When Your Blog Goes "Poof" - It Can Happen To You!

Earlier this year, I opened my browser and went to this blog. Horrified, I found a message that said the blog had been deleted! I was stunned and I tried to log into the blog's back office but to no avail.

Frantically trying to find some sort of Blogger tech support (there is none), I ended up in a Blogger forum and posted my problem.

The moderator was quite helpful and said that there are times that the Google bot will erroneously tag a blog as a spam blog or as a blog that is breaking the TOS, none of which this blog fit. He started the Blogger reinstatement process for me to get the blog back online.

I was livid as the days went by and no blog. I knew my scant traffic would be non-existent when I finally did have a blog again. And, my ads would be totally trashed.

It took almost two weeks to get it back online. Even then, I had a lot of work to do to make certain links and widgets got back to working, do some things to get a little traffic back online, and then to jump-start the Project Wonderful ads again.

When a blog goes down, the decline in traffic, rankings, klout, and everything else beneficial  is quick and very tedious to get back when it is back online.

This was an eye-opener. Of course, we don't think this will ever happen to us, but since we are using a free blog platform, we are at the mercy of the owners of that platform.

Since that day, I have been working on a self-hosted blog. Work is slow as I have a day job, but soon I will be able to control the fate of my own blog on my own web hosting.

Free Tutorial  to Install a Wordpress Self-Hosted Blog!

I took a FREE ecourse on how to install a Wordpress blog onto my own web hosting from CreativeWebBiz.com. The lessons were so easy and step-by-step that the installing onto my web hosting amazingly simple. Check it out if you want to go that way for your blog.

In the meantime, just be aware that this happens all the time. If you use your blog for income in any way, it is smart to create your own self-hosted blog.

Tips for Branding Your Online Business

A lot of us started our handmade businesses from humble beginnings of creating items for ourselves, family, and friends. After much encouragement from this group, we took the plunge into the world of online selling.

With so many handmade/supplies/vintage selling venues available today, it is no wonder that we might be watering down our own brand and not even know it. We should not brand our business with the name of the venue where our products are at this time. This can change over the years.

Why have a brand? Why protect that brand? Branding a business is one of the most important strategic marketing tasks that you can do.

A brand is your reputation, your recognition, and the soul of your company. It is that split-second understanding of who you are and what you do. It matters not if your business is "just" a hobby business - if you are selling online, you will benefit from a brand.

A brand can consist of the name of your business, a logo, and/or a byline motto, slogan, tag line. As your business grows, your brand becomes your reputation.Your brand can be known for excelling customer service or stellar quality. A brand is more than a logo. It can be the essence of your business practices.

The most important thing with growing your brand, is consistent use of your brand at all times and in all ways.

Here are some tips for you about branding your handmade business:

• Create a visual that resonates with your business name and/or product. This can be your business name in fancy fonts, iconic logos, or a tag line that you consistently use.
• Once you create your visual - use it everywhere, such as on your online banners for your shops, banners for your networking pages, business cards, avatar, blog headers, packaging, invoices, signs at craft shows, etc...
• If you choose to use a tag line, use it always when you use your business name. An example, would be "Susie's Pet Apparel - for Stylish Pets Everywhere!"
• If you send out press releases on new products or other business news, be sure to be consistent with your brand decisions.
• Purchase a domain name with your brand name and point it to your venue shop. This is very important to use YOUR domain name in all your branding efforts and not the links to the venue shop. 
• Use YOUR custom domain link in all your materials, online, and business cards. 
• Another tip is to create your domain name with words that tells us what you are all about. An example of what not to do is my domain (LOL) - gatllerialinda.com - I need to change this because it tells us nothing. It would be better as GalleriaLindaHandmadeJewelry.com instead. 
•  If you have your own website, utilized consistency with your strategic brand decisions.

I read a lot of forums on several of the most popular handmade selling venues. I always see that some sellers are branding the venue and not their shop. Your venue shop is just a rental space and is not "yours." You want people to search for YOU and not just find you accidentally through the venue. Your business is who you are and what you do, so brand your business - not the venue.

These tips just scratch the surface of branding your business but is the most basic start to a good relationship with your business!