For the past three years, Mom and I have been doing an annual podcast together, in which I've interviewed her about various aspects of the holiday season.

This year, we decided to do something a little different, and just record one of our many conversations on a subject we revisit again and again - Christmas cookies! We had so much fun, and laughed a lot, and we hope you'll get a kick out of the result.

Here's a short little podcast, in which I explain why I had to stop making CraftyPod episodes last year. And, I introduce CraftyPod 2.0, which will bring you fresh, new podcasts in future!

To get the new shows, visit CraftyPod.com and click the "Podcast 2.0" tab.

If you'd like to get some more depth on how I arrived at this new show, you might enjoy these posts over on the blog:

• It all started with me writing about free content and sustainability. That led to a series, which included this post and this post.

• Then I surveyed my listeners about the show, and these were the results.

• Want to link to the free trial show of CraftyPod 2.0? Just click here.

Back before I stopped podcasting, I had signed up to be part of the blog tour for Kathy Cano Murillo's new novel, Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing. So here's a fun podcast interview with the Crafty Chica herself, all about the new book and her burgeoning career as an author of crafty fiction.

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If you want a little more glimpse into the book, check out this video trailer Kathy put together! (Usual disclosures: Grand Central Publishing sent me a review copy, and the title link above is an affiliate link.)

Image by Zellaby, via Flickr

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In this show:

• My Mom, Pam Harris, returns to the show to talk about planning for your holiday season.

• How can you fit more crafting, cooking, and fun into the holiday season? What's the best way to plan activities, and make them happen?

• ...And what do you do when Life messes with your plan?

Links:

• Have you read, Gingerbread Snowflakes, my Mom's blog? There's lots and lots of wonderful holiday-season stuff there.

• If you liked this show, you'll love Mom's Winter Holiday Survival Planning Guide. (Yup, it's free.)

• Psssst: have you seen my Christmas pinboard on Pinterest?

Image by Shahram Sharif, via Flickr

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In this show:

• Cory Huff, an online business coach for artists and crafters, talks with me about that mysterious idea: Search Engine Optimization (or, SEO).

• What can SEO really do for your blog or website? How does it work? And how technically-skilled do you need to be to implement it?

• ...More importantly, how does SEO apply to small artisan businesses?

Links:

• Cory's website, The Abundant Artist, is an online learning community for artists and crafters. He also offers an Easy Artist Websites Course.

Want more detail on some of the things we discussed in the show?

• Here's a good explanation of title tags. (And if you're a Wordpress user, there's a plugin that lets you update yours.)

• Cory has a great blog post about why you should name your images more carefully as an SEO tactic. You might also find this post by Kayleen West interesting.

• Here's a pair of great posts from Meylah on SEO: Justine Smith talks about Keywords, and she collects three good beginner's tips for getting started with SEO.

• ...Onward to Google tools. Cory recommends using Analytics to track what people are doing on your website. I have a video series to help you use it.

• Want to see how various search terms rank? Try the Google AdWords Keyword Tool.

• If you're fairly technically-skilled, then you might also want to sign up for Google's Webmaster Tools.

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In this show:

• I talk with Alexa Westerfield about what it's like to work full-time for a craft company and then be personally crafty in her off hours.

• How How do you combat burnout when you're immersed in craft all the time?

• What's it like to work for a craft-industry company?

Links:

Visit Alexa at all her personal homes on the web:

• The Swell Life, her blog
• On Twitter
• On Facebook
• On Flickr
• On Tumblr

...And Alexa's professional homes on the web:

• She works for I Love to Create
• Which can also be found on Twitter
• and on Facebook

Image by Professor Bop, via Flickr

In this show:

• Kirsty Hall and I talk about what it means to be more authentic online - whether it's in your blog posts, tweets, or Facebook updates.

• How does authenticity lead people to trust you - and when can it turn them away? What impact does it have on a small craft business?

• Is there anything you really shouldn't share online? .

Links:

• Visit Kirsty at her blog, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

Kirsty also mentioned these bloggers:

• Catherine Caine's take on Why "Professional Does Not Mean "Corporate"

• Havi Brooks talks about your right people, and people throwing shoes.

• Kate Davis blogs about her experiences recovering from an unexpected stroke.

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In this show:

• I talk with Marisa Lynch about her current project: revamping one (rather hideous) $1.00 thrift-store dress into something cute and fashionable every day. She blogs about it at New Dress a Day.

• We discuss exactly what goes into a project like this – keeping inspired, managing time, and where one stores hundreds of new garments!

• ...And we talk about Marisa's simple-yet-effective approach to garment reconstruction. There are no advanced tailoring skills needed, and the results are gorgeous.

Links:

• Check out New Dress a Day, where you can see the over 300 (!!!) garment revamps Marisa's completed already.

• Marisa's fame with this project is growing – she's been profiled on TIME's Money blog, and ReadyMade, Green LA Girl, (and numerous other blogs), and The Nate Berkus Show.

In this show:

• Jena Coray, proprietress of Modish, shares her experiences and insights about running a successful ad program on a craft blog.

• How much work actually goes into selling and hosting ads? How much traffic do you need?

• ...And we have some really interesting discussion about the kinds of "hidden responsibilities" you take on when you start offering ads. Passive income, this is not.

Links:

• Do visit Modish, which blends eye candy and indie with fun and quirky and does it gorgeously.

• Design*sponge offers a couple iconic posts about blog advertising – read this and this

• If you're curious about how affiliate marketing works, this post on Copyblogger offers some good options for creating affiliate coverage.  This post and this post offer additional insight.

• If you need to get more acquainted with your blog statistics, I highly recommend Google Analytics. I even have a little video tutorial series going for that program.

• ...And if you're asking, "How can I get more traffic to my blog?", try checking out this video class, this podcast, and this ebook.

Image by *bene*, via Flickr Creative Commons

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In this show:

• Bettie Newell, and attorney and a crafter, helps us understand legal business structures, including Sole Proprietorships, LLCs, Corporations, and Partnerships.

• We talk about why these structures are important, and which ones might be best for what kinds of craft businesses.

• ...And we talk about what's involved in getting your business set up as one of these structures.

Links:

• Bettie Newell blogs about crafts over at Handmade in Portland. You can also catch her on Twitter.

• If you're in Oregon, Bettie recommends the Small Business Legal Clinic.

• Check to see if your community has a Mercy Corps office. Some of them offer small business classes.

• Another good resource is the Small Business Development Center, which exists in many states.

• Here's how to apply for an Employer Identification (EIN) number

• Here's a directory of state Secretary of State offices.