Sarah's Faves

Here’s one less headache for you… You can now change the name of your Facebook Page. Be it because your business name changed or an accidental misspelling, no need to be embarrassed any longer.

If you need your web address changed you’re still pretty much out of luck. Sorry. For now, bookmark this page for your records (https://www.facebook.com/help/contact_us.php?id=262629790471076).

Craftmonkey is a free web application that lets you crafty mc-crafterson Etsy sellers connect your shops to your MailChimp accounts to send out sweet email newsletters.

Looking for ways to boost your sales on Etsy or just stay in touch with current customers? Building up your email database and regularly communicating with them doesn’t hurt. I’m not talking about hourly email spam that eventually makes people want to hunt you down. I’m talking about useful, thoughtful content sent to people who like what you’re peddling.

You don’t have to create and manage an email list you say? I say rubbish (I must be channeling British Sarah today). There’s a (web) app for that. With Craftmonkey all you need to do is connect your Mailchimp account, drag and drop images and throw in your (thoughtful) copy. It doesn’t hurt to have a few email addresses on hand in order to send your latest work of art.

Made by the nice people over at Social Glu, they make creating and tracking newsletters as exciting as your crafts.

Here’s how it works:

• Create a MailChimp account (or use your existing one)
• Connect with Etsy shop using Craftmonkey
• Pick a template, add photos of your products, write a bit of text and send away!

They’re also on Twitter:  @hiCraftMonkey.

A bit overwhelmed by all the recent Facebook changes? To help us become better acquainted with the new Pages, Facebook launched an in-depth interactive tutorial.

This new Facebook course is pretty helpful, even if you’re familiar with Pages. The content is divided in the following sections: 1) how to tell your story; 2) express your identity and 3) connect with your audience. Each section is broken down by specific functions within Pages and it gives you “hands on” opportunities as you move through the course.

 TIP: Weekly pinned post — Did you know a pinned post stays at the top of your Page for up to 7 days?

You can access the course right here. FYI: Make sure any pop-up blockers are disabled. When you click the button, the course will open in a new window. Know someone who might benefit from the tutorial? Be a pal and share this post with them. Work in social media? Can’t hurt to freshen up your skillz.

It’s currently only available in English. Additional versions are coming soon in French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese.

(h/t @lavrusik)

Are usernames and passwords the bane of your existence? I empathize. As someone who has close to 19,309 online accounts (yes, I’m exaggerating) it’s tough to manage them all. But, online privacy is no joke. You probably store a lot of personal stuff on the interwebz and it needs to be protected.

One way to help protect your online safety is to create the most secure passwords possible. How do you do it? Use a free tool like Strong Password Generator to do the dirty work for you. It allows you to include symbols and create passwords up to 30 characters long. Take that sneaky web villains!

What do you do once you create this hard to remember password? You should probably store it someplace safe. Create a password protected shared file on your computer and smartphone (I know, another password) or download an app for your smartphone or iPad.  Here’s a list of the best password keeping apps for your iPad.

Here’s your checklist for creating the ultimate strong password (borrowed from Strong Password Generator) :

• At least 15 characters
• Uppercase letters
• Lowercase letters
• Update your passwords every couple of months
• Numbers
• Symbols, such as ` ! " ? $ ? % ^ & * ( ) _ - + = { [ } ] : ; @ ' ~ # | \ < , > . ? /
• Is not like your previous password
• Is not your name
• Is not your login
• Is not your spouse’s name
• Is not a common name.

What are you waiting for? Go update those passwords.

Oh, and “one more thing,”

If you think you’ve become a victim of identity theft or fraud, act immediately to minimize the damage to your personal funds and financial accounts, as well as your reputation. Here’s a list — based in part on a checklist prepared by the California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG) and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse – of some actions that you should take right away:

1. Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report the situation, whether Online,

2. By telephone toll-free at 1-877-ID THEFT (877-438-4338) or TDD at 202-326-2502, or

3. By mail to Consumer Response Center, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580.

photo credit: Simon Lieschke via photopin cc

If you’re a regular FAVES reader, then you know I like to keep things short and sweet. I know you don’t have a lot of time and you’re here because you want to learn something. Here’s how to quickly create a QR code that allows people to “like” your Facebook page right from their mobile device:

1. Go to Likify.net
2. Create an account (I know, drats.)
3. Click “Generate Code”
4. Enter the Facebook Page URL you want people to like in “Webpage about the actual item to like”
5. Next enter the text you want people to see in “Title of actual item to like” (e.g. Sarah Evans on Facebook)
6. Upload an image that people will see when they use the QR code (see my example, below)
7. Include an additional URL to give people additional information. (I included a link back to Sarah’s Faves.)
8. The coupon is optional. If you’re a vendor, might not be a bad idea.
9. You can add the location, if you’re an analytics kind of geek and like to track stuff
10. Done.
11. Download your QR code and post EVERYWHERE. (Might be nice for those cufflinks, too.)
12. Suggestions, question, problems? Ping them at info@lifelabs.be.

Tip: Upload the smallest photo size possible to make sure your photo doesn’t take forever to load.

Want more social stuff to do with QR codes? Check out Social QR Code.

Need a branded QR code? BrandedQRs has them.

If you’re in opposition of SOPA, here’s another way you can make a statement online. Use BlackoutSOPA.org to alter your Twitter avatar and reflect your disdain. BlackoutSOPA offers the following three choices for quickly altering your avatar:

• Blackout the entire photo (a black square)
• Add a black “Stop SOPA” banner under your current avatar
• Add a blackout with a white “Stop SOPA” banner

You can follow #BlackoutSOPA on Twitter.

(h/t @Mattcutts)

Have a FAVE you think I should feature? Email me at prsarahevans [at] gmail [dot] com.

Unable to make the trip to Vegas for this year’s CES? That’s okay. You can pretend you’re there online. No one will ever know. <sarcasm> Seriously though, there are a lot of online resources available to make it feel like you’re experiencing CES alongside the likes of Scoble and Pete Cashmore.

1. CES RSS News Feed
2. CES Exhibitor Announcements 
3. CES Multimedia library
4. CES on Twitter
5. Watch session videos
6. Follow the #CES hashtag
7. CES on Facebook
8. CES on Flickr
9. CES on YouTube
10. Twitter List of 2011 Exhibitors (yes, not 2012)
11. Create a Google Alert for CES news
12. Check out your favorite tech blog–they probably have live coverage from the event

Have another resource you’re using to follow CES online? Share below in the comments.

FAVE on my friends.

My husband and I constantly ask one another, “What time does [insert our fave team] play tonight?”  He thought I was so cool when I discovered a way to make sure we never forget where our teams are playing, who they are playing against and what time they play. Enter Google’s “Interesting Calendars” function. It allows me to add all of my fave sports teams schedules to my Google Calendar. Brilliant!

I’m sure you’re freaking out now and want to know how to do it too, right? Okay, here’s how:

1. Go to “Settings” in your Google Calendar (right hand corner)
2. Select “Calendars” (it’s the second tab)
3. Scroll down and click on “Browse Interesting Calendars”
4. Select the second tab labeled “Sports” –> You can choose from: baseball, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, rugby and soccer
5. Click on the league you’re looking for (e.g. NBA)
6. Click on your fave team (e.g. Chicago Bulls)
7. Select “Subscribe”

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

TIP: If you don’t want the sports schedules showing on your work calendar, create a separate calendar for “sports.”

Make your favorite sport lovers day and send them this tip.

I am officially hooked on ifttt. Thanks, Techcrunch.

Don’t get overwhelmed when you visit the site. It’s actually really easy. Trust me. If I can do it, you can do it.

What is ifttt? It essentially puts the internet to work for you by creating tasks that fit this simple structure: if this then that. You either create your own “recipe” or use one another user created. A recipe might be “if I post a video to YouTube then a link to the video should go to a Dropbox folder.” Yes, ifttt helps you do all this and more. Automated simplicity.

• Sign up for ifttt beta;
• Click the confirmation link sent to you via email; and
• Begin the insanity (see below).

You can use any or all of these Twitter recipes to make your social experience even better. Just connect the services listed to your account and it’s on like Donkey Kong.

1. Greet every new Twitter follower*
2. Send all of your Twitter favorites to Evernote (LOVE!)
3. Thank people who give you a #FF (followfriday) nod*
4. Tweet “Happy New Year” at midnight
5. Follow people back automatically when they follow you
6. Thank you DM to new followers*
7. Archive tweets to Google Calendar
8. Post all photos shared via Twitter to Flickr
9. Send a tweet to Pinterest
10. Receive an SMS when someone DMs you
11. Forward DMs to an email accout
12. Send links you share via Twitter to Evernote
13. Thank people for a RT*
14. Send Last.FM update automatically to Twitter
15. Send a Facebook status update to Twitter
16. Receive a phone call when someone DMs you
17. Have a DM sent to you if it’s raining (weather update)
18. Send a tweet when you favorite a YouTube video
19. Send tweets via Google Talk
20. Create Twitter list from Twitter chat participants

* — Use these at your own risk and discretion. These are not tasks I would necessarily recommend as it takes away from the more “personal” side of networking.

Did you create an awesome recipe? Post in the comments.

Have a fave you think I should feature? Email me at prsarahevans [at] gmail [dot] com.

You probably know how to tweet an entire blog post or shorten a URL to get to a blog post, but you might not know how to make excerpts of a post tweetable. And if you do, just humor me, okay? I’m running on little sleep.

Here it is, short and sweet:

1. Use this URL (copy and paste): https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?source=webclient&text=
2. Next add in your text (keep it less than 140 characters so people have room to RT)
3. DO NOT add hashtags as it will not work (Sorry!) You can add hashtags by doing the following: “%23 instead of a # symbol”
4. Copy the URL with your text and insert it as a hyperlink next to the tweetable text. I usually add something brilliant, like: “tweet this.”

Want to try it out? Tweet this. (It’s a surprise.)

Have a fave you think I should feature? Email me at prsarahevans [at] gmail [dot] com.
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