you are advertising to the wrong person

I have been thinking a lot about advertising, and who to advertise to, and how a lot of the world is doing it wrong. You see, I am a member of a website called Etsy, you may have heard of it.  And I see a lot of people on there promoting their items to people who do the same thing they do.  Not that smart.  If you are trying to sell me jewelry that I can just make on my own, I'm just going to make it on my own, not buy yours.  So, who should you be marketing to?

Let's have a look at my favorite magazine collection. 

It is a little magazine called Dwell.  It is about homes, and architecture, and great design.

Now, let's pick one up, a random one, doesn't matter. 

It is the same as a lot of my favorite architecture magazines full of ads at the beginning of it, and sometime, SOMETIMES they have some furniture ads.  They need to make some money, right?  And which ad do we find?

According to a lot of peoples actions, it should have homes, right? Right? RIGHT?

Bam!  A Cadillac! 

 CADILLAC!  Nothing, nothing to do with architecture or homes.  But, that is what is in EVERY architecture magazine.  I am not kidding, go pick one up and look.  Tons of cars, everywhere. And why?  Because architects like cars.  They (supposedly) have money.  They have egos, big egos.  They want to buy the fancy car.  They want to impress people.  They must own that car.

According to a lot of people's logic, you would advertise a car in a car magazine.  But seriously, who is reading that publication?  A guy (or girl, we are not sexist here) who likes cars, who likes to fix them up.  The ideal car for someone reading those magazines is a rundown, or classic car that they can buy and fix up.  No, they are not going to buy the Cadillac.  No way.

So, what does this have to do with you?  Well, chances are, you are advertising to the wrong person.  Please, figure out who your customer is.  Picture your product on someone.  I'll help, let's do some jewelry, not like that is an over saturated category or anything.  How about a nice diamond necklace?

Does it work well on a hillbilly?  Great, find some gun websites, or cowboy message boards, and make friends there.  (Not all cowboys or girls are hillbilly's....)

Does it work well on a teenager?  Great, find some of the teenage messageboards, or get on twitter and youtube, snapchat even.  Get in touch with a teen and see where they hang out online, and market there.

Does it work well on a rich business lady?  Great, find some professional gathering spots.  LinkenIn would be a good place to have a page.

Does it work well on a small child?  Great, find some mommy blogs, or even better, see if you can get some ads on the kids sites, so then the child can beg their mom for it.

Does it work well on a world famous actress?  Great, find some connections.  I have heard that everyone is connected to everyone within 5 people.  Although they are now old news, I know how I can get to the Jonas Brothers in three.  And I'm not talking people who just know each other, but good friends with friends.  See where yours takes you.  I don't have a big need to find the Jonas Brothers, but if I really wanted to, I could.  Who do you really want to get connected to?

Does it work well on a carefree girl who likes what her friends like?  Great, find some amazing Facebook pages.  People love their Facebook, and are devoted to it.  I don't like it myself, and don't have a business one.  But then, I'm not this customer.  This customer also likes Instagram, Vine, and other fast moving social networks.

Does it work well on a trendy girl who everyone looks up to?  Great, find some fashion blogs, some beauty blogs.  Approach then gently, and become their friend, chances are they will start to look at your things, and may even tell their friends.

Does it work well on an old lady in retirement?  Great, find some people to talk to.  No, really, step away from the computer and go talk to people.  The older generation isn't really online, and if they are, they aren't always sure how to use it.  But, if you find a little old lady who likes your stuff, chances are she has some money saved away just wanting to spend it on all of her grandchildren.

So, go and take a real look at who your customer is, then find out where they are located, and promote to them there.  It will work a whole lot better than trying to just sling your name out wherever you get a chance to post it.

I want to know, who is your customer and where is she (or he...)?

Note: I was not paid for any product listed.  I am just passionate.

6 great tips for using twitter

I know that we all enjoy using the latest social media outlet to help promote ourselfs and our wares.  So, I have found some articles that will help us use twitter to the best of our advantage.  Check them out!

1-  First off, the twitter help center who knew that this was actually out there?  So much helpful info on the basics, stuff that a lot of us don't know.

2 & 3-  Now, I know that a great headshot isn't what you always think of when you think of twitter, but this is amazingly important really.  It is important wherever you are online really.  Great headshots
Even better headshots

4-  My favorite tip here is the last one, to clean up who you follow.  I do this regualry, too many people to follow.  However, when I used tweetdeck on my computer since my kindle doesn't have it, I could actually filter and only be bothered by those I wanted.  7 great tips

5-  Great graphics on how to get more out of twitter than you already are.   Get more power

6-  I actually really liked this infographic, and need to study it out to get more out of twitter.  Have yet to truly study it.  Let me know what you think!   Great infographic and research site

how to get more followers for your blog

You may recall a blog I did awhile ago, about how to get more blog comments.  This is along the same lines.

So, I have been visiting a lot of other people's blogs recently.  I use to just visit those who like me, were on blogger.  It was a simpler world I lived in.  But then blogger screwed with us and I lost touch with how I had been doing it.  So recently I have been getting back into it, finding other ways that I like to follow, and still trying to find that one way. 

Well, in the process, I have been attempting to follow blogs that look interesting.  Here lies my problem.  I can't find a way!  So many people have blogs that I can't find a way to follow them. 


Step 1: Put a follow button on your page.
Please, make it a common one.  I have GFC, Networked Blogs, Bloglovin', email, RSS, etc...  You can at least have one right?  I have tons of social networks myself, but when you don't have a link on your blog to follow in someway, I can't follow you. 

Step 2: Make sure I can find it.
Do not hide your follow buttons on the bottom of the page, chances are, I am not scrolling that far anyways.  Do not hide in in some remote location, make it plain and simple.  On the sidebar is great, top of the page, great.  I also think it should be near the top of the page.  Don't make me search for it, I don't want to.  If you want to get more followers, than you should make it easy for people to do so.

Step 3: Make it fit with the design.
I may be a little bad at this, and I am working on it, but I hate blogs that are just thrown together with no order.  Having a good design helps with a lot of things, and being able to find and follow you is one of those.  Maybe even take a little time to create your own buttons.  If you think you aren't a designer, hire someone, or simply google it, I know there are plenty of free things out there, I use some.


So, if we all work together is getting our following up to snuff, chances are your followers will increase.  Good luck to all and I look forward to being able to see your results.

blogging five year plan

5 years is such a long time, yet so short at the same time.  It sounds like such a far time away, yet how have I been out of high school for 10?  That's two 5 years smashed together.  So, where will my blog be?  Ultimately we have two options here, either it will be big and thriving, or dead and abandoned.  

I have given some thought to this, since my blog has morphed over time, and I am sure will continue to as my life continues to morph.  If it grows I may more it to a different location, blogger is great, but I have seen some issues with it.  (Try to leave a comment, is it working today?)  If it gets big enough, I may try some ads.  But not to worry, I wouldn't have big in your face ones, those are just annoying.  

On the other hand, if it is abandoned, then for good reason.  Maybe it just isn't working out for me anymore.  Maybe I get busy with other plans in life.  Maybe I move my focus to other places.  I know that I do have other ideas I would like to try out and see if they work out for me, and if they do I may leave the blog behind.  I have wanted to try to write some books, but we will see. But not to worry, if I do decide to move onto other things an not blog anymore, you will be the first to know.

So, where do you see your blog in 5 years?

Do you want to be featured on my blog with some of these questions?  Go to these interview questions and fill them out, answer as many as you want or do not want to.  I will more than likely edit them down anyways. Then send them to me at thevicagirl, and I will go ahead and post your interview.  I will be intermixing interviews with other posts, so your interview may not appear for a while, do not get upset at this please.

The perfect day

I have thought about my ideal day, or week, a lot.  Being free from having little children, or even a husband, I can do things the way that I want.  I may be crazy, but I have figured out that in a perfect world I would be working, a lot.  I would love to have a full time job letting me work from early in the morning, yes, early like 6, then work into the afternoon, but only four days a week.  Then to work a second job at night and on the weekends.  Then have my late nights available for doing all sorts of internet work, ready to be there for the next day.  Although, now thinking about it, I don't know how I would get the time to find a guy and to convince him into marrying me.

So, what is your ideal day like?


Do you want to be featured on my blog with some of these questions?  Go to these interview questions and fill them out, answer as many as you want or do not want to.  I will more than likely edit them down anyways. Then send them to me at thevicagirl, and I will go ahead and post your interview.  I will be intermixing interviews with other posts, so your interview may not appear for a while, do not get upset at this please.

top 10 blog ideas for bloggers

I know as bloggers we are always on the hunt for new blog ideas.  I have a friend who rarely blogs because she doesn't know what to blog about.  Here is a list I have come up with of 10 things to blog about.  In theory you should be able to do multiple blogs on each idea.  Have fun and happy blogging!

1- Holiday posts, post about how you spent your holiday.
2- Gratitude posts, post what you are thankful for, I have a friend who does this at the end of every blog.
3- New tips you have just learned, share the knowledge.
4- Pictures of what you are doing.  If you have done something fun or new, people like to see.
5- Free graphics, or other downloadable things.  People love free things.
6- Top 10 lists of any kind...
7- Exciting things you have done during the week.  And by exciting, they can be plain, like climbing a tree.  If you are passionate about it, it makes for an interesting blog.
8- Something you recently read about.  Do some reading on other blogs and see what they have to say. Don't just copy, make it your own by using it as a starting off point.
9- Top tweets.  I have a friend who always makes a blog at the end of the month on his most popular tweets. 10- Answer a question, either from someone that asked on your blog, twitter, or an email.  People have questions, find them and answer.   

So, what are 10 blog post ideas for bloggers?


Do you want to be featured on my blog with some of these questions?  Go to these interview questions and fill them out, answer as many as you want or do not want to.  I will more than likely edit them down anyways. Then send them to me at thevicagirl, and I will go ahead and post your interview.  I will be intermixing interviews with other posts, so your interview may not appear for a while, do not get upset at this please.

Why should an Etsy seller blog?

I see a lot of people wonder why they should blog, or what they should put into their blog.  I do not do this as a seller enough I think, well, maybe I do, but...  I think that a good day to day rundown of what you do is very interesting.  The process behind your art.  I know a lot of people who appreciate art appricate how it is made as well.  The spaces that you create in are always fun to see.  The beginning of a project.  The finished work, randomly posted.  Some struggles that you have faced before you came to the finished work.  It is all important, and all very interesting to read about.  Even some things that may not be interesting to you.  Take my day, I am taking a break from my other job and spending the afternoon planning and writing blogs before I go to the gym.  Now, that give you ideas right?  Maybe you are thinking of how nice it would be to take a break.  Or, maybe you are being reminded of how you need to write some blogs.  Or maybe it will encourage you to go to the gym.  I know a guy I follow on twitter posted how many days in a row he had been to the gym and it made me want to go every day he did.  Think about what you would like to read about, and chances are others will want to read about it as well.  In that case, you know what you can blog about.  Do not just make it a 'new items - buy it' blog, those don't get read.  Instead, make it interesting.

So, why should an Etsy sellers blog?

Do you want to be featured on my blog with some of these questions?  Go to these interview questions and fill them out, answer as many as you want or do not want to.  I will more than likely edit them down anyways. Then send them to me at thevicagirl, and I will go ahead and post your interview.  I will be intermixing interviews with other posts, so your interview may not appear for a while, do not get upset at this please.

#Twitter and #Facebook

Social media has changed our lives.  I have yet to decide if it is for the better or not.  Sure, I talk to people and keep in touch with ones that I probably would have lost forever.  But, it has changed so much of how we communicate with people.  I know there have been guys I have tried to write to that completely comes off wrong because half of how we talk is in body langauge, tone of voice, and facial expressions.  For that reason, I am not a huge fan of social media.  Yet, I do use it.

Facebook and I are friends sometimes.  I wasn't a big fan of it at first, then it grew on me, then I decided I hated reading about people's kids being sick, then I got some new friends that I check on regualarly.  However, I have not jumped into working with facebook for business reasons.  I know it may help, but I just haven't wanted to do it yet.

Twitter on the other hand, well, twitter is my good friend.  I started using it like most people, to follow my favorite celebrities.  I have a large collection of them that I just find funny.  I like to know what people are up to.  I always have, my friends use to think I was weird because I would know what the guys I had crushes on were up to.  Now I don't need to learn these things, it is all on twitter.  It has made stalking someone so much easier to do.  I now have friends I like to follow as well, and completely enjoy talking to them.  I also have this lovely addition to my computer called TweetDeck, and oh my gosh, it is the best thing ever.  I have all of my following grouped into lists so that I can read which one I want to read when I want to.  I have my friends, famous people, etsy, and even my religion.  It even comes up and tells me if someone mentions me in a tweet.  It is so super nice.  I feel like ever since I got that I have been able to carry on conversations better with people, and that is all that twitter is really about, talking to people via text.  I love it.

So, how do you use social media like Twitter and Facebook?

Do you want to be featured on my blog with some of these questions?  Go to these interview questions and fill them out, answer as many as you want or do not want to.  I will more than likely edit them down anyways. Then send them to me at thevicagirl, and I will go ahead and post your interview.  I will be intermixing interviews with other posts, so your interview may not appear for a while, do not get upset at this please.

How did I learn to blog?

How did I learn to blog?  I like books.  When I was doing a project on ten of my favorite buildings I came up with thirteen.  My classmates were amazed, some struggling to find eight.  Granted, this was back before the web was that popluar, and back before facebook (can you remember then?)  But I told them I had looked at books.  I had found tons of books with cool buildings.  Just like that, I have found tons of books on blogging.  

The basics of the web however were taught to me by Hanson.  Yep, the MMMBop singing Hanson.  How you ask?  Well, as a member of their fan club I was given some space online to create a little webpage.  So, I did.  But, it had none of the programs that are so common in making pages today, so I read their tutorials and taught myself how to do html.  I love it, and still get a thrill out of making a page out of raw code.  Granted, I rarely do that anymore, most places won't let you, or you have to trick it into doing it.

But, I am still learning, constantly.  There is always something new to read, something new to learn, something new to try.  Blogging is constantly changing, as is all things on the internet.  

So, who taught you or how did you learn to use a blog?

Do you want to be featured on my blog with some of these questions?  Go to these interview questions and fill them out, answer as many as you want or do not want to.  I will more than likely edit them down anyways. Then send them to me at thevicagirl, and I will go ahead and post your interview.  I will be intermixing interviews with other posts, so your interview may not appear for a while, do not get upset at this please.

How to get blog inspiration

I get ideas from a lot of different places as I write.  I love to read, both books, magaizens, and online articles.  When I am reading a lot of thoughts and impressions hit me that I want to write about.  I have draft blogs always in my list that when I get around to write I write them.

I also love just going out and being in the world.  I see funny things about being green on products, as well as around the street.  If something hits me I always want to write about it.  Unfortunaly I do not have a smart phone, so rarely am able to photograph or write right away what it is I am thinking of.  If I get the chance I do.  Sometimes it takes more effort coming home to do it, but products make me laugh a lot and it is worth sharing.

I also like to write on questions I see others having.  I have an opinion about nearly everything, and some tips for a lot of things.  I like to see a need and fill in with my own view on life.

So, how about you, where does your inspiration come from when writing articles?

Do you want to be featured on my blog with some of these questions?  Go to these interview questions and fill them out, answer as many as you want or do not want to.  I will more than likely edit them down anyways. Then send them to me at thevicagirl, and I will go ahead and post your interview.  I will be intermixing interviews with other posts, so your interview may not appear for a while, do not get upset at this please.

Why do I blog?

I started to blog when my mother told me I needed to write a book.  You see, I had been doing so much reading about anything green that I could get my hands on.  She told me that I probably knew enough I could write my own book instead of reading others.  I had been toying with the idea to write a blog anyways, so I decided that I could give it a shot.  Afterall, I didn't have tons of knoweledge about each topic of being green to write a book, nor did I really agree with everything that people said.  So, I decided to write my own opionions.

I enjoyed writing, and learning more and more.  I still do.  As I have learned more some of my views have changed, and life has changed, and the blog has morphed into something else from what it started at.  Yet at the heart of it is still living a green lifestyle.  Afterall, although I think that the 'being green' thing is a trend that will go away, I think that a lot of the things that it promotes are important to the wellbeing of the earth, and more importantly of life and how you should live it.

So, why did you start blogging?


Do you want to be featured on my blog with some of these questions?  Go to these interview questions and fill them out, answer as many as you want or do not want to.  I will more than likely edit them down anyways. Then send them to me at thevicagirl, and I will go ahead and post your interview.  I will be intermixing interviews with other posts, so your interview may not appear for a while, do not get upset at this please.

How to get more comments for your blog

Time for a little rant or helpful tip for everyone.  I know there are plenty of other tips out there, and I plan to give more later, but I can't hold back my number one tip, because of how horribly annoying it is.

Get rid of the word verification!

It is so horribly annoying.  I am a human, I speak English, but man, I can not make out those stupid letters half of the time.  I have yet to meet someone who can.  They pop up and create such problems, that I give up half of the time and don't even post.  I do try sometimes, but then if I get it wrong I have to retype my message half of the time and it isn't worth it.  Half of the time I just want to post a sentence, not a novel, and the word verification just makes me think way more, and I don't like it.

So, disable them, and you will get more comments.

And while we are at it, let's recognize that people don't really want to go to a comments page just to write a comment.  Keep it in the blog post.  It makes it oh so much nicer.  If I have to go to another page, chances are I am not going to.

So, to recap, keep all of your blogs easy to interact with, and people are going to be more likely to interact.

What do you think?  Is my blog easy to leave a post on, or is it hard?  (I have always wondered this...)

How I Find Blogging Ideas

Bloggers are always looking for new ideas.  Many people don't know what to write about.  The days come and go, and they just don't know what to post.  I have struggled with this for awhile as well.  However, I have found some ideas of how to get ideas.  I now have over 50 draft listings waiting for me to write on a topic.  New ideas come out all the time, and you can think of them as well.

For starters, goggle it.  You are on the internet blogging, why not look for ideas on the internet.  There are tons of places out there.

Second, look at peoples questions.  If people always ask the same questions, then if you write something to answer those questions, then people will want to read what you write.

Also, look at your life.  Is there anything interesting that you are doing that other people would like read about, and maybe try themselves?  Tons of things that you could do there.

Also, look at others blogs.  The world is not small, the internet is huge.  Look at other blogs and find some ideas.  Do something similar.  Many blogs have weekly features, and you could start one for yourself. 

Then sometimes just thinking.  I know that sounds weird, but as you go throughout your day an idea may strike you.  Inspiration comes from anywhere, if it is for making any sort of art, including writing blogs.

Any other ideas of places to find ideas?  Where do you get them from?

why i have so much free time online part two

Part one discussed Gmail filters and how to use these to benefit you so that you don’t need to check your email often. Now for part two.

You may be wondering why I would create all these filters, and why not just go and visit the sites on that weekly hour. I am a modern girl, have all the latest websites; linkedin, facebook, myspace, etsy, twitter, blogger (obviously), etc. So I check them daily right? Wrong. Most of these sites have auto sending powers to alert you when someone does something important. So, instead of checking my facebook page to see if I have email, comments, or invites, I just check my email. Done. Sure, I may not see that my friends child has a cold, but I think I can live without this information. If I do feel like checking on my friends, I can do that.

I also have a couple of different email addresses; the most used on is the one from school. Most email systems now are sophisticated enough to be able to forward to whatever email you want them to go to. Most, I do have one that won’t. So, my school email I NEVER check, it all comes to my Gmail account, and what happens to it, that is right, it is filtered away out of my way. May I rant about these messages for a bit, you may learn something from it. I get messages from the University I go to fairly often, telling me about bus changes, or big social gatherings I do not care to go to, or even closures of computer systems, that I am not going to be using at that time anyways. These get filed away, and then when I have a moment I glance at them and they are gone. I also get a lot of emails from my major. We are a unique group that spends way too much time together, almost as a home. My latest two email “Free food {here}” with a follow up five minutes later “And it is gone.” Check, check, delete. (People also get into fights with each other with this lovely system of large group emails.) Then we have the ones that come to me because I have graduated once, so technically I am alumni. So they tell me I should attend the events I am participating in anyways. All of these obnoxious emails all get filtered into the same place, I glance at them daily and if important I look at them, if not, they wait until Tuesday when I can go through them.

So then there are the few important items that get to stay in the inbox and get my attention. Take my friends for example. It is rare that someone emails me; I prefer to have my conversations in person. But on the occasion that they do I am notified of this the second I check my email, I do not have to wade through the email list, random garbage I did not ask for, or things that get me uptight. I see the message, click on it, read it, respond, and move on with life.

I am still able to keep up with the items I need to, being notified of items in a timely manner. I am also able to stay on all the lists I enjoy being on without it occupying my time when it wants to but rather when I want it to. It has completely freed up my time to be able to do the things I love in a limited amount of time.

How is your email time?

why i have so much free time online part one

So, I have been experiencing a slight problem lately. I have been running out of things to check on my email very quickly, and during those down times when I can goof off, I have nothing to look at. How is this possible? How is it that I do not have a lot of emails to sort through every day? How is it that I spend an average of four minutes online a day? Well, I will tell you.

You may think that to be able to get down to not spending a lot of time on email I must not be on a lot of email lists, or have many people send me messages, or am not a member of any site that sends emails. All of this is untrue, and I will tell you how I manage them in a bit.

First off, I have Gmail, a wonderful program that allows you to do so much with it. Possibly the best part is that for every message it not only tells you the subject line, but also the first part of the message as well. So many people send out one line messages that you need to read, but do not need to respond to, that you can read them and delete them without ever having to go into the message. Takes less than half the time.

Gmail also has this cute little thing called filters, which are a life saver. One of my favorite things that it does is deleting unwanted messages. I am on a couple of lists that send out a couple of different types of messages, some good, some bad, but always with a similar subject line. I can go in and tell it to automatically delete the ones with the subject line I do not like, and I never have to see them again.

I am on ten or more email lists that regularly send out emails, including one that send out maybe two or three messages a day. This is where the four minutes a day breaks down. Back to those wonderful filters I have a lot set up. I have a folder for different topics and my emails automatically go to them, keeping my inbox free for important things. (Actually, they are called labels.) I have one day set aside to look at my emails, so I spend roughly an hour looking at them on Tuesdays. I have some of the pay per click emails, get a weeks worth, around 60, out of the way in less than five minutes. I have some emails that teach me things, which I tackle when I have time for them. And I have a label called “Weekly Check,” which is where all of those good newsletters that always seem to appear at the worst time go to wait for me looking at them on Tuesday.

Come back next week for part two