Alice Magazine

Alice Magazine Valentine Polyvore Winner

2012-02-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Lavida for winning the Valentine's Day polyvore contest. This one really stood out although the standard was high as always. Thanks to all participants and special mention to Jennifer. Two of her sets were also considered for top spot. See the winner here or view the contest entries here.

How to Get More Hearts & Followers on We Heart It

2012-01-17T03:01:00.000-08:00

WeHeartIt.com is a bookmarking site where you bookmark your favourite images by "hearting" them. Others can follow your "hearts" and "heart" your images for themselves. Each image retains a link back to the original source. So it's potential as a marketing and traffic building tool is obvious.

I get a lot of traffic from WeHeartIt. It was not always so, it's taken me a few months to figure out how to utilise it to it's best advantage. If you want to know what I have learned please read on...

Knowing the Site & it's Users.

If you take a quick scan around the site you will see that the majority of users appear to be women. You will also notice that there are plenty of what I like to call "dreamy vintage photography" examples being hearted. This is popular with WeHeartIt users and often if an image I want to use won't fit this dreamy perspective then I won't heart it. However I do like the traffic from the site so I always make a concious decision to include where possible, one of these images in my posts.

Sourcing the Right Images.

Back to the "dreamy vintage" thing. So you want to be looking for images that fall into these brackets: vintage, hazy, pretty, dreamy, pastel or that feature gorgeous models. If you can find images with all of these attributes then you are getting somewhere.

Tagging in The Right Way.

Once you have hearted your images you need to make sure you are using tags appropriately. Popular tags at WeHeartIt include the obvious such as "pretty". I use "pretty" a lot, it goes further! These ladies want to heart pretty images. Make sure the image IS pretty and tag with short usually one word tags. The tags that work best for me are once again "pretty", "vintage" "dreamy". This can usually make the difference between your image being hearted twice to it being hearted hundreds of times. People need to be able to find it and tags are the seo of bookmark sites.

Hearting Often.

Heart images often. Obvious but important. Don't heart all the images in your post, just heart the best ones. Then anyone following your links will find more stuff to heart than before. Always good to offer new content.

Linking Your Posts to WeHeartIt.

If you want the traffic then heart the images you have posted on your own site. WeHeartIt automatically uses link backs on hearts so that you can see where the original came from.

Following Back.

Always follow your followers. I have some great followers on the site and look forward to welcoming many more!

If you want to follow my hearting history you can find it here!

Alice Magazine's Valentines Polyvore Contest

2012-01-12T03:17:00.000-08:00

Our next Polyvore contest is now open for the next four weeks - it's aValentines theme and we will be looking for a similar feel to the cover design from the 2010 Valentine's issue of Alice (above).

One winner will have their set featured here with a link back to their Polyvore profile. Enter here!

Alice Magazine's Road Trip Polyvore Winner - Three Little Birds

2012-01-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

A little while back...about eight months or some horrendous amount of time, we held a monthly competition for Polyvore artists and stylists to step forward and submit a themed set for us. Our last one was "70's Hazey Roadtrip". We got some great entries as usual and found a fab winner. Only the magazine never came out!

Fast forward and here we are back in the virtual world of Alice. And here is the winning Polyvore piece from Three Little Birds.

Thank you, and sorry!

Our next Polyvore competition is on! Create Valentines sets for us at: Alice Magazine's Valentines Contest

2012 Resolutions All Bloggers Should Keep!

2012-01-10T05:25:00.000-08:00

New Year, new you as the saying goes, but how many of us have thought that over a bevvy on New Year's Eve only to promptly forget it again with a dose of Resolve the next day?

So what are the resolutions bloggers should be keeping? Here's some of ours...

1. Don't Eat at The Keyboard

My boss in my last job expected us to eat at our desks and to keep the work flowing at the same time. It was basically keep typing, answer phones, make money and stay alive. Lots of bloggers eat at the keyboard, don't do it! Not hygenic and whatever you are writing, well, it can wait unless you want to be pulling crumbs out from under keys for the rest of the year!

2. Take a Break

It's very tempting to be the first with the news or the latest photos. Blogging provides instant publication and feedback but your health often takes a backseat. Do your body a favour and get outside at least once or twice a day, or at least make sure you have a good book or something totally un-related to blogging at hand.

3. Sort out your Office

Some bloggers have office space, others are just working from laptops on their sofas at home. Or beds in some cases. Designate real space within your home to devote to your writing and eCommerce activities and if you sell products make sure you have a little storage space to hand. Any physical products I sell are kept in a large walk-in cupboard in my home that has been transformed into a stockroom of sorts. Make space and create a place. Great motto!

4. Have a Virtual Clearout

Is your documents and downloads folder full of stuff you blogged about a year ago? Time to let it go! Do a complete trash of everything in your computer folders, empty the recycle bin and invest in good tune-up software. I recommend Ccleaner by Piriform. Google this, download the free version and regain some control over your cache and temporary files. If all else fails follow my last tip which is...

5. Upgrade your Equipment

You know when it's time to upgrade your machine. The fan has conked out and you are able to fry food on it? Can't open more than just your browser without waiting ten years for a response? I upgraded my laptop just before Christmas and in terms of workload it's the best thing I have ever done. I now use quite a modest but exceptionally well performing core i5 processor which can handle all the surfing, downloading and photoshopping I need to do. If finances allow, make sure an upgrade is on your to-do list.

New Outlet for Fashion Sellers - ASOS Marketplace

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

The ASOS Marketplace is now open providing yet another outlet for fashion sellers online. With the tagline "buy and sell new, preowned and vintage", sellers can list items for free under Basic Account options or open a Boutique for a £50 monthly fee with 15% commission on each sale. Boutiques also come with fab built in blogs which integrate into your storefront.

Need some more persuading? Why not check out UK Boutique Alice Takes a Trip?

For the full lowdown on ASOS Marketplace pricing check out their FAQ...

Breaking The Three Month Blogging Barrier (without losing your head!)

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

I overheard a very excited conversation between a student and her friend on the mobile just before Christmas - overheard, or that could just be described as nosing in on - she had started her blog! Her friend must have been really excited too because the one at my end screamed and exclaimed "I know, I'll have an audience now!"

Or maybe not! I wished her well with her blogging endeavours and came away hoping that she would get through that famous three month blogging barrier, those first awkward months where it's less like a blog and more like a personal diary to the imaginary friend. Trouble is, even if you make it past those three months you still have an unimaginable amount of work ahead. Still, why does it take so long to establish a blog and how can you make sure you don't fall by the wayside?

1. Plan

Planning is the next step on from visualising. You want to know very truthfully, how many posts you can commit to and how often. Most people with busy lives aim for one post per week, and in infancy this is the very least you would expect from a baby blog. Others aim too high at one per day and find they can't fufil it. Others think once a month can cut it. I think it's fair to say that once a week seems the most agreeable - at least one piece of new information weekly. Now think, can you keep this up for three months?

2. Motivate Yourself

Presumably you want to write a blog because you have already followed several other blogs. Reading is a massive motivator in the pursuit of writing. I read a great post by a fellow blogger and it instantly inspires me to start crafting something new. Get a blog reader or bookmark as many of your favourites as possible. Look to others for inspiration, there's room for us all to be creative.

3. Stay Focused

The internet is a great place to get distracted or go on a virtual tour. When blogging I encounter that problem myself with the main culprits for leading me a merry dance being Facebook, Topshop, Ebay and Spotify. Don't give in! Avoid temptation by allowing yourself to browse only after the post has been made. It's a great way of devising posts in advance too so that you know exactly what you need to write before you so much as even think of opening a browser window.

4. Create Social Media Networks

Sometimes it can feel as though your blog will never take off and that's why most bloggers give up within the first three months. Social media sites and networks are great ways to add new life and instant community to your blog as well as boosting your readership and your earnings...(but we'll get to that in future posts). Create a Facebook page for the blog, get it set up on Twitter and bookmark your posts like crazy. Like-minded people WILL JOIN IN and this interest will spur you on.

5. Monetise

Making money from online traffic all depends on the amount of traffic and placement of your advertising. Most people start out with Google Adsense and may progress to running private advertising. If money is a blogging motivator for you then applaud yourself but don't get to the point where you overdo the banners. It's possible to generate income through blogging if you keep your topics tight enough to generate relevent advertising and provide excellent content that keeps your audience coming back. Nothing beats those monthly Adsense payments for a blogging job well done.

Alice Magazine Blogger Interviews

2012-01-09T06:12:00.000-08:00

Alice Magazine has been interviewing bloggers since January 2010 - for our latest interviews please check our "Blogger Interviews" label!

Featured Bloggers on Alice Magazine

2012-01-09T04:25:00.001-08:00

Alice Magazine has been promoting great female run blogs and bloggers since January 2010. Keep an eye out for our "Featured Blogger" labels to search for posts from them.

The Alice Girl Manifesto

2011-12-24T10:50:00.001-08:00

Alice Magazine has been re-designed to not just showcase amazing online digital content and commerce as we did previously, but to help those creative women get their enterprises into the digital domain and existing digital enterprises flourish.

The magazine was always meant to be graphic heavy and this has been scaled down for the website. There are plans to re-introduce print versions if time allows.

Alice in Wonderland Paper Doll Design Resource

2011-12-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

These slightly skewy and steampunk versions of Alice in Wonderland paper dolls are one of the new Dover Publications releases.

News - Any Alice Magazine Loving Google+ Users?

2011-07-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

If you are using Google+ we now have an Alice Magazine circle which updates the same way as our Facebook page. If you are currently invited or would like an invite to Google+ please comment below thank you x x x

Welcome back!

2011-07-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

Alice Magazine in it's last incarnation...

Welcome back to Alice Magazine. It's been a few months, (approximately six), since we were online with the latest print version in Spring 2011. Well, my life took on a fair few more responsibilities since then and creating Alice the way I wanted to was really pushing me time and effort wise. A few months off and a re-think needed.

Alice Magazine is now focusing on the ways in which we can do more to get creative girls making money online from their endeavours, as well as showcasing the best of what we love. You will find articles relating to small internet business, marketing, blogging, designing, social networks and much more.