Today I am sharing a Handmade Card Ideas Shark Frenzy Bundle Idea. If you would like to purchase any supplies used today they can be found in my online store here: Shop Now.
I decided to use a whole array of colours today. These are the main ones:
The Shark Frenzy is a definite one for your stash!
I’d love for you to pop over to my YouTube Channel and give me a little subscribe, a thumbs up, a comment and don’t forget to hit that bell to be notified of future video tutorials. Simply click on the web address below.
Looking for a hard copy of our new Mini Catalogue – why not Contact me for a free copy. I hope that you enjoyed this blog post and can take something away from today to try at home.
WHAT IF BEING CREATIVE WAS YOUR JOB? OH, WAIT! IT CAN BE!
Begin your Stampin’ Up! business by getting additional supplies to help you have a successful first event. The Starter Kit is already a fantastic way for new Stampin’ Up! demonstrators to get loads of products at a huge value (for £99, choose £130 worth of products).
Today I am sharing a Shark Frenzy Bundle Scrapbook Album Idea. If you would like to purchase any supplies used today they can be found in my online store here: Shop Now.
I decided to use a whole array of colours today. These are the main ones:
The Shark Frenzy is a definite one for your stash!
I’d love for you to pop over to my YouTube Channel and give me a little subscribe, a thumbs up, a comment and don’t forget to hit that bell to be notified of future video tutorials. Simply click on the web address below.
Looking for a hard copy of our new Mini Catalogue – why not Contact me for a free copy. I hope that you enjoyed this blog post and can take something away from today to try at home.
My page is 8″ x 8″ in size, with matt layers reducing by an eighth of an inch or two each layer.
I started by using some of the die cut negative circle pieces as a stencil adding various colours on the background. All die cuts were prepped before hand so it was just a case of playing around with placement.
WHAT IF BEING CREATIVE WAS YOUR JOB? OH, WAIT! IT CAN BE!
Begin your Stampin’ Up! business by getting additional supplies to help you have a successful first event. The Starter Kit is already a fantastic way for new Stampin’ Up! demonstrators to get loads of products at a huge value (for £99, choose £130 worth of products).
Today I am sharing q question – Is this my new found love of Scrapbooking? I may agree and yes! Using the Forever & Always alongside the A Touch of Ink Stamp Sets to create this wonderful memory page. If you would like to purchase any supplies used today they can be found in my online store here: Shop Now.
I decided to use a whole array of colours today. These are the main ones
I’d love for you to pop over to my YouTube Channel and give me a little subscribe, a thumbs up, a comment and don’t forget to hit that bell to be notified of future video tutorials. Simply click on the web address below.
Looking for a hard copy of our new Mini Catalogue – why not Contact me for a free copy. I hope that you enjoyed this blog post and can take something away from today to try at home.
My page is 8″ x 8″ in size, with matt layers reducing by an eighth of an inch or two each layer.
WHAT IF BEING CREATIVE WAS YOUR JOB? OH, WAIT! IT CAN BE!
Begin your Stampin’ Up! business by getting additional supplies to help you have a successful first event. The Starter Kit is already a fantastic way for new Stampin’ Up! demonstrators to get loads of products at a huge value (for £99, choose £130 worth of products).
Today I am sharing my first Scrapbook Page Creation, A tribute to one of my best friends using Corner Bouquet and Brushed Blooms Stamp Sets. If you would like to purchase any supplies used today they can be found in my online store here: Shop Now.
I’d love for you to pop over to my YouTube Channel and give me a little subscribe, a thumbs up, a comment and don’t forget to hit that bell to be notified of future video tutorials. Simply click on the web address below.
Looking for a hard copy of our new Mini Catalogue – why not Contact me for a free copy. I hope that you enjoyed this blog post and can take something away from today to try at home.
My page is 8″ x 8″ in size, with matt layers reducing by an eighth of an inch or two each layer.
WHAT IF BEING CREATIVE WAS YOUR JOB? OH, WAIT! IT CAN BE!
Begin your Stampin’ Up! business by getting additional supplies to help you have a successful first event. The Starter Kit is already a fantastic way for new Stampin’ Up! demonstrators to get loads of products at a huge value (for £99, choose £130 worth of products).
Welcome to the final episode in this seven part step by step series of card making for beginners – Join me for live chat during YouTube premiere
Thank you for visiting the blog today this is the last in the card making for beginners series. In this episode we are looking at all the social media options for promoting your hobby or business. All of the content of this blog are my views based on personal experience only. However, I hope that the information is of some use to you. I’d love your feedback on the whole series if you have a spare moment to Contact Me and let me know thank you.
Hi everyone thanks for joining me at week seven, the last episode of this mini-series, cardmaking for beginners. Before you read on, please be reminded the previous 6 YouTube videos are linked below just in case you wish to revisit any, or have missed one or two.
We are going to look at working online – websites, social media platforms and YouTube. This blog contains information on my personal experience and opinions but not everyone will use all of these platforms but I’d like to talk to you about how I use them and give tips and tricks where I can.
Please
note that I have linked some further information within this blog to external
sites such as Facebook, etc. I am not responsible for these external links so
please do, as you should whilst online, be careful.
The main
most popular starting point is:
Facebook
Business Page (and Groups)
It is
really easy to make a business Facebook page. The benefits of having a
business page is that you can invite friends to like your page and also people
you don’t know can choose to like your page.
You can
share posts, photographs, and links to your website. You can add a shop now
button that would take the visitor to your online store. For me, my customers
are redirected to my Stampin’ Up! Shop page which is great.
Customers
can contact you via direct messaging to ask questions too. You are able to
advise people of your business description, contact details, opening hours and
can even add products. The option to add “special offers” is there
too.
Customers
are also able to leave you a review via your business page which is good for
any new people visiting your page and great for your reputation – provided you
have a good one lol!
You also
have the option to feature a post on “your story” that will appear at
the top of your profile when visitors view your page.
Facebook
Features
Some of
the features on Facebook that I enjoy are: I can schedule my posts up to
8 or 10 weeks ahead, specially good if you want to schedule a post, say on
Valentine’s Day, etc.; I can also create events for my craft classes and
workshops; I can create a post with a poll on it to gain followers views; I
can
Another
good feature is the Community section. Here you can create…..
Facebook
Groups
I use Facebook
groups for the following reasons:
A specific group page for customers and crafty
friends where we have weekly challenges, share our projects and generally
inspire each other. I also share any offers or events coming up in this
group before posting to my main page. My group is called the “crafty
stamping club”.
I also have a groups especially for my team of demonstrators. This is a private secret group that only my team have access too.
One tip I
would suggest, that I learned from my upline, is that your business page is for
exactly that…. business posts, don’t be tempted to share crafty makes, speak
to friends on it etc., and keep that within your group.
Now, this
is a relatively sore point for me at present (as I am currently going through
swapping my website over to a cheaper, better option).
WordPress
coding is used by around 30% of the overall worldwide market, and it is getting
more popular.
For the
past year I have used a site through WordPress dot com not realising that it
was a separate entity to WordPress dot org which meant that whilst I could
develop a website easy, and do blogging and sharing my business – because I
want more now, and want to analyse it more – I can’t, unless I pay up to £200
to upgrade to a business site. Now – one good thing was, if you are new to
website blogging, this option is more than suffice. Quick to use, easy to
learn.
Low and
behold, I finally found a cheaper annual hosting company who use WordPress
coding and they are currently migrating my site over to their servers. I
will need to rebuild the whole theme of my site (that’s the layout for those
who don’t know what a theme is) and this could take me a good few weeks.
I’m working with them to ensure I don’t lose my actual content such as my
years’ worth of blog posts and media files….. So I’m still pretty nerve
wracked at the minute – knowing that I’ve got lots of work to do…. it will be
worth it.
Moral of
the story…. go with your capabilities, choose what’s easiest and will work
best for you. I learn very quickly in terms of programs, etc. so I am always
pushing for more…
To learn
more about WordPress Websites please see this link (external link) WordPress.org
With most
blogs you can schedule your posts, you can set them to share automatically to
your social media channels (mainly Facebook and Twitter on a basic package).
In a
website you create a menu with all of the options to link to other pages which describe
other parts of your business such as: about me; shop; blog; contact me; gallery
etc. etc. You don’t want too many menus for people to choose from – keep it
simple.
The main
thing is start simple, learn the programme, get a feel for it and don’t do too
much and risk breaking your website lol.
Top Tip keep
your content fresh and up to date, people (and Google) likes new content and
this can help improve where you sit on that search list on google.
Instagram
Instagram
is an affiliate programme of Facebook and the two can link together for ease of
use via settings “linked accounts”
In both
programmes you can create a post and automatically share it with the other one
and vice versa. It’s good.
The only
difference really between the two is that Instagram is more of a visual
platform – people use it to view actual photographs and pictures.
With Instagram,
people can follow you and you can follow them. There is also a messaging
section to make direct contact with people.
Instagram
uses hashtags for search purposes so it is important to add four or five
hash-tagged key words when posting. My key words are #stampinup #cardmaking
#handmade #stamping #stampinupdemo amongst a few other ones specific to the
photo I am sharing i.e. the product for instance #designerseriespaper or
#giftcard
Have a
look at other Instagram accounts and see how they are posting. There is no
right or wrong way but there is always a better way 🙂 thus increasing your
followers.
Instagram
Features
Set up to
auto share to Facebook and Twitter accounts (see twitter below). You also have
the option to feature a post on “your story” that will appear at the
top of your profile when visitors view your page.
You can
not only post photos (up to 10 in one post I’m sure) but you can also post
short videos under 1minute long i.e. 59mins 59 secs max. There is an option to
share bigger videos via Instagram TV feature but I don’t use this at present.
Restrictions
You
aren’t able to type in direct clickable links to your other pages i.e. your
website. Followers, if they want to will simply copy and paste the link that
you type in – they can’t click on it in the actual post and be redirected to
another page – a bit frustrating but we can’t all be perfect right? You
can however, add a clickable link to your website in your Instagram description
which shows at the top of your profile. Always make reference to where you want
the viewer to go next within your post, and let them know how to get there
“copy and paste link detailed below” or “link in
description”.
You can
reference Instagram’s official page for more information on creating a business
page account via this link (external): A guide to Instagram business account
Pinterest
Pinterest
works by you creating a post and “pinning” it to a particular board.
What is a
board?
You can
create boards on your page that you can upload specific projects to for
instance:
handmade cards
DIY and crafts
kindness quotes
hair styles
You would
create a post and pin it to your board, most of us have many many boards, it
won’t take your page long to be the same too lol.
When you
create a post, you post a picture, a title, a description and a link back to
your website or online shop. People will see your post whilst searching
for a particular topic that is why when titling your post, make it specific to
your product. What I do for instance is Handmade card using To a Wild
Rose Stampset by Stampin’ Up!
So people
looking for a) handmade card b) wild rose stampset or c) Stampin’ up! are more
likely to see your pin. The more people who see it and interact on it by
clicking or zooming in, the more other people will see it and so on and so
forth. People can also save your pin to their own boards, thus increasing the
reach of your post, yet again.
The only
downside I feel is that you manually have to share your initial post to other
boards that you want it duplicated on, that’s okay if it’s okay two for
instance, but I share among 9 or 12 other boards, some of which are other
people’s (to have this functionality they need to add you as a collaborator to
their board, likewise you can add people to your boards).
Twitter
Twitter
is similar to Instagram in terms of hashtags used for search terms but it is a faster
paced platform. What I mean is I feel it is more focused on the news right now,
at that right point, and before you know it, there’s another piece of news
that’s taken over so that first news is now old….. It’s fast paced let’s say.
You can follow and have people follow your page just like Instagram, but more
news related than photo related. I’m not keen on it to be honest.
If you
are going to do twitter, you need to commit yourself to making sure everything
is as up to date in your post as possible to get best possible reach.
LinkedIn
This is
more of a personal employment history profile app where you can share job opportunism
and share your employment profile and history. I do have one but I use it to
manage my day-job company profile. That’s a new to do item on there for
me – add “Smith’s Crafty Creations” to LinkedIn as a business!
Online
Selling Platforms and Shops
This I am
not familiar with but do know of some platforms such as eBay, etsy, etc. If you
are going down this route remember it may cost you a monthly fee. Research
carefully before you sign up. AND please make sure you aren’t paying more
in fees that you get back for your goods sold, you would be on to a no-winner
🙁 Been there, done that!
I use Stampin’
Up! Demonstrator Business Web Site which I have a paid subscription to – great investment
in my business for sure. On that note, any new people joining as a
demonstrator with Stampin’ Up! wishing to subscribe to the DWBS will get two
months absolutely free – and if you change your mind, no harm done, but I would
recommend it in a business sense.
Then
people often move on to creating a YouTube channel to provide tutorials and
vlogs, particularly if they are demonstrating or selling for a company – I
always wanted to…. so I did.
YouTube
Channel
You can create a FREE channel on YouTube – awesome. Use your business name if you wish. Post videos and direct links to products used and other social media platforms and a link to your shop. You can then share direct link to other platforms and share your videos even further.
People
can subscribe to your channel, they can thumbs up, thumbs down and comment (you
can comment too).
You can
set videos to be published at a later date, you can post private videos that
aren’t visible to public (but you may need to view them), and you can do
unlisted which is only those who you share link with, will be able to view the
video. Great.
A great
bonus of scheduled posts is that you can set the post as “premiere”
at the same time. What premiere does is it lets you have live chat during the
broadcast of your pre-recorded video. A great way to increase views and
interact with clients.
Channel
Features
For those
will 1000+ subscribers you can do live videos with your audience. You can also
post general notification messages on your page – say a quick update stating
“live in one hour” for instance. You can also start monetizing
your views – Something I don’t do as yet.
Restrictions
for those under 1000 subscribers
You
cannot have the aforementioned features 🙁 I’m almost at 700 and growing
so soon my friends, soon……..
Recording
Equipment
I use my
phone to record tutorials, and it is held in a desk clamp that has a flexible
arm. I attach mine to a shelf on my desk so this works well for me. I also have
two led lights, one at each side of my video area, to ensure the best light
possible. All of this equipment (minus the phone) can be picked up really
cheap to get you started.
You can
upload to YouTube directly from your mobile phone, simply open up your YouTube
app and upload video simples! Make sure you record in landscape mode as this is
best viewing laying.
Editing
Software
If you
want to fancy up your videos using software, free versions of video editing
software are available online if they aren’t already available on your MacBook,
laptop or pc. With any free programme you will be limited in its use and
will most likely be prompted to upgrade to pro version.
Creating
Your Channel
Easy, go
to create new channel and follow the instructions.
Social
Media Scheduling
Due to
the vast volume of posts and projects that I post online I have invested in an
online social media planner. This allows me to post to all my channels in one
app – I don’t have to go in and out of every social platform that I use – this
does cost me money. There are free versions, but again are limited to use i.e.
5 free posts per month before they ask you to upgrade.
Don’t
forget…
Not
everyone uses the internet… if you are aiming to sell your products you need
to make sure you do not forget about the potential customers out there who are
not on social media, etc.
That’s
why I have weekly face to face contact with customers and friends via my weekly
craft class.
Distributing
flyers via your local school, church group, etc. is a great and free way to
market your business to those not on the internet. Business cards are great too
– give one out when you can – you never know, they may give your business at a
later date.
Summary
In
summary, keep your pages up to date and with fresh content. It is best to use
your own photographs where possible and your own written pieces (blogs) as
these are your own copyrighted content.
Regular
consistent posting will get you more followers / likers / subscribers. Most
people like routine for instance, my simple stamping series on a Saturday, etc.
etc. They will get used to seeing the regularity of a particular thing /
or tutorial and will actively look out for it…. if it’s not there – people
will get bored and look elsewhere.
Make sure
you regularly share your posts, pages, videos and keep that audience ever
growing
I hope
that this is of some use to you, like I said this is based on my own personal
experience and is my own personal opinion.
So what
are you going to do now in relation to your new craft business?
Thinking
about joining Stampin’ Up!?
If you
are thinking about joining Stampin’ Up! and going down the same small business
venture I have what I recommend is.
that you research the demonstrator teams out there and join the team of someone you connect with, whether this is due to you following their journey online, knowing them personally, living close to them or just because you feel it’s right.
that you are able to set time aside each day or each week to grow and develop your business, you can work as little or as often as you are able – we all have our own pace and that’s absolutely fine. How cool is it that whilst working on your business, you can continue to do what you love and that is to craft!
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