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Yesterday, I saw the first signs of holiday decorations at my local Sam’s Club. Even though it’s only September, it’s going to sneak up on you just like that. Now’s a great time to prepare for the holiday rush.
The Storque has a great post on how to prepare your Etsy store for the holidays. Some great information even if you don’t have an Etsy store. You can check out the post here.
Newsletter subscribers should also check out the article archive for my article on “Preparing Your Site for the Holidays“. It includes tips on how to create incentives for shoppers who are “early birds” and “last minute procrastinators”. Tips on how to create a great online holiday promotion and tips on how to make your website a great place to do holiday shopping.
If you’re doing a lot of holiday craft shows, you may also want to check out my article on “Using Your Website to Increase Show Sales” while you’re at it. Holiday shows are usually the most profitable time for those on the show circuit, learn how to make your website do double duty and increase your sales.
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It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an “Ask a Question” reply…here’s an interesting one…
What are those wierd looking links you’ve got in your newsletter? Do they really link to your website?
kat
Okay…here’s what Kat’s talking about. If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, you’ll notice that almost all of my links look something like this:
These links are courtesy of a link shortening service that I use called SnipURL. If you’re not sure about what that is, read what I wrote to Kat
Hi Kat…thanks for the question!
Yes, those links actually do go to my website. I’m not trying to funnel you to someplace nefarious!
To make those links I use what’s called a “URL snipping” service named SnipURL. If you’ve never heard of this concept, it’s really pretty neat. Here’s what it does.
Say you have a very long URL (otherwise known as a website address or link). Maybe you have a book from Amazon that you want to recommend on your blog…or maybe you want to pass around the address to this really cool blog post that you made. In both cases, the address can be pretty long.
Here’s the address to a book on Amazon called Head First HTML
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/059610197X?ie=UTF8&tag=mixmeddes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=059610197XAnd here’s the link to one of my blog posts
http://www.craftedweb.com/website-promotion/artist-website-marketing-a-new-squidoo-lens/
In both cases, the links are kinda of long. It might get difficult to cut and paste the link into an email or blog post because the links will start wrapping around…which might cause them not to work if you’re not careful. Plus, if forget about trying to write this link down to share it with someone. There’s no way you can remember it. That’s where SnipURL comes in handy. SnipURL is a free service that can shorten very long links into smaller links.
Here’s what that Amazon link looks like after I’ve run it through SnipURL:
http://snipurl.com/22izyHere’s what my blog post link looks like after I’ve run it through SnipURL:
http://snipurl.com/22j0hThey both go to the same place as the original link. The only difference is that the link is no longer a million characters long, which makes it easier to cut and paste, easier to share, and easier to email.
Since I include links to my blog posts in my newsletter, I’ve been using SnipURL to cut the length of those links to make it easier for people to click on them. Another cool benefit of using SnipURL is that you can also see how many times someone clicked on your link. Like I mentioned in a past newsletter, this is especially important if you’re sending out an email newsletter and you want to track how many times someone clicks on a link in your newsletter. While some services like Constant Contact and mailer mailer already does this…this is another way to keep track if you’re not using those services.
Anyway, that’s a quick overview of SnipURL and how you can use it. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Nicolette
SnipURL isn’t the only game in town when it comes to making shorter links. There’s also TinyURL, Notlong, and Shorl among others. Each service has their own features, so it’s just a matter of figuring out what you like the best. If you have a favorite service or if you use your particular service to do something fun and interesting, leave a comment and tell us all about it.
Do you have a burning question about websites or promoting yourself online? Click on the “Ask a Question” tab at the top of the page and send me your question. I’ll send you an answer to your question personally.
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