A Friendly Obsession

                 
                          Pins Collecting

Pins are a hot collectible that offer an added advantage over other collections - they are small and do not take up much room.  Pins are available in many motifs and themes.  Some of the most collectible themes are Disney characters, sports teams, and Hard Rock Cafe.  The first rule of pin collecting is to specialize.  If you like the San Diego Padres baseball team, for instance, you can start pin collecting with souvenir pins that celebrate this team.  And just because these themes are popular doesn't mean you have to collect them.  Be original and collect what you like.


Many pins are centered around modern entertainments, but many pin collecting enthusiasts collect campaign pins from election campaigns.  Buttons are a similar item and are collected by many of the same people who do pin collecting.  Pins created to advertise businesses and services are also very collectible.


To display pins you have several options.  When you wear a jacket with lapels, you can wear a few of your favorite small pins.  The same goes for wearing a cowboy hat or a vest.  Many pin collectors wear a few on the front of a cowboy hat.  Tote bags, purses, and fanny packs are another place where some pins can be displayed.


Of course, as you get into pin collecting, you will soon find that you have too many to wear the entire collection at one time.  A bulletin board, perhaps covered with a plain piece of fabric, like dark blue velvet, makes a nice backdrop for a pin collection.  The pins can either be pinned into the cork of the bulletin board through the velvet or attached to the velvet first.


Another way to display and store pins is in a notebook.  This method works well if you wish to take some of your pins to an event where you can do some trading with other pin collectors.  To make the notebook, purchase sheets of hard felt or craft foam.  Either punch holes in the side so they fit into a looseleaf binder, or slip the pages into page protectors after attaching the pins to the pages.  The type of looseleaf binder that zips closed is the best to use for pin collecting.


Sometimes pins get scratched, especially if they are stored in a notebook arrangement such that they hit each other.  The scratches can be smoothed over with a tiny bit of liquid car wax.  Future scratching can be avoided by using page protectors in notebook collections. 


Pin collecting is a very popular hobby.  You can find groups of likeminded people with which to trade pins, making pin collecting a hobby that helps people make friends.

5 Reasons Why Blogging is the New Internet Marketing Too

5 Reasons Why Blogging is the New Internet Marketing Tool 

Blogging is a concept that started in late 90s.  It used to be a way to comment an existing webpage, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice out one’s opinion on the said page.  What started as a single-sentence commentary has evolved into pages of personal take on just about anything and everything under the sun.  As it continues to move forward, online advertising has tapped into the blog’s potential.  Here are 5 reasons why you should use blogging as an Internet marketing tool.

1.Blogging is simple.  The simplest way to get your piece on the net is through blogging.  No skills are necessary… an average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse.  It’s like having a virtual piece of paper and you just write your ideas, experiences, new products, and hope that the truth behind your articles comes out and entice your reader to also try your product.  If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn’t?) then you can blog and advertise.

2. Blogging is authentic.  In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters’ claims.  However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising.  Reading blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience.  You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.

3. Blogging is free.  Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing tools and thus offer it for free.   Any opportunity for free webtime is definitely a bonus especially to businesses that are starting up.  Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your seriously growing business.

4. Blogging builds credibility.  As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs.  As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your blogs.  As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.

5. Blogging builds your market.  Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts.  Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is.  But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base.  Look into the following ways to build your market through blogging:

-By using your e-mail.  Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail’s popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market.  In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site.  Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site.  If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.

-By using subscription.  An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blogsite.  Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address.  Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.

-By understanding your readers.  Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences.  Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared.  In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.

-By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc.  Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject.  Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.

-By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today.  As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base.  Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site.

Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool.