Tag Archives: blogging

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Pinterest – Love It and Do It Right!

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Everyone loves Pinterest!  One word describes it – beautiful!  The pin’s (photos, images, tutorials, crafts, etc.) are all so gorgeous and inspiring.  You can get easily lost in a time warp with Pinterest (I know that from first hand experience!).  Its one of the fastest growing sites as well as becoming one of the most important tools for driving traffic – if used correctly.  There are also some pitfalls – such as violation of the copyright laws. Sometimes people are unaware of the copyright laws and without realizing it, violate them.

Pinterest, using it correctly

One way to avoid infringing of copyrights is to secure permission from the image owner before pinning it.  Plain and simple – case closed!  Some people may not want an image they posted pinned and Pinterest recently developed some code you can use to prevent pinning of an image.  Meanwhile others love having someone pin their images (and I’m one – see below).  And when you do pin something, always provide a link to the blog or website that the image came from (read below for the correct way).  Always!

I found this blog that explains how to pin correctly with 4 simple tips. Basically, when you pin, find the link where the image is located. Do not give the general url for the blog or website but use the permalink.  For a blog, click on the title of the article containing the image.  That will give you the permalink  showing at the top of the web page and is the link you should use.  In Pinterest, click at the top on “Add”, then paste the permalink.  You will get a dialog box where you can select the image that you want posted.

When pinning correctly, someone can click on the image pinned  and go to that web page to find out more information about the image pinned.  This way, you are really “sharing the love” of the pin. I have found many interesting blogs and a lot of useful information by clicking through the image.

I want to say that I personally love to have someone share my images on Pinterest, if done correctly with a permalink.

Also, to help protect your images when you are posting an image on your blog or website, place your name and link directly on the image so that it has your identifying information on it in case it “strays”, whether on Pinterest or elsewhere. I recently had one of my images found in Google inages show up on someone else’s’ blog without crediting me (a big blog no-no and a copyright infringement). Someone I know saw it because of my identifying information and contacted me. So protect your images (and put the identifying info where it can’t be easily cropped out by someone unscrupulous, and yes, unfortunately there are some of those people out there)!

Also be aware that Pinterest’s Terms of Service are becoming quite a controversy. I’ve read a lot on the for and against them, mostly against, and personally feel that they need to really make some big changes in them, BIG changes. So you need to weigh the pro’s and con’s when pinning an image.

For more on the benefits of using Pinterest for marketing, here are 56 ways to market your business on Pinterest.

Have fun pinning the correct way!

Phyllis

UPDATE – Flickr has now added coding so that the images on that site cannot be pinned.

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A New Look for my Blog!

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I finally got around to it!  I’ve been wanting to change my blog for forever, but just finding the extra time to just sit down and do it was a deterrent. So today was the day – I started tweaking and finished it. That’s not to say I won’t tweak it some more. To me, the hardest part of any job, no matter how small, is getting started. The rest is easier.

I hope you like my new look!

Phyllis

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Back from The Creative Connection Event – Inspired and Amazed!

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Back from The Creative Connection event held in St. Paul last week, I returned home inspired and amazed (plus exhausted!). Not wanting to miss a minute of it, I attended everything from early morning until late at night and then met friends to talk even later (meeting in our PJ’s with a glass of wine in hand). Everyone I spoke with was just as thrilled with the events. Women attended from all 50 states plus 6 countries. I talked with a talented artist from Slovakia and a woman from Melbourne Australia. Both visited the US just to attend TCC.

After checking in, I was delighted to see the view from my window of  the Mississippi River across the street. I meant to walk over to it, but there wasn’t a spare minute to leave the hotel.

Mississippi River view from my hotel in St. Paul

The 3 days of the event were filled with panels, speakers, classes, and social activities.  I have so much to write about, I am going to present my coverage in two parts – BlogHer with technology and then the creative part with classes and much more.

The first day of TCC was sponsored by BlogHer Handmade and was focused on technology for blogging and social media. I learned so much from the panels. I thought I had already learned a ton from past conferences/seminars that I have attended, but so much more was presented by BlogHer panels. Please check out the links to the blogs for these talented women.

BlogHer Panel presenters

The panelists from the first panel I attended are from left to right Marie LeBaron (Makes and Takes), Mena Trot (Sew Weekly),  Corinne Leigh (previously on ThreadBanger) and Megan Jordan (Velveteen Mind).

It was tricky taking pictures with all the various lighting types in the hotel so the photo for another panel did not turn out. The presenters were fabulous – Alicia DiRago (Dismount Creative), Anne Kuo Lukito (Crafty Diversions), Megan Auman (CraftMBA) and Tara Gentile.

BlogHer founders in panel discussion

Two of the 3 founders of BlogHer were the panel for the Keynote luncheon Friday. Elisa Camahort Page (right) and Jory Des Jardins (center) told of founding BlogHer.  Nancy Soriano (left) led the panel discussion. The third founder, Lisa Stone, was unable to attend.

It was interesting to hear each of these women tell of how they started their businesses as well as the technology they presented.

A group of fiends at a panel discussion

Here I am with friends at a table during one of the panel discussions Karen Embry, myself, Brenda Pinnick and Eileen Hull.

The Creative Connection event was co-founded by Jo Packham, editor of Where Women Create and Where Women Cook and Nancy Soriano.  I extend a huge thanks to them for their starting this event!

Check back for part 2 of The Creative Connection of classes, author signings and more. The classes were fun – I love to work in a new direction or medium than I am accustomed to.

Phyllis