Online Marketing....Truth or Dare!

I have been dabbling in Online Marketing off and on for almost 2 years now. Ok, truth be known, it is more like 5. I had not a clue to much on the internet, but for some reason this just caught my fancy.

I read lots of online material, even bought some real books, not just the e-books. Then, I learned a bit of HTML in order to understand what these so called Gurus were talking about.

I tried a few ideas, some worked, some didn't, well I thought they didn't until I got a notice months later that a "paycheck" was sent to my paypal account. Wow, this stuff really does work! After I checked my account, I see that I shouldn't order that flashy new car they said I'd soon have. Instead I used my "gold rush" stash and bought an ice cream!

So with all the different products and techniques, I now see that they indeed do work. But something tells me I am still missing the boat somewhere. It's as if everyone leaves out just the right ingedient to make sense out of it all.

So I have decided, I will start blogging about my journey, in the hopes that some one, some where, out there will be where I am and either offer help or support in some way. I am certain there are hundreds, if not thousands of people who are in the same boat I am, wanting to make a little extra income online to help stretch the paychecks.

And if, along the way we happen to stumble upon the "mother load" hopefully we will all see it together and feel the relief that we have finally "made" it in the Internet Marketing world!

Oh, and just so you know, I started this journey without internet or computer, going instead faithfully every day to the library to read and learn on their computers. Then after about 1 year of learning like that, we were finally able to get internet at home. It is not dsl, it must be a precursor to dial up, because it is just as slow and spotty. The only laptop it works on is a Windows XP Dell that has about 512 mb of memory. Yes, you heard me...we lovingly call it the dinosaur. So rest assured this is not a high tech world I live in, and from the looks of it, it never will be. Thankfully our local McDonald's, which is 30 miles away has free wifi that I take advantage of at least once a week.

So if you hear me talking about my "corporate office" that is where I am, 30 miles away at McD's in the corner booth with electricity.

Hang on, stay tuned, step aside...I am ready for high gear, I think, anyway. And if you are not listening to me or reading me, that's ok, I know some of you have real jobs that take up most of your life. Me, I retired from Motherhood 4 years ago, and enjoy the occasional spurts of employement when someone needs me and I feel like it.

Warmly,
Sue

How to Forward A Domain Name

I have had many people email and chat me about How to forward a domain name. After you have purchased your domain name, you might want to just forward a domain name, versus paying the extra to slap up a full website.

These directions are for domain names purchased from Go Daddy, but I am sure they would be effective if purchased elsewhere.

1. Go to your "manage domains" page, and this should bring up the page listing all your domains you have purchased. Hint: it is wise if you are trying to "brand" yourself to buy all the "MyCoolName" .com, .net, .info which are the most common ones. I can't tell you how many times I have had a client buy a really cute and brandable .com domain name,refusing to buy the .net and .info, only to find someone else bought the .net and then easily "fake used" the .com to fool google, yes, it happens.I warned them.

2. Ok, now on your "manage domains" page, click on the name you want to forward, the small box just to the left of the name. This should bring lots of icons at the top of the page into "brightness", meaning, now you can work with just that domain. Note: only do one domain at a time.

3. Click on the "forward" icon. Now a box comes up to forward that name. You are wanting to "forward and mask" this name.

4. Fill in the place where you want this domain name to go. You must use the full html such as http://www.MyOtherPlace.mystore.com NOTE: you can even forward to a blogspot if you wish, hence, if you own both .com, .net, and .info, you can brand all your online places with MyCoolName

5. Now click on "Advanced Options" Now for the masking part. This pretty much walks you through what to put where. Fill in each box. Make sure you have done good keyword research, and you know what your customers/clients are searching for. This will give you higher rankings in google and get you close to the first page for your keywords. This is vital to SEO.

7. Now click ok, and wait for Go Daddy to do it's magic. This can take anywhere from 1 hour to a couple of days. Patience is a virtue. Now do the same thing for the other domains you may have purchased.

Hopefuly this gives you enough to know How to Forward a Domain Name for any service.

How to Print Your Own Fabric Labels

August 22, 2009


I did some research recently on how to print your own fabric labels and came up with a pretty simple process. It wasn’t as time consuming as I first thought, and worked quite well. These labels work well for the CPSIA information you need on your items or garments.

Here are the supplies you need to print your own fabric labels:

Freezer paper cut into 8.5×11 sheets (use a sheet of printer paper as a guide to be sure you have square corners and straight edges)

100% cotton fabric, white, washed, dried and pressed to remove any sizing

Printer, computer

First design your label. I used a simple Lucinda Calligraphy Font, with the intent of printing my fabric labels in black. This was my first try of course. If you want to get more adventurous, you could go into graphic designer mode and design a three color logo and get fancy, but I figure, I’d save time on the learning curving by keeping it simple.

I loaded this design in a simple Publisher label format that makes 1 1/2×3″ mailing labels. After centering and adding other pertinent information to the label, like size and fabric content, I am to print my own fabric label.

Now, to get the fabric sheets ready to print. Simply iron the freezer paper onto the fabric, using cotton setting, pressing on the paper side to avoid scorching. Use gentle pressure, as you are not pressing wrinkles, but “ironing on the paper”. If you are pressing more than one sheet of freezer paper, leave 1/2 inch between each sheet to cut them apart. You might need to iron on the kitchen table with a bed sheet folded several times so as not to ruin your table. Most iron boards are too soft to do this. If you are a quilter, you most likely have a pressing board. I also find the cheapo table top iron boards work well for these. I have a closet full of them when my kids realized they really didn’t need these in the college dorm…who has time to iron?

Cut the excess fabric very carefully without raveling, using a very sharp fabric scissors. Remember when your mother yelled at you to not use her “fabric” scissors for paper? Well, don’t cut the paper! Not only will it ruin your scissors, forever, she says, but you will not have even paper for the printer, duh!

Ok, now you are ready to print. Place one “fabric sheet” in the printer. Do the computer magic to print off a sheet of labels. I found I had to “guide” my fabric out of the printer, or it would get hung up on one edge.If you have difficulty with your printer, you could put masking tape on the starter edge to make it firmer.





When printing is done, gently remove freezer paper starting at one corner. Try not to pull your fabric all out of shape.

Fill your bathroom sink with cold water, enough to cover fabric. I added ice cubes to make it really cold. This is supposed to rid any stray ink from your fabric, and if printed too thick, help with that. I did see some flecks in the sink, but if your printer is like mine I am always just one page away from “empty ink cartridge” anyway, so maybe even with printing on “best” there was medium to light ink on the fabric.

Of course if you used a new cartridge, and the fancy fandango full graphic three color design, you really do need this step.

After about 5 minutes of letting this set in cold water, gently remove, fold twice and press between towel to get rid of excess water. DO NOT SQUEEZE OR WRING!

I patted mine almost dry, then with DRY iron on cotton setting, gently press ink side to set the ink into the fabric. Throwing this in the dryer for 40 minutes will do the same thing, but unless you are making 1,000 labels, and just did 75 sheets of paper, it’s not the brightest thing to throw one sheet in the dryer. Ironing will do just fine.

When dry, cut labels apart, and either sew them in, or use iron on stuff to glue them onto your product. I used a pinking shears to cut them apart, and they work just fine.

If you prefer to just stitch them in, and don’t want to turn under edges or worried about raveling in the washer, then using cotton jersey knit is the key. You can use fray check on the edges, but geesh, this was supposed to be simple. You choose.

Hope this helps. Go ahead and get fancy on the next set of labels you make.

If you prefer, you can just buy "Printable Fabric Sheets" at Joann Fabric and use those according to directions. I live in the back woods, so don't have such stores near. I did have freezer paper, and fabric, so I did this method.

I also used the "Photo Transfer paper" from Walmart and made a Store Label, with just store name. I ironed this onto pink grograin ribbon to use for my non CPSIA pretties

The Desperate Ranchwife

I call myself the Desperate Ranchwife, not because I am desperate, but because it dresses up the term. Sort of like housewife and "Domestic Engineer". I take pride in the fact that for the most part, I desperately steer clear of ranch chores, hot icky climate, dusty, smelly horses, and those oh, so cute, sad eyed little calves, who outweigh me by 100 lbs and have the attitude of a 14 year old on a Mt. Dew rush.

Most days find me sitting at my laptop, happily working away while staring out the window at the 11,000 acre ranch that lies before me. Unfortunately, that is the neighbors place across the road. Our land sits on the other side of my house and is paltry in comparison, a meager slice of a once 20,000 acre spread. Note I said meager. All the rest of the neighbors live on small parcels of the original piece, all broken up into a few acres here and a few acres there.

Yes, most of the kids I teach drop jaw when they find out I moved here "DELIBERATELY" three years ago. They are desperately trying to get outa this neck of the woods, and I don't blame them. There is no industry here, and not much in the way of real jobs. Even technology is somewhat sparce. We don't have landline telephone, cause it would have cost too much to lay a line to us. So we opted to use cell phones, which, since we located our house on the highest hill, have service! Yippee! But no one else around here does.

Some mornings I find the neighbors sitting in my patio chairs chatting away, just being neighborly, stopping by to say hello and make a call. It's all part of being neighbors, afterall, when we had the first ice storm here, they all came running to help us out. I reminded them we were from "up north" where an ice storm lasts all winter. But they were helpful all the same. Now the tornados down here is something else.

Now my plastic chairs are tied to the patio, so they don't end up in the river 10 miles away. Especially with a neighor sitting in it. OOPS!

Nikon D60 Digital Camera on SALE

I was ready to rush out and purchase the Nikon D60 digital camera on sale the other day, when my photography mentor told me that using my nifty neato point and shoot Kodak Easy Share C813 should be sufficient.

He and his photo friends were talking about aperture, f settings and white balance. I have not a clue what was going on, because I see my darker colored products were casting a darker shadow with the exact same settings as the previous shot. Tim, over at TimothyAdamDesign.com said that using both types of cameras would be feasible.

So as I drool over the sale flyers, the Nikon D60 digital camera keeps coming to the top of my desk. All my brothers and sisters in laws have one, so they can't be that difficult to operate. It's not like I am taking wedding photographs or anything. I will keep looking and perhaps catch the next sale somewhere. Oh Snap! I forgot I live in the middle of nowhere, with noplace to shop. Guess I'll have to get one online...now the real shopping begins.

The real cost for the Nikon D60 comes when you start adding on features, and extra lenses. I am certain, however, that the basic lense will work nicely in the beginning. I really should dig out my husbands Olympus digital cameras. It was one of the first, having only barely 3.0. I have heard photography is very addicting.

Anyone out there like their Nikon D60digital camera?

SEO Made Simple

Many newbies are totally confused about all the talk about SEO. Granted, there are many technical aspects of SEO, but there are some very simple rules and tips for helping your website, blog, or Etsy Shop to get some traffic.

In simple terms, SEO is Search Engine Optimization, or how your site is searched by Google and others.

Before you set up your Etsy Shop, consider what id you are going to use. Having the same Login Id and Store Name is the number one step in branding yourself. Branding yourself with one name helps your customers find you all over the internet.

When considering what name you will choose, think of your product. Most times it is better to have your "product" line as part of your name. Google searches those names as well as the domain name you use. This gives you a plus when Google searches.

Here is how Googles "robots" search your site:

1. Your header...if it contains your keywords as your name, great. If you are using a jpg or picture for a header, label the picture with your keywords.

2. Your shop Title, the words just under your header. These should also contain keywords.

3. Your shop Categories. Yep these are right up there with searches. Make sure they contain keywords for your categories, not vague list of products.

4. Your product titles. Cutesy titles are just that...cute. If they don't contain keywords, Google skips right over them. It's like getting your bricks and mortar store all set up, and then putting sheets over all your product so no one can find them. Why hide your product.

Stay tuned for more about KEYWORDS....

About Me

I grew up watching my mom make our dresses. With 3 other sisters, that was alot of dresses. I learned to sew from watching her, and by the time I was in 5th grade got my first sewing machine instead of piano lessons I was offered.

My Barbie doll was the best dressed doll in the neighborhood. She didn't have one wedding dress, but a choice of many, just in case Ken asked her to marry him.

I was a stay at home mom, raising 4 children of my own, and some 25 others who needed love. After retiring and moving south of the Mason Dixon Line to a very rural area, I began taking up the hand made crafts I used to do B.C. (before children).

My son and I used to make period clothing and participate in Jubilees, which were the gunfighter, wild west reenactors.

I was introduced to Etsy about 6 months ago, and have not looked back since. I love living the rural life, yet connected to people all over the world.

My art includes many different kinds of fiber arts such as knitting, crocheting, quilting, costume design, millinery and a host of other wonders. Needless to say, I am also knee deep and neck high in craft supplies.

I am created this blog to showcase my work,share with other online artists, and provide useful information for others wanting to showcase their art online.