Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle of Discarded Treasures. I, like many others, spend time roaming the internet, reading, and learning things. Along the way I like to see creations that people make, what they do, how they do it, and love everything I see with it. Over time I too have been wanting to do some of this, be creative, and it feels like a yearning inside of me trying to get out. To me it is relaxing, very fun putting my thoughts and ideas into something, and it's the little things that bring a smile to my face, and hopefully yours as well.
Definitions I found of the words when I googled them.
• Reuse: whatever the purpose, you basically reuse the item for the same
purpose more than one time
• Repurpose: you take one thing, and use it for something else (repurpose it)
before it goes through any breakdown, and reformation. For instance a shirt
being used to make a handbag, or shopping bag. Maybe a metal pipe into
a sculpture. Use something in a new way.
• Upcycle: is familiar to recycling in that you are taking something, and
reworking it into a new form for continued use. Main difference being you are
not altering its form back into its components for reuse.
• Recyle: return (material) to a previous stage of cyclic process; convert
waste to a reusable material. For example a recycled box is broken down, and
made into new cardboard. Or, plastic is broke down, and melted into new
plastic.
I know, it can get confusing sometimes, but it also determines how we use the words, and explain them to mean also.
Repurpose Vintage Items ~ Giving new life to stuff already owned. There are many things a person has around their home that they can do this with. If you are like me, you don't throw anything away because you might be able to use it some day. So, sitting at home, or looking in magazines, and looking through thrift stores, yard sales, and junk there is always posibilities.
Vintage items can be repurposed in your homes. Maybe you have an old wooden high chair, a ladder, or an ironing board. Popular use, or remake is to use them to hold books, and sometimes flower pots too. Have a double kitchen sink? Use it for your gardens as a raised flower beds. Collectible tumblers, and vases can be a variety of things. Use them for tooth brushes, hair brush, paint brushes, combs, pens, pencils, etc. Use some of those vintage long, and low ceramic planters with the kitchen, or bathroom for sponges, soaps, teas, washcloths, loose change, your keys, reading glasses, etc.
Another one I like, and there is a person who has a blog that I giggle with, laugh at, and am in aww over is how they repurpose coffee tea pots. They use them for outside, in their gardens, and make people with them. It is just adorable! But, you can also use these items as planters, paint them to fit with your decor, use them as hanging planters, or maybe for the table tops as center pieces too.
Hang on, just a few more ideas to help get them creative juices going for everyone. How about some of the kitchen decor you have? For instance the colanders. Put some onions in them because of the circulation, and ventilation with them. Use some enamel pans for maybe your potatoes.
I adore those who use bits and pieces from the past, and create something new to enjoy. I sometimes hope by doing this that it will help remind people of simpler times.
LOL:) See how much fun junk can be?! I love vintage, and collectibles, and have worked with it for years now. But, it feels like something is missing. When I am out thrifting I sometimes visualize other ways of using pieces, maybe if I paint it this way I can sit it for show in this way, or maybe I can add this piece to a more modern piece I have at home to make something new of it. The possibilities are endless!
I hope everyone enjoyed this topic, and was able to maybe get a smile about something, see something in a different way, and of course to help you with your creative juices of ideas, and what can be done. After all, we are collectors of a little bit of everything. If not reusing pieces for as they are, why not repurpose them in ways that puts a smile to your face too?:)
Thanks for visiting with LilacsNDreams. When in internet roam stop by to see my Artfire store, check out the category for the repurposed, and upcycled treasures I have. There is not a whole lot there yet. A working progress as I clean house more, rid some of the inventory, and of course use some pieces of the inventory to repurpose too. Have fun, enjoy, and be safe all. I look forward to your next visit:)
How to Remove Stains From Corningware.
Eww! How many times have we all had this issue with some of these pieces? Whether it be our own, or pieces we find while thrifting. I love corningware, pyrex. Items last forever is well maintained. But, them darn stubborn stains do collect over time, or if not properly cleaned after use they will build too.
So, quite a while ago I had been blog roaming, and did see instructions that were being shared by another blogger for cleaning corningware. So, these instructions are not from me, but I am passing them on from what I had found.
Things Needed:
Rubber Gloves, Newspaper, Oven Cleaner, Trash Bag, Dish Pan, 1/4 c. white
vinegar, 1 tsp. hand dishwashing soap, dish scrubber, kitchen towel
Got all the supplies now? Ok, here goes for the cleaning now.
1) Wear gloves - open windows in kitchen to keep fresh air, or turn on the ventilation fan
2) Set corningware on the newspaper. Coat the corningware with the oven cleaner. Then place item into the trash bag, and seal the bag.
3) Leave the sealed corningware over night. The oven cleaner will break down, and loosens the stains during this time. Makes it easier to remove.
4) Next day take the bag outdoors. Remove the item from the bag, and set in a dish pan of hot water.
5) Add the 1/4 c. of white vinegar and the 1 tsp. of dish soap to the water. Scrub the corningware with the dish scrubber to remove the stains loosened by the oven cleaner.
6) Rinse the corningware well with some plain water. Make sure to remove ALL chemicals, and then dry with a clean kitchen towel.
There you have some easy instructions for cleaning some of the stubborn corningware pieces that need a little help. Good luck with this, and I wish you well with your cleaning. If you have any other methods that you have found to work for such a cleaning, please share with us here. Always happy to hear from everyone, and love learning more.
Thanks for visiting with LilacsNDreams. Wishing you all a great day, and be safe. Visit us here again soon.
Blogs, Blog Pages, Community Pages for LilacsNDreams.
Whew! What a day I have had trying to work around something that should be simple, but I forgot google with blogger, and the work you can sometimes have. Anyway, I had commented a little bit ago about pages I was adding with the tabs you will notice above. Due to some issues with blogger, what they are allowing for these pages, and so on I have had to revise the last 2 pages just a bit.
You can use the tabs at the top, and you will still be taken to the correct place with the clickable links. OR...I have added in my side bar a Title of My Blog Pages to Visit. . . and the links you see there are clickable, and are the pages I have started that I am wanting here too. Not completely what I wanted to do, but it is working, and is giving me what I was wanting from the pages I "thought" I was getting too. Any questions please ask them. Visit the last 2 tabs at the top to read further about what I have done, what happened, and so on.
Sorry, I told the story a couple of times now, and my hands are hurting:) LOL:) Contact me for any questions, and enjoy your visit with the reading. Wishing everyone a fun, and safe weekend. Take care . . .
A Cottage Style Decorating For Your Homes is the topic for today.
Having a cottage style home is light and airy, fresh and fun, and completely clearly plainly original. Today's style often incorporates soft palettes of greens, blues, yellows, shades of lilac, and pink too. Sometimes you may see some things brightened with some brisk colors used too. Using pastels for color, some pretty florals, and with some vintage home accessories gives your home that cozy cottage style.
Lace handkerchiefs, lace trims, fragrance candles and some sweet smelling soaps, those comfortable rocking chairs, wallpapers, fabrics are so yummy for the home of cottage styles. Also, sometimes some glassware whether it is clear, or slight coloring that sparkles in the light may be displayed. Picture some of those furniture slip covers that are inviting, some vintage style upholstery, and of course the layers of weathered paint. Gotta love that chippy paint.
Your cottage style decorating can surface anywhere, and attitude is also what makes the house cottage. Depending where the house is located sometimes I have seen seaside, shells, and sailboats incorporated with their decor too.
Todays expression of cottage style is the thought of flea markets, fresh flowers, vintage patterns, and a bit of romance with that. A welcoming feeling to all who visit.
I love cottage style homes, and wish I was all that with our home. Working progress. I sure do admire the style when I see it in books, and by many who share their homes with us. Which style of home are you?
Thanks for visiting with LilacsNDreams, and come back often to read, share with us here, and make comments. All are welcome. When in roam visit my LilacsNDreams Artfire Store, and my LilacsNDreams Ecrater Store. Maybe you will find something to fit with your cottage style homes.
Hello, and Welcome again to LilacsNDreams everyone!
Sorry I did not get a second post done for the week. Took a small break with the weekend, Fathers Day...which I hope everyone was able to enjoy the day, getting some house things done, and going through notes and such here. I have some more topics I will be touching base with a bit, but spent a little time looking things over again. Yes, again, but no drastic changes everyone, I promise. Just working on how to combine things more, and doing some more of that simplifying that I have really gotten a bug for doing the past couple of months.
I so enjoy trying to put things into one place, or have them near by as much as possible. I am happy I can offer links to everyone that you can click, and go to, view, visit, and enjoy. A way to share what I offer to you. But, sometimes it is nice to be able to put everything into one place too. I have many other blogs as I know many of you also do as well. They are fun, addictive, and I enjoy them. Sometimes it is very time consuming, and a decision must be made where to focus your attention more to better serve everyone. So, I have slowly added a few more tabs to the top of my blog as you will see.
I have a tab for Where I Hang At...sharing a few different places that are open to the public for all to view, and of course join with too. You know, social media. There are some great places out there, and some of them have been very helpful with the people/members, the sharing, and most of all the learning too.
There is a tab I have added in for Sharing Blog Love. . . There are MANY MANY great blogs out there! Some I so enjoy I could spend all day reading, and going through them. I enjoy the things shared, techniques and instructions offered for DIY projects, and it is just interesting seeing what others have to offer with their passions they have. So, I have started a list of some blogs there, and know there are many more to be added yet. I made this a page as I did not want to add it to my side bar of my blog. I just feel sometimes I might be putting to much on my main blog page, and it can be distracting to some, and for some it can also slow the page loading too.
Another tab I have added is for Thrift Store Junkies. . . .Something that is a passion of many people. A way we all find our treasures for our own homes, to craft with, doing some creative work with, repurpose, upcycle, and so on. I do have a blog for this that does not get near the attention of this blog, and my store blog. So, I am trying to incorporate that into this blog by creating the page for it. I try to keep my Blog Home Page more of a place to read, share things about this n that, not too many pictures as I offer my store pictures with my LilacsNDreams Store Blog, and store page links are shared there with the pictures.
I almost forgot! There is yet one more tab, or page if you wish. That one is called Chit~Chat Coffee Shoppe. With that page I am hoping to some how work it that we can stop by there, and share a little bit of everything there. Whether it is to say Hi, give us your name, and what you do, what kind of day you have had, did something good happen you are exploding to share, and if you need a place to just vent a little bit too. All I ask is that it is kept clean there, no bad language, remember everyone does have an opinion, and let's keep it pleasant please.
So, give the pages, or tabs a visit if you will. Bear with me as this is a working progress, the tabs could change a little, or the titles might change a little. I am hoping to make your visit with LilacsNDreams more enjoyable by offering just a few more things for you to see, and share with too.
Thanks for visiting with LilacsNDreams, and hope you enjoyed the visit. Remember, you are welcome to share, comment, ask questions, and just be yourself. Thanks again everyone, and have a Happy Monday!:)
Blog Blogging With Seo. Hello, and Welcome to LilacsNDreams. This posting will be in part to my previous blog post about blog, and blogging.
Reminder that when we blog, and especially if it is for business, we want to work with our Seo. There is On Page Optimization, and Off Page Optimization to work with. ALL Search Engines have a unique algorithm for determining how relevant your blog post is to a given query.
On Page Optimization is for how many words in a post that match up with a search that was just done. Create content that will pertain to your business, or the topic of the post. Try to answer questions within your blog post. Doing some of this will help in your ranking higher with searches.
• Brainstorm Keyword Phrases. Brainstorm as many keyword phrases, and words
that you will rank well with, and you fell prospective customers will use.
• Use Keyword Analysis Tools like Google Adword Keyword Tool.
Also, you could use the Google Analytics which in the report you can also see
what keywords are being used to find some of your posts. There are free
things out there to use for researching keywords, and of course some are to be
paid for too.
Tools help determine how many people are searching for your phrases you use, and also gives an idea of how much competition is there for each phrase too.
Off Page Optimization is how many quality inbound links you have (links from other websites, blogs, directories, etc to your blog and the post done. This is the other 1/2 of the search engine equation. Search engines see inbound links as "votes of confidence"
Variables that will effect how important each link is,
• Linking Site
• Number of links on the referring page. Each page does have a limited amount.
Again, you would not want to over due it as suggested with the keywords too.
• Context of the Linking Page. Your blog subject, and if links from that subject.
• Anchor Text. Words in the link are critical. Use words that pertain to your topic,
and of course what your business is. Such as vintage, collectibles, repurposing
are words that could be used for me. You then have those words link to the
blog post, your website, your store, and so on.
To get more incoming links to your blog, and the website as many of you work with you can use numbered lists. This was suggested, and it is not something I have done, but there are some businesses that could use it for their way of business. Use How to Articles. Speak of a certain topic, use and give instructions for completion of certain topics, and a suggestion for this would to also be using a video. Yes, videos have been highly recommended as it is seen people do like to view these. Another suggestion for more links is to use Guest Blog that you can create keyword rich links to your blog, or website.
Links were mentioned, but don't forget your backlinks too. Not only do you want links going out to places of interest, but you also want the links coming back to you. Preferably they are links from sites, or places that share some of your same interests to be more meaningful too. This will also help you get higher in search engine rankings too.
Remember, when you blog, find topics that pertain to the audience, customers, followers that you have. Hard to please everyone I know, but do the best you can, and of course topics that appeal to you so that you can show your interest, and personality with it too.
Publicize your blogs. Do this by sharing them to Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Stumble Upon. You will generally see more reactions with this than comments left on your blog.
Try to show your personality through your blogs too. People can see you, and sense you through your words, how you present yourself, and is good for creating friendships, and business relationships.
Back to the idea of a topic. If you have a thought, something you want to share, see something that refers you to it being a good topic please make a note of it. It is very easy to grow your topic list this way. Sometimes we might run into a block of thoughts, and ideas too. Sometimes using word tracker can be helpful with ideas from words read.
Try to be consistent, have a schedule of posting, and another thought is you can always post again about a topic you have already done. By doing that you will be adding to it, and refreshing the thoughts and comments with it too.
Here is to everyone who visits with LilacsNDreams today. Hope you enjoyed more of the Blog Blogging topic, and that is was helpful to you. Remember, you are always welcome to share, comment, and add to the topics as well. Thanks again, and have a great day everyone.
Welcome to LilacsNDreams Blog Website regarding Why Blog, Blog For Business or Pleasure or Both.
I have been making a list of ideas that come to mind to share here with everyone. Some, most of it will pertain to business, or how things can be applied to the business aspect of things.
Today I want to talk of the subject Why Blog? Should we blog? Does blogging work for business?
Why Blog? Many many reasons as to why we blog, and why some of us choose to blog. Great way to express your experiences with different subjects. Some of your subjects could be about vintage, collectibles, repurposed, upcycled, junking restoring, crafting, handmade, collectors, dealers, sellers, store owners, arts, political, business, and so on. As you can see the list could go on forever. Some use blogs as a diary, journal, and some do it for money too.
I can say from research I found that search engines serve up web pages, not just websites. Now, every blog post has a new page everytime you post something. By making these pages you could do well within ranking for searches. You know, some of the websites do have a blog on it too. Hmm....that could be a good idea to have. Actually, I had already applied that idea to my website, but have now seen the suggestion while researching blogging. Google likes content, and blogs give a new page all the time with a post, and of course the content with it too. A blog post = web page, and web page = search opportunity.
Blogs can describe things in depth. Blog is a tool that lets you get new content out continuously, or as often as you choose to post, both to your website viewers, and to the search engines. Blogging can be used as a hobby, and for some of us blogging becomes a business venture. Blogging keeps growing, and over time has been realized how it is not just for professional writers, or marketers with a product/service to sell. It is actually suitable for anyone with stories, or ideas to share.
I am just covering a few things with blogging. This post could get very very long if I tried to cover everything.
3 things you will need for Business Blogging:
• Use the Right Platform
There are many to choose from, and everyone has their own preferences to what they use too. Many use blogger because it has been known to be easier to work with, and there are quite a few that use Wordpress as well. With wordpress I guess you get more plug-ins to work with to do more with your pages. If you have not decided on a blog platform search it a bit, and again, find one that works for you, and that you like the feel with.
• Own Your Own Domain
You want to be able to blog from your own property. IF you would ever decide to move to another platform this allows you to retain all of the inbound links that you have gathered too. I seen it suggested to use your .com for blogging. I use my .com for here, and my .net for my store blog of pictures. Go Daddy makes it really easy to direct your domain, and redirect if you want to move it too.
• Be Committed With Blogging
Takes time to get seen, heard, have followers, comfortable with topics you want to discuss and share, and to find what works for you. Put your own character into it so that people can feel who you are. This is how they get to know you, like you, want to share with you, share your link to others, will become your friends, and also will become customers who will buy from you too.
On an average I have seen it noted that you should try to blog about 2-3 times a week. I know, I know....where do you find the time to do ALL of this? We all go through this, and find our way with it. For me? I still facebook, twitter, and visit different social medias. But, I do not spend as much time with them like I use to. I like blogging, enjoy it, and like to research a little for the next topic that I will be sharing. Whether it is for business, something I learned, or a little about me. A little something shared is better than nothing too. I have been working on my schedule for blogging, and so far have kept it at about twice a week. Sometimes I might drop in a note, or announcement in between too.
I don't always do it, but you should start your post with your post title. Have keywords in the title, and know that the search engines give a little more weight to the 1st 3-4 words. Use keyword phrase through the body of the post. Try to do right away, and then a couple of more times in your post.
Use links to appropriate pages in your blog. Link name to the page on a site where you can buy the item from, link your keywords, and don't forget to anchor text too. Here are just a few examples: Artfire, maybe use the word vintage with a sentence, but note that you also like to repurpose treasures, and adore upcycling too.
Don't over do it either. I can not find a set limit to watch for, but if you overload with all of it, google will also see it as bad, and you will not make it to searches either. You also want to work on inbound links. Those are links that come from other web pages to your blog post. Preferably from other pages that deal with the same thing you do, involved with same topic you are discussing, and that sort of thing. That will have more weight with search too.
Ok, I need to slow this down here a bit, and not write a book to ya'll. I am just skimming some of the research I have found with blogging. I can say it is becoming more popular, and sometimes people are turning to that more than just socializing too. Work with it, takes time, but I have seen many who have made their blogs into their websites too. It all depends on your goals, what you want, where you are going, and so on.
In conclusion, things to work with in blogging to help with your rankings and searches are:
• Perform a keyword analysis to know keywords that drive qualified traffic to your site
• Put keywords in your titles, content, and through out your blog post. Remember do not over load the keywords as that can be looked at as bad too.
• Create content that will encourage people to link to you, to your blog, and want to share your blog with others.
Time for me to sign out. Late night here for me, but wanted to get some kind of a post done for ya'll to read, think about, and work with if you wanted to also. I want to thank all of you for visiting with LilacsNDreams, hope you enjoyed your visit, and stop by anytime. Remember, welcome to leave comments, share with us, respond to comments left, and you get the picture. Take care everyone, and have a wonderful super relaxing enjoyable weekend. Be safe!
Hello, and Welcome to LilacsNDreams! Glad to see you!
Here comes that good old saying many of us see, hear, and that we repeat to others too. "Don't Place Your Eggs in 1 Basket"
So, here we are another day, another blog, another posting, and what shall I do? Hmm....I know! Let's talk about How Many Storefronts Do You Really Need? We often come across this issue, thought often comes to mind to many of us, and we repeatedly ask ourselves...Do I need another store? Will I make more sales if I have another store? How many stores is enough, and how many is too many? Many questions asked, and with very good reasons too.
The theory behind this is something like the more shops you have, the more eyes that you will attract, more visitors, more traffic, and all of that. There is no right, or wrong answer to this. You must find what works for you. What will work for you, and what you are more comfortable with yourself. Sorry, but I will not be able to give a single answer to this that will cover all sellers. Many mixed feelings, and ideas about it. Some sellers find that having everything under 1 roof works for them while other sellers find they can do better if they separate things into different stores.
First, ask yourself if you should have 1 store per type of product you will be offering, or do you want 1 big store with maybe multiple categories in it. One thing to consider depends on the product you are selling. It may not all be for the same audience, or the customers you serve. The example I will use here would be like selling electronics, and clothing within the same store. Will it work? Is it appealing to you? Try to maybe see it through the eyes of a customer too.
Then again if you have everything into 1 single store it could be helpful because you would have more listings, you would have more people coming in to check things out, could bring you more traffic, the customer would not have to chase around with stores, and so on. Doing this could make a little bit more work making sure you have categories to cover everything of the products you have to offer, and to help assist customers when they do enter your store to visit, browse, and shop. My first thought was kind of like a catalog you would browse, and shop with. Also, Simplicity. If we can keep things closer together in 1 place then how much easier is that not only for us, but also for our customers too.
So, IF you did split things up into separate stores, how much should you have in each one of them? Honestly, I have seen it said many times, and have read it too. You should have at least about 100+ items per store to pull in some descent traffic to your stores, and to better help with trying to get placed with google searches. I am thinking SEO. Actually it would help you with any search engine.
Ok, if you have separate stores should you have all your stores located with multiple market places. Should you have them spread out with different locations. Consider fees, and time spent doing all of this too. It would really depend on the type of product you are offering, and if it would really be necessary to do this too. Ask yourself it is would be beneficial to you.
I do apologize again I cannot give you a right, or wrong answer to this. I have seen many people do many things that work for them. Some have experimented till they found the way that works best for them. I see numerous sellers having 1, 3, 5, 10, 12 shops and more too. They have found this works for them. I am thinking....WHEW!! I myself have had up to like 5-6 shops, and did not really like it. Helps with not duplicating things for sale in your stores, but it was very time consuming to go from store to store, maintain this store, need to do this at that store, and then have to hold up on doing things because I have to get this order ready for shipment from this other store, etc. Ok, this item sold, now which store did I have that listed in. Did I duplicate it, and if so, better get it out of the other store as soon as possible so I do not have a double sale happen to me.
I have narrowed down to 3 stores now, and debate if I should still have 3, but maybe 2. I am testing the 3rd store right now, and see if it is one to keep, or if I should use just the other 2 instead. For me, I will need at least 2 stores because not everything I sell can be considered vintage. Some of it is collectible pieces not old enough to be considered vintage, and therefore cannot be listed with 1 of my stores. So, that is where the 2 stores for sure would come into play for me. Some people are at a venue where they can house everything under 1 store. Hey, I did it with Ebay many moons ago, and I did great with it there! Like everything else, time happens to us, and we feel the need to move on.
Well, I hope this little topic is enough to have you think about what you are doing with your store/stores, and if you feel it is the right path for you to be taking. I wish you all well, and the best of luck with all your decisions, and sales of course too!:) Always Welcome to visit LilacsNDreams, leave comments, and share with us your experiences too. Thanks again everyone!
Hello everyone, and Welcome to LilacsNDreams! Glad to have you here!
Time to have another topic for ya'll to read, share some opinions, and offer what I have read too. Websites, should I have one, do I need one, so much work, is it necessary, and boy those things cost too. Yes, you are right, they can be costly. Depends what you all want to do with it, what your goals are, and how much you would like to spend with it too.
No matter how many storefronts a person has it is good to have a website. The website can serve as your home base, links your web presences to one another, and serves as your "hub" that will direct visitors to your stores, your blogs, and serves as kind of an online business card.
Before jumping into this I recommend searching around a bit. Do searches about them, see what others say, and suggest. Calculate how much you would like to spend for the website. Cost of hosting, your domains, the shopping carts, and do you intend to advertise to get your website out there too? A lot of things to consider.
What is the best Host, and what should you consider? You need to consider it needs to be affordable for you. I know Hostgator starts about $3.96 a month, and I see that one mentioned often by others using. The host needs to perform well for you, and your visitors. You need to be able to draw traffic. Does it give you the option of setting up a shopping cart, or is it included maybe? Make sure you have support staff that is available 24/7, and that it has the tools to let you edit the site yourself too. And, this one I like myself, it should provide for a blog if you would like to have one too. Another thing is can you do the domain with them, or do you need to go some where else for that?
Having a website is great for business cards. You use your main domain name on the card with the URL, and it will lead people to the website. From there they can view, and click to where they prefer to shop at. Your traffic can come from your host, and also your business cards too.
Now, there are some websites that are free to use too. Depends how much work you want to work with it yourself, what you are knowledable with, and where you feel comfortable at.
I have one. Actually on my 3rd, 4th, or whatever I had signed up with. There are different free ones out there. Some I have liked, and some I do not like as well. Google has one you can set up as many pages as you want, it's free, and takes a little work. But, I am not all computer literate so sometimes anything will take a little work for me. Check google for sites.google.com/?? Or, just go to google, and search it there. There is Microsoft Office Live, FreeWebstore.org, Webstarts.com, Wix.com, and Weebly.com. I know you can get one at Vendio, don't let the ebay thing bother you as it can be done without ebay, and I think that one was free?
There is also Pro Stores that can be used, and I do believe that starts at about $30 a month. I have heard others mention it, and they like it. I have been noticing some websites being done with vistaprint.com, and do not know the cost for them. Yahoo has business sites/stores that can be used, and not sure of their cost. Just a lot all there, and no way I could mention them all. Search google for many of them, read forums with sites and social medias to learn of some, and just roam the internet to find them too.
As I mentioned I have my website free, and that is with Weebly.com. Through bannerfans.com which is also free, I have made my banners, avatars, and such that are used with the site. I have set a tab that is a blog on my website...free, and I could add it in if I wanted to. I have directed 1 of my domains to this website. I got my domains through GoDaddy.com. I have never had an issue with them, pay a small yearly fee for the domains, and that cost is sooo small compared to paying fully for a website, and all the extras with it.
I do not have a shopping cart on the site, although I could, or I could use the buy it now buttons as weebly does have that. Instead I use my rapid cart from Artfire, My widget from Ecrater, and for Addoway and the other stores I also have my RSS Feed going to the pages for them.
I have chosen to use my website, and my blogs as my landing pages showing my links to the stores I sell with, links to all the blogs, link to my website, and so on. Maybe at some point I will add the shopping cart, and sell either with my blog or website. But, for now, for me, I am comfortable using them as landing pages, and making an internet presence that way. Please, visit my LilacsNDreams Website, and have a look around. It is not perfect, I am sure there is much more to do with it, and different ways to do things, but I am comfortable with it, and it works for me. Great support at weebly, and they have been getting used by quite a few too.
I hope this has helped you with the issues of a website. I know I have not covered everything for you, but hope I was able to give you some things to think about, consider, and research with. Thanks again for visiting with LilacsNDreams, and visit with me here anytime. Always welcome with the visits, comments, sharing, and so on.
