Blog Guidebook

Grow Your Blog On Pinterest - Part 2

2012-01-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few tips about using Pinterest a little differently than the average ~~bear~~ Pinner. Pinterest is quickly growing and will soon reach the Facebook and Twitter status, don't you think? Especially for those of us who don't particularly love social networking. I read recently that Pinterest is pulling in more pageviews than Etsy! Read that article from TechCrunch.com HERE.

BLOGGING BEAUTIFULLY = PERFECT PINTEREST

Give your potential pinners a hint of what is to come before they click on your pin. No one wants to go to your pin boards and see all the images from your blog. Create adorable buttons to give a hint of the images they'll find on your blog...let them pin YOU! (I'll be writing a new tutorial on creating buttons asap since Picnik is closing soon).

After you create a pinnable image it's a good idea to let your friends and readers know about it. If you don't want to pin it yourself, consider sending an email out to your subscription list (if you have one - a whole other post!)

Add a WATERMARK to your own photos. There are some quick and easy apps available for iPhone and Blackberry to add a watermark to photos taken with your phone before you ever post them, upload them or pin them! (More on watermarks next time!)

Pinterest is all about sharing...think about writing a tutorial on activities/crafts that you know would inspire others...then pin a beautiful photo or button image to promote it.

Meet and Greet other pinners. If someone is following you and you like the images the pin it is a good idea to return the favor. You can always drop them a little message and let them know you love their pins! (This will encourage 'like" behavior - hopefully).

Hand in hand - a beautiful blog encourages more pinning too. Consider a little blog spring cleaning, adding delectable images and buttons to your sidebar and/or posts...possibly a new graphic header to encourage more readers.

IS PINNING MY OWN IMAGES AND/OR PHOTOS ALLOWED?

Read below what Pinterest says about promoting yourself. They don't say you CAN'T pin your own stuff. But they are asking us to NOT use Pinterest JUST for self-promotion. So please make sure if you are pinning your own stuff, use your boards for other purposes too (as mentioned HERE).

Here's what Pinterest says:

GROW IT NOW

Pin posts you're proud of. Adding a pin board about posts that you are proud of is a good way to get others to read your blog and continue to do so.

Create a board with blogs you love to read. Share with these blogs that you are pinning them and they might do the same.

Share what inspires you by pinning on a board about inspirational ideas, quotes, posts, images etc., with other pinners.

Create a niche board - only pin items to that board that work in that niche, such as tutorials, poems, stories, that pertain to your blog's theme (if you have one).

Pin items that you could receive a payment for referring someone. This could be slightly controversial, so make sure you let pinners know that your board might send them to an affiliate link.

Follow the Big Pinners. Those uber popular pinners get lots of traffic, so following them can lead to more views of your pins, too.

Don't forget to use your existing social networks to get people to your Pinterest account. Facebook and Twitter can redirect to your pins as soon as you pin them.

Come up with a cool cross-promotion between your blog and your Pinterest account. We started a Pin It and Win It promotion two months ago...if you pin our poster you will be eligible to win that poster (one winner per week). See our button in our sidebar.

FIND OUT WHICH OF YOUR PINS ARE POPULAR

The quickest and easiest way to figure out which of your pins are being repinned is to go to Pinterest and type in following URL in your browser toolbar:
http://pinterest.com/source/enteryouraccountname.com/ and bookmark it so you can check it regularly.

You will be able see what types of images/posts get pinned most often. see what comments you get. see how people ‘name’ the pins to get an idea of how they categorize your stuff. This will give you a good solid idea of what is working for you and what is not. If one of your pins has been repinned 100 times, then figure out a way of replicating that idea.

REMINDER
Use stimulating visual imagery on your blog and your pins. Remember that Pinterest is driven by images and once they are pinned they are pretty much on there forever. You don't want to look back and see an ugly picture from a great tutorial or recipe that you pinned without thinking. Edit and embellish your images to the best of your ability.

Do you love Pinterest too? We'll be showcasing an awesome pinner every week and you could be one of them.

COMING NEXT WEEK - GROW YOUR BLOG ON PINTEREST - PART 3
Read How To Use Pinterest

Online Photo Editor Search

2012-01-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

With Picnik closing shop I decided to run through the pages and pages of online photo editors. I will be posting my findings in the next few days.

To hold you over, I found an article that's a few years old but has quite a few fun photo editing sites listed - try them out and see what you can come up with! Read it HERE.

Free Picnik For Everyone!

2012-01-20T17:10:00.000-08:00

Picnik is closing in April - for good. They were acquired by Google about a year ago...hmmmm...
But the good news is that you get to use all the Premium features until they do close. So go use and enjoy for a month or two, start loving it, and then it will be ripped from your fingers. And our tutorials using it will be somewhat useless. Bummers.

Read their post HERE.

My Favourite Thing - Adobe Illustrator

2012-01-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

I'm so excited and overwhelmed to be a new contributor for the Blog Guidebook! I thought for my first post I would rave about one of the best things I ever did. (If you're the slightest bit interested in graphic design, that is). And that's take Alma Loveland's Illustrator 101 class through Nicole's Classes. I used to just design the odd thing for myself in Photoshop, and whenever I would see something super cool someone had made, I figured they were just way better than me at Photoshop! Turns out, they were probably using Illustrator.
My favourite thing about Adobe Illustrator is by far the pen tool. I'm not even that great of a pencil and paper artist, but the pen tool fixes all of that. It's just like drawing, but on your computer screen, and the possibilities are endless. It's super fun to fill in the images with color afterwards too. Makes me feel like a kid all over again. :)
Alma's class is only four weeks long, and it's online, and it's only $125. You can't beat that! And it gives you LOADS of information. I am in love with Illustrator, and life has been peaches ever since I took that class! Now I can just sit down and make pretty much anything I want to. No more being held back by not being sure how to do something. It's wonderful!
Here's a few of my favourite (yes, I'm Canadian, so no, I didn't spell that wrong...ha ha) things I've designed since taking the class. I can't wait to take the rest of Alma's classes.
Oh, and I don't benefit a bit from this post. I just love it THAT much. :)

It's Pinterest, Not Brain Surgery - Part 1

2012-01-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

About three years ago I think I invented Pinterest. Of course, that was in my mind...it never actually came out and became anything, but I thought of the actual idea that it would be great to save all the photos and links in one place and call it something cute. Pinterest is a great name for this fun, organizational tool - but I would have called it something else, like: PinIt, DoggyBagIt, iLikeIt, MySaves etc...

Pinterest seems to confuse some people, I think it's the name of the site and all the pretty colors everywhere. {smile} I've had friends and comments that say "I just don't get it!" Why do you think that is? Today I'll begin a short series on understanding and using Pinterest for your blog.

On the outside Pinterest is a simple concept that is easy to install and use daily. That is what we humans like best, ease of use and a reason to use it. Many of my commenters who said they didn't get it had not tried the interface yet...they had simply looked at the site, gotten flustered at the invitation at the start, and quickly let it defeat them.

Listen up! Don't let it frighten you away. Pinterest is seriously the best thing since sliced bread and extra hot grande lattes! Don't let all the amazing photos overwhelm you, they are yours for the ~~picking~~ pinning!

It's Pinterest, not brain surgery! All you have to do is sign up and they'll let you in and you poke around on a few people's boards and you'll get it. It is intuitive, you can edit your boards anytime, and don't forget you can use it to grow your business and/or blog.

How To Use Pinterest To Grow (business or blog)

Start small, but start strong. Once you pin something and others start pinning it too, it's out there. You cannot get it back. So if you are going to pin your own original photos, make sure they are pin worthy. For example: edit your photos, use Picnik, Photoshop or any of the plethora of photo editing software out there. Make sure your photos are crisp and clear, that they portray what you want them to, and that they're blog worthy.
Pin it yourself - don't wait for your readers to pin your pretty pictures. Do it yourself and get yourself noticed.
Use graphics too. Adorable graphic ads are popping up on Pinterest now too, not just photos. If you know how, create "ads" for your posts, like "How To Make Pickles" could have a vintage basket of cucumbers and the words "How To Make Pickles". Here are some examples:

When you pin it yourself, you should describe underneath what it is. Most re-pinners don't want to take the time to rewrite the description, and this helps get exact information on what the pin is.

Get Pinspired! Let your pin boards do the work for you. Source ideas for crafts, home decorating, recipes and more - much more. Gather information at your fingertips and organize it on your boards.
Name your boards. Your boards can be labeled with your interests or into different subjects, such as color, location, rooms, styles, favorite things etc. I recently came across an amazing pinner who had so many in depth boards that were organized and pinned so beautifully I immediately got a bit jealous.
Images that you pin will link to their original source. That's the beauty of Pinterest. This is how you will be able to find that obscure recipe, or complicated hairstyle, or the picture perfect wedding without fear. The images will take you to the post or ad that they came from in the first place. That is so much easier than having a list of URLs in your notes!

More Pinterest thoughts in Part 2
Why use Pinterest?
Read our first post about Pinterest

Maybe I'll Just Quit Blogging

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took an internet break...I only went online briefly to see if anything of interest was happening, and it wasn't. Seems like the "blackout" did something for someone. Traffic here was super low too...did you all know I wasn't going to be watching?

Today I was thinking that maybe I didn't need to blog anymore. Maybe I'll just quit this blogging thing...it's not necessary and it uses up a lot of my free time. Plus, today I was more creative, and I fulfilled all my household obligations (ie. dishes, laundry, homeschool, cooking, and watching lots of House Hunters International). I actually felt accomplished! I am wondering to myself if blogging is worth it?

The upkeep of a blog is a lot like running a business...and if you have several blogs that means you are either torn in many directions at once, or you're a list maker and don't have any free time. Blogging can be your main business or work (ie. Pioneer Woman, Dooce, Nie Nie, etc...), but if you're an average blogger then you may be spending a lot of time and effort on something that is NOT going to give back.

With the thought of quitting sitting so eloquently in my mind, I think it will just have to stay there for the time being...I've invested too much time in this little blog about blogging, can't just give it all up now right? Well, I could. You'll just have to wait and see. And that's the truth!

Pleasea don't blog....on January 18th, 2012

2012-01-17T20:17:00.000-08:00

On Jan 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. We need to kill the bill - PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House - to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity. January 18th, 2012 is the largest online protest in history, to stop the internet censorship bills, SOPA & PIPA. Join in by blacking out your site and urging everyone you can reach to contact Congress now. Read about the Sopa Strike here.

Read Us On Your Kindle

2012-01-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

Did you know you can read our blog on Kindle? You can also add yours to the Amazon list (for free) and even earn a little cash in the process! We'd love it if you'd leave a comment or review on Amazon about us - HERE. The cost is about 99 cents per month to read a blog or website on your Kindle. Would you like us to write an article about how to do it? Let us know!

P.S. Apparently this is not available on Kindle Fire (where you can just browse online for free we're guessing).

Poster Awareness Day

2012-01-13T09:01:00.000-08:00

We don't mind letting everyone know that we love blogging! We really do, and we think almost everyone should do it. That's why we created these adorable poster! Did you know we had these cute posters designed by our own Lyndsay Johnson? They are always available in our SHOP.

We would love to design some more posters and want to get your ideas on what the sayings should be. Leave us a comment with your thoughts and you could win a few posters if your idea is chosen.

Good luck!

In The News - Blogger Now Supports Threaded Commenting

2012-01-12T13:24:00.000-08:00

Just read this:

"Blogger now supports threaded commenting, which means that it is now much easier to differentiate between whether someone is making a general comment on the thread, or responding to another comment on the thread."

Apparently if you already have commenting enabled, you don't have to "do anything" to start the threading. This is going to be very useful to us bloggers who like to reply directly to a comment and not just the general population. Thank you Blogger!

You can read the whole story HERE.

Haven't Heard of Rafflecopter Yet?

2012-01-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

Try it out for yourself! It's a great giveaway gadget!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out Lyndsay's awesome Spring design at Flea Market Finds With Matthew Mead

2012-01-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

Printed Version of Our Calendar Giveaway

2012-01-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

The printed calendar is glossy and spiral bound!

We love ya'll! (We were in Texas for Christmas!). We want to give away one of our beautiful calendars...we had some printed and they came out great! To enter, all you have to do is tell us one alternate use for the calendar (gift cards, tags, etc.) that you will use it for when the year is over.

**Make sure we can contact you if you're the winner and leave your comment below this post!

If you'd like instant gratification you can purchase our download of the exact same calendar (just not glossy and bound) and print it out on cardstock all by yourself. Right now our download is only $2.12! The purchase button is in our sidebar to the right. You can also purchase the printed version, just email us for details.

Here's a few example of crafty things you can do with your calendar (or anyone else's calendar for that matter!):

Just print out the page of your choice, frame it (8x10), and get instant prettiness!

All you need is a pair of scissors or paper cutter. Cut out images you love. Save the clippings!

The four girls have endless possibilities: first through fourth birthday invitations, labels, gift tags, framed and homemade cards.

Print out and trim, use scissors to cut out tag shapes

A small hole punch and thin ribbon can create a one of a kind gift tag!

Cut out extra butterflies and glue down the bodies, lift the wings. You will have created a shadow-box effect! You can frame this without glass and you've got your own butterfly collection, and no pins!


September will make a super cute tea party invitation! Just trim closely, then write or print out the invite on the inside.

Plan that tea party for September 2012!

After you've used the images you like, save the excess printed paper and use a large circle punch to create extra gift tags!

Blogging Goals - Linky Party

2012-01-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hey Kids! Sarah here...How is 2012 treating you so far? At my house I started some projects that I have yet to finish...(all started on New Year's Day!) such as painting the master bedroom, installing new flooring, hemming curtains, etc. I also started homeschooling my 6 year old last September, so I have set a goal to accomplish that and see it through till at least May and then decide if I have the mommy guts to continue (cuz it's hard).

So that is part of what my goal is for 2012. To finish what I start. If I must make goals (and lists of goals - I'm a "lister"), then I have to be able to finish them if I start them. I don't want to do anything halfway or half-a**ed. You know what I mean? Then, to go deeper, I don't want to be frozen in fear at the thought of not finishing something...uh oh, getting complicated now!

I would love to know what your goals are for 2012! They can be related to your blog or just life in general. Please, write a post about your goals and link up here. I'm sure many of us would appreciate some inspiration to carry on! Remember: Bee Calm and Carry On, or Carry on and Blog It!

You also might want to take a stab at this linky party next week:

January Inspirations - Meet A New Contributor

2012-01-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

{Rhonna Designs}

Happy January 2012! Have you been getting inspired by other blogs? There's been lots going on lately! December was filled with Holiday decor and lots of festive bloggy parties going on. Over at Dream Home DIY Michelle and Justin posted funny Elf On The Shelf Ideas and it was hilarious!

Many of us were making snow globes this year - Different Dog had a great knock-off Better Than Anthropologie - Snow Globe Tutorial, just lovely!

What was really inspiring was Shabby Loves Wall of Mirrors, talk about gorgeous Melissa!

If you wanted to learn about photography, Jill at Frame Worthy Shot posted 4 lessons on Learning to Shoot in Manual Mode - what an awesome series!!

Then just recently The Yellow Cape Cod reposted her Potterybarn black paint finish tutorial, it has a great video too, thank you Sarah!

Oh did you see Mummy {Maggie} Chronicles EZ's Room Reveal? It's a bedroom for a little boy who loves planes, trains and automobiles and it's just adorable!

Now for something oh-so-pretty, did you see Maysem's Ode To Inspiration Bloomingdale’s pillow copycat? It looks like it's covered in doilies!

Hey, do you like pie? What about pie pops… with only 5 ingredients! go over to i could so make that and Aimee can show you how!

With all the New Year's resolutions going around Trish of Mom In Timeout posted her How To Make New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep {Printables), nice job too!

I hope this has inspired you ~

Meet Heather and our new Contributors HERE.

Tutorials Tutorials Tutorials

2012-01-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

We love our friend Carolynn at Makin' Cute Blogs - and you can find a cumulative list of all her tutorials posted HERE. Some of her tutorials include:

Putting Randomly Rotating Ads in Your Sidebar

How To Make a Sidebar Header Layout on Your Blogger Blog

How To Center Your Header in Blogger

and lots more!

Tips From A (Not So Pro) Blogger

2012-01-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hope your first week in the new year went well. It made us realize that there's a lot to do in 2012 and we need to make a plan to get it all done! We have decided to start a group on Facebook that will give you blogging tips. You can go HERE to find it and join us. If you're not on Facebook, we will incorporate the tips into our monthly newsletter, so feel free to join our mailing list and you'll still get the goods!

Blogging Tips in Your Inbox - a New Year's Resolution

2012-01-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

RESOLUTION #1
This year we really want to focus on helping our readers become better bloggers! One way we think will help is to send you inspirational ideas and posting tips every so often. If you're already on our newsletter list you will get our tips...if you're not already on our mailing list, you can sign up here to get some bloggy inspiration.

RESOLUTION #2
Steer The Blog Guidebook in some new directions...to help expand our readership and keep a reader's attention. Such as photography, crafts and travel!

RESOLUTION #3

Share the limelight...would you like to be a guest writer for The Blog Guidebook? We're searching for new and exciting bloggers who want to share their bloggy knowledge with others. Click here for more information.

What are your resolutions?

Some Cool Stuff You Might Have Missed in 2011

2012-01-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

If you were busy in 2011 you might have missed some of the awesome resources we have gathered here at The Blog Guidebook. Below you can find some of our most popular posts of the year.

Click Me

FREEBIES - we've got a huge freebie selection from across Blogland...check it out!

Use Facebook to Promote Your Blog

Protecting Your Blog and Dealing With Outages

Commenting = Connection

Instagram-like Photos on Your Blog

Protecting Your Photos Online

Space Saver Marquee

How To Resize Buttons to Fit Your Sidebar

We celebrated our 1st birthday in June

Suggestions for Better Blogging in 2011

Need A New Direction in 2012?

2011-12-31T07:39:00.000-08:00

Contributors Wanted - Are you blog savvy (or any kind of savvy!) and want to share your knowledge with others? We'd love to add you as a monthly contributor to The Blog Guidebook. Just contact Sarah with your bloggy resume and we'll send you all the details to get started. (This would be a great way to get your name out there and add to your credibility!). Please send us your blog address and information you think would aid us in making a decision. We'll also need your photo to add to our contributor spot.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

A List of Calendars From The Blogging World

2011-12-30T09:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun selection of free calendars available on the web...it's awesome to find such talented crafters and bloggers! Just click on the image to go to the download. (We'll add more throughout the year too, so you might want to bookmark this to refer back to).

From Clovered.net - a free pop up calendar download

From the artistic hand of Alice Cantrell

Cottage Industries Printables


My Owl Barn - we LOVE this freebie!

More FREEBIES:

Mint Printables - free weekly calendars and more
Printable Paper - free blank weekly, bi-weekly, monthly calendar printables

2012 - Just Around The Corner - Get Our Calendar!

2011-12-30T06:35:00.000-08:00

It is almost 2012 and you know you need a new calendar to write down all the important events in your life. Well, we've just lowered the price to $2.12 in honor of the new year. Once you download the calendar you can print it as many times as you want to and use it for many different purposes throughout the year. A totally awesome bargain, we think.

Or you can get a FREE download just for writing a post about our calendar. See our post about that HERE.

We also have a few copies of the printed version (wire bound) still available. Email us for more info.

Happiest of New Years to You all!

Blog Guidebook 2012 Calendar $2.12

Happy Holidays from The Blog Guidebook!

2011-12-22T23:21:00.000-08:00

Let's Paint Something! Annie Sloan Paint Giveaway

2011-12-19T19:31:00.000-08:00

To spread some holiday cheer and celebrate the Annie Sloan American Tour, 'Round the Coop and other Annie Sloan Stockists across the United States are excited to announce this AWESOME giveaway!

'Round the Coop's giveaway includes: TWO pots of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in the colors of your choice, one Annie Sloan clear soft wax, one Annie Sloan soft dark wax, one of Annie's book Quick and Easy Paint Transformations, a paint brush, a dispense & measure syringe, one buffing pad, and two stir sticks!

Plus there's even more!

In addition to the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint basket giveaway, a lucky winner from each Stockist across North America will be entered for a chance to win a $350 gift certificate from www.anniesloanunfolded.com to be used toward your choice of a credit towards the Annie Sloan American Tour registration fee of $350.00 or to be used towards Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! The big winner will be announced on Annie's blog January 10th, 2012.

Sound AMAZING?! Great! Here is how you enter:

1. Check out all of the exciting details of the Annie Sloan American Tour and read all about this incredible event!

2. Become a follower of Annie Sloan's blog http://www.anniesloans.blogspot.com/ and comment with "American Tour 2012".

3. Leave a comment on Round the Coop's blog, and tell Debbie that you have done the above!

Debbie will announce the winner of the basket on December 31st, 2011 on her blog.

Simple Gifts

2011-12-19T10:55:00.000-08:00

There are many gifts of the season. And I thought I would offer a free download as a gift to you today! Listening to David Tolk's version of the song Simple Gifts gave me the inspiration for this little holiday poster. Just click the link below to download the 8.5x11 design. Then print it out to use in your home or other personal designs. (You could also convert the PDF to a jpeg and upload to Vista Print if you ever wanted the poster professionally printed, as well.)

Happy Holidays!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

What are your favorite gifts in life right now?