Where do you read blogs?

My Surprise - Yummy Big Hole Beads from JulsBeads

When I logged in this morning, Blogger had a little pop up window that asked me if I wanted to turn on Mobile templates so my blog would be readable on mobile phones.  So my question to you is where do YOU read the blogs you follow?

Do you read it in your blogger dashboard?
Do you read them on The Hive forum?
Do you use Google Reader?
Do you follow via Networked Blogs on Facebook?
Are you a Twitter follower?

So many choices.  I'm just curious, how do you follow?  If you're on Facebook or Twitter, feel free to share your links to your profile in your comment!  Take some time and visit a few others and spread the networking love around!  K?

Make it a terrific day!
{Hugs!}


One Big Beautiful Bead by Sarah McConnell is a great book for inspiration to create using lampwork glass beads!

Marketing Tip for your Artfire Store & Giveaway Alert

How many of us use Artfire as a marketplace to promote our artisan designs?  My question to you is are you using your Artfire subscription to it's fullest?  One of the reasons I chose Artfire as a vendor to market my jewelry is because of their "searchability" on the web (i.e. google, yahoo, etc.)  Not only are your listings fed directly to google (so be keyword smart when writing your titles and descriptions) but the BLOG feature is also indexed instantly in google.

"I already have a blog.  Why do I want another?"

Because people that find your Artfire store may not realize you publish a full time blog.  In this day & age where people have so many options of what to purchase and from whom, it's critical to really stand out and build a personal relationship with your viewers and customers.  People choose who to do business with based on if they trust you or not.

Your Artfire blog doesn't have to be a daily update.  But when I'm shopping in Artfire, and finding new artisans to follow and promote, I always check their blog.  The people that stand out to me are blogging occasionally.  Topics that are great to write about on that Artfire blog are:  your products!  How did you create, what was the inspiration for, what type of products you design, what are the preferred materials you work with and DO YOU DO CUSTOM WORK?  People don't know if you don't put it out there!

So that's my marketing tip of the day for you!  As a secondary bonus, right now I'm aware of several giveaways!  I want to pass the love along to you so you can enter to win some great things too!

1.  SLM Petersen - This giveaway is terrific for anybody that SEWS!  Stacy is having a vintage pattern giveaway AND she extended the deadline to enter until Saturday.  Just go to her blog and leave her a comment!  

2.  JulsBeads - I'm telling you about this because I love Juls... but I'm going to win, so no need for you to enter. K? ;)  Juls is giving away a stash of Bead Embroidery swag... yes, I'm in LOVE with this mix of jewels (or is it Juls).  So there, you've been told... :o)

3.  Kerry Bogert & Cindy Wimmer, two great jewelry artists have just been published in a new book Wire Style 2.  Kerry is giving away one copy on her blog!  Leave her a comment to win.  Or you can pick up a copy right this minute by clicking here!

Good luck, happy marketing and have a TERRIFIC day!
{Hugs!}
Dawn

Blogmania - Twitter Party with PRIZES!

Blogmania bloggers are all about building relationships - between our blogs, our cherished readers, the online community and business owners. We value each other's opinion as we all are endeavoring to make the best choices for our home life. So it seemed natural to partner up with The Lane Real Estate Team and Breebee's blog to bring you our first ever twitter and blog blast party.

The Lane Real Estate Team is all about building relationships through communities - specializing in Kennewick Homes for Sale. And Bree is a blogger - and a mom - trying to think outside of the box and help build community ties in NW Columbus OH via her Kid event website! Our other twitter party sponsors also offer items to help strengthen and maintain relationships - from stationary to hand stamped sentiments.

Our Party Theme: "Building toward Blogmania with The Lane Real Estate Team" http://www.joelane.com/

Info on the Blog Blast:

If you post on your blog(s) our announcement between now and the twitter party you will be entered to win $100 cash. If we reach 500 blogs there will be two additional $50 drawings, totaling 3 winners! You can email Bree, breejanderson@gmail.com or blogmaniapr@gmail.com for the HTML code for blog(s) links and some posting specific OR ask me (Designsbydawnmd@gmail.com) for info and I will provide you with an HTML code.

Please return with your specific blog post links on Bree's Blog, under her Twitter Party PAGE tab.

Info on the Twitter Party:

9:30-10:30pm, Sunday, August 22nd, EST we will party!

There is a custom tweet grid and a linky for early RSVP. RSVP'ing early also enters you into special drawings. You do not have to RSVP to tweet and win but the 'extra' will not be available.

You can win both the blog blast and at the twitter party!

RSVP at BreeBee's:

Book Giveaway!

I wanted to share with you about a new giveaway from a dear friend of mine!  Lisa Crone the author of A Bead A Day is giving away a copy of her incredible book, A Bead in Time! 

I purchased Lisa's book about a year ago.  What I loved about it is that she offers great illustrations with her written instructions.  So regardless of your skill level, anybody can follow her tutorials and create beautiful jewelry!

Here's how you can win - head over to Lisa's blog (click here) and leave a comment on her post.  I personally, would love for YOU to win.  I've gained TONS... seriously, tons of inspiration from this book.  Lisa shares with you her inspiration behind each project and it gets your creative juices flowing beyond what you might have imagined before.

If you're impatient Irish like me, you'll want your copy whether you win or not.  So you can purchase it directly from Amazon below.  Good luck and may your inspiration flow! :)

Sunday Sharing - Create your own Grab Button

I want to thank Tara over at The Waterwaif for teaching me how to create my own grab button.  While I've been grabbing other people's buttons for years... LOL... I never knew how EASY it was to make one for myself so other wonderful websites and blogs could link back to mine.  We'll I'm here to tell you, it's a piece of cake... an in my case, raspberry coffee cake with coffee 'cuz that's what I"m all about while I write this post! :)  So thank you Tara for being a great teacher and sharing your knowledge!  Please stop over an pay her a visit at her blog.  She also makes beautiful, custom crafted jewelry and really is a great inspiration to work at home moms!

This is a great way to reciprocate traffic among blog friends and be able to share the blogger love!  Any website or blog can grab your button and advertise for you, regardless of if it's a blogger, wordpress or typepad account.  These instructions to create a grab button however are written for people using blogger as their blogging platform, because that's what I did mine in, so that's what I learned! :)  Feel free to grab my button over on the right!  I appreciate sharing the love!  You are also welcome to post links to your blog, website or online store over on my Facebook Fan Page for Designs By Dawn Marie.  I have a discussion tab that has a "Link Love" discussion started and it's for anybody that wants to share their website URL with other Facebookers.  So you're welcome to share there as well!

How to make your own Grab Button.

1. First, make sure you have an ad or a button. The easiest way to do this, as I did, is to take a photo of one of your products and add your name or link to it with photoshop or a similar program. Personally, I use Photoscape as it's a free photo editing software that can be downloaded online.  It works great and it's really easy to use.  It's best to keep the image size under 200 pixels wide so it will fit in most sidebars.


2. Upload your new ad to any hosting site. Many people use http://photobucket.com because it is free, but there are a lot of options out there for web hosting.  I have a hosting account with Bluehost for multiple websites that my fiance and I run.  So I just uploaded my jpg ad to that account.


3. Now, open a new tab or window and go to your blog. This tutorial is designed for Blogger blogs as that is how I learned it.  I'm sure it's similar on other platforms, the names of the tabs and commands may be slightly different. Log into your blog, click "customize", then "Layout", then "Page Elements". Select "Add a gadget" and then choose 'HTML/Javascript'.


4. Copy and paste the following in the text area:
------------------------------------------------------ 
 <img src="http://YOURADURLHERE.jpg" /> <br /> <textarea style="text-align:center" rows="5" cols="20"><a border="0" href="http://YOURBLOGURLHERE.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://YOURADURLHERE.jpg"></a></ textarea>
-------------------------------------------------------
5. Keep that window open and go to Photobucket, or  whichever photo hosting you are using, and copy the direct link URL for  your ad. Then come back to your blog window and paste that URL in both  places where I've written YOURADURLHERE. Make sure you leave the  quotation marks as that's what keeps a link active in HTML.

6. Then, see where I've written YOURBLOGURLHERE? This is the website you want anybody that clicks on your button to go to. So whether it's your  blog's URL, or your Artfire shop or Etsy store, or whichever site you want to link to.  Put that web address in that spot.

7. Make sure you save. Once it's saved, you should be able to bring up your blog and you'll see the image of your button with the code underneath that people can copy and paste on their sites to link back to you.

Hope this helps! For me it as like an "AH HAAAAAAAAAA" moment!  Thanks again Tara for sharing with me and reciprocating links! Hope your Sunday is absolutely superb!

{Hugs!}