New Blog: The Broke Student's Guide

I have to admit something: I've been cheating on my blog with another blog. Ok, non-clever joking aside, I have a new blog. Not that I'm abandoning this one, because the two are totally different and unrelated. But the other one has certaintly been holding my attention lately! It's called The Broke Student's Guide to Stretching Your Dollar. It's aimed at college students, and focuses on all the ways that students can save money and get the most value for what little money they do spend. I focus a lot on getting things for free, earning money doing practically nothing (like paid-to sites) and taking advantage of all your campus has to offer, as well as tips and tricks on the things you do have to purchase whether you like it or not - like textbooks and groceries. Anyway, if any of thats useful to you, please follow! And then link all of your friends to it!

http://brokestudentguide.blogspot.com/

The Best New Promotional Tool!

The other day, as I was browsing through my Google Webmaster Tools and searching through all the links pointing back to OmgLia.com, I stumbled across something .... amazing. It's a site called Polyvore and it's basically the coolest thing I've ever seen! From the site:

bEhinD my S M i L E, you'd be suprised how much i H i D E by »emmα;; &&iT'S THE [CLiMB] ♥ featuring Louis Vuitton bags

"Polyvore is a free, easy-to-use web-based application for mixing and matching images from anywhere on the web. It is also a vibrant community of creative and stylish people. Polyvore lets you create sets composed of individual images using an easy to use, drag and drop editor. After you have created a set, you can publish and share it with your friends and the Polyvore community."

Following is for Beginners by faeriemyst featuring Forever21 jewelry

Essentially, it's a group of creative people who are interested in fashion, creating style boards using images from all over the web- including OmgLia.com! Unbeknownst to me, users had added all of the pictures on my site with plain white backgrounds and begun using them in their fashion spreads. As an apparel merchandising/fashion design major, this site appeals to me in just about EVERY way possible. I'll be making my first spread soon.

Dark by raxa featuring Prada

Why I Find Polyvore to be an Excellent Promotional Tool:
1. When an item is added from your site, Polyvore provides a prominent link back to your site along with a price, tags, and a link to other items from your site.
2. Internal links to an item on a website are rated higher in SEO (search engine optimization) than homepage links - aka, as a result of these internal links, my site shows up higher in search engine results!
3. With just a click, your image is added to a database of thousands of members to be featured artistically in ways you never imagined! Not only is the creator of the spread perusing your items, but they are turning it into a beautiful work of art to be appreciated by thousands more!
4. Advertising potential! Using your items in visually appealing situations lends opportunities for ad copy and, with permission, even graphic design potential. For example: "Look how cute these earrings look with a lavender shirt and a pair of Mary Janes! *pic of outfit*" Once a customer can visualize your item fitting into her closet, she is already on her way to purchasing it!
5. The creators of the style board AND the owners of the items featured are both given excellent, easy-to-find, prominent credit.
This site is my FAVORITE new promotional tool!

~just dance..♥ by rena. ♥ featuring Nine West shoes

Arguments Against Polyvore
Many on Etsy have brought up the point that Polyvore is encouraging "stealing" of images and items for an unintended purpose. For example, a photograph that is altered within a spread. My counter to that is this:
1. Your item is given a link back and is clearly named and credited to you both with a hover-over and a sidebar link. Also, I have found that commenting on a work and saying "thanks for using an item from *my site link*" is another great way to further promote credit for one's work. It is quite similiar to being featured in a blog with a link back - but much more artistic and creative!
2. Worried about your images being stolen? Sadly, images are practically free for the taking online. Most of us don't have copyright lawyers to defend our work. The solution: watermarks. Don't post an original photograph without a big stamped URL over top of it! That way no matter where your image ends up, your site is always credited - plus no one but a customer has the original image.
3. Etsy items and, as I understand it, Photobucket and Flickr items, are not allowed to be added to Polyvore. This prevents uncredited items and encourages direct links back to original content on the website of the work's creator.

I chose life by Bethiesue08 featuring Prada bags

Take a look at some of the gorgeous creations featuring OmgLia items! Can you find them? It's like a treasure hunt!

LynnVisible by la.la. featuring Tommy Hilfiger accessories

9/50 Funky by ~ღSonyaღ~ featuring Coach accessories

Everything You Ever Wanted by angela ♥ love.dance.music. featuring Vera Bradley bags

Rastaman Live Up! by PrincessMaia. <3 featuring RVCA

Are you a member? Post yours!

Holiday Planning

Indie Shopping is featuring an article about Omg! Lia? Be sure to check it out! There will also be a sponsored newsletter going out to subscribers (it's a great newsletter, by the way!)

In other news, I'm ridiculously busy, hence the lack of updating. I've been working on an Access databse for Omg Lia:

which is quite time-consuming, which on top of schoolwork (ahhhhh) and social life-having is putting a real cramp on my time management :(

I do have plans for the Holidays though - hopefully I'll get them all up and running during my Thanksgiving break in time to have a Black Friday sale! - which so far can be seen at http://omglia.com in the form of a new layout (still working on it though) and Gift Idea categories. I've got gift packaging in the mail and new items to post as well as new advertisements to make (ahhhh! head exploding!) anyway, I'll try to keep posted on what's new with me!

Featured!

Several of my rings are appearing in Ring O Blog!
Elektrosawruslove blogged about me.
A pair of my earrings were featured at Cuteable.

Featured!

Counterfeit Chic used one of my magazine wallets in an interesting article.
Femme Details is featuring an interview with me! Check it out!
Oh My So Cute featured my items as well!
And here's a sweet review from Ashley Leigh!
Cuteable featured my rainbow button earrings!
I was featured at Yes I Am Baking a Pie! What a cute name :P
CaityBlog featured my free giveaway.
Love It A Lot featured an ice cream cone necklace!


Let me know if you feature me and want a write-up!