Eat, Tweet, Sleep, Repeat

Sooooo.... promoting your shop seems to be an very active topic of discussion in the etsy.com forums. How? Where? When? WHY Lord WHY? Are you at a loss as to how to promote and get people looking at you? Let me give you the short version of this so you can sift through all the el crappo and get to the meat and potatoes of this promoting thing.

Twitter (www.twitter.com): This is my go-to site for promoting. It is free, fast, user-friendly and it works...but only if you have followers. How do you get them? Well, luckily there are many twitter hack sites out there that can help you find people to follow without harassing them in the etsy forums or bribing them with free stuff and your first born.

Try these links:

www.twitterfollower.com

www.hootsuite.com

www.tweetseeker.com

Good post in etsy forums that can help: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6127828

Facebook (www.facebook.com): I have a facebook page. I don't use it because the interface is ridiculous and you have to beg and plead your way to fans and followers. My advice, use twitter over facebook all day long!

Craftgawker (www.craftgawker.com): I highly recommend using this service. It is free!!! Check it out if you have not. Register and submit to this site. They change their front page listing every 2 days or so and people DO look at this site. The trick with craftgawker is that you need GREAT submission pictures to get accepted. Trust me that it is worth it to spend some time making your pics great. People will dismiss your shop immediately if they enter and see sub-standard photos.

Craftcult (www.craftcult.com) - This is an etsy support site. Etsy shop owners use it to check their shop and items hearts as well as any featured exposure they may have had recently. The advertising on craftcult is not free, but it is reasonable. You can get a week long sidebar ad for $15.00. You do have to design your own ad and submit it, but it is worth the exposure every now and again. I have run two craftcult ads recently, and they do increase views substantially.

Craftopolis (www.craftopolis.com) - This is also an etsy support site. The best feature of craftopolis is the Treasury Clock which counts down the approximate time until the main Treasury and Treasury West opens up for submission. Very handy!! This site also has affordable weekly sidebar advertising. I would recommend craftcult over craftopolis though, simply because craftcult gets way more traffic.

Project Wonderful (www.projectwonderful.com) - This is a unique advertising tool that is not free, but can be very cheap. Basically, you deposit money from your Paypal account to your Project Wonderful account. You create an ad and then bid to place your ad on various blogs and websites based on criteria you choose. The concept is a bit abstract, but you can often advertise on some smaller blogs and sites for very little. Worth checking out.

These are just a few of my favs, but if you want to see much, much more...take a look at this list of 50 FREE sites to promote your shop: http://www.createapendant.com/sitepromote.htm

Peace!
Wendy

From Start to Finland - A Tale of Alchemy

Just wanted to share a little light with you guys and maybe some insight if you are not already bidding on alchemy requests. Had such an amazing experience!

I have been checking alchemy regularly just in case someone has a magnet emergency. I bid here and there if I think I have what they are looking for. Yesterday, I bid on a request for small items for a shop's customers. Appreciation gifts and the like.

Long story short... they accepted by bid. They ordered 60 custom magnets with their logo on them BUT .... BUT... that is not even the moral of the tale. That bid has also turned into my first ever wholesale client. She also bought 17... 17!!! sets of my premade magnets to sell in her store in Finland. She was lovely and paid and everything!

I am over the moon!

So... if you are not checking alchemy... DO IT! It is so worth the time to bid.

My Little Piece of Heaven

This is my little workspace! What a mess! But, this is my favorite place to be. Yes, that is a legal pad! I am a paralegal during the day, so it just kind of wiggled its way in there. My day job is so icky and most nights I can't wait to get right here so I can create and hopefully work hard enough to quit my day job. One day I will have a real studio, but for now my dining room table will have to do. Hope you all have a fantastic day!

For the Love of the Logo

How important is a logo? What purpose does it serve? Where the heck do I get one? I found myself conflicted over the logo issue several weeks ago. Why can't I just get a cute etsy.com banner and call it a day? Let me tell you why.... because that banner, while cute, represents nothing. Branding your image is all about identity creation. I found myself asking questions about my product, values, goals and ideal clients. The answers to those questions led me to the development of my Stuck Together identity. I want my brand to be FUN, lighthearted, bright and accessible with universal appeal.

The two "stuck together" bluebirds are the logo I had created to represent the identity I want to convey to my customers. I did a survey... absolutely everyone in the world loves fat bluebirds. Now this logo appears on everything I put out there. Soon, if my evil plan works, people will see my logo and recognize it and associate with my product.

Want a logo of your own? Find a graphic designer that can read your mind. Really. I put out an alchemy request with a description of what I wanted. I received countless bids of people trying to make my logo what they wanted it to be ("I can totally make this all sketchy and retro...blah blah blah"). One designer (http://www.etsy.com/shop/metroink) listened to what I wanted, worked with me on the colors and placement and POOF... fat bluebirds. I highly recommend the etsy.com alchemy request for finding a graphic designer rather than searching listings for logo design. You can get exactly what you want and often times for less $$ than you would spend if you purchase a shop listing.

Once you have your logo, you will love it. You will look at it all the time and feel proud and productive and.... ready.

Welcome and Look Out Here I Come!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my new blog dedicated to my new handmade magnet EMPIRE! Yes, empire. Nothing wrong with a little empire. I opened my etsy.com shop, Stuck Together, just a few short weeks ago. Check it out over there to the right ----> and I am truly in love with what I am doing. I have made some great contacts and had some great feedback from people throughout the etsy community, so here I am, out in the open... blog blog blogging. I hope you come back to visit me now and again. I am going to post about my journey with creating a brand and breaking into the handmade marketplace. Follow me... bring pie and punch.