Blog Central

[iCraft Admin]

We soft-launched our new blog today. Yeahh, finally!  
Have a look http://icraft.ca/blog
You can also access this link through our new drop-down menu at the top.

I know it's taken us some time, and we are not even done yet, but we are at the stage that we thought we'd let you all have a look and start giving us your feedback. We are curious to hear your thoughts and see what changes or additions you'd like to see there.

For now, we are limiting the number of people who can post in our Blog area, only because we are still testing this new feature and need to iron out a few things.

If you submitted articles to us in the past or emailed us asking to be a Contributor, you'll see additional links on the left-hand side within your "My Account" area. Others will not see those links for now. If you'd like to help us with testing and start using blog earlier, let us know. Thanks!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Your link doesn' work, but the drop down from the community menu does.

Content is fine.  Lots of white space though.  (I do have a very wide monitor though.)  What about putting your nice scrolly green garden down the two sides and leave just the post background complete white?  You know, the one on the browse prodcuts page.

No post archive?  No search button?
(Maybe I missed them.)

Lisa.

[iCraft Admin]

Fixed the link. Thanks for the first feedback!  

We'll add Archive and Search features shortly.
We still need to work out a few things. Anything else?

Not sure about white space on both sides. That's not specific to Blog. You should see the same page width on all our pages. Would you like to have an option for a wider site layout? Cheers!

[Craft Boutique]

I am very excited about the blog.  
I was procrastinating with blogging, but now I have no excuses. I like that I can access everything with the same login.

I am working on my first ever blog post already... Well, I already have ideas for the second and the third blog, but I am not sure if I should focus on crafts or knitting, and how personal it should be... There is a lot of great info on forum already. I am sure we'll see the same with the blog.

Can't wait to see who else is going to do blogging here.
Wonder who is the experienced blogger. When did you start? What do you right about on your blog? Do you have any tips for someone like me, who is just starting out? I want to write about something that others would enjoy reading, but that’s the hard part – deciding on what’s valuable to others.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

See my avatar?  Turn it sideways.  That's what your blog looks like on my screen.  Content in the middle and two white borders.  I would like to see the scrolly desgin you have framing the blog (where the words are on my avatar when turned sideways).

As far as blogging, I rarely get comments on mine (I don't post often).  When I read about them before starting these were the two biggest pieces of feedback:
1. Post regularly (often)
2. Write what you are passionate about.  Enthusiasm can spread.

[Craft Boutique]

That's a very good advise Ensorcelled Minds! I'll try to remember that.

1. Post regularly (often)
2. Write what you are passionate about. Enthusiasm can spread.

Well, with some help from Admin, I've created today my first ever blog post. Yeahhh! http://icraft.ca/craft_boutique/blog

Very happy I've made this first step. I have to say it wasn't easy. I hope I'll get into a habit of blogging on a regular basis and write about something that's worth reading. Ha ha... That's it for me for today. See you tomorrow!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Oh my gosh.... have I been missing the boat?
I thought this blog thing was one central iCraft blog that everyone would post to.
Is it actually blogs for every creator to maintain their own?

Looks good, CraftBoutique, content wise.  Some alignment is off though.  The first sentence shares space with the first photo.  I would put the writing below, or have it share picture space by starting at the top of the photo.

[PillowThrowDecor]

Good job on content and the collection of pictures!

Cheers
Christine

[Craft Boutique]

Hey Ensorcelled Minds,

It's actually both - we all can maintain our own blog here and our posts will be also mixed with others in their central blog, which is kinda neat.
That page with too much space is a preview of my post.  That's how iCraft creates that page. The actual blog post looks good, I think. If you click to read full article it looks like this http://icraft.ca/blog/beautiful-unusual-surprising-and-everything-in-between-106.php
Admin is trying to fix that problem with too much space.
If you'd like to start blogging here too, let them know, as I think they are looking for more people.
I think my next post will be about great finds for Christmas. Off to browse some more.

[iCraft Admin]

Just wanted to mention one more incentive for blogging on iCraft.
We are working on adding a widget to the main Community page that will pull all new blog posts, giving those who blog frequently more visibility and additional opportunity to promote their products.  :wink:

[PillowThrowDecor]

I tried posting my blog in the wee hours of the morning but kept getting error message so I just stuck it in a what's happening thread for right now. System down for maintenance or something? Or just me doing something wrong? :oops:

Will give it another try later on tonight as am out the door.

Cheers
Christine

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Christine,
I am sure it's not you. Blog is still very fresh and probably has a few problems. Could you please email me a screen shot with the error that you get or tell me the steps that you take? I'll try to reproduce this error. Thanks!

[iCraft Admin]

A few updates to blog:

- Fixed the problem with the top drop-down menu on the blog post page.
- Added Google Search box in Blog area.
- Also, you can now track web stats for your blog posts in Google Analytics.

Cheers!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Found a good example about what I was trying to say about adding the iCraft green swirl background to the blog "frame".
http://paperplaychallenges.blogspot.com/

See how the side stays static when you scroll and looks nice?