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 .

How to Make the Best Use of Etsy Treasuries !

I am sure many of you remember Jessica Rabbit from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". She was the epitome of hotness. This is what can help drive Etsy Treasuries to the front page which is where you want them to be. It will also help your items be seen by more viewers. This "How To" comes from my teammate and friend on Collaborators in Cahoots, a wonderful Etsy team. Try following these tips to see if they will make a big difference in getting your next treasury to the FRONT PAGE!

The main point of a treasury is for your item to be seen by as many people as possible, people who may be possible customers.

There are many pages in the Treasury list. Potential customers are not going to wade through every single page to see dozens of treasuries.

Treasuries can be sorted by anyone looking, in several ways. They can order the list by alphabetical name of curator, by expiry time and by "hotness."

Hotness is the one thing we can have a hand in. A treasury gets hotter when a mixture of the number of comments and the number of clicks and possibly something else makes the treasury move nearer the first page of the treasury list.

It is far more likely that any potential customer who likes to sort by Hotness is going to see this Treasury, rather than see one on page 5 or page 10. Hotness matters for those who sort by hotness.


Above each square is a tiny gray number. That shows the number of times that photo has been clicked.

Each person viewing gets 12 clicks. Once you have clicked, and left a comment, then your work starts as you now have to persuade as many other people as you can to do the same; click and comment.
Put the link on Twitter.
You can take a screenshot, upload the screenshot to Flickr, put the link to that photo on Facebook (which will then upload as the Treasury pictures) and write the link to the treasury under that.
You can blog about it.
The message to get out is that clicking will help all the artisans in this treasury.

There is room on a Treasury for about 42 comments. When that space is full up, people can still click the photos.

As an aside, one poor photo ruins the whole treasury. There is no way Admin will choose for Front Page a well curated treasury where there is even one poor photo.

A Divine Sisterhood

I am very fortunate to be part of a wonderful group of 5 girlfriends who have known each other for over 30 years. During that time we have all shared happy occasions and unfortunately, our share of sad ones too. Each one of us brings something unique and special to the group . I am not the "sister" that has a way with words but wanted to share this anyhow. We have supported each other through divorces, broken hearts, births, deaths, surgeries and sickness. We have traveled together, laughed and cried together and tried to be totally supportive even when we disagreed with each other.
In honor of our special bond, I made each one of us the bracelet you see above with the funny name we call ourselves. This name actually came to be from one of the X husbands of one of our "sisters."It has significance only to us, but somehow seemed to fit. If you are lucky enough to have friends that you love and support leave a comment here.