know what's going on with Sweet Stamp Shop this weekend only.... enter large booming noise....
20% off the WHOLE SHOP! (yep, even clearance and the new flair)
SALE IS GOOD UNTIL MID-NIGHT SUNDAY!
We're UNLOCKING THE VAULT!
Yep, We've got a STASH of retired - AWESOME - stamp sets (yep, you see a 'Sweet Tooth' and a 'Sweet Victoria' in there!) And, we're giving them away for FREE!! ---- Here's the details...
READ CAREFULLY SO YOU QUALIFY!!
Spend $15 (after the 20% discount) and get one free 3x4 retired set for FREE.
The set is chosen by Sweet Stamp Shop - and is limited to stock on hand.
YOU MUST ADD THE $15 'WORLD CARD MAKING DAY' TO YOUR CART TO GET THE FREE SET!! YOU MUST HAVE SPENT $15 BEFORE TAX (and AFTER THE DISCOUNT) TO EARN THE FREE SET! ** this helps us keep track of inventory ---- if you can't add this to your cart ---- we're SOLD OUT.
Spend $25 (after the 20% discount) and get one free 4x6 retired set for FREE.
The set is chosen by Sweet Stamp Shop - and is limited to stock on hand.
YOU MUST ADD THE $25 'WORLD CARD MAKING DAY' TO YOUR CART TO GET THE FREE SET!! YOU MUST HAVE SPENT $25 BEFORE TAX (and AFTER THE DISCOUNT) TO EARN THE FREE SET! ** this helps us keep track of inventory ---- if you can't add this to your cart ---- we're SOLD OUT.
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Hello Sweet Stamp Fans!!
Its Dana here with another dose of Get Bloggin' on the Sweet Stamp Shop blog!! Today i am going to cover Blog Content Tips & Tricks. Just to recap so far in the Get Bloggin' series: a few weeks ago a tutorial on taking good Photo's, here and last week blog tips for Banners and Layout/Design, here.
Most blogs have some sort of content or the words/dialog of each post. Some bloggers have long wordy posts and some only have a few words with mostly photos. Card Making blogs are somewhere in between. The point of a Card Making blog is to share your card, techniques, supplies and connect with other card makers.
How much you want to 'talk' is up to you! If you haven't started a blog yet i highly suggest you read a ton of card making blogs. This will help you know whats out there! Find a few that you like and when you start blogging, blog similar to those styles.
When i started blogging i noticed that not everyone would say how they made their card, so that's what i did when i started and its a good way to start. It made since to me as i'm not a creative writer at all, in fact i really hate to write!! Its true!! I'm Dyslexic so math and writing are torture! Torture!!! (luckily blog writing isn't torture for me anymore, however i have 4 questions that i have to write one page answers each in my Genetics class by next week and that IS torture!! LOL) It took me a while to start blogging because of this. But i finally took the plunge in 2011 (whoa!) and i am really glad i did. I think my technical writing is better for it! (yep blogging is considered technical writing, according to my Technical Writing II instructor!!) It helps that when writing a blog you are not writing some flowery, well explained, with lots of detail content! (unless your blog is a creative writing blog.... which thank goodness this is not! LOL)
Luckily blogging as a form of technical writing dosen;t follow the same strict rules as creative writing! (Phew! What a relief, right!?!?) Now we still want to have correct grammar and have sentences that make since, but the content is like a conversation, rather then some stuffy written article!
Ok so now i hopefully convinced you to start bloggin' (if i can do it, YOU can do it!!!) OR if you are already blogging you can use some of these tips below for your blog!
- #1 Most Important Tip - Be Yourself!! - As i mentioned above find blogs you like and use them as a basis for you to start, the longer you do it the more comfortable you will become and your own style and personality will come out in your blog!
- Consistent Layout of Content - This is how you have your paragraphs, are they justified, do you use headings, what about bold/italics, caps (don't yell to much! lol), color etc! Its not set in stone, just don't be changing it every other post!
- Below is a screen shot of a piece of Lea Lawson's blog. Her blog post includes some info on the supplies she used, the challenges she is entering along with an actual list of instructions! Most people write the instructions in paragraphs form, but its definitely not required!! Do what makes since to you!
- Keep Personal Info to a Minimum - The main reason a person is reading your blog is because they are interested in your card or crafty project and learning or getting inspiration from them. They do not want to read post after post about your family with an occasional card.
- This is not to say you can't include the occasional personal info, or a brief 'here's what i've been up to, now here's my card' This is what i do, cuz i'm not a flowery, creative writing person, so i keep to the facts!! :) You can even have an occasional personal only post! Most ladies and gents out there WANT to learn stuff about you! Blogging is a great way to make friends and card making is bring us together, so the personal info makes you more then just a person sitting there talking about some cards! Just don't overwhelm your audience!
- Blog Title, Make it Count! - In my research i'm finding several ways you can tweak your blog to get more views and comments. (i'll be sharing those in late November, i'm going to be testing them out this month). But one that fits in here is writing a good blog title.
- Keywords at the beginning of the title is best.
- Think of how you would search for that card in Google.
- Style, subject matter (holiday, birthday, thank you), manufacture, technique used, etc
- Use these keywords in the post it self, especially in the beginning. Try to repeat the keywords up to 3 times, Google uses these words to confirm what the page is about.
- Google uses the title and the first 160 characters to display in a search. They also use this info when some one does a search and by having those keywords at the top and in the title you have a good chance of having your post come up on the first page of a Google search.
- Here is an example:
You picked the first one right? It has the stamp manufacture that i used (SSS of course!) on my card AND it has the technique that i used on my card. So if some one searches for the die cut embossing technique, hopefully my post will be close to the top! The second title is what i would have named the post before i found out about this bit of info!
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Well that was a lot of information! Are you still with me?!?! LOL Please let me know what you think of these tips! Do you have any other tips about blog content? If so i'd love to here about it, just leave a comment!
I wanted to share a card with you before you go, using a cool embossing technique (mentioned above!)..... Click here to see the details of the card, and can you spot the keywords in my post??
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And don't forget Use What You Have Challenge #18 going strong! It easy to participate, just submit your card using some pictured 'stash'!
Have a great day!!
Dana
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I really love these tips! Just what I was looking for :)
ReplyDeleteHollie, so glad this has helped you!!
DeleteDana, what a great point about key words in your post titles...I really didn't think about the fact that people may be Googling topics that could lead to your blog! Great holiday card...love!
ReplyDeleteThanks Judy! I had no idea either!!
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