"No Pins" tag and more about Pinterest

Lots of buzz about Pinterest these days.  Another interesting post by Craft Test Dummies: The Perils of Pinterest.

Unclear and contradictory Terms of Service, the hijacking of affiliate marketing links, and the fear of intellectual property infringement are now causing artists and crafters to delete their pinboards and install the “No Pin” meta tag.
But should YOU?

Twitter - The Power of Social Networking

Written by crochetgal.etsy.com

Think of joining Twitter as going to a very large cocktail party by yourself. When you first walk into the room (ie join twitter) you don't know anyone at all. So you start 'following' and chatting with a few people. Slowly your network grows. You find others who share the same interests as you and chat some more. If people want to find out more about you they can take a look at your twitter profile and read your bio or click through on your web address.

Think of it this way when you include links to your shop.. if you walked into a room and people shouted at you from all sides 'by me' our 'check me out', what would you do?

My success with Twitter has been to consider it a very large chat room. Its all about making the contacts. Once the contacts have been made then people will buy!

If you are just starting out, the following definitions might be of some help:


tweet - the act of posting something on twitter. This is the single most important thing that will affect whether or not twitter is right for you

followers - are people who read your tweets

following - are the people whos tweets you read

@username - a message directed to a specific person that can be seen by everyone

DM - direct message - these are completely private

What do I tweet about?

As was mentioned earlier, think of twitter as a large cocktail party. If you are at a party and the person next to you continued to tell you over and over how and where to buy their products, would you hang around very long? No, I didn't think so. On the other hand, if the only thing they told you was that they got up and had bacon and eggs, then went for a walk you wouldn't hang around much either. The key to twitter is to post things that are interesting to you or that you feel might be interesting to others. Did someone tell you a great joke? Post it! Did you find something really cool on the internet? then post that link.

Conversely, if someone posts something that you found interesting, then tell them! Its all about making contact. You may even want to follow their tweets!

How do you find people to follow? One of the best methods I've found is to use the 'search' function on the right sidebar. Pick a topic you are interested in. If you see someone who sounds interesting, follow them! If someone makes you laugh, send them an @message!

One very useful twitter Resource I've found is Twitter 101 for business.

The power of twitter is there... just harness it to its full potential.

Crocheted Lace Butterfly Shawl, alpaca and silk by crochetgal

Written by crochetgal.etsy.com

Follow crochetgal on Twitter at http://twitter.com/crochetgal

Facebook Share Button HTML

Written by beckykazana

One of my favorite ways to network and market my shops, blog and website is Facebook. I personally find it really fun to see what other people in my life are up to and I like sharing what's going on in my world too.

However, nobody likes a Facebook friend who is endlessly marketing themselves- it gets tiresome quickly. So instead of constantly linking to my listings or blog posts, I share links that I think are interesting. Perhaps it's an amazing pair of Louboutins that I could never afford but am drooling over. Perhaps it's a cool Cole Porter number on You Tube. Or even an amazing DIY project from one of my favorite bloggers.



This way, I stay on people's radar, but it doesn't turn in to drudgery for me or them. You can't reach people if they are bored or aggravated and block you from their newsreel. And my contacts are more likely to peek on the occasion when I do share a new listing or blog post of my own.


My secret weapon is the share button I've added to my toolbar. This way I can link to Facebook from anywhere on the web. Whether I'm reading through my blogroll, shopping for curtains online, browsing Etsy or tracking down a recipe I can share it in a few seconds by just clicking in my toolbar and adding a little note to make it personal. Give it a try and be sure to check back and let me know how you like it! And add me as a friend while you're at it. I'd love to know what you're up to as well!