Let's talk blogs....

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Let's talk blogs....

While I'm still slightly between beginner and intermediate when it comes to digital scrapbooking, I'm quickly becoming more comfortable with my ideas and the way I am able to get them all to tie together on a page. There is still sooooo much I want to learn, I really don't think I can learn enough. Digiscrapping is becoming less of a hobby and more of a passion. Which brings me to our topic:

BLOGS. I really feel that a blog is the perfect way to display all of my hard work in one place to be able to share with everyone.

I want to know all you can share with me about them. Tell me everything!
Is there any sort of code of ethics?
Or unwritten rule books?
Maybe you're not always able to post a layout every time you post to your blog. In that case, what do you write about?
If you don't have a personal domain name then what blogging site do you use or recommend?
Any tips or tricks of the trade you can share?

I have plenty more questions, but I'll edit to post more after some of the above have been answered, just to keep this post from becoming a novel!

Shantalina (Lovely Name)
I am sorry no one has responded to your question yet. I think sometimes people just accidentally miss some but anyway. I can't answer all of your questions but I have a blog although I don't post real often because my purpose is to give back free files as I have been given so many free files. http://creativefunconnection.blogspot.com/ if you want to check out. It is not very good but you may want to study other people's blogs and here is a topic on this site where others are sharing their blog links. https://www.digitalscrapbook.com/forums/general/chit-chat/share-your-blog I tried a couple of different free blog engines to start my blog and wound up with http://www.blogger.com/features because it was the easiest to figure out how to do.
Also here is another topic on here that just started from Marisa and maybe there will be more replies as it goes and may help with what to do with a blog to get more followers etc. if you haven't already read it. https://www.digitalscrapbook.com/forums/general/chit-chat/blogs-why-do-you-read-them
I hope these help you some and as far as ethics and tips and tricks maybe someone else will come along or just do a google search on what you want to know.

I have a couple different blogs, although I haven't posted anything on any of them in a couple months (long story). There really isn't any "rule book" to follow, but the one thing I would suggest is if you are going to post layouts or any kind of crafting item you made, is to also post a list of supplies with credit to designers and/or companies that made the items you used. People visiting the blog also like to know what you used so they can use the same or like items. It also pre-empts any emails you will get asking what you used thus cutting down some of the work answering all those emails. Blogging can be a lot of work prepping for a post - getting your pictures ready, making sure you kept track of your supplies, writing up the post, etc., but it can also be very rewarding when you get comments back from visitors. As far as posting, you can put whatever you feel like saying that day. I generally keep mine to crafting and not too much personal stuff, but my private life is pretty boring so I don't want to bore my readers with the mundane details. smiley I also try to keep my posts pretty even keel and stay away from anything that will create drama - I hate drama, but that's not to say I don't spew off once in a while or go on a rant about something that ticks me off. One other thing that I'll suggest, and this is my own personal opinion, is to not use foul language. I'm not a prude and I do occasionally let the occasional expletive escape my lips, but I don't usually put them in my writing. You will get & keep a broader audience if your language is not seen as offensive.

So, that's some of my personal opinions about blogging. There's the whole other realm of marketing your blog, but I don't have a lot of advise to give on that since I don't do a whole lot to market my blogs.

Thanks for the links, @Brenda, those will be helpful!
@Cat, I do plan on posting layouts I've put together. I don't quite have a handle on organizing all of my elements in an ideal way yet. I have everything in folders. Papers go in subfolders by color, everything else as far as embellishments go in individual folders: hearts, stars, journaling cards, stitching, scatters, brackets, buttons, ribbons, brads... etc etc. Any suggestions on how to keep track of where I get them all? Or who designed them? Because to be honest, at this moment in time I have downloaded SO many free kits and mini kits and single items and I couldn't even BEGIN to tell you where any of them came from.. smiley I didn't think it mattered because when I started I wasn't planning on sharing my layouts with anyone but myself and close family, like in a printed album. But as of late the idea of blogging to share all my work in one place has become much more appealing. I would eventually like to venture into designing my own stuff and offering those free for others as @Brenda mentioned - sort of like a pay it forward for everything I've been able to accumulate, but that's a whole other venture for another post...

Hi there, I have been blogging for about an year now, but I have had a blog on a off since 2008, just never cud get the hang of it, and sometimes I left it so long that I just didnt feel connected to it, anyhow, I post my CT LOs on it and sometimes I just talk or do post about the random things I do.
And like Brenda said, its a good idea to look at other scrapping blogs to get an idea, heres mine if u want to have a look at it
http://annusplace.blogspot.com/

And since I started posting Los I have to be real careful about mentioning whose kit or whatever element I have used, coz I dont want to get into any copyright infringes, so I usually make a folder with that designer or sites name and then have everything from them in it with further subfolders. because u know u see all this free stuff and we go crazy rite? smiley
wud love to help u with anything else smiley
tc,

Shantalina, its hard to describe my filing system since I've been doing it for about 8 or 9 years and its taken a few turns and has evolved quite a bit. I think the most important thing about whichever way you choose to file your scrapbooking resources is first, to be able to find what you want, and second is to know who made it. I like to keep my kits together, and if the designer didn't put their name in the file name, then I add it. Just makes it easier when I want to post something and I don't have to spend hours tracking down where I downloaded the kit from. Another thing I started doing (but haven't done it to everything yet) is use tags on my stuff so that I can search by tag (eg, designer, colour, element type, season/holiday, etc.).

One tip I have that saved me doing a lot of searching and/or keeping a list is to make a layer on my layout that I type in the name of the designer and kit name of each element I use. I usually save the layered file and then a flattened version (with the credit layer hidden) for uploaded. This way, until I upload it and have a record of what elements I used for my layouts. Another way to do it is to keep the information in the file info. Most programs will have the file info feature in the file menu. You can various bits of information that will show up when you right click on a file and select properties.

Hope that helps a little...

Thank you all so much for the tips! Cat - the idea of a credit layer is genius! I could see that being extremely beneficial. I'm happy to say I have figured out a system that I feel is exactly what I need to allow me to be more efficient. It took me about 10 hours today to go through all of my supplies and rename everything so my file names go: designer-kitname-itemname. This way I am able to organize by folders such as Papers (subfolders by colors), flowers, brads, brackets, strings, etc. Makes everything easily accessible when I'm looking for a certain item. smiley Very happy with my system so far. Thanks so much for your input!

It´s been really common these days that designers name their suff with their initials, then kit´s initials (or whole kit name), than the name of the thing. It helps to keep organised, whichever method you use. And, at least on my stash, there are very few designers with repeated initials...

To know more about how other scrappers from this community organise their files, this topic is your best choice.

Now, on blogs, I write under what the others already wrote above; also, if you have the intention to join creative teams someday, most of them require a blog, so it´s good to get started... I´d recomend you to keep it simple in the blog layout. Use a two-column layout with neutral colors, and don´t put a background music or change cursor´s shape - those things are considered really annoying... Make sure to use contrasting colors between background and font colors, and use a simple and easy to read font - that very common font that everyone has in their computers is perfect to go...