Tools and Tips for PODs

I found a company that will print art onto metal, BooksmartStudio According to their site they will print sizes from 8.5″ x 11″ up to 20″ x 84″. That’s big.

I’m sure there are a number of artists that would like to have their art on metal like the old time advertising signs or tintype photos. This could be an option for them.

I’ve just learned of a Squidoo lens (Zazzle 101) that has a series of tips on how to have a profitable Zazzle gallery.  The tips cover setting up your account, choosing products, adding your designs, and much more.  It’s a good read for anyone getting going with Zazzle.

Daniel has updated his Imagekind Art Review Builder with some added features. There are more features for you to use in building reviews of IK art. You can choose to include a price line, display how often art is featured, and choose options for ‘view larger.’

He has also written more complete instructions along with a better page display that includes the artist’s description of the art for reference, and change the name to ‘Imagekind Art Review Builder.’

This has to be one of the best tools around for reviewing art or blogging about your own art. I’ve been using it everyday on my NiftyPiks site, and it works Great!  You can also check out Daniels reviews at Artistic Opinions.

So… If you’re an IK affiliate and reviewing art, or blogging your own Imagekind art… I’d highly recommend using the Imagekind Art Review Builder.

Just came across a neat little script that adds an ‘edit this’ button on the public view of RedBubble art.  This helps when seeing a typo or error in a description, it allows you to get to the edit page with one click.  Get the script and more information.

SagArt was kind enough to allow me to share one of her famous ‘Purple Crayon’ posts, that she wrote in response to a question on adding categories to your Zazzle site.

Here it is: 

Okay sweetie, to put your products into categories this is what you
do. I only give instructions in the purple crayon version, so they
should be easy to understand.

Look at the sidebar and find Add Product Lines. Off to the side there
is (Add New). Click on it and a small window opens where you can
assign a title to group of products. Key in a title that fits a group
of products you have added then save it. It will now appear in your
sidebar. Now don’t stop there.

Click on that sidebar title and another small window opens where you
can put a description for that section of products. When doing so
remember to SEO it to the max for the search engines. Once finished,
save it.

Now to assign products to that group. The products you have already
added can easily be assign to that title group by clicking on the EDIT
button. An EDIT IT window appears and you look for Contributor Gallery
Category (change) – then find the group title and click. They will now
appear under that Category in your shop.

For new products you are adding – simply select the Contributor
Gallery Category and assign them to a group in your sidebar as they
are added.

—-

Thank you, SagArt!

Check out SagArt’s Zazzle shop.

Daniel of Artistic Opinions has written a little script for putting the current IK promotion on your website automatically.  You can see it in action on his site.

This is a great little script for keeping a coupon on your site.

He says ‘Everyone is welcome to use it, no charge ’

Here are his instructions on how to use it:

To use it, there’s a two-step process. First, you’ll insert the following code where you want the promotion box to appear:

<script src=”http://www.artopinions.com/script/ik-promo-rotation.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>
<noscript>
<div style=”text-align: center;”><strong>20% off</strong> museum and framed art!<br />Use Imagekind coupon code: <strong>museum20</strong> when checking out.<br />Expires 12/31/07</div>
</noscript>

Then, set your style. You can make the box look however you want by using the built-in CSS class “promospace”. If you’re unsure how to style using CSS, post here and I’ll give a brief rundown

It works like this – during the times that IK runs a special promotion (like now), I will be updating the script with the details of the deal. The script is controlled by a date function, so the special promotion will only ever show during the proper dates. When there is no special promotion going on, a default coupon code will display (the museum20 code).

 He also adds:

Regarding the CSS, I should have explained it up front, but it was getting late and I took a shortcut

I’ll lay out three basic options, and folks can research CSS a bit for more ideas. Let’s center the text of the promo, make the background of the box black, and the text white. In your <head> section of your HTML page, you can add the following code:

<style type=”text/css”>
<!–
.promospace {
background: #000000;
color: #ffffff;
text-align: center;
}
//–>
</style>

If you have your own CSS stylesheet, you can just add the lines from .promospace { down to } in that file.

—-

You can see the script at work on my Nifty Piks blog .

Here’s a great tool for making blog posts and writing about Imagekind art. It’s great for affiliates (and bloggers) that want to write a regular review of art.

All you do is find some art you like on Imagekinds site, click on a bookmarklet that you get from http://www.modestopinions.com/ikartreview.php. The bookmarklet takes you to a site that generates code that you can easily put in your blog post.

This wonderful tool was written by Daniel M. Clark with Jen Goode.

Below is an example for a photo from my tiger lily flower gallery at Imagekind.

———–

This week’s featured art is Tiger Lilies by Kent Lorentzen

This is a lovely framed photo of a couple of tiger lily flowers with their heads hanging down and petals curled up. The spots on the orange petals are so pretty in flower arrangements.

Tiger Lilies by Kent Lorentzen

New art featured weekly, courtesy of the artists at ImageKind.

Tags: Tiger+Lilies,ImageKind,Flowers,affiliate,blogging,reviews

Ever made a sale and didn’t recognize the country code it was from?  This Country Code Lookup from Tips and Tricks for Tshirt Entrepreneurs is handy for doing that.

Ever want to show stuff from an Imagekind gallery in your Wordpress blog? There’s a plugin that lets you use a gallery’s rss feed in a post, firstRSS at http://www.underjc.com/2007/10/firstrss-plugin-for-wordpress.html

Below is shown my River Photos gallery with the firstRSS plugin:

Imagekind Gallery riverphotos
Copyright (C) 2008
Mississippi River photos of water and trees along the banks of the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota.

4 January 2010

Sunrise on a beautiful January morning with fog from open water in the Mississippi river scattering the dawn light above snow covered ice.
1 January 2010

Sunrise photo with bright Sun reflecting off open water in the Mississippi river. Fog scatters the dawn light above snow and ice.
Dawn Reflection

A lovely sunrise with a reflection from water in the Mississippi river as the Sun peeks out from behind a pine tree. Fresh snow creates a pretty winter scene as the day dawns.
December Morning 1228

A misty fog floats above water in the Mississippi river while rays of the rising sun slant across the river from between two pine trees on the far bank. Reflections of the trees show in the water right up to the ice and snow along the bank. Photo of this winter scene, was taken on a December morning in north central Minnesota.
November Sunrise 1133

Looking across the Mississippi river with two pine trees on the far bank and orange red clouds in the sky hiding the sun at sunrise. The colors of the sky are reflected off water in the river adding more shades of color to this photo taken in north central Minnesota.
Foggy Reflections 711

Still water shows a reflection of trees on the far bank of the Mississippi river as fog floats above the water with a patch of weeds showing by the near bank as dawn breaks on a August morning in north central Minnesota.
Water on the Rocks 672

Water flowing over rocks in the Mississippi river with trees on the far bank on an August afternoon in north central Minnesota.
River Sunrise 0445

Sunrise on a foggy July morning. Looking upstream as the sun begins to brighten the sky through fog above water in the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota.
August Sunrise 567

Sunrise above water in the Mississippi river with colorful clouds in the sky on a August morning as water rushes over rocks in the river in north central Minnesota.
Two Pines

Looking at pine trees on the far bank of the Mississippi river on an April afternoon in north central Minnesota.
Mississippi Sunrise 702

Sunrise above the Mississippi river with fog floating over the water on a August morning in north central Minnesota.
River Water

Looking at the water and trees upstream on the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota.  Taken on a beautiful spring afternoon in April.
Fog downstream 453

Fog over water in the Mississippi river when looking downstream on a July dawn in north central Minnesota. A tree hangs over the water from the bank with a group of rocks poking into the water from the shore.
Reflections

Reflecions of trees in the water of the Mississippi river one spring afternoon in April.  Taken in north central Minnesota.
Reflections 187

Looking across the snow cover banks of the Mississippi River at Trees and their reflection in the water just before Sunrise on a frosty Winter morning in north central Minnesota.
Wooded skyline

Looking across water in the Mississippi river at trees on the far bank on a spring afternoon in April.  View is from the west bank of the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota.
Three Pines

Looking across the water at three big pine trees amongst other trees on the far bank of the Mississippi river.  View is from the west bank looking downstream in north central Minnesota.
Water and pines

Pine trees across the waters of the Mississippi river on a spring afternoon in April.  View is from the west bank of the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota.
River in February

Looking across snow covered ice with a strip of open water at trees on the far bank of the Mississippi river on a February day in north central Minnesota.
Lone Pine

Lone pine tree amongst other trees on the far bank of the Mississippi river.  Beautiful reflection of the trees in the water on one  spring afternoon in April.  View is from the west bank of the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota.
Fence by river

Looking at a fence by the Mississippi river with trees on the far bank.  View is looking downstream from the west bank of the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota.
Trees on Snowy bank

Trees on the snow covered far bank of the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota. Looking across a strip of open water midstream with snow covered ice along the banks on a winter day in February.
Snow on the Ice

Looking upstream at snow covered ice with an open patch of water in the Mississippi river in north central Minnesoata on a day in February.
River Ripples

Reflecion of trees in the water beyond ripples in the Mississippi river an a spring afternoon in April.  View from the west bank of the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota.
Pines across River

Two beautiful pine trees on a snow covered river bank. Looking across the Mississippi river with snow covered ice along the banks and a strip of open water in the middle of the stream. Photo taken in north central Minnesota on a day in February.
December Morning 1162

Looking at trees, across the Mississippi river after a fresh snow on a December Morning in north central Minnesota.
Foggy river 0447

Sunrise on the Mississippi rive on a July morning. Looking upstream as the sun shines through fog above the water in the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota.
Fog downstream 455

Fog above the water downstream on the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota. Water rushing between rocks in the foreground with a tree hanging over the water as a July morning dawns.
Fall Reflection 954

Fall Colors of trees on the far bank of the Mississippi river reflect of the water on a August day in north central Minnesota.
Pines across water

Pretty white pine trees on the far bank across water in the Mississippi river in north central Minnesota on a mid July afternoon.
Fall Colors 961

Fall colors on the trees across the Mississippi river reflected in the water on a September day in north central Minnesota.
Fog at Dawn 714

Fog floats above water in the Mississippi river at dawn while reflections from trees on the far bank seem to be floating in the water beyond weeds floating by the near bank.
Fog above ripples 452

Fog above rippling water in the Mississippi river on a July morning at dawn in north central Minnesota. The water rushes over and through rocks in the river while fog hovers over the water.
River in July

Looking across water in the Mississippi river at trees on the far bank on a July afternoon in north central Minnesota.
Foggy water 459

Looking at trees across the Mississippi river with fog above the water on a July morning in north central Minnesota.
Fog on the river 451

Looking downstream at trees across the Mississippi river as fog floats above the water on a July morning in north central Minnesota.
Pines in the Fall 963

Two white pine trees on the far bank of the Mississippi river as fall colors reflect off the water on a September day in north central Minnesota.
Red Skies at Dawn 1128

Looking across the Mississippi river at the silhouettes of two pine trees under orange red clouds in the sky at dawn. A beautiful November morning in north central Minnesota.
Mississippi River Spring flow

Water flows down the Mississippi river on a Spring day in Minnesota. A barn is partly hidden behind trees on the far bank.
Morning Reflection

A beautiful late March morning sunrise with trees and sky reflecting off still water in the Mississippi river as the day dawns.

There is also a way to make the links in the post into affiliate links for Imagekind, will have to cover that in another post.

Technorati Tags: blogging, Imagekind, Wordpress, plugin, rss

Powered by FirstRSS Plugin

Jen uses the word (hopefully) in the header on her list of Cafepress tools. I think most people that have tried them would say they are completely useful and maybe even essential.

I hadn’t looked at her list of tools in a while and see she has added some information on working with cpshop. (a script for having your shop on your own website) I’ll have to read through them since she covers some things I haven’t used cpshop for yet.

Next she lists a couple of tools for affiliates and shopkeepers that are pretty much the same except for the affiliate thing. The html page builder is great for making pages to include on your website or blog. Just enter keywords to use and it will make a table of products or designs for you.

The link builder makes links to a product, section, or shop for you. There are options for text links and image links with small or large images. Very useful when writing a blog and including a cp product or section in the post.

Plus there is the cp product finder, it’ll find a cp product from the product number. And… the CP Affiliate view test, which shows a plain view of a shop without the custom features most shopkeepers use.

Many thanks to Jen for her great tools!

Technorati Tags: cafepress, affiliate, tools, tips