Flickr!

I'd seen a lot of talk in the forums about Flickr and how it can be used as a promotional tool, so I've decided to do a short post on it today.

Flickr is a photosharing website. Once you register with it, you have what's known as a photostream, where all of your photos are displayed. You can then join different groups and add your photos to these groups.

To start your account click on "Create Your Account" at the top right hand side of the screen. Flickr is connected with yahoo, so if you have a yahoo account you can just use that, otherwise you will have to create one.

Once your account is created, you can upload photos of your products by clicking "You" then "Upload Photos and Video". You can add up to 6 photos at a time and add tags, to help them be found by others searching for particular types of photos eg handmade, jewellery, jewelry, bracelet, blue etc

Important - You must not post links to your shop or items in the descriptions but you can post a link to your shop in your profile. If people like your items then they can go to your profile to find your shop.

So how can flickr be used as a promotional tool?
To use flickr to get more exposure for your work, you need to join groups. You can add new pictures of your products to groups on a daily basis. To join a new group click "Groups" at the top of the page. Then enter in a search term and click "Find a group". You want to find groups that relate to your products, a good start would be searching for some of the tags you use when listing your items. Once you join a group you can start adding your photos right away. If the group is large enough this will help you get lots of exposure.

Also if you want to make others on flickr a contact, simply hold the cursor over the persons avatar. An arrow will appear. When you click on it, it will ask if you want to make someone a contact.

Remember that you want to use your best pics on Flickr in exactly the same way you do in your shops as people looking at these pics may want to check out your work further.

Here's my Flickr link if you want to take a look -
AMIdesigns2008