SEO next steps: time to build some links

I've been merrily working at my SEO over the last few weeks, ever since I wrote my first post on the subject. When I say merrily, I of course mean doggedly typing and clicking to amend my page titles, meta descriptions and add keywords (not too many, mind you).

And the result? www.scarfenvy.com now ranks #1 for... "scarf envy". Whoop-de-doo. I rank somewhere in the depths of Hell itself for anything useful like "scarves" and "scarf". Here's the whole sad shebang in a nice little table:

The pink and green denote worsening or improving ratings compared to the last time I checked. And for "scarf envy uk" it's my Freeindex entry that's rating #1, so that's OK. Not doing bad on "statement scarves" now and that is totally down to the SEO work I have done - I ranked nowhere on that before I started. But honestly, how many people search for "statement scarves"?

So, how can I improve my rankings for "scarves" or "scarf"? I think getting some links back to the site is the answer, so I have been trying to work on that. I've set up a Scarf Envy blog on Tumblr and I've been posting photos of celebrities wearing scarves and street-style shots that feature scarves. I'm getting a fair few reblogs, but I have no idea if this helps at all in the grand scheme of things.

The blog is at blog.scarfenvy.com. Is this is a mistake in itself? Am I merely creating link juice for the wrong URL entirely? I do have a prominent link to the shop on the blog and vice versa.

I'm also commenting on various fashion blogs as myself, giving blog.scarfenvy.com as my URL. I ummed and ahhed about using the main domain, but decided against that because it looks too spammy to me.

Right now I'm wondering whether I should create a "normal" blog and just have links to Scarf Envy on Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. I just don't know. Any ideas? Forget the whole thing and flog the scarves on a market stall? (Joke. Kind of.)

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Perfect last minute Valentine's for the geek in your life

Forgotten to get your geek a Valentine's card? Here's a quick way to make him or her smile:

Obviously you send the linked heart in a message, not the graph itself. If you're not as geeky as your other half (or me), here's what you need to know:

• How to type ♥ on your keyboard = Alt + 3 (on your numberpad)
• What to link it to = http://bit.ly/AFrhoT, which is the graph on Google

Just sent mine to ORM via email. Time will tell if he notices/responds/swoons (it's just not gonna happen, folks).

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Virtual Community Summit 2012: The Awards!

Yesterday was the inaugural Virtual Community Summit, held in the beautiful (but ever so chilly) Royal Institute of Great Britain. And great it was. Fantastic speakers and lively panel discussions galore and - most importantly - a live twitter feed (#vircomm12). The latter being the most fun a group of community managers can have in an enclosed space.

I was manning the twitter feed looking for questions from virtual attendees to put to the speakers and panelists. Turns out I was supposed to be watching some other gizmo for that, but when I checked that first thing it wasn't loading for me and I promptly forgot all about it. Apologies to the 5 people who have pressing questions unasked/answered. 

I also stepped in to be the mic passer-arounder while new-found friend Sarah went to one of the sessions in the other room, but I sucked at that too. Andy was just too damn fast on his feet for me and I didn't manage to proffer my mic to anyone. Shame really, I was looking forward to some pretend roving reporter antics.

(I did the copywriting for the website too; I may not be the best volunteer, but I'm nothing if not eager.)

I am sure plenty of the more academic attendees will provide proper commentary to the content of the various sessions, panels and round tables (no tables at all, quite a misnomer), so I will not. I will, however, proffer my suggestions for the Vircomm Summit 2012 Awards:

Best Quote of the Day: "Smiling from the wrists down" by Emma Monks

Best Supporting Quote of the Day: "I'm smiling from the ankles up" by Sarah Broughton

Best Evil Overlord: Patrick O'Keefe (aka Big Giant Head):

Award for Services to Writers: "You can train great writers to be social, but you can't necessarily train great socialisers to write" by Dominic Sparkes (We writers-turned-community managers thank you!)

Most Alarming Tweet Sent to Me: "I saw you on the live feed"

Joint Award for Great Event Planning: Oxana Morozowska & Rebecca Newton

And finally...

Most Uplifting Quote of the Day: "There has never been a better time to be a community manager" by Tamara Littleton 

Thanks to everyone; a great day was had by all. Looking forward to next year already!

Now, how to customise the free tote bag...

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SEO: my first steps in search engine optimisation

Most people do things like painting, reading or playing computer games in their downtime. I sell scarves. Or rather I try to sell scarves. I have an online scarf shop called Scarf Envy, filled with beautiful neck candy. It looks good, functions well, but if no one knows it's there, those scarves are going to gather virtual dust on their virtual shelves.

See, doesn't it look pretty?

I have dabbled with Google Adwords in the past, but I've put that on hold for a while until I have time to really get to grips with it. I don't want to be spending money on something without understanding why it is or isn't working.

I know that SEO - search engine optimisation - is important. I've read up about it in great detail, even reading a top secret e-book by a supposed SEO guru that was smuggled to me by a friend. I've changed my page titles and rewritten my product descriptions. The result? If you search "scarf envy" I come up first. Big deal.

Sadly, if you search "scarves" or "scarf" my shop doesn't show up even in the first 30 pages of results (I gave up after that and had a cup of tea). Doesn't help restricting to UK results either. Ho hum.

So, I am now setting myself a goal. I want to be in the top 5 pages of UK results by the end of March for "scarves". I'm going to start by changing my page titles, having noticed that the top results all had quite lengthy titles along these lines:

Shop Name | Women's scarves and wraps | Accessories 

Wish me luck and please feel free to pass on any tips in the comments!

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Choose Any Key

We've all seen them - listings on eBay that seem a too good to be true. Someone I know very well (I shan't name and shame them, but feel free to share guesses) fell foul of such a listing yesterday. Not a major disaster considering the cost of the item, but definitely worthy of a poem:

Choose Any Key

Buy It Now, just 99p!
Now, that is a bargain.
Buy It Now, just 99p!
It is the one I wanted...
Buy It Now, just 99p!
OK, I've bought it, it's mine.

Buy It Now, just 99p!
An as-new Mac keyboard.
Buy It Now, just 99p!
3 to 5 days to get here.
Buy It Now, just 99p!
Hang on, the seller's emailed...

Buy It Now, just 99p!
"Trust you read the details?"
Buy It Now, just 99p!
"In which case, please let me know,"
Buy It Now, just 99p!
"Which key it was that you're wanting?"

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Watching trash on TV

I like watching TV. To be more exact, I like watching soaps and English detective programmes. I do enjoy choice shows from the US too, like House and The Big Bang Theory (I urge you to try the latter if you are at all geeky), but if I want to relax and forget about the world, it's EastEnders, Casualty and Lewis that are my escapist pleasures.

With this in mind, here's today's poem:

Trash on TV

I have a confession to proffer, 
It's a cheap little habit, nay free,
But I totally can't stop watching 
all the trash that's on the TV.
I know it isn't terribly highbrow,
But I care not one little jot.
I'd rather be watching EastEnders,
than learning about atoms from Cox.


Yesterday I did the ironing,
In front of old friend, Casualty,
But I got so engrossed in the action.
That I burnt a hole in your T (shirt).
Now come on, don't get all arsey,
It 'twas but an accident.
Next time I'll watch something quieter,
With more of a scholarly bent.


But really, who am I kidding? 
You're out tonight, the plasma's all mine!
I've got the iPlayer primed and ready,
And I'll be square-eyed at least until 9 (or maybe even later). 
Tomorrow I'll buy a TV guide,
And plan something clever to view,
But today I'll eat twiglets and chocolate,
And perhaps watch a Lewis or two.

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Linocut printing without cutting lino (tutorial)

Ta da! Two "linocut" cards for your viewing pleasure.

Every year I want to make my own Christmas cards, but never actually get round to it. I then spend the rest of the festive season wishing I had got my arse in gear. This year I have finally done it and made not one, but four different designs! This is a tutorial for the technique I hashed together for my first two designs. I may or may not do further tutorials for the other designs depending on how the mood takes me.

It's my first tutorial, so please bear with me. The photos are awful, but I had only a camera phone and a toddler "assistant" at my disposal. Feel free to ask questions if it doesn't make sense. And if you're a bona fide linocutter, I apologise for bastardising your fine craft.

Equipment & Materials

• Foam tray
• Greaseproof paper or tracing paper
• HB pencil
• Sticky tape
• Pointy implement for poking said plate
• Acyrlic paintor ink
• Paintbrush
• Random vaguely Christmassy yarn and embroidery thread for embellishment
• Can of hairspray or other cylindrical object
• Blank cards

Step 1

Foam pizza base thingy and a foam plate.

Spend a lot of time thinking about what you could use instead of lino for linocutting. Waste more time googling linocutting kits and recoiling in horror over price. Finally remember that the pizza you had two days ago had a foam plate and root through rubbish bin to retrieve it.

Step 2

Robin card sketch.

Having already had your "ah ha!" design moment in the shower, sketch your design on a random piece of paper. It doesn't need to be a work of art - simple and bold is the way to go. Then draw round your card blank and be happy that fortune has smiled on you and it will fit on the cards all nicely.

Step 3

Design traced on to greaseproof paper, minus some details.

Trace your design on to the greaseproof paper that you've liberated from the kitchen. Make sure you cut off only the small square that you need so that there will be a funny and not really usable shape for any future legitimate cooking purpose.

Step 4

Transferring the design to the foam plate.

Stick your greaseproof paper to the foam plate with the tape. Scribble over the design to transfer it to the plate. It helps if you have turned the paper over first so that you are not simply obliterating your efforts.

Step 5

Ready to poke? Yes, siree!

Grasp your poking implement - I used a blunt probe from my old Zoology dissection kit - and carefully poke around the design. Once you've gone around the whole thing, gleefully poke, poke, poke in all the white space and squash it down with the handle of your poking device. This step can prove satisfyingly annoying to your other half who is playing an equally annoying racing game on the PS3.

Step 6

Ink up your block. I used acrylic paint.

Cut round your newly created printing block and tape it to the table. Carefully apply paint with paintbrush and lay a piece of scrap paper over the block. Squash it down with your fingers, being careful not to move it. Then roll over it with your can of hairspray (no, don't bodily roll over it while holding the can...).

Step 7

Carefully does it. Ooh the anticipation...

Peel back the paper and behold the wonder that is your printed design! If you're happy with it, repeat step 6 with your blank cards. I managed to eke 19 cards out of mine, but after that the printed image was getting too fuzzy. 









Step 8

Embellish away, my friends!

Once the cards have dried, embellish them however you see fit - I used a red ink pencil and some sparkly yarn from my stash for one design and some embroidery thread for the other.

Step 9

Dither about how to print the greeting inside and wonder if you will actually manage to post them before the last posting date. Finally decide to use some proper stamps and then wait impatiently for them to arrive in the post. Continue waiting and start waking up in the night panicking about it. [Note: still waiting...]

And there you have it. If you try this out I'd love to see your efforts.

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Ceiling trapdoor TV

How's this for a neat way to hide the TV when it's not in use? Not to mention a sure fire way to keep those sticky fingers off your flatscreen.

This one is part of a bedroom remodelling carried out by Dijeau & Poage construction company in San Francisco. Reckon you could do it yourself with a bit of thought and careful DIY though. Just make sure it's really, really securely fixed up there...

(via Unplggd)

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Keeping bath toys mould-free

This is not something I'd normally post about here, but when I was bathing my son last night I was reminded of the endless experiments we ran to stop our bath toys growing that scourge of the bathroom, black mould (mold). Mr Crafty Cactus reckons this is something that other people would like to know and I think he's right*.

I've always squeezed out all the water from the toys after a bath and that is important. However, it's not enough to stop the mould. Keeping the toys in a net to dry doesn't seem to make much difference and as ours kept falling down, I have abandoned it. Our toys now sit on the windowsill, usually lined up neatly by Mr V (anything to avoid getting out of the bath).

I tried using a weak disinfectant solution on the toys when they got mouldy. It made no difference to the mould and just served to worry me further. I didn't want Mr V ingesting mould, but I certainly didn't want him ingesting disinfectant. Those toys went in the bin (one by one, so they weren't missed).

Finally, Mr Crafty Cactus became interested. And of course solved the problem, so as to gain maximum smug points. What did he do? He first boiled all the toys in a large saucepan. I've got one I keep for dyeing things, so he used that. Then he made sure that each toy was full of water and microwaved them for a bit.

He did this a few months back and so far, no sign of the black stuff. I've continued to squeeze all the water out of the little blighters after each bath, but otherwise we've done nothing else. Problem solved. Hoorah.

As for non-slip bathmats, we just take ours out and lay it over the tub, sucker side up when it's not in use. No mould there either.

*I do have a slight concern that we are the only people worrying about this. Are we?

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Amigurumi cacti in crackle glaze pots

Julie over at Gleeful Things created these adorable amigurumi cacti for her mother and grandmother. I really should get round to making some myself - I've been thinking that a selection of ami cacti would make a great header.

Julie also did the crackle glazing on the pots - have a go yourself by following her tutorial.

If you fancy making your own ami cacti, there's a free pattern for a similar cactus over at Ana Paula's Amigurumi Patterns & Random Cuteness.

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Pixellated PacMan cufflinks

Novelty cufflinks are nothing new, but these pixellated lovelies are surely something else! I love the idea of geek-chic things like this, things that most people won't notice that you can wear safe in the knowledge of your own geek supremacy.

Perhaps Mr Crafty Cactus needs some of these for Fathers' Day. If you or your man want need some of these, amble over to BeauJangles' stall on Makers Market. The Space Invaders are pretty neat too.

(via Craft)

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Fabulous fireworks print chair revamp

I just love furniture revamps and here's one that features the lovely Fireworks print fabric by Jessica Jones (of How about orange...). This top job was carried out by Melissa Swanson - check out her blog post for the full details.

And don't forget to pop over to Jessica's blog while you're out and about - it's one of my RSS reader favourites.

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Minesweeper pillows with sound effects!

Everyone has wasted hours playing minesweeper when they're supposed to be doing something else more productive, but few people have gone to the effort of bringing the game into their real lives. Meet instructables member BritLive who crafted these fabulously geeky pillows.

What I like about these is that  inevitably some people who come round to your house wouldn't realise what they were. So, in effect these pillows would act as geek radar. And even the non-geeks would surely be amused by a bomb explosion upon sitting.

(via Craft)

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Omlet's beautiful Beehaus

I knew we could trust Omlet, the people behind the urban henhouse Eglu to come up with something equally cool for the wannabe bee keepers among us. And I just knew they'd give it a good name and they have not disappointed on that front - meet the Beehaus!

Now, I don't profess to know much, if anything, about keeping bees, but I was very surprised to learn that one Beehaus could produce 1,400kg of honey a year. That's a lot of sticky stuff. Omlet do suggest that you take honey instead of wine to dinner parties and with that volume to deal with, you'll definitely need to come up with some kind of plan to get shot of it.

Of course, you could sell it to help pay back the £500 plus start up cost. By my reckoning, you'll be laughing all the way to the bank once you've flogged 250 jars. And you'll still have 2,550 left to find homes for.

(via Wired magazine 06.10)

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Knitted antique chairs by Melanie Porter

Here's something that appeals to two of my favourite things at the same time - old furniture and fibre-art. Ex-knitwear designer Melanie Porter finds old chairs in auctions and markets across the UK and gives them a new lease of life through careful restoration and reupholstering before she covers them with handknitted panels.

I've chosen Henry (see left) to demonstrate Melanie's talents - a fine chair who's on-trend to boot. Alas, there are no prices on her website, so I suspect that means Henry won't be coming to live with me. But perhaps he or one of his friends could come over to your place? Melanie takes commissions too, if you've got an old Bergere that deserves a facelift.

(via guardian weekend magazine, 08.05.10)

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Lufdesign's leaf cable ties

How about this for a simple, yet brilliant idea? Cable ties with little leaves on the ends, making them both functional and attractive. With these babies on-hand you can prettify your copious cables and give up on the much harder task of hiding the messy buggers.

The Leaf Ties are the brainchild of Korea-based Lufdesign. They weren't originally planning to sell direct to the public, but because of the happy problem of lots of consumer interest they are shipping via airmail. If you're quick you might just grab some for yourself...

(via sub-studio)

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Fairy cake semi-fail

Mr V and I made some fairy cakes today (mini cupcakes). They taste great, but my attempts at icing (after Mr V had gone to bed) aren't quite so great:

I iced them all and then tried to put the sprinkles on. Turns out that doesn't work too well. I had to poke each tiny sugar star into the icing. So, next time it's ice-then-sprinkle, ice-then-sprinkle, ice-then-sprinkle etc, etc.

The recipe is from Easy to Make! Cakes and Bakes (Good Housekeeping). First one I've tried from there, but so far, so good...

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Rabbit Rattle

My friend has had her baby and while I haven't given her the presents yet (Mr V and I are holed up with a bad cold), I can share my latest makes with you because she hasn't mastered being online and breastfeeding just yet. First up, a crochet rabbit rattle.



Over-reaction Man (new name for hubby, hereafter known as ORM) took the photos outside for me. I think the one in the tree came out best, but it makes the rattle look deformed, hence sharing both images. (Side note: if only the weather was like that now - it's hideous outside today, storm central.)

The pattern was from Crochet Today May/June '09 by Vicki Howell and should have looked like this:



Mine came out quite differently, as you can see. But as a wise woman
once said: "There's no such thing as the crochet police". So there.

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I'm back and I'm crafting again

I'm not going to apologise for not posting - it seems every second blog has such a post - but suffice it to say that I'm back and I'm making stuff. Not right this second, of course, but later today and yesterday and no doubt tomorrow as well. I can't share what I'm making just yet, because it's baby stuff for my friend whose due date was yesterday. Hopefully soon!

Little update on what's happening Chez CCL: we've moved down to the Kent coast. I feel like I've come home (I'm from East Kent originally). We've rented a lovely large top floor flat which overlooks shared private gardens for local residents only (how posh!). I've set up my own business and am working from home. Hubby has got himself a swish job in the Big Smoke (yes, where we just moved from, doh!). And Mr V has settled into nursery after several false starts - he only goes three afternoons a week, but that's enough for now to give me time to get my work done.

All very exciting. Hopefully some crafting news soon :)


Photo of a local park back when we had snow (taken by Hubby).

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The Saga of the Broken Back

Due to popular request - well, OK, just Lauren then - here is the saga of my broken back.

Shortly after I started my new job in central London, I rediscovered the "joys" of travelling on the underground. For some strange reason I just didn't enjoy being packed into heaving carriages like a giant sardine, nor did I relish being late for work every damn day when we were inexplicably held in the tunnels. So, I hatched a plan.

Having seen lots of people with very cunning folding bikes on the train into London (yep, we chose to live in the sticks), I thought that I should get me one of them. After a day's careful research I decided on a badged Dahon (or perhaps it's de-badged), which is basically a really good folder, but made for another company and sold cheaper. Just 100 Great British Pounds later and I was the proud owner of said bike.



I merrily cycled from London Waterloo station to work each day for nearly two weeks. It took me a while to learn the route, but I was starting to get confident and would bore anyone who took even a vague interest with tales of my travels. But alas, this biking mania was not to last.

On March 3 I was patiently waiting to cross the road to my office, when traffic came to a standstill and a nice lorry driver beckoned me across. Across I went, but sadly did not have the sense to check the bus lane first. Bam! I was hit by a moped and deposited rather unceremoniously onto the tarmac.

I knew something untoward had happened, because I could hear myself moaning very loudly, but was powerless to shut myself up. Lots of policemen turned up - rather an excessive amount actually - and I was eventually taken to hospital.

To cut a long story short, I have a compression fracture of the 11th thoracic vertebrae. I can walk, talk etc, but I'm not allowed back on the bike yet, nor am I supposed to pick up the baby. I have been doing that lately quite a bit though and everything still works.

Silver lining to this was that I had to stop breastfeeding at night and within 3 days of Dad being in charge, VV started sleeping through the night. Who knew it could be that easy! After nearly 11 months of next to no sleep I am now a new woman, albeit one with a sore back. Hoping to get back in the saddle soon - the bike fared much better than me and is sitting, folded next to my desk at work, begging to be let out again.

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