| August 2, 2006 15:46 - Make Your Own Cards & Envelopes
I am pretty excited about some new products I'm going to test out from Crafter's Companion:
- Enveloper Pro and
- Top Score Multiboard
The Enveloper Pro
This is a new product after the success of 'The Enveloper' and can make twice as many new envelopes inlcuding slimline envelopes, and mini
envelopes for the front of cards or scrapbooking.
The Top Score Multiboard
This is another of the company's scoreboard products and caters for card makers and box making, with full instructions.
One side of the board is for card making, and can make more than 15 types of cards such as:
- Popup
- Concertina
- Aperture Cards
- Bi-fold / Tri-fold
- Gate-fold
As if that wasn't enough, the other side of the board makes boxes from mini favour ones to larger storage ones.
Keep a look out on the main site for an interview with the company's Managing Director, Sara Johnson!
(read more)
August 3, 2006 22:54 - Free Step-by-Step Guide to being a Work at Home Parent
Working from home is often seen as a dream by many people, but perhaps even more so by parents.
By being at home you have the freedom to work when and however you can, while still caring for your children and doing all the household things you would have to do after coming home from work.
I work at home, and while it might not suit everyone, it is certainly the best answer for me.
This is a free ebook with handy information, advice and resources all about being a work at home mom, or dad!
I've included the contents page here so you can see what you will be reading about ;-)
Free eBook for WAHMs and dads:
Part 1: The Pathway to Internet Success
Step 1: Review the Offline Work Options for Moms
1.1 Working Outside the Home
1.2 Working at Home
Step 2: Going Online
2.1 Potential Online Income-Generators
2.2 Time to Reflect
Step 3: Build a Web business Via a Theme-based Content Site (i.e. write about your crafting!!!!!)
3.1 Building an Information-Rich Website
3.2 Enjoying Total Flexibility, and Making Good Use of Precious Time
3.3 Earning the Income You Need
3.4 Getting Beyond 'Mom'
Step 4: The 'How To' Answer. The C T P M Process
4.1 Introducing the C T P M System
4.2 Content: The Crucial Element
4.3 Traffic: The lifeblood of Your Site
4.4 PREsell: Make Your Visitors Happy
4.5 Monetization: Earn Money From Your Site
4.6 Conclusion
Part 2: WAHM Case Studies
Case Study # 1 Rena Klingenberg
Case Study # 2 Claire Kolarova
Case Study # 3 Kari Anderson
Part 3: The Background Story
How this Guide Came to be Written
Part 4: “Is SBI! For Me?”
Helpful Resources
Click here or this URL -->
August 4, 2006 13:42 - "The biggest moneymakers tend to be people who started sites to document their passions
Do you have loads of cards stashed away? Lots of parchment patterns? Love to talk about your hobby...GET IT ALL ONLINE!!!
Google Adsense and other contextual advertising companies are the probably THE best thing to happen to people with websites, ever!
You can earn money from your website even when you're out shopping, walking the dog or taking a shower...as long as you get a healthy amount of traffic to your site, you will get people clicking on the Adsense links and earning you small commissions each time.
Start a site, or a blog, about something you know, something you care about, research your keywords and slowly you will start getting targeted traffic and clicks on those monetized links - but do NOT focus on the money, focus on the content - the money takes care of itself if you get the content right ;-)
A recent article in the Washington Post talked about many sites being developed from relatively obscure concepts but which make the creators plenty of money:
"The biggest moneymakers tend to be people who started sites to document their passions"
Yuki Noguchi, Washington Post, Friday, July 28, 2006
This 'passion' is something I keep going on about because I use Site Build It! - and myself and hundreds of other people are making money and enjoying our freedom, just from sites created from our passions, hobbies and interests.
Anyhow, I will stop here because I have a tendancy to rave about SBI :D
August 5, 2006 16:43 - Free Digital Resources Every Week
One of my favourite free sources for digital images is Dover Publications - but although their books are fantastic, you get the ones I'm talking about delivered to you by email EVERY WEEK
If you sign up to their newsletter each week you will receive 'free samples' via email which will show you a page of their books and each will have perhaps 2 or 3 images for you to download.
You are only limited by your imagination because the downloads will either be in full colour for direct printing/cutting out/stickers, or black and white outlines which can be used for:
- parchment craft
- glass painting
- clip art
- digital painting/colouring
- kids colouring pages
- digital stamping
Even the colour pictures are brilliant because you can strip them of colour using Paint Shop Pro or similar, and there you have even more black and white patterns for your card making!
I collect these each week and there are WAY too many to keep up with!
So many fantastic ideas spring to mind when I see them but, as usual, I never get anything done ... but at least they are sat right here, nicely organised in my Picasa software all ready for when I get a few creative moments :-)
By the way, Picasa is a superb free picture organising/editing software from Google:
(read more)
August 7, 2006 23:25 - Card Making + Your Brain = Money
What? Have you not seen any crafty brains for sale on eBay?
Well yeah, they can be hard to find, and are usually hidden, in categories like 'eBooks' or 'information products' and, sadly, are not genuine brains!
A 100% genuine crafty brain is hard to find!
You get eBooks on scrapbooking, crochet, knitting, quiliting ... woodworking...but hardly EVER on card making (I've only seen ONE dedicated eBook on card making!)
Which is where you come in.
There is a saying 'there's a book within everyone' - well it doesn't have to be a book, it can be a card making course, or a checklist sheet or a eBooklet...
just as long as it's from YOUR brain...
- your cards
- your creativity
- your experience
- your ideas and tips
- your helpful forum posts!
- etc etc etc
Everyone knows something that other people will find useful - all you have to do is figure out what that is, then start 'telling', just as you would tell a friend.
How to sell YOUR knowledge
(read more)
August 8, 2006 23:12 - Printable Craft Supplies
Instantly downloadable goodies!
For me, this is one of the greatest things about the internet - being able to collect craft supplies online and have them at my fingertips as and when I might need them.
Digital craft supplies are HOT... they cost next to nothing (as you can see below) and look absolutely stunning.
Many people use a 'hybrid' of digital and traditional cardmaking - so that they print off some downloadable papers or embellishments and then layer them up and add glitter and other crafty bits as they normally would.
Just check these gorgeous offerrings out - and look at those prices! (And UK readers, the prices are in US dollars ... so for us they are even cheaper!)
August 17, 2006 17:36 - Psychology of Design: The Power of 3
Why does the brain like '3' ?
Elements, Fonts and Colours - how they work
'Three' seems to be our brains' favourite number whether you are talking about visual design, written copy or oral communication.
Three 'just works'...and the design of a greeting card, or your website, business card etc. can be hindered by having too much on it, thereby irritating the viewer's brain.
"The brain finds it relatively easy to grasp threes -- elements, colours and fonts. Push that
marginally up to four and the brain gets confused about where to look and what
to do, and sends the eye scampering like a frisky puppy on a sunny day."
Harness the
Psychological Power of '3' to Improve Communication, Sean
D'Souza
Neat little tricks to deal with cluttered design
Lucikly, there are a few
neat tricksthat you can use to fit everything into a design that you want to use.
Take a look at the article I quoted above - it demonstrates
visuallly how you can 'bunch elements together' so that you have all the
information you need but still have the all important impact of '3'.
(read more)
August 18, 2006 22:22 - Download Free Samples for Card Making
Looking for new card making ideas?
One of the best sources of card making inspiration and digital freebies is the 'The Dover Sampler' from Dover Publications.
All you do is sign up to receive their newsletter and each week and they send you an email with some free samples from their books! I get at least a dozen 'card making suitable' images from each Sampler every week!
Every 'Dover Sampler' usually includes:
- Line drawings
- Black and white borders and patterns
- Outlined stained glass patterns
- Full colour clip art
- Coloured 'sticker' sheets
How to use these free samples in your card making
- Print outlines onto your cards and colour in/decorate as you would with rubber stamping
- Use the clip art to create layered effects or decoupage
- Use the sticker sheets to make real stickers or as embellishments
- Stained glass patterns are ideal for glass painting
- Borders and patterns are great ideas for parchment craft
If you have a graphics program such as Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop, you can play with the images in there and produce some very creative digital and/or printable designs.
When you get the email, open the 'samples' page and if you see something you like just right click and 'save image as' or the equivalent on your browser. Often, they have separate pages with specific samples ready to download, others they will present a full page of samples together.
One of the benefits of Dover samples (and their fabulous books) is that you can use the images pretty much as you wish - although DO check their terms and conditions because there may be limits on how much of an item you can produce with one image, for example, they might say "up to 200 items" per image used.
(read more)
August 21, 2006 12:40 - Hobby + Website + Google Adsense
= Passive Income Opportunity
How do you earn $200 with a small craft site, with an average of only 150 visitors a day, with low paying keywords and in only 3 months?
This is how I did it...
To some, the figure of $200 is probably laughable - considering the big money you seem to read about all the time online!
But when you look at the 'smallness' of my site and daily traffic, I am thrilled!!
Step 1... My card making content site went live at the end of March this year - I waited patiently until I had gotten listed in the DMOZ directory (and had at least 30 pages of my own 'unique' content) before I monetized the site with Google Adsense (this is as per the advice from the Site Build It! 10-Day Action Guide).
Step 2... Then I put on some Adsense ads and learned how to maximize the money I get from them using these:
With that information I could see my earnings steadily increase over time, going from just $1 a day, to perhaps $4 a day (and once a whopping $9 LOL) - and that is with LOW paying keywords that are not worth more than 30 cents a lot of the time!
I made my first $200 with Google Adsense without any major strategy or analysis or tweaking … just simply put the ads up, blended in to my site, and left it to see what happened.
Next Step... Now it's time to get serious with Adsense!!
RESOURCES:
- How to make money from your hobby with a website: click here to get the FREE set of Site Build It! Action Guide Videos and printable manual.
- Site Build It!s "Integrating Adsense" Tutorials
- Maximise revenue with tips and tricks in Michael Cheney's Adsense Videos
-
- When you have Firefox, install the excellent "Adsense Notifier" and watch the money coming in!
GOOD LUCK!!
August 23, 2006 12:51 - eBay - Business or Hobby?
If you have an eBay 'work at home' business...is it a real business or just a hobby?
Do you sell items on eBay? Is this something you go out of your way to do, sourcing supplies, or is it just occassional second-hand goods?
Working from home is often seen as 'not a real job', and often as an easy ride or 'just a hobby', with smart comments coming from those who have 'real' jobs ...
...a guy called in to a radio show that was being streamed through my doctor's waiting room, and my ears pricked up when he said that he worked from home but was taking a break...the presenter repeated what the caller had said in a sarcastic tone: "what, you work at home...and you're taking a BREAK?" - implying that if you work from home it's always a break!
Yes, working at home means you have the freedom and flexibility to choose when and how you work, and yes you can work in your pyjamas if you really want to...but most home-based workers 'work' just as hard at home as they would in a ...'real' ... job, and often with longer hours!
The picture is often painted of someone doing a couple of hours work and then shooting off to play golf all day - and this is the image used to lure people IN to the whole work at home thing, "earn a squillion dollars with just 3 hours work a week". But in reality, just like in a typical job, you work hard, you are serious and you put in the hours.
I just read an article about whether you should pay tax on eBay earnings, i.e. is selling on eBay a business or a hobby, but the same points can be applied to non-eBay sellers to ascertain whether people are actually 'working' from home...
The issues to consider (by you and the tax office!) are:
- Do you carry on the activity in a business-like manner, keeping records and tracking profit and loss etc?
- Do you spend considerable time working on your hobby?
- If you depend on income from your eBay activities for your livelihood?
You can read the whole article about eBay here, but I thought the questions above related quite well to the whole 'working at home isn't really working' thing.
So, next time someone asks you whether it's really 'work or just a hobby'...you can proudly tell them you have to pay your taxes just like they do!
RELATED LINKS:
Be Prepared to Defend Yourself
Advice on all aspects of trading on eBay
August 27, 2006 23:07 - What Color Is Your Web Designer's Hat?
I see many card making and craft supplies websites that look great but have been designed by a Web Master who has put the site 'at risk' from being penalised by search engines like Google because they are using 'black hat techniques'.
These techniques are supposed to help your site rank well and get more traffic, but the search engines are wise to this and it can end up penalising sites that employ these methods - meaning your site doesn't get the traffic it could do...and you need as much traffic as possible: more traffic = more sales.
Check this free online magazine out to see if your website has any of these black hat elements...and learn how to put things right and be loved by Google and get more people visiting and buying!
The following is taken from Affiliate Classroom Magazine August 2006
** Free Online Magazine
**
Black Hat Marketing—How NOT-To
Do you have any of these elements on your card making or craft site? How do you know if your web designer has used frowned upon black hat techniques in creating your website? Here is what to try look out for...
- Hidden or Tiny Text
- Keyword Stuffing
- Web Templates (Adsense Ready etc)
- Machine-generated pages
- Doorway pages/Sneaky
- redirects
- Link Farms or Selling PageRank
Read more about this in the magazine/a> - online and printable versions available.
This page was created with
(read more)
August 30, 2006 21:45 - FREE A4 Card Making Printable Kit
** Freebie Alert **
This is one of the freebie downloads available from computerscrapbook.com - click on the link above and it *should* take you to the download page.
Designer card making instantly!!
Download and print as many times as you like!
(read more)
August 31, 2006 22:28 - New Printable Card Making Sheet only $1.99
This gorgeous, fruity printable kit is one of the new E-cuts from computerscrapbook.com - I am showing you this particular one because you can see how each of the elements would fit together to make a lovely bubbly card for many occassions - layer up and mat to your heart's content!
"Digital card making ... Print and create as many times as you like!"
(read more)
|
