Tutorial on using my new Zazzlit Gadget on your blog or web site

After something like five or six intense days, I've finished both my Zazzlit Gadget and the tutorial on adding and using it.

What is it?

Regular readers will know that I've recently opened a Zazzle shop (basically they make it dead easy to get your images onto products. No set-up fees.)

In these tough economic times, sales of my work through my web site have dropped off. People aren't really spending on fine art the way they used to. Not mine, anyway (and I keep hearing the same story from other artists).

The shop is a way to offer my work, albeit in a different way, at a much more affordable price. And it's starting to work.

So what is the Zazzlit Gadget? It's a way for Zazzle storekeepers to display just the products they want, in a small gadget in their blogger side panel or on their web site. Zazzle provide a couple of brilliant panels but they don't allow you to narrow down the products displayed.

But my Zazzlit does! I had to write it because I couldn't find one anywhere that did the job half decently, one that any shopkeeper could use. The thing about the Zazzlit Gadget is that I can put one on each of my sites / blogs and get them to display the type of gear most suitable to the folks who visit those places.

Tutorial - a piece of cake

My tutorial shows you in 5 easy-to-follow steps, with live working examples, how to point and click a Zazzlit onto your blogger blog.

Another revenue trickle / stream is always good...

I'd encourage any of the serious artists who follow me to sign up for a Zazzle shop - apart from the effort in uploading images and applying them to products, any sales made are pure profit. If you do, get things moving by using Zazzlit.

I'm not saying this is an instant earner but if you already sell your work and have a good handful or two of regular followers, then with Zazzlit you should see some additional revenue.

As usual, I'm after your feedback. What I want to know is, was the tutorial easy to follow and understand or did it frighten you?!

Secondly would you/will you use Zazzlit on your Zazzle store or does it have any drawbacks that need fixing?

comments / feedback always welcome :)

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I fought Google Gadgets and won!

[UPDATE: 22 Nov. This brief tutorial is now out of date. Please see the new, full-blown tutorial at its new location.]
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[UPDATE:] There was a flaw: clicked links opened the product page in the gadget window. Now fixed to open in a new window / tab. 
New filename is v1_1 (full name: http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/100521288542998786592/zazzle-by-highton-ridley-v1_1.xml)
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It's been a long eleven hours! ([update: now 25!!]

Google gadget for Zazzle

I couldn't find a way of displaying search results from my Zazzle store in a small panel, suitable for my blog.

So I wrote my own - which other zazzle storekeepers can use too.

The key things it does are:

• Searches your store for the tags you decide
• displays the products, matching the search
• Make sure you use your associate id in the config (see below) so you get the credit for referrals 
  
• clicking the picture takes you to that item in your store

See it  in action at the top of my right hand panel (I can't get it to work in posts).

The really great thing is that you can have lots of them, each for a different search. Wouldn't it be great if you could put all your fun products on a page you've got which is to do with humour?

Simple, use the gadget with a search for all your products that are tagged with "fun". Do the same for your page about your favourite band. The list goes on...

So exactly how do you do this? Well, read on...

Blogger Blog

To get it onto your Blogger blog, from dashboard, choose "layout" and "add a gadget". In the window that pops up to let you choose your gadget, choose "add your own" and give it the following url

http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/100521288542998786592/zazzle-by-highton-ridley-v1_1.xml

You then get a chance to configure it. The settings you'll want are

• Title: Whatever you want.
  
• Height: 220 (or, I guess, a multiple of 220 [Update: two require 434]
• Show Dates: (go on, you can guess this time!)
• Number of entries: 99
• Zazzle rss feed. This deserves a few words. Look at mine

• http://www.zazzle.com/HightonRidley/rss?qs=fun&at=238582202591969585
• "fun" is the search query - all your tags are searched. If you want the tag "fine art", use fine+art
• the number at the end is your associate id. Get it from your store.
  Then you'll get the credit from any referrals
  
• Note: When you change the Zazzle rss feed (including the query string etc), the preview won't show the changes. You'll only see them once you've completed adding the gadget (grrr!)
  

• Box colour: Each product returned is surrounded by an outline. Set the colour here.
  

Ordinary webpage

(or an FTP blogger blog)

Here's the code I use: Copy and replace the relevant bits and put on your page or in your blogger (classic) template sidebar:

<div style="width: 200px;">
<script src="http://www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/100521288542998786592/zazzle-by-highton-ridley-v1_1.xml&amp;up_show_date=1&amp;up_num_entries=99&amp;up_MyZazzleFeed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zazzle.com%2FHightonRidley%2Frss%3Fqs%3Dfine%2Bart%26at%3D238582202591969585&amp;up_ItemBoxColour=96%2C96%2C96&amp;synd=open&amp;w=200&amp;h=220&amp;title=My+Zazzle&amp;border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&amp;output=js"></script></div>

The relevant bits are:

• HightonRidley: change to your own store name
• qs%3Dfine%2Bart: change to qs%3Dyour_search_query%26
  (this does a search for fine+art, note that %2B is used in place of the "+" symbol)
  
• 238582202591969585 change to your_associate_id
• &amp;title=My+Zazzle change to the title you want.
  Note the + is used in place of a space here
• ItemBoxColour=96%2C96%2C96 change to ItemBoxColour=red_value%2Cgreen_value%2Cblue_value

Whew! Well, that's it. If you have any questions, I'll try and answer them but remember that I'm not techy. I know just enough to be dangerous! hehe!

If you use the gadget, drop off a link to your page / blog in the comments, I'd love to see how you use it :)
comments / feedback always welcome :)

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Printing, framing, prize winners and new gadgets

A busy few days... nice busy :)

Gallery prep

The frames arrived today so it's been a good few hours of printing, mounting and framing—mostly framing as I'd already printed and mounted most of them. Even so I'm glad that's done and now it's just a case of delivering them to the Gallery Guest House in the morning.

£5 of each sale will go to the Poppy Appeal, which is very appropriate as the owners are ex-service folks.

October prize winners

Two of the prize winners from my October draw have been in touch, just waiting on the last one now. Where are you, Betty Manousos?

Slew of new gadgets

The Gooogle Friend Connect team have been busy! They've released some cool new gadgets, have introduced a way of making newsletters available and have made wholesale changes to the way you interact with the member / follower gadgets.I'm sure most of you will already have noticed some of these.

It'll take me a few days to get my head around them all before I work out which are most useful for my site and blog. Watch this space!

comments / feedback always welcome :)

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Making the draw and other bits 'n bobs

So, a big day today—the day you've all been waiting for...

October giveaway...

So a little later I'll be drawing the winner from the Hat Of Wonder And Hope. Come back this evening (uk time) to see if you won. Good luck to all who took part!

Gadgets...

I also spent a little time this morning maintaining my blog, updating the template. Nothing huge—I added the top 10 Member Visits gadget, replacing the Member Links gadget. The links one had to go, as it didn't respect the blocked members and allowed anyone to leave spam links.

On a similar note, I had to block one member who was a bit zealous (i.e. spam-and-run) in leaving proselytising statements about his brand of Christianity. I don't have a problem with the various forms of religion, it's just forcing them down folks' throats that I find off-putting.

Similarly I've blocked another couple of followers with no interest in my blog but who were just spam-following (i.e. hoping folks will click their heads and then click the link to their dubious / mucky / commercial sites).

A social week...

I've had good friends staying as house guests this week while they were visiting their eldest son who has just started at Plymouth University.

Their young daughter had great fun seeing and playing with him again. Of course she misses him a lot, even though she skypes him almost every night from back home.

On Friday they all went to the circus in Ivybridge and had a great time and on Saturday we went to Mansour's for them all to try their hands at throwing pots. Everyone got messy with clay and had huge amounts of fun.

The rest of Saturday was spent getting my house back in order after their visit. It's a real joy to have the house filled with gurgling laughter and the to-ing and fro-ing of growing kids, relived as you go around tidying up after they've left.

..And now I can get back to catching up on all your blogs, which will be nice!


comments / feedback always welcome :)

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A global conversation on B&W Photography

I'm really excited by this new "web element" that Google has introduced and have added it to my blog already

Wot is a Global Conversation?

It's explained very well in the Learn More link within the gadget - a quick summary is that anyone who uses the same conversation topic for the gadget / element on their blog or site, will automatically join in to the global conversation already taking place on that topic.

And the cool thing is that, if you blog about it like I have here, people who use Google and other readers can join in right within the reader itself... Excellent :)

Here's the conversation that I've just started, the first in the world on the topic BW Photography ! All you "black and whiter"s, do join in - and embed the gadget in your site to meme the conversation :) Let's get the ball rolling! [NB The gadget you get to embed isn't specific to my site, there's no hidden links or other reference to it]

Comments welcome as always... will you put it on your site? Same topic as mine?

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