I’ve been struggling with printers in the last few years, I’ve bought cheap ones under £50 which essentially there is nothing wrong with. Once the ink cartridges run out though, the new ones end up costing almost the same as the printers! The cartridges don’t last very long either. The last printer I had kept saying the ink was low, then I got new cartridges and it wouldn’t work so I was really fed up. I was thrilled to be able to review a new printer, and even better one that doesn’t require cartridges at all! Why has no one thought of this before? Just fill up with actual ink that lasts 2 years – say what? What is the print quality like? All questions I will answer. I’m also going to show you how to make a printable you can offer as a download for your blog, either as an opt-in for your email list, or as a free download with a post.
Making your printable
You can make your printable in any software you feel comfortable with, either Word, Powerpoint, Photoshop, Canva or Picmonkey. I make mine in Canva, as it’s what I know. I select the A4 template, and either start with one of their templates or make my own. Decide what you’re going to offer, it can be a checklist, a poster, invitation, a meal plan, a reward chart, a cheatsheet or planner for example. Design it with your brand colours in mind and put your website name in there somewhere. When you’re ready to save it, save as a PDF for print. Print it out to make sure it looks how you want it to and works as a printable. Now you’re ready to offer it as a download. So how can we add it to our post? It depends what you want from it. If you just want to add it as a free download, then you need to have a shareable link to your document. Is it an editable download? If it is, you need to make sure that no one will edit the master copy. I have this with my blogging schedule, I made it in Google sheets, then you can have the option to get a shareable link and you can put that as your download. I put a message in the first tab to make sure people made a copy first and then they could edit it if they wanted to.
If you would like a button in your blog post, you can either make an image in button size with your chosen text like ‘Get your free meal plan here’ or similar, then make it link to your shareable link or your media file, or you can put some code in to the text part of your post to have a button show. Just search make a button on wordpress (or your platform), it’s easy when you know how. Another way is to save your PDF into dropbox, make it a shareable link and then people can download it via dropbox.
If you want it as an opt-in, here’s where you need an email provider like Mailchimp, Mailerlite or Convertkit. I use Mailerlite for mine, it allows me to add the file to the welcome email so the reader gets their download when they sign up to my list. I can also add it into an email broadcast, so that existing subscribers get the download too.
The Epson Ecotank ET-2750 Printer
Firstly, the Epson Ecotank ET-2750 is a printer, scanner and copier all in one. It has built in Wi-fi of course, and you can print from your phone or computer, or any device that has Wi-fi. When you first set up the printer, you have to fill up the ink. That’s the fun part! After removing the packing tapes, I located the ink tanks and the ink bottles. It’s all clearly labelled and easy to do. You can’t spill the ink other than in the tank reservoirs (which sounds like they’re huge but they’re really not). When you think of 2 years worth of ink you think it’s massive but it isn’t. It makes a satisfying glug glug sound when you put in the ink. You can’t overfill the tanks either, the valve stops when it’s full. There was no mess at all, even though I was prepared for some.
You can see the reservoirs in the above photo, so you can always see the ink in there and the levels precisely. There is another black bottle included and then the colours have a little left in them which you can store and save. Once you’ve added all the ink, you turn on the power and follow the simple instructions so the printer can prime itself, which takes about 10 minutes. Then you put in your Wi-fi code and you’re good to go. On each device you want to print from, either install the printer via the CD you get with it, or visit the epson web address you get provided with and follow a few quick steps. I printed out the test paper for alignment which was all good and that’s it! I’m so happy with it. I always need to print out letters from school, and my own blog printables. I have a blogging schedule, a blogging checklist and a birth plan template that I offer. I’m currently working on an editorial calendar which has all the awareness days and special days on it, so I’ve test printed the first page of that with my new printer below.
You can see the quality is no different to any other printer. I even printed it onto light card, and it coped brilliantly. You don’t need to keep paper in it all the time, just add when ready. I’d definitely recommend it for business and personal use, think how much you’d save in cartridges and ink. I’m also pleased at the reduced environmental impact it has, it just makes sense to me. Here are the specifications:
- Equivalent of 95 cartridges worth of ink included
- Ultra-low-cost printing: Print up to 14,000 pages in black and 5,200 pages in colour
- Next generation ink filling system: Enjoy hassle and mess-free refills with the enhanced ink bottles
- Wi-Fi & apps: Print from mobile devices
- 3-in-1 with LCD screen: Print, copy & scan – plus double-sided printing
Take a look at the printer on the Epson website here, it retails at around £349.99 but you can get up to £125 trade in on your old printer.
If you’d like to get a copy of my editorial calendar with all the special days included, it will soon be on sale for just £3, but I’m offering it for free as one of the bonuses when you buy my Blogging Secrets course.