Help! We Need Blogs to promote our work. But HOW do we do them! |
Artists' and Artisans' Place
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[b]Ok - this is a cry for help![/b]
We know that one of the best ways for artist and artisans to promote our work is through blogs, that link to our site as well. This may include examples of our work, articles on our chosen subject, advice to those who are just beginning in their chosen art or craft. etc.
But, as a Grade One Computer Klutz - what I would like to find out is HOW to set up these blogs and where to find out the information to make them look good!
Is there anyone out there who can help!
Thanks
Jenny
For Angel Lovers Earn $$s |
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Comments (25)
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| Hi Jenny, I am coming back to Apsense after long time. I found your comment on my blog and am here in your group. Thanks for that. Now your problem of creating blog is over, You just give me small description about your self and your work with all the stuff to be posted and i will create a blog for you. But give me the posts in html format. Visit my site which i have crated recently and would be working hard on it. here is the link http://source-art.weebly.com Do reply me. All the best |
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| Hi, Here are some of my paintings Hi, Here are some of my paintings. I like landscapes, still life in cool colors and presently I am experimenting with abstract. Take time to look at my work. Relax. My work conveys my feelings and my views of life. I am not physically present but my painting is an expression of my inner feelings and emotions. I would like to know your inner reactions to what you see. You can leave a comment at the botton of this page, send me an email or call me. I appreciate any comment you make. WWW.ARTISTPAINTINGONLINE.COM muller jeanfrancois |
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| Hi Jenny, I'm still trying to learn the ropes here and I'm just now learning how to follow threads and see when there are replies. I didn't realize you had posted a reply. Thank you for the welcome. I will try to check in here when I can. I've been telling computers what to do for about 30 years and I'm fluent in computerese and geekspeak. I have a working knowledge of talking to people, too. (grin) If I can help you and the other group members better understand blogging and related things, I'm happy to do what I can. All the best, JD John L. Dilbeck Act On Your Dream! |
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| Wow John, Thanks for the most excellent and comprehensive class on blogging and RSS feeds. For my part is was as clear as mud, but thanks to your article, the mud is clearing. It is rare to find an artisan who is computer literate - so I send an extra big welcome to the Group from all of us here. Saludos Jenny For Angel Lovers Earn $$s  Group Administrator
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| Reading what I wrote in these comments is confusing, so I decided to make it a little more accessible and created a Squidoo lens about How to Blog on APsense: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-blog-on-apsense/ Maybe that will be helpful. Act on your dream! JD John L. Dilbeck Act On Your Dream! |
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| Finally, just to show you how easy it is to blog here at Apsense, if you've written or replied to this thread, you're blogging. The group's RSS feed is: http://www.apsense.com/feed/group.xml?id=100095 And it can be syndicated using the steps I outlined for a personal blog here. As an example, see the Apsense lens I created at Squidoo: APsense - A Free Business Social Network http://www.squidoo.com/apsense-business-networking/ You can see that I syndicated my Apsense blog and the blogs for some groups I created. Also, I just added a link to this group. If anyone wants to vote for it, just click the up arrow to the left off the name. You're also invited to add a link to your Business Center there (not your profile). If you visit the lens, I would appreciate it if you vote in the poll about Apsense. And, finally, if you have a Squidoo lens about Apsense, you are invited to submit it to the group I created at: http://www.squidoo.com/groups/apsense-business-networking If you don't have an account at Squidoo, you can get one by going to the group URL, above, and click on the Make A New Lens button below my pic in the right column. It' free, and I get a (small) check every month for my efforts. You can, too. If you visit the Apsense lens, I would appreciate it if you'd rank it and you're always welcome to leave a comment at the bottom of the page. You have to be a logged in Squidoo member to do either. I'm done talking now. (grin) Act on your dream! JD PS. I hope this helped more than it confused. John L. Dilbeck Act On Your Dream! |
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| Feedburner Step 4 (continued). Below your new headline Animator, in the drop down box, select Other (just gimme the code). Click Next. For now, deselect the Include a "Grab This" link. The text box has a paragraph of HTML code to display your new HA on any web page. You can use this on any page, even pages that don't allow syndication using the javascript you previously created. You can modify the HTML to work as BBcode if you want. I'll leave that as an exercise. For instance, you can modify your Business Center. Go to Setup my Business Center, scroll to the bottom to where it allows you to add text to the page. We want to directly add HTML, so click the HTML button on the bottom right of the edit window. Paste the HA HTML code wherever you want it. I chose to add a horizontal rule and center my headline animator at the bottom of my Business Center. When you have it where you want it, click the Design button to see how it looks. I didn't like the horizontal rule, so I removed it. Before you save, be sure to go up and select the Business Industries you want. Apsense doesn't properly populate these when you edit your business center. Once you're ready, click the Save button. You can go to http://johndilbeck.apsense.com/ and see it in action. I happily accept testimonials. (*wink*) Act on your dream! JD John L. Dilbeck Act On Your Dream! |
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| To add your feed to Feedburner, go to Feedburner.com In the box below where it tells you to enter your feed URL, enter, well, uh, your feed URL. (grin) Remember: http://www.apsense.com/feed/blog.xml?id=johndilbeck (use your username) Do not click the box about being a podcaster. Click the Next button. The next page will tell you that the feed has been verified. It will read your feed title and suggest that as the address. http://feeds.feedburner.com/JohnDilbecksBusinessBlogs I didn't want that address, so, in the text box on that line, I changed it to http://feeds.feedburner.com/JohnDilbecksApsenseBlog Next, if you have an account already, log in. If not, create one. Click Activate Feed. At the bottom of the next page, where it says Step 2, click the text link that says Skip directly to feed management. From here there are many features that I won't cover here. I will briefly mention four. Click the Publicize tab... 1. Now, you can let people subscribe to your feed by email. See the Email Subscriptions link in the left column. 2. PingShot - click this link. Click Pingomatic and Newsgator, and from the drop down list, select Google Blog Search Pinging Service and Add it. If you see a check mark to the left of the six services, click the Activate button. Now you can forget pinging, because Feedburner will do it for you every time you publish to your blog. I think they scan every 30 minutes. 3. Click BuzzBoost. Select the choices you want - you can change them later as you learnn more. Click Activate. You'll see a text box with javascript code in it. You can copy that and paste it on any web page that allows javascript and it will syndicate your blog. Use it on one site or a thousand - it's up to you. 4. Click Headline Animator. Select the options you want - they can be changed. You can have multiple HAs in different sizes and styles. Click Activate. Your new HA will appear showing your last five headlines rotating. (continued) John L. Dilbeck Act On Your Dream! |
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| Some places you want to enter your RSS feed for syndication: In a Squidoo lens about yourself. At bloglines.com At Feedburner.com www.google.com/reader Set up your personal page at Google: http://www.google.com/ig Save whatever it has on the opening page - you can change it later. After saving, on the right side of the page click on Add Stuff... To the right of the search box, click the small link that says Add by URL In the new text box, enter your Apsense RSS feed URL i.e., http://www.apsense.com/feed/blog.xml?id=johndilbeck When you see the red check mark to the left of your feed URL, Google has successfully parsed and added the feed. You can click the stop button on your browser and go back to your home page at google.com/ig and you should see your blog added to the page. Whenever you go to your iGoogle page, it will read your feed and that gets it into the Google universe. Since Google recently bought Feedburner.com, syndicating your feed there also gets you into the system. It's better than pinging, in my opinion. Of course, you can add the RSS feed for your friend's blogs or an Apsense group's feed and read them all at google.com/ig whenever you want. You can do the same thing by adding the feeds you want into any feedreader site or application. I - being a full-time geek in my previous life - syndicate my most important blogs on the homepage at JohnDilbeck.com. To get into Yahoo, which isn't as important as it used to be, go to: http://my.yahoo.com/s/about/rss/index.html Once you create an RSS or Atom feed, you become a publisher: http://publisher.yahoo.com/rssguide Now, go to http://my.yahoo.com/ On the left side of the page below the search box, click Add Content. A new page will load. To the right of the Find button, click Add RSS by URL. Again put in the URL for your RSS or Atom feed. This will open a new page that should be showing your headlines. If you see what you want, click the Add to My Yahoo button. Done. JD John L. Dilbeck Act On Your Dream! |
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| Blogging is much easier than most people think. If you can send email, you can blog with no problem. Pinging is not as important as it used to be. Most blogging platforms now ping the most important aggregators automatically when you post. If you want, you can go to Pingomatic.com or Pingoat.com, but if you blog using Blogger or WordPress, it isn't necessary. I don't know if the blog here at Apsense automatically pings or not, but it would be easy enough to add it to your MyYahoo or custom Google page. Or, set up a lens at Squidoo and add your RSS or Atom feed to the lens. To blog on Apsense, all you have to do is click on the Business Blogs tab and then click Create my own blog. On apsense, they use the word "blog" to mean a posting to a blog rather than the traditional usage where blog mean a website. Either way, when you blog, it creates an RSS feed that you can find on your user profile page. Go to your user page: http://www.apsense.com/user/johndilbeck (substitute your username) At the bottom of the right column, you'll see the RSS chiclet: http://www.apsense.com/feed/blog.xml?id=johndilbeck That's your RSS feed. Enter that (with your username) anywhere that syndicates feeds and you'll get into the system. Continued... John L. Dilbeck Act On Your Dream! |
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