Pinning You a Merry Christmas

Do you sell jewelry online? Have you created a Christmas or holiday pin board featuring inspiring images and your your jewelry? You should. Like today! 

Here are a few different holiday pin board ideas

• Pin holiday images and your jewelry that fit your brand (like my goregous nature-inspired Humblebeads Christmas board.)

• Pin holiday outfits and your jewelry. You can find outfits on Pinterest or create some on Polyvore. You can name your board Holiday Style or Holiday Outfits. 

• Create different types of holiday gift guides and include your jewelry. Like a Stocking Stuffer Gift Guide or a Gift Guide for Nature Lovers or a Gift Guide for Sisters, etc. Include items that compliment your brand that would fit in the gift guide. These are fun to make! 

• Create an all handmade gift guide featuring your favorite makers and your jewelry. Or create a holiday gift group gift board with several different types of makers. 

• Niche holiday boards - have jewelry that fits a certain niche? Create a board just for it. I did this with my pet holiday ornaments and we created a cute board that mixes the ornaments with adorable holiday pets in the Paw-fect Holiday board (warning: cute overload!). 

Once you have your boards created, share them on Facebook, Twitter, and in your emails that go out to your customers. You can also create contests and encourage your social network to pin your images to win a gift certificate or prize. 

Keep a good ratio of other pins mixed in with your jewelry and try to capture a feeling or mood in your boards instead of just going to town pinning whatever - be a good curator and give your followers high quality images and content. 

Know your audience and get creative with your boards. This board is more crafty than ones that feature my jewelry because it's more geared towards makers and those who would be interested in my beads.

Increase Your Views: 
You can use #hashtags to help increase your chances of being picked up by Pinterest's search. Make sure they are relavenat and only use 2-3 hashtags. If you include the price on your items they will show up in the Pinterest Gift Category.

Best time of day to pin? 9pm -1am. We all must lay in bed and scroll through Pinterest trying to fall asleep. I thought that was just me!

Images that are vertical get repinned more often. As always, make sure your jewelry photos are top-notch and pin-worthy!

Giveaway:
So your assignment - create a holiday pin board with your jewelry. Go on, promote your work in clever and fun ways - it's good for you.

Polyvore App Tutorial For Jewelry Designers

If you caught my webinar last week on Visually Branding Your Jewelry Business, I mentioned Polyvore quite a bit. I hope you've had a chance to explore the site.

If not, Polyvore is a fashion collage website. It's a super fun and easy way to share your jewelry matched up with an outfit. 

And today I'm going to show you how to use the Polyvore app to use on your mobile device. Do you have to wait for an appointment this week or stuck in the car for a holiday road trip - give the app a try and do a little creative promoting during those spare minutes. Each rectangle below is a screen shot on my Ipod. 

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First - clipping your jewelry. Your jewelry has to be for sale in your shop or website first.

1. Open the app and and go to create > add items > clip items from web

2. Type in your shop URL. 

3. Click on your items and press the clip button in the too right corner.

4. Press the like button on the window that pops up to save your item. 

5. Your item is now saved in the "my Items" category on the app and your profile on the Polyvore website too. 

6. On the create page on the app, click on the "my items" to find your jewelry and add it to your collage. 

Create a Collage

1. Go to create

2. Add your jewelry and search for items to create your outfit. You can search by category, brand or website. I started out searching for Modcloth for this example.

3. After you add your items you can arrange your collage. Add text or look up images to spruce up your collage. 

I looked up 'Christmas' to find the Noel graphic, which turned out to be a card on Etsy. To add text, click add item and scroll down to Text. 

4. When you are ready, click the lines on the upper right corner and click publish.

5. Add your title, description. You can add # hashtags, click on the hashtag on the bottom of the app and scroll through the list to find a few relevant tags. If you used a brand @ or # them. 

6. Press publish and start to share!

After your item is published, click on the share button on the lower right. You can share it on social media and even blog your outfit. 

Your jewelry is now catalogued on Polyvore and on the collage with a link to your item.

You can follow and connect with others on Polyvore. But it's not necessary. 

Woodland Holiday Party by humblebeads 

Another way to get this fancy image and product link listing underneath log into your account on the Polyvore website, go to your sets, click the blog button at the top. You can choose your layout, if you want to post directly to your blog or grab the code to embed into your blog post. You can use the blogger button on the app to share, but if you have more than one blog I get a little nervous which one it's going to post too and you can't pick which layout you'd like. But it is fast and easy if those two items aren't an issue for you.

Visually Branding Your Jewelry Business

I'm super excited to be hosting my first webinar for Interweave today. Just like the title says I'll be sharing all my tips and tricks for visually branding and promoting your business. 

The live webinar starts at 1PM EST today, so there is still time to sign up and join us. During the live webinar you get to ask questions and then after the webinar the recording version is sent out. So even if you can't make it today you can sign up and listen in later this week.  

Register Here 

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• How to create a mood board to help tell your story visually
• Use the power of branding to grow your jewelry business
• Learn what formats and sizes to create your images for the different social media platforms
• Explore unexpected ways to visually promote your jewelry
• Discover how to stand out with your printed materials

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

• Jewelry designers just starting to sell their jewelry.
• Seasoned designers who want to improve their online marketing skills.
• Designers who feel lost at promoting their work online and could use a few guidelines.
• Jewelry designers who want to stand out at shows.
• Designers who are ready to get more attention online without feeling pushy or invasive.
• Jewelry makers who want to wow their customers with creative yet affordable packaging.
• Designers who aren't sure if they are a brand but would certainly like to sell more jewelry online and off!

In the webinar I'm going to talk about defining your dream client and thought I'd share my blog post on who my dream client is that I wrote a few years ago and now use as my guide for creating jewelry and marketing my business. Read Thoughts on My Target Market here. 

Orchid Heart Pendant Tutorial & Valentine Sales Ideas

Luscious orchid silk ribbon provides an interesting design and adds lots of texture when creatively knotted.  With Radiant Orchid being Pantone's Color the Year, you'll find this trendy hue popping up every where this year.  This quick and easy project can be whipped up in 15 minutes or less!  Create a few heart themed pieces of jewelry and show them to friends and family for early Valentine Sales - or better yet schedule a Valentine themed trunk show the first week of February. Or go bigger and ask a local boutique to host a Valentine trunk show. 

Supplies:
Heart Pendant (Humblebeads)
2 12mm brass jump rings
5 Czech glass flowers (Dream Girl Beads)
5 1" brass headpins
1 Butterfly button (Natural Touch)
2 30" lengths of sari silk ribbon

Finished length optional - I like 18" or 20" for this design.

 Directions:

1. Attach both jump rings to the pendant.  On a headpin string a flower bead, create a simple loop. Repeat 4 times. String the 5 flower dangles on the top jump ring.

2. Fold the 2 lengths of ribbon in half, thread through the front of the top jump ring, pull the four ends through the loop of the ribbon, pull ribbons tight. 

3. On one side of the ribbon strands, tie 3 knots with the two ribbons. Pull the ribbon to firmly to straighten out the knots.  Leave a 1" gap, then make another knot with the two ribbons.  Tie three knots and repeat the pattern until the desired length.

4. At the end of the ribbon, tie on the butterfly button with two tight knots. Trim the ribbon.

5. Repeat the pattern on the other side of the necklace.  At the end tie a knot with a gap large enough for the button to slide through.  Trim the ribbon.

Play around with this idea, do a whole necklace of knots or do 5 knots between each open loops.  Try two different colors of ribbon.

Valentine Sale Ideas:
This quick and easy project can be whipped up in 15 minutes or less!  Create a few heart themed pieces of jewelry and show them to friends and family for early Valentine Sales - or better yet schedule a Valentine themed trunk show the first week of February. Or go bigger and ask a local boutique to host a Valentine trunk show. 

One thing I did back when I was young was to get a heart-shaped box of chocolates (eat said chocolate, I don't recommend that now - save them for later or share them with everyone you know!) and add in new papers (find them in the candy/cake decorating aisle at your local craft store) and then put a pair of earrings into each one. I could carry the box around with me to classes or when I went to playdates, church, etc.  Guys would ask me for a candy, I would open the the box and say I don't have candies but I can help you get something sweet for your girl.  Yes, it worked.  Or I would just ask the women I knew if they'd like to see the sweet earrings I made for Valentine's Day.  We'd joke about them being calorie free treats.  I always sold lots of earrings a week or two before big day.   Make sure you carry around earring cards, small organza bags, business cards and your card reader/receipts to finish the sale. I would keep these designs simple and at one sale price to make things easier.

If you'd like to step up your jewelry sales for 2014 why not take this 20 Sales in 20 Days Challenge put together by the Flourish & Thrive Academy.  This was designed for holiday sales before Christmas, but they would work great for Valentine's or Mother's Day too.

And hey, while you are at it - stop on over to the Flourish & Thrive Academy and sign up for their current video series for their next edition of the Laying the Foundation Course.

Blogging Tips, Part 2

So once you have your blog set up, what next?

Keep your blog posts short and sweet to start out.

Make 5 posts before you start spreading the word and asking people to stop by your blog. This is called a launch and you should have something for readers to come see before you launch your blog into the world.

You can also invite your friends and family to view your new blog after those first 5 introductory posts. Someone sent me an invite to their new blog the other day, it was very sweet.

After you have those 5 posts on your blog, leave thoughtful and heartfelt comments on 5 different blogs a day for the first week. Comments are the best part of blogging, blogging is more enjoyable when it's interactive! This is the best way to have new readers visit your blog.

Do you know it's a faux pas to ask other bloggers to add you to their blog roll? The best thing is to leave comments and if they like your blog, they will add you. If you like a blog and read it daily, add it to your blog roll.

Don't put too much pressure on yourself when you start blogging. First, no one is reading it when you start out, so don't stress! And you'll learn more tips and tricks as you go along, don't expect to be an expert before you publish your first post. The most important thing is to get into the habit of posting regularly.

A great example is new blogger, Marcia Decoster. She keeps her posts short, filled with eye-candy photos, inspiration and a peek into her creative world. Everything I look for in a good blog! She has even kept up with it despite a busy traveling schedule.

For more tips and inspiration pick up a copy of Artful Blogging.

Here was my first blog post, a to-do list. Which is funny, because my current to-do list is almost the same. Ah, the pre-Bead Cruise flurry of tasks!

Blogging Tips, Part 1

My interview in the upcoming issue of Stringing is all about blogging. You'll have to wait and read it for some tips on writing a successful blog. I've had a few people ask, how do I start a blog, so I thought I'd share some basic tips.

Go to blogger.com. There is a big orange button that says "create a blog". Follow along the simple steps to have your blog up and running in minutes. There is also a tour and videos you can watch on creating your blog. Don't worry about any techie stuff right now, just opt for the basic settings.

Some things to think about:

Your blog name - keep it short and simple. If you have a business already, use that name or something close to it.

A tag line - this can help you keep your content on track and let's your reader know what they can expect to find on your blog. My tag line for this blog is: "Art beads, jewelry-making and handcrafting a business." And that pretty much sums up every post you'll find on here. For the Art Bead Scene our tag is "Celebrating art beads, inspiring those who use them." Again, helps to keep us focused on what we write about each day.

Banner - that's the image along the top of your blog. You can do a simple text banner, using the blogger template. You can create one with photo editing software or you can purchase one from a designer. I like the ones created by Thompson Designs. A banner is like a welcome mat, it can instantly let your readers know a little bit about your style.

Design - keep your blog easy to read, like black on a light background or a black background, with white text. Don't add anything with animation or sound, this will slow down your blog and isn't appreciated by readers. You can add a fancy background later or change the color or your blog border for a little flair.

A word of warning about ads, you can have ads from google ads, project wonderful and other sources added to you blog. Make sure if you go that route, you have more content than ads. I don't visit blogs to read ads, I visit them for inspiration!

Join me tomorrow for tips on those first few posts.

Etsy Banner Workshop Review

Yesterday I attended an online workshop at the Etsy Virtual Labs on how to create banners. Now, I have photoshop and know how to use it to make a banner, but I always learn something at the workshops so I was there ready to take notes!

Here are a few pointers:
*A good banner can be graphic, all text.
*It's nice to have an image of your product in your banner, so shoppers see your work right away.
*For branding, your avatar & banner should match.
*Make sure your banner fits in with the theme of your shop.
*Use the banner and avatar to brand yourself, this is very important when you are starting out.
*Play with the scale of your images for the background of your banner. (like I did for my holiday banner)
*Gimp is a free photo editing software that works like photoshop.
*dafont is a great source for free fonts.

Here are a few of the shops they showed as examples of effective banners & avatars:
MaryInc. - used a close up photo of silk-printing screens with a simple logo, that cleverly ties into their silk-printed items.
Megan Auman -used her jewelry and graphic lettering, keeping things clean and bold, just like her shop.
Savor - used a close up of her packaging.
Your Secret Admiral - drew her own lettering and illustrations with a sharpie marker.

My old avatar and banner:

More Photo Tips

Practice makes perfect when it comes to improving your photography.

These images were taken by Beverly Herman, aka my mom. These are the before and afters.

All of these pictures were taken with the same camera. She had thought her camera was out-of-date and not able to take adequate photos for her website and etsy shop. She has a Kodak Easy Share LS753 with 5 mega pixels that she has had for about 5 years.

What did she do different?

1. She used the macro lens feature on her camera.

2. She used a desk OTT-lite that has a true color spectrum bulb. (I need one!)

3. She took her photos on her desk on a sheet of white paper.

4. She used the level option on her Photoshop program to adjust the light levels on her image. See Lori Greenberg's article on photographing beads and jewelry for detailed instructions.

She has been working to update her etsy shop with her new photos and I can't even begin to tell you what an amazing difference her new pictures make!

The bracelet on the top features my Branch Cuff Bead in teal and happens to be one of the classes she is teaching on the Bead Cruise.

First Impressions on Etsy

We've all heard you never get a second chance to make a first impression. When it comes to your etsy shop, your first photo can mean the difference between a sale and a customer clicking away.

Why should you take extra care in the first image that you choose for your etsy listings?

1. It's the first thing customers see when they arrive at your shop. Better photos mean a higher chance of having your item clicked on and that could lead to more sales.

2. If you don't wow them with the first photo, shoppers will hit the back button, not the next photo.

3. It increases your chances of being chosen for treasuries, which is more free advertising for your shop.

So what makes a front-page-treasury-worthy photo?

1. Clear, crisp photos.

2. Avoid any words or graphics added to your first picture.

3. Crop to create an eye-catching photo. If it's a large/long image, like a necklace, it's better if the first photo is a close-up of the focal point rather than the entire necklace.

4. DO NOT have a penny or any other money in the first photo to show the size of your object. If you must do that, save it for one of the other 4 photos. I use a vintage ruler to show the size of my beads.

First photo, ends are cropped for thumbnail. Size comparison photo with the ruler.

5. If you use any props in that first photo, make sure they are in the background and not competing with the item you are selling.

6. Keep the center of your image interesting and avoid empty space when it's cropped. Want to know what your photo is going to look like as a featured/gallery thumbnail? Shrink it down to 155 x 125 pixels.

Here are two links with everything you need to know about improving your product photos:

Photography tips from the EtsyWiki

and even more photo tips from the EtsyWiki

Parting advice: take way more pictures than you think you need. Use a tripod if you use the macro feature on your camera. Natural light is best, if can take photos outside, avoiding direct sunlight. (I use a sheet of vellum paper to filter out harsh light.)

Etsy Advice

I'm still here. My vacation will start on Monday. Yoohoo! I want to share with you some questions a fellow bead artist asked me before opening her Etsy shop. I thought you might find it helpful.

About how much time per week are you devoting to Etsy?
About an hour a day. Sometimes more, if I'm being social or researching things in the forums. It only takes a few minutes to upload your listings. (Photographing & fixing photos is a different story!) I spend a few minutes each day in the forums, adding my listings to the promotion threads and checking in with the street teams. It's better to list a few items throughout the day than all at once.

Does it help your sales to belong to the different groups?
Yes, a lot of my sales have come from the street teams and from their promotions.

Does blogging help your sales? (not necessarily Etsy, but . . . )
Blogging helps any online sales. Relevant blogging to your target market is the key. Commenting on blogs is just as important as posting on your own.

Do loose beads sell better than jewelry or is it pretty equal?
I list mostly beads, but I have been surprised by the amount of jewelry that has sold including some of my more expensive bracelets.

Who did your banner & avatar? (I did notice that a few Etsy sellers offer)
I do all my own graphic design work. There are some great designers on etsy who will do it for you for a song.

What size do you make your photos?
On www.etsywiki.com it has a section on photo tips. I do mine at either 860 or 430 pixels wide.

And does the appearance of your shop affect your sales? (your opinion)
Yes, I would study some of the top shops and see what makes them stand out. You really have to make your store artsy to attract customers. There is a big difference in ebay and etsy photos. Again, just looking around will give you a good idea.

A list of top sellers on Etsy: http://etsymilk.blogspot.com/2007/06/big-sellers.html

And when you mentioned aggressive marketing, what did you mean? Can you give me some details?
I spend about a 1/3 of my day marketing online and off. I participate in message board groups, flickr, myspace, other social networking sites, blogging, creative challenges, my email list, and yahoo groups.

I’m getting a sense that the Etsy members really make the bigger part of the sales. In other words, they seem to support each others’ businesses.
Etsy really is a community, but there are a lot of buyers who don't sell. It's a fun place to shop. Look around at the Treasuries, time machine and shopping by color. It's just fun!

Hope that helps. Look around, ask questions, do some research and then jump in. Competition is tough and you need to have a plan if you are going to stand out.

working away

Oh boy, my Etsy shop and I have a hot affair going on. Don't tell humblebeads.com. There might be some jealousy. Why do I love selling on Etsy so much?

1. I get so tired of making the same beads day after day. Etsy gives me a chance to sell those little creative bursts of energy that are my experiments.

2. I love a good party, and isn't Etsy just a fun party? There is no end to the social networking on that site. I love meeting new artists and being inspired.

3. It's a great test market. I can try out things that are limited editions before I add them to my website.

4. It opens up the door for new customers that I couldn't reach, this is especially true for my beads with all of the talented jewelry designers on Etsy.

5. I've been able to sell my jewelry online. I've never had much luck selling jewelry from my website. But earrings and pendants have been heading off to customers all over the country! Which a great because I have a HUGE pile of jewelry just awaiting the next show in October.

6. And the top reason I love selling on Etsy. They give you the sellers' manual, you just need to follow along.

I've been on Etsy for 2 months and have sold 65 items. Maybe that's the real reason I love Etsy.

Jewelry Shows

I have been busy filling orders and working on jewelry for a show I did this past weekend. I'm glad I took the chance. We sold a lot of jewelry and enjoyed the market day. Some days I miss doing shows. Jess and I started selling jewelry at shows the first year we were married. We would pay for our living expenses selling jewelry. I remember our first "booth" was a piece of foam core board with fabric wrapped around it set up on an easel. Wow, that seems so long ago. I love meeting artists and seeing what talent is locally grown. I really miss the art shows in the small tourist towns in West Michigan.

I forgot how much I love to make jewelry, sometimes I get so busy making beads. I have 2 lines of jewelry that I would like to start producing and selling again. I need more hours in day!

The photo above is part of our booth display from this past weekend. That's Jesse's jewelry on the books. He was so excited to sell his pieces.

So now the big question, do I sign up again for next month? It's always a gamble. A gamble that it doesn't rain, a gamble that the right crowd will be there. A gamble that we won't all sweat to death in June, although the chances of that are pretty high here in Texas. Hard choice. I guess the question is, do I feel lucky?

Bead Show Success

The show last week was great. I sold a nice amount of beads, kits, kits and more kits. Sundry bracelet kits sold out. I had one-of-a-kind beads in bright new color combinations. Well, bright for me anyway. I'm going to do more bead shows in the Southwest Texas area. It was fun and gave me the show bug, so I'm also going to try my hand at a market day again.

I may regret it, but you never know. It's an all handmade show, but it leans toward the country crafts, stuff-on-a-stick kind of sale. I've done the show off and on since we've moved to Texas and it's always a gamble. Some days I sold tons, other times I smiled and twirled my thumbs. I'm up for gamble.

I've been designing more jewelry. I love copper and brass findings and have a new collection of jewelry that I recently created. I'll try to take more photos soon. OHHH and wait until you see what Jess has been making. All I can say it that I'm married to a genius.

I'm ready for a nap...

When I returned from the Bead Cruise, I found myself in the somewhat scary position of being family bread winner. Jess is currently looking for work and seems to be taking his time. Which is kind of a mystery to me. : )

I'm a workaholic. I work from 8 am until 7pm and then I'm back at it for an hour or two before I go to bed. I try to stop. When I'm not working, I'm thinking about working. When I'm not making stuff, I'm marketing stuff, I'm researching, I'm sketching and planning. I wish I could just turn it off at 3pm when my girls got home. I hang out for about an hour, do the homework thing and chat about our day and then they go off to play and I'm back to my studio. I'm not always so bad, but I have a bead show in 2 weeks, orders to fill and a mortgage to pay. It can keep a girl hopping.

So today, I developed a brochure, printed it and made samples to send out to Bead Stores that are art bead friendly. I've also updated my website with a spiffy new homepage.

I need your help...do you have a lead for me? A local bead store that carries artist made beads? If you do, please leave a link to their website in the comments section. If more than 5 people leave a link, I'll draw a name for a free bead.

If your craft business is a tax right-off...

5 Ways to Get Customers Fleeing your booth:

1. Act moody and depressed, you want to portray that whole artist mystic.

2. Assemble your booth to look like a maze. Your artwork is worth the effort to view.

3. If it's a slow day, do gossip loudly with your neighbor about how poorly the show was promoted. If it's a busy day, gossip loudly with your neighbor about your fellow artisans.

4. When someone compliments your jewelry make sure to say, "Oh that thing, I made it like 5 years ago. I can't believe I even put that on my table."

5. By all means, bring a book, crossword puzzle or cell phone to pass those long, boring hours when those pesky "customers" are in the your booth taking up your time.

Oh, you actually want to make money selling your arts & crafts at shows?

Then try: smiling and saying hello when customers approach your booth. Create a booth that is open and easy to walk into, make sure it looks inviting and not like a medieval torture chamber. Keep a positive attitude, no matter what the day brings. Give knowledgeable answers about your creative process and the unique materials that you use in your artwork, make sure to point out why they are benefits to your customer. Don't get distracted, you have a story to tell about your artwork. Spend your day sharing your creations with everyone who walks into your booth.

If you follow these simple steps you may just make a profit. Which means you'll have to pay your taxes. But you'll have money to buy that new camera you've had your eye on, which is a tax right-off if you use it for your business!

Selling is Sharing

Here is a photo of my jewelry booth at a market day in San Antonio with my mom from a few years ago. I haven't sold my jewelry much lately. I mostly sell around the holidays and to a small gallery here in town. Of course, I'm too busy making beads for all of you to work on jewelry! After the cruise I am going to work on a new line of jewelry that I've been thinking and dreaming about for a few years.

Elaine Ray has written a nice article on "conversational selling" over at our new blog, the Art Bead Scene. Go check it out. We have lots of fun planned for this group blog.

The cruise sets sail on Monday, I can not wait! Now there will be some jewelry to oohh and ahhh over.