use Utterz to be Herd

Have you ever wanted to do podcasting, but the thought of the hardware & software is overwhelming? Here’s the perfect thing for you!

Utterz is a new tool that easily lets you put voice messages on your blog or site.

Here’s my Utter for you:

Do you like it? Now if I can do that, so can you! Remember that Heidi is the technical person!

This is SO easy!

Go to Utterz.com and register.

Then on your cell phone, dial 712-432-6666  (Mooo – cute, huh?)

• Follow the prompts & record your message.
• If you don’t like it, rerecord it.  Save it.
• Go to their website & click on ‘My Utterz’.
• Use one of the choices below:
• In Live Writer I’m using the last one ‘Embed the Player’

It’s THAT easy! Give it a try & link us to yours. I’d love to hear what your Utterz!

And what creative ways can you use this? You can put this on blogs, in Facebook, anywhere that you can embed HTML code.

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Facebook & Kaboodle Intersect!

I see that Kaboodle has a Facebook application available & some of you have found it! It looks really slick. Here’s what it looks like & what it can do for you.

My suggestion to designers & store owners would be to create an account in Kaboodle & add your items to that. Then you maybe don’t need to upload the items into Facebook. You can add the Kaboodle app & have them on your homepage in Facebook automatically & easily accessible. From there you could encourage people to explore them by creating games, offering coupons, RAK’ing etc. Encouraging people to add them to their lists will be important because then others will see them in Facebook. The beauty in it is that people can shop directly from Facebook.

Here’s what the app. looks like on the profile page. (Thanks to Vicky Shaw who’s profile I used)

Clicking on View All shows the items along with the description.

Here you can:

Clicking on the image takes you to a nice large image. This is what I like about Facebook. It shows larger images than Kaboodle or most stores which really makes the item for sale appealing!

On this item view you can

• add it to your list
• shop for it by linking to the store
• see related items

It looks like fun! Let us know how you’re using this new connection between Facebook & Kaboodle?

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Cleaning up your Facebook Profile

Is it a mess? Are there applications everywhere? Is your right column really long requiring the visitor to scroll? Have you succumbed to Facebook addiction & you’re ready to take control again? (well at least of the appearance! we won’t go into time management here ).

Here are some tips for getting your profile under control.

• Delete app’s that don’t have any value for you (even if your best friend sent them).
• Most of the things in your profile can be collapsed or minimized by clicking on the arrow.

• Move items around to bring the most important ones to the top for priority in viewing
• Move items to left column to equalize the space.

There are 2 ways to move panes:

1. Click on anything & drag it to a new position. Items can be moved into the left column this way which shortens the length of the page considerably. (The mini feed is static).

2. To right of Applications click on ‘edit’
Rearrange app’s using arrow icons on left.

Tip I just figured out tonite:
To reduce items in the mini feed -
Under Privacy tab – News Feed and Mini-Feed Privacy
(I unselected many there which should clean up that area). It also allows you to leave a group in stealth mode!

Have you found ways to simplify your profile? Do share, please!

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Party time at Facebook!

Less than a month ago I started a series about Facebook. And in browsing around there tonite, I see that the digiscrappers have quite a party going on over there!

Do you ever get a funny feeling when someone asks you a question? Well, yesterday Heidi asked me where all her new friends were coming from. I never did it! *looking around innocently* Instead, I asked her, how many? and she said 15… umm I think they want to be your friends, Heidi! I never did anything. *still innocent here*

So I need to put something constructive here, then we’ll go back to the partying. I do have some serious thoughts for you. Mish Gasser asked me this:

Hi Connie,
I am wondering if you have had any feedback from designers who have tried this method. I added a product to the marketplace just now, promoting it in my network from my hometown. Do you believe this is a valuable thing to do? I’d be interested in your opinion.
Thanks!
Mish

And I’ve been so busy this week, I haven’t had time to reply. But tonite I came across the answer. Do you read your Home page & keep up to what your friends are doing? I try to browse it ummm what should I admit to? a few times a day, lets say, because it doesn’t archive. So today I saw that Traci Reed had posted a comment about a coupon in Marketplace. The power of the Home page is that it collects all the updates of all of your friends, so you don’t have to visit each of their pages! I have our blog feeding into my notes, so you should be getting that update every time we post here & you can click back to read here. I can tell how to set it up if you’d like.

I saw that Traci had posted this:

Exclusive Coupon on all my products for Facebook users through the month of September because I’m so happy you’re all my friends!! You can find my marketplace listing

So how to find her coupon? Go on the left & click on Marketplace. Click on My Friends’ Listings:

Now you’ll see that Traci has put in 3 products, a coupon code for FACEBOOK friends! (Traci WANTS friends! ok, *maybe not so innocent here*) and a link to her store. Absolutely brilliant Traci! We all thank you! Especially me in that I didn’t have to figure it out myself. Mish asked about using her regional network. I think you may not want to limit it like that. But experiment with it & let us know!

So I really have to talk about Traci’s profile. WOWSERS! that girl’s having a PARTY! On the left side of her profile I saw our blog post there. She’s using the Blog Friends app & I really like it. You can put in topics & friends & it will pull in their posts. I saw my friend, Krista Mettler & popped over to read her blog post, I’m addicted to Facebook. How could that happen I ask myself? *looking innocently around again*. Krista’s post is fun! pop on over & read it. Maybe we should all do a meme (list of things with a meaning) about the Facebook groups we belong to?

So should you join Facebook? That’s up to you. Maybe you need to go throw a cow?! If you do, feel free to add me as a friend. But I’m totally innocent! How are you having fun over at Facebook? You can tell me there too. I’m trying to get out and answer more questions & write on walls.

Update: I forgot to mention that Lie Fhung did a creative thing by sending out a message to her friends in Facebook with a hint about where she hid a coupon (hint – go join the Ztampfans group!). So that’s a fun way too.

You can see another creative ex by Tracy Lykins of Retrodiva Designs is doing a challenge in her Facebook group.  Her group has 234 members! Rock on Tracy!

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Windows Liver Writer Updated for Blogger

The power of blogging is so amazing to me. Heidi & I are enjoying our blog’s ability to teach & share information. The feedback from our readers is fabulous & motivates us to provide more! So I’m really excited to share some news that I received today. The significance is that as blog readers you can make a difference!

Remember when I blogged about Windows Live Writer & everyone agreed it was THE BEST blogging tool?!! Well, some people asked me for help with troubleshooting & some of you provided your comments. I posted a culmination of that information, which was noticed by Sean O’Driscoll, GM of Marketing from Microsoft. He forwarded it to the development team.

Today I received a personal note at Facebook from Joe Cheng, a Microsoft software developer on the Live Writer team saying:

Hi Connie, I wanted to let you know that Beta 3 of Windows Live Writer was released yesterday. Two things I want to make sure you’re aware of. 1) Images can now be automatically uploaded with Blogger blogs, via Google’s Picasa service. I know a lot of scrapbookers are on Blogger and have been waiting for this. 2) Beta 2 and earlier made screenshots pretty blurry; I noticed you have a lot of screenshots on your blog lately.
As always, let me know if you have any questions/comments! Thanks!

Isn’t it nice that Microsoft is worried about scrapbookers and takes the time to send a personal note to us?!! especially scrapbookers using Blogger?!!! like my techie friend Hummie! And I can’t wait to see the improvement on the screenshots. Heidi & I enjoy throwing up tutorials here quickly in Live Writer. It’s a great tool. I also compose our newsletters in Live Writer and copy/paste into the software because Word kind of mungles it. So a big thanks to Joe & your team!

What are you waiting for? go get the 3rd beta of Window Live Writer! Here are the new features:

So dear readers, give it a whirl & let us know how it goes! Microsoft is paying attention & looking forward to your feedback. That’s pretty exciting, don’t you agree?

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Routinely visiting Facebook & turn off the email notifications

Many of us are using Facebook now. Every once in awhile someone says, “so I’m here, now what do I do?”

Since time is at a premium, I’ll share my system for how I routinely ‘read’ Facebook.

My profile is bookmarked in my daily reading group in Firefox’s tabbed browsing. (are you using that yet? People agreed that it’s a MUST have!)

That opens to my profile in Facebook in a tab:

• Im my Inbox on top has a number on it, I read the messages first.
• I scroll down to check my wall posts.
• Then I click on home (top right)
  • Requests are on right – Add friends is on top if there are any
  • I tend to ignore the app’s & periodically go down & take action on them, but it’s infrequent. Facebook shouldn’t rule your time.
  • Then I skim the News Feeds & see what my friends are up to. If I see people joining a group, I go check it out & ponder joining

• If I have time, I click on Groups on left
  • • by scaning the right column, I can see changes highlighted
      • It’s a good reminder to visit my ACDSee group!
      • If you have a group, please keep tabs on it.

So if you have a system like that, then you can turn off the email notifications. There isn’t much information in them & sometimes they’re delayed. Here’s how to disable them:

Click on Account | Notifications

Turn off as many as you’d like. Note – I did leave the notification on for “Replies to my discussion board post” because I comment in so many places & like to know when people respond so that I can continue the conversation in a timely manner.

One last Facebook tip: When you want to message a particular friend, rather than surfing thru their photos, click on Friends & type in part of their name in the search box on the right. That will bring up their photo & the option to message them. It’s so much quicker!

How do you ‘read’ at Facebook? Is there a faster way?

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Digiscrapping Groups are Growing on Facebook!

I was just browsing over at Facebook & it’s exciting to see how the number of digiscrapping groups at Facebook had increased! I’ve also received some emails from groups about new products available & most recently a Creative Team call. I’m trying to join each group to keep up with how you’re using this quickly growing space. Feel free to add me as a friend. Then you can browse my list of friends and I’m sure you’ll find some people that you know!

Are you enjoying it there? I’m getting requests to add applications (like 45 now), so many must be playing with them. It’s kind of addictive. The Facebook mail is nice. Announce it in your forum & link to my post on how to get started, so more of your members can join in. Maybe they’re already members there? I’ll be posting some tips soon on using Facebook on a regular basis.

Here’s an updated list of digiscrapping groups:

• ACDSee
• Amys Images
• Butternug Squash Designs
• Dallas Digiscrappers
• Digi S4O – For people who digitally scrapbook for other people.
• Digital Addiction
• Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild
• We love digital scrapbooking at DSAG!
• Digital-Scrapbooking.org
• Digital Scrapping.com
• Digital Scrapbooking (Ottawa, Ontario)
• Gypsy Chick Digital Scrapbook Designs
• Kutnkudlys Kreations
• Launch Pads Fanclub
• Missouri Digital Scrapbookers
• Minnesota Digital Scrapbookers – and area states
• New to Digital Scrapbooking & Paint Shop Pro
• Nuts4Digi
• NW Houston Scrapbooking
• panraven.com
• Photo Walking with Hummie
• Retrodiva Digital Scrapbook Designs
• Scrap Outside the Box
• Scrapbook-Bytes
• ScrapbookGraphics.com
• Scrapbooking Addict
• ScrapGypsies
• Sheila Rushton’s Creative Imagery
• Utah Digiscrappers
• Ztampfans

Magazines & Resource Sites

• Digital Scrapbooking Magazine
• DigiShopTalk.com
• Digital Scrapbook Printing
• Pink Ink by Holly McCaig – Photography

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Building Community

When my sister & I created this site last January, our goal was to offer resources & give back to the community. We hold a strong belief in that. Around March I started blogging about marketing tips, helpful software, blogging tips, etc. That focus has grown to the point where we now offer two options for newsletters. And we have found our focus to be broader than planned but I love exploring & sharing these venues with our readers.

Yesterday when I was at Facebook, I noticed a new site, Web Community Forum was launched on the weekend. In browsing it, this list made my heart stop. My name links back to this site:

Here’s some background info on some of those listed:

• Brian Solis is Principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning PR agency in Silicon Valley.
• Charlene Li works with Forrester Research, and Jeremiah Owyang has accepted a position there.
• Robert Scoble is a prolific blogger on tech related items. He reads over 700 blogs a day!

I’m truly honored to be listed as a Voice amongst those great ones! Teresa posted about my Facebook Series today. A huge thank you to the folks behind Web Community Forum! I hope that all of you realize what a voice your blogs are in celebrating your passion for recording memories of your family’s lives & your work if you’re a designer.

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Web Strategy … wikis, social networking, etc

A shoutout goes to Christine Smith, another Minnesota gal & owner of Scrapquick Designs. Way to go girl! She is realizing the power of building community & I see her moving around doing a great job. Those efforts will gain her far more exposure than traditional advertising. You have to read her blog post from Aug 25th. She was promoting the DigitalScrap Wiki. She is encouraging people to join her in building up the wiki as a community resource. She said:

The reason I am jumping on this bandwagon is that I am moving my design and promotion efforts AWAY from large sites and toward open resources that are mostly free from the constraints of the desires of site owners and advertisers. Even a site like DigiShopTalk has posting limits, size limits, forum moderators and a responsibility to its advertisers. That’s all good for certain reasons but just doesn’t serve the needs of everyone. So I like the DigitalScrapWiki because it is formed through contributions from people who are involved in and interested in digital scrapbooking on all levels from scrappers to hobbyist designers to FT designers and site owners.

So what are open resources? Well, social networks fit the bill. If you’re interested in what Christine is suggesting, it can reduce the amount spent on traditional advertising. (Granted you probably want to find a mix of the two that works for you. Please ask if you have questions on that). And I believe that if you take the time to do some reading here, I’ve provided ideas on ways you can promote your designs in very cost effective ways by building community. Here are some helps from our blog:

• info on wikis
• using social networking for promotion

And this all ties into Web Strategy. I see Christine & many others using the tips that I’ve offered here. You ladies are truly great entrepreneurs! And I enjoy making online tools known & teaching how they can be applicable to digiscrappers & designers. On Friday, Jeremiah O. gave me a huge compliment by referring to me as a Web Strategist. He has devoted so much energy to promoting the importance of communities & utilizing web tools creatively. His focus is on corporations, but I believe it’s applicable to a business of any size. (He quoted my ideas about how Walmart should change their online promotional strategy. What are your thoughts about how the public perceives Walmart? Could it be shifted do you think if a woman were helping them promote?)

Here’s an update on the Facebook groups list – join your friends:

• Scrap Outside the Box
• Scrapbook-Bytes
  
• ACDSee
• Nuts4Digi
• Photo Walking with Hummie
• Butternug Squash Designs
• Ztampfans
• Missouri Digital Scrapbookers
• Minnesota Digital Scrapbookers – and area states
• Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild
• Dallas Digiscrappers
• Digi S4O – For people who digitally scrapbook for other people.
• Launch Pads Fanclub

Sign up for our newsletter if you want to receive a monthly list of our marketing ideas by email.

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Using Kaboodle Creatively

So have you figured out how to use Kaboodle & add items & create lists? If you would like screenshots or instructions please post a comment & I’ll put something together.

I’ve seen questions about how to use Kaboodle creatively. Here are a bunch of ideas.

For Digiscrappers, here are some ideas to maximize Kaboodle:

• Tag items as you add them – add designer name
• Get your lists organized
  • Hollie (Holliewood stores) suggests: … you can have several lists, like digi-shopping, things already bought, stuff for the house, or even inspiration. you can organize those lists into catagories, like my digi list is then arranged by store. its a really super way to catalog your shopping.
• To find new friends
  • Look thru the lists of your friends & add people (it works in Facebook too)
  • Search people for digital scrapbooking
  • Post a link to your Kaboodle profile in your signatures with a note asking people to add you – In Kaboodle, click on ‘My Profile’ tab & use that URL.

  Add me!

• To find new items – read the email that Kaboodle sends of what your friends like
  • Someone suggested: Adding friends is great! That is where I find most of the new items. I read the email they send of what your friends have added. Then you can copy the item to your kaboodle. Ok, I think I may be an addict. LOL
• Keep track of purchases – personally I check what I have in ACDSee 9, but many are making a folder called ‘own it’, ‘recently purchased’ or ‘bought it’.
• Take advantage of sales – if you have your lists by stores, when a store has a sale, then you can quickly decide if you should buy
• lists used for gift giving
  • You can buy a gift card at that store, or contact the owner and have them set up a coupon for you.
  • your lists can help your husbands & others find gifts for you

Ideas for Designers & site owners:

1. What does it mean to be RAK’ed by a designer? Here’s how it works (please leave a comment if you have other ways)

• create your list of items & tag them with designer name
• A designer goes to Kaboodle & does an item search for name of item or designer name
• pm that person to communicate your (random act of kindness) – need to be registered
• To see how easy it is, here’s a search for items by Shabby Princess

2. Games – here are some examples of how people have used Kaboodle

• Can I Kaboodle you? encourage people to put things on their Kaboodle list & show you, then choose a winner
• Scavenger hunt – It’s all in the clues Designers from Plain Digital Wrapper provided clues that correponded to their Kaboodle list but required players to find answers at their store.

• Elemental Scraps Kaboodle Bingo was played in June – does someone have details for us?

• Let us know what ideas you come up with to use Kaboodle to promote your store.

And this is one other thing I noticed. I saw an ad for the LilyPad Shoppe at Kaboodle in the banner. I think it was a google ad? It was very eye catching & well done. Kudos girls!

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