.
Some of us are lucky to have smart and organized friends. Even luckier is when those friends help you/me to look equally smart and organized. Luckiest is when those friends not only make you look smart and get organized but they make it easy to spend the time for the ounce of prevention that in this case, means not having to spend TONS on a cure.

Personally even at full price, it would be money well spent in the time it will save you in ‘getting organized” – for me – it was/is worth it just so I don’t have to write this guide, instead, I am just going to wish I had.

Disaster Proof Your On-Line Business is not just something you will use once, it is something you will use always as long as there is life “on the Internet” – so print it out, put it in a binder, have some loose leaf handy for notes & some pockets to stuff loose notes until you “get them entered”

“Reality Is” sooner or later, you will need everything this book helps you to gather and get in one place (or two if you read the book carefully).

Don’t forget your coupon code: Wheat-2007 is only valid at this link

Let me know what you think

Wheat

Wheat’s Non-Standard Disclaimer:
Those who know me, know I only like to talk/sell things I like. That way, even though it might look a bit like an info-mercial, it really is not. The purpose of my Tech-Nessities topics is sharing information about products I like, and believe offer valuable information or resources – even if I sometimes benefit if you then choose to buy them

Sorry for an inconvenience, but our theme seems to dislike Internet Exploder users and they are complaining they can’t comment. So I will be “working on fixing this” over the next few days
–
If you have a moment to leave a comment and let me know what browser and version you used that would be very helpful.

Thanks

Wheat

There has been over the past several weeks, a lively conversation in the “Quilt Art” group about goals vs resolutions.

Like so many things, it got me thinking – always a dangerous thing. So I started Planning my first 2007 What Wheat Wrote blog-A-Mentry-

It had to be about goals, and the music and lyrics I use most often when I need a jump start –
and so it will be tomorrow

Meanwhile, one of my Big Picture goals is to take the time to apply SEO to EVERY thing that I web-publish – including emails, blog-a-mentry, and of course domain pages, will have the basics of SEO applied.

Among the Business treasures I have found While Web Wandering, has been the classes offered by
J “Cricket” Bailey and much of what I will be applying can be learned or extrapolated from Cricket’s various FREE courses.

I know these next weeks will be busy ones for us all, but I would URGE you, especially those who feel they need more grounding in what the goals for Preview Promenade encompass and how to reach them, including quite a bit of basic help in how to write your entries, now and later for the best long term results for your personal blogs, your web pages and all your on-line marketing ventures.

These next few weeks will be hectic, but set a goal to join these classes, set up a folder in your email client so you can come back each day and spend a bit of time working through the messages and assignments in the coming weeks and months at your own pace.
Take the time today to start the process, visit
http://www.gnc-web-creations.com/seo-optimization.htm

I know you will find some of the ingredients we need to make the pie bigger, so we all get a better slice.

Peaceful & Prosperous Wishes for 2007

Wheat

Although I found a number of sites with info about TrackBack, this is the best so far specific to WordPress.

Hope you find it useful

http://www.optiniche.com/blog/117/wordpress-trackback-tutorial/

Wow – was the original title “Tech Editors Come Second” badly written or what

A good Tech Editor is a treasure to be cherished and compensated to the best of your ability and kept forever supplied in Dark Chocolates and other treasures.

Or, as one Grande Dame of the leisure activity of NeedleArts suggested, is someone to be treated with every courtesy and care but kept locked in a closet so they cannot escape.

The Best of Tech Editors is two things, Invaluable & All too rare.

Okay so now we have a pattern written. What’s Next?

If the Designer also wrote the pattern, here is where they must set aside their ego enough to be willing to truly communicate and to be especially mindful of the need to listen. The best tech editors are going to question your methods and instructions from time-to-time. The Designer has to allow the Tech Editor to do their job to the best of their ability.

A good tech editor may be the most important business associate any designer can have. Much of the following is focused on Knit & Crochet, it applies to Sewing & Quilting and well, just about any Needle Art that uses String.

The first job of a Tech Editor is to determine if, the instructions as written, can actually produce the item described/pictured.

For Knit or Crochet, the ability to produce a gauge swatch consistently is essential, because that is the first step in tech editing. Can the recommended needle or hook produce the gauge required.
There is more to sending a tech editor just a page of written instructions, but that is not the issue here.
nor, is the fact that some articles do not really “require” meeting gauge, say an afghan or blanket, if you want your pattern to be considered accurate and well done, it ALWAYS has to be possible to produce an accurate gauge swatch within one hook/needle size.

A good tech editor can do sizing, taking into consideration that just increasing or decreasing is not always the answer – and certainly not in garment sizing. A good tech editor is going to catch that if you tell someone to cut a 6 inch square, and use quarter inch seams, that the resulting square will be 5 1/2 inches not 5 as it says in your “instructions”.

A good tech editor is extremely accomplished in the craft, so can, when needed “suggest an alternative” method to reach the same goal. But they also need to know when to back off and let the designer use thier own “signature method”.

A good tech editor does not have to execute the entire project, although they may make some portions to check the numbers, but generally, they do not.

One thing I can tell you, when a designer or publisher finds a Good Tech Editor, there is, to quote one of the Grand Dames of Needle Arts Publishing once explained, upon finding an outstanding Tech Ediotor, there is an almost irresistible urge to kidnap them, lock them in a closet and not let anyone else at them – cause they are worth their weight in diamonds (gold is too cheap these days) and more difficult to find than any other single service provider in the market.

What do you look for when searching for a Tech Editor?

Inquiring minds want to know

P.S. To read more posts in this series, select the category

It Is All Just Business
from the side bar or Search for Designer Resources