No Bead Store?

My husband and I took a much needed trip to the mountains this past weekend. We stayed in the lovely little town of Highlands, NC at the cozy Mitchell Lodge. I love the slower pace and the cooler temperatures in the mountains, it’s so relaxing.

Wherever we travel, I always visit the local bead store to pick up some treasures that might not be available in Atlanta. To my surprise I found no bead store in Highlands. The community seems to be the perfect place for a bead ‘lounge’. A place to not only purchase beads and findings, but a place to sit and work on projects with friends, host a girl’s night out, or take a basic beading class. A place that serves beverages and has all the tools needed to complete a project.

I love this sign in front of a favorite bead shop in Virginia.

Highlands is a small town (3000 permanent residents) that swells to 25,000 to 30,000 seasonal residents during the spring to fall months. I call it the “reverse snowbird” flock. The town is at a very high elevation and is in one of only two temperate rain-forests in the continental US. The weather is mild in the summer months and the landscape is lush and green. The wonderful weather attracts retirees from Florida who want to escape the heat and hurricane threats of the summer months. Generally the retirees are well off, interested in the arts, and have a lot of free time. It is also a place for Atlanta folks to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life for a weekend. And two Universities have extension programs in Highlands so younger creative folks also live in town. I believe this would be a good demographic for a budding creative bead business.

I love this logo from a favorite bead shop in San Francisco that closed in 2009 

SO, why hasn’t someone jumped on this yet? Why isn’t there a cool bead “lounge” in Highlands? I don’t have the answer yet, but I’m starting my research this week. I’d love to be the bead shop owner is this lovely place. Take a peek at my previous blog post about Highlands, NC by clicking here. Cheers!



Do You Know Your Top Keywords?

  I just wanted to share a few things I learned from a fellow blogger…

I wanted to get my items closer to the first page of results when an Etsy buyer does a search on a specific word. My category is really saturated (bead jewelry), hopefully some small changes to the title and tags will at least help my items’ position in the search results.

First, I took a look at my Top Keywords in “Shop Stats” on my Etsy account page.

- I selected “All Time” from the drop down box and took a look at my top keywords. These are the words I should be using in my titles and tags. (For example, mine are lampwork earrings, ceiling fan pull chain, and lampwork beads.)

 Items in my Etsy shop that fit the Top Keyword categories.

Second, I've started editing my listings using the Top Keywords in my Titles.
- When appropriate I placed the Keywords at the beginning or as close to the beginning of my titles as possible.

Third, I also used the Top Keywords from my Titles in my Tags.
- Having matching keywords in my titles and tags gives me a double dip in the search!

Fourth, I put my Top Keywords in my item description.
- Search Engines such as Google draw from descriptions, I’m trying to put the Keywords as close to the beginning as possible. 

Fifth, I’ve started to pay attention to the Google Search preview when listing an item.
- The Google Search preview shows what will be displayed when the item comes up in a Google search. Top Keywords should be visible in the preview.

Google Search Example:

Handmade Lampwork Bead Earrings Cinnamon Spice by LorisGlassworks

This chic set of earrings features handmade glass lampwork beads using an earth tone color scheme, matching solid cinnamon color beads, copper beads and copper....

TITLE EXAMPLE:
Old Title: Cinnamon Spice Earrings

Improved Title: Handmade Lampwork Bead Earrings: Cinnamon Spice

TAGS EXAMPLE:

Tags from the Title: Lampwork, Handmade, Cinnamon
Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!

The rest of the Tags: Copper, Brown, Caramel, Chocolate, Cabin, Fall, Autumn, Rust, Terra Cotta

I hope this information is helpful and your items hit the first page when a word search is entered. 

Good Luck and Cheers!

Lori

Resources:
There are lots of great articles in the Etsy Blog! But this one is especially relevant.
www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/putting-your-shop-on-top-etsy’s-most-relevant-search/
More:
www.etsy.com/blog/en/?s=relevancy

Ever have one of THOSE days?

What a Day I had yesterday! And THOSE days seem to be increasing; recently I’ve heard from friends and family who are also having challenges in their lives on a more regular basis.  The question is: What should I do? Quit my own job? Move to Belize? Turn off all the electronics and hibernate? While those options do look great on paper, they're not realistic for me at this time.

Today I’m starting a detailed personal calendar to help me stay on task when I’m feeling flustered or unfocused.  Knowing what I need to do hour to hour should help me move in the right direction more quickly.  Ann Parri, Esty shop owner from Wales has just what I need:

Do you have an accountability partner? What about a good venting source? The right support system can make a huge difference for anyone, no matter what you do or where you work. Some days, when I feel like I just can't do this one more minute, a call a trusted friend or my husband to help  jolt me back into my happy place.

My emergency crew when I need some TLC.....Deb, Richard, Brenda, and Belinda.

When all else fails, I keep in mind that I can always walk away for a bit. Take a walk around the block in the historic neighborhood where I live, sit on the terrace with a good book, make a short trip to the mall or bead shop, or even a nap. When I find that my brain just isn't working with me and I’m at wits' end, I give myself the opportunity to take a break. 

One of my favorite places to relax, walk, and window shop.......

Hoping that today will be a great day!  Hope your day is excellent too.

Something to work toward....

Just like every other serious Etsy seller I have dreams of becoming one of the Etsy “power sellers”.  A shop that has thousands of purchases and is continually listed at the top of the leader boards.  To me there is nothing more thrilling than seeing my sales number increase when I login to my shop. I’ve spent hours reading information on how to optimize sales and market my shop.  But alas, sales are slow at the moment and I have to remind myself that slowdowns are normal.  Even though I’m feeling a little deflated at the moment, the sky is not falling!

So in the mean time, before I become an overnight sensation (just kidding, I’ve got a long way to go to achieve Etsy stardom), I’ve decided to work on a mailing list.  Every time a customer makes a purchase, I have an opportunity to build a valuable mailing list. I’ve been wasting a prime opportunity to stay in touch with my customers and possibly earn more sales from quite possibly the easiest people to sell to.

When sending the initial email, I will let them know about my latest designs, make my message short and sweet, and let my customers know that I won’t be sending them further email without their permission. Hopefully this will remind them that I’m still here, give them a reason to browse my shop again and offered them the chance to opt-in to receive future offers.

All in all, there are plenty of ways to deal with a sales slump on Etsy, this is just one way to turn the trend around. What have you done to help your business during slow sales times? Let me know in the comments below.



Take a Peek....

New earring designs in my Etsy shop

Since moving I have not had time to setup my lampwork studio space. So, toady I went through my stash of odds and ends and found several matching pairs of lampwork beads that I could use for earrings. I'm trying to get my shop stocked now for the approaching holiday season. Have you started your holiday planning yet?

Join the Party....

The Semi Annual Bead Soup Party is Finally Here!

For those who aren't familiar:

This is the third Bead Soup Blog Hop in two years, and Kalmbach books has picked it up for publication in October 2012.

Registration begins on http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ today. Basically, you get a partner, exchange a set of beads, send a focal and a toggle (you don't have to make them) along with coordinating beads. The idea is to expand your horizons, try something new with beads picked for you by another designer. 

 An example of a Bead Soup package:

The cool thing is, people get discovered during the blog hop, which will take place on Septembe17th. Blog numbers and followers increase, designers that make beads and components experience increased sales and some bloggers have even been  approached by magazines. So you never know who will be watching.

If you are interested, sign ups are August 1-3 at http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ and are open internationally. There were over 200 participants last year.

I hope to see some of you at the party!

Lori

Logging My Favorites...

This is the seventh installment of a ongoing log of my favorite things. Once a month I will post a favorite. It might be a person, or a place, or even an event. Hopefully it will help you get to know me a little better. I'd love your comments and I hope to make some connections through our mutual enjoyment of these treasures.

Realist Painter Thomas Arvid

Thomas Arvid's images amaze me with their intricate details and his mastery of light, depth and reflection. He has the ability to visualize and chronicle an entire scene beyond the picture frame – to tell a story of pleasure and the good life – using lush color and skillful composition. His paintings are regularly mistaken for photography, he's amazing.

Arvid is passionate about art and wine, a collector of both, he strives to capture the enjoyment of a life well lived on each canvas. "Wine is a great subject because people are familiar with it; they really connect to it. My paintings speak to the special moments that people share when they share wine – it's amazing that my collectors find a personal fulfillment in my work, especially when I'm just doing what I love."



My favorite artist lives right here in Atlanta. He has been spotted with paint brushes in his pocket painting in the most unusual places: on a commercial airline, sitting cross leg in a hallway, at a local wine market, and the lobby of a hotel. I’m envious of his constant inspiration and motivation.

I share in his passion for wine and art; one of Arvid's favorite phrases: "Life without art is like dinner without wine. Why bother?"  I totally agree.  Cheers!



Favorite Etsy Shop....

Items I love from the Lonely Heart Etsy shop.



I was browsing on Etsy this past Monday and found an interesting item on the front page.  The link sent me to a wonderful shop.  I love the theme and look of this shop, they specialize in the art of the heart.  The shop profile is below; take a minute to visit the shop:

The Lonely Heart

"The Lonely Heart specializes in handmade personalized hearts made of wood, barbed wire, metal, paper, glass & more, to give as a gift to the one you love! It's a home for hearts that are lonely and may have been forgotten over time. They are a collection of hearts that have been handmade, re-purposed, recycled or found sitting by themselves and forgotten or maybe even worse, never been loved."

Twitter Following... Part Four...

My Final Step - Twitter Efficiency

My day can be very busy at times, so I am always looking for ways to simplify my Etsy promotion using Twitter. Twitterfeed is a site that allows you to set up automatic tweets whenever you post a new blog post, list a new Etsy item etc. Twitterfeed does a lot of the work for me! Just a couple of things to keep in mind using automated tools like this:

• - Think about the settings you use. TwitterFeed allows you to set the frequency and the number of automatic tweets to be sent out. For example, if you list 10 etsy items at once, do you really want to send out 10 shop link tweets in a row? 
• - Don’t just auto post, ‘live’ chat is good as well as using this service.
• - You can set a tweet prefix in twitterfeed. I used to have ‘Just listed’ for my new etsy listings, but when I thought about it more carefully, I realized that many of my Twitter followers would not be familiar with Etsy and might not know what that meant! I have now changed it to ‘My latest design”.

Additional Tips:
You can easily manage your twitter accounts and facebook etc all from one place by using HootSuite. This is another way I find targeted followers- you can add a column that will show tweets from people containing keywords that you've set.

Happy Tweeting!

 



Breakfast-in-Bed.....

Woke-up this morning wishing that we had a butler to serve breakfast-in-bed.  My husband and I went to a concert last night; we stayed out late and I'm feeling a little lazy today. Since we don't have a butler and our cat Beau hasn't mastered carrying a tray up the stairs, I went to Etsy for my breakfast.  Have I mentioned before that you can find anything on Etsy?  Take a peek at what I found.....

 Eco- Friendly Breakfast in Bed 

I love this felt breakfast set by Pixiekids Toys! The food items are all handmade out of Eco-felt by Melisa Santacroce. The Eco felt is manufactured from recycled plastic bottles. Melisa's husband Bill crafts the cute wood serving tray that comes with the set and their baby boy works in the 'test lab' giving all items the seal of baby fun approval.  Click below to check out the other fun items in their shop:

Eco-Friendly Breakfast In Bed Set

Twitter Following... Part Three...

                           



Third Step - Keep Your Followers and Establish a Connection

Time-honored advertising is no longer as effective as it used to be (according to the experts!), and the challenge is to really engage and interact with your followers. Keeping this in mind can be very helpful in translating twitter follows into actual sales. I think this is particularly relevant for selling on etsy, where ‘the story’ and the person behind the shop are important aspects of the product.

So try and interact with your followers as much as you can.

Some things you could try from the twitter tool box:

- Ask for feedback and ideas

 - Ask other kinds of questions (Qs are likely to encourage a response)

- Re-tweet other people and thank people for RTs

- Respond to comments from your followers and comment on other people’s tweets

A very important thing to avoid doing on twitter is spamming- sending multiple tweets about the same item in your shop or the same tweet over and over. Including meaningful interactive content in your tweets and only posting links about your shop sometimes will help keep this balance and prevent loss of followers.

Click HERE to follow me on Twitter.



Twitter Following...Part Two...

My Second Step- Clever Following

As well as building up a good number of followers, it really is critical to make sure you seek out the right kind of audience for your products. If all of your followers are fellow sellers, it’s unlikely that your twitter activity is going to translate into sales very often (unless you’re a supply seller etc), or it might mean that you have to put in a huge amount of effort to get any results because your approach is not the best possible.

This part requires thinking outside the box a bit and working out your target market. Once you have some ideas about who your target market is, there are two main strategies I’d recommend for finding people to follow (in the hope that they will follow you back).

Following Followers- find people based on the publications, companies etc that they follow. For example, if you sell jewelry, you could find a fashion magazine on twitter and follow their followers- perfect target market just waiting for you! You can do this easily by using the ‘geeky follow’ feature on tweepi (or directly on twitter).

Search Using Keywords- you can use the advanced search function on twitter to find appropriate people to follow by using keywords they might tweet about, keywords in their profile, and based on location. So you could search for people in your city, people tweeting about a craft show or market that might mean they’re interested in handmade etc etc. Maybe try people who tweet about shopping and see if you can grab some shopaholics ;)

(Note- it can be good to have some fellow sellers to chat to on twitter to help you get the conversation moving and help you with retweets etc, I just wouldn’t recommend seeking out other etsians as your only strategy)

Click HERE to Follow me on Twitter.

Working on my twitter following...

Did you know that Twitter can be an incredible promotional tool for your etsy shop when used correctly?  It takes a while to get established in twitter land but it can potentially become a huge source of traffic and allow you to reach a targeted audience. It’s a powerful tool not available to such an extent with other forms of advertising and promotion.

My First Step- Build Up Twitter Following
The first challenge most people face with twitter is not knowing how to build up their follower base.

A basic strategy you can use to build up your follower numbers is : Follow, Reciprocate and Flush (defined below). I use Tweepi.com to manage most of this easily all from the one place (it will save you a lot of time! I love Tweepi!).

Follow- If you search for and follow a lot of other people on twitter, many will follow you back, thus growing your follower number.

Reciprocate- Some people will find you on their own and follow you- keep your followers by following them back.

Flush- To really build your follower numbers, you can follow as many people as you are able to (up to your limit) then wait for a period before ‘flushing’ (unfollowing) the users who did not follow you back. This allows you to then repeat the process and start finding more people to follow.


Additional Info & Tips:
You can keep an eye on changes in your follower number by using a twitter stats site such as TwitterCounter (although I’m not sure if it’s always accurate).

 

Click Here to Follow Me on Twitter

What is Steampunk....

Steampunk is the world of imaginary airships, corsets and goggles, mad scientists, and strange literature.  Picture your modern conveniences — smartphones, iPads, computers, air travel — but power them with steam and dress it with Victorian flair. Think brass and copper, glass and polished wood, engraving and etching, and details for the sake of details, that’s steampunk.

I’m sure you are familiar with steampunk’s most revered heroes, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. While Verne and Wells are regarded as part of the foundation of science fiction, they would be listed as “steampunk” authors if they were writing their works today. Stories filled with gadgets and transportation, complicated and fanciful for the time. A recent movie Sherlock Holmes, (starring Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams) captures the era of steam perfectly.

 

Think clothing and jewelry being made in a “steampunk” style. The clothes are not exactly Victorian, adding in technological bits or hints of a more adventurous life than a typical Victorian citizen likely enjoyed. The jewelry seeks to reflect strength while still appearing feminine and intelligent. Steampunk jewelry often has a salvaged, dark appearance.  Clock parts are often used in the construction of individual pieces of steampunk jewelry. Old-fashioned keys are also very popular, as are bits of antique cast-offs, such as pill cases, thread cutters and tiny knives. The necklace pictured above is my own design using steampunk ideas: feminine, intelligent, and salvaged.

To me, Steampunk honors an era when people thought big, and worked hard to make things that last. It is not like the disposable culture of goods that we have today. Care, artisanship and craftsmanship were put into everything that was created and talent was cherished.

Feeling a little 'Crabby'...

Oh how I miss the slower pace of seashore towns and the quirky seafood shacks!

I just can’t explain it, but something happens when I eat near bodies of water. The beer gets better, the flip flops comfier, the jokes cornier.  Women let their hair down; men grow goatees and start dressing like Jimmy Buffett. You're likely to see me in a tie-dyed bandanna. The dog may be rocking one too. To a skeptic this might come off as outlandish behavior, but there’s nothing weird about it. Seafood shacks are the furthest thing from hipster-cool, and that’s exactly what makes them so much fun.

I’ve found that the best seafood shacks are often hard to find, especially if you’re not a local. Sometimes it seems they don’t want to be found.  Years ago my Father and I spent several hours searching for a little shack in a tiny seaside town in Florida. It had been recommended by a local surfer dude that we picked up hitch-hiking to the beach.  The adventure was well worth it; best coastal seafood I’ve ever had! Only problem, we can’t remember how we got there…a hidden gem for sure.

On this Fourth of July I long to be seated at a tiny joint on the coast, enjoying seafood and the company of long lost friends.  I think it’s time for a road trip!

Happy Fourth of July!

Lori

A Blue Romance...by whimsydaisydesigns

I just wanted to show you a beautiful treasury curated by whimsydaisydesigns. I was so taken by this stunning treasury that I decided to share it with you for your viewing pleasure. I know many of you have Etsy shops like I do and many of you have been featured in some gorgeous treasuries (a collection curated by Etsy members). You can click on any photo in the treasury and be taken to that Etsy listing. It’s another cool widget for Etsy users; you can find it here. I'm starting to think I'm becoming a techno-geek. My techno-geek sweetie will be so proud of me!

New Bookmarks in my Shop....

I enjoy reading. Nothing can replace the smell of new books or the magic and wonder of a trip to the public library. I like the physical weight of a hardback book and the quick visual indication of how far through the book I am by looking at the bookmark. The feeling of flipping pages, makes me feel like I've accomplished something. The physical book has long stood for the hunger for knowledge; the gathering of knowledge is somehow suggested by the rows of vertical spines, each varying in height, width and color, lined up on a bookshelf.

So, I scoff at the idea of a Kindle or similar ebook reader, and based on the number of bookmarks I’ve sold in my Etsy shop, I know there are other folks who feel the same way.

QUESTION: Do you use an ebook? What makes it better for you than a physical book? I want to understand the positive traits of the ebook. Send me your comments. Thanks!

Checkout my latest bookmark designs in my Etsy Shop:



Things that make you go awww....



I just couldn’t resist sharing these photos.  This little brown bear became separated from his mum in Slovenia.   He wandered out of the forest and into the yard of a kind family. “Medo” (the Slovenian word for bear) made friends with the family dog and decided to stay; he has been with the family for 4 weeks. Slovenia's national newspaper said that Medo has "stolen the nation's heart"; he now has more than 550 fans on Facebook. Looking at these extraordinary photographs, it is easy to see why!

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The “Top Four”

Today's "Top Four" in my Etsy Shop

Did you know that the first four photos in your Etsy shop carry a lot of weight in the linked world of Etsy? Like many other Etsians, I love to shop by searching through other members' list of Favorite Sellers. Have you noticed the four photos that show up next to the avatar on these Favorites lists? They are the first four items (the last four you listed) in your shop — NOT necessarily your "Featured Listings."

Make sure these four most recently listed items are representative of the variety of items available in your shop, or you may be missing out on your target audience...if you sell necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, don’t let four earrings sit in the “top four.” Mix it up, so it is clear you offer more than one style of items. Take care to notice this each and every time you renew or add a new item listing. The "top four" serve as a mini snapshot of your shop.

It's the little things.......

I was redirected to a wonderfully simple blog by accident today - about the little things in life that give us blissful moments. Click the link above to take a peek...

Some of my favorites in no particular order: