Pinterest ... I have some concerns

Source: http://linkwithlove.typepad.com/

This month (February 2012) we have been talking about Pinterest.  Yeap, we got on the bandwagon.  There has been a lot of hype about this site and to be honest I got addicted.  I loved all the pretty pictures and I loved finding new pictures to pin.  I'm also now very wary of Pinterest and I'm not sure if I will continue to pin.

Why?  Well in the last week or so there has been some concerns about copyright and Pinterest's Terms of Use.

Instead of rehashing what has been said already, I have listed some great articles that discuss this issue.  I strongly urge you to read these posts.


Not Pinining for pinning
by Love Life 
NB:  This post also has a great list of articles on this subject.


The Ugly Truth about Pinterest
by Boutique by Design


Don't pin me Bro! The Saga of Copyright and Pinterest
by Aberrant Crochet


Pinterest Users need to read the fine print by Technorati


Also check out LINKwithlove.


Thank you Kellie Wishart   for initially bringing this issue to our attention.

Christine

Market Day Has Arrived

Pin It
It's market day! You have done your research and chosen a particular market. With a sigh of relief you've been accepted - Yeah!  - and you have also spent a great deal of time getting prepared.  Your stall is set up and looking just how you planned it, and now you are waiting for the doors to magically open.

Job done, right? No, it's only just started.

Remember:

• Get a good nights sleep. Being sluggish and feeling generally crappy isn't a good look and it makes it hard to roll with the punches.
• Dress for success. Find a market-day outfit, fix your hair and put some lippy on!  Remember you are the face of your business. Some people will buy something from you because they want to buy a little piece of your uniqueness.
• Be polite and professional to your fellow stallholders and the Market Co-ordinator.  You don't know who they are, whom they know, what blog they write, what connections they may have etc.  Rudeness won't open any doors.
• Be open to forming friendships and using this market as an opportunity to network.  Personally I've made some great friendships with other stallholders, friendships that have helped my business grow.
• Don't let things faze you. Be prepared for all situations and have a Plan A to Z.  Take ownership of the situation and deal with it.
• Complaining isn't going to get you anywhere.  Having a b*tch to customers or other stallholders isn't going to change anything, suck it up and deal with the issue professionally after the market.
• Set realistic expectations for how much you're likely to sell - because it really does fluctuate so much. Factor in the weather, economic climate, time of year when setting sales targets. 
• Be prepared to tidy or reorganise your display throughout the day. Sure it looked good at home but if it's not drawing the shoppers in, then move things around. If no one's looking at the gorgeous dress you've put on your mannequin, change it for another that may catch their eye
• Take responsibility for your choices; know beforehand what your goals and expectations are.
• Smile and maintain a positive attitude.  Trust me this can sometimes be hard but you need to find the positive in every situation. Find that elusive silver lining.

I've done a few markets and I've seen some good, bad and down right ugly behaviour by stallholders.

I was at one market a year or so back where the attendance was down and I barely made my table price.  Some people moaned about this and yes, I too was disappointed, but instead of lamenting all those nights crocheting my little heart out and voicing this to my fellow stallholders, I decided to use this opportunity to do a bit of networking.  After that market I received a boost in Facebook fans due to shoutouts from my fellow stallholders and I also picked up some wholesale work, which well and truly made up for the lack of sales on the day.

Christine

Note: This article was first available in the Billycart Markets Newsletter 2012, Issue #1. 

You've been pinned!

Are you a Super Star on Pinterest?  

How do you know if someone has pinned one of your images?  

"Searching for Stars". Imaginart by Lisa Flanagan

Its quite simple, go to http://pinterest.com/source/yoursitehere.

You don't need to have an account set up to be pinned. Photos from your blog and product images can be there without you signing up.

So, if I wanted to see if any images from my personal blog have been pinned I would type http://pinterest.com/source/cpercydesigns.blogspot.com. As of 7.15 pm this evening this is what I get.

I took this photo of our Christmas tree back in 2010. I was very surprised (and thrilled at the same time) that someone had pinned it, 2 people liked it and it has then been repinned.  

So now you know how to do it, go check yourself out!  

Christine

Selling your wares on Pinterest

Source: reflectionof.me via Muntsa on Pinterest

Again Pinterest has made this quite simple.  All you need to do is add a $ symbol with an amount after it anywhere in your description.   This will then add the price to the top left of your image. As a bonus when you add prices to your pins, they may be featured in Pinterest’s “Gifts” section.

REMEMBER pin the image from your online store.  Don't send your potential custom on a wild goose hunt. If they land on your blog or website index page they may loose interest.  Make that purchase experience extra easy (less hoops to jump through the better). Take them direct to the purchase page. 


Further Reading:
I'm on Pinterest - what now?
Be my Valentine Pinterest
Can you use Pinterest to Promote your products?

About the Contributor: 

Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3.  She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet and not Pinterest.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog - cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.

Promoting your Winter Collections

{Winter 2012} Collection by Australian designer tillytom

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It’s that time of year when many of us either have – or are about to – launch our winter collections.

One of the key tools you should use to promote your new products to the media is a product release.

What is a product release?
A product release is simply a type of media release that has the purpose of announcing your new product or products. Where a media release announces ‘news’, a product release announces ‘products’.

At the very minimum a great product release should contain:

• The name of the product
• A gorgeous image that shows it doing what it does best – a ‘lifestyle’ shot
• A straight product shot on a plain background.
  NB:  Make sure your images are low-resolution though: you don't want to be the person who clogs their email system!
• What the product does / or what it is for
• How much it costs
• What is new about it, or if it's an update or an upgrade
• Why it is so brilliant!
• Where journalists and columnists can go for more detailed information and print quality images

It is extremely important that your product release is well-written, and free from spelling and grammatical errors. If writing isn’t your strong point, ask someone who writes well to help you. You can also engage a professional to write it for you.

How do I get my product release out there?

• Create a list of all the publications that are read by your target customer
• Find out who the editor (or relevant journalist / writer) is, and obtain their contact details
• Email your product release and low-resolution images to them with a brief, but friendly email note
• If you are approaching a magazine, make sure you ask to be added to their ‘call-out list’ (when you’re on this list, you will receive a ‘call-out’ from the magazine listing the specific products they are seeking for their next issue)

Pin it
In addition to the Facebook-ing we all know and love, another way to spread the word about your new season collection is through Pinterest.

If you’re careful (and non-spammy) about it, Pinterest can be a wonderful way to showcase your collections to a large audience.

• Pin your products with careful consideration. Group your pins into product categories for specific audiences like mums, kids, dads, babies, etc
• Label your pins using words that customers would search for
• Build a community around you by commenting on and re-pinning relevant pins
• Make sure your images are BEAUTIFUL! 
• Show the ‘face’ behind your brand – create boards that allow people to see what your tastes and interests are
• Pin beautiful things from your industry. If you’re in fashion, pin about fashion in general – not just your fashion.
• Create boards that others can contribute to, like customers wearing or using your products
• Remember to watermark all your images with your business name or websiteso they are always attributed to you.
• Lastly remember to leave a link to your site or where the item can be purchased in the description area.

But be careful – Pinning is totally addictive!

Jennifer

About the Contributor:
Jennifer is the Owner of Princess Street PR, a do-it-yourself PR company dedicated to work-at-home and small businesses.  Jennifer is also the creative force behind Immie and Ollie and Editor of Multiplied Magazine.

To find out more about Princess Street PR go to their website or follow Jen on Facebook.

Review: Pixlr

So we have left our best alternative to picnik to last. Sorry its taken me so long to get this post to you ... I guess I've been playing with the Pixlr products a bit too much.

This review is on Pixlr Express as its the closest to Picnik but we strongly recommend that you try out Pixlr Editor and Pixlr-o-matic

Website: Pixlr.com

What they say about themselves:  "Pixlr is the creator of online, mobile and desktop image tools and utilities. Today we have three applications in our suite: Pixlr Editor, Pixlr Express and Pixlr-o-matic. They are built in Flash and you need to have the Flash plug-in (get flash) to get it to work, however, 98% of all computers have flash so you are probably set. We also provide screengrabbing tools Pixlr Grabber and one click photo sharing imm.io. Pixlr is now part of Autodesk, a global leader in innovative design software and services."

Rating:  OMG this is cool!

Feature	Feature Available	Comments
Rotate image	Yes	Feature found in the Adjustments tab, done with ease.
Crop image	Yes	Feature found in the Adjustments tab, done with ease.
Auto Fix	Yes	Feature found in the Adjustments tab, done with ease.
Add frame/boarder	Yes	Has a number of boarders but I couldn't add a boarder that rounded the outside edge.
Add text		Has a number of fonts to choose from but in Pixlr Express you can only use their fonts.
Collage	No	BUT you can create collages in Pixlr Editor.  There are tutorials on how to do this.  See below.
Photo Effects	Yes	There are so many that it is hard to choose which one to use.
Stickers	No	None that I found.
Sharpen	Yes	Feature found in the Adjustments tab, done with ease.
Resize	Yes	Feature found in the Adjustments tab, done with ease.

First impression is that this is one very cool looking site.

Adjustments have all the options you are use to in picnic ie crop, resize, orate, colour contrast, autofix. blue sharpen, denies, red eye touch up, teeth white, colour splash.

There are also heap of effects, overlays and boarders, seriously there are way too many cool things to play with.

I first used Pixlr Express to do the first image. Then I found piclr-o-matic to which I create this image of myself using my webcam.

Then I gave Photo Editor ago.

The Photo Editor is like Photoshop and GIMP, ie you have layers etc. It is defiantly less chunky and more intuitive than GIMP. Admittedly I wanted Pixlr Editor to do more, it looks cool but in the end GIMP and photoshop appear to have more functions.

Another bonus is that there a some great tutorials, wich are clear and informative.

All in all I think the three Pixlr products are well worth a look at. There is a program for all photo editing levels and I love the interface, it's just so fresh and funky looking.

Christine

Relates to: The Picniks Over and The Mission

Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3.  She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet and not Pinterest.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog - cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.

Can you use Pinterest to promote your products?

So can you use Pinterest to promote your products?

Pinterest Etiquette # 3 states:

Avoid Self Promotion

Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.

I watched this video last month and I felt I would be remiss of me not to share it with you as part of our Pinterest Month.

Uploaded with permission from Designing an MBA

I found this video very informative and I hope you do too.  Designing an MBA is an amazing website, every time I visit them I feel like getting on my knees 'Wayne's World' style and chanting "We're not worthy".

Have a great weekend full of fun things and not laundry.


Christine



Further Reading:
I'm on Pinterest - what now?
Be my Valentine Pinterest
Selling your wares on Pinterest. 

Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3.  She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet and not Pinterest.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog - cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.

Be my Valentine Pinterest

Source: frangipani designs

Pin It

Oh pinterest how I love thee. I know our love affair is new, but I’m already counting the ways I love you. It took me too long to let me guard down and welcome you into my social world.

Now I’ve have a taste, I’ll yell my love from roof tops. I’ll declare my love with each pin of your lovely images. I’ll scroll your pages and boards all day if you’ll let me.

I love that you’re so easy to get along with. Especially now that I’ve invited Google Chrome to the party. I’m sure I’m not getting ahead of myself, but I also added you to my speed dial, you’ve got prime location in my bookmarks. Now you're but a button away. I love the rush as I pin, wham! It’s magic we make.

Adding a ‘pint it’ button to my images was a little more complicated. Like all good relationships, some things are worth working out. I’m so glad you met me half way and gave me the html code. I know you care and I can now pin with ease.

I must go now, but you know I am never far away

Christine


Further Reading:
I'm on Pinterest - what now?
Can you use Pinterest to Promote your products?
Selling your wares on Pinterest. 

About the Contributor: 

Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3.  She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet and not Pinterest.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog - cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.

REVIEW: ipiccy

Web address:   http://www.ipiccy.com

Price:   Free.

How they describe themselves:  iPiccy.com is a free, completely web-based photo editing and sharing application to give users everywhere the ability to quickly and easily edit, enhance and share their photos from any Internet browser.

Rating: Is it just me or is a rebadged Picnik without the collage feature?  It has nearly all of the photo editing tools that I use in picnic.  

Feature	Feature Available	Comments
Rotate image	Yes	Just selection the option and click the buttons. Very Easy.
Crop image	Yes	Just selection the option and click the buttons. Very Easy.
Auto Fix	Yes	Just selection the option and click the buttons. Very Easy.
Add frame/boarder	Yes
Add text		Fonts from my own PC were available. Fantastic if you have downloaded/purchased extra fonts.
Collage		no
Photo Effects	Yes	Interesting – rain drops, emboss, explosion, sepia, 3D button, zoom blur, sharpen, etc. Be sure to select ‘Effects Browser’ for the preview and to alter the settings.
Stickers	no	There are multiple plugins available to download, stickers does not seem to be available.
Sharpen	Yes	It was automated and over did the effect. Using the mouse I was able to select just the front beanie to sharpen (which was okay). Later I found the customisable settings for sharpen under Effects.
Resize	Yes	Done via pixels, cm or percentage. Ability to change DPI. Some standard dimensions also offered.

I like the option to select a photo from Photoshop and the fact that it was fast.  I also liked the the paint option and it has some great effects.

Relates to: The Picniks Over and The Mission

Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3.  She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet and not Pinterest.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog - cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.

I'm on Pinterest - Now what?

Congratulations, you're on Pinterest and ready to begin. Now what?
So glad you asked. Here's a tour of the site that highlights some of the features.

I normally don't talk that fast, sorry about the haste. There was a lot to mention. I hope this introduction helps you feel comfortable enough to start using Pinterest.

5 helpful tips (not in the video)
to help you on your 'pinning' way

1. When web surfing your favourite blogs use the pin bookmarklet to pin 'fresh' material to your boards. This will 'bookmark' them so you can go back later. It will also offer new eye candy for your followers.

2. If you follow people who have pinned your pins, you may see a lot of the same pins over and over. To avoid this I follow many people with varying interests. It means I always have new visual stimulation to enjoy.

3.Time saving tip - when pinning from a web site, drag your mouse across some text to highlight it. That will automatically appear in the description when you pin via bookmarklet. This also helps avoid spelling errors.

4. If you upload a pin and then later delete it. If someone has already repinned it, it is 'out their'. Be mindful what you upload. If you are a creator/artist, always include a watermark or logo.

5. Pin thoughtfully. Always credit the source. If you are uploading an image that is not yours it will read 'uploaded by user' as the source. Mention the creator/photographer along with their web address in the description.

Best 3 ways to include your business 

1. Avoid uploading all your biz images in one go.  Bring them in over a few days or weeks. Be awesome in the first place so others will pin you.

2. Add your work in an organic way. Invite your facebook likers and blog readers to pin their favourite images from your store and blog.

3. Include the Pin button with your blog posts. This lets people know you're okay with them pinning your photos, and reminds them to do so.

Pinterest is a great way to gauge if your images are up to scratch. Poor photos tends to be overlooked. Yet another reason to work on your photo skills (or hire a professional).

Happy pinning!
Jeanie


Further Reading:
I'm on Pinterest - what now?
Be my Valentine Pinterest
Can you use Pinterest to Promote your products?
Selling your wares on Pinterest. 



Jeanie is a blogger & maker of jewellery. She is passionate about accessories, colour, style & all things handmade.  Jeanie's wish ~ for all women to feel beautifully confident.  

Visit Jeanie at inspiredwish.com
or follow her on Facebook or Pinterest. 

Review: GIMP

Web address:  http://www.gimp.org/

Cost:  Free

How they describe themselves:  "GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.  It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc."

Feature	Feature Available	Comments
Rotate image	Yes	Simply, a matter of pressing the right buttons
Crop image	Yes	Selection option and crop
Auto Fix	Yes	Yes, as well as other options such as curves, contrast, brighness
Add frame/boarder	Yes	Yes but not as easily as some of the other programs we have reviewed.
Add text	Yes	Yes and you can access the fonts that you have on your computer
Collage	Yes	Yes, but like the frame/boarders it is more complex.
Photo Effects	Yes	It has the standard effect you would find in Photoshop .
Stickers	no	Not that I could see.
Sharpen	Yes	Simply a matter of pressing the right buttons.
Resize	Yes

GIMP is very similar to Photoshop without some of the bells and whistles that Adobe offer.  Initially I didn't like it very much, I didn't find it intuitive to use and I had concerns about downloading the software, though it is quite handy to be able to edit your images when you are not online.

If you do not know how to drive Photoshop and you just want the easiness of Picnik, then I would GIMP a miss but if you are like me and know how to drive Photoshop then GIMP might be worth your while.

Due to photoshop deciding not to work on my macbook I decided to give GIMP a go, its grown on me.  As I've been using this program more and more of late I've been finding it easier to use and its starting to become my preferred editing software.  They have a list of extensive tutorials and I was even able to easily make the animated gif today after watching a YouTube video.

Relates to: The Picniks Over and The Mission

Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3.  She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog - cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.

Introducing Pinterest - What's all the fuss?

There is a new playground for creatives, artists and visual people. A virtual pinboard that allows you to organise and share what you love with other 'pinners'. It would be irresponsible of me not to warn you - pinning is addictive! For those crying, 'no not another time waster'. I pin for ten minutes a day, and it's the best ten minutes of my day.

I had a pin account long before I started using it. When I finally checked it out I was kicking myself for not visiting sooner. As a crafter who loves visual stimulation this was crack on steroids. I could now catalogue my passions and find new influences.

Pinterest is on a mission

to connect everyone in the world

through the 'things' they find interesting.

We think that a favorite book,

toy, or recipe can reveal

a common link between two people.

Whether you normally like to keep inspiration organised in a file, tacked to a wall, or magnetised to your fridge, this will have you organising your inspiration in a whole new way.

Once you find like minded people, you can follow their boards, or only particular ones (if your interests & tastes vary on some levels). I have discovered fabulous new blogs and stores by the included pin reference. If you're a fan of blog hopping with the aim of stumbling across new talent then you will adore pinterest.

Your boards can be renamed & reordered

Before you rush to upload all of your product photos, stop and resist the urge. You may see your followers abandon you. There's a right and not so right way to go about promoting your work. We'll help you with self promotion via Pinterst in another post. It is possible and highly encouraged.

Requesting an invite via Pinterest seems to take a while. Jump the cue and let us know if you want an invite and we'll send you one. We simply need your email address. We're helpful like that.

Check out our pins at:
http://pinterest.com/inspiredwish/
http://pinterest.com/cpercydesign/

Happy pinning,

Jeanie

Further Reading:
I'm on Pinterest - what now?
Be my Valentine Pinterest
Can you use Pinterest to Promote your products?
Selling your wares on Pinterest. 




Jeanie is a blogger & maker of jewellery. She is passionate about accessories, colour, style & all things handmade.  Jeanie's wish ~ for all women to feel beautifully confident.  

Visit Jeanie at inspiredwish.com
or follow her on Facebook.