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Friday, August 16, 2013

Promoting Your Etsy Store and What Glue to Use



My Life

Well, I was and am probably going to continue to be pretty scarce in August.  I spent the first half taking care of a sick child.  I’ll be spending the second half helping that same child get ready to leave for college (clear across the other side of this nation).

Aside from that, I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the SRAJD organization.



My Work

Made a necklace I really love (and got to incorporate one of the Viking knit chains I made months ago).  It’s a double-sided hollow pendant (copper and steel) with minimalist lines on one side and a Zen symbol (Ensō) on the other.


I also made a couple pieces for the Project Runway challenge we’re running on the SRAJD blog.


Promoting Your Etsy Store

How many of us are taking advantage of all the ways we can engage our customers?  

There are a few different places on Etsy where we can get messages and information to our customers and/or other interested parties.

1) The first is the little message (aka “Shop Announcement” ) on your shop’s home page right under your Etsy shop logo and above your items for sale.    


To add to or edit that part of your shop, go to “Info and Appearance” either by hovering on “Your Shop” (upper right) which brings up this pop-up menu.

Or CLICK on “Your Shop” (upper right) and select “Info and Appearance” from the menu on the left.

On this same page (Info and Appearance), you can link your Facebook page and/or Twitter account to your Etsy shop.  These are nice because every time you list a new item in your Etsy store, you will see a pop-up asking if you want Etsy to post to your FB or Twitter account (on your behalf) with the new listing.  For me, that is a time saver.

Scroll down and you’ll see you can also add a personalized message to buyers.

2) Then people can also click on your name under Shop Owner and they get to read all about you (or whatever you’ve given Etsy to put in that area).   
 

This section is called your public profile.  To add or edit your profile, click on your name under Shop Owner and you’ll see your profile.  In the upper right of your profile is an “edit profile” button.  
  
This is also where you can change your Profile avatar photo should you want to do that.

Now let’s go back to the “Info and Appearance section (see paragraph #1). 

See the tabs at the top, you want to take advantage of both the ABOUT tab and the POLICIES tab.

3) On the ABOUT tab, you can say and show even more to your potential customers.  Add a photo of yourself with info about your role and a brief statement about you and/or your work.

Then you have a much more involved “Shop Story” section.  “Shop “Photos”, and “Shop Links”.

4) In the “Policies” tab, you have more opportunity to fine tune your shop with all kinds of personalized messages and info.

Take advantage of this stuff.  It means something to your customers.


Something That May Be Helpful

I haven’t looked into too many of these, but I thought it was a great idea for a website so I book marked it.  This place tells you what types of glue to use to attach things various things.  You just select the two things you want to attach.  For example Leather to Metal, and the program tells you your best option along with other helpful info.


Totally Unrelated

Here’s an online hearing test.  Fun… if you’re brave enough. 

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Hidden Message Necklace, Ancient Artifact Earrings, and Family Time



My Work

I made a couple of simple mixed metal disks and knew instantly they were part of my Ancient Artifact line.


I also took part in a jewelry challenge in one a metalsmith group I belong to.  The theme was “hidden message”.  For this piece I cut some copper tubing, pierce holes in it (for the jumpring), drew a pattern on it, etched it, added a patina, then placed a secret message inside and sealed it with resin.  This piece is a personal reminder to the wearer to live in the moment.


I also made a couple of beaded bracelet during the filming of my first eclass.  You can see those on my website homepage.

My Life

I’ve been spending a lot of time preparing my first eclass (basic jewelry crimping), getting stuff ready for Monica to start college, keeping up with my metal clay training, visiting family and friends, and running the SRAJD Project Runway challenges.

I had a fun day with my son and his girlfriend going to the San Francisco Exploratorium.

Check out this cool pattern on one of the exhibits.  I’m thinking I’ve got to incorporate that into a piece of jewelry somehow.


Monica just got back from Boston.  She met some amazing people there and had a great time (tournament and goalie camp).  Here she is with her #1 local fan.