The Faceboook Phenomenon!

MY Facebook Page! Feel Free To Add Me!

Today we are checking out Facebook as a way of social networking. This is a great way to meet up with old friends and new. YES, it is a place where those old pals from highschool and YIKES even gradeschool may find you, but it's fun! I was utterly and totally confused by all the widgets, add-ons and craziness that was in front of me when I started, but afterawhile I started to get the hang of it! No worries, if it takes you awhile to get out there too! Just start by signing up! Ready to add friends? Post the link to your site on the public forums of your selling venues! Mine is on the Etsy forums and the Lollishops ones too! Once in awhile I Tweet my link on Twitter too! (read my blog post on Twitter here).

Alright, on to the promoting! At the top of your HOME page, you will see a little status bar, much like the one on Twitter. You click inside of the blurb and type what you are doing at the moment! I use this to put big sales, Exclusive codes to my shop and anything else that is shop related. But take a look at it right now ^ I ALSO use it to really update about my life. I don't want to spam Facebook either. I want my friends to stay my friends and not tune me out. Yes, i've already had to tune out frequent spammers, they post link after link after link to their shops. Not just blogs, shops, life etc. It's ALL SHOP ALL THE TIME! This is NOT the way to use Facebook! Starting a Group about your business! I had a couple customers ask me if I was on Facebook, then they started asking me about groups so that they could link their friends! So last week I started my very own group! PLEASE join mine and I will join yours! To get started just go to your HOME page ( you can find this at the top of your Facebook page) Then click on the right hand side the icon that says GROUPS.

Next you want to click on +Create A New Group on the right hand side of the screen it will look like this:

Just follow the prompts from there and it's super easy! Post your link on your public message forums too! (Make sure they allow it!) This is a fun way of keeping former customers and new ones in the loop of what is going on with your shop and what is new! Be sure to add SALE information and EXCLUSIVE discounts too! Get the word out quickly and in a fun way too! Invite your customers to share photos of them wearing your goodies or putting them on display somewhere!

So not everyone joined your group and you still want to spread the word about sales right? Well another awesome way to get memos out is through their NOTES function. Go back to your HOMe page and on the right hand side box where you found the GROUPS button, click on your NOTES button. It may not be visible like mine is, so click on the tiny little triangle that says MORE and it will be in that pull-down list. Click on WRITE A NEW NOTE. It's on the right hand side again! Follow those prompts and it's pretty easy! Publish the whole thing and now your entire stream will see it! So see, it's not that hard to get started on Facebook! Hope I helped someone out there!

New in the shop is my line of Breakfast Treats! From 9.00-30.00.

Are You Doing All You Can?

MAJOR BOGO SALE at MichellesCharmWorld on These Items!

Morning everyone! I truly hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to make this week, the best ever! Let's get our selling hats on and get going! Todays post is all about putting yourself out there. It's time to ask yourself are your TRULY doing all you can? Are you making yourself known to the public? We are going to explore some ideas I have already mentioned in past posts and then come to a conclusion.

The No Holds Barred Critique. We can all stand to learn something from people we don't know. We need to realize that we are not selling to our fullest potential if there are improvements that can be made on our shops. Online people have a tendency to be more honest than people looking at you face to face. I started a thread today, asking people to check out my shop and tell me honestly what they think.

WEAR IT OUT! Are you selling yourself to the max in public? Wear your pieces!! This can work for lots of people, not just jewelry sellers. Have your prints or artwork made into fun buttons so that you can pin them to your bags or if you are selling clothing, do you wear it yourself? Do your children wear your pieces? Do you keep a mini-photo book of your pieces so that people can look at a 'portfolio' of your stuff if they are interested? NOT KIDDING! I made little collages of my pieces in my photo editing program and printed them out on high quality photo paper and keep them in a little album in my purse. By now you must realize with all the junk I carry, I have an enormous purse! hahaha!! I can do a whole blog post on this one alone! haha!! The point is to use yourself as your best advertisement and DO NOT be afraid to hand over that business card when someone compliments your work! I'm working on a new idea for my business cards, but I will get back to you on that, once I work out the kinks!

Social Networking, This is a biggie! Are you out there? Do people know about your shop? Have you created your business page on Facebook? Do you twitter every now and then about a great sale or cool item you listed? REad more in depth on social networking on my post about it here. This is HUGE depending on your niche market, but nowadays so many people are on the net, that you really will have no problem finding them in these places! Heck, husbands grandmother is 90 and she's all over the net! So put yourself out there and meet some great new people!! I will be doing an in depth promoting thread on EACH social networking site that I do coming up soon! One day of Facebook, One day of Twitter, that sort of thing! Are you signing your posts on Message Boards with your shop link (if it's allowed)? How about your blog link, since that should have your Mini on it? If neither of these are allowed, put an eye catching photo of something that will lure that type of person into your shop!

Photos. Have you made sure they are not too shadowy or too white? I have this issue with the too-white photos I am noticing. They are just blending in with the backrounds! Time to go with a pale pink maybe! Remember, they don't have to look perfect or even close to perfect, they just have to be a bit noticeable! This one of mine is AWFUL, it's really blending in too much! I made it last night in the dark and you can totally tell! haha! Definately going to fix that up today!

Blog? Are you blogging?! It's so simple to ust throw photos up and chat about them! Tell me what you did last weekend, show me what you made today! Get chatty! I talk alot and have like three friends, none of which live by me! So here is where I get it all out in any way possible! Where do you dream about vacationing? What would you do with 5000.00? What would you DO FOR 1 million dollars? just get thinking about anything and then get typing!

If you have been getting the word out, in your photos you can tell what the product is, you are promoting to the heavens, you have improved on what others have asked you to improve on and you still are not getting the sales you truly believe your product is worth, then it's time to call it a day and close up shop and give up. Go on, throw it all away and close the door. What are you still doing here? Go on now!! HAHAHHAH! NOOOOOOOO! Not at ALL!!!! It's time to just roll up your sleeves and get busy! (As if you haven't been already!). It's time to set yourself apart from the bunch and SPREAD OUT!

Do you make paintings? Time to turn those paintings into ACEOs, Buttons, Magnets, Cards, Postcards, prints! Start thinking outside of what you have and bring in customers that can't afford those oh so gorgeous pieces!! I fell in love with a lighthouse painting on Etsy and let me tell you if I had had the 300.00 in my paypal account I probably would have bought it, but I didn't and I wanted it in any form! If they had offered a notecard set, a print, something else, it would have been mine!

Do you make Jewelry? Clothing? Bags? It's time to come up with a SIGNATURE piece. Something unique, something that when pulled up in the search function looks NOTHING like the others. My signature piece on Etsy is my Lego Bracelet. It's my best seller still to this day on and off Etsy and when I first started on Etsy was the first of it's kind. Now people are getting close, but still nowhere near the same. You can look at all the Lego Bracelets here. I'm still trying to come up with something fantastic as my signature look on Lollishops. If there is something you do really well, make it specacular add little bits and baubles to make them really shine. If you make bags of any sort, add a zipper pull or purse charm! They are super easy to make and you can make a simple one for barely anything at all! Need help? See about ordering them in bulk from a jewelry person on the same selling site you are on! Want to learn how to make them? Ask me, I can try and tell you how! Set yourself apart from the others somehow!


Now, you have done all that and still nothing? It's time to sit down with yourself and really ask. Does my stuff belong here? There are some places that are a true niche market and if you can't find your niche, you will have a problem getting to them. I am asking myself this over and over again on Lollishops. That is a true niche market selling venue and I just don't think I have the second Frou in Frou-Frou! hahaha! I see it as a market for delicate and frilly pieces and mine are bulky and of course chunky! haha! That's why I need to think really hard about my signature piece for there. I don't want to give up at all, I just want to find a way to fit in WITHOUT compromising my style! I hope I have helped even one person today!! I'm off to do some shop critiques on Etsy!


SHOP NEWS! The Last Page of my shop is on CLEARANCE MODE! I want to clear out for the New Year! I have marked things down up to 50%! Check it out because it's ALSO BOGO TIME! Buy one from that page and get a second item FREE from that page! All the items shown in the first photo of this post are the ones on SALE!

Sunday Sensations!

Gnome Button Set by Manhandled 4.00

Just a quick post before I leave for the day! I saw these and fell in love! I'm actually going to buy them today and I just had to share how cute they all were! I plan on doing something totally awesome with all the pins I buy, I just have to decide how many I want on it and when it's truly ready to be started on! Do you have any great pins to share?

Twitter button by Ainsmar 1.00

Tip of the day:
Are you getting yourself out there? Promoting on the fly? Chatting up your shop without even saying a word? I have decals on the windshield of both my vehicles, I have magnetic signs on either side of my car and I just take those and move them to whatever car I am driving that day!
Great for long roadtrips! I am also about to buy this awesome pieces I found last week on MonsterPromos! So get chatting without saying a word! Spread around that shop love!

Custom License Plate Frame by MonsterPromos 16.00

Wasting My Time...

Hourglass Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00
Sometimes do you feel like promoting is wearing you thin? You don't know where your sales are coming from? You are thinking that some places are a waste of time? There are some ways that we can figure what is working!

Notebook and Pencil Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

I leave codes in a lot of places, but the codes are each individual codes that I keep track of in a code notebook. In this notebook I can tell where I left a code, what the code was and who redeemed it. I leave these little codes on posts in forums, in my email signatures, on my blog (code corner)signatures on message boards, on fliers I hang up in places and on business cards.

There are also non-coded places I advertise such as blogs, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and social networking sites like this. I also consider relisting and renewing a form of advertising and I can't put a code there :) Feel free to add me as a friend or heart me on Etsy!

Taco Night Earrings by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

How can I keep track of who is buying what other than my notebook? When you purchase something from my store, a little blurb pops up that is a message to seller. I have something like:

**TELL ME HOW YOU FOUND MY SHOP AND YOU WILL GET A FREE PAIR OF LOLLIPOP EARRINGS!!**

Not sure on the exact wording, but buy something and you can see it! haha! I will soon photograph a pair of the free earrings and put it in my Flickr account, I will keep track of the clicks there to see who is actually checking them out AND it gives the customer a chance to see what they are getting for free!

Relist, Renew, Repeat...

Present Stack Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

Ahhh....the mountains of items appearing on e-commerce sites such as Etsy and the like are making it harder and harder to get noticed! Right? Every sale is like a big present! I subscribe to the old method of promote, promote, promote. I have 1100 sales I think and i've been on Etsy a bit over a year now. I hang out in the forums to help people, promote my blog and read other blogs. I don't go there to make sales. I like making friends and chatting with people.

I figure it's my job to bring people to me, Etsy gives me a place to park and that's it. It's like when I rent a building for my B&M store. The landlord is not responsible for bringing my customers in, I just have to respect the place I am renting and not get rowdy or out-of-hand (darrrn). I promote my shop and my shop only. Greedy? Yes, I think so, but i'm working to bring them in, so I better reap the results! haha! They will find other shops once they've stepped in my doors.

Etsy Button by BauerDesigns 1.00

I always wear a piece of my jewelry, even if it's just a pair of earrings. I carry business cards with me and i'm on the hunt for an Etsy badge to have on my purse too. If people like something enough they will ask. It's happened so often, i've sold jewelry from around my neck to the gas station attendant! A ring on my finger to a lady at the mall shopping for a birthday present! I always keep a Crown Royal bag in my purse full of sample pieces and little organza bags. It's a mini gift shop in my purse! (could be because I carry around a bag the size of a small country since it doubles as a diaper bag too!).

I put up signs and business cards whenever I pass a bulletin board. (yup I have a small pack oftacs in my purse too! It's like a magic bag). I know my niche market and put up information where they are most located. I throw home parties inviting NEW people to my home about twice a year, from those parties I offer incentives for people to book a party with me in their home. At parties, I have a raffle and on the entry forms I have a little box to check if they would like to be on my mailing list. I ALWAYS offer incentives to buy more (buy 2 get 1 free kind of deals). The back of my business cards have coupons for return visits. I offer little secret codes around places for people to get extra goodies. (check out Coupon Corner over there<-----). All of my packaging at parties has my branding information on it. Even if it's just a stamp or a sticker.

Window Box Brooch by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00

Online it's a whole other ballpark. To get a piece of the random, accidentally stumbled on Etsy customer, I have to have: a dynamic product. No ifs ands or buts about it. It has to catch someones eye and make them do a double take. Make them wonder if in fact that was just a Scrabble tile they saw. We have one little window of opportunity to get that click and are you getting it?

Girly Scrabble Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 6.00

I like to think of the search pages as windows. Forget your longer than ever Ebay like title:Scrabble initial tile custom personalized brown square letter abcdefghijklmonpqrstuvwxyz alphabet adjustable ring one size fits all funky cool lolita rockabilly geeky girl funky ring. Those are just total turn offs and make a person dizzy! You don't even have to get too creative. I usually just say Initial Me Scrabble Ring or Girly Bow Scrabble Ring. Simple, Sweet! Why?

Because alot of people are not looking at your title. They are WINDOW shopping. They look at the windows (your photo) as they scroll down and they want something to STAND OUT at them. Even if it's not what they had in mind, if it jumps out and makes them think, you've got them. As you stroll a downtown area on vacation, do you look at the names of the stores or what's in the window? Get their click!

Now, get unburied from the back of those category pages and set a budget that your sales can handle. I set a budget of about 3.00 a day in relisting and renewing. I build the price of renewals into the price of my item. So my advertising budget comes from there. I do it at 3 different points in the day to spread the love all around. I try and keep interesting and unique pieces and also ones that are about to expire in all my promos. put them on signs, use them in my blog, promote them on twitter, that sort of thing! I could go on and on with more tips, because I like to chatter on, but i'm sure i've only told you all what you already knew! It's just a memory jogger! If you would like any other tips let me know!

Try a no-holds barred critique. Sometimes you need to hear the fluff about how cool your shop is when you are feeling down, but when it's time to bring in the sales....well then it's time to get real and take the critiques. Sometimes they hurt and sting, but they also could help. It's so easy to come up with excuses when someone offers a critique, but remember if you asked for it, just take it in stride and maybe change it up! I still have to work on my photos, I get told that alllll the time, and yet here I am blogging instead! If I worked on them, I'm sure I could sell more. I should look into a class at the college or the studio down the road! Food for thought on an early saturday morning...

3 Tier Pastry Server Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 25.00

Will I Own The hour?

Dessert Table Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 25.00

I came across a new website yesterday, just as I was browsing the net and my favorite haunts during naptime. It's called OwnTheHour. It's like a big showcase or treasury sort of thing. The advertising is 1.00 for the hour. Here is where it gets dicey. People think 1.00 an hour is too expensive and others think it's worth a try. Me? I bought the slot! What's a dollar? I didn't buy the whole day, just one little hour during my busiest shopping time on Etsy. They are advertising on Facebook and other social networking sites. You can find more info in their ABOUT section. I could either sit and join the nay sayers and complain about that dollar or go ahead and make a tiny little investment and see what happens. All it takes is one person to want to buy your items. How many of us spend more than that on a project that goes horribly wrong and just has to be tossed out? So is the jury still out for you? Or will you go ahead and check it out? Let me know your results! You can check mine out at 12pm lunchtime!!

I will twitter about, Facebook my status and send out a bulletin on Myspace too! For today, my Iced Passion Fruit Tea won't be a Venti and guess what? I'm alright with that!

Image captured by Glamasaurus!!http://blog.glamasaurus.com/