Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Recap of Greenjeans' Talk on Blogging at ACC Baltimore

On the morning of February 20, 2008, I gave a talk at the American Craft Council's American Craft Show in Baltimore, MD. Titled "Crafting Your Online Presence," my talk addressed craft makers, craft retailers, and others about how blogging can help you with marketing and how blogs are developing and expanding the craft community.

Here I offer some of the content of my talk. I cannot reiterate everything, but hopefully there will be useful information here for you.

You will find links to each blog I mentioned in order of its appearance in my talk. You will also find a version of my Powerpoint presentation, complete with do's and don'ts and other info, that you may view directly here within this post. (I discovered Slideshare while preparing this post by googling "how to put powerpoint into blogger." I love the internet!)

My talk was one of several given by different presenters during the craft show. On the previous day, artist's advisor Nicole Carroll gave a wonderful fresh take on the finer points of selling, offering useful suggestions for improving your sales technique through listening and building a relationship with the customer. (I'll find out if a handout from her talk is available and if so I'll try to post it.)

Please feel free to leave a comment here if you have any questions or if I've overlooked something important, and I'd be happy to address it. Thanks for your interest, and happy blogging!




Blogs Cited:

Greenjeans Blog
Bloesem
Wish Jar
Rare Device Blog
20 x 200
Cai Lun
Davistudio
Karin Birch Fiber Art
Inside a Black Apple
Kitty Genius
Simple Sparrow
Craft Magazine Blog
Whip Up
The Storque (Etsy's blog)
Handmade Nation
Craft Research

Furniture Society After Hours
Extreme Craft
Crafty Synergy
Smosch
Door Sixteen
Design Sponge
Oh Joy!
Modish
Poppy Talk
Apartment Therapy

Also mentioned in the original talk:
Five and a Half
Hear, Hear

Many bloggers list their favorite blogs in the margin of their blog, providing a great way to discover new blogs. You'll find my favorites listed on the right-hand side of my blog.


Other useful links:


Etsy video tutorial on improving your product pictures

Sign up for an RSS reader (like Google Reader or Bloglines)

Recap of the first talk I gave on blogging and craft at the ACC library in September 2007. You may find more useful resources and tips there.



Again, let me know if you have questions or if I've missed something, and thanks for reading!


Posted and slide show by Amy Shaw, Greenjeans.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Amy
I was at your seminar at ACC. You give me hope that I can start a blog! Bought Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts at your suggestion. Great insight. Thanks for everything.
Karen Hohler
Whippoorwill
Boston
www.whippoorwillcrafts.com

Anonymous said...

Hi! Your talk at ACC was outstanding! I registered a blog in 2006 after being told by many people in the know it was the thing to do. I made 1 entry! Well now I've made several postings and have many many ideas on how I can use it to promote my work and the work of the other artists we carry. I realize now after listening to your talk that having a blog in addition to my website is a necessity.
Thank you
Janet Francoeur
Carolina Creations
New Bern, NC
www.carolinacreations.blogspot.com
www.carolinacreations.com