Check out this terrific business blog that I came across - Pam Hawk.com

First of all, I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas yesterday (that is if you celebrate the holiday; otherwise, I hope that you had a wonderful day in general). I was not on the computer at all yesterday which is quite a big deal for me since I usually spend at least some time every day on the computer for my felting business or my teaching job. When I logged in today to check things, I noticed that I had a bunch of Project Wonderful ads to go through for approval. I actually do check every site that submits a bid to advertise on my blog. I like to know exactly what I'm approving to be represented here.

As I was checking bid sites on Project Wonderful a little while ago, I came across a great business blog at PamHawk.com which covers a wide variety of topics from how to add a little bling to your blog layout to how to host a great blog giveaway contest. I, of course, approved this site for advertising, but it appears that it was outbid so I thought that I'd tell you about it myself. When you have a chance, I recommend that you visit PamHawk.com for some great blogging and business tips. I've only had the time to read through a few of the post headings so far, but I'm sure that I'll be back to finish browsing. The blog has some very interesting topics and helpful information.

Handmade Artists and Crafters, do you have your own website? Here's some handy dandy internet tools for search engine optimization and etc.

Hey artists and crafters out there, do you have your own website? I know that there are a lot of Etsy sellers that just use their Etsy shop as their website, but I'm talking about your very own registered domain name (a .com or .net address). I personally like having my own website outside of my Etsy shop and blog. I feel like it is very helpful for integrating all of my online venues and providing information and resources that don't belong elsewhere. I admit that I'm not that web design savvy, but I did manage to build my own site, and I'm constantly looking for little ways to improve it. For instance, I spent some of this morning updating my meta tags which I'll probably be updating again. I thought that I'd pass along some useful links in analyzing and improving your personal websites. Some of these tools also work on your Etsy shop and blogs. If you have a great online tool to share that will help improve our websites, shops, and/or blogs, please leave a short description and link to the tool in a comment. Also, if you'd just like to share your personal website link, I'd like to see those as well.

RESOURCE LIST

Page Rank Tool
http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

Meta Tag Analyzer
http://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html

Link Popularity Check
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop

Backlink Checker
http://www.iwebtool.com/backlink_checker

An Explanation of How Search Engines Work
http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/keyword-basics-part-1-how-search-engines-work

Improving Search Engine Results: Using Meta Tags
http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/chap15.shtml

Major Search Engines and Directories
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156221

A List of Search Engine Submission Pages
http://www.freewebsubmission.com

Don't miss out! Sign up for my newsletter today!

The first edition of my new monthly email newsletter will be sent tomorrow. I was going to wait until September to send out my first one, but I've had several newsletter sign ups so far, and I didn't see a good reason to wait any longer for my first edition. If you haven't signed up yet, please visit the sign up page on my main website. You just need to submit a first name and email address. Then you'll receive a confirmation email to validate your subscription. I promise not to spam you with relentless promotional emails. I will only be sending a once monthly email newsletter at the beginning of the month along with the occasional update email in between newsletters. (Also, if you've already signed up for my blog feed, the newsletter subscription is a different sign up so please be sure to sign up for it as well.)

What you can look forward to in tomorrow's newsletter...........

• a sneak peak of my new Fall/Winter line of fashion accessories
• a terrific shop promotional discount for newsletter subscribers only
• a very helpful marketing tip for all of you indie business owners out there
  

and much more................

If you happen to miss out on my first edition newsletter tomorrow, the second edition will be coming at the beginning of September.

**The image is a screen shot of the heading of my new email newsletter.

UPDATE: My first edition (August) newsletter was sent via email at 11 a.m. CST on August 1st. If you signed up too late for my first newsletter, please be expecting my September edition. Also, if you signed up for my newsletter just a bit too late, but you're just dying to see the August edition. Email me, and I'll forward it to you :)