IndieSmiles.com » marketing

Do you Google?

March 08, 2010 :: Posted by - Barbra :: Category - Biz Advice - Get Noticed!, Headline, how to

By Contributing columnist Susan Averello aka Fantasy Clay

Google Analytics can be one of those great tools that can give you much information about your store or website. It can let you know the number of visitors to your site on a daily basis, how they get there, even what words they use to find your site. If you have your own site or sell on a site that is integrated with Google Analytics, this is a must have tool. Knowing where your visitors arrive from can enable you to market more directly.

Your first step is setting up an account, if you haven’t already. Go to google.com/analytics. This will take you directly to the log in page. From there you can sign in using your Google account; if you have Gmail and/or a Blogspot blog, you have a Google account. If not, there is a link to set up a Google account. When you log in, you need to sign up for Google Analytics-they’ll be a box right there.

The next page is Analytics: New Account Sign Up. It will ask you for your website’s URL. You want to use your store’s main page: i.e. http://username.artfire.com. Then just name the account and fill in the rest with your country and time zone. Click continue. The next page just asks for your name, then click accept policies. After that, you’ll be on a page with some code and some choices. Leave it on the defaults.

And finally, the last step. If you look at the code- there is a UA number; it should be in this format 00000000-0. In a site that is integrated with GA, you just need to enter this number in the stats page. I know ArtFire, 1000Markets and Etsy are and Zibbet isn’t. I don’t have experience with any other shops so you need to check. It will usually be under Stats or Analytics, depending what a site names it.

If you own your own site or a blog, you’ll have to copy and paste the code anywhere before <body> in the page’s html code. It’s easy enough to do on Blogger. Click on Edit HTML, then paste the code any where before the <body> tag. Rather than search the whole page, just paste before any other code. Then click ‘save template’.

Google Analytics stats are not in real-time. They are updated daily, so you’ll have to wait a day before seeing any data. Tomorrow you will have a few graphs, I think everyone gets hooked on the top one; this lists the number of visitors a day. However, Google Analytics will count every visit, including yours, so in the next article, I’ll tell you how to set up a filter so your views won’t be counted.

Photo courtesy of RoundWords

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One or Two?

March 04, 2010 :: Posted by - Barbra :: Category - Biz Advice - Get Noticed!, Headline

One Shop or Two?
by contributing columnist Ashley Pahl aka AshleyPahl

Having an Etsy, Artfire or Folksy shop can sometimes be a very time-consuming activity. Why would a person want to open a second shop? There are many good reasons for making the decision to have two stores, and sometimes it is the right choice. Some good reasons for opening a second shop include:

1. Introducing a new line of items or a different style.

2. Selling handmade if you own a supply shop, or vintage if you own a handmade shop, etc.

3. A shop appears cluttered and is overwhelming to shop browsers.

4. Separating the popular money-makers from the more serious art forms.

5. Dividing a wide range of prices into two so that shoppers can focus and better compare products.

Buyers may have an easier time focusing on the items they are looking for if they are separated from the additional miscellanea that you sell. For example, if you mostly make knit hats, but also have your handmade earrings peppered in your shop, it may be too distracting for shoppers who came to your shop looking for hats. Alternatively, if you have a shop that specializes in sterling silver jewelry, it may help a shopper to focus on what they really want if the more expensive pieces are separated from less expensive “silver-toned” pieces.

Having a second shop may even get you more exposure. You can be listed in directories twice, in Etsy’s search engine twice (when searching for sellers), and could be stumbled upon twice.

The downside, of course, is that a second shop is twice the work. Two shops to stock; two shops to market and promote; two shops to make listings for; two shops to answer messages for and complete feedback for. Additionally, if you decide to move items that you already have listed in one shop to a new shop, you will need to do so manually: copy and paste the titles, descriptions, and materials, re-type the tags, make new shipping profiles, and upload the photos all over again. Not only that, but you will lose all of the hearts and views you have accumulated for such items. Your shop’s feedback will be back at zero and you’ll have to find a way to bring shoppers to your second store.

For many, it may be worth adding a new product line to the original shop and see how it fairs. Additionally, it may help to organize the “clutter” of the first shop into something more manageable for browsers. The shop sections feature and Rearrange Shop feature are both great for accomplishing such a task.

If the pros outweigh the cons and you decide to go for it, here are some things to remember when opening a second store:

1. You will need a second email address. Each email address can only be linked to one account on Etsy.

2. You will need to disclose your additional shops. You must link from your first shop to your second shop and vice versa either in your shop announcement, profile, or shop policies page.

3. All listings must be manually re-listed. There is no way to just switch them to a new account, and you will have to pay listing fees again.

4. The same PayPal account can be used for multiple Etsy accounts – there is no limit.

5. If you are not using the same banner, avatar, packaging materials and business cards that you use for your first shop, you may need to get new ones, which will add additional costs.

All in all, the decision to open a second online shop is really an individual one. What works for one business may not pan out for another. It may be worth the financial risk to open a new store, or it may be more practical to better manage your first shop. Many Etsy businesses do quite well with multiple shops, and as the old adage goes, “you never know until you try”.

Poster image courtesy of The LoveShop

“Open” image courtesy of The Back Porch Shoppe

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The Wizard Behind Indiesmiles

February 18, 2010 :: Posted by - Linda :: Category - Favs, Headline, Indiesmiles news

LindaGJ aka LindaGJ

I have always wondered, who is that Wizard behind Indiesmiles? I’ve gotten to know her as Sue Rosen in the past couple of years, but all I really knew was that she was an extremely nice person that made me feel like I had something special as a person and as an artist. The 1st time I met her, she was a customer. Sue mentioned she had a cat that looked very similar to my Peanut. We would talk about cats and she stated that she admired my work.

Then Sue opened up Indiesmiles and wrote an article about me and my work. Before I knew it, I was writing articles for her website and now I consider her a good friend.

I finally asked her one day, “Could I write an article about you?” Well…you know I must have gotten a “yes” answer, or I wouldn’t be writing this article!

Sue is a very complex person as she is into so many different things. I think that is why I love her so much. She has been into art ever since she can remember, yet she would give anything to be able to draw, so art is a passion of hers along with being creative herself! She thrives on collecting art and would love to own an art gallery.

She also spends a great deal of time researching her family tree, which has taken her on a trip to UK, a very small town known as Bridgnorth, and found that her great grandfather had a trust fund and was extremely wealthy when he passed on!

Of course, real life sets in and she’s worked in sales, bookkeeping, and sold vacation packages where she had to get her real estate license in order to sell timeshare.

Now, let me go back in time to where she was a bookkeeper most of her career. During that time she was in a major car accident and she had to learn how to walk all over again! It was difficult for her to even sit for an extended amount of time. Good grief!

Then she literally fell into the vacation packages job where she was whisked away to Atlantic City, New Jersey working on the Atlantic City Boardwalk! She was provided with a month’s stay in a condo on the ocean. Now that is the life! She surely deserved that fabulous break after what all she had been through! Then she moved to Delaware, where she lives now in a waterfront community with her man Don. Here’s the romantic part of her story….which I personally love! Sue and Don met at work and they both sold homes in this community where they both lived. They’ve only been together slightly less than a year and life has already been an adventure for them both!

Finding Etsy was the best thing, besides Don, that has ever happened to Sue. Her cousin introduced her to Etsy and since Sue lives near the beach and loves anything handmade and Beach related Sue opened Sea Star Dreams, she is in the midst of adding a new line which will include wire wrapped Sea Glass. She also dreams of offering prints of her paintings on Etsy one day.

Sue started Indiesmiles with a partner El, one of the team members of Etsy for Animals, they both had put together a huge Birthday Bash using “Sale Coupons” as the basis for the bash. It was a huge success, hundreds of store owners participated and it brought in a great deal of revenue for all of the team stores involved; in turn those stores donated a portion of their sales to help Animal charities of their choice all across the globe. El and Sue brought their combined creative energy, together to build Indiesmiles. Owning an online website requires a great devotion and medical school took up too much time for El and she was no longer able to continue with Indiesmiles. Sue took over in October of 2009.

Funny, Sue had thought that perhaps that was the end for Indiesmiles. She even started to work for a very large competitor as a contirbuting columnist! After so much frustration with that large website coupled with a “light bulb” realization, Sue decided that this type of information sharing could work on Indiesmiles! At that point Indiesmiles was awaken from the shelf and she brought on a few contributing columnists (I was one of them)!

I help Sue in various ways, one of them is to be a team leader, of sorts, for a group of columnists. Those of you that don’t know me my Etsy shop is LindaGJ Tracy of Cinnamon Jewellery has taken on the same responsibility for the Folksy group. Barbra of Allaboutthebuttons is Indiesmiles Assistant Editor and Andy of Incredible Angels is our technical liason. To top it off we have 3 marketing agents that take on the responsbility of promoting Indiesmiles on a daily basis! They are Jamie of Shesbattydesings, Lea of Lajewelrydesigns and Nikki of Gleefulpeackock Our columnists and their story can be found on our columnists page.

Sue really wants the columnists, marketing staff and the readers to enjoy every part of the “SMILE” concept. After all, it’s important that everyone is happy or why become involved?

She loves to to help other shops become noticed. The way Sue feels about it is, if she helps one shop get a sale, then she has done her job! She also enjoys sharing the world of handmade items with her readers.

We all thank and appreciate you Sue for all you do for us handmade artists!

Oz Image courtesy of Sweetheartsinner

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Forgotten Avenues

January 06, 2010 :: Posted by - Sue :: Category - Biz Advice - Get Noticed!, Headline

Barbra La Bosco

aka All About The Buttons
Sometimes it’s hard to determine where a sale has come from and maybe you’re saying “Who cares? I got a sale!” but knowing can help you target that avenue. With a crazy amount of free offers out there, it may be hard for you to determine a good promotional fit for you.

One place that many seem to forget is FLICKR. FLICKR is an easy to navigate site and quick to participate in. Once your item photos are in your computer, it’s a breeze to move them over there. You do not need to be tech savvy. You simply start by having your own account with your own pictures.

After setting up your page, there are many groups to join and post your photos in with the result being you are seen and a sale may follow. I am in almost 40 groups and it takes so little time to enter. Start with the ETSY, Made It Myself, Zibbet and Artfire groups. (And there are many sub-groups within there) Then you can move to a sub-category of which there are dozens depending on your craft. Personally I am in knitting, crocheting, and button groups as those are my main craft areas. Then I’m in a ’so cute’ group, accessories, a South Carolina group, vintage, and a hearts and yarn group. and more. And IndieSmiles has a group, so join!

People may comment on your photos, so comment back and check them out. Twice I have been asked to have a photo of one of my items be in a gallery grouping and comments have led me to other artists and crafters and also great shops.

I have nothing to do professionally with FLICKR but am grateful to them for the opportunity to share my work with the world for FREE. Follow their fair rules and easy guidelines and your work will be displayed. And who knows, maybe a sale will flick on down the wide web road to you!

There are many other free online promotional tools that we may write about in the future. These tools can benefit your online craft business. Do you have one that works well? Tell us. Do you want to know how to use another one? Ask us.
Image courtesy of indigochyld
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Soft Agression

December 20, 2009 :: Posted by - Sue :: Category - Biz Advice - Get Noticed!

By contributing artist

Barbra La Bosco

aka All About The Buttons

Promotion is tough! Many artists and crafters would rather create and hand over the self promotion to a partner so as not deal with it at all. I have always told my friends “I’ll make it,you sell it”! I am not an aggressive person but I quickly learned that after posting an item you MUST let it be known you are there. Post and they will come? NO!

I realized that there are some subtle ways to promote and avoid that fear of rejection. An old saying states “You have to spend money to make money” and as tough as it may sound in these economically challenged times, it works. When I first started on Etsy I thought to buy something in order to get some positive feedback. My first purchase were some adorable magnets which I still use and then my banner. Positive feedback all around. My name was leaking out! Initially, I had sales from friends (bless them!) but shortly after the purchases came my first sales from non-related customers. I never really spent tons of cash. I did find great products that I used as well as many gifts. Many turned around and bought from me. Win-win.

Recently, I opened another shop on Zibbet. I love this site but there are no forums so initially being seen is tough. I bought a card from one seller ($3) and she has given me a huge amount of business in return. The other day, I wandered into a new shop and sent an e-mail welcoming the seller and complimenting her work, all sincere. She checked me out and bought a gift.

Now, I’m not saying to spend like crazy or spam & falsely compliment through e-mails or convos. I am saying to spend wisely and convo when something moves you. See that vintage piece that reminds you of your childhood? Comment! Need some supplies? Skip AC Moore and buy online. Have a question about an item? Ask and while you might not be able to purchase, your name is getting out there. And on-line that is the goal!

Image courtesy of HeartLady1

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Lucky Handmade Bacon…

December 06, 2009 :: Posted by - Sue :: Category - Biz Advice - Get Noticed!, Contests

…brought us a W I N N E R in the Cartoon Caption Contest!

By Susan Rosen, Publisher

The winner GreenCleanShop of Etsy, came up with this winning caption:
“Oh no, my handmade Pig broke! “Can I turn this into handmade bacon and sell it on Etsy?”

Wow, I hope everyone enjoyed the fun cartoon contest as much as the group at Indiesmiles did! As you know, everyone that entered needed to choose a cartoon out of the two cartoons that were provided and then add a cute or funny caption. Two independent judges chose their favorite and then a coin was flipped (using an online randomizer).

I interviewed Jessica of the GreenCleanShop and I thought you would love to hear about her cool shop and her thoughts on Indiesmiles!

Jessica, how did you hear about the cartoon “caption” contest?
I heard about the contest through the Black Friday fan page. I just thought it’d be fun to enter.

Have you been to the Indiesmiles website prior to the contest?
Yes, I advertised on the site and also browsed through the shops.

What are your thoughts on Indiesmiles and the Coupon Directory?
I love it. I’ve told my friends and family to check out the directory look for shops to buy Christmas presents from.

Do you think it’s important for Indie shop owners to advertise their handmade and vintage shops?
It is so important! If people aren’t aware of our shops, they can’t purchase from us. It’s our responsibility to inform people of the benefits to shopping handmade and vintage.

I then asked “GreenClean” to talk about her shop and how she markets (or intend to markets) her shop name to keep it fresh in buyers minds!

I recently was interviewed on for a filler story on the Channel 6 news here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They run that story at least once a week which is great!

I have a lot of word-of-mouth advertising.

I hand out business cards to the cashiers when I’m checking out with my supplies. They always want to know what I’m doing with it.

I also post flyers where I can.

Would you reconmend the coupon directory to other Indie shops, and will you be returning to the coupon directory and other advertising venues on Indiesmiles?

“Indiesmiles Coupon Directory was great for my Black Friday sale. While it’s not in my marketing plan at this current moment, I hope to include it in my revised plan for 2010.”

Congratulations goes to Jessica because she won all these wonderful goodies! Yay!

Handmade Bacon Image courtesy of hmmmbymel

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Packaging on a dime!

October 08, 2009 :: Posted by - Sue :: Category - Biz Advice - Get Noticed!

By:

Barbra La Bosco, aka

All About the Buttons

contributing columnist

Packaging was one of my first considerations with online selling. You’ll want to deliver a securely wrapped package that is more like a gift than a purchase without greatly increasing costs. Most of us love to receive gifts, so when your customer’s open the package they are going to be pleasantly surprised and it will leave a good impression about you and your shop. Happy customers equate to future sales!

First off, why not recycle. If you have received something in a padded envelope or a box that does not have an odor or isn’t torn, re-use it. Re-use and save bubble wrap as well. Organize all your shipping materials in one central space so you don’t have to hunt when you make a sale. Keep your wrapping paper/tissue in a box or plastic container, the drawer style will give you separate sections without spending a ton on various containers. The organizers also will keep your supplies neat and ready to go! You may want to use another separate drawer to house your gift cards, thank you cards, promo packs, gifts, business cards and postcards. Then finally use another section of your organizer to house the packing tape and other postal service supplies.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to make your packaging pretty. Hit dollar stores, discount shops and the clearance aisles especially after holidays and then store it for the future; when you see a sale, stock up!

Enclosing extra goodies in your package is a hot topic. Many sellers are firmly against and many love to do it. Perhaps you can find goodies from your stash that may not be useful to you but may be something your buyer will be extremely grateful for. That’s entirely up to you but be aware of what you ‘throw’ in and don’t lose money. A little note and nice packaging can go far and not hurt your wallet!

An online purchase and sale is special and hard to come by. Make your buyers feel you really appreciate that they chose to shop with you. It can’t hurt and you can get great results even by packaging on a dime!

Picture courtesy of RiriCreations

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Tweetips -

September 27, 2009 :: Posted by - Sue :: Category - Tweetips

Tweetips is so glad to be back home at Indiesmiles!

By now you’ve set-up a Twitter account and are actively posting tweets on Twitter; you are probably wondering “what’s next”? How do I get more people to follow me?

One way is to follow them! Find a Twitter ID that you admire, their activities should produce followers with your same likes and dislikes. If your mission is to find new buyers on Twitter to browse your handmade shop, anyone can be a prospect! That body building guy may not be interested in your cutesy magnets, or your photography of roses, but chances are he will be looking for a gift at some point for a girlfriend, wife or mom. So, when you are selling do not prejudge. In other words, don’t just follow handmade shops, the idea is to follow people that normally would not find you in Artfire or Etsy.

So now that you found a cool Twitter account, it’s simple just follow their followers. At some point (once you hit 2,000 followers) you cannot follow any more, unless you gain more followers and lose those that don’t follow you back! That’s where your karma comes in, or to be exact Twitter Karma!

This cute tool allows you to review who is following you that you don’t follow back and also who do you follow that do not follow you. It’s not nice to have a friend who doesn’t want to be your friend, so you probably will find that deleting them will be best. This way you can follow more people interested in what you have to say! Just go to Karma (and grab a cup of coffee first, or your knitting needles) this exercise will take sometime for the page to load. Enter your Twitter ID and click “whack” (so funny!) and wait for your recap to load. You can do a bulk deletion or you could do an avatar by avatar delete. Lets face it if someone from 3 months ago isn’t following you I doubt whether they ever will, but when you follow someone new it may take them time to add you as a follower back.

Then you can also sort by those people that follow you and you don’t follow them back. Again, you can a bulk transaction and click all that you wish to follow.

Twitter Karma is a cool tool and it should help you keep good karma!

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Where are your customers coming from?

January 13, 2009 :: Posted by - Sue :: Category - Biz Advice - Get Noticed!

gateway Get to know your customers by finding out where they come from. If you have a store on Etsy or Artfire, you can get this information by installing Google Analytics to your store.

If your store processing does not allow you to insert Google Analytics into your store or if you’re just not getting the detailed information you want, you will just have to ask your customer where they found you. Many customers will spend the time to tell you. However, if you want to give them an incentive, why don’t you offer them a 10% off (or any other deal) coupon if they let you know where they found you. You’ll have to give them a coupon code and track the code so it is not used more than once. Not only will this get you the information you desire but you will give them another incentive to return to your shop!

In Your Google Analytics Account

To insert Google Analytics into your store, you will need a Analytics account.

If you don’t have one already, go to Google Analytics and create an account.
Login to your Google Analytics account by visiting http://analytics.google.com and hitting the Access Account button.
Once logged in you should be directed to an Overview of your account. Scroll to the bottom and click on “Add Website Profile.” See screenshot.

You will then insert your url (for example http://tantalizingstitches.artfire.com ).
Click finish.
On the next screen, you will be given your Google Analytics Tracking ID. Copy this down so you can install Analytics to your Etsy or Artfire store. See screenshot.

Etsy Shops

To insert the Google Analytics code into your etsy shop, follow the Tech Update.

Login to your Etsy account.
Click Your Etsy.
Scroll down to Web Analytics. The following screen will show.

Insert your Google Analytics Tracking ID (This starts with UA- and you include the UA- in the code). You should get the screen below (except it will include your tracking ID).