Instagram...Get some vintage atomosphere

I didn't think that I particularly had an addictive nature but two things in the last few weeks have really got their hooks into me.
1/Yoga... everyone should do it

2/Instagram so much fun

What is Instagram? Well it is an app for i phone or I assume any other smart phone, but it's not just an app its a whole new social network media type thingamy jigg. Well it's new to me I have no idea how long it's been hanging around.

Do you see some of your freinds photos on facebook and wonder how did they get it to look all vintagy like that or misty or like it was taken in the 70's, well chances are it was all down to Instagram.

The app allows you to take a photo then apply one of about 10 filters changing the look of you photo. You can then add a caption and upload it to facebook and/or twitter, or not.

But like flickR or twitter there are a whole bunch of other people looking at and up loading images. Its a bit like a visual twitter a photo community.

What I have found though is that it is encouraging me to take more photos, which is a good thing. I am seeing art in the most random things like a pint of cider ( although after a few pints of cider I generally see art in everything)

I can use it to give my product shots more atmosphere and ambiance:

 Basically I think Instagram is awesome and it's a free app too which is great.

Thank you to the creators of instagram for adding a bit more fun to photography.

Cultivating the creative spirit

I wrote a post ages ago about being creative healthily. I touched on many things like remembering to eat remembering to drink, going to the toilet when we have to and not hold it.

 A lot of us creative types spend hours and hours alone making what ever it is we make, not speaking or moving very much, we are so into what it is we are creating that simple things like eating and drinking get left by the wayside.

I think that to cultivate our creativity even further exercise is essential. It may only be going for a brisk walk a few times a week if that is all you can manage, or have time for as long as it increases your heart rate and maybe even gets a bit of a sweat going.

Exercise creates endorphines in the brain which is what makes us feel happy, This extra blood flow too I believe helps creativity.

I have recently started Yoga after a long time of not doing very much and I love it it is hard and Im not super good at it yet but I feel a release in areas that have been really tight for years. I get up at 7.30 go about my daily chores a lot more energized and find my creative mind buzzing with ideas.

You don't have to be a vegetarian or a hippy or a gymnast to enjoy yoga or any other exercise for that matter. It is important though to remember an active body in turn has an active mind.

Google bot myth exploded!

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post about google bots and how they trawl the Internet collecting information to better index stuff on the web.

I also mentioned that I was pretty sure that those first couple of views you get when you list a new item were more than likely bots.

Well last week a strange thing happened to me that has never happened before. I listed a new item, there she is below.

And for every view I had a heart! Now as far as I am aware Bots don't give hearts so that meant that every one that viewed my item was a real flesh and blood person.

At one point though I had more hearts than views which I didn't quite understand as surely you have to see the item before you can decide to like it. This really restored my faith in the Internet and in people too, but then it made me think.

What is it about this item that prompted so many hearts? Was it the photo? The setting or background? Was it that I listed it in a different category than normal, thus attracting different viewers?

I have no idea but I am happy that finally I have made something that people like. The next step is to make something that people like enough to buy...lol.

Treasury tuesday Rah rah rah!!!!!

So Tuesday is promo frenzy treasury day where my etsy team create beautiful collections using others from our team to try and boost publicity for us.

Unfortunately treasury tuesday always kicks off too late for me over here in france so I end up trying to find them on wednesday by which time there has been so much activity in the forum that I can't find them.

But to my surprise I had a message in my in box this morning telling me I had been featured!! This is rare for me with all my publicity efforts my shop doesn't get that many views ( key the violins quick go run look at my shop) So I was stoked.  In fact I have put off sending invoices and checking bank accounts to blog about it.

So if you are a member of the Frenzy Team but especially if you are not please click and comment on the treasury as the more clicks we get the closer we get to the holy grail that is ...DE DE DE THE FRONT PAGE! And that is where everyone wants to hang out.

'Valentine Treasures' by SusieTenzer

Promotional Frenzy Team

Orange Lily Fine Ar... BreathtakingAr... $12.00	Sweetheart Red Felt... NewEnglandQuil... $12.00	Marigold Popcorn Fl... ThreadedKey $3.50	Fused Dichroic Glas... Mtbaldyglasswo... $24.00
Mauve and Orange Ra... CNJceramics $6.00	Vintage Humingbird ... PaganCellarJew... $16.99	Stampin up Asian ar... theartofstacy $15.00	Rose Hand-Crafted 3... SunnyCollectab... $1.50
Red and White Camo ... MagicByLeah $15.00	Twins Heart Birth ... BellyStickers $12.00	Kingwood Pendant wi... AnitaDeanSews $21.00	Pink sponge coral b... SAMANTHATENN $29.00
4 1/2 inch Pre Cut ... GabbysQuiltSup... $3.50	Plumeria votives DLitesbyDorene $10.00	Red and Yellow Turt... TurtleXIII $20.00	Brown Goldstone Chi... Galla15Whatnot... $2.10

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Gotta love them gotta hate them...Google Bots

I have reentry opened a new shop on ETSY selling beads and jewelry supplies so I am as giddy as the day I opened my first etsy shop. I check it every few minutes to see if I have had any new views hearts or if anyone has added me to their circle.

After a few years of trying to sell my wares on the internet I have a little bit more knowledge about how it all works but I thought I would do a test all the same. After listing a new item tweeting it and face booking it you generally end up after about 10-15 mins with about 4-6 views. I would like to think that they are real people but I know they are bots.

So I listed an item and I resisted the urge to post it anywhere, I left it over night and when I checked it in the morning still not a single view...BOOOO, not even a bot!

So even though those first 3-4 views are not real people they  play a very important roll in the internet. They harvest information and index it for google and other search engines so that others may find us at a later date.

I found this article on google bots that will explain it much better than I ever could...damn those google bots.

Google Bots Types

1. Google Bot: This is the bot used by Google to scour the web to identify new pages. It has two different versions. Deep bot and Fresh bot. As the name suggests, Deep bottries to follow every link and downloads as many pages as possible. It tries to read minute details of a site including the internal structure.

Fresh bot crawls the web in search of fresh content. The Fresh bot crawls the already indexed pages in search of newly updated content. This way Google tries to give fresh and updated information in the search results. Hence it is important to have quality inbound links if you’d like Fresh bot crawling your site more and more often.

2. Media Bot: If you are wondering how Google places different relevant ads in your different pages, here is the answer. Media bot analyzes AdSense pages and decides which ads to be placed on different pages.

So if you want to allow Media bot to access your entire site put this code in robot.txt file.
User-agent: Mediapartners-Google*

Remember that ads will still be shown in your pages even if Media bot has not visited your site yet. In such a case, ads will be chosen based on the overall theme of your site.

3. Image Bot: Image bot is used to crawl the images and place them in Google’s image search. Images are ranked based on their file name, alt text, surrounding text and page title.  If your website is primarily image based, then you’d definitely want to tweak and optimize your images to receive extra traffic from Google image search results.

However, all the Google traffic may not convert into buyers as many people are just looking for images. So if you want to block Image Bot from accessing your images and save bandwidth, you can do it in your robot.txt file.

4. Ads Bot: It crawls and analyzes the advertising landing pages and determines the quality score that will be assigned to your ads. Along with this score, Google uses your bid amount to determine the position of your ads. Hence it is important to have quality content on the landing page of your advertisement. Sometimes Google positions high quality ads first even when others are willing to pay more. It is advised to give AdsBot complete access to your site.

By now you must have understood that it is important to give complete access to Google if you want to increase your search engine visibility. One way is to create a sitemap for your site. A sitemap tells Google about your most important, new and updated pages. Google inturn tells you the pages it was unable to crawl. This helps you pinpoint the problems and fix them as soon as possible with which you can gain increased traffic and exposure from search engine results.

Google is ever-changing and Google spiders are becoming more advanced all the time. However, relevant, updated and quality content along with good inbound links make your site stand front in this every changing search engine world.

Bead Love, support for supplies

'Bead Love' by allthatglittersbeads

I wanted to give some love to some fellow bead suppliers, Etsy without beads would be like the desert without sand.

6mm Purple Beads 6m... CharmingWren $3.25	6mm Round Textured ... SharkysWaters $2.50	Purple Beads 10 Ame... LythaStudios $2.55	Purple Beads - Arge... bigtranchsuppl... $3.00
1 16 inch Strand HE... MnMsCRYSTALILL... $8.99	Vintage Purple Bead... AutumnWindsJew... $2.00	Purple Jade Round B... gemsbeadsandfi... $8.99	Royal Purple Resin ... gypsyspiritstu... $1.95
10pcs Deep Purple A... doubleangeldes... $2.00	14mm Basketball Wiv... PurseSlore $5.00	10 PCS Purple 9x6 m... bkavcak $1.00	Triple Rose Cabocho... ArtfulMarket $3.00
25 Czech Glass - Cu... beadmecca $3.50	1/2 strand of facet... NYSupplies $22.00	57 mm purple handma... Beadcomber $12.00	LARGE - Royal Purpl... dragonbead $4.75

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

I have recently opened a 2nd shop on ETSY selling beads and so I wanted to extend some love to my fellow suppliers.

New Etsy Shop

After much deliberation I have decided to open a second etsy shop selling beads and jewelry supplies. I sell from time to time beads in my existing etsy shop along side my handcrafted jewelry and felted items but I thought it made my shop look untidy.

So I have opened a second shop selling only beads and supplies. I hope that you will find something different in my store.



So if you are in the neighborhood swing by and have a little peek and send some Etsy love my way.

Check out this treasury

'Ok I've made a Valentine's List' by sammi10

Ok so I gave in. I made a valentines list, I hope you like it...But how can you not who doesn't love red and pink even if they don't love valentine's day.

Mini Sweet on You R... NewEnglandQuil... $8.00	Lady Bug Buttons by... PiecefulDesign $2.25	SALE Christmas Orna... WoodgrainDesig... $8.00	Valentines Day Gift... TrinketsNWhatn... $25.00
Applique Crochet Fl... SmileykitCreat... $4.50	Tea lights - 8 Soy ... ColeMorganCand... $8.00	Crocheted Soft Pink... crochetedbycha... $10.00	Asian Blossoms Flor... nangatesdesign... $15.00
Handmade Sterling S... metalclothnwoo... $40.00	HUGE XXL Red Velvet... HollysFollyGla... $37.50	Christmas Crazy Cra... EldoradoSoap $5.00	CHUBBY Bright Fuchs... KatersAcres $5.00
Earings - valentine... NewCreatioNZ $20.00	Eye Shadow Mineral ... MadisonStreetB... $2.50	Handmade Lampwork P... LoriBergmann $12.50	Personalized name p... anitanirma $24.99

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.