Design Addiction

Enter to Win $50.00 Off Design Service, 1/2 off Ad Space, & More

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 02:45:00 +0000

Enter to Win $50.00 Off Design Service, 1/2 off Ad Space, & More

Enter to Win $50.00 Off Design Service, 1/2 off Ad Space, & More

Today, we here at Ashley Chapman Designs Blog has decided we will take our followers to a new level with an awesome giveaway! Yes, that is correct we are going to give you something just for stopping in and signing up for your chance to win some amazing prices. So, what can you win you might ask? How does $50.00 Off any custom design service we offer (check out our list on our website at: www.ashleychapmandesigns.com/) 1/2 Off 1 more of Advertising Services, and a Full Blog Post from Us About You! You will have the most impact with this giveaway and its all as a thank you for helping us grow every single day.

We want to thank all of our fans and viewers for your kind words and for just stopping by to see us.

For this We at Ashley Chapman Designs says: Thank You!

Enter for your chance to win $50.00 off Custom Design Service, 1/2 off Ad Space on Our blog, and a Full Feature Blog Post From Us About You.

Winner will be selected at Random on June 15th and Notified same day via E-mail of winning and how to claim your prize. If winner does not reply to our message within 48 hours a New Winner will be chosen at random!

Enter to Win at: http://ashleychapmandesigns.com/blog/2013/06/01/enter-to-win-50-00-off-design-service-12-off-ad-space-more/

14 Tips to Promoting Your Blog- Free Promoting Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 18:42:00 +0000

14 Tips to Promoting Your Blog- Free Promoting Tips

Are you interested in finding new ways to promote your blog or website for free? If so we have just the tips to help you market and promote your blog or website absolutely FREE. That is correct, your not paying anyone to promote your blogs. Why not stick around and see what awesome tips we have to share? Blogging is a great way to increase income and a fun past time. It helps increase a business and get a story out there more. The one thing bloggers struggle with is viewed and promoting their blog. How is a person to promote their blog for free? Marketing can run into hundreds of dollars and fast. Many do not have that type of money to spend. Did you know there are free promotion tools out there to help? There are many options available to promote a blog or website for free online. Why not utilize these awesome tips and start increasing your views today?

Tip #1

Facebook! Post your blog post on Facebook. Add a short description and an image to optimal feedback. Join Facebook Groups for Bloggers there are many groups available. Make sure to share your post on Facebook and any Groups you are of that allow these posts. The goal with using Facebook is to get people to click over onto your blog post and read the entire story as well as Share the Facebook Post you created.

Tip #2

Twitter! Tweet your blog posts. Continue to tweet daily until you add a new blog post. The goal here is to get your followers to retweet or fav your tweets. This will help you increase the number of people that will view your tweet with the potential of viewing your blog. Make sure your link is within the first 10 to 15 words!

Tip #3

Pinterest! Create a pin board specifically for all the posts you make on your blog. PIN with each post you create onto this blog each time you add new content. Try to always add new content with images that’s a way you can pin each post.

Tip #4

Linkedin. If you do not already have Linkedin you need to have an account. Share your blog posts on Linkedin you will receive views from there. The goal is to use Linkedin to be taken professionally and educationally.

Tip #5

Google +! Google Plus is a great way to get your blog post out into the general public and faster. Granted you have people following your circle. You should always post on Google + and share each post you create. This is a great easy way to get some views a going.

Tip #6

Stumbleupon! Another great site that works similar to Pinterest allowing you to add a picture and some content as well as a link. Stumbleupon also generates a lot of views at one time.

Tip #7

Digg.Com A great way to get your posts submitted and added to a list. You then are able to climb to popularity by how many views you receive. Highly suggest trying this one.

Tip #8

Reddit.com Also allows you to post your content similar to Digg. Although they are very strict on how often you can post so read their rules.

Tip #9

Use E-mail! Send out a newsletter each week letting people see your new posts and what you have new to offer this week. You can also e-mail followers or people that request information each time you add a new post. Typically done using a subscribe button on your blog.

Tip #10

RSS Feeds! Make sure you burn your feeds and people have the chance to read them using an RSS feed. This does really help!

Tip #11

Comment on Relevant Blogs! Commenting will get you more traffic to your blog and help you promote the blog more often

Tip #12

Blog Hops! Join Blog Hops or Link Parties to get your link out there more often. This really does help a lot. I know as we do this very often.

Tip #13

Join a Blogging Community! Join Blogging Communities to help increase your potential readers.

Tip #14

NetworkingBlogs.com Another awesome way to add more promotional tools at your fingertips.

Remember the most important aspect of blogging is to add content on a regular basis and to promote like crazy. You should be trying your best to add new content at least every other day. Promote every day with all of the methods discussed above. This will really help you increase how often you are found and read. The goal is to have a successful blog that others are looking forward to. Keep your blog alive by posting on a regular basis.

Do you have other ways of promoting your blog? If you do, why not share them by commenting below? We would love to hear from you as well.

Linking Parties and Adding Links

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 May 2013 21:45:00 +0000

Linking Parties and Adding Links

Today, I want to focus on getting your link out there for others to find you. Many times often than not you run into the problem of having little to no funds and needing a way to promote your site and increase SEO at the same time. First, let’s clarify what backlinks are it basically means you go to your blog post your own about something I have written and link it to me. Simply put! Honestly, there are companies out there that say they can increase your backlinks but guess what you just did folks? The worst possible thing you could do for your site once you hire a company to increase your backlinks. That’s right, worst mistake ever! Google frowns upon sites that have un-natural backlinks that is forced backlinks when you do not need to force them or spend hundreds of dollars for this. All you need to do is the steps I will be listing below.

When you think of blog hops, link parties, and comments you should be thinking of “how to get your link in there properly and naturally”. This is going to increase the places linking into your site in turn increase the views you receive, the revenue, and ultimately page ranks and SEO. Now I am definitely not saying go to every blog page and post your link because the owners of these blogs are going to get really mad for the spamming content but if you’re going to a blog from a blog hop let them know you stopped by, how you found them, and offer a link to your site.

I, for one, love it when my followers leave me links to their sites because I am then able to go over and follow their site as well. But, be fair warned spamming is horrible and for those that moderate comments we do not allow them. If you post a link and run without an explanation of why you’re stopping by or how you found the blog or website people are not going to let that fly.

How can one increase the links without spending hundreds of dollars????

Let us Start with the Free Method and move into the less expensive method.

“Free Method”

Blog Hops
Link Parties-From bloggers
Pinterest
Facebook
Twitter
Social Media Outlets

Blog hops and Link Parties are great because these are free advertisments for you and your sites. You have got to love free.

Affordable “Paid Methods” are sometimes the best. I know I for one love them and they work great. Bloggers offer advertisements, where you are able to add your image, and your link for a certain dollar amount each month. These images in turn show up on their sidebars and I know when I re-start mine I am going to be offering them at the end of my posts if you purchase a specific package. Advertising is great and allows you to get more visitors because you’re known as Sponsors.

Many bloggers offer advertising for as little at $10 a month. Who the heck could pass that up? If you think about it, say you have a blogger that generates 20,000 plus visitors a month that is another 20,000 visitors potentially to your site as well. Who would not want that?

The point is to get your name and image out there as often as possible with as affordable ways as possible. If you have to spend hundreds of dollars a month for a service, honestly you’re paying way too much.

Do you have any methods that help you to link and increase your free advertising methods? If so, feel free to share everyone can always use helpful tips.

Etsy Featured Artists- Dell Cove Spice Company

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 May 2013 04:06:00 +0000

Etsy Featured Artists- Dell Cove Spice Company

When people ask us how we started our family business, we point to the recession and the collapse of the newspaper journalism industry.

It was early 2010. I was a national correspondent and the Midwest Bureau Chief for the L.A. Times newspaper, writing under my professional byline (P.J. Huffstutter). The newspaper’s owner had filed for bankruptcy. My editors were closing my office and moving my job from the Midwest to Los Angeles.

David and I were newly married. We assumed that David would be able to find work fairly easily in California. We were wrong.

Months passed. We longed to be together. So we started to cook at the same time – but three time zones away from one another – and talk on the phone. Cooking became our date night, a way we could connect and share the stories of what happened during our day. So for holidays and special occasions, we gave our loved ones edible luxuries of our own making. Hand-made infused sugars and salts, for baking cookies or sprinkling over popcorn. BBQ seasonings whipped up to make friends sweat. Homemade spice kits filled with ingredients discovered at tiny grocery stores or off-the-beaten-path farms.

A friend suggested we look into opening a shop on Etsy and sell some of our spice mixes. Maybe, she said, it could help offset the cost of our cross-country flights. It did that. And so much more. The shop has helped us reunite back in the Midwest, where the two of us create, mix and package our popcorn seasonings, BBQ spices and cocktail bar supplies.

In September of 2012, David quit his day job at an engineering firm – and now runs our online business full time. I’m a journalist – and I work with David in the evenings and weekends on our family business that has become a passion for us both.

1. What do you both find is the best part of working together as husband and wife?

It’s the ability to spend time together doing something we both love. David and I enjoy cooking – though he’s more the man with the grill, and I’m the woman with the sugar bowl.

It can be a challenge, running a business with your spouse. But we’ve learned that it’s best to each take the lead in different parts of running the shop. David takes the helm at all of our production. He’s far better at figuring out what we need to do in order to work efficiently. I tend to run our social media and figure out packaging and new products.

But truly the most fun we have is when we’re just playing around in the kitchen. There’s something relaxing – and kind of sexy – when you cook with your spouse.

2. Do you find that working together a positive side to your marriage?

Yes – and no. In the beginning, it was a challenge. David and I both have strong personalities. So figuring out who was in charge … *grin* … we locked horns a bit. But communication in any partnership is key, whether that’s in a marriage or in a business. And we figured out which areas where we could lead – and where we could let our spouse lead.

3. When you started, did you know from experience how to create the food in your store? Or did you need classes?

Neither of us is formally trained, but I’ve worked in restaurant kitchens – and we’ve both grown up in families that cook. But we have taken some classes – and hope to continue our culinary education!

4. Is there a reason why you specifically chose Popcorn seasonings, BBQ rubs, and Cocktail rim sugars?

We just created foods we like to eat!

We’re also in the process of opening up our own commercial prep kitchen and a small retail shop in Chicago!

The lessons we’ve learned along the way will carry us through our lives. Change is scary – and inevitable, so go ahead and give it a big hug. Ginger is good to soothe away stress. But sometimes, whiskey is better. Knife skills are important. So is knowing how to use a heat gun to shrink-wrap our spice tins. (Note to self: Keep practicing.)

We pack, wrap and ship all of our kits ourselves – and rely on the artistic eye of two amazing photographers (and friends) to help us tell our story.

*FATHER’S DAY: June 16th is Father’s Day – so please order by June 9th for delivery in time your Dad’s special day!*

Find this Amazing Couple and creators of Dell Cove Spice Company Outside of Etsy and this Blog:

Etsy- Shop Facebook-Fan Page Twitter-Profile

Etsy Featured Artists- Dell Cove Spice Company

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 May 2013 01:53:00 +0000

Etsy Featured Artists- Dell Cove Spice Company

Etsy Featured Artists- Dell Cove Spice Company

When people ask us how we started our family business, we point to the recession and the collapse of the newspaper journalism industry.

David and I were newly married. We assumed that David would be able to find work fairly easily in California. We were wrong.

Read It here

New Blog and Some Fun Facts

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:35:00 +0000

We have chosen to start a new blog on our website over at: www.ashleychapmandesigns.com/blog This blog is purely based on wordpress and we wanted to give you all a chance to see it there.

We have chosen wordpress as our main blog beause your views are not yours on blogger it is part of google so I can not keep track of how many of you are here, when people are here, or if you comment easily on here.

Wordpress is best for us.

Come on over start reading as I will begin tonight adding some awesome facts and great tutorials once again.

If anyone knows an awesome plugin for wordpress that gives you the same badge at google for people to follow please let me know I'm in search of one but as you know there are thousands available.

We look forward to seeing you over there.

Have a great week everyone!

Apologizes my fans

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 02:05:00 +0000

I must apologize for not writing sooner. I have been unavoidably detained with a migraine so severe it sent me to the hospital. I will say I am much better and thankfully it was just one heck of a migraine.

I thought you should see a few things and a few places new where you can get up to date news and great stories. I would know, as I am one of the writers.

This is a story I feel all new mom's need to read or moms-to-be.

Breastfeeding too long may Increase Iron Deficiency
http://guardianlv.com/2013/04/breastfeeding-too-long-may-increase-iron-deficiency/

There are many other great stories there as well not by me, so please feel free to come on over to http://www.guardianlv.com and check out the great news brought to you as quickly as possible.

Blog posts will start again next week. I want to give myself time to recoup and run errands.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Warmest Regards.

10 Tips How to Use Pinterest for Business

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 04:18:00 +0000

Over the past few days, we have covered how to use Twitter and Facebook for Business purposes, as well as do’s and don’ts for these social media outlets. Today I would like to go into detail on how to use Pinterest for Business purposes. As we all know, social media outlets are becoming widely known in nearly every country around the world. People use social media outlets to update friends and family, share exciting news, or talk about something interesting to them. Pinterest is one of the most popular visual aid social media outlets showing a drastic year by year increase of users world wide. With a multitude of people using this awesome social media outlet it is only fitting that Businesses begin to use it as well to promote new brands, market, advertise, and more.

So, what do the statistics show for Pinterest?

Looking at the statistics for the United States approximately 83.9% of Pinterest users spend their time pinning pictures to their boards, 15.5% of users like other pins, and only 0.6% actually comment on pins. Although, comment percentages are very low, over 80% of the content shared on Pinterest is from re-pins that other users have placed on their boards. Now that percentage as a huge plus for anyone.

Did you know that women dominate Pinterest users? That’s right, women have the highest Pinterest user rate in the United States. That really is paving a new way for how women interact, socialize, and use social media outlets online.

The most interesting fact about Pinterest is that on average each user spends roughly a little over 1-hour a day on Pinterest. This is really a huge factor and can prove to be a wonderful asset for businesses on Pinterest.

I have to say this next statistics fact really has me blown away. Since May 2011 Pinterest has increased its unique visitors (those that actually interact on Pinterest) by 2,702.2%. This is honestly, a huge increase and above all the biggest increase for any social media outlet.

Did you know the statistics for Pinterest show that referrals spend 70% More Money than non-social media outlets? This is a major asset for all businesses on Pinterest and if your not you should be highly considering opening a Free Pinterest account today!

Statistics made possible by ViralBlog, Viral Ideas, Social Trends. To see more Pinterest Statistics Click Here!

Now, let us discuss the top 10 Tips on How to use Pinterest for Business Purposes.

Tip #1

Setting Up Pinterest for Business. Pinterest has a setting for Businesses, where you can set up your Pinterest for a Business Account. You want to have your account set for a Business account. Also, if you have a website get it verified immediately. It will show your web address on your profile page. Great way to advertise for free. Make sure your account is set up correctly from the start. That will really help you out.

Tip #2

Set up your boards. Categorize your boards, have boards like, Web Design, Print Design, Blog Tutorials, Things I like. Yes, you can share things you personally like and do not be afraid to do this. It will show people what you like and help others get a sense of you! You want boards that will help break down your business and visually stimulate viewers more.

Tip #3

Make sure your account can be seen on search engines. Click on your settings, and make sure you do not have the visibility settings set to yes. When you sign up and go into your settings, scroll just a little bit down on the “Basic Settings” and find the one that states “Search Privacy” Make sure this is turned off, you want to be seen on Google, and more. Allow people to find you and your items fast.

Tip #4

Add a Link to Every Pin. Every time you add a new pin add a Link no matter what. A link helps people to know where the content is coming from, also who was the original provider of this content. it will also increase your stats because people will come and view the information from that link. If there is a price add the price and make sure your description is good. Never a boring this is such a cute little thing isn’t it. No make it interesting and vivid. Make your descriptions alive and thriving.

Tip #5

Use great images. Don’t just post the image you think its good, make sure its clear, colorful, and such. You want to make sure your pinning the most dynamic photo that will bring you views. Think outside the box when you pin items to Pinterest. Make it intriguing, colorful, livid, dynamic, something that everyone wants to see and will receive higher re-pins and such.

Tip #6

Adding SEO and Referral Traffic to your pins. Believe it or not everything from Facebook to Pinterest offers a way to enhance your SEO and ranking which in turn helps your business all the way around. Add categories, keywords, engaging captions (as discussed above) hash tags (see the Twitter tutorial for more on hash tags) and urls to pins and the about profile. This will better help your ranking and be found much faster. A better way of promoting your business.

Tip #7

Don’t just pin items for your business. This is a pretty big one, people will get sick of seeing things that are specifically just for you or your business. You want to show people that you have likes, loves, and favorites as well. This will better help show people what your personality is and what type of person you are.

Tip #8

Comment on posts that people re-pin or favorite. What this means, is if someone comments, likes, or re-pins one of your items thank them for the support. It let’s them know your thankful for the help of promoting and that you are here to discuss anything. If you have a business e-mail address add it to the comment so people can easily contact you if someone wants more information. I find that the more you show people you are here to help and you provide these specific items at (your web address) people appreciate you letting them know your thankful and in turn increase your views quickly.

Tip #9

One Pin Is Enough! There is no need to pin the the same item or same picture more than once. When I first began using Pinterest I honestly thought the best way to handle things was to post the same content every day sometimes more than once. Well as soon as I learned people become annoyed fast when you do this, I stopped. Guess what? Those pins I posted a month ago still receives the same amount of views as if I posted them yesterday. It doesn’t matter when you posted it just keep them there.

Tip #10

Keep your pins and boards accurate. If you have changed something with your business reflect that on your boards and same for your boards to your business. You want everything to reflect the same thing. Keep everything accurate and up to date. Spend at least an hour a day going through everything and keeping everything clear, accurate, and appropriate your views will increase.

A few extra aspects. To gain followers start following people in your area of specialties also find mini malls and such and try to join them to post more. Those mini malls will allow you to get more views and fans faster. You want to network the same as you would for Twitter or Facebook. Gain those views and it will really help a lot. Try to always keep things fresh, change it up here and there, post some things for your business then add in some things you like or re-pin some new purse that is really cute. Change it up and things will keep looking up for you.

For more information please follow the references below.

Pinterest Statistics

Upstart Business Journal

Social Barrel

As we hope you have enjoyed another series of tutorials. I look forward to hearing from all of you. Please feel free to share, like, comment, or send us a Hello. I promise we are all very friendly here.

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Top 10 Tips on How to Use Facebook for Business

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 01:07:00 +0000

We have covered Twitter, and now our main focus needs to be Facebook. Everyone uses Facebook and it is fast growing, but how can a business utilize it for business purposes and become successful? A multitude of fan based pages pop up everyday, some for networking & advertising, others for companies and businesses online. The problem that many of these fan pages run into over time is no fan wants to interact or communicate on these pages. Having little to no interactions can cause some major down falls such as failure in business, shut down, unhappy clients, and many more.
Today we will discuss how to use Facebook as a means of improving your business. Here at Ashley Chapman Designs, we want you to all be successful and achieve your own goals. With the encouragement Ashley brings to do from posts on here helping you learn the aspects you need to, or highlight aspects you should never do. Enjoy the post!

Tip #1

Know when to post and what to post. Tip #1 is quite difficult because you need to be able to know when to post and what to post. When you create a Facebook post the point is to receive the maximum out of it especially when we are dealing with a business.

Statistics have stated that Posting on Facebook between the Hours of 8pm and 7 am have a 14% higher comment, like, and share ratio then posting at other times. Now given each country, and location varies in time changes you still want to try and hit these times. Additionally, statistics state that the highest interaction days are on Saturday & Sunday. (Well of course most people are off work and catching up with everything)

Lastly, the next highest day especially for sharing Blog content comes on a Thursday with a 10% higher interaction percentage than any other day.

What this means, is that when you share content on Facebook, you want people to like, share, comment, and overall interact with the post and the person who created the post. I will tell you that I personally post 24/7 no matter what time it is, yes I do see many changes for example: If I post something at 3am chances are my views for that specific post have dramatically declined compared to if I posted it around 7pm central time. Changing when you post alone will not get you fully ready for the big box seat but it will help.

Tip #2

Know what to post. Did you know posting something negative on your feed will dramatically change how your fans interact? It does, because believe it or not when we start talking negative on Facebook a few things happen, first we might hit someone’s nerves so they post a comment which may inadvertently trigger an argument. (very bad!) It basically taps into a person’s emotions when you post a negative post.

Positive posts receive higher interaction ratings, more feedback, comments, likes, and shares. overall better for business.

Posting with a picture will increase your chances of going viral and having comments, shares, likes, to even people that are not fan based. Why is this a good thing? Going viral means you really hit a lot of people with it, and the more people that know about what you do, can offer, etc. the better off you will be.

Tip #3

Over posting. Now this is quite a big one here. Over posting means you really post 5 to 15 times a day, if you do this STOP! Your hurting your business. Over posting gives you a bad image. How? It makes people think you have nothing better to do then sit on Facebook and post all day long. It shows people you would rather take up their newsfeed space trying to get a sale than post something once and leave it. If your like me, I share my blog posts on Facebook so my fan’s who have not subscribed to the blog can see this. Over posting is a way to give people the wrong image about your business and fast.

Tip #4

Don’t say the same thing twice. There is no sense in repeating yourself, or restating anything you previously posted because your fans have already seen it. This actually will drive people away from your Facebook Fan page and fast. If something you post is that important for example: Over the weekend I took my website down for some maintenance and re-coding, so I wanted people to expect this and not be taken off guard. Instead of posting all weekend long that our website was down for maintenance I posted one time and “pinned to top”. That awesome pin to top feature is amazing and really helps you keep the important stuff up top for fans to see.

Tip #5

Stop Tagging People. Now this may sound odd but one of the big no no’s of Facebook for Business. Do not tag people whether you know them or not. I’m not saying don’t tag a page if your thanking them for something, I’m saying simply don’t tag 20 people a day. Very bad for business and its getting you no where. What I am meaning by this is when you add a photo and people tag as many as they can right off the bat to try and make it go viral this is very bad for business and should not be done at any time.

Tip #6

Stop linking your other social media accounts to Facebook for auto posts. People do this all the time (heck I even did it once) it does nothing for you. This means if Twitter is connected to Facebook it will immediately send the same thing over to Facebook, and people do not like this. Actually, those stats I was talking about earlier, well there is a dramatic decrease in interactions when you do this. Why do it then?

Tip #7

Stop Liking your own posts. Okay this should be a no-brainer stop liking posts that your page makes. We already know you like it or you would not have shared it with us, why do you need to like the post as well? Honestly, you do not need to like the post. Actually this is really annoying and bugs me badly. One of my pet peeves if you will. This drives people crazy and trust me it gets you know where.

Tip #8

Don’t Just Don’t. This tip is going to cover a few extra’s here as I do not want to run past 10 tips on here. Don’t just don’t will cover what you should not be doing at all. Never suggest to your Fans to go like a page, or share a page, etc. Your asking makes you seem desperate and we know that being desperate is really not a good thing. Never add people to groups without their permission. Just because you think they will be interested does not mean they will be. Another pet peeve of mine is stop sending bulk messages. We do not all need to be in the same conversation. If you want to send a message send it one at a time. Nothing is ever that important.

Tip #9

Liking other pages. Liking other pages to network is great but if you can send that page a private message letting them know you were liking them and where they can like you back. Adding links to someone else’s page is not a good thing and should not be done. It’s kind of like a wedding how the Bride is to be the only one dressed in entire white, well your going to someone else’s page to like it don’t try sending their fans to you as well.

Tip #10

Grow your page fans. You need to network to grow your fan page. Networking means for Facebook simply, go like other people’s pages in a similar category as your own, go to shout and ladders pages play the games. As long as you receive likes its great. Check out Blog Hops there are people that do Facebook hops too on here. Any way you find networking helpful.

Be careful of Facebook Jail though! Facebook Jail basically means if you like too many pages, send too many messages you are banned from using these features for up to 2 days. Not great when your trying to network and get your name out there but they do it. Be care.

We hope that this post has better helped you to understand the do’s and don’ts of Facebook. Let’s get to networking and growing our Fan pages. Also a few extra tips, don’t use too many Facebook buttons, you really do not need them on everything, never poke people its annoying.

Now you can really go Facebook Crazy and Enhance your business! Best of Luck to you!

Co-Hosting the Blog Hop This week

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:38:00 +0000

help grow the hop

;

Please respect the hop and only join if you have a beauty related blog. Thanks!

Top # 10 Tips to Sell Online

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:36:00 +0000

When you first start selling your own items online, you have so many questions on what you are doing correctly and what you are not doing correctly. Many times you find yourself needing to ask questions ,but lost on who to ask. I know when I first began a little over a year ago I was completely lost and afraid that every move I was making was not the best thing today.
Today, I want to focus on How to Sell Online and how to better approach selling online. These tips are here to help guide you in any way. If you do have questions, please do not hesitate to fill out the contact us form and I will be sure to get back to each and every one of you.
We will be going over the basics on how to decide if you should start selling items, to how to get you moving in the first few months of beginning your business online.

Tip #1

Deciding if an online business is for you. Now, this one varies from person to person and by all means give it a try, who knows you may be really successful. Some people begin a business with little to no experience on how to run a business. I will tell you as I have had many years experience in running a business, that without some type of background knowledge you will be pulling your hair out of your scalp. Starting a business should not be taken lightly. This mean’s don’t just think “Hey everyone else is doing it so can I”. Do your research.

Tip #2

Know your area and your market. Before starting a business you should always do research to learn how many people do the same as you, who offers similar items, and so forth. Learn everything you can possibly think of before beginning a business. Never jump in head first because you have no background knowledge of this you should want to ask questions often. “Who offers similar items” “What prices seem fair” The more questions you come up with the better off you will be.

Tip #3

Etsy Store, Other, Or Website. I am asked on a regular basis what is better, selling on a site like Etsy or having my own website? To answer this question, you need to ask yourself this question, “Do I want to be professional and stand out? or “Make it easy and blend in” There are a multitude of Etsian’s online trying to sale 99% of the time you search for an item similar to your own you will find pages and pages of results. Your not standing out, which means all the more promoting, advertising, and money spent to be seen above the rest. Blending in is not always the “in” thing you want to do. When you choose a website you need to be willing to go every mile you can to get found easier, quicker, and actually compete against the bigger stores offering the same as you. A website allows you may aspects, one you will be seen as a professional not going anywhere, you will be taken seriously, your audience will jump from 20 views a day to 100s if your site is done properly. The next big one, never do your site by yourself. If you cannot afford to have a custom website coded for you, then always just see if you can hire someone for like 30 minutes to an hour to help you get a few aspects set up like SEO , etc. Make sure you always have a professional do this, it will better increase your views and the potential sales your looking for.

Tip #4

Your Products. Ask yourself, “What do people want to buy?” Know what people want, and try to provide it. If you think it will sell but not sure try it. Trying something different never hurts you, that is after all how we all learn. Trying something and if you do not succeed you know it will not work. Make sure what you do is something you enjoy. Don’t start something on a I think this would be interesting moment. Know you love it and do it. For example: I do web design/blog design, because I enjoy creating new looks, it brings me peace knowing I created something special for someone else, I find much joy in this. If you cannot honestly sit back and say “I love my job” then its not for you.

Tip #5

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures. Learn your way around a camera and know the ends and outs of photo editing. Photos are the only way you will be able to really show off your products. When they say a picture speaks a thousand words it needs to be true when your listing an item. Have a clear, clean, background. Use a whiteboard if need be, but always keep it clean. Lighting is everything, don’t shoot a picture in the darkest part of your home or office that is never going to get anywhere. If its fuzzy take it off and reshoot. Unfocused pictures will cause your views to decrease rapidly.

Tip #6

Creating a Price. Ask yourself this, “would I spend this for the item” if your answer is no you priced to high. Pricing should include, materials, time, labor, etc. Get your money back and earn some money in the process. Profit is a have to. If you do not profit immediately from a sale chances are you have prices too low. Need Pricing help? View It here!

Tip #7

Descriptions a Must! Provide high quality descriptions. Customers do not want to hear about how you decided to come up with the item, or why you chose that specific item. Actually doing a description like that is quite boring because we as customers want to know Facts! Always list facts first no matter what, then worry about a sincere message to the viewer.

Facts should include, dimensions, sizes, measurements, materials, care instructions, etc. Not this is such a cute bracelet because it looks gorgeous on you. Think of your descriptions like this, when you view Wal-Mart.com you see nothing said about its cuteness, or how pretty you will look, so why do it?

Tip #8

Excellent Customer Support. You remember that moment when you went into the store to return something because you just purchased it, opened it up, set it up, and guess what it doesn’t work. So you drive back to the store just to return it and give the return clerk an ear full and she never said a cross word to you? or the time when you wanted to scream someone’s head off because of a mistake or broken item and them giving you the run around in store? I know you do! As much as we do not want to admit it we all had those moments one time or another. Now as a business person yourself there are a few things you need to do that is very important that will honestly save you the hostile of mad, ready to scream their head off customers. Set Policies. Set your policies, what return policy do you have, exchange policy, shipping policy, etc. Make it plain and clear what you offer from the start. Even if you do not offer it state that because customers need to know this. Aim for high customer satisfaction from the support you give customers. This will better help your business in the long run. If you are like me you want customer feedback because customer feedback to me is critical for the growth of any business. Customer Feedback offers you the chance to know what you need to work on and improve, if a person doesn’t leave you feedback don’t worry about it typically you will have at least 1 or 2 people that will not do that.

Tip #9

Network and Promote. Now I do not mean post your items every hour on the hour that is absolutely annoying and will drive sales away. I also do not mean be a pushy salesperson, people pushy or seeming desperate for sales will never receive anything. You need to be all the time professional. So what do I mean? Network. Join Facebook add a Fan page, Join Twitter, Pinterest, Rebel mouse, Stumpleupon, tumblr, blogger, wordpress etc. Networking means you like, follow, share, etc. other people’s items as well not just your own. Okay so how will networking help my business? The goal to network is to help people out who will help you out. This means you favorite, like, repin, retweet, share an item. If these people do not return the favor well then you know not to help them out again. When you network, like with blogger how many people have blog hops, your sharing where you are and people come on in, like you, follow you, etc. This helps build your networking allowing you to reach more people. Promote. Promoting means you actually put your items online at as many places as you can. If you pin it once don’t pin it again and again, its crazy. Don’t use hootsuit to go insane on tweets really drives people nuts I know I learned. If you use Etsy you can use their Etsy FU app to promote items every so often. I know the name sounds odd and worse than it is but its honestly for promoting. I have mine set for every 4 hours honestly that is the closest you want it to be. Any closer and your pushing the problems of over promoting and driving people mad. We don’t want to drive anyone crazy rather drive for sales.

Tip #10

Know your financial status. Okay this is a big one here. Know what your putting into your business, keep every receipt, every record of purchase, every record of a sale. The IRS will need this if you get audited. Oh No I said the worse word possible I know. The truth is keep everything. Know what your spending to increase your business, keep track of sales. Know how often a sale comes in, how often you spend money, etc. The more you keep this straight the better off you will be. You can view some of the tutorials from previous as I offer some great tips on getting organized for your business. It also includes a tutorial on programs you can get for free. It’s a great way of increasing productivity time and decreasing how long you have to work to stay organized. Remember, your financial status and where your business goes is up to you.

I always tell people that the sky is the limit, that your business, prosperity, and growth depends on how much you really want to have. If you think small you will be small. Now that does not mean go out and get yourself a $10k loan from the bank to increase your business, but what it means is know where you want your business to go. Be determined, driven, and have a passion for what you do. Chances are you created the business or are thinking of creating a business because you need the income, your at home more than anywhere else, or you have no vehicle to get around so working from home is suitable for your needs. Remember that no matter where your working, working means you set hours, set times, set limits so you do not burn yourself out.

I hope you all enjoyed another series of our fine tutorials on how to sell online. Do you have any other tips you might like to add to this tutorial??? Comment below I love hearing from you all.

Thanks for stopping in. I hope to hear from you soon!

Top 10 Tips on How to Use Twitter for Business

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:55:00 +0000

Top 10 Tips for Twitter, how to Sale on Twitter, Engage Users, and be Successful with Twitter Marketing.

Just a few decades ago social media marketing and outlets where yet to make a forefront in our society. Today, social media outlets are tomorrow's future, bringing the world to your fingertips and making it much easier to get out there. People are evolving and adapting to the new world of modern internet and marketing skills like wildfire, but are you being left in the dust wondering what to do with your business?

If we call back even ten years ago, the online shopping was not really a big money maker for businesses like Walmart.com or lowes.com. Today, these companies thrive because online shopping is the new in store shopping. People no longer have to run to the store each week or take out of their busy schedule to find time to shop when needing to pick up the kids from school, husband at work, and work 8 to 12 hour days themselves. Everyone nearly everywhere can now buy everything from household items, toiletries, and even food directly online and many times save more when they do so.

Now, small businesses go up daily online, as a web designer I see the demand for a new website more often for a store or e-commerce site than just for a simple information site. This is something that has become increasingly popular and from the way the statistics look the demand will only increase. The catch is, How Do We Get Small Businesses To Strive and Survive????

Easily, Social Media Outlets. Today we are going to focus ONLY on Twitter and How you can better your Twitter account and turn your followers into customers.

Let us being with tips and tricks that will get you rolling in the box seat rather than the back seat.

Tip #1

Appearance is 99% the Law. This means if your a business you need to be professional, conduct business as such, and your twitter background, header, and profile picture need to state this loud and clear. Think of it like this: If you have a meeting downtown with a set of corporate share holders for a company are you going to walk into this business with sweatpants and a tank top??? Chances are NO! You were raised better than that. You know this means a suit and tie for a man, or a dress suit for a woman. You know that appearance is what will help sale you. The Same applies for online marketing if your twitter layout is horrible so will be everything else.

Tip #2

Conduct your tweets as professional not personal! Basically, don't be talking about your personal viewpoints on politics, laws, etc. This will not look good for your business. Do not talk about what you did that day UNLESS its business related. Do Not sit there talking about a vacation your and your family have planned to go on. Simply talk business. Let people know what is going on with your business. Business is Business, Personal is Personal. If you had to go into an office would your boss allow you to talk about your personal life all day every day? No! Social Media Outlets are not for this.

Tip #3

Commit yourself to it. Don't open a twitter account without the commitment of showing up to tweet and talk with people that are talking to you or about your business. Set aside at least 2 hours a day every day week to be on twitter. Let your followers know what time you will be on twitter to answer questions, reply to tweets immediately, chat with them, give out more information, and more. Make certain you are live on every single social media site every day that you use. If you do not, your not going to engage users, your not going to gain customers, and you are really going to give yourself a bad name and fast.

Tip #4

Conversations are the key! Never open a twitter account without first understanding you need to keep conversations rolling. This means, someone follows you thank them personally! Tell them who you are, introduce yourself, start up a conversation, or anything. Its just like if you meet someone in town, you typically say, Hi my name is(your name), and start a conversation immediately with them. Well the same is true for online, no conversations means no customers and no one wanting to know about you.

Tip #5

Positive tweets go a long way! Your followers do not want to hear about the downfalls or the hard times you are having, whether with your business or not. Actually, you should NEVER state something like this on social media outlet because chances are you will never be able to take it back. Talk about something positive, something that you accomplished today, Did you figure out something very difficult? Did you hit a milestone in your business? Did you create something awesome today? Don't try to be funny and post crazy jokes or something, be YOU because being you is what people will love not someone fake or someone acting like someone else.

Tip #6

Add something different to the mix! Did you do something funny while working today? Basically what this means is switch it up just every so often. Make a different post, talk about something different, a page you ran across and you thought it was awesome, something that happened to you today, but Don't Go Copying jokes because people know it. Keep it original and 100% you every time.

Tip #7

Follow people in your niche. This means if your a web designer follow people on twitter that are similar. Jewelry, find people that are the same, handcrafted, well find people from Etsy and follow them. Following them helps you increase your followers as well. As long as these people realize that following others is a great way to reach a higher audience a big plus side to marketing online.

Tip #8

Now the trends for the day! This is perhaps a huge aspect for you to consider. If you do not know what is "hot" "new" in the news, etc. well your never going to hit it big that day. Now what this means is find something that is trending for the day that relates to your post or something your going to post put an @ and the trend name to it, like @webdesign and so forth this will help you get seen by huge numbers. Learning more on trends is as simple as going on twitter and clicking the Discover button. Then add these trends to your post, BUT make sure they match what you are talking about.

Tip #9

Effective Links must be in first 25% of content. What this means is if you have 50 words on your tweet within the first 12 words your link should be added. Why? The easiest way of putting it the longer you keep waiting to add that link the less likely people will click over and see what you have to say. I know difficult but, it will benefit you down the road. Why not give it a try? What do you have to loose?

Tip #10

Use Hashtags on every single tweet you put on Twitter. Okay, now this is a tough one many people really do not understand hashtags or what they are for so I am going to try and break them down for you in a way you can fully understand what hashtags are and how to use them properly.

Hash tags are opened with the numbers symbol # and then all information is put in one long format like #blogchat or #blogger #webdesign, etc. These hashtags are used to make it easier on other twitters to find something they are looking for in these area's and faster. Hashtags work best if you use one's that are trending or popular for that day. To know which hashtags are trending just sign in to your account and scroll down a bit its to the left hand side under Trends not hard to miss.

NEVER use a hashtag that does not in some way link to that tag you used. Like I know many including myself at first made the mistake of thinking well if I use the hashtag #Celeb I will get found faster and easier. WRONG! Your not doing yourself any favors because the post is not related to the subject in question.

New one I just learned myself. Don't Use more Than 2 Hashtags in 1 Tweet. If you do you are spamming the content which is basically meaning your going to have a more difficult time at being found.

If you would like more tips on twitter please Click here.

As always Ashley Chapman Designs, thanks you for stopping bye and we Hope that you will Follow Our Blog for More Updates Like this one!

Organizing Your Business!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 06:27:00 +0000

Recently, I have been thinking about organization and how to organize my business the way I need it. If your like me, organizing anything is a task within itself. Actually, it is more like a job that you should get paid for just because it takes so long to organize right? If your anything like me you want to have all your contacts where you can find then quickly and easily on your computer. Have all your business financial information in one place and heck if possible be ready for the tax season so everything takes you less time to get going.

Each business need is unique in which no 2 businesses will have the same way of organizing. Below I am going to give you some tips and tricks on how to organize your business and personally to save you loads of time. I typically do all of my organizing on a computer because its faster and easier for me to have it right at my fingertips when I'm speaking with prospects online.

I have a few tips and tricks for you on how to get fully organized both professionally and personally.

Tip #1

Find the Programs that work for you.

By this I mean, find programs that will help you get organized.

For example: I use one program for contacts its a free download and I absolutely love it. For programs containing contacts click here.

It does not have any viruses or any problems in using it. Very easy to use, add, change, edit, your contacts in a blink of an eye on the computer whether you have internet or not.

Tip #2

Financially I have 2 different programs I use one is available online the other is a simple ole spreadsheet form. I keep track of them in both places just to make sure there are no errors anywhere .Though while doing my search on organizing and business fiancial aspects I ran across a site you should know about. Its called Outright. Outright is amazing and works very great.

Outright allows you to connect your accounts such as Paypal, Etsy, Amazon, Credit Cards, Bank Accounts, and much more. It allows you to keep track of money coming and coming out which is absolutely great for businesses online. Really its one of those sites that you cannot live without. Its absolutely amazing and works so much easier than spreadsheets do.

Tip $3

If your like me I have to create invoices from everything for web hosting, web design, print design, services, and so much more. Having a program that helps me with invoices and keeps them in a specific file, printable, pdf format, and more is very important. Easy Invoice Creator does all that. Downfall to this its only available for Windows 8 users. I find paypal invoices are a pain, hard to keep straight, and honestly they do not offer pdf formats or another format other than online. Now Each Invoice Creator is available for Windows 8 for $1.49 very expensive right there right? It does the job and then some. It allows you to mark a payment as late, great for Web Hosting as my clients need to know when their payments are due and if they become late. This program is honestly a lifesaver for me.

Tip #4

Use a computer calendar or apple app to create appointments, reminders, and such for all your appointments, phone calls, etc. This makes it so much easier to remember when you need to do something. I personally, use the calendar on my computer as its windows 8 and works wonderfully for those things. Then, I also back it up with my iPhone as many times I want a reminder of these.

Remember what works great for one may not work great for you. I do not like a desk cluttered or full of things that really do not need to be. I really do use a computer for everything because its simple, easy, and I'm typically on the computer working anyways so making small changes, or adding new contacts is not a problem.

Remember to cover the basics for your business:

1. Client List

2. Prospects

3. Businesses/ Companies you deal with

4. Invoices

5. Tracking your Income and Expenses

6. Keeping track of appointments

Now those are just the basics as add many as you need to this list.

Don't forget to organize your computer as well:

Files such as these will help do that.

1. Business Income

2. Business Expenses

3. Invoices Sent

4. Invoices Received

5. Personal Fiances

6. Business Documents

7. Personal Documents

8. Payroll (if it applies)

9. Kids

10. Medial

Add as you need to.

Bottom line here is, the more organized you are the better off your business will run smoothly with less hiccups from misplacing a file or contact. I know if you saw my computer you would think, "Okay then what is wrong with her, does she have OCD obulsive cleaning disorder or something?". All of my files are labeled, business files, business contacts, prospects, business income in, business income out, invoices in, invoices out, and so many others the list would just keep going on.

You have to remember whether your running a business from home or at an office the point is this, if your unorganized chances are you have something under that pile of files on your desk that you really need, but totally forgot about.

Its like when we were children and our mom's would nag us for hours even weeks to keep our rooms and we continually refused because we did not want to. Then in the end it was down to the nail clean the room or be grounded. 99% of the time, when we cleaned our rooms we found a toy forgotten, a CD we forgot we had, or something that was like a new shiny toy to us. Same applies to your business life, if your not organized chances are your probably spending hours of work when it would take you 30 minutes for something.

Ask yourself this question, "If I take today to clean my office space, how much time during the rest of the week can I free up to get down to some real business?"

Think of it as a bonus for you really. If your clean and organized your one going to feel much better, two- have more time on your hands, three- save yourself the headache of doing it when it get's ten feet high, four-be able to do more with the time you would have spent going through that stack of papers.

To see more free downloads and softwares that will help you get organized click here.

What do you do to get organized???

Comment below! I want to hear from you all.

Looking for Affordable Website Hosting or Building???

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:05:00 +0000

I have been asked many times who has the cheapest website hosting? Where can I build my website?

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Click the Banner to Get your Awesome 25% off Hosting and Web building TODAY!

This place truly takes hosting to a whole new level with great easy ways of creating even the most advanced e-commerce websites. This means if you have items to sell this could be your best bet for affordable rates.

Today Only Sign Up and Receive 25% off your Hosting. This includes Sitebuilder tools. Unlimited E-mails such as info@yourdomain.com

Coupon Code: GatorMeSale

What's stopping you!

How to Add a Facebook Like Button to Your Website or Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 04:36:00 +0000

Have you ever asked yourself, "how do these websites have the facebook like button on them"? I know I have as a web designer this is one important aspect to have on a website because there's a multitude of uses for these buttons. Today I can going to share with you step by step how to add this button to your website or blog. We will start with how to add it to a site like Weebly and go into how to add it to Blogger as well. Please Follow this blog to get more updates!

Let's Begin:

I will be using my Facebook Fan Page for the example.

First, we need to open up this website into our browser:

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/

Scroll down just a tad until you see this:

Step 1 - Get Like Button Code

URL to Like (?)
Send Button (XFBML Only) (?): Send Button
Layout Style (?): standard
Width (?)
Show Faces (?): Show faces
Font (?)
Color Scheme (?): light
Verb to display (?): like

Get Code

Now we need to break down what each of these items on here mean:

URL to Like: If its an Image of an item: Right Click on Image, Click Copy Image URL and Paste it inside this box

Facebook Business Page: Open up Facebook, Click on your Business Page, Copy the Website Address from above, Paste it Inside the URL to Like box.

Once we have this general information in here we need to choose layout: Do you want a Send Button? Send Button Allows a Person to Privately Message someone on their friends list on Facebook. Yes, you really want this feature.

Layout Should be Stardard

Width: Change the width ALWAYS 450 px is too large for anything. I typically work with a 75 to 100 nothing bigger than this. It gives a nice size but not too large for people.

Show Faces: No! Definitely do not need this feature.

Now click on Get Code!

You are going to see something like this. Now Don't Get Overwhelmed the rest of this is very easy!

Now for Weebly We will grab the Custom HTML found at the top in the Elements

For Blogger We will add a Html Gadget and embed the code there.

Once you have either one of these set up . Place the first code first, and then the second code.

All you need to do is click in the #1 Top box Right Click and Click Copy or Control/Command C

Paste by right clicking and hitting Paste or Control/Command V

Do the same for the 2nd Part of the code.

You must have both to work correctly.

This is All you have to do now your finished this this one. Add more if you like.

To receive regular updates on new blog posts please follow this blog either by google or by e-mail.

Want to be the Next Featured Artist??? Contact us at info@ahsleychapmandesigns.com

For more information.

Interview with Glen's Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:24:00 +0000

1. Glen, can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got started making handcrafted pens?

I have been a woodworker for many years having done much DIY work around my homes and handmade items for family members including cradles and high chairs for grandchildren, end grain cutting boards and other small household and kitchen items. In 2005 I purchased a handmade pen from a campground host in North Dakota which became my inspiration to become a pen turner. While preferring wood, I also make pens in acrylics and other materials. As a lover of wood my preference is for natural finishes but I will also be offering the more durable and high gloss finishes commonly found today.

My handmade pens and other wood crafts are a continuing development of my being inspired by a handmade pen purchased from a retired Navy member while camping several years ago. I was moved to try making pens and offering them for others to enjoy.

A number of my Army brothers and sisters supported my efforts by purchasing nearly 100 pens during the final year of my retiree recall tour at Ft. Knox, KY. This permitted the learning of new skills and exploration of new products and techniques.

2. Do you believe it was the craftsmanship of the first pen you purchased that caused you to want to learn? Or Where you drawn to learning because the person you purchased it was Retired Military?

It seemed like a route into turning that could be learned readily and I really like the walnut burl wood in that pen.

3.Can you run us through a basic on how you create a pen?

Select material (blank) and components (hardware). For some pens I create the pen through segmenting.
Size the blank to the components for length then drill through the center of the blank for the brass tube to be installed.
Drill the blank piece(s) for the tube.
Glue in the tube to the blank piece(s)
Square the ends of the blank to the brass tube.
Turn the blank to fit the component set getting to final dimensions via sanding.
Finish sand and apply the finish. I use either a hard water and oil based finish or a shellac based friction finish on wood blanks.
Synthetic blanks (acrylic, poly resin, tru stones, other) are wet sanded to a high gloss and then may be polished with a plastic polish.
Assemble the finished blank and the component pieces in to the final pen being careful to achieve correct alignment of blank grain or pattern.

4. Do you find making pen's enjoyable?

Yes; it's usually rewarding but sometimes frustrating.

5. Anything else you would like to share?
Not sure how to approach this.

6. Any words of wisdom for someone that might want to start crafting?

If you have a passion for creating something, just do it!

Where to Find Glen's Workshop:

Etsy Store Facebook

Pinterest

If you would like to become the next featured artist please contact us by e-mailing us at: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com Subject Line: Featured Artist

Digital Scrapbooking Party

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 03:06:00 +0000

Ashley Chapman Designs is hosting a Digital Scrapbooking Party ONLY on Facebook and you are invited to join us while we reveal new items only on Facebook. These items will be available for purchase as soon as they are posted on the Facebook event only through facebook.

How this works: You must join the event to purchase anything within the event. ALL items are available ONLY for Personal Use. You are prohibited from reselling or Commercial use in such use will result in termination of any future sales and you will be asked to comply with removing said items.

Prices range from $1.50 to $12 depending on how many images are in 1 file. Smallest file contains 6 images largest 16 images right now. More items will be added throughout the coming weeks.

Join us for this event at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/444732868937255/

How to add Search Engine Optimization to a Webbly Site

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:46:00 +0000

I have had many people ask that I cover How to add search engine optimization to a weebly website as weebly can be a good site when your first starting out, but adding the SEO to this can be overwhelming not to mention very time consuming.

**Please note this tutorial is only for a Weebly website it will be designed for personalized explanation of using a Weebly platform. If you would like to suggest a tutorial please use the e-mail provided on the contact us page. Thank you**

Let us begin.

First, you will want to be logged into your platform, then click on edit, and up at the very top of your page where you see all the boxes (elements) click on pages.

Once you have located the pages button and clicked this a list of your pages will appear. We will work directly from top to bottom, so your first page should be "home".

Now what you are looking for is the Advanced Settings Button. This will allow you to add a title, description, keywords, header code, and footer code. Now the header code and footer code should be left alone unless you know what these are used for typically it is more used for in weebly, setting a specific code that you want to show only on the header section or the footer section of that page which in easy terms means you should not be using this without the guidance of an experienced web developer.

Go ahead and click "Advanced Settings" and Pull this up

Now we will also want our handy little SEO information available on what SEO really is. SEO is a fancy short term version of Search Engine Optimization now each web developer has their own means of explaining what SEO really is to a person and this is mine. Let us say you go to google.com and type in a generic search for custom blog designs, now you can image there will be a lot of pages pop up; however, as your looking at this you should be questioning how the person at the top got there. SEO is what helps search engines like google find you, or yahoo, aol, bing, and so forth. Without proper SEO well the easiest way to put it your site will fail. If your SEO is not configured properly from the start the chances of you receiving even over 200 views a day is very slim.

SEO is a way for you to not only increase your views but also increase your page ranking of which you really want both of them very high. You want to be found easily with search bots, and actual people.

For weebly your SEO is configured on each page you have starting with your title and ending with the keywords you choose to describe the page. I want to highlight here that your description and keywords should match content on the specific page you are configuring with SEO.

Now as we item this section of our weebly site, we want to have another website open as this site is going to better help us know what is good, what is weak, and what really needs attention.

http://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html

This site is going to be our friend during this process and will help us learn what we need to in order to add new pages to our weebly website. If you have a web developer it would be best to contact them before the change to where they can double check to make sure your SEO is properly configured.

Now let us go ahead and start with the title. I will be using my home page as an example.

Title: Home
Now we have the Title- See not so difficult!

Description: "Using text on this page how can you describe this page?" Your description should not be long at all. For example: My home page Description is... "Recent Work, Ashley Chapman Designs, Design Development, Design Philosophy"

Now when we add the description Save Settings & Publish Site. Go over to the link above for the SEO Centro Web Marketing Resources page, add your home page link/web address, and add the 4 digit code then click submit.

This is going to allow us to see what our description ranks at which we want it to be as best as possible. As a web developer I shoot for nothing under 95% if it is I know it needs work still.

What you will see:

Meta tags analysis.
Title:	Title contains no errors. This tag contains 29 characters. Title relevancy to page content is excellent. The Title relevancy to page content is 100%.

The rest will be in red so we are not going to look at anything but this right here. As you can see the Title clearly states it contains no errors -great. The relevancy to the page is at 100% -excellent!

Now don't get discouraged if it takes you a few tries but never just sit here for hours trying to figure this out. I would rather you comment here, or e-mail me from the be apart of design addiction to receive help in what you might not be doing correctly than sit here for hours racking your brain at this.

Now we want to go on back to Weebly, Click on Pages, and go right back into the "Advanced Settings" of the page we have been working on.

Next we want to work on the Keywords, sometimes the most time consuming aspect, each keyword should be separated by a comma and there should not be a comma or period at the end.

Keywords are going to be on your page you are adding this too. Meaning what text, do you have on this page already??? Use simple keywords like, bracelet, web design, custom, business cards, etc.

My home page Keywords are: "recent work, Ashley Chapman Designs, customer satisfaction, design development, small business owners, companies, bloggers, individuals, design philosophy, portfolio"

If you notice at my website: www.ashleychapmandesigns.com These keywords can be found on the Home Page. There is a reason for this everything from what you put on your website to your SEO are connected to function together.

Now you go ahead and put in your specific keywords, save your settings, and publish your site.

Now let's go on over to our great website link and check our site page again to see what percentage we get on the keywords.

Keywords:

Keywords meta tag contains no errors.
This tag contains 17 keywords and 166 characters.

Keywords meta tag relevancy to page content is excellent.
The keywords meta tag relevancy to page content is 100%.

Now we want to not have our keywords tag contains more than 21 keywords as this will be red instead of green if we do. Mine as you see has 17 keywords which is great. The relevancy to the page is 100% which is fabulous exactly what you want to see.

Now that my friends is how simple SEO adding can be to your weebly website. Never get to overwhelmed because believe me you can master this its time consuming but your the owner of your site you should know how to do this as well as simple things.

If you cannot get this figured out, need more explanation, or for me to take a quick look at what you could be doing wrong, E-mail me at: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com (Subject Line: SEO Help) it would only take me a few minutes to tell you what the problem is so you can fix it. Its easier to this then try to pull out your hair on this.

Have a tutorial you would like us to cover? A suggestion for a tutorial? Would you like to be featured as an artist on here? Contact Us at: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com and let us know all about it. We reply to every personal message we receive that is not spam!

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Interview with Ashley Chapman Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 01:39:00 +0000

I would typically not be up for this but, I thought it a great way to let you all know about me, who I am, and what I do. Rather than an about page that really does not say it all.

Me un-edited.

My name is Ashley Chapman. I am 26 years old, I have been married for 7 years at the end of this month. My husband and I live in a very small town in Southeast Missouri. We have 3 small dogs, Colby whom we have had for 8 years, Max the same, and Princess about 5 years. We also adopted a kitten, Melody,from outside a few months ago after her mom ran off. I grew up with very successful family members, my grandmother who ran her own Beauty Shop for 30+ years, and a Stepfather than ran a Landscaping Business for about the same. My family is my first priority and love of my life. Next is my babies (Colby, Max, Princess, and Melody). My business, Ashley Chapman Designs is my next love.

I first started the business back last year right at the end of Spring, because I was going to college and I have a family concern of working away from home. My husband whom is nearly 30 years old suffers from Severe Epilepsy, which he has had since he was a teenager.

Short story about why I chose to start my own business verses working for someone.

With my husband's disability, unable to control his seizures, and no one at home to make sure he does not have a seizure, fall down, hit his head, etc. The stress of working away from home was more than I could handle. If you have ever known someone with this type of disability you can understand my reservations of working away from home even for a short while. After seeing a specialist and learning my husband's seizures were not just the reason for the daily problems, I was faced with the hard fact that I had to find an alternative that would work for us as a family. I love my husband dearly and at that time could not hire someone to stay with him and I did not feel it was someone else's place to take care of my husband.

I had experience in crocheting & sewing so when I ran across the Etsy site it was really a blessing one night. I was about to loose hope of ever finding a way to help us survive on a monthly basis until his disability goes through. Etsy provided me the hope of a better tomorrow. I had some items I had crocheted, and some I had sewn from a few years back as I had been sewing and crocheting since I was 12 years old. I decided to list them, and start adding to my collection.

Roughly, a month into owning my first store on Etsy I realized that having a website would go further. I contacted many web developers just to find that their prices were way into the thousands, and in my words a down payment to a vehicle. I knew if I ever wanted a website I would need to learn how to create a website on my own. Now at this point and time you have to understand Summers are very rough on us because with the heat and humidity my husband has many more uncontrolled seizures. With running on little to no sleep I got online to search for ways to learn how to code a website. I ran into a academy that teaches you how to code every aspect, even though it was a foreign language to me at first. I poured every night into it as my husband slept right behind me, and within a week I had my first attempt at a website finished.

From there I redid my own website many times for the first few months, and realized I could easily do this for someone else that may not be able to afford something expensive. I sat down and figured out some prices I was satisfied with and immediately started promoting it. Within a few days I had my first contact. I was thrilled.

From there I have branched out from web design, to now blog design, print design, graphics, clip art (coming soon!) and I also still offer my handmade collection.

Now I work directly with small business owners, Etsy Shop Owners, Companies, Bloggers, and Individuals looking to make their business grow into something successful and to give them something to be proud of.

Specialize Area: Web Design, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Blog Design, Twitter/Tumblr Backgrounds, Banners, Avatars, Print Design, Business Cards, Brochures, Flyers, Posters, handmade apparel and home decor, as well as much more.

I offer custom designs, custom prices to fit nearly everyone's budget, and great resources to help you get further in your business career.

My goal has been to not only have a career I could be proud of, a way to support my family, care for my husband as he needs, provide clients with unbelievable custom service, offer businesses needs at more affordable prices for small business owners/ Etsy Shop owners, and to work from home.

Please feel free to ask questions, comment, etc. I wanted this to be a way for you to be able to get to know me better today.

I would like to thank everyone that has not only participated as a Featured Artist, been an wonderful Client, but also whom have just stopped in. I really love hearing from all of you, and I would love this opportunity to help you with your business.

Become a Featured Artist by e-mailing me at: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com Subject Line, Chapman Design Addiction Featured Artist.

Premade Blogger Template $25.00

Featured Artist Little foots Lullabies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 07:41:00 +0000

Little foots Lullabies

1. Rachel, could you tell us a little about yourself and your store?

I am a full time law student, recently married, have a part time job, and I use crocheting as a way to relax at the end of my day.

My store came about not only because all the items I was making kept piling up in my spare room, but also because I wanted to have an excuse to go shopping for yarn. I have a huge stockpile of yarn, but always seem to find a reason to buy more of it. My store allows me an excuse to make new items and buy more yarn. I love it.

2. What made you decide to open a store with crocheted kids items?

I have a rather large extended family, and my older cousins started having babies around the time I was learning to crochet, so a lot of the items I started making when I was younger involved smaller items for babies. In the long run, these items are also quicker to make which allows the turnaround time in my shop to be shorter than if I was making full-sized items. The other reason was that kids items are always so much more fun.

3. Have you always crocheted?

I've been crocheting since elementary school. I tried to learn how to knit a few times, but for some reason adding a second hook makes it impossible for me to figure out what I'm doing. So crochet is the only way for me!

4. Do you find it easier to crochet “free style” or by pattern?

Honestly, it depends on what I'm in the mood for. Sometimes, I need to have a pattern so that I can get a basic idea down. From there, once I've mastered a pattern, or I have a general idea of a new stitch, I will free style from there. At this point, I have certain patterns memorized (beanie bases, lovey bases, etc) and from there, the fun part is free styling a design or whatever to go with it.

Blankets only offered on Facebook Page

5. Do you remember the first item you crocheted? (funny story, something to share)

I'm pretty sure I spent at least a year stuck on learning how to add stitches on top of a chain (foundation row). So I ended up making a ton of single row chains and calling them different things… My mom had a lot of headbands, bracelets, and necklaces that I made for her during this phase. Eventually I was able to get past this, but it took a while.

6. What inspires you the most with each piece you choose to crochet?

It really depends for each piece. For the TMNT beanies I make, I got the idea from my husband wearing a TMNT shirt around the house. Other times it is because I find a really pretty yarn at the store that I must buy and then I create something based on the colors. Sometimes it's because I'm feeling festive or particularly seasonal. And then there's sometimes where I have no idea where the inspiration comes from, I just end up making something.

Blankets Only Offered on Facebook Page

Any advice for those starting out with crocheting or a business?

For those starting out with crocheting, don't get frustrated and give up too soon. Sometimes it comes naturally to people, other people hit a speed bump they can't get over right away. Stick with it, you could surprise yourself. If you had told me that I would have my own online crochet store 15 years ago, I would have said you were insane because all I made were "headbands" and "bracelets."

Where to find Little Foots Lullabies:

Facebook Etsy

You could be the next featured artist on this blog. All

you have to do is e-mail us at

ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com

Let us know what your talent is and we will get you

featured as soon as possible.

Be sure to Follow this blog for regular updates and more

artists.

How to Avoid Online Plagiarism

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:51:00 +0000

Today, I want to discuss a huge issue that is online with websites and website content. Plagiarism. This tutorial is to cover how to avoid online plagiarism because many do not realize how easy it is to accidentally duplicate the same thing even if you have never seen the source. So let's talk about how plagiarism can hurt your online business for a minute.

Search engines have something that is called "Backlisted Sites" now this should really be called something different like "No traffic Sites" because that is what happens when you become "backlisted" from plagiarized content. If you are placed on a back list on any of the search engines your views will demolish within a 24 hours. As we can image this is something no business or blogger wants to see happen to them, so the question is how do you avoid plagiarism? What happens when you honestly did not know you copied someone's content? How do you know if you have copied someone's web content? Well I'm going to answer all of this and more now.

1. If you know your taking someone's work like a news article, or some type of information you feel readers need to see avoid plagiarism by referencing the source. This is simple to do. Name of the original Author, Date, and Link to original post. This is honestly just being honest and being respectful of the person whom wrote it.

2. Copyright your website and any content you put online if you do not your putting yourself at risk of being copied. HTML code for the copyright © sign: © Put this on your website, blog, pictures, and more or you can become the next victim of plagiarism.

3. What if you are not sure if anything is plagiarized on your website? How do you check this? Thankfully, there are many plagiarism checkers available online. Some ask you to copy and paste in content to find if there is anything on the web that is exactly the same. Now of course words like "like, sell, online, free, etc" will always show up plagiarized because of how many sites use these. The main point is to make sure your not fully plagiarizing a source.

Here are a Few Sites where you can check this:

http://www.copyscape.com/prevent.php

http://www.duplichecker.com/

http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/

Each link offers a different way of checking. Now I typically use all of them because I want to keep my site as original as possible and mine with as little similar phrases as possible. Which is why I am constantly changing it and making it better.

4. What if you run into a website that really looks close to yours??? Now what? Well as I was searching for a lot of these links for my own use, I found a similarity tester. This looks for how similar your website is with someone else's. I have tried this one 1 time with a friends site just to see what would happen for this tutorial and it picks up on a percentage of how similar your site is. Of course my friends site was completely different but you will still see a similarity of like 5% if your using common phrases which is typically the problem with anyone.

I've been plagiarized Now What???

Now that you know your site has been plagiarized what do you do with this. (I'm hoping no one ever faces this but its the web and anything is possible here).

1. If the website that has copied or stolen something from you has contact information kindly message them and ask them to remove it. Now I must warn you this can blow up in the sense of the person becomes angry so be prepared for the worst situation.

2. If they have no contact information try e-mailing them with webmaster@domain name.com this typically sends it to the webmaster of the site.

3. First 2 fails, use the Whois database because 99% of the time those whom register a domain have a Whois listing.

4. Now its time to contact the web hosting company and inform them that this website has copied your work and you want it removed.

5. Worst case scenario you can file a form through google that will take the site off search engines sometimes this is best if the person continues to copy you in some way and all your efforts to resolve this issue with the web site owner fails.

Personally, I would much rather receive a message kindly letting me know I have the same content as someone else than someone jumping over me thinking I would be rude. Now granted you never know how someone else will act but that really is a chance I would rather take than have my website backlisted just because someone could not take the time to message me. I typically change my website once a month in some way to ensure its new, fresh, etc. and prefer that message from a kind person than anything else.

I hope no one has to ever use this but just in case this is how you can prevent it.

Thanks for reading and Please Follow the Blog for regular Updates on New Blog Posts.

Featured Artist of the Day: Aussen Wolf Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 22:20:00 +0000

1: Judy, would you tell us a little about yourself and what it is that you do?

I am a jewelry designer who lives in the beautiful San Jacinto Mountains in southern California along with my husband, daughter, and 3 unruly dogs.

2. How did you start making jewelry?

I started making jewelry 11 years ago, although my early efforts were pieces for my family and friends. But the minute I started creating jewelry I knew I was hooked. It is an incredibly wonderful medium for self expression. After moving to Idyllwild I found a great little local bead store and joined in on some of the classes offered to learn new methods and advance my skills. The owner of the shop saw my own personal designs and invited me to sell my jewelry in her store. And that is how AussenWolf Designs was actually born. Our local bead store closed during the recent recession and I started doing local craft and art shows. Four years ago I branched out once again and opened my first online store through ArtFire.

3. Have you always wanted to be a jewelry designer?

No, not really. But I have always been fascinated by jewelry and gemstones and have always wanted to create items of beauty.

4. Where you creative when you were a child?

Yes, as all children are. Arts and crafts at school was one of my favorite times. When I was about 6 years old my aunt taught me how to crochet and knit and I still enjoy those crafts to this day. On the other hand, I was always a bit intimidated when it came to drawing or painting. Both my father and his mother were exceptional in those mediums. I can remember as a small child thinking that I could not draw any where near as well as Daddy so I just was not going to try--despite all the encouragement he gave me. In fact, I made him draw a "report cover" for every single project I did in elementary school. Don't worry, I gave him full credit for the artwork (not that I could have fooled anyone) and my teachers loved it. Now that I am grown I realize that it would have taken a rare talent at the age of 6 or 7 to be as skilled as he was! And I still can't draw! But I found my own avenue of expression with jewelry.

5. What is your favorite piece of jewelry that you have created?

That is difficult--if not impossible--to decide. I am fond of my wire wolf pendants, perhaps because the prototype required some drawing effort. But usually my most favorite piece is whatever I have just accomplished or anything that requires a new skill. I have been blessed to have taken classes with well known artists in the jewelry field such as Sharilyn Miller and Dale Armstrong. Those teachers still influence a great deal of my works. There is something deeply satisfying in taking a piece of wire and wrapping it, twisting it, and molding it into a work of art.

6. What do you find most challenging when making jewelry?

Settling down to one design! Whenever I start a project so many design possibilities jump into my mind and I want to incorporate all of them. But when designing a piece it is necessary to keep an overall flow, rhythm, and balance in the forefront. The second, and I admit this with chagrin, is cleaning up my work space! With so many design possibilities running through my mind as soon as one piece is finished I often start a second project, and then a third, and then.....Well, you get the idea. Soon my work space is littered with beads, wire, and findings from so many projects that it looks a bit like a bomb went off in my studio.

7. What do you find most rewarding with making jewelry?

One of the reasons I love doing art shows is the immediate interaction with customers or potential customers. When someone steps into my booth at a show, spies a particular piece or set, and offers a heartfelt compliment I am thrilled. Creating a piece of art, whether it is a sculpture, quilt, shawl, or necklace and knowing that you have done well is a great feeling. Connecting with another person through that art is exhilarating!

8. Any interesting story come to mind about your first few creations?

I was primarily self-taught in the beginning and can remember being so proud that I had finished this wonderful necklace with gemstones and sterling silver and how great it looked. Just about then my husband got home from work. I was so excited to share my newest creation with him that I grabbed it up off the table and held it up for his inspection! And instantly there was this shower of gemstones bouncing off the table. I had completely forgotten to finish the crimp on one end and beads were flying everywhere. Thank heavens he did not laugh--well, at least not until I got over my shock and started laughing myself. And, gentleman that he is, he got down on his hands and knees and helped me collect every single bead.

9. Any advice you would like to give to people thinking of starting their own jewelry business?

It is always good to explore new techniques even if you find that they are not your favorites. And, you will have well meaning friends and family that will tell you what's "hot" and what styles you should make. And they may have great ideas and insights that resonate with your artistic inclinations, but always follow your own vision and passion. It will show in your designs.

10. Anything else you want to share.

I hope everyone reading this--whether they make jewelry, knit, craft greeting cards or anything else--will take the time to enjoy their craft and to pass it on to the next generation. In this era of high tech gadgets and our mass produced "everything" world a hand crafted work of art is unique and special and a joy to the receiver. Sharing your passion is sharing a bit of yourself.

Where to find Aussen Wolf Designs Outside of this Post:

Website Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Would you like to be the next featured artist??? If so E-mail me at: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com (Subject Line: Design Addiction Featured Artist Spot)

What websites are best for people with little or no experience?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 04:14:00 +0000

Perhaps you have been looking for a website for your business? A little curious as to what websites are better for beginners? Have no experience at all at websites but cannot afford to hire someone to help? What happens when financially you know you need to go to the next level with your business but cannot afford to hire a web designer even if they charge only $200 a website?

I decided today that people needed to know what aspects are available to you when you are financially strapped and needing to make money. I can tell you this because I was there about a year ago. I started my business and needed or thought I needed to get a website. I knew some what how I wanted it to look but when I looked around it would have costed me a minimum of $500 and as much as $5,000. Now a days no one has that kind of money to spend on a website. A year ago I knew nothing about coding in HTML/CSS/ PHP, etc. I was lost and could not afford a person to code it for me. (Probably the same as you right now)

I want to highlight I do web design and I do not charge these outrageous prices to no one my quotes are free so feel free to e-mail me: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com (subject line: design addiction, custom website quote)

Where can I get a website for free?

Weebly is one I have personally used and isn't that bad. It is what I would call user friendly and great for beginners. They have roughly 20+templates ready made that you can use many of them you can change the color of. The content area works about the same as a blog does except you drop what you want in from up top and add, move, delete, change, etc.

The next free very very simple website is Wix.

Wix starts you out with what business you have, you find that in their many categories, then you choose a template or start from scratch. Choosing a template already designed is faster and easier for a beginner. Then you just follow their steps, add your content and your done.

This post is to help those whom honestly do not have the money to afford a web designer. I do highly recommend not creating a website without the help of someone. I offer many custom package prices that is affordable for you using these sites to keep it free for your website hosting.

Contact me today for more details. E-mail: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com

Featured Artist Jen's Tangle Threads

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:40:00 +0000

1. Jen, can you tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

I'm a single mom, a dance mom, and a crafter. I'm a paralegal in my day job. I'm also the booster club president and class mom for one of my son's dance lines.

I crochet and this year I've learned how to rhinestone and knit. I also cross-stitch on the side.

I went to college, then joined the Army to earn money for law school. I ended up getting married, had a wonderful little boy, and divorced. I moved back to Minnesota and I live in a small apartment with not enough storage space.

2. How did you get started crocheting?

When I moved back to MN, I lived with my mom while I saved enough money to get an apartment. My mom is one of the most crafty women I've ever met. She sews, she cross-stitches, is a wiz with a grommet gun and hot glue gun. So, when she is home from work, she crafts while watching tv.

I've never been able to sit still and watch tv. I guess I have a little ADD and OCD. I learned how to cross stitch at a very young age, but I wanted to do more. I wanted to make my own patterns, but I am not an artist by any means.

I read a lot. One of my favorite series is The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. The women in this series wear elaborately embroidered shawls. I wanted one. But, I don't sew and I don't know the first thing about embroidery. My mom sews, but just short of having her read the books, she will never understand what I want. I figured the only way I would get what I wanted was to make a lace shawl. So I taught myself to crochet.

I jumped right in. I didn't start with a scarf or a washcloth. I practiced the basics, then learned how to make lace. And I've never looked back. I constantly challenge myself with new patterns. I have my favorites, and more patterns in my library than I could ever try.

3. What made you decide to start a store on Etsy?

Back when I was making my lace shawls, I made them for friends on a fan site. I was the only one making the shawls like this. I searched for websites and found Etsy. Now, I didn't sell any of my shawls on Etsy - they only appealed to a specific clientele and they weren't going to pay $200 for a shawl. Hey, it took me the better part of 2 months to make one. So, I left Etsy for awhile until I had my great idea.

As I said, my son is a dancer. He is in his 5th year competing. One thing I've noticed is that the girls will walk around these competition venues in half ballet shoes or bare feet. Which makes me cringe. So, I decided I was going to make a pair of slippers for the girls on my son's dance line to wear. Thus, the Flip-Fur was born. It is a fun slipper, furry and girlie, and completely customizable. One of the moms suggested I sell them online, so in April 2012, I re-opened my shop on Etsy.

4. What do you find most difficult with crocheting?

Going through a pattern for the first time is hard. But probably the most difficult part of crocheting is that I can't do it fast enough! And it hurts my hands. I have fibromyalgia and mild arthritis. I crochet very tightly, so when I make lace, I have to wear a bandaid on my wrap finger to prevent yarn burn. I have spent weekends where I crochet for over 12 hours a day, and I pay for it. After 8 hours of typing at work, I usually spend at least 3 hours crocheting at night.

5. What part of crocheting makes it worth it to you? (i.e relaxing, fun, enjoyable, all, etc.)

I love crocheting. I love taking a pattern and making it my own. One of my next endeavors is to learn how to write doily patterns.

Crocheting not only relaxes my eyes after staring at a computer screen (except for when I'm making lace), helps me burn more calories while watching tv, but it is also a stress reliever. I am a perfectionist, so when I make a mistake, I will rip out my project no matter how far into it I am until I find the mistake. This usually happens when I make lace. And, usually, I end up with a knot of thread or yarn. So then I will spend hours untangling that knot.

I know, it is a bit backwards, but it works for me.

6. What is your favorite piece you have created?

That's easy. I love this shawl. This is one of those lace shawls I was talking about. I designed it myself based on a flag in The Wheel of Time.

7. Do you have any advice for newbie crocheters out there?

I don't know how good of advice I can give. I went about learning how to crochet completely backwards. I found what I wanted to make, then learned the stitches I needed in order to make it.

But, I would say practice, practice, practice the basic stitches. Invest in good crochet hooks. Start by making something useful and small. Finishing a project is a wonderful high.

Find Jen's Tangled Threads Outside of this Post:

Etsy Facebook Twitter Blog

Interested in Becoming a Featured Artist? E-mail us at: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com (Subject Line: Featured Artist Spot- Chapman Design Addiction)

Your Feature Could be next!