How to Avoid Online Plagiarism

Today, I want to discuss a huge issue that is online with websites and website content. Plagiarism. This tutorial is to cover how to avoid online plagiarism because many do not realize how easy it is to accidentally duplicate the same thing even if you have never seen the source.  So let's talk about how plagiarism can hurt your online business for a minute. 

Search engines have something that is called "Backlisted Sites" now this should really be called something different like "No traffic Sites" because that is what happens when you become "backlisted" from plagiarized content. If you are placed on a back list on any of the search engines your views will demolish within a 24 hours. As we can image this is something no business or blogger wants to see happen to them, so the question is how do you avoid plagiarism? What happens when you honestly did not know you copied someone's content? How do you know if you have copied someone's web content? Well I'm going to answer all of this and more now.

1.        If you know your taking someone's work like a news article, or some type of information you feel readers need to see avoid plagiarism by referencing the source. This is simple to do. Name of the original Author, Date, and Link to original post. This is honestly just being honest and being respectful of the person whom wrote it.

2.    Copyright your website and any content you put online if you do not your putting yourself at risk of being copied. HTML code for the copyright  © sign: ©  Put this on your website, blog, pictures, and more or you can become the next victim of plagiarism. 

3.        What if you are not sure if anything is plagiarized on your website? How do you check this? Thankfully, there are many plagiarism checkers available online. Some ask you to copy and paste in content to find if there is anything on the web that is exactly the same. Now of course words like "like, sell, online, free, etc" will always show up plagiarized because of how many sites use these. The main point is to make sure your not fully plagiarizing a source. 

Here are a Few Sites where you can check this: 

http://www.copyscape.com/prevent.php

http://www.duplichecker.com/

http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/

Each link offers a different way of checking. Now I typically use all of them because I want to keep my site as original as possible and mine with as little similar phrases as possible. Which is why I am constantly changing it and making it better. 

4.      What if you run into a website that really looks close to yours??? Now what? Well as I was searching for a lot of these links for my own use, I found a similarity tester. This looks for how similar your website is with someone else's. I have tried this one 1 time with a friends site just to see what would happen for this tutorial and it picks up on a percentage of how similar your site is. Of course my friends site was completely different but you will still see a similarity of like 5% if your using common phrases which is typically the problem with anyone. 

I've been plagiarized Now What???

Now that you know your site has been plagiarized what do you do with this. (I'm hoping no one ever faces this but its the web and anything is possible here). 

1.      If the website that has copied or stolen something from you has contact information kindly message them and ask them to remove it. Now I must warn you this can blow up in the sense of the person becomes angry so be prepared for the worst situation.

2.   If they have no contact information try e-mailing them with webmaster@domain name.com this typically sends it to the webmaster of the site. 

3. First 2 fails, use the Whois database because 99% of the time those whom register a domain have a Whois listing. 

4. Now its time to contact the web hosting company and inform them that this website has copied your work and you want it removed.              

5. Worst case scenario you can file a form through google that will take the site off search engines sometimes this is best if the person continues to copy you in some way and all your efforts to resolve this issue with the web site owner fails. 

Personally, I would much rather receive a message kindly letting me know I have the same content as someone else than someone jumping over me thinking I would be rude. Now granted you never know how someone else will act but that really is a chance I would rather take than have my website backlisted just because someone could not take the time to message me. I typically change my website once a month in some way to ensure its new, fresh, etc. and prefer that message from a kind person than anything else.

I hope no one has to ever use this but just in case this is how you can prevent it.

Thanks for reading and Please Follow the Blog for regular Updates on New Blog Posts. 

What Should I Put on My Website???

You have decided to get yourself a website? Congratulations to you! Now your stuck on what important aspects should be put on your website. How do you determine the most important parts of a website? What facts need to be on the website and what should be left off? 

Starting a website can be a daunting task no matter who you are or how much experience you have because there is so much a person needs to put on one website to make it engaging. Today I am going to share the most important aspects a person should aim for. I will be assuming you are here to sell on a website in which I will be focusing on the main aspects one needs to accomplish this.

1. Home Page

Introduce your Business, show what you do (slideshow, few pictures, slider, etc.)

Make sure you have verifications of your payment methods (i.e. paypal verification logo, etc.)

Explain why your the best and not someone else.

Make it user friendly and engaging. Show the person viewing your site for the first time that your the right person for the job.

2. About Page

The about page should not be boring little facts about you lived for years without money and now I make bunches (its not that type of about page). Make it interesting but NEVER LIE. Tell them who you are as an owner and person. Where you are located. Do you have hours of operation or chat hours? State those. How can a Person Reach you? Do not just talk about yourself this is a business here.  When did your business open? Why did you open then? Any special or significant information about the business viewers might want to know?

3. Store Policies

What are your Store Policies? What Payment Method do you Offer? Paypal? Credit Card? Debit Card? Check? Money Order? So forth. What is your Return Policy? Your Shipping Procedure? How long does it typically take you before you ship an item that is sold? 

How can a person reach you if they are having difficulties Paying for an item at checkout? 

4. Services

List your Services and break them down as far as you can break them down. The more you explain what you do and how you do it the better off you will be.

5. Contact Page

How does a Person Contact You??? Do you have a Contact Form or some way for a person to easily get in touch with you? If not you need to. 

6. Store

Make sure your Store Policies are Always accessible no matter where a person is on your website. Next list your items typically lower price to higher priced items or categorize them in some form that helps your viewers out. Never just throw an item on a store.  Include Like buttons, share buttons, and more. Allow viewers to let others know they like your items. 

7. What to Not Put On Your Site.

No one wants to know what you did over the weekend, or how much money you are making. This will turn a potential customer and have them running for the hills. Viewers do not want to know if this is the prettest thing they have ever saw, or the fanciest, as you can tell know one wants to read words like this. Is it marvelous? Gorgeous? Outstanding? 

Make your content clean, clear, and easy to read. Never use wild fonts or crazy colors we don't want to see this. 

Another important note if your going to sell you either need an 800 number or a chat box where clients can get you quickly and easily. The Chat Box can be used for free depending on which type you want and how you want to interact with viewers. 

Always use information that can be verified or ways of allowing people to know you are real and that you are a business. 

How Social Media Sites Can Help Your Business

Hello Everyone! Today I wanted to write about How Social Media Sites Can Help Your Business out and why it can help you out in business. I bet you never thought that facebook or twitter could help increase your business. Well today I want to share a few great sites and how they can better help you out and save you loads of time. After all social media sites are there to help you reach more people why wouldn't you want to do the same for your business?

First off here's the secret to anything: Stop selling everyone what you have. Your probably thinking are you crazy? I want sales! Yes you do and so do I, but when you talk about sales or want to buy this people get turned off very fast. Its great to inform people of sales or discounts but don't do this a hundred times over. Its not worth it to your business. 

So what do I want to do if I' m not trying to sell? Network grow that network! What do I mean? The more fans, followers, etc. the better off your words will be reached by hundreds of thousands. Why Should you Care? Because if your talking about things people want to hear about the more likely they will come back and keep reading. Okay and? Well reading can turn into talking that can turn into a sale. Never try to make someone feel like they must buy from you or its the end of the world. 

Give people the facts! Don't sugar coat it or lie people will find out then you have a bad reputation. Tell the truth and be yourself. Don't act like a rock star or a super model because that's fake and any person can tell your fake even online.

All of these sites I state below are great for 2 reasons Networking & Views. Something everyone should keep in mind. But your ONLY after Networking!

First let us start with the all so famous Facebook Social Media Site. 

As a business you definitely want a facebook business page if you do not have one it is free to create this page. Make sure you do because that in itself will help you out. Now you want to make sure you drive likes to your page because likes will help you reach more people every day. After all the more people you can reach the better your business can be. 

How can Facebook Help My Business? Did you realize that there are millions of potential customers on Facebook? If not, know you do. Those millions of potentials need to be turned into reality. Set up a separate account so friends stay in one place and business avenues in another. Never try to mix the 2!

Don't post 24/7 people hate that! We want to hear the interesting parts like, who you are personally, where your from, why should we trust you, why should we buy from you? When you answer these in short sentences and help people to know you your chances of going further increases.


Now Twitter oh how we should love twitter. 

Twitter not only allows you to reach more people but your impact can be major unlike facebook. Remember what you put on there should be about your business and why people should trust you. If no one trusts you then your not driving potential clients your business. 



The BIG ONE! Use www.hootsuit.com (Free service) There are 2 out there one you pay for one is free. This service allows you to schedule Facebook Posts, Twitter Updates, Linkedin, and more (except for Pinterest). If your looking to drive people schedule them often but not every hour no one wants to see the same post every hour its very boring and blows peoples feeds up like crazy.


Now on to some other sites that will help.

Use www.rebelmouse.com 


Another great social media site similar to pinterest but your going to stick your items. Stick away but don't stick the same item more than once if you do clean house. Its simple really. Keep things organized, neat, and clutter free. The more clean your boards are the better off people will view your items.

Why Use RebelMouse??? The answer is simple you can receive thousands of views a month from this site just people you stuck your items there. GREAT RIGHT? Believe me you can, because I do you just have to work for it.


Stumbleupon.com is okay but your really not going to get a lot of views with them.

Tumblr.com another great site to use. 


Very similar to Twitter. Set your site and go crazy. You will get a couple hundred views from it to. But remember its not views your really after its networking.

Linkedin is great for networking as well. 


Use this to connect with collegues to increase your network. Remember networking is great.

You can also try Cup of Coffee Network although its not as known as facebook or any of the others it does seem to help a small amount.


Do you have any sites you would like to recommend??? If so please Comment so others know what is out there. 

As always thank you for stopping in for today's new tutorial/how to and learning more to help your business. 

Feel free to subscribe!

Etsy as a Seller. Part 2

Yesterday, I went over how to successfully list an item on Etsy and what each step you should take in the listing part. 

What if you want more? Need More? Than just a place to sell? What about networking? Friends? So forth. Etsy actually offers a wide variety of great aspects you just have to look in the right places. So let's go over a few of these great aspects.


Once you log in to your Etsy account you should be able to see a line of aspects at the top including: 

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Sell
• Registry
• Community
• Blogs
• Mobile
• Gift Cards

Now if you were to hover your mouse over Community you would also see Events, Teams, Forums, etc.

Teams now this is one big aspect I want to take a moment to talk about. 

Teams are formed to help you get there in your business. From business topics to promoting your items. I for one, personally use teams and am a captain of 2 teams. Promoting your Friends and Crazy About Crochet. Why? There is a whole world on Etsy many do not know about. These teams can get you further and help you when you need it.

What are Forums? Forums are there to help you learn great aspects of business from sales to wholesale, the difference between wholesale and resale, how to price your items, to regular business topics. 

I highly recommend you check out both the Teams and Forums join as many as you want they are not limited. 

Etsy even has blogs a great aspect to use as well. Post on there, help yourself out, but be friendly when doing so. 

Always remember every website typically has more to offer than the first so be sure to always check around every site don't be afraid to click the wrong button be afraid to not click a button.

If you have an idea for a post please feel free to contact me or comment below. I love keeping this blog fresh and will do everything I can to bring you what you need or want. 

Etsy as a Seller Part 1.

Etsy as a Seller!

I was requested by a friend of mine to post this to help out with new comers to Etsy or those that have been there for awhile but never had the chance to look around. This post will be covered in a 2 or 3 part post. First part featured here. 

Whether your new or old to Etsy some may be questioning what is it? What should I do to optimize my views? What should I do to help myself? How do I navigate? 

Etsy so what is it? In a nut shell, a place to sell handmade and vintage items to buyers from around the world. 

The important aspects you need to know to start selling on Etsy:

1. What type of items do you want on your shop?

2. What payment method do you want, Direct Checkout (goes to your bank account) or Paypal?

3. Are you able to conduct business in other languages? 

Now once you have these basics answered it comes down to some major understanding. First, how to list items to help you reach more people. Let's look at this.

Now there is a tiny bit not shown of which is did you make this item you are listing? Is it made to order? What category does it fall under? 

Make sure you get this accurate from the start.

Now this section you are looking at: Variations? Does this item come in different sizes, colors, etc?

If so put it there. 

Title: Explain your item in less than 25 words. 

What is it? Similar to one of mine: "custom blog design multitude of options"

Description:
1st State: What it is
2nd: How did you make it
3rd: Is there a reason why you made it like this?
4th: Care Instructions
5th: Anything extra you think a buyer might want to know.

Shop Sections: Categories for your items you are selling. Categorize properly.

Now this section is very important as it will either help your views or hurt them.

First I typically leave the Recipient portion blank no need for that unless you necessarily want to target only certain people, children, women, men, etc.

Occasion, now you only need to use this if your doing something for wedding, party, etc. Make sure the item you are listing is only for this specific occasion if not leave it blank.

Style: Basically allows you to break down what style it is, country western, etc.

The next portion is very important: 

Tags: In a nut shell how can you describe your item very easy and shortly, this will give you more views if done correctly. It is very similar to a post I did about Meta Keywords for SEO. 

Take a look at these Keywords: 

Tags

Everything Else Graphic Design Web Designblog design custom blog design blogger designblog template custom blogger web designcustom blog custom design everything elseashleychapmandesigns blogger blogWeb Design Set

These are ways that if a person types in Etsy's Search Bar will help bring them to me. 

Great right. Jump on in and start your first store or enhance the store you already have. 

This will cover the adding a new item to your shop and next I will cover the extra features of Etsy and how it will be help you.

How to Change the Background Color of an Image

Hello and welcome to another great tutorial created by Ashley Chapman Designs, Ashley herself. Today I am focusing my attention on how to quickly and easily change the background color of an image by using some wonderful features available within Photoshop CS6. I know personally, that there are many times when a person needs to change the background color, perhaps you took the photo on a white background but now the color is distorted and off white/grey. Maybe you took the picture on a colored background and do not like it, no matter the reason for changing the background, I plan to make this tutorial as simple and as easy as can be. 

First Step- Open Photoshop CS6. If you do not have Photoshop CS6 you can try it FREEfor 30 days through www.adobe.com There is a trial version available; however, if you do like the program you have 2 options from there, pay the full price which honestly is expensive or pay $50 a month and get all adobe products available to use.

Step 2: Locate the File Button: (Note: file button is located at top left side of photoshop or PS for short). Click File & then Click Open  (Open the picture you want to change the background of.

Once you open your file by browsing your computer like you would any other time you will get a picture in Photoshop CS6 like this. 

The next step we will take is to locate a button on the left side tool bar menu.

Now Locate the Quick Selection Tool-see picture below. Your tools bar will not be popped out like mine as I popped mine out to give you a better, clear picture of what to click.

Okay, so how do I use the Quick Selection Tool?  The Quick Selection Tool will help you to select the area you want to keep as we will be working with a little easier method of changing a background.

Now, with your Quick Selection Tool selected put your curser on the image you want to keep, click and drag until the entire image is covered.

Oh No! It selected the entire image, now what??? Don’t panic yet there is an easy button to fix this problem takes a little time but it is easily workable.

Hold Down your Alt key on the keyboard and click on the background image that is not supposed to be kept. Only have the image you want kept selected. See picture below.

Now with the image you want to keep and not change (yet) we will need to locate a new button. Refine Edges… this is always located at the very top. See picture below for location of Refine Edges Button.

Now inside the window for Refine Edges you need to located 2 buttons that I want you toclick on.

1 st button: Smart Radius (make sure there is a check inside this button.

2 nd button: Decontaminate Colors (make sure there is a check inside this button)

Once you hit okay your image will look like this:

The final step to this tutorial is to tell PS you want a background to it. This will be accomplished by clicking on the Create New Fill at the very right hand bottom of the screen below the color swatches and layers.

The Create New Fill is the circle button in the very middle. 

Once you locate this button go ahead and click on it. Once you click on it scroll all the way up to the Solid Color. 

Click on Solid Color.

Now choose the color you want for your new background. 

When you click okay it will not show your image Do Not Worry. We have to rearrange the layers to make it show but this is really the fastest way to get a new background perfectly.

Oh No! My Image is not viewable now.

The layers are located on the right hand side below the color swatches. See picture below for details

Now this part is fairly easy and you really cannot get it wrong. The very top layer says Color Fill 1 directly below it says Background Copy

Last and Final Step:

Click and Drag on the Color Fill 1 Layer to directly below the Background Copy Layer. Let Go and Your Image Is Back!

If you notice the layers now on the right hand side I have moved the Color Fill 1 Layer to directly below the Background Copy Layer and now my image is back and with the background I chose.

It is as easy as that. If you have difficulties, would like a copy of this tutorial to save please comment below and I will e-mail you a PDF File containing this tutorial.


Ashley Chapman Designs Thanks you very much for Tuning in to this tutorial.

Have a Wonderful Day!

How to Price your Handcrafted Items

The one thing I hear from a lot of people is "I am getting sales but, not making enough off the items" or the famous, "how do I know I am pricing my items at a good price?" The truth is there is no wrong way to price an item, the difference is who you are and what you feel is right for you and what you have to offer. Ask yourself this questions: "Would I pay for this item at this price?" If the answer is yes the likelihood of others paying for that item is better. Although, remember each person is not the same. 

Let's talk about some baseline ways to price your items:

1. Know what the person down the street charges for the same service. You can find this out by visiting this website link and putting in your information.  http://www.salary.com/category/salary/


2. Keep close track of how much you are spending for each item. Example: Materials, time, etc.

$4.00 for Ball of Yarn 2 hours creating it $15 gas to and from town, etc. 

3. What do you want your profit to be? How much money do you want to make on each job? $10, $20, $30, etc. 

Danielle from Etsy has devised a formula that many seem to like including myself, although I do use my own formula of where I feel comfortable at in charging for items and services. 

Danielle’s Formula:

Materials + Labor + Expenses+ Profit = Wholesale x2= Retail – baseline formula for pricing

Now for a little break down of this formula. What this formal asks for is the following:

1. How much were the materials?
2. How long did you work on it (your hourly wage)? 
3. Expenses, electric, cell phone, etc?
4. What is your profit?
This will equal Wholesale
Now you times wholesale by 2 and that gives you retail which is the price for a baseline product. 

Danielle has even devised a worksheet for figuring the formula. You can view and print this document here: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/files/2012/05/TheArtofPricingWorksheet.pdf

To learn more about Danielle’s Formula and to see what she had to say about pricing please follow this link provided here: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/a-simple-formula-for-pricing-your-work/

My Formula I devised that will work on handmade items only: 

Materials + Etsy Listing Fee+ Etsy Sale Fee+ Paypal Fee x2= Price. – baseline formula for your price. 

1. How much did you pay for the materials?

2. Etsy Listing Fee

3. Etsy Sale Fee

4. Paypal Fee

Multiply by 2 and get the Baseline price. 

Advanced Search Engine Optimization

               Yesterday, I went over the importance of Search Engine Optimization and how it can better help your web ranking with search engines such as google.com, yahoo.com, and more. Today, I am going to go further into how to get your site SEO ready and how to start increasing your views immediately. Now most of you will be able to do this on your own; however, if you need someone to help with this or do it for you please feel free to e-mail me and hire me for it. (E-mail: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com) 

Let us begin working and increase your views within a short time frame. If you have not already read yesterday's post on Search Engine Optimization, Please do that Now then come back to this post. 

Is going to help us throughout this process. I will explain exactly what you are looking at and what you want to see. Please go ahead and pop up http://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html

This website is known as a Meta Tag Analyzer what this means is that there are spiders (real name of it) that crawls your site each day we want to make sure these spiders can really find your site and easily. 

To begin:

Each website that is viewed by others will be put through the test here. Meaning, home page, about, etc. all web addresses will be used for your site. 

We will be using my website for comparison and understanding of what each term means. Once you learn this you should be able to duplicate it. 

First page we will look at is my home page. 

Link is: http://www.ashleychapmandesigns.com/   ( copy and put inside of the Meta Tag Analyzer please. ( or if you can follow along use your own)

Add the verification number and hit Submit.

Once you hit submit you will see something like this below:

color = Error   color = Warn   color = Good

Status. Status: 200 OK Web Server: Apache Content Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Charset: UTF-8 Content Length: 24179

Meta tags report for: http://www.ashleychapmandesigns.com/ meta tag length value Title:  29 Ashley Chapman Designs - Home Description:  155 Web Design, Custom Web Design, Blog Design, business cards, brochures, flyers, newsletters, wedding invitations, announcements, print design, online store, Keywords:  255 starting a business, custom web design, blog design, social media icons, custom blog design, banner, avatar, blog post feed, blog post, blogger, blogger design, blogger template, buttons, social media buttons, facebook buttons, web design, business cards,

Meta tags analysis. Title: Title contains no errors. This tag contains 29 characters. Title relevancy to page content is excellent. The Title relevancy to page content is 100%. Description: Description meta tag contains no errors. This tag contains 155 characters. Description meta tag relevancy to page content is very good. The Description meta tag relevancy to page content is 95%. Keywords: Keywords meta tag contains no errors. This tag contains 19 keywords and 255 characters. Keywords meta tag relevancy to page content is good. The keywords meta tag relevancy to page content is 79%.

Web page analysis. The size of the web page. The size of the web page is 24179 bytes. The web page load time. The web page load time is 2 seconds.

Let's go over this one by one and explain what you are looking at. 

You want everything to show green like this if it is red fix the area's it tells you to or that are red. Need help ask me!

1st: Title The title states what I have as the Home page Title nothing fancy there.  As you can see there are different boxes the one with the header that says Meta Tags Analysis, Title Shows no errors and contains 29 Characters. (GOOD). Relevance of Page Content is 100% this is what you want to see every time. Meaning your page and the title match perfectly.

2nd: Description: The description is where you set what is on your page, I must stress use words that are on your page not just anything that pops in your head. My home page description states I have 155 Characters with no errors. This is great. The meta tag relevance to page content is a 95% ( you want this number to be between 90 and 100%) 

To get your Description Meta Tag Relevance between 90 % and 100 % you must make sure to use words that are on your page in the content area use them as often as you can on the page. Do not make it sound like a robot but make sure you have words that are on your page 2 to 5 times and those words are put in the description 1 time a piece. 

3rd: Keywords: Keywords are what you will use to describe the content of your page (use words that are in the content) make these words strong and make sure they are found in the content area of the page. View the keywords I have take note of these and what is on my home page that will better explain what you are looking for with your own. 

It shows I have Keywords meta tag contains no errors.
This tag contains 19 keywords and 255 characters. This is really good. Now your percent may not always be 100% on this one or even past where mine is just make sure it is past 70% it will put you higher up. 

Keywords meta tag relevancy to page content is good.
The keywords meta tag relevancy to page content is 79%.

Again, we see the meta tag relevance to page content this is because everything you use for the SEO of your site has to be related to the content on your page. If the content is not related to your Title, Description, and Meta Keywords the likelihood of you being found through a search drops and let's face it we can not afford to loose out on views. 

If you need more help in this area, would like to hire me to set up your SEO Package on your website, or have more questions please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at: ashleychapmandesigns@aol.com Put Subject line as SEO Help from Design Addiction (please). 

Credits:

Credit given to Teresa Delosh from Teresa's Country Treasures for helping with this blog post. 

Thank you for participating Teresa and helping out with this blog post. Much thanks.