My Secret Pal

Well, the secret is out! My amazing team member Trish of Soapy Blessings planned this great activity to boost our team spirit. Trish chose names from a "virtual hat" and we all sent surprise gift packages to each other. Here is the adorable gift that I received:

I plan to put the cute crocheted flower on my favorite winter hat and the jeweled pad and funky pen are now a permanent fixture in my jewelry workshop.
Thanks so much to Susan and to Trish (who makes handmade soap) for planning this event.

Collaborators in Cahoots

I am fortunate enough to be a member of a wonderful team of collaborators. We share ideas and knowledge on ways to promote our products on the Internet. Today I am giving you a preview of three of these shops.
Three Collaborators Team members' shops:


Today, let's look at this shop:
SusanNeedlehands Handmade Knitwear, Home Decor & Crafts



Now for Shelly's shop. Shelly knits and crochets ponchos, hats, scarves, shawls and accessories.
Take a peek at her purses & felted bags.
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Have you visited Hamna's Etsy shop?
Her shop is full of Handmade clothing and costumes for adults and children
Just look at these marvelous dresses!
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Here is a photo of one of my teammates. She says,"This morning I went on a bike ride. You can see I am using a water bottle carrier - and it came from this shop!"

You might also like:
My water bottle carrier
Come Check Out A Beautiful Shop!
Featured in Susanneedlehand's blog

Fire and Ice

Take a look at two wonderful etsy treasuries here:

Fire and Ice

Tips for Promting your Website

As a member of the baby boomer generation, I have struggled with getting exposure to my little shop on the Internet. When I first began listing my jewelry items in my shop, I had no idea where to even begin. I did feel confident that people would like my pieces, if only I could take decent photos and have my work visible to enough people.

I thought I would share some tips that helped me get started and perhaps if you are new to this, you may find these beneficial.

1. Get your name out here using as many venues as possible. Since I was still a beginner, I did not have the money to spend on my own website and decided to list my items with Etsy.com and Artfire.com which allowed me to list and sell my work without spending an arm and a leg! I joined facebook, stumbled upon , flickr, twitter,forums and artists groups just like this one. More about that later.

2. You need an avatar and banner that represents your work and that you use consistently to let people know who you are. My work is influenced by my Greek heritage and so I use this avatar to represent me.jpg" border="0">

I use this as my banner:

I feel that it is important to be consistent and not keep changing your image so that people can identify you.

3. Get help. I can't stress this enough. Since I am computer challenged, please don't think I did this without help. My banner was made by a graphic designer on etsy and my niece did my avatar. Since I had no experience with photography and had no idea taking photos of jewelry was so difficult, I found a local person to help me with photoshop elements. I still struggle endlessly with photos, but if you could have seen the first ones you'd know, "I've come a long way baby!"

4. Check your statistics on Google analytics. Learn about keywords and how to make your titles and descriptions visible on the Internet. There are many tutorials on these subjects.

5. Don't give up. If you are not a computer whiz, you will spend many hours figuring out how to do what you need to do. This can get very frustrating and it won't happen overnight. I have been doing this for 4 years and I am just beginning to get more consistent sales.

6. Join groups that help you promote

One of the groups I have joined that has helped me is Collaborators In Cahoots.

You will need to find a group that is right for you. I belong to a few now and they have provided a wealth of information, not only about promoting on the web, but also sources for my jewelry needs.

7. BLOG. I am guilty of not keeping up to date on mine, but blogging is a great way to meet new people, gain knowledge and make yourself visible to search engines.

http://ping.fm/3gs6G

Another Way to Promote Your Merchandise

If you are like me, trying to get exposure through the Internet, you may not have considered the power of slide shows and videos. I know that most digital cameras have the ability to record short videos and that is certainly an option. Have a family member or friend record you while you introduce yourself and show items from your online shop. People like to connect a face and personality with the shop owners they buy from on the Internet. I am a member of a group of sellers Collaborators in Cahoots that help each other promote. One of my dear friends from this great group of people made this slide show for me while I am recovering from recent surgery. It was the nicest gift I could have received and as soon as I am able, I plan to record a video of myself with my latest jewelry items. Our group of artisans also has a shop on etsy which you should not miss .