Sunday - Coffee And Cake!

New And Relisted Listings on Etsy - Click an image to visit the corresponding listing

Another late one I'm afraid! More than likely on time for most of you across the water, but here in the UK it is now 2.20pm and so far today all I have achieved is a scan of a fake wall for my other half, addictive checking of my newest Treasury and mouldy courgette clippings... Although I did get an amazing photo of a bizarre bug earlier. He's going into my queue of edits... All in all it's been a slow day of a slowing mother. Seem to be getting increasingly tireder as the minutes whip by me. Nevertheless I have an article to write! Today we'll discuss the well known social networking site, http://twitter.com/.

Networking PART 2 - Twitter If any of you have braved this leap in the world of marketing, I think I'll have a lot of nodding heads when I say my first encounter of the networking site almost floored me with fear. I'm sure my first tweets were full of clumsy related banter of the sort actually... I think the most intimidating thing about Twitter isn't so much what the hell you need to do to make it work, but the idea of whether the millions of people at your disposal would give you any consideration. I'm sure you will have discovered as a newbie, not many people will begin to follow you if you haven't mastered the new power in your hands! I have to say though it's pretty easy to work out in terms of tweeting. Once you're set up, you can visit the homepage to "tweet" to your hearts content, as long as the bites of your mind are 140 characters in length. You are able to check personalised messages layed out on the right of the page, which also have this character limitation, and you can also find out who is tweeting about you and what they've said by visiting the @"yourtwittername" link above your messages. To view only your tweets, just click on your profile at the top navigation, and to view your followers tweets, just go back to the home link. Easy as pie.

But how to make yourself known? Well the trick really isn't to find whomever you feel like in the world, but to target your audience via relevent keywords. There are loads of third party style sites that run these "myspace" - like trains for people to jump on and gain followers. This works... you get loads of followers via these methods don't get me wrong! but to be fair this isn't good if you expect all of your new follower gain to share an interest in crocheted teapot covers, or baby hats; whatever it is you're trying to give some attention... Not everyone on these trains share the same interests, and may only want to have a large follower gain, and won't necessarily follow you back if you follow them (try and keep your follower ratio between 1:1 and 1.2:1 - following to followers. It'll keep things consistant for you in terms of Twitter follows).

However, you have fabulous sites like http://twibes.com/ which connects to your Twitter account and allows you to join "target" groups for you to post your specific tweets to people that will definitely have an interest in your stuff. For example, I am part of the photography and Etsy groups and I regularly post tweets on there when i update my store, knowing that both Etsy users and photography enthusiasts will find them and more than likely look at them. Compared to just any old person. The beauty about Twibes is you can also allow your tweets to go through Twitter aswell so your tweets will blast themselves into 2 venues, which is more exposure at the end of the day. Bonus. I'd recommend everyone to join it if you're serious about using Twitter.

On Twitter itself, the best way for you to get people to notice you like I say is to make sure your tweets include relevent keywords and if you can, link to your store, or items etc. If users search for particular keywords that you've used, you can bet your tweet will pop up infront of them if the timing is right, and if you have a link they'll check it out. Baring in mind that loads of people will use your keyword too so just like Etsy, it's a case of being bumped down the pile as time goes on. If you're lucky and people like your tweets, they will more than likely "retweet" (RT) your post which means they're offering further exposure of your tweet. That is simply forwarding your tweet with RT @"yourtwittername" at the start of it (like with me - @moonangelnay would direct the tweet at me, like emailing in a way), so people know who is being retweeted and the person being retweeted will be aware of your gesture :) An example that i've used today is.

"check out the beautiful new fine #art and #abstract photo prints on my #etsy store! http://bit.ly/fyZIt"

So anyone checking out any words in my tweet will probably come across it and may or may not follow me, check my links etc... If they retweet it on their own profile it'll look like this

"RT @moonangelnay check out the beautiful new fine #art and #abstract photo prints on my #etsy store! http://bit.ly/fyZIt"

So keywords! make them relevant to what you're about! Now another great thing you'll notice on twitter are the use of # or hashtags. This is a popular way to catagorise trends to follow. You'll notice my example tweet has a few. Notice how they are very specific. #Art, #Abstract, #Etsy... if I had more room I could have included #Prints and #Photo but that's excessive. There are tonnes of hashtag trending topics. I wouldn't go overboard with it though. There is an invisible etiquette to hashtag use. I had someone complain to me once that it's only supposed to be used to promote other people, yet many people say that it can be used how you like and you see it being used in alsorts of ways all over twitter. So far I havent come across anything that suggests rules for it, considering that I don't think twitter made up the idea. I think it's a to each their own thing. But it's nothing to be afraid of. When it comes down to it, hashtags are very good at narrowing down trends to catagories that many people will use or search for and as long as you dont go nuts with it, it can work with your tweets nicely. If you don't like it, don't use them. I have noticed that regardless of the hashtag, your keywords will fall within the trending topics anyway.

Some people get infuriated at the 140 character rule when it comes to wanting to share links. It's easily overcome by sites that offer link shortening. http://bit.ly/ is my favourite as like Twibes, it can link to your Twitter directly and you can post straight from it. You can also monitor your links and post them again if you want, without having to go through the process of typing or copying and pasting the original link again. You'll notice an example of a bit.ly shortened link in my example tweet. If you follow it, it leads you straight to my Etsy store, as promised in the tweet. Perfect.

So that's all there is to it really. Other than that i'd suggest posting your twitter links around to share in the Etsy forums, link to it (even via a widget) on all of your pages, blogs, social network profiles etc, and make sure you keep your tweets interesting! Don't always go on about your work. You're artists, not machines! Just like in the blogging world you can meet great people on Twitter, and being personal and tweeting about everyday things, or interesting things you have found, debates, news etc will keep lots of people keen on what you have to say!

OK! So thats that. Wow its 3.40pm where I am now. I thought I'd spend longer on this but I'm glad I can get it out now for everyone! Don't forget to Google Connect with me, to keep updated on my blog, and if you're on twitter, come by and follow me on mine! Just search for @moonangelnay or click here http://twitter.com/moonangelnay.

I look forward to writing my next networking article. Don't forget tomorrow is my first treasury like feature for my blog! Monday Magic! Otherwise come back next Sunday for part 3 of Sunday Coffee And Cake!

moonangelnay xxx

SUNDAY - Coffee and Cake

Relisted on Etsy - Click image to visit the listing

Dunno about people overseas but it's approaching midday here in the UK and I am ever so slightly behind with my first Sunday feature, what with promising that it'd be a morning thing; but I guess that if you're part of my main following that are 5+ hours behind GMT then I guess the timing will be perfect! The reason I'm behind is pretty pathetic really... Paper. I spent about 6 hours last night until 2.30am looking at paper. Not just any old paper! Noooooo I wouldn't use just ANY old paper in my sparkly gorgeous new printer (here I go), no it's quite amazing actually that I have stumbled across this fab idea whilst I was trying out it's loveliness yesterday on Lustre Satin paper (which is GORGEOUS omg). After testing the quality and having one of those DOH I should have realised moments, I came up with an incredible plan for my prints both 5x7 and 8x12 that will not only make them archival lasting a lifetime but now that I have the right gear, I can purchase the most optimum papers and still offer the same prices on my Etsy store which in turn means the ultimate value for my customers for quality Giclée prints (and soon ACEO prints). No more photolab, waiting for millions of years and expensive postage for my customers for these sizes! Hurray! That's what I wanted all along for my work, and considering I can make this leap at home it's any wonder the photolab don't offer the same printing ability (that's what happens when you can only think about making money! Shame on them). I find it amazing that I can print Giclée now that I use pigmented inks and using the best of papers I have found that have accredition from the Fine Art Trade Guild for the papers archival nature and museum-like quality, means that my work is going to look AMAZING where ever it hangs. I'm hoping to use 315g 100%cotton rag although I have never seen my work on such quality paper I'm for some reason hesitant about the leap! LOL! What it'll mean though is I'll have to take my Etsy shop down for a while so I can readjust the print info on all of my work. In the long run I'll be spending more to make this happen and earning less to keep value for my customers, but ultimately as good as matte or glossy archival paper goes I think that if you're an artist and you want to give your customers the best of your work you need to use the best media to showcase what you do. Now this is just coming from the fine artist in me. I wondered when it'd creep into my photography LOL!


NOW! enough blabbing. The point to my Sunday - Coffee and Cake articles is simply to give back to the handmade community a little something of where and how I have come so far with my work with the purpose of hopefully guding others that may be wondering what the hell to do in the right direction. I'm not one of those Etsy sellers that has thousands of sales, I'm still pretty new myself, but I do know how to drive traffic into my world online, and that I know is quite possibly the most time consuming and difficult thing any person that attempts this can manage. So I want to be able to help by mentioning my trials and errors along the way and also leave useful articles or advice I have come across to hopefully turn any new home workers in the handmade community into established workers. I have found a notable change in my Etsy traffic and my web presence through the hours (sometimes tears lol) i have put into marketing my work. Today I'll discuss part 1 of a big thing that seems to stump a lot of people online (even in the real world). Networking as I see it happening a lot both in and outside of Etsy, sometimes done well and a lot of the time done without a mindful attitude. Let me explain what I mean.

Networking PART 1 - Commenting This is probably one of the least considered form of marketing that is thought of but spreading yourself around with meaningful notes in relevant places not only will expand your web presence without the need to set up millions of networking sites, blogs etc, but it also can be a useful way of showing potential customers what your made of, particularly if you write something people can identify with. Unfortunately commenting on anything nowadays is either a race for the top spot or a lazymans ground for spamming links. Or at least from what I've noticed it is. For everyone in the world, sparing time to read and write to people regarding their posts whatever they are is something that is almost like giving away a limb when time is particularly precious to you (I'm a mum, and I can struggle with that even in the world outside of the web). However, trying to get in the first comment by writing a few words that aren't necessarily meaningful to the posts curator will in the long run be bad for both parties and there are a whole host of reasons as to why. The main one being a high bounce rate means that anyone coming in to look at your page pretty much does only that and doesn't intereact with it at all. So the higher the bounce rate, the less people are clicking away browsing all your hard work. Therefore people with their mini "woop" comments, you're drawing that to the curator and also to yourself! It is a killer and these short posts are magnets for a higher bounce rate. Whereas, meaningful posts encourage people that like to read interesting things to check out just how interesting you are. Yeah you're only leaving a comment, but come on you are doing the right thing by showing your genuity and people that spot your words will see that. Oh also, "link spamming" which for some reason people think that if they leave it there it's bound to get clicked on. Well if people don't know what they're clicking on then they're more than likely to close the window (high bounce rate). You could be leaving a link to your toaster decorating website on somebody's post about their summer holiday. If someone is reading about a summer holiday they're not likely going to want to check out pretty toasters, even if they are amazing. Whereas if you tell the curator just how interesting their post is to you, say why, give them some time to discuss their post, and if you like maybe relate it to yourself (it's not necessary), even those people that have no idea what you're about will have a higher chance of giving you some of their time as they will see in your comment more than just a link. Your potential livelihood IS more than just a link so give it some credit. Links not only looks like you haven't shown a real interest in a curators post but it looks awful on their page having reams of unrelated links flying down the page. There is an etiquette to making yourself known to the world and I have done the above things and experienced the lack of acknowledgement in return (I think we all do, because it's quick and easy), yet found that once I actually made a point of reading things properly, and only commenting when I GENUINELY wanted to in related fields or completely random ones, and maybe leaving links in places where it was of reference or relevant (ie: Etsy promotions forum), meant that suddenly people noticed I existed and to be fair this all should be obvious because we only read stuff that is meaningful to us anyway don't we? Why not leave something that is mindful and meaningful for OTHERS to enjoy? And heck, not for the marketing aspect but because it's nice to interact with the world? To have a business you MUST like people! And show them that you're personable and prepared to make time for them; it's no different from building relationships in person. This means that for time scrooges like I was once, you must have the inclination to find more time to inject into communication. But there is no gloom about it. People across the world have pretty interesting things to say about their craft or their lives, and you'll find that you can make good friends with people as you build rapport through your interest in what they do. THIS is what drives traffic to you. If you make yourself known to the world as being human, someone who actually likes to communicate with people (which will reflect on how they see you as a business owner and them as customers), other people outside of the immediate communication will notice your genuity and will more than likely give you a moment of their time to check out what you are about. Whatever you give out you get back. Stick a post it note of that as an affirmation on your computer screen if it helps, that is a seriously big thing to remember when it comes to any kind of relationship, not only in business. I mean we all hate those door to door sales people don't we? Getting their script done before you slam the door in their face and money is all they think about. And to me leaving these short "woop first comment" like messages is no different as the intent of them is never about the curators post (I don't mean to offend but really... they're not). Be personal, make the time (yes I am staying up later but it's worth it as I WANT my business to work, and I want to meet great people across the globe), have the right intentions, and be genuine. You'll meet some fab people out there along the way.

Right! so next Sunday I'll continue with Part 2 of this series of articles that I hope can be helpful to anyone wanting their online business to work. I'm not a money making fatcat, nor am I a huge business but I am coming from a place where I know a lot of people are stuck in at the beginnings of their new venture as I have been and I'm still learning. I hope this can make me relatable to people and my articles will be of help!


REQUESTS - right on Monday and Friday are other days I would like to be of help to the handmade community which is why I want to introduce the following things. On Monday the 3rd of August I am going to bring in Monday Magic! An expo, similar to Etsy's treasury where I will feature a themed treasury of my own. The difference is I want Etsy sellers with 20 or less sales to take part and I want you to show me your work! The theme for the first expo will be breathe, so send me items in white! As it's a new thing I'm introducing breathe seems to be a good theme. So If you would like to take part and you have the right credentials please send a convo to me on Etsy with a link to your active item you want to feature so I can review it for approval. This will be limited to 12 features so first come first serve!

Friday will be reserved for a single artist and an interview. Like Etsy's featured artists, but we all know those artists are doing great, I'd like to see artists who WANT to do great and to have the opportunity to show off their skills to the world. So Friday the 7th of August is Friday Finds! Send me a convo on Etsy and tell me why you would like a feature. I may surprise you with an interview :)

Look forward to working with you again!

moonangelnay x x x

Think Thinking...

ALL NEW ETSY LISTINGS. CLICK EACH PICTURE TO TAKE YOU TO THE LISTING IN MY STORE! :D

I've had the chance to do a lot of that lately. Not so much time, that's still stressing me out but I have managed to lift a fair weight off my shoulders by discovering a few things that have helped me get this marketing thing down a little better, and also in the process given me some wonderous ideas!

I made a FAB treasury the other day. I actually made it into the top 5 before it expired. I'm hoping my newest one is just as good. I may post a pic of that in a few days. But it made me think about this blog and what I can do with it. There is nothing really of value on here for my readers unless you like to hear me chat rubbish all the time, but I thought about my journey so far on the marketing train, and also where I am with Etsy and figured it'd be a great opportunity to share my discoveries and tips whether they are my own or great articles I've come across once a week to help other "new" or low sale etsy artists drive traffic into their stores. I'm very excited at the prospect of doing this as I want to be able to give more than just whether I've had a coffee that morning or not LOL! You get me? I don't see how it's fair I do all this work and not share it as ultimately the whole point of Etsy to me besides selling handmade is the communal aspect of it. Everyone helps eachother on there and I want to do my bit, and make a feature of it weekly now that I'm in a position to document what I've done trial and error wise and let you guys know what works and what doesn't when it comes to getting your name out there. I am JUST starting to make sales now because of what I'm doing and who knows maybe it's just that time of year, but I really do believe that the numbers suddenly rishing into my store has a lot to do with it, whereas before the past 3 weeks (thanks goodness for the other halfs holiday!) I would skip across the room if just one person managed a 5 second glance at my homepage in a day. I can totally feel for anyone who may be in that position, and if you want to work at a home business it's the most devestating and motivation severing thing in the world to have your hopes shattered by lack of traffic. It's hard work but I have done a lot of experiementation (still am doing) and I think so far what I'll share in the coming weeks will take people further step by step and hopefully work some magic in those empty stores.

Another thing I am planning to do soon is offer advertisement slots on my blog although this is still in the making so details will have to come later!

Ah, and especially for the Etsy newbies or under 10 sales people I have a special plan for you all which will also like my weekend help articles, be a weekly occurance. More details about that on Sunday with my other announcements :)

So yes! Sunday will be my first article day. I am going to call it Coffee and Cake, as that's all you need on a relaxing Sunday morning whilst browsing the net. I look forward to it!

Whilst im at it, here are my recent photography prints to Etsy. Enjoy!

My Ramblings... Plus An Etsy Update :D

Apart from today, I've been pretty busy tip tapping away on my computer. Today I was busy elsewhere so I didn't exactly break away from things but nevertheless, I have been doing a lot to help my mini empire along! (I wish... lol). Some people must think I'm mad, looking after my son full time AND trying to work from home, which takes up all of my other time and currently for zip whilst I'm still getting started. But I want to make it work because I believe I can do it and I have my son to think about. Nothing else to it. The other half was seriously saying to me today "oooh in the short term if all goes well, you can treat yourself to luxuries and go out etc...". This is assuming I'd be earning consistantly! But I just CANT imagine really giving a damn about going out when the opportunity arises. I don't know if it's the same across the waters, but in the UK (or at least with a lot of people in this country) it's so disturbingly vital to most to go out, get paraletically hammered, suffer the consequences the next day, then do it all over again on a regular basis! Is it weird for me to want to spend my money on enjoying myself without looking like a buffoon, with narcotic or booze fuelled confidence, and a monster hangover the next day? I don't see why it's "the thing" to do. I'm 24 and people seem to just expect it of me but I really do think that I can enjoy myself much more, remember what I've done in the process, and more than likely feel pretty good in the morning just by doing something random like I did a few weeks back as an example, and get myself my provisional motorbike license! LOL! There's a thrill for ya ;-) I have my son to think about like i say! and my life... even my dignity... man there are some horror stories about! I mean I'm not tee total, nor a saint, and to contradict myself slightly I do think that it's ok to have a drink now and again, but I'm just not a party animal anymore and definitely cannot do the things I used to do! I'm old already lol!


Anyway... a few days ago I updated on Etsy... so check out the new photography! :D

Blue 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $25

Peace Garden 24x36 Inch Gallery Wrapped Canvas Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $345

Twilight Rose 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $25


Romance 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $20

That's it for tonight I think... Knackered, and another busy day tomorrow awaits! Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July over t'world like :-)

xxx

Back On Track!

It's taken a while but I'm back at the relisting shizzle on etsy... and boy do I have loads of expired listings! Not only that but a month or so back I decided to change the watermark on ALL photography listed in my store as I started to think that it was detracting from the actual print image itself, due to it's boldness! So as time has so cruelly passed me by in the grand flash that it has, I have had to find moments here and there to correct my watermark on each and every photograph. But it has slowly been coming together and I think I am almost there. The thing that has driven me nutso the most has been the "expired listings" because unlike the normal listings that you can edit in your account, the expired ones can't be edited until you have relisted them which is TERRIBLE because as soon as you relist something, it becomes as fresh as a daisy for the world of Etsy to see and the last thing I want them to see is a dirty great big watermark that blinds them with it's monotoned presence on my work! Yes, I can edit it as fast as my hands can whizz across my desk, but the downside (other than my shite internet connection) is that once I edit it, it is no longer "viewable" on Etsy, and that also means the tiny timeframe that it would have the most exposure being a 'recent' item would be snuffed out by me needing to remove it for editing.... ARGGGHHH!!! lol! So in summary, I have given up on caring about frikkin exposure (which really stopped me in my days worrying over how to combat the issue), and I'm just relisting and editing immediately. In anycase my current work is slowly reaching a satisfactory presentable standard on Etsy. Here are the 3 most recent ones.

Branching Out 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $25

Off Color 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $25

Cluster Of Stars 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $20

So those are my recent relists! I have also relisted all of the crocheted baby ties that I'm sure you'll remember from a previous blog. You can check those out too if you wish. Happy shopping!

xxx

Snap Happy

Survivor 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay
I managed to get on playing around with some photographs of nature the other day and came up with some beautiful pictures, showing of the contrasting shades of black and white with purposely focused patches of color bursting their way out of neutrality. I'm quite proud of this photo in particular, as it really emphasises the remaining life in the plant, giving it power and highlight it's strength of spirit. I just LOVE taking photos and I have updated more in my etsy shop lately besides this one. Yes it is available as a print! just click on the link to go to the shop. If you would rather not have an 8x10 photo I do offer other sizes! Contact me and I can let you know about them and prices x