August 4th Update: Some of you have mentioned that the file format is not compatible for your current MS Office version. I have since changed the MS Excel document to a Office 97-Compatible version.
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Today’s productivity tip for Etsy sellers is really more for those who have a blog and would like to start a weekly or monthly series featuring some of their favorite items from etsy or around the web. It’s a great way to showcase your own items in relation to other items, or just to show your support to other artists. Needless to say, do contact the artists or store owner to let them know that you have just featured their item on your blog – it’s goodwill they would appreciate and would get at least 1 visit or comment to your blog.
First, a visual on what the final result should look like. I just started a series titled, Four Friday Faves where I feature four items that have really caught my eye from a design or practical-function perspective, or that I found really inspiring. This is last Friday’s Four Friday Faves,
The content format includes a 4-photo mosaic collage of the featured items, and below it, a list of sources. Unfortunately, the tool used to generate the mosaic does not create the mosaic with hyperlinks to the listing but the visual is still more eye-catching than say a list of links with no photos. It’s a fair tradeoff in my opinion.
Here are the steps I take:
Step 1: Based on a theme or direction in mind, go forth and collect the following pieces of information for each item you would like to use,
1) Item Link Address
2) Item Name or Title
3) Descriptive Text on the Source
(e.g., from Etsy Seller GraceHesterDesigns)
4) Item Photo URL
5) Comments
(e.g., "When I first saw this item, I knew it would look perfect on my new-mom-friend’s walls.")
I use a Microsoft Excel template that allows me to paste the information, retain a record of it, and I have created formulas that piece the key information into a block of html for me to simply cut and paste into my blog posting so I am not recreating the format of the post every Friday. You can download the file here.
Step 2: Go to Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker at http://bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php
This is a graphic generator that creates a mosaic-styled collage of photos you indicate in the submission form. In my case, I would select a 2 X 2 mosaic where I indicate the location of the graphic.
Using the information I have gathered before, I place all fours URLS in the fields and click on “Create”. After which, the graphic generated will show and I usually save a copy of it for posting onto my blog.
Step 3: Create Your Blog Post
Provide any intro to your blog post, then place the mosaic graphic at the desired position in your blog content.
Then go to the MS Excel template and highlight the cells with the html code that formats the links and text in the cells into a nice content block.
Paste it into the HTML body of your blog-processing application. Preview the layout, and then publish! The results should look like this,
Would love it if I could hear from anyone via the comments section who has any luck with this tip or if you have other resources that helps you create your fave lists. Always looking to learn from other bloggers or etsy sellers.
