Blog Check-up Part 2: Taking Advantage of Tags

Like many, I assign categories to all my posts but I lag a little when it comes to tagging because, well, it’s boring and I hate doing it. But tags are important to help you organize your posts and help readers find archived posts when the categories simply don’ t give enough information. Tags are also part of a good SEO system (search engine optimization – getting higher on search results); even though some bots and crawlers don’t rely too heavily on tags since they have been abused in the past, they are still indexed and do help drive traffic to your site.

Post Tags

Many people ask what the difference between categories and tags and it can be a bit fuzzy. A category is the topic of your post, a high level summary. The tags are a list of anything that is mentioned in the post and anything people might search Google for, such as specific people, websites, plug-ins, products, locations or events.

I had no intention of trolling through 800+ posts to tag the ones I have already written. WP Calais Archive Tagger is a WordPress Plug-in that will search the content of your previous posts and add relevant tags to each one. It is fun to watch it generate the tags for each post and made me look back to figure out what I wrote on the post that it tagged “Tia, Toronto, conductive paint, in-the-car panic attacks, Christmas and electrophoresis.”

Going forward I plan on using the Tagaroo Tag plug-in, also from the Calais community, that will suggest tags for the new post as I write and even allow me to look up relevant Flickr images right on the write-post page.

Meta Tags and Meta Descriptions

Meta tags are the invisible tags viewable only by bots and crawlers indexing your site and help determine the categories and search results your site should be included in and the relative position on the search results page. To manually add Meta tags in WordPress:

1. On your WordPress admin, click the design tab, and the theme editor sub-tab.
2. Select the Header Template
3. In the header you will see the following:

<title><?php bloginfo(‘name’); ?><?php wp_title(); ?></title>

Blog Check-up Part 1

Here are a few handy online tools to help you spring clean (fall clean?) your blog and make sure it is optimized, tagged and correct. I am a notorious bad speller so I need to use a lot of these to find spelling errors, mis-linked hyperlinks and weirdly-spelled meta tags.

I do not own any of these sites and have tried most, but not all. Always use discretion when giving your email address, but the sites I have been to all had online reputations and recommendations and clearly stated privacy policies, so I felt safe with them.

Spell Checking:

http://www.netmechanic.com/cobrands/FutureQuest/spell_check.htm

http://www.texttrust.com/

http://orangoo.com/spell/

Finding Broken Links:

www.linktiger.com/

http://www.creatingonline.com/site_promotion/broken_link_checker.htm

http://validator.w3.org/checklink

http://www.netmechanic.com/cobrands/FutureQuest/link_check.htm

Browser Compatibility Checking: (How does my blog look in other internet browsers?)

http://www.netmechanic.com/cobrands/FutureQuest/compat_check.htm

http://browsershots.org/

I didn’t mention any HTML validation in this article – that is a little more behind-the-scenes and a topic for a more in-depth article about website maintenance, but I will be writing about validators and other web developer tools in the future.

How to Get Attention While Wasting Time Online

Yeah, yeah, you’re supposed to be posting items in the shop or making a new ad banner for Project Wonderful, but you know you’re gonna spend almost the whole time looking at cute pictures of your friend’s new cat on Flickr or looking up old boyfriends on Facebook. While you’re there, you might as well get a little marketing done. Here are some ways to drum up some interest for your shop while wasting time on the internet.

1. Upload all your item photos. *Given*
2. Search the Flickr groups for keywords related to Etsy or your craft and join the groups.
3. Upload a few photos to each group whenever you are on Flickr.  Etsy sellers, buyers and bloggers all frequent the groups as well as more popular design bloggers.
4. Make sure you have a link to your website in your profile. As per Flickr rules you are not supposed to use Flickr for marketing so you are not supposed to add your Etsy site address, just your blog address, but I haven’t been caught yet. Please don’t rat on me.
5. Search for users with tags related to Etsy or your craft and add these artists as a contact. Chances are they will add you too and see the your new items when you upload them to Flicker.
6. Comment on other artist’s photos – a lot. People follow the link back to your profile if you do, I promise.
7. Add me as a contact

1. Search Etsy forums for “Twitter” to find other Etsy buyers and sellers to follow. They will probably follow you too.
2. Go to TwitterFeed.com and set up your Etsy shop RSS so you will generate an automatic Tweet whenever you post an item to your Etsy shop. While you’re there set up a tweet for your blog too. Contact me if you need help with RSS or finding your Etsy RSS URL.
3. Fill out your profile and make sure there are links to your Etsy shop, blog and/or Flickr account.
4. Go to your favorite design blogs and look for a “follow me on Twitter” link to follow them. Even if they don’t follow you, they will probably still at least check out your webpage.
5. Of course, follow me on Twitter!

 

1. Add the My Etsy Application to your Facebook Profile – Go to the App page and enter your ID. While on that page (after hitting submit) go to the very top of facebook and go to Settings>My Etsy Settings (the settings menu beside your name) and chose the “Profile” tab, then click “add” beside the Box selection. You can try the Etsy Shop App too, but I just got an error when I tried to add it.
2. Join the Etsy Sellers Facebook Group, upload some pictures, explore the group page and write on the wall or participate in the discussions. Sellers can be buyers too, and I have referred more than one buyer I could not help to Etsy Sellers I talk to on facebook, Flickr or forums.
3. Add photos of your shop items into albums in your Photos section.
4. Add other Etsyians as friends by searching for “facebook” in Etsy forum posts (like this thread, or this one) to find people who want to add other Etsy sellers or buyers to their friend lists.
5. If you want to get REALLY into it, you can make a Facebook page for your store, and encourage other Etsyians to become your fans if you become theirs. I have not done this yet since I don’t have time to maintain a store on Facebook too, and this list is mostly for quick ideas you can do while puttering online.
6. Add me as a friend: (make sure you let me know you’re an Etsyian, or I’ll think you were a random serial-friender).

1. Add shops and items to your favorites, especially new shops. They shops with 1000+ hearts don’t always have time to visit each shop when someone favorites them, but the newer sellers will without fail.
2. Choose an interesting shop item of yours for your avatar. When people see your avatar in convos or forum posts they will be curious and click through to your shop.
3. Participate in lots of forum threads. Lots. Talk it up, baby.
4. Join street teams.
5. Create treasuries, or make friend with people who do!
6. Pitch story ideas for the Storque to the editors. If accepted, you will get a lot of exposure for authoring an article.
7. If you have nothing new to list, renew items on a regular basis to keep your page appearing in the recently listed sections.
8. As always, check out my shop.

Other Online Distractions:

1. Check out your Etsy stats at Majaba.org
2. Comment regularly on the Indie and design blogs you read
3. Add your name to the Etsy Sellers Blog List
4. Check out my blog! Oh, wait, you’re there now…

Yay for justifiable online puttering!

Questions You Were Afraid to Ask…

The web is daunting and sometimes it feels like everyone knows the lingo but you. Along my travels I have solved a few mysteries and found the places to go for answers when a new mystery finds me.

To pass on the love I am starting a new series on Sixth & Elm for the questions everyone else seems to take for granted and you are too intimidated to ask. No question is too simple since, really, this stuff isn’t intuitive and you just have to learn by experience. Feel free to leave new questions in the comments or contact me directly if you want to remain anonymous (I won’t put your name, so no worries about looking “silly”).

The question in this series is from a question asked of me via the contact form on this site, and I thank you for asking it.

1. Why do people not put the “@” in their email address when listing it on a website? For example: sixthandelm(AT)gmail.com or sixthandelm(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

“Bots,” or computer-automated searchers can scan webpages for things that look like email addresses (usually looking for the “@” that gives an email away) to add to spam lists so to be safe many webpage authors will code their emails so that people can understand it, but computers looking for addresses to spam cannot. Another solution is to make their email address into a picture in photoshop so that bots scanning text only cannot read it. I have no idea which pages are safe or when it is okay to use an email address in the correct form so I just use the (AT) format for everything, including listing my email on profiles for facebook, flickr or etsy.

Making Line Drawings (or Colouring book pictures) from photos

This may not apply to many of you, but for anyone like me who needs to use line drawings for templates for woodburning (or stenciling, or etching, or painting, or colouring books), Photoshopsupport.com has a very good published tutorial on turning your photos or coloured illustrations into line drawings in Photoshop. This makes a much nicer template than simply turning the photos black and white since that method usually produces grey areas I can’t reproduce.

The tutorial goes into detail and includes explanations on what you are doing on each step, but here’s a summary for those of us who love keyboard shortcuts and need a reminder:

1. CTRL + J
2. SHIFT + CTRL +U
3. CTRL + J
4. CTRL + I
5. Left Click “Layers” tab, Choose Colour Dodge
6. Menu: Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur
7. Move Blur slider until Picture emerges

Font Cheat Sheet

Wood Carved Letterpress Blocks available at

The Type Junkie – www.thetypejunkie.etsy.com

Many of us use fonts in our designing and have collected a library of fonts that we have purchased or downloaded from freeware hosts. It can be annoying trying to pick an appropriate font for your work from the little drop-down menu used in most programs so I set out to find a way to make a sample sheet of fonts, listed in their font form so I can easily scan them all, compare designs and even print it out to help me pick the most appropriate.

I came across this simple tutorial from Quantum Software and it worked like a charm. Using a simple Word Macro, you can create a handy sheet containing samples of all fonts installed on the system. To create the macro:

• Click on Tools, Macro, Macros.
• Type a name for the macro (e.g. ListFonts)
• Click Create.
• Erase anything that may be on the visual basic window that opens and replace it with the following:

Sub ListFonts
‘Automatically prints out a sample sheet of all the fonts
Dim Fontlist As Variant
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Documents.Add Template:=”normal”
For Each Fontlist in FontNames
With Selection
.Font.Name = Fontlist
.Font.Size = 12
.TypeText Fontlist
.InsertParagraphAfter
.MoveDown Unit:=wdParagraph, Count:=1, Extend:=wdMove
End With
Next Fontlist
Selection.WholeStory
Selection.Sort
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
End Sub

• Close Visual Basic Editor by clicking ‘X’ and save the changes.
• Run the macro to create a list of all the fonts on your computer. The name of each font will be listed in the particular font.

Handy, eh?

Sixth & Elm’s TBL Draft Your Friends Scouting Report

Okay, following my post about the TBL Draft Your Friends Challenge, here is my official scouting report, in no particular order. Oh, and please remember that I don’t actually know anything about baseball, so if I start making up positions and stuff, just let me go with it.

Adam Finley – Of course he has to be on my team. Who else will keep the locker room clean? I think Adam should be that guy in the batting order that gets stuff done. I forget if that is usually third, I think, or second? Whatever – he’s the guy you depend on because he does his job and does it well, no matter the stress. As for a field position, um… something where he can stay in the dugout, like a DH or something (do they still have those?) because he’ll be tired from floor hockey and then he can stay out of the sun and redesign his web page for the 80th time while watching 24 on his Mac.

Tia Tremblay – I think Tia should play some sort of outfield – the one that never gets hit to…. is that left, or right? Can’t remember. Not because she can’t play, she’s surprisingly agile with a glove, but because then she could sit on the grass and get some paperwork done. She’s always got paperwork, for some reason. Maybe she could do the team taxes then too.
Mom – Um…Mom needs a position where she can bring you all snacks and give you hugs. Is there a hugs and snacks guy on a baseball team? Well, we need one, and she’s good for that.

Dad – If you can get him out of the sound booth, he’d be good anywhere because even if he wasn’t good at a position, he’d make up for it in enthusiasm. He could be the guy all the pitchers walk on purpose because he’s the only guy who wouldn’t get pissed off about that.

Colin Wallace – Well, I guess the obvious choice would be the team Athletic Therapist, but I’m pretty sure you don’t get drafted for that position. I’ll make him a shortstop because I think from that position he could successfully play all the out- and in-field positions by himself, which we may need, looking at the roster so far.

Emily Wallace – Emily, you can be…. I need a position for Emily where she has a foot in every bucket. Halfway between successful business woman and immature lunatic. She’s the only girl I know who could spend an hour laughing her ass off making dumb crank calls and then go prepare a cheese platter for everyone. I’ll make her the third base coach. Still a coach and in charge, but she’s out there on the field with the players in the thick of it inning after inning.

Sarah Zadorsky – She definitely gets to be a coach. She’s got a lot of practice with her own baseball team of Thomas, Hannah and Lydia. And Bill. And Dakota. But she needs to be the kind of coach that can sit down during the game because I’ll bet she’s tired.

Chuki-the-Cat Chickenhead – Chuki can’t play outfield because he is afraid of grass. He can’t play infield because he is afraid of infielders. I guess he could be the batboy, but I am pretty sure he’s afraid of bats too.

Ollie-the-Cat – I think Ollie would be best as the guy who sells hot dogs. He’d be the most unsuccessful hot dog salesman in baseball history, but he’d sure be happy.

Okay, I have way more coaches and staff than players. That’s okay, I guess, so do most major league teams.

Marisa Reis – Oooo…she’s our secret weapon. A tiny little pixie with more punch than a heavyweight. She’s a Frisbee shark, so I expect her to be much the same on a baseball field. She can play the other outfield (the one Tia isn’t playing) because then she can do lots of running and catching (like she does in Frisbee) but she’ll also have lots of room to dance around to the songs they play on the breaks.

Kristin Lippold – She’s another surprise up our sleeves. Kristen’s modeling career may launch her onto the pages of vogue any minute now, but only if the photo shoot won’t interfere with floor hockey play-offs. The tough-hitting powerhouse should play center field. Her long legs will get her to the ball every time and she isn’t afraid of breaking a nail on a fly ball.

Adam Smith – I think Adam shouldn’t be assigned an official position. He’s the guy that is just there, wherever you need him to be. A very capable athlete whose versatile skills will allow him to fill any gap in our roster. And he’ll smile for the cameras and bring a 24 to the after-game.

Aiden Kennedy – Another one who is there where you need him and the only player on the team to actually have any baseball experience beyond little league. He’s obviously the pitcher, but don’t let him throw left handed.

Christine Kennedy – Wait, are you changing your name? I didn’t ask. Christine can play anything. Just point her in the right direction and she give it her all, chatting with your Mom the whole time. And her smiles are Sports Illustrated Cover material.

Brett Dunn – Well, beyond being the team supplier of cell phones and toothpaste, Brett can play third base. Not for any athletic reason, although I know he can handle it after the DA, but because you know he’ll giggle every time he hears about someone getting to third base.

Brandon Moonsawmy – No question, team publicist. I don’t care if teams don’t draft publicists, he’s ours. And he can play first base in his spare time (closer to the camera, so he can get some last minute plugs in).

Evan Frith – Evan can be the catcher. He seems to get stuff thrown at him at lot and he’ll have patience if the pitcher forgets the signals. Plus, he’s the most diplomatic, so it’s best he’s right beside the umpire to argue our case.

Carly Thorne – Carly can play any position she wants, she’s that good. And she can be our official opposition heckler because she can dish it out, but ONLY if it is deserved, so she will keep us grounded and well behaved.

Brian Dewagner – Um. Is there a position Bri couldn’t play? I’ll put him on second base because then he’ll be closer to Colin and I know they want to see more of each other. He’’ll also be our home run guy (I don’t think that’s an official title in baseball, but Brian’s not that into official anyways) because he will appreciate how it feels to knock one over the green monster for the sheer sentimentality of it, and not because it will boost his stats.

June Partridge – June’s gymnast days make her perfect for the mascot, but that would put her considerable athletic skills to waste. June will coach our official farm T-ball team. An excellent instructor with both sports and Campasaurus experience makes her perfect for shaping up the little buggers for us.

Chris Weavers & Sue McKay – They will get drafted together and they both get to be catchers, along with Evan. Then they can wear funny cages on their FACE!

Andrew Cooper – Cooper would appreciate a position where he gets to stay in the shade so he won’t sweat. He’s athletic and can play any position, he just has this thing with sweat. If he can’t be in the shade, then he needs an outfield position where he can have room to strip-down and air-dry if he gets sweaty. Or, are there any positions he can play from the toilet? Coop likes to multi-task while completing his, uh, private task.

Michelle O’Keefe – Mitch is a fibre artist so after she designs the fabric for the costumes (I mean uniforms) she also needs something outfield so she can weave sheets of field-grass cloth during the breaks. And she’s athletic enough for the running and jumping and stuff an outfielder does.

Okay, that’s all for now. If you are an up-and coming baseball player (or just someone I know) please submit your credentials, along with what position you play to the team PR agent (me) so that the team general manager (me) can confer with the head coach (me) and make a decision regarding an invitation to the spring training camp.

Team name is yet to be determined, so please submit your suggestions to the team’s creative director (yeah… me).

Haliburton Hook Line ‘n Sinkers Official Scouting Report

The guys at The Bleacher Life (well, okay, Brian at The Bleacher Life, but I like the plural references) have thrown down the gauntlet and opened the door for hypothetical sports leagues the world over. Not sure if there are that many hypothetical sports leagues in the world, but there is about to be at least one more.

Here’s the TBL Draft your friends challenge, in a nutshell:

1. Write down your friends.
2. Add some random acquaintances (the more eccentric, the better)
3. Analyse each for their baseball-like qualities and assign each an appropriate position on your own team.
4. Name your team and draft your friends!

This should be fun. Brian is an o-fish-al sports writer so his picks are all very logical and sound like real scouting reports. I haven’t had the attention span to watch a game since I was 9 and have no idea what everyone really does on a baseball team so mine will be considerably less ESPN-ish, but that’s okay. I don’t think we need credentials or a press pass for this draft. I’ll be posting my scouting report shortly, but in the meantime, check out Colin’s list. I have been scouted by the Haliburton Hook Line N’ Sinkers (pretty good considering I had to go look up how many players are in a batting line-up) and here was Colin’s official scouting report on me:

CHANTELLE FINLEY – Great with her hands, but grew up playing hockey and is used to that fast paced action and not the pace of a baseball game. An impatient hitter who has walked back to the dugout on a 2-0 count claiming she was bored that the pitcher hadn’t thrown anything in the strike zone yet. When the batting coach tried to explain the concept of a plate appearance to her she snapped. He is now just starting to chew his meals again. She may have temper issue, but like I said, she’s got good hands.

Hey, like I said to the press: that coach had it coming.