Business Matters: Where Are You Moving Your RSS Feeds?

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With Google Reader soon closing (July 1st/13) there are just a couple of weeks left to save your Google Reader subscribers.  Do you know where you'll be taking yours? Maybe with the end of Google Reader, it's the end of RSS feeds as we see it? For now though, or until that happens, I've been trying out a few for size these past couple of months and wanted to give you a bit of my feedback.

Feedly
I jumped on the Feedly boat initially when I first heard of this all happening, transferring all of my feeds and at first I really loved the look and organizational tools.  Then I slowly realized it was really dragging my browser down, to a slow annoying level, so I subsequently removed the widget looking for higher ground.

iGoogle
I have since been using iGoogle for the blogs/sites that I read on a daily basis (approx. 40).  I've made it into my home page which basically reminds me of the frontpage of a daily newspaper.  I love this for my first glance happenings.

Pulse
I use the Pulse app for my mobile/iPad but there is a maximum of how many you can have in your sections, which makes for a similar situation like iGoogle. Not all my feeds that I have collected can be included. Just my currents.

Which leaves me to a one-size fits all?

Bloglovin'
Recently bloglovin' whom I joined a few years back offered up a super easy solution to import all of your RSS feeds. It's a simple 2-click RSS import (if you're already logged into google), Just first click here: 

http://www.bloglovin.com/import/reader

Then you'll see a pop up box that looks like this:

And then click on the "Import from Google Reader". The site then basically does the rest!  All of my 300+ feeds are uploaded there and I have been using this for my daily and/or weekly reads (usually when I have a bit more time to catch up) as well as it has a nice app when I'm going mobile.  The upload even kept all my categories intact so I didn't have to redo all of that hard work that I had already created in Google Reader.

So that's it.  What are you using? Where do you think the future of the RSS feeds are going? Maybe ending? With Google Currents or wherever Google can make more money.  Here's a good read about the future of RSS feeds.

Maybe you have something to suggest? Feel free to share!  But in the meantime, that's where I'm parking my RSS feeds.  Also - please leave me your Bloglovin' link in the comments below, so I can add you!  You can follow our feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/ISuVv (wherever the wind blows you) we'd be stoked and honoured to be included in your reader! 

And if you're on Bloglovin, you can: Follow Poppytalk on Bloglovin' HERE!

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Making It Work with Phonto

Contributor post by Meighan O'Toole

Last week I wrote about Over, a beautiful app that adds font to your images for the iOS (iPhone and iPad). But sadly it's not available for Android users (Over's creator says once they grow more -- maybe). I said I'd be back this week with an app that can do the trick for you. Here I am!

There are actually a lot of photo font apps on Android, but they're all kind of whack. They're buggy. Or they squash your picture. Or they crash. And believe me, I know! I tested a ton to make sure I bring you guys an app that can take the place of Over.

CONTINUE READING...

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Head Over Heels

Contributor post by Meighan O'Toole

Hey everyone - I 'm thrilled to introduce a new series here on the blog today written by my friend Meighan O'Toole out of Oakland, CA who has just launched her own digital strategy company for small brands and businesses at meighanotoole.com.  Meighan has a heap of experience online from running her own successful blog, My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses to Community Manager at wired.com  So please join me in welcoming her as she embarks on her own and shares with us a bit of her knowledge on social media! It'll be fun! ~Jan

I've been waiting for a very long time for an app that overlays fonts onto my images in a simple and easy way. Have you? I'm willing to bet you have.

(I understand what a tech nerd I've become when I start dreaming of apps I'd like.)

I have downloaded and used a few apps here and there that did the trick, but nothing that ever sung to me. They were just OK — but always felt really clunky. The fonts were wanting, and the ease of use was nonexistent. It was too much work for a quick and dirty image on Instagram.

So I waited. And I bet you did too.

Well, the wait is OVER. No literally it's Over.

Introducing Over, an app to add beautiful typography to your photos.

The wait has actually been over since last spring. But I only recently learned about this beautiful little app.

But I figured I can't be the only one who has missed the boat on this one. And sure enough I'm not. Many people I've since told about Over were unaware of it. Even shutterbug Victoria from sfgirlbybay was as excited as I was about discovering it.

I thought what better way to kick off my intro post introducing my series about social media here on Poppytalk!

Over made the wait worth it. Its sleek, easy to use, and wonderful to work with. It seamlessly adds beautiful, and dynamic fonts to your images in all colors, shapes, and sizes.

To get a small idea of what Over is capable of (and get totally inspired) check out their Instagram and Pinterest pages. So many fun options.

It's perfect for a small business, blogs, or anyone who wants to have fun on their phone. The app makes it simple to share to many of our favorite social sites. And the resolution is great to download to your desktop and share to other sites. (Like I did here on Pinterest.)

It's never been easier to get the word out — literally — about what you are seeing and doing.

Personally, I'm pretty obsessed with it. It was so hard to make only a handful of images for this post!

It's a smooth $1.99 in the app store. Which is a steal. I know many people get tight around spending money on apps. But here's the deal if you're grumpy about shelling out 2 bucks for a piece of software, you are supporting someone to make their dream happen. Think of it this way: you get to throw a few dollars at the developers who worked long and hard to create a really beautiful app. People just like us trying to live the dream and make something. And really, it's two dollars.

Oh and if you want to get crazy, you can drop another .99 cents and buy the extra font pack. It's worth it. I did it, and was amazed at the variety. You can preview what fonts are available before you purchase.

My one and only complaint with Over is that it's only available for iOS. I'm actually an Android owner, but I have an old iPhone I use to test apps. So if you don't have an iPhone or iPad you're out of luck as there's no plans any time soon for an Android app.

Android fans, stay tuned for next week when I demo an app that can take the place of Over.

                                        -----------------------------------------------------------

Meighan O'Toole is a Digital Strategist that lives in Oakland, CA. She helps small brands and creative individuals define their voice online through social media.
Follow her: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Google+

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Business Matters: Why Buy Handmade?

Arounna of bookhou wrote a thoughtful post today on her blog about the how much is involved in making something handmade in response to a customer who left feedback on her etsy account complaining of her pricing.  I felt it important to give her post a mention here and to direct you to her blog, where she explains the amazing effort it takes into making something handmade.  About the care and hours she (and her mother) put into making her beautiful pieces and that her prices are not for just the material (which by the way she hand prints on) but for the massive hours involved from the screen printing, the dying of the leather or the waxed totes (each strip is cut from a larger hide, they don't buy the straps pre-cut), shipping, packaging, envelopes, paper, stickers, business cards, time factored into packaging, delivering to post office, planning, designing, the list goes on.  It's sad when ignorance leaves a negative message like that on someone's work, who's heart and soul goes into making something beautiful  that they love (and her things are beautiful).  For those of you making things - it's something maybe to read to support your pricing insecurities, and for those of you who buy things, it's something to take into consideration when buying and appreciating handmade.  Click here to read her post.

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Are You Prepared for Luck?

Contributor post by Caroline and Jose of  Handcrafted Consulting

Surreal Portrait by ElleMoss

The New Year is upon us, and this time of the season we all seem to reflect on what has been, and dream a bit about what is to come. For your business, this often means ways to improve, grow, or prosper. The Roman philosopher Seneca said, in one of our most favorite of quotes, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
Opportunity happens. But the magic is in what you do with that opportunity. By being ready, willing, and able, you can say "YES! Come on in!" when luck comes knocking on your door.

CONTINUE READING...

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Book Giveaway: Blog Inc.

Photo: Joy Deangdeelert Cho - Layout - Bloesem

Friends, I have another fun giveaway to do today, this time Joy Deangdeelert Cho's latest book, Blog, Inc. - a book about how to have a successful blog published through Chronicle Books.  Times have really changed since we started out blogging (circa 2005), in fact, Joy was one of my first blog friends –and she was also very generous in offering her opinions about the blogging business when we were all first starting out, and so I'm more than happy to promote her book here today and offer a giveaway to one of our readers, courtesy of the folks from Chronicle Books!

This is a great little book, for those starting out and even for the seasoned blogger (like me) -I always believe in improving and changing with the ebb and flow of things.  So in this season of giving, I would highly recommend it for someone who is thinking of or is on the adventure that is blogging.  I remember that first year or so - it was probably the most exciting, it's just a natural progression to want to share your work, your life and in my case my appreciation for design with the world. Back in 2003/4 when I first was considering starting a blog (it took me a year or two to jump in) - I was learning communication design at Emily Carr and thought it would be a good way to catalog work that inspired me.  It was just before Etsy opened and finding beautiful design was much harder then.  I remember digging deep into the abyss of the scary old internet, running into the beautiful work of (and blogs) of Camilla Engman, Lisa Solomon, Ward-o-matic, hulaseventy, Nebo Peklo, Happy Mundane, Everybody Likes Sandwiches , Bloesem, and of course good old Design Sponge (I remember her green, orange and grey polka dotted blogger template like it was yesterday) Fun fact, I recently ran into a site (the wayback machine) a web archive of sorts where you can look at old site pages and how they looked back then - my blog circa 2006 - check it out - (click on the links too - which will take you back to what i was following - some of them are still there)!  I sort of miss those days to be honest, it was such a supportive and rather small knit community; but it's exciting to see where everyone has ventured since, from book deals to established art practices and so on.  And I'm so honoured to have Camilla, Lisa, Jeannette and Andrea drop in here every once in a while to do a post.

And so without rambling on too much - here's the details on the giveaway!  Leave a comment at this post by Wednesday, Dec. 19/12 evening 9pm (Pacific) - and I'll announce a winner Thursday, Dec. 20/12.  Anonymous/Unknown comments not eligible.  Good luck!

Blog, Inc. is available through Chronicle Books and Amazon.  I also saw it at West Elm, if time is an issue - you can pick up a copy there.

Update!  Random Generator picked comment no. 30 for the win!

Congratulations to Bree of Dream in Fashion - your comment was #30 ! Please email us with your snail mail details so we can get Joy's book out to you!  Yay! 

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Business Matters: Making a Wrong a Right: Writing a Challenging Email

Contributor post by Caroline and Jose of Paloma's Nest and Handcrafted Consulting

Print by PoolPony

In our previous post we talked about writing a well-branded email, and how the way you communicate with your customers reflects on your business. Helping out customers usually comes easy- expressing the passion you have for your products, or your eagerness to create a special piece for someone. But what happens when that customer is not a happy one? What if you made a mistake, their package arrived damaged, or your item was just not what they expected? Those emails are a bit more difficult to reply to. Not only can these situations be difficult business decisions, but can be difficult emotionally as well.  Our goal is to navigate these situations with grace, turning a it into a chance for your service to shine.

So let's say it's a Saturday morning, and you’re relaxing over your cup of coffee. You glance at your email, and there it is: a brief note from an upset customer. Your heart stops for a bit as you read about the problem they have with their order. How you respond can be a great opportunity to shine in the area of customer service.

CONTINUE READING...

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