Wowza, the weeks are just flying by. Seems like it wasn’t all that long ago that it was Valentine’s Day. Nothing really earth shattering to say today. Been busy with client work and updating Crafty Tips. Yes, I’m finally going to fix those little lingering things that keep breaking every time Microsoft puts out a new version of Internet Explorer.
But, even better than fixing box boundaries is that each listing will now be accompanied by a larger picture! I’ve been wanting to do that for years. I’ve also wanted to make the featured listings look more special. They will now have two pictures along with a slightly different layout from the other listings.
If you are reading this post and have been thinking about purchasing premium advertising on Crafty Tips, now’s the time. I will be raising prices. I have to admit that after looking at how much less my competition is providing for more money that I realized my prices were too low. So consider yourselves warned. Of course, you’ll still be getting a great deal no matter which Crafty advertising plan you decide to invest in.
From time to time, I add great crafting websites that I discover on my own. As the site is set up now, those listings are accompanied by a placeholder image and listed within the sites of those who have shared their own tips. The non-participating websites will now be listed at the end of the category in which they appear and will have no picture. Non-participating owners can have their listing upgraded for free as long as they contact me with permission to use one of their images. I might ask them for a reciprocal link as well but I’m not sure about that yet.
Speaking of reciprocal links, I’ve learned in my research that most of the other quality Arts and Crafts Directories are requiring them. I’ve thought about following their lead but have decided that I will not require submitters to publish my banner on their websites in order to participate in Crafty Tips. I think requiring a reciprocal is against the spirit of how they were intended to work in the first place. Posting reciprocal links should be about sharing a site that you would recommend to friends. I would hope that Crafty Tips participants don’t need to be forced into providing a link in order to help promote the site that is helping promote their own. And besides, with all the great crafting tips, why wouldn’t crafters want to share it with other crafters?
Crafty Tips already provides the listed websites with a “details page” that showcases their website alone; something most of my competition does not do. Upon relaunch, artisans will be given the opportunity to share an artist’s statement which will appear on their details page. I’m still working on how that’s going to work but I hope it will be something many artisans opt to participate in.
It’s funny that whenever I mention to anyone that I’m working on a redesign for the site that they always suggest that I don’t remove the tips aspect of Crafty Tips. The crafting tips are a major part of what makes Crafty Tips special and will always be part of my site.
There might be some bumps and major upheavals as the database gets migrated and the new templates get put in place. Hopefully, the disruptions will be minimal.
Well, that’s all you’ll get for now. You’ll just have to wait and see what I have up my sleeves for the redesign. Oh, OK, I’ll give one clue. Think purple!