Monday 21 April 2014

Last Surf Of The Day - Congrats on Graduating Cards

A gorgeous best-selling design. Click to customize or personalize. How would it look with your name or monogram on it - why not have a look-see right now?


tagged with: surf, surfers, beach scene, beaches, coast, fine art, gorgeous, hrbstslr hrcol118, sunset surfing, sundown

English Scenes series An artistic photo showing three surfers going for the last dip of the day.
The golden skies are lit by the setting sun and the last rays are catching the waves, turning them an electric blue.
It's a fantastic picture for anyone with a connection with the beach.
more items with this image
more items featuring beaches.
more items in the English Scenes series

image code: hrcol118

»visit the HightonRidley store for more designs and products like this

Switching on Google+ commenting is great for socializing, read why...

If you post your products on your own Blogger blog or if you've got an autopost Blogger blog, you know, one where you let other Zazzlers post to, then you need to do this: switch on Google+ comments.

Whatever type of Blogger blog you've got it's a great thing to do to help you socially.

Why, How?
It's all about making sure that as many as possible of the interactions you get are all in one place, wherever it's viewed from.

So if you or someone else +1s and/or shares your blog post on G+ (which is becoming the de-facto place to have worthwhile social interactions), then any +1s and comments made - either on the blog post or the G+ share, will be visible from both places!

And if someone reshares someone else's share of your blog post, then the same still applies. This is really good news for you because it means that wherever it goes within G+, the comments and +1s will follow.

And you get this benefit purely by switching on G+ comments for your blog. What's not to like about that?!

Switching on G+ comments

Go to your blog's design mode and you'll see a Google+ option in the navbar in the left hand column - click that and you'll see where to switch on G+ comments.
 

Potential gotcha

When you switch on G+ comments - what profile is going to show up? I'm pretty sure it uses your G+ profile and not your Blogger profile, so you may want to do something about that by giving your G+ profile some love, if it needs it.


Happy Promoting and Socializing,
- automatically, wherever possible!

~~Mark (HightonRidley)

How to Convince Someone to Be Interviewed on Your Blog

Blogging with purpose

original post »
NewImageThis question was submitted recently via the ProBlogger Facebook page.
How do I get an established blogger like yourself to do an interview with me? or How can I get an established blogger like yourself to do a guest post for me on my blog? – from Sandra Tillman
Good questions. I think you’re much more likely to get a popular blogger to do an interview with you than to write a guest post for you.
I can only speak for myself really but writing a guest post for someone else’s blog is low on my list of priorities when I already have a blog to create content for.
The exception might be if I had something I was launching or wanted to get some attention for – but even then unless your blog has a sizeable audience and/or and audience that is right on target for the type of reader I want to reach – I’m not likely to take you up on that offer.
It’s simply that there’s just not the time in the day to offer that.
An interview on the other hand may be more achievable – particularly if you make it easy for the blogger you’re approaching to do.
It might be hard to get a full-on interview with a popular blogger unless you have a big audience, profile, or some way in with them, but you might pull it if if you’re willing to make it short and easy to complete.
In my own early days when I didn’t have much profile I used to do it by doing ‘one question interviews’. I would send the blogger a single question and ask them to write something in response – big or small.
Sometimes they’d send back a paragraph or two, other times it might only be a sentence. I’d often ask 3-4 bloggers the same single question and then put their responses together to create a longer post.
The beauty of doing this kind of approach is that you’re able to make it easy for the blogger to do but you also get a little benefit from having them on your blog (which makes it easier to get the next interview).
Keep in mind though that many bloggers get a lot of interview requests. I’m not the biggest blogger going around, but on a typical day I get asked to be interviewed 2-3 times. Couple this with requests to write articles, be in Twitter chats, appear in webinars, be interviewed by media, and the top bloggers must be getting approached many many times a day!

5 quick tips on how I’d go about approaching bloggers for an interview:

1. Introduce yourself

Be personal, quickly introduce yourself, and explain why you’d like to interview the blogger. As you do so, think about the benefits not only to you but also to your readers and to the blogger. For example – do you have a relevant audience to them?

2. Outline how the interview will be used

If you’re planning on using the interview in some way that people have to pay for then say this up front. I’ve had a number of people ask me for interviews that I’ve later found out were used in books, behind paywalls, or as incentives to sign up for newsletters.
While I am not against using interviews in this way, you’ll want to be clear about your intentions with the person you’re approaching.

3. Outline how you’ll conduct the interview

Tell the person how you want to conduct the interview and how much time they’d need to dedicate. If it is a written interview via email tell them how many questions. If it’s a recorded audio/video interview tell them how long it’ll take and what technology you’d like to use.

4. show you know them and make it relevant

Before you approach someone do a little research into who they are and what they do. Showing them this in some way by making your approach personal will show them that you’re not just copying and pasting interview requests into emails. It’ll show them that you’re going to some effort rather than just wanting them to essentially create content for you.

5. Followup

If the person agrees and you do interview them, make sure you use it! I’ve had times where I’ve put aside considerable time to respond to questions for interviews and then never seen the content used in any way – frustrating!!!
When you do publish it – shoot the blogger a note of thanks with the link. You might even find that they share it to their network!

One Last Tip

Big bloggers may not be the best starting place – in fact, they may not be the best interviewee at all.
I say this for two reasons:
1. if you’re new, it’s hard to land a popular blogger. You might have more luck landing a small- to medium-sized blogger. Once you’ve done a few of these you then have something of a portfolio to be able to show others that you approach later (this might help you land the big interview).
2. the other reason you might want to approach smaller bloggers is that they might just make a more interesting interview subject. Everyone’s heard the big blogger’s story in countless other interviews, so why not try to unearth something fresh and new from someone that is up and coming?

What Would You Add?

Have you ever landed a big interview for your blog? How did it happen for you? What tips would you give?
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
Build a Better Blog in 31 Days

How to Convince Someone to Be Interviewed on Your Blog
Build a Better Blog in 31 Days

How to Convince Someone to Be Interviewed on Your Blog
#bloggingtips

Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists

Fun and Random

original post »
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Vo Anh Kiet (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). Finalist: Travel. Terraced fields during harvest season. Mu Cang Chay, Vietnam, September 2012.
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Carol Lynne Fowler (Seeley Lake, Montana). Finalist: Americana. A champion bronco bucks a champion rider at the Helmville Rodeo. Helmville, Montana, September 2013.
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Sergio Carbajo Rodriguez (La Garriga, Spain). Finalist: Travel. Portrait of a young Suri boy going with his father to take care of the cattle. Ethiopia, August 2013.
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Graham McGeorge (Jacksonville, Florida). Finalist: Natural World. McGeorge spent a quiet 6 hours trying to get the perfect image of this eastern screech owl out of its nest. Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, April 2013.
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Christopher Doherty (North Palm Beach, Florida). Finalist: Natural World. Breath at sunset, captures a sea turtle at a dive site called Black Rock. Kāʻanapali, Hawaiʻi, August 2013.
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Karen Lunney (Brisbane, Australia). Finalist: Natural World. During their annual migration, wildebeests are forced to find new river crossings in the Serengeti-Mara region. “The animals were being taken by the unfamiliar currents of deep water and had to struggle to get close to the far bank. There were few rocks on which to land and the initial orderly progression soon became a desperate struggle of clambering,” says Lunney. Mara River, Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, September 2013.
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Nidal Adnan Kibria (Dhaka, Bangladesh). Finalist: Travel. Action Hero. As part of a show called “Well of Death,” a biker performs a stunt at a village fair to celebrate Rath Jatra, a Hindu festival. Dhamrai, Bangladesh, June 2012.
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Vincent Cheng (Burnaby, Canada). Finalist: Travel. A group of locals playing billiards by Namtso Lake. Tibet, China, June 2013.
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Dina Bova (Petach Tikva, Israel). Finalist: Altered Images. “Babylon—Made in Italy is inspired by the story of the Babylon tower, the painting by Pieter Bruegel and by a trip to the beautiful Cinque Terre in Italy,” says Bova. Cinque Terre, Italy, October 2013.
Smithsonian Magazine Announces 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists travel nature
Aspen Wang (Hong Kong, Hong Kong). Finalist: Natural World. Penguins on Ice. “Although my photo hardly does justice to describing the tenuous balance in Antarctica’s ecosystem, it has served to crystallize in my memory one of the last stretches of untamed and inarticulate lands on earth,” says Wang. Antarctica, December 29, 2010.
Smithsonian Magazine just announced the finalists of their 11th Annual Photo Contest. This year’s competition saw a whopping 50,000 submissions, from which 60 finalists were selected in 6 categories including: Natural, Travel, People, Americana, Altered, and Mobile. The contest is now open for a Readers’ Choice vote which runs from today through May 6, 2014. Vote here. All photos courtesy Smithsonian Magazine and the respetive photographers.

#funandrandom
original post...

Haunting Ceramic Faces Overgrown with Vegetation by Jess Riva Cooper

Fun and Random

original post »
Haunting Ceramic Faces Overgrown with Vegetation by Jess Riva Cooper sculpture ceramics
Haunting Ceramic Faces Overgrown with Vegetation by Jess Riva Cooper sculpture ceramics
Haunting Ceramic Faces Overgrown with Vegetation by Jess Riva Cooper sculpture ceramics
Haunting Ceramic Faces Overgrown with Vegetation by Jess Riva Cooper sculpture ceramics
Haunting Ceramic Faces Overgrown with Vegetation by Jess Riva Cooper sculpture ceramics
Haunting Ceramic Faces Overgrown with Vegetation by Jess Riva Cooper sculpture ceramics
Haunting Ceramic Faces Overgrown with Vegetation by Jess Riva Cooper sculpture ceramics
Toronto-based artist Jess Riva Cooper created this haunting collection of ceramic busts called her Viral Series as part of an artist residency last fall at The Kohler Factory in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The pieces seem to lie at the peculiar intersection of life and death, as it should be given her inspiration behind the sculptures. Cooper shares about the Viral Series via email:
In my art practice I integrate colour, drawing, and clay to create installation-based artwork. I investigate fallen economic and environmental climates in regions such as Detroit, Michigan, where houses have become feral, disappearing behind ivy, trees and Kudzu vines that were planted generations ago. In my sculptures, the world sprouts plant matter. Colour and form burst forth from quiet gardens and bring chaos to ordered spaces. Nature reclaims its place by creeping over structures. Wild floral growth subverts past states, creating the preternatural from this transformation.
Several of the pieces will be on view at The Wassaic Project opening in June, and you can see much more here. If you liked this also check out the ceramic work of Mary O’Malley. (via NOTCOT)

#funandrandom
original post...

Get Zaps and Ausome with this coupon code (48 hr)

..let's get promoting

$15 Off Zaps (including Ausome) by using coupon code ROMULUS

Back here at base we've been celebrating the Easter launch of our Ausome (AutoSocializeMe) tool and making it available as part of the Zaps toolkit.
So this Easter Monday, to help us celebrate, we've got another money-off coupon code for you. It's valid from midnight Sunday to midnight Mon (PST).

Quite a few Zazzlers have been looking into it, reading up about it, watching the slideshow video tutorials for Zaps and for the free version of Ausome.

So this savings coupon is really aimed at you, if you're one of them - even if you're not; we welcome everyone here :)

To get $15 off the normal Zaps Pro price (coupon expires 11:59pm PST) on Tuesday. Code is ROMULUS (not sensitive to case), go here and use it now!

What is Zaps?

Zaps (read more) automatically promotes Zazzle gear to your social media channels and blogs, all according to your schedules. It uses your referrer id and tracking codes wherever possible, getting your products 'out there' automatically and helping you earn.

It stands for Zazzle Automatic Promotion System (or Zazzle Auto Promo System when we're feeling lazy!)

What is Ausome?

Ausome (read more) automatically draws interesting articles from your social sources and publishes them to your social media channels and blogs according to the schedules you create.

It stands for AUtoSOcializeME, because that's what it does ;)


Happy promoting and socialising,
- automatically, wherever possible!
~~Mark (HightonRidley)