Blogging Tips and Tricks

My Diary Brooch by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

It's nearly impossible to keep up with a blog right? Thinking of topics, finding photos, hoping for comments all that good stuff! I have so much that goes around in my head daily, but when it comes time to sit here and actually start blogging, I can never get it straight! I figured that there are probably other people out there like me that just need a little nudge in the right direction! These tips are for you!

Cute Can Be Dangerous Knife Earrings by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

Topics are always the place to start, since without a topic there is no blog! Sometimes coming up with a good topic is like cutting down a tree with a knife, impossible! Just keep a notebook with you for when those ideas do pop up! Decide what kind of a blog you want to have, more personal or business like. I want to try and keep mine related to business as much as possible, but I will totally be all about personal stuff when good things happen! If you are going to promote your blog as a business tool though, keep an eye on the language and selection of topics, you may not want your customer base to know too much about you! I use the SAVE NOW draft feature a lot. When I'm up late and I get loads of ideas, I start NEW POSTS and just give it a title and tags and then in the body I put a few bullet points, so I know what to build on when I'm ready to finish that topic. Then when I'm stuck for ideas I head there and finish one up! There are some days when you just don't feel like typing anything at all, I'm a big fan of the wordless posts! (I've seen Wordless Wednesday, Things to Think About Thursdays, Word Free Friday) These are just posts of photos with or without captions. I usually try and do a Sunday post like this and call it: The Weekend In Photos. It's an easy way to not neglect your blog and give yourself a break. Just don't overuse that one, it's never good to not get any context out of a blog. Another good way to use up some posts is to do features on fellow sellers or reviews of recent purchases! People love to know all about what you like and buy if they are already following your blog!

Say Cheese Camera Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 13.00

On to the photos! These are HUGE! Even if you only have a one word post, use PHOTOS! Readers love having something to look at! Most importantly be sure your photos link back to something! If someone clicks on something from your shop, have it take them to that listing. If it's a photo of your kids in a playhouse, have the click take them to that playhouse for sale. Remember links are good! If you feel your photos are too plain, add some fun borders or a little text in them. If you don't have any photos to get your post across, promote other sellers by using their photos and have them link back to their listings! Featuring people is good! This is your chance to feature items from your shop, to show everyone a little bit of what you do! Keep the photos as relevant as possible though to keep your post flowing.

Typewriter Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

Link Links Links! Links are the most important! The more places you link to, the more people will find you. There are a lot of programs out there that are telling web owners who is linking to their sites and from where. It will get you traffic!! If your readers are falling in love with whatever you are talking about, you need to let them know where to find it!

The road to a friend's house is never long

Time! We never have time anymore. There is always something going on and believe me, I know all about being busy! I'm a mom to 3 kiddies (3,2,1) and they keep me busy non stop. Assign yourself a time to blog EVERY DAY! Even if you are only able to churn out 2 sentences (add 2 photos above and below the sentences and you have a post!!), do it! I blog every morning as soon as I get up. I wake up early enough to check my computer goings on and what not. It's quiet time before the kids get up and while husband is in the shower. I make it a point to blog at this point. Life does get in the way, but sometimes a pretty photo and a quote from somewhere will be great and just may make someones day. There is ALWAYS time for something. It's easy to say you will blog tomorrow, but then that becomes the next day and that becomes the next. It's a vicious cycle. There are so many blogs out there that I admire and love to read, the ones that keep me coming back for more all the time. I love those blogs! I want to be those blogs! I aim to help and really hope that this helps you all become great bloggers!!

MOST IMPORTANTLY Don't forget your Etsy Mini or a collage of your goodies and a LINK to get people to your shops!!! I go to so many blogs and CANNOT for the life of me figure out how to get to where they sell! Get going!

+++++++++HAVE A SECOND?+++++++++

Copy This link: http://www.Lollishops.com/Node/5709

Then Go here: http://lollishops.blogspot.com/2008/12/lollishops-gingerbread-contest-lets.html

and it will take you to a contest i've entered! To vote for me just click on POST A COMMENT and paste the link you copied before there! Thank you for your time!:

http://www.lollishops.com/node/5709 <----my gingerbread house

Did You Know?

This Weekends Goodies!

Ten Random Thoughts About Me!

1> I love Antique Stores, Estate Sales and Flea Markets.

2> I collect Vintage Tupperware and Plastic 80s Charms

3> I was Married in Walt Disney World

4> I am studying Japanese Slooooooowlllllllyyyyyyyyyyy

5> I love the smell of gasoline and new plastic

6> My signature color is pink & I try to wear it daily

7> I was a cheerleader in high school

8> In grade school I was the biggest nerd EVER

9> I have only 3 really good friends

10> I find rain very romantic

730 Views 28 Hearts and no Home by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

Take this necklace home today and get free shipping off your next purchase at MichellesCharmWorld! and a free lollipop cell phone charm!

Have a Minute? I Challenge You!

Pink Bracelet by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

With this one, I think the backround is competing with the bracelet

Somtimes a shop can get stale and needs a little TLC. This can happen to shops that only have a few pages and even ones like mine that have waaaay too many pages!

Take a look through the 'dusty' pages of your shop. Those ones in the waaay back. It's time to give it a little tidy up. Taka a new photo, maybe add a little something to the piece or take something away? Change up the chain? Change up some colors in it? Give 2 pieces in your shop a face lift today and let's see if that makes a difference! It's time to do a little holiday cleaning!

Conversation Heart Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00

I will add on another heart charm to this and take a clearer photo

Thanks to all the voted for me! I won the contest this month!! Yay!

International Shipping, Do not be afraid!

Mail Box Earrings by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

I have run into the CUTEST stuff on Etsy and lo and behold, they don't ship to my country! Or worse yet, they are charging 20.00 and saying they will refund the overage. I like to know exactly how much it will cost and if it is 10.00 I want to know why. Does it come in a box packaged nicely? Lot's of details should be placed here if it's higher than normal.

Love Letters Brooch by MichellesCharmWorld 8.00

It's fairly easy to dive into the world of International Shipping and does not really take much more supplies. In fact it just takes customs forms that come FREE from the post office. It will take a bit more time, so be sure to add that into your shipping price. You cannot ship International packages from home, they must be sent at the post office. PLEASE state your shipping dates in your announcement if you only go to the post office on certain days. I like to get my goodies fast! Ready for the wonderful world of shipping overseas? Let's get started!

Phonebooth Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

It's a scary start to begin the International shipping phase of a businesss, but once you've started you will never ever regret it! Over 90% of my business is International and i'm not kidding. You could be missing a mass market over there. First things First, get familiar with your local post office. Give them a call and find out their hours, then drop by with your questions if you don't know them all yet. Do they have an Automated Postal System? These machines are awesome for 24 hour posting of your products. Just keep in mind they DO NOT do International boxes or thicker envelopes. Be sure at your first visit to chat about International Shipping to bring a package of your typical sale. (for me I put in a necklace and ring and packaged it up as though it were a sale), AND I brought along another packaged box adding in another necklace and bracelet. I had a list of some of the more popular and expensive places to ship to and had the post office clerk give me quotes on what it would be like to ship to these places. It's a live and learn process, and I have made a couple mistakes. I just learned yesterday that Finland is pretty expensive to ship to. I also learned once that Singapore is almost right on with the shipping domestically in the US. Canada is also the same as the US. Higer priced countries are:

Australia, United Kingdom, Finland and Russia. Lower ones that surprised me were:

Norway, Singapore and Mexico. Be sure to seperate these countries as you go along, because many of them will not want to pay as much as the bigger countries if they have purchased online before and they know the typical amount. Checking the weight online is NOT always accurate for International orders. I HIGHLY recomend the field trip to your P.O alternative for the first time :) Also while there ask the clerk for a STACK of customs forms, so you fill them out at home! I also stamp all of them with my return address label while watching TV and fill out everything I can on it, so I only have to do the customer information when I sell something.

My New Ring, Earrings, Brooches and some Necklaces Boxes

If you have super cute or pretty packaging, be sure to include a photo of it in your listing, it will explain why your pricing is a bit high and may even get you a sale from someone that sees that it will not just come thrown in an envelope. Remember though, don't spend too much time or money on your packaging as you will have to be including the price of these items and your time into your products! Me? If your shipping is reasonable, I don't care if the item comes wrapped in toilet paper (clean of course), in a pasta box and wrapped with a brown paper grocery bag. I'm all for saving the environment! Just get it to me safely. I just started using new boxes that are not your typical cardboard box that still gets crushed by the post office and I love them! Infact I've had other sellers love them too! haha! I've even sold some of my stash to fellow Etsians! These are great and failry inexpensive to tag onto my shipping prices. Hope I have helped some of you lean more towards the International Shipping Market!

Fun Mail

Buttons and Cabochons!

I had a fabulous mail day! I love getting good mail and figured I would share it with you!! I got some Awesome Awesome Etsy stuff! Candy, Cookie and Bow Cabochons from XtraStuff and some super cute buttons from PracticalRabbit. My fave is the FREE HUGS one. Read about the Free Hugs Campaign Here. I figure i'm going to try out wearing it while I do my errands and such and see if anyone notices it!

These little pretties also arrived from LayerCakeShop. I can't wait to work with them!! Shopping on Etsy is always a lot of fun, and I usually never buy the same supply from the same shop more than once. I like to spread it all around, but I have to say I came across some AWESOME customer service lately and I know of one shop where I will be back!! Please remember how important customer service is in the competitive market of online shopping. If you missed it, check out my post about it here.

YAY!

Here it is!!! I'm in the bottom row and it turns out that I was on there most of the time!! I was originally an alternate, but someone bought something from there within the first 5 minutes and I made my front page debut!

Open For Business

So I have finally got some items up in the new shop and i'm ready to roll! I'm going to limit myself in listings right now, because the site is new and a bit buggy still. I am totally willing to give it a chance since it's so fun to be a part of the lollishop community! I am reserving my review of this new selling venue until I have given it about a month. I will let you know how it goes! Don't forget first 5 people to purchase from me over on Lollishops and spend over 15.00 get a free swag bag! But for TODAY DECEMBER 3rd ONLY every purchase gets a swag bag! Yay! Shipping is included in the listings already, so no mystery shopping here!



A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Ruth of chickedee-chickedee on blogspot for the AWESOME feature she did on me this week! She was such a sweetie and her questions were so fun! Check out her super cute shop of Buttons too!!

Photos...The Be All, End All?

Gingerbread House Brooch by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops

Ahhh....we've all heard it right? Go into the forums and ask about being a successful shop and at least 75% of the replies will be about photos. GO ahead, try it, I dare you ;) Yes, your photos should be clear and a bit bright, but don't stress over them! Don't take 10 photos of each and every one of your products hoping for the right one, or your items will end up costing 50.00 each! (Yes, you should be adding in your photo taking time into the cost of your items.) Don't go running out to take photography lessons and buying 50.00 lightboxes. HOLD UP! WAIT! Take a deep breath and have a look around. light boxes and lessons take money. Wait until you have it in your business account to do it if you really want these things. If you don't and just think it's a necessary thing to sell anything, then wait and keep reading.

Tea and Crumpets Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops

I have 1100 something sales or something like that, I do not have a lightbox, take my photos at night in a dark room sometimes, change my backround like all heck and worst of all? My photos are blurry sometimes! Go ahead, I will wait here, Check out my sold items section and go waaaay back to my last page. Did you see them? The blurry, pixelated messes I called photos? They were awful, dark and unedited. I made my first sale within an hour of being open! I knew right off the bat I needed a new camera, but it was not in the budget at the moment. I had a craft show lined up for a month after opening and until then I asked for advice. I started taking photos outside in natural light and that helped ALOT! Then the midwest reared it's ugly head and sometimes it was 100* outside and there was no way in heck I was going to photograph outside, so I started doing it by a window, this was also good!! Then sometimes my kids wouldn't take naps on some days and I was stuck waiting until my husband got home at 430 and sometimes it was already getting dark?! So I started using a photo editing program!! That has been my BEST FRIEND! My photos are still not great, not even good sometimes, but I'm selling regulary and you can at least see what it is you are buying :) MY new camera eventually was purchased after a successful craft show and though it was not the magic answer to my photos, it did help! (Macro setting was a must!).

Conversation Heart Rings by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops

Now take a look at some of the shops out there, some of them have THOUSANDS of sales and their photos are so dark, half the time I don't even know what I'm buying without reading the description. (Maybe people like the grab bag idea?! heehe). Some shops have photos that are excellent, but so overpropped, you don't know if you are getting the 5 strands of pearls are part of that bottlecap key chain, and yet they have loads of sales. I think it's all about a catchy thumbnail, combined with a CLEAR, DESCRIPTIVE title. (No need to get creative with your titles, I find my creative titles have the least amount of views). If you've been here yesterday, you will also note that I made the front page too! So see, just try hard, but don't overdo it. Perfect pictures are not always the answer. I've seen some FAB-YOU-Less photos out there in shops that have been open and avtive since 2005 and they still only have a few sales. It's all about your product. Work with what you have and don't stress!

I Finally Made It & Missed It!

Tea Time Ring set By MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

So it finally happened! I made the front page. Yup, me, MichellesCharmWorld. 28 year old mother of 3. 1 year on Etsy and nowhere near professional photos! The sad part about it? I missed it. I was posting on the forums and suddenly was getting congratulated! I didn't know what for and was kindly informed I had made the front page! I was originally an alternate and then I made it on when someone bought something from there. Me...I....MCW....was on the FRONT PAGE!! If anyone out there has a screen shot of it, please let me know!!! The Etsy front Pagers on Flickr have the page before I made it on and that's how I saw that I was orignally an alternate. The ring set above is the one that made it and I am so happy! It was curated by Admin, so whoever you are out there, thanks so much for making my day!

So what happened in the aftermath? Just my happiness! haha! Actually I didn't get any sales at all today, lots of hearts and that's about it. Crazy how I usually make at least 1 sale a day and the day I make the front page, I don't get any! So, all in all I was thrilled, excited, elated, but it's not the magic cure for insta-success!

Now...about that Featured Seller bit ;)

Gingerbread House Contest

So it's finally finished! My Lollishops gingerbread house for the contest is complete. It's not at all what I was aiming for, but I just had too many other things going on right now.

The carousel and the well and the flamingos all shown in the 'lawn' have all been pieces in bits and baubles I have created in my shop!

I wanted my house to be a representation of my shop in general. You will catch the candy trims which I use in loads of my creations, the beading on the edge of the house is something I use in some of my necklaces. The windo boxes are legos, I use a lot of them in my creations too! In the eaves of the front of the home I have pink vintage flat back buttons that I use in my vintage button bracelets. I wanted to be sure I used only supplies that I use in my jewelry. I figured it would make it much more 'ME'.

Hope you like it!

Handmade Sampler

It Arrived!! All The Treasures Inside

I was lucky enough to be a reviewer for this months Sampler from Handmade Sampler.I received my package today and it was in a large box! One of my favorite things to receive is packages, so I tore into it right away!! Pretty tissue paper made me feel as though I had opened up a gift! I received a letter that had the info of what was enclosed and a note about Handmade Sampler and then some promo items! Many jumped at me right away!! What is Handmade Sampler? It's a monthly package that goes out to buyers filled with promotional information from vendors of handmade products. It's a great way to be seen and bring business into your shop.

The Stand Outs. Only 2 active shops out of all these treasures. (One of themis HandmadeSampler.Com)

There were many items that popped out at me right away and lured me to their shops, others not so much. There is definately a way to do the handmade Sampler right and this is reaching a great audience! Business cards are great for getting the word out about your business when someone asks about a piece of yours, to package when you are sending out an order or gift, to drop into boxes to win free sandwiches and at craft shows when people want to remember something they saw in your booth!

The Business Cards. Keep In mind how the MOO Cards get lost in the bundle.

Handmade Sampler is not really the time for business cards. This is Shopping time! When people buy these boxes, they are looking to buy and you want them to step into your shop. I will be the first to admit that I kind of lumped all the business cards together and tossed them aside. I loved the ones that had goodies attached to them though! Remember to also toss a coupon on the back of your card with your treasure! Give them more incentive to visit your shop. Think of it this way: The person the receives your box can only buy from ONE shop of all the ones in the box. Will yours be the one? How can you make sure of that? Have a professional product that you are promoing. If it's a paper product, the ends should be straight and the printing should look good, not stretched and faded. Be sure your promo item is of something you actually sell.Be sure you have an actual site where you are selling your goodies. The one purchase I would have made out of this box was definately going to FUNKY PENCILS. It was an AWESOME little Turkey pencil, but alas, just an email address. I don't like to wait. I like to see, look, buy, pay and get my treasure! Creativity Award goes out to Scrapbook Business Cards, I loved the little business card notebook idea, but once again went to the site only to find a CONTACT ME button. There was a gorgeous Origami Tag included that was by HawaiiMonkey. Once again though, an empty shop sits. Maybe nobody wants my money? There was a stunning photograh included that I actually put on my refrigerator right away to remind me of vacation! It was by VIEWS FROM PARADISE. Just an email address here too though. Too bad, I would have loved to see what other prints they had on hand. Remember, you are doing this for PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES! Trying to get the word out about your goodies, you want to make money, make sales and get people to fall in love with your stuff! LOVED the quality of the cupcake toppers from Stick'Em and wanted to see what other designs there were on hand. Yet another empty shop. I used a cute little clip that came from ART PINS, to clip up the photographic print I got in the box, on my refrigerator after I added a magnet to it. I wanted to see what other cute cilppes they had on hand...well i'm sure you know where I am going with this right? Empty. These were not the only empty shops I came across in this package of goodies. I was beginning to get a bit discouraged here. All the GREAT promo items that were catching my eye seemed to not want more sales. I'm wearing a cute little floating ring that was in the box from Floating Jewelry Design, but since it led to another empty shop I guess I may have to find some of these cuties elsewhere.

Remember this is the time to SHINE! If you sell pretty and intricate things, don't just toss in something simple to promo out. you want people to see what you do. This is NOT the time to send in something because it's cheap and easy. Yes, it must be cost effective, but it must also draw the customer in. If I were doing the Handmade Sampler, I would send in one of my Lollipop Rings or Tiny Lolly Earrings. It should definately be something that can be found in your shop, so that the person feels like they really got a piece of your shop!

Vintage Bell Christmas Ornaments from OutOnAWhim 10.00

I have been dying to start an ACEO collection, but could never decide where to begin. I received an AWESOME vintage looking one from Out On A Whim and YAY! She actually had a shop out there! She's running an fabulous *Cyber Monday* Sale too just like Me!! Such a fun shop with a cozy feel. Stop on in and buy something from this fabulously sweet shop! See what happens when you have a shop?? People can write about it! Promote YOU! And of course BUY FROM YOU!

Vintage Button Jar from OutOnAWhim

I loved the little tote that everything came in, I plan on using it to carry around my portable goodies that I work on while the kids are in Dance class or quiet time at the coffee shop!All around, I loved the idea of Handmade Sampler, but there was just not enough product behind the box so to speak. This could be a time to get in and get that sale if you have an awesome promo item, great coupon to add to it and catchy business card all packaged neatly! You would probably get that sale! Hmm...I may be sending out some samples soon! Maybe if only people that had active shops were allowed to contribute, this could turn out to be an awesome thing. I loved how it was packaged, how speedily it arrived, how sweet Tricia is and many of the goodies inside!

Cyber Monday SALE!

Time to get your shop on!!! Black Friday for the internet is HERE and it's known as CYBER MONDAY! This sale is for MONDAY DECEMBER 1st ONLY! 12am central time to 11pm central time. YOU MUST PAY by 11pm on DECEMBER 1st to qualify.

All sales are time stamped, so be sure to purchase early to qualify for this sale.
ALL purchases over 20.00 on MONDAY DECEMBER 1st will receive:

Gift Certificate for 20.00 off a future purchase. (Yup it's like getting the stuff FREE!).
Free Bow necklace (8.00 in my shop right now).
Free Pair of Pearl Drop Earrings (8.00 in soon to be Lollishops Shop)

Free lollipop Cell Charm! (6.00)

That's over 40.00 in goodies for FREE!
Be sure to use CODE: BFfree for your goodies!

Rules and Not so Fun Stuff:

*Only transactions from 12am-11:58pm on DECEMBER 1st 2008.
*ONE free gift pack per person/mailing address.
*MUST be paid for before 11:58pm on MINDAY DECEMBER 1st.
*MUST use code at check out, no convos or add ons later please.
*Free bow necklace and pearl drop earrings colors will vary based upon availability.

*Items from MichellesCharmWorld on ETSY Qualify.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Platter Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

Happy Thanksgiving Bloggers! I just wanted to remind everyone to check out my blog tomorrow after midnight and get an eye of my AWESOME Black Friday sale! You don't want to miss out on this!!

Today I am thankful for:

My family. They an amazing group of people and I am luckt to be spending this vacation with my husband, children and father. We're in Frankenmuth, Michigan and loving every minute.

My customers. I have an amazing group of people that are helpingme share my creations with the world! With each sale I get, I hope you all know that I still cheer, smile and jump around like a little kid. You make me feel like a little girl on Christmas Day.

My friends. Though few, I know there are no better people out there than you guys. You are supportive, sweet and so kind. I hope this message finds you and yours all happy and full of turkey!

My readers. That's you guys!! You all are so great with feedback, comments and kind words all the way around. Each comment it truly like unwrapping a gift. I hope that my posts help inspire you at least a little bit.

Thank you everyone. I hope your day is truly spectacular. I will be back to regular posting on Monday!

Sneak Peek at My New Line

A Treasure Trove of Wearable Sweets from MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops

So it's almost time for the grand opening of Lollishops! The site opens up on Friday the 28th, i'm on vacation and my shop will not open up for business until December 1st. I'm giving you a little sneak peek at some of the goodies that you will find in my shop when it does open!

The first 5 customers to spend over 15.00 in my NEW Lollishop store will get the cutest little purse full of goodies! These swag bags are limited to 5 because there is over 25.00 in merchandise here!! A perfect stocking stuffer!! You get one of my bow necklaces, a rhinestone heart cell charm, Lollipop Ring, lollipop bracelet, pink pearl earrings, pair of bow barrettes and a discount card off your next purchase!

Shop MichellesCharmWorld on Etsy or Lollishops a virtual dollhouse of treasures and sweets for your body!

Laundry Day Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld on Etsy 20.00

My Etsy Shop is all about the funky and chunky with pieces that are sure to make people turn twice. Pieces for the truly bold and daring! This accessories are all about conversation pieces! Large and colorful!

Sweet and Pretty Bow Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops and Etsy 8.00

My Lollishops Shop is all about the dainty feminine girl that likes a little bit of quirky to her everyday pieces. I still use a lot of bright colors, but this line is more towards the sweet and pretty! Bows, candies and dolly goodness are what you will find in this candy shop of wearable sweets!

Shop Vacation?

Vintage Green Train Case from JessJamesJake 38.00
We all need time away, but let's not forget to convey that message to our customers! Todays posting is going to be short and sweet since i'm on vacation for the holiday! Sometimes, we won't have the time to answer convos in a timely manner or ship out same day when we have family over for the holidays. Let's be sure to let our customers know with an announcement in our shops! I will not be returning until very late monday night and have let my customers know that. I will still ship that night all the pacakges that were purchased up to that date, but it's still a few days away and I felt the need to let them know that. I will still be answering questions, but not until the evenings when i'm back in my room. I let them know that too. I usually answer convos within 20 minutes during the day and within 5 hours during that overnight, so I wanted to be sure to let them know I was on vacation.



Remember to treat your customers just as we want those big box stores to treat us :)

Avatars and You...

Record Player Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 18.00

Ahhh...the little box known as the avatar! It's such a mystery as to what works, what does not and what should we put there. For me it's killing me having my photo over there in the ABOUT ME section <------------------ I'm a product gal, it's one extra spot to have a photo of something dynamic to lure the eye in!

Ice Cream for One Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00

I like to think of that little box, known as the avatar, as a window to my shop. A window to what they can see more of if they just click! I like to start a thread every now asking if my avatar is Click-Worthy . Pretty much just asking if it's worthy of your click.

Whipped Cream Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

I like to keep it simple. Photo and that's it. If I was having a sale, a little word saying SALE and leave it at that. Photos of people don't tell me what you sell and if i'm bored trolling to forums to pass some time and wanting to help out someone nice that made me laugh or made me smile a photo just won't do it for me. Yes, it's cool to see what you look like, but save it for a blog :) This is all about bringing your customer in. We all know that once our shops are FOUND people will browse, heart and most likely pick something up! Too much wording in your avatar is just an invitation for me to pass it by. It's usually to hard to read and remember i'm already reading in the forums, all I am doing as I read is glacing to the side to see who posted it. We don't need your name in your avatar. On Etsy the only place your avatar is located is in your shop and when you post in the forums. When we are in your shop, we know your shopname already. When you post, I see your shop name above your post. It's just repeating yourself.

Tall Present Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00

I know some of this sounds harsh sometimes, but I just want to help people out. When I was first getting started online selling on Etsy I hung out in the forums trying to get a vibe for the place. I started out with my photo in the avatar and my views stayed pretty low and sales were pretty weak. (Bad photos and such had a lot to do with this too! hhaha) I tried a few of my pieces out in the little avatar and I was getting in more traffic, just looking at views alone. (Before I started the whole Relist, Renew, Repeat Process!) I like judging by views, since shop hearts are a little more difficult to read. Some people heart because you hear them, some people heart because they like you in the forums or are your friend..etc..not necessarily wanting to buy something from your shop. (More on hearts in another post!). As people were buying, I was getting comments in my messages to the seller box saying they found me in the forums! The most obvious part? I was actually selling out the item that WAS my avatar! I was usually selling the item in the avatar about once a week!

Making the Donuts Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

Moving onto sold items in the avatar. SO many times I wanted to keep an old sold item as my avatar, because it was a great conversation piece in the forums, people loved it and I loved it and it garnered a lot of clicks.. My main advice on this is DON'T. I didn't do it because so many times have I clicked to buy and the person didn't have it listed anymore and it had sold days, weeks so on ago. I was sad and of course too impulsive to write about asking for another, I just bought something else that I found. I know if I didn't like it, then there would be others. Jewelry (especially mine) is NOT a necessity and there is a lot of it out there. People don't want to wait, heck I don't! So what are you waiting for? Get that avatar rockin'!

Earrings by Lil922 , Pendant by WireYourWorld, clutch by EmmaGordonLondon, Gnomes by CozyColeman .

This is a collage of avatars that earned my click today in one thread . The best part? They were easy to find once I clicked too. They were either featured in their shop or newly listed! I love that.

Social Networking....Do You?

Retro 80s Computer Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 16.00

With the dawn of the computer era being a great place to shop, it seems that most of our advertising if not all should be online. There are just such a sea of places, it's difficult to know where to start! The easiest of all of these was the blog! It's easy to set up, but the difficult part about it, is keeping it fresh daily! I usually spend breakfast time and clean up of the dishes thinking of what to blog about. If I have a thought in mind, but i've blogged that day, I will usually type it up and save it for posting another time :)

On to happier thinking! There was once a time that I had no clue what-so-ever Myspace and Facebook were and in fact I really wanted nothing to do with them, they were a hodge podge of stuff I just didn't understand. Then there is Flickr, Of course just as I get into the swing of it all a new thing comes up and it's called Twitter. I feel like they are popping up everywhere and anywhere! (feel free to add me on anything by just clicking the links to my profiles).

The question then becomes, how do I make these sites work for ME? I know you all are thinking that! To me, Myspace is still a black hole and I needed a lot of help for my site to still look as less-than-stellar than it does :) To make this site work for me, I really had to find someone that knew the ins and outs way better than I did and that's my cousin! I have several people that are in my niche market that i'm related to and see quite often, so in exchange for putting my Etsy mini in their profiles they get free goodies every now and then. This has helped me a TON! They have loads of friends and the time to spend hours on this site! For my part, I send out bulletins on sales or really interesting blog posts, but I try hard NOT to spam my friends with too much of the bulletins. I remove people that seem to post them non-stop. The newest thing i'm trying is switching around my profile picture every now and then, What make some people click may not work with others! I'm going to start copying and pasting my blog posts from here onto the blog there too, just to give it a little more of a not abandoned feeling! Myspace gets me some pretty good sales from first time Etsians.

Typewriter Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

With Facebook, I feel a bit more comfortable, though this is NOT the place to start if you don't have anything else. People cannot view your profile unless they are your friends and customers usually don't want to add you as a friend since Facebook is a lot more personal than any of the other sites. I pretty much use this site to connect with my friends (old and new) Family (far and near) and Etsy shop owners. To get the word out about sales or new items I use the status bar at the top and I also post a NOTE to my profile. Facebook gets me a lot of blog traffic in the end and a few sales if that from sellers.

Camera Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 13.00

Flickr is defiantely my friend and where I have been most successful! Be sure to follow the rules though! No shop information or links, no for sale verbiage (sold, see my profile, for sale) and not a strictly commercial site (only things for sale photographed). If you break these rules, you risk getting shut down. YES it happens, and it has happened to friends of mine. AND I was one of the lucky ones that got a warning before being shut down. I was able to fix it all up straight away and i'm doing much better now! Just keep it personal too! There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the warnings vs. the shut downs, so play it safe. The admin on this site is verrrrrrry verrrrrrrry slow in getting back to you about anything, so be sure you allow yourself enough time if you need to get a hold of someone. It seems that my studio shots and ones of my supplies seem to get me the most traffic and people into my store that do in fact lead to sales. (remember my previous post about where my sales came from). I keep alot of my family photos visible to only certain people though, just to keep it on the safe side. The key here is to be active in the community. Don't be greedy! I love to join groups, add my photos (Not millions at a time, that is a huge turn-off) and chat in the discussions! (I really dislike seeing tons of photos from someone in group pools and no active participation at all in the discussions). COMMENT on other peoples photos! If you like when people write nice stuff about your goodies, wouldn't you want someone else to say the same about yours? It's common courtesy online people :) That's all! I think the networking aspect of this site is what makes it my favorite, but oft neglected little pearl in the oyster.

Tweet Tweet Bird Bath Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

Finally Twitter! This one is super easy to use, once you figure out there is no deep down secret! haha! You just post what is on your mind, what you are doing, what you re looking at etc. and read what everyone else is doing. Tweeting is a lot fun this way. I can say for sure this one has lead to 5 sales in the month or so that I have been there. With here try NOT to spam everyone with your shop link and items 24-7. That gets annoying and gets you unfollowed. Don't add people and then unfollow them and then add them again when they unfollow you. It's not a game on who can add the most people.

Movie Queen Video Camera Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 15.00

Next on my list is testing out You Tube, I need to make a video first and then I will see what happens from there! That's about it for me! Have any other sites that I should be checking out????

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!