Boost Your Biz

boost your biz - badge, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

As you surf the internet, watch for this badge.

When you see it, click on it to visit another blog I write at www.PamHawk.com

There you'll find interesting, creative but practical, and very very inexpensive tips and tricks to hep you grow your own creative business.

If you use any tips, I'd love it if you would grab the badge for your sidebar to spread the word!
Thanks!

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One, two, ... three?

Well I am excited. Really excited. The stars are aligning themselves and things are gettin' good.

This morning I was browsing through my blog reader and saw Kim at Today's Creative Blog featured Pass It On Plates! She has an eye for creative details and I love the amazing blogs she finds and shares. What a huge honor to be featured! Shucks, I feel taller today, I tell ya.

She also showed off the picture of my friend Andi's dresser. You remember Andi? She's the friend who painted this:

The reason I'm so excited is that on November 15, both Andi and I will be at the TOPS 6th Annual Craft Bazaar in Keizer, Oregon. We were just talking yesterday about drumming up some publicity for the sale, and here Kim reads our minds and writes this post.

Now I realize everyone reading this is scattered all over the country/world, but it's still so neat to realize that a few months ago I decided I need more face-to-face selling outlets and the next day Andi said,

"Hey I'm going to sell my painted furniture in a craft bazaar this fall.

Do you want a table there, too?"

Then yesterday we mentioned needing a little publicity and ba-da-bing, here's Kim's post.

Don't things happen in threes?

What should I ask for next?

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The Art of Promotion & The Learning Curve

Do you have a blog or Etsy shop or some other creative business that you're nurturing? I bet you're always looking for new ways to promote your stuff and find new readers, customers, or followers. "How do I promote myself" is a common question in the Etsy forums, and so many creative people ask this question again and again.

Instead of making a list - there are so many lists out there, but they're just lists - I have started addressing each item on the list, digging into the tools or tricks and explaining them or offering a little tutorial to help you, my dear readers, promote yourself.

If you are a new reader and want to catch up on some of these "how do I promote myself" tips, here's a tip. Look for the label (or tag) "The Art of Promotion." (Or just click that link to see all the posts in that category.)

Also, if you want to catch up on some other tips and tools to help develop your creative business, try checking out the label (or tag) "The Learning Curve" which focuses more on what you can do to grow your creative business and there are little tutorials to fine-tune your blog and whatnot.

Because I love promotions, promoting, and marketing so much, I recently started a new blog that focuses on just that. When there is a particularly useful post over there, I may mention it here, but you may want to bookmark or use a reader to subscribe to both blogs so you don't miss a thing. You can find the link to subscribe to this blog in the sidebar, not too far below the picture and the FAQ. In the other blog, it's also in the sidebar, near the top.

Cheers!
-Pam Hawk

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Join the Pass It On Plates Flickr Group!

This new Flickr group is all about Pass It On Plates.

Have you made a Pass It On Plate with one of our kits?
You can upload your pictures here and then email us a link at myplate [at] passitonplates.com to activate your plate. This email address is also in the instructions along with your plate's tracking number.

Laurie B from Laurie *Beggin Glass Musings* made this plate!

Have you received a Pass It On Plate or passed one on?
Have you seen one at a pot luck dinner or party? Have you received one as a hostess gift?
Post all your Pass It On Plate related pictures here.

Suzanne from Brambleberry Row made this plate!

Include your plate number with your pictures either in the title, tag, or description, and we'll post it under that plate number in the online plate diary, giving you the credit and linking back to your Flickr photostream or any other link you want promoted. Just make sure your picture is set as public so we can blog it directly from Flickr.

Suzanne from Brambleberry Row also sewed this PlateWrap and made the Pretty Little Doo Dad on top!


Andi's Andes cookies on plate #0803049.

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Connecting with your readers

A couple of weeks ago I was surfing through my Technorati Experiment post to check out some of the blogs in the list and ask to have my links added to their list. I left a comment at one of the blogs and promptly forgot about it until later when I checked my email.
Here is what it said:

Hey Pam Hawk,

Just wanted to thank you for stopping by http://Bradblogging.com on August 3rd, 2008.

Your comment definitely helps me write better articles, and allows other readers to see your opinion about the article (http://bradblogging.com/more-traffic/give-and-go-technorati-authority-increase-anyone/) that you talked about.

I hope to see you back again soon! If you have a busy schedule, you could always subscribe to my R.S.S feed so that my posts are available at your convenience. Simply click this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/bradblogging or go to the main home page and click the corresponding button.

Cheers!
Brad @ Bradblogging.com

Now while I realize Brad has probably set up an auto responder to send this email the second I left his site, it left a positive impression on me, and I did go back to read more posts.

You know what? I found some valuable information on his blog and have since subscribed.

If the email hadn't been sent to me, I probably would never have returned to his blog. Instead, this tiny effort on his part gained him another regular reader. Pretty darned smart, if you ask me.

When people leave comments for me, I read them all and try to respond accordingly. I also visit the sites of my commenters and read their posts and try to leave relevant comments as well.

Connecting with your readers encourages a sense of community in your blog. It also makes you more human and it does increase your readership, whether it's through regular visits or RSS subscribers. In fact, if you enjoy reading my blog, I invite you to subscribe, as well. Just click one of these buttons in the sidebar and select your reader.

So tell me, what do you do to connect with your readers?

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How to fine tune your PW ad box search

Laurie B asked another good question about advertising on PW. In a comment on a post below, she asked,

"I've searched for where I would specify US sales and can't seem to locate that. Also, how did you figure out what your best demographics are? I plugged in home decor, interior design, and got over 586 ad options and very few looked like what I was interested in. I'm trying to understand the search criteria and get to the types of sites I want to advertise on..."

The screen shot below is what you'll see when you start your search for ad boxes. If you look toward the bottom of the screen, you'll see an option for an advanced search. This link can tend to blend in, so I put a big arrow down there to point it out.

(I didn't discover this until I had been using PW for about a month. And I have to say, the PW FAQ is sorely lacking in organization and helpful information. But I digress...)

So once you've clicked on advanced search, you'll see the screen below. I stuck another big obnoxious arrow by the spot where you can specify where most of your preferred traffic comes from. In Laurie's case, she makes large stained glass pieces which require very careful shipping considerations, so I'm guessing she wants to keep her advertising focused on potential customers in her own continent. That's not to say someone half way around the world wouldn't want to buy her work, but it is more likely that her purchases would be coming from a more local audience.

Anyway, here is where you can fine tune your search for PW ad boxes to make sure your ad is getting in front of your target market.

As for finding the right keywords to narrow your search, that may take some experimentation. I'm still trying out different keywords but am pretty happy with what I'm using at the moment.

Again, my keywords are: women, cooking, baking, cookies, craft, handmade
I chose these because I know that women who bake and like to share their goodies with friends would be the kind of people interested in Pass It On Plates. I'm sure I could keep working on this, because these are still fairly general terms.

When I added the words craft and handmade to my keywords my search results dropped from over 800 to about 200. That's when I did the advanced search to specify the ad size, advertising region, and traffic stats. Now my search results are between 0-8. The next thing I do is check out the websites to make sure my potential customers are hanging out there. If they are, I place an ad. If not, I move on.

One other tip: When you find a website that is perfect for your ad and/or you have a lot of ad clicks coming from this site, ad that advertiser as a buddy so you can find them again in the future. There are so many advertisers on PW that if you don't "buddy" one when you realize they're a good place to advertise, you may not be able to find them again. I made that mistake and am still searching for those two elusive sites.

Thanks again, Laurie, for asking about this.

If anyone else has questions, please comment here. I check my comments daily. (Ok, the truth is... between Pass It On Plates and my *ahem* day job, I sit at a computer for over 10 hrs a day at least 4 days a week, and I get the comments emailed to me the second you submit them and I check on them as soon as I am able to.) What I'm trying to say is, if you have a question about this, please ask and I'll do my best to reply as quickly as I can. If I don't know the answer, I'll either research it or refer you to a place that can answer it. Normally I'll research it because I'd like to learn the answer, too.

Making money with Project Wonderful

Today we'll go over how you can use Project Wonderful to make a little moolah.

Like I said in an earlier post, you probably won't be able to quit your day job,
but at the very least you should earn enough to fun
your own Project Wonderful advertising efforts.

In order to make a little money with Project Wonderful, you'll first need to set up some ad space on your blog. If you have been following these posts for the past few days, you know these ad spaces are called Ad Boxes. It may take a little time (a day or two at most) to get your blog approved initially, since the PW staff needs to make sure your blog is valid and meets their criteria. (They don't like spam blogs or other bogus sites.) Once approved, you can set up your ad boxes based on your preferred size and location of the box on your site.

One last note, I have two ad boxes on this blog; one at the top and another in the sidebar. It took some experimentation to figure out that the best ad box size for this particular blog was to have one header ad at the top and one large skyscraper ad on the side. When I offer more ad boxes, I end up with fewer bids and the price drops. As my traffic grows, it may be worthwhile to increase the amount of ad space, but supply and demand has shown me that for now, two large ads work the best for me. What baffles me about this is that my personal blog, The Adventures of Pam & Frank, has very little traffic, maybe an average of 4 hits per day, but the ad box prices are generally higher there than they are here. My only guess is that different content from one site to another can also affect pricing. Oh. And for the record, I'm not saying the content over there is better than over here. It's just different.

Some things I recommend doing, especially if you're starting out are:

1. Be prepared to fiddle with your ad box over the next week or so until you find what size and placement work best for you. Keep in mind that the price your ad box demands is based completely on supply and demand. The more ad boxes you have available, the lower the bids will be. If you have a lot of traffic and only a few ad boxes, the price will go up as advertisers try to outbid each other for the coveted space on your site.

2. Regardless of how you set your preferences for approving ads, you will need to check your ad boxes every day for at least a few weeks. Why?

• If you set your ad boxes to auto-approve every ad, you will get a lot of bids and ads in your boxes right away, but you will need to check and make sure the the type of ads shown in your ad box(s) are of a nature that you want showing on your site.
  My ad boxes were set up this way and despite designating them to be "Safe for Children" I was still getting adult-oriented ads showing graphic renditions of T&A (ummm, that's breasts and bottoms.) I immediately put up a notice on my profile explaining that ads not save for children would be canceled and the bidders would be banned from placing future bids on my ad boxes. Then I did just that. I still occasionally ban bidders for not following these rules.
  
  
• If you set your ad boxes to approve every bid by hand, plan to check bids at least once a day to approve ads for your site. If you wait too long between checking bids, you run the risk of having no ads in your ad boxes, advertisers will retract their bids, or their funds could be depleted from other bids they have placed before the bid on your ad box is approved.
  

3. When you see an ad you like on your site, consider adding that advertiser as a buddy so at some point if you decide to only auto-approve ads from your buddies, their ads will continue to be approved for your site.

4. When you see an ad you like on your site, or if you have been earning steady payments on your site from a regular advertiser, go to your PW Admin page and click on their avatar. What you'll want to do next takes just a minute but can create a long term benefit:

Send them a message thanking them for advertising on your site and inviting them to continue bidding.

If you have any events coming up where you know your traffic will increase significantly, you may want to let them know ahead of time. Since a traffic increase can increase your ad price, your regular advertisers may appreciate knowing that their ad could be outbid and might want to adjust their bid accordingly to make sure that your extra traffic sees their ad.

This is a great way to develop a relationship with your advertisers and could pay off to your advantage in other ways.

Does your advertiser have a blog?

Do you think they may modify their bid to make sure they outbid any competition that comes along when your traffic goes up?
They may want to.

Do you think they may blog about your message, giving them a chance to get in on your extra traffic?
Possibly.

Knowing that you are keeping them in mind when conducting your business, do you think they would be more likely to continue advertising on your site?
Very likely.

What other kinds of things have you done or seen people do with their ad boxes or for their advertisers?

Next:
A quick and easy way to make PW ads (like the giveway one shown above)
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My August PW campaign

PW-8-08.JPG, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

I set up an ad campaign on PW specifically for the giveaway that runs through August 20. When setting up a campaign, I tell PW what kind of bids I want to make and it automatically does the work for me.

In this campaign, I specified that PW should look for adboxes that:

• Support square ads
• Support text and graphical ads
• Have at least 1 page views today
• Have on average at least 20 unique users over the past 5 days
• Have at least 80% of their hits from United States over the past 5 days.
• Describe itself using these tags: women, cooking, baking, cookies, craft, handmade

As you can see, I've had a few thousand views and a couple dozen hits, which gives me a nice CPC (cost per click).

I have two other ads that I'm bidding on by hand (same ad, same goal) on the website Corporette and Lipstick to Crayons. You can see how lower traffic and lower click rate affects my cost per click.

So why on earth am I bidding so much more on Lipstick than Corporette? I checked out their websites and see my target demographic there and I figured it would be worth the higher bid price to get my ad in front of their readers.

I hope that helps!

Oh - one more tip. You can click on each website with an ad box to find out their traffic stats. I feel like my figurative slip is showing by telling you this, because I wish my stats were a lot higher, but it's important for you to know how to see what kind of traffic a site has before you commit to placing a paid ad on their site.

(I guess I'm happy that my stats are not consistantly zero day after day!)

Advertising on Project Wonderful

Continuing from last Friday's post, let's talk about how to advertise your blog or online store through Project Wonderful (aka PW.) There are two ways to find the ad boxes that you want to bid on.

One way to find ad boxes to bid on is to surf other blogs and look for PW ad boxes. If they have one or more with a link inviting you to advertise on that site, just click that link to get to their bidding page. From there you can see their traffic stats and ad pricing over the last month, maybe learn a little about that site and their policies regarding advertising they allow on their site, and a link to see all their other ad boxes.

The other way is to go to the PW website and do a search based on your preferred ad box size, how much traffic the site gets, where the traffic comes from, etc. There are a lot of online comix sites, but you can tailor your search by keyword, so if you want to advertise on sites within a specific topic you can search for that. Just like any internet search, if you use general keywords you will have a long list of ad boxes to browse through, and if you use more specific keywords you will see ad boxes that are more in line with your desired niche. From there, you can sort your results based on the ad box price, amount of traffic, alphabetically, etc.

You may find it handy to use both techniques to find ad boxes.

Some things I recommend doing, especially if you're starting out are:

1. Bid $0 or $.01 on as many boxes as you can, even if the current bid is a few cents. When the higher priced bids expire, your ad will be shown in the space until the bidding price goes up again. It's a great way to take advantage of supply and demand pricing and get your ad seen on boxes you may otherwise not have budgeted for.

2. Set up an advertising campaign. You set the parameters, such as the level of traffic to the site, what country a certain % of traffic comes from, keywords used to describe the sites, price range of the ad boxes, etc. This will get your ads to a broad range of sites automatically and you don't have to babysit your ad to keep placing it here and there. This is quite simple to do, as PW walks you through the entire process. It's all point and click.

3. Send a message to the ad box owners where you are having success. Thank them for the opportunity to advertise on their site, point out what you like about their site, and let them know how you have benefited from their ad box. If you have ad boxes on your site, invite them to check it out and consider placing a bid on your ad boxes. It's kind of an "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" approach, but joint efforts in advertising is almost always a win-win. If this first step develops into a nice conversation, you could blog about it and let them know about the blog post. They, in turn, may mention your blog post, driving more (free) traffic to your site.

4. Do you have a special sale or event going on? Make up an ad specifically to draw people to that event. Set up a campaign to have PW automatically bid on sites that compliment your event, and schedule your ad campaign to end just before your event ends. An example is the giveaway I have going on through August 20. I set up a campaign with the ad shown below. The ad linked to my blog post and the ads will disappear about 15 minutes before the giveaway ends.

Remember, the key to great advertising is patience and consistency. Once you place your ads, give it a few days, weeks, or maybe even a few months to really see how your efforts are paying off.

Coming up next:
Setting up ad boxes on your sites (or, making money with PW)
A quick and easy way to make PW ads (like the giveway one shown above)

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Do you use Project Wonderful?

"How do I get my name out there?"

is a question that frequently comes up in Etsy forums and from new bloggers wanting to promote their blog. One answer to this question is:

Try good old-fashioned advertising.

Fortunately, a new company called Project Wonderful has made it easy and almost fun to advertise an Etsy store, a blog, or any other online activity.

If you're not familiar with Project Wonderful or are new to it and would like some tips, check back here over the next couple of days. On Monday I'll share a couple easy tips for advertising via Project Wonderful, and on Tuesday I'll give you a few pointers on how to make money with Project Wonderful. Maybe not enough to quit your day job, but certainly enough to fund your own advertising efforts.

Check back again on Wednesday because I'll post a quick and easy tutorial on how to make a great-looking Project Wonderful ad without any special computer programs. Don't want to miss a post? Click the subscribe button on the sidebar today!

Meanwhile, do you use Project Wonderful? If you do, please comment here and let us know how it's working out for you.

Interview with Laurie Beth Beggin

Dear readers, today we have another interview with my good friend and very talented stained glass artist Laurie B. I have mentioned her and linked to her several times here and now is your chance to find out more about her promotion techniques. If you're not familiar with Laurie B, please visit her Etsy shop to see her work. She is skilled in the Tiffany style of creating stained glass and her pieces range in style from flowers, craftsman, mosaic, abstract, and a collection of custom-made angels. Have you seen her Harry Potter? Wow.

Do you blog for the sake of blogging or do you blog to promote another activity? If you blog to promote another activity, please tell us a little bit about it.

My primary reason for blogging is to promote my store on Etsy, 27lauriebethbeggin.etsy.com. I do REALLY enjoy it though. I enjoy photography and as I go through my day I'm always thinking about topics to blog about, and picture to share on my blog.

Of all the blogging tools, blogging communities, blogging techniques, and widgets and gadgets, what do you think has made the biggest impact for you?

I'm still so new to blogging that this is a tough one to answer. I recently joined Interior Design Team and they seem incredibly organized. I'm really trying to dig my heels into that group. At this point I'd say Marmalade Pink has been the most supportive and helpful. Amy has great articles and she's so willing to share her knowledge.

What is Marmalade Pink and how does it help you?

Marmalade Pink is an online community for networking of artists all around the globe. It is a community on the Ning network that you join. It has a place for blogging, photo sharing and the main page has wonderful articles, a list of members who you can befriend and a spot for advertising.

How much time do you spend at Marmalade Pink?

I spend at least a 1/2 hour every day surfing Marmalade Pink to see who is new, what the articles have to say, read the marketing articles, new posts, etc.

What kind of results have you had?

I think with all marketing and networking it takes time to see the results. I've made a direct sale from this group but I think more importantly I've made consistant, wonderful friends. Since I'm so new I think it's going to be six months to a year before I see results from all of my hard work. I just keep connecting and trusting that it will bring results down the road.

Regarding your Etsy shop, what technique has been the most successful in generating sales?

I relist at least one item once or twice a week on Esty.

How do you relist an item on Etsy?

To relist an item you simply go to your expiration dates, click on the item you want to relist, and click renew. You're then charged the listing fee to relist the item. You don't have to wait for it to expire to relist it...

How much time do you spend doing this?

Oh, probably 10 minutes a week at most.

Has it increased overall sales for you?

I think this has helped my sales, but only slightly.

What one piece of advice would you like to tell other bloggers or Etsians who want to increase their traffic and/or sales?

Blog EVERY day, share interesting stories about yourself, your art, your life and SUPPORT OTHER ARTISTS! Commenting on THEIR life, their art and their blog is very important.
United we stand!
With gratitude, Laurie Beggin http://lauriebethbeggin.blogspot.com

And so, Dear Readers, please look for Laurie B on these various networks and visit her Etsy shop to see other breathtaking stained glass work that she has done. Is there one listed that you can't live without? Please visit her blog, as well. Like I've said in an earlier post here, visiting her blog is sure to inspire, inform, and entertain you - if you haven't been over there, please take a look. If you also have an Etsy shop please do check out Marmalade Pink and consider how becoming a member can help you promote your own shop.
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Wordle.

When I was about 8 years old, my mom joined the local theatre group and I spent the rest of my growing-up years backstage, on stage, or involved in a theatrical production one way or another. Part of the fun was learning how to take on the characteristics of the people portrayed on stage. Even as a props girl or running a follow spot light, it was fun to pretend to be someone else (and the other back stage personnel was my only audience.)

One year, Mom directed the Rogers and Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma!" and the title song required nearly all the members of the cast to take turns and sing one solo line. Some people could sing very well; others couldn't carry a tune if you put it in a bucket for them. I learned how to mimic the singing voices of the entire cast. (What can I say? I was bored one evening at rehearsal.) With an operatic old lady voice I would belt out "Flowers on the prairie where the June bugs zoom," then I'd change my voice to a soft and gravelly gentleman's voice "Plenty of air and plenty of room." For a week or two I kept it to myself, then one day I sang the whole song with all the voices for my mom. She was dumbfounded as I began, then burst into fits of laughter as I sang the line from the one guy who could not sing no matter how much coaching he had. I warbled out his line just like he did and Mom just lost it. From then on, I loved learning how to mimic voices and accents. I only do phrases that I've practiced, but it's a lot of fun.

A little footnote here: In 2005, Mom was cast as the Old Woman in an indie horror film, "Harvest."

Have you ever seen the ad on tv for the Magic Bullet blender? At one point the Australian guy exclaims that you can blend and serve smoothies "Right in it's own frosty mug!" We make smoothies for breakfast at least once a week and when I serve them, the Aussie guy's exclamation comes out of my mouth. And my too cool for words 12 year old daughter rolls her eyes, takes the smoothie, and exits the room. (I secretly think she's impressed.)

In fact, most of the time I like to embarrass my very hip 12 year old daughter by not acting my age or demographic. At home, I keep the voices alive by using a fake French accent, a fake Indian accent (which Indian? Both feathers and dots; I'm lousy at both,) as well as talking like I'm from the 'hood, Marlon Brando, Casablanca, you name it. Poor embarrassed Rachel nearly blanches when I refer to her friends as her homies (and I say that in my best suburban-mom-goody-two-shoes accent) and when she questions my authority, I give her my little speech about 'respecting the mom' and end it with "Word."

Why so I do this to my tortured middle schooler? Control. I can threaten to talk like this in front of her friends if she "disses" (disrespects) me. No, I don't threaten-threaten her; we have a strict rule at home about treating people with respect, regardless of the situation at hand. But she does know that I can break out in Valley Girl if she's with her friends and things get out of hand. I know she doesn't want any funny talking from me and she knows I don't want any back talking from her. One snotty comment out of her, especially in front of her friends and it's "OMG! Gag me with a spoon!" She's very polite after my outburst.

On the other hand, she's just as goofy as I am, talking like a German Chancellor while making spaghetti with me, or her latest: "LOL Speak" via email to me while I'm at work. What's LOL speak? A sample email from her would go like this.

"OH HAI, MOMMEH. DO U KNOE WER I CAN FIND MAH BLU HAT? IF U DOAN KNOE, I CAN HAS UR BLU SCARF? LET ME KNOE, K?"

(Hi, mom. Do you know where I can find my blue hat? If you don't know, can I have your blue scarf? Let me know, ok?)

At home we love words. A few years ago, Mr. Pass It On Plates and I built a ten foot wide by six foot tall wooden bookcase to hold all our books. (Problem is, it doesn't hold them all.) Words are interesting in print and interesting when spoken. The funny thing is that even though we're fascinated by words, Mr. Pass It On Plates is Deaf and we communicate at home in sign language. Yes, I have a fascination with signs and that's a whole 'nother blog post.

That said... (*sigh* ok you have just been exposed to my innate weirdness. I had been holding it back for several months now. Yes, I agree - I think it is hereditary. Maybe the last 9 paragraphs were just TMI - Too Much Information?)
Here's a 180-degree turn from what I just told you but ... (and BTW, I love the name of this website and my have to work it into my various languages with my 12 year old punk.)

Wordle

What the heck is Wordle? It's a super-nifty bit of programming that takes text that you type in OR it takes text from a URL that you provide and pulls out words. Wordle then arranges the words into a word cloud. You can choose from a long list of interesting fonts that I (the "font queen" at home) have never heard of, and you also get to mold the shape of the words. You also control the color.

I absolutely love this. I think I'm going to have to put this on a shirt or tote bag.

**Promotion tip - you could use your Wordle on promotional items such as shirts, hats, tote bags, jeans, book covers, magnets, business cards, your website, pillow cases, baby onsies, program an embroidery sewing machine with it, coffee mugs, mouse pads, etc etc etc, ad nauseum. And you're allowed to sell these items for a profit. I checked the Wordle FAQ and they say it's ok.

This collection of words captures the essence of what I'm doing here, and I got to pick my favorite colors. I think this looks a lot like my business personality. (My personal personality is a lot more of the goofy accents and weird language shared with my daughter. Some day I'll make a wordle based on that part of my life. Maybe around Halloween would be a good time to unveil that part of me...)

So this is my Wordle, in all it's happy-colored glory. I saved the picture and uploaded it to my Flickr. If you click on the picture it will take you to my Flickr and if you click the link atht e beginning of this paragraph it will take you to Wordle.net where you can see the original (and a better quality image.) The words are based on what was on the first page of this blog on July 21, 2008.

wordle from 7-21-08, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

I have to give credit to the fun artists who got me on to this. I first read about Wordle in a post at KMC Designs entitled: Duct tape wallet with an American Trilogy. Next, I read the comments under the post and wanted to check out Eskimimi's word cloud.

Are you as intrigued about this as I am? Go to Wordle and make your own word cloud. Save it, and then please leave a comment here with a link to your own wordle. If mine is a visual wordle-y representation of my personality, I'd love to see what yours looks like.

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Promotion tips from Joanna Goldman

Dear readers, in following up with more interviews with Etsians and bloggers, I present to you some valuable information from Joanna Goldman. She is doing an outstanding job using many different places to market her Etsy store, and when she replied to my request for people to interview for this project, I immediately recognized her work from the car loaded with Ikea packages to the soulful little elephant with the big eyes. Perhaps you have seen her work here and there?
So Joanna, please tell us about the techniques you use to promote your Etsy shop.

As an Etsy seller, I'm basically trying to get my name and shop out "there" (the mega-giant world wide web!).

All my promos have a consistent branding feel to them. I think that this is important. I recently had a customer who saw my shop a while ago and liked my stuff, but didn't buy right away. What got her to purchase something was seeing one of my ads on majaba.org. It just goes to show that a strong presence makes a difference.

I use a number of different promo techniques to get recognized:

Blogs: http://www.joannagoldman.blogspot.com
I blog mostly for promo purposes. On my blog you will find my latest creations, articles that i was recently featured in, and coupons etc for my Etsy shop.

Website: http://www.joannagoldman.com
My website useful and more "professional" looking than my blog. It basically cuts out all the fat and shows who I am and what i do. I try and keep it as clean and simple as possible.

Other sites:
I use flickr, facebook, myspace, Etsy forums, other forums, (and a whole bunch of other stuff that I'm forgetting about) as promo tools. This kind of marketing doesn't usually lead to immediate sales, but I've had success months down the line.

There is a great forum post that lists a billion places to list yourself on the web. http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5703544
I'm am steadily making my way through this list, and I think it's helping!

In addition to the free promo-ing, I've been sponsoring events, donating my items to be sold for charity, and participating in online contests.
I've started doing paid advertising too. So far I've done majaba.org, project wonderful, and I have the handmade children's showcase on Thursday. All of these have gotten me tons of hearts and more exposure. I am sure they will pay off in a few months time.

In addition to Etsy, I am also consigning out my stuff to 3 stores: 2 in Toronto, Canada, and one online (http://www.trendyshoppes.com/)

It is important to keep in mind that building a business takes time. You have to plant many, many seeds before you can start to see any results. So far I've only sold 71 items off Etsy, but I'm still relatively new to this. I'm confident that this holiday season will be a successful one.

Stay positive, stay motivated, work hard and success will follow.


Thank you Joanna, for sharing your many different avenues for promoting your Etsy shop. I too, will go check out that Etsy forum post to work my way through the billions of places on the web to list my own shop.

Dear readers, when Joanna touches upon her consistent branding as part of her promotion (in her second paragraph) that basically means that once you see one of her promotions or ads or visit her shop, you recognize and remember her every time you see another promotion or ad. This is important, because it takes a while for a new advertisement to sink in. As long as your message is consistent, each view will work its way deeper into your customers' subconscious until they can't live without what you have to offer. This was true more than 120 years ago and is still true today. Joanna has figured this out and her consistency is paying off.

Now please go and check out her Etsy shop and her links! I bet you'll find a favorite or two!
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Another Technorati Experiment

Like the Technorati Experiment post, I found another similar experiment solely for Blogger blogs on Trestin Meacham's blog and decided, why not add this, too?

Here is what to do:
1. Be a Blogger user with a blogger blog (this includes .coms that use a blogger platform)
2. Copy and paste this list into your blog (you can do it as an older post so it does not interrupt the flow of your blog.)
3. Make sure the links in your post are working links
4. Add your Blogger link in the comments, and the link to the post you copied the list in.


THE LIST

1. BLOGGER IDEAS
http://trestinideas.blogspot.com/

2. NATHOLOGY
http://nathanlawis.blogspot.com/

3. TRESTIN HOME
http://trestinmeacham.blogspot.com/

4. Sound Libraries by Discovery Sound
http://samplecds.blogspot.com/

5. World Ethnic Sample CDs
http://discoverysound.blogspot.com/

6. TRESTIN HISTORY
http://trestinhistory.blogspot.com/

7. LDS STUFF
http://ldsstuff.blogspot.com/

8. Super Space Cowboy
http://superspacecowboy.blogspot.com/

9. TRESTIN POLITICAL
http://trestinpolitical.blogspot.com/

10. Jill's Grumbles
http://jillsgumbles.blogspot.com/

11. Trestin Sports
http://trestinsports.blogspot.com/

12. Flotsam and Jetsam
http://iamtolkienreader.blogspot.com/

13. ASK TRESTIN
http://asktrestin.blogspot.com/

Join us and spread the word!
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Technorati Experiment

The day after I published this post about using Technorati to promote your blog, Laurie posted this Technorati experiment on her own blog. We'd love to have you participate!
Please copy the text below:

Technorati Experiment
Copy the list below into a blog post of yours.
Add your link to the list
Comment on this post so that we can update the list with your link
Watch your Authority skyrocket..

1. Brad Blogging.com - Personal Blog Tips And Blog Help 2. Daily Blogging Tips At The Daily Rambler 3. Blog Chews - Blog About Anything 4. Steve v4.6 - Big Made Small 5. GIVEAWAY CITY 6. Indo Contest.com - Find the Latest Contest Here 7. POTPOLITICS-We Smoke the Competition 8. ATA - AskTheAdmin.com 9. Dolly’s Daily Diary 10. The Tech Juice - Tech Tips And More 11. Wendy’s OBA, Blog Tips & Tricks 12. Wendy’s Reel - Fact And Fancy 13. A Grateful Heart 14. 50+Whatever..Just some Ramblings in Life 16. The Blog for DesignCreatology 17. Contest Whiz - The Blog Contest Expert 18. About Blog Contests 19. Esmeraldasblog - Como aumentar la Authority de Technorati 20. Best Widgets for free - Blog Widgets 21. New life by Pitonizza 22. Todo Seiya - Como aumentar la Authority de Technorati 23. Blog for Spanish Readers 24. The Blogger And The Blog 25. Hero Help 26. Makmalcyber 27. Forex Study 28. Techyplus 29. 8 30. Darn Good Reviews 31. Blogger Tips - DotBlogger 32. Lilyruths This and That 33. That Blog 4 Me 34. Pinoytek - Make Money Online and SEO Blog 35. Snigit(blogspot) 36. Snigit(.com) 37. Best Of The Web 38. Swat the Fly 39. Area3000 40. Shut Up And Eat 41. Find Torrent Blog 42. Cebu in the World 43. Web Design 44. Trestin Adventures 45. Ask Trestin 46. Trestin Autobiography 47. Trestin Ideas 48. Trestin Gallery 49. Trestin Games 50.Trestin Hall Of Fame 51. Trestin History 52. Parnell Forever 53. Trestin Political 54. Trestin Spiritual 55. Trestin Sports 56. Trestin Store - Yep, Each One Of These Are Different Blogs. 57. The Ordinary Agung 58. Il blog di Luca Marchi 59. What About Brazil? 60. Shri Radha Krishna Blog 61. Hawaiian Travel Blog 62. Hawaii Cruise Superstore 64. Over The Sky 65. Yavinator log 66. I Travel to Work do you? 67. The Home Page of Tony Smith, Writer of Comic Books, Articles & Screenplays 68. Ultimate Credit Online 69. The Rhythm of Write 70. A Hoosier Family 71. Analyzed Marketing Solutions 72. O2S Media 73. Project Swole - Fitness and Nutrition 74. Life is simple, Don’t make it complicated 75. Yet Another Blog from Marco Ciacci 76. Freebies, Making money and More 77. Babysitter On Board 78.Vhiel’s Corner 79. Anything and Everything in Between 80. Designs By Vhiel 81. Can of Thoughts 82. Only in Silence 83. Everything Nice! 84.Reference Notes 85. It’s a woman’s world! 86. Ramki’s Blog 87. THE MOM WITH BROWNIES 88. Picture Clusters 89. Maiylah’s Snippets 90. My Wanderings 91. Confessions of a Supermodel Wannabe 92. Tiklaton: We are the Witness! 93. Aeirin Collections 94. The Big Dog 95. O’Joy of my life… 96. Through the Rain 97. More Than A Mom 98. Say Cheese 99. The Journey 100. Photo Hook 101. Life Quest 102. Dew Drops - Making Sense… Somehow 103. The Small Business Marketing Blog 104. TheSuburbanFarmer 105. Konaini Blog 106. Worldly Economic Thoughts 107. Esperto Seo 108. gd labs gianfranco davide reppucci Blog 109. insidetheworld Italian Linux and Security Blog team 110. The Back Forty 111. studentefreelance 112. The Barber Bunch 113. Doremixy 114. CoffeeCoffeeCoffee 115. This Side of Eternity 116. Think Creative 117. Moomettesgram’s Musings 118.The Daily Dollar Report 119. The Sweet Life 120. Box 5150 121. Your Fun Family 122. No Nonsense Internet Tips 123. Brazoscowgirl 124. Pandu Cari Duit Blogging For Profit 125. Cash In Style - Making Money Online 126. Speedcat 127. The4thWall 128. Sconicle 129. Heap Up 130. Zchelle’s World 131. My Life…. My Journey! 132. God’s Creation 133. Family Health & Relationships 134. My Inner Feelings 135. PICTURE THIS !!! 136. Ezekun 137. Welcome To Our Homeschool Adventures 138. Schlossy’s Blog 139. Teasas Tips 140. Affiliate Revenue Resources 141. DouDy Sketche Watercolor Paintings 142. Pictures in Egypt 143. Painting Artworks 144. Optimizing for Search Engines 145. Creaky Easel 146. The Loquatious Artist 147. Straight from the Heart 148. Advertising for Success 149. Take It To The Limit 150. Il Migratore 151. MsTrisMusic.Com 152. Viaggi 153. Monkey Giggles 154. Supla Online 155. Daily Reflection 156. Techno Zone 157. Free Blogging Resources - Blogoninja 158. Wcgiligan 159. Stranger 160. Runjun Blog 161. Scelto 162. GBLOGS 163. Rajiv’s Blog! 164. Codexofdreams 165. The Artist's Muse 165. Laurie Beggin's Glass Musings http://lauriebethbeggin.blogspot.com/ 166. Pass It On Plates and the Pass It On Plates Blog 167. Pink Crab Creations 168. wizeguyztees
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Interview with UneekDollDesigns

Today we have an interview with UneekDollDesigns, who makes the most amazing little dolls based on historical figures from all periods in history. Just visiting her Etsy store is an interesting history lesson. Each doll is one of a kind, as she does not use a pattern. This talented lady took a few minutes out of her busy day to talk about what she does to promote her Etsy shop.

Lady Jane Grey in Red

What online tool, technique, or activity has been the most successful in generating sales?

That's a good question! Being fairly new at this, I am sure there are better ways that I just haven't found yet, but thus far I would have to say photo sharing websites have been a help to me the most. Even though you can't blatantly advertise your wares with your pictures in most cases, you can get pictures of your items out there where many people can see them. That sparks curiosity, and that may lead to a sale. I also participate in forums. You don't want to get on there and seem like you're just there to advertise yourself- but participate in the actual topics and adding your URL if allowed also gets you out there!

Is is easy to get your pictures into photo sharing websites or participate in forums?

Not being computer savvy, blog savvy, or computer savvy, I'd have to say this activity(ies) as stated above are what I call "anyone can do this if I can". That is really what I look for- easy and uncomplicated tools to promote.

How much time do you spend doing this?

I would say a possible 15 minutes a day- give or take. If it takes too much time from me in creating my art, I just don't think it is worth it.

King Henry VIII Miniature Character

How has doing this increased product views? How about overall sales? How long did it take for you to see results?

It is really hard to say. I have honestly not tracked every sale to see how they found me in most cases. I did have a customer (repeat customer, by the way) find me by seeing my pictures I had posted on Flickr and seeing my profile there. Unless you ask every customer, you would have difficulty knowing what gets you the customers for certain. I do a little of whatever I can afford to do and figure it can't hurt. Just getting yourself out there as much as you can without being a nuisance is good. (By being a nuisance I mean forcing business cards for the umpteenth time on your friends to the point they run when you enter a room!)

Eliza Doolittle

What advice would you like to tell other Etsians who want to increase their traffic and/or sales?

First, make sure you have something that doesn't look like what 50 zillion other sellers have. Being different helps.

Second, watch your manners at all times, especially in the forums and to your potential customers. You'd be amazed how being polite and personably professional will help your business grow.

Look for every opportunity to let others know about your shop. Keep business cards handy at all times...if an opportunity knocks, answer it for Pete's sake! (smile!)

Lastly, keep your chin up. This really is an up and down type of thing. Sales come and go, they occur in clusters, or they may space out over weeks. Just realize each sale is one more step in a chain reaction- someone buys your item, they like it, they tell someone, and on it goes! Also, the less you grumble about lack of sales, the better your attitude will be and that will reflect in other areas, too.

Thank you for this opportunity, it is very kind of you!

And thank you, UneekDollDesigns, for sharing these promotion tips with us.

Dear readers, please take a moment and check out her Etsy store as well as her flickr photostream. I am sure you will be amazed at the talent, skill, and keen eye that went into creating these truly unique dolls.



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More Technorati tips

Laurie Beth Beggin and I often chat with each other through our comments. Both on her blog and on mine. We met a few months ago through a link exchange on Indiepublic and have had our eye on each others' blogs ever since. I look to her for inspiration for my creative process and ideas to polish and improve my blog. Yes, I know here we have a lady (me) who makes plates with a Betsy Ross kind of bonnet looking at stained glass to become inspired, but hey whatever works, right? Seriously, Laurie B's blog is a fun and down to earth mix of craft, talent and skill, family and pets, flowers and country life... Just go and check it out. Trust me, you'll love her.

Anyhoo, in one conversation she mentioned that she had added the Technorati thing on her blog and wanted to know how to get more reciprocal links. That can be the tough part. Technorati counts reciprocal links once per blog. This means that even if I was to mention Laurie B's blog in every one of my blog posts, Technorati would only count it as one, since my blog is only one (out or many) places mentioning her blog by name.

I believe that Google, on the other hand, counts the number of times a blog is mentioned. So if I was to include a link to Laurie B's blog with every post, that would increase her Google rank.

Participating in link exchanges is a good idea to help those within a group improve not only their Google rank but also their Technorati authority. When she and I participated in the link exchange, most participating artists and crafters added links to the blogroll on the side of the blog. This is helpful with Google, but sadly, I have discovered, does nothing for your Technorati rank.

**Promotion tip - if you participate in link exchanges, not only add the participants to your blogroll, but make a little mention in your blog about the fact that you're adding these blogs to your blogroll. In fact, take a minute and mention what you like best about the links you're adding, and invite all your readers to visit the links you're adding. This will do four good things:

1. It helps that blog's Google rank
2. It helps that blog's Technorati authority
3. It shows that you care about the quality of your content when adding only those links that are relevant to your blog to enrich your readers' experience,
4. It can also bring in more traffic when those whom you've mentioned visit your blog to see what nice things you've said about them, and post about it on their own blogs.

It's a win-win in so many yummy flavors.
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Interview with artist Jessica Simanowski

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Continuing to share what other bloggers and Etsians do to promote themselves, today's interview is with Jessie Simanowski, a talented painter and creator of plushies and fun accessories with two distinct Etsy shops: her paintings are sold at http://www.jessicasimanowski.etsy.com/ and her fabric designs are at http://www.jsartist.etsy.com/

If you are an Etsian, what online tool, technique, or activity has been the most successful in generating sales?

I think the best tool on Etsy is the renewing items function because it makes people find and see your stuff. Also the treasury is a great promotion tool. Making it on the front page is indeed the best promotion on Etsy.

In your opinion, what is the best way to promote yourself on Etsy? What method do you use?

To be added to treasuries it is best to make yourself known on Etsy. That works again with renewing your items everyday or show up in the Forums to connect with other Etsians.

How much time do you spend using this, per day? Per week?

Usually I spend around one hour a day on Etsy.

How has renewing items increased product views? How about overall sales? How long did it take for you to see results?

To renew your items makes more people come to your shop, therefore you automatically will get more views and more people who will heart your shop. If you are lucky some of these people put you in one of their treasuries and maybe you even make it to the main page. From there on many more people will heart you and put you in their treasuries.

Being on the main page has not always been a guaranty for me to sell something that day, especially not with my original paintings which are higher priced. If I had an item from my other Etsy Shop (JSartist.etsy.com) on the front page I sold something the same day.

What one piece of advice would you like to tell other Etsians who want to increase their traffic and/or sales?

I would say to renew everyday. And sometimes it helps to write in the Forums to make connections to other Etsians, that will always cheer you up.

One thing Jessie also mentioned is that she has a promo video about her paintings! She only mentioned this is passing, but this is a fun technique she has found to promote a lot of her paintings as if they're all part of a very curious dream.

Thank you Jessie, for taking the time to share some of your promotion tips and a lot of your creative work with us! Dear readers, please visit Jessie's two Etsy stores (links at the top of this post) and see more of what she has to offer.

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Promotion Tip - Tell Etsy when you're mentioned

Over at Etsy, they have started an Etsy Press Club.
Jodie at Pretty Little Love Objects suggested letting Etsy know whenever you are mentioned in the press.

I checked into this and found a link to the new (as of January 2008) Etsy Press Club and also some info about how to let Etsy know when you're mentioned in the press.

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Interview with Jodie of Pretty Little Love Objects

Last week I posted a question to bloggers and Etsians, asking how they promote themselves. The response was tremendous and I'll be posting the interviews here as they come in. My hope is that this interview series will help a lot of newbies figure out where to start and also give seasoned bloggers/Etsians some ideas on where to focus their promotional energy for the best results.

Today's interview is with Jodie of Pretty Little Love Objects, an indulgent Etsy shop featuring her handmade jewelry and paper goods.

Do you blog for the sake of blogging or do you blog to promote another activity?

I blog over at 'Pretty Little Love Objects' http://prettylittleloveobjects.blogspot.com primarily to promote my Etsy shop http://www.blinkingmouse.etsy.com, where I sell individual love objects in the form of jewellery and cards. I talk a little bit about my general life but mostly I'm focused on my crafty side of life and I have my Etsy mini up at my blog permanently.

I also promote the beautiful things that other handmade sellers create. I have a Flickr group that I choose people from, regularly ask for tutorials at different crafty sources and have just got a big crop of seller interviews by appealing on the forums.

Of all the blogging tools, blogging communities, blogging techniques, and widgets and gadgets, what do you think has made the biggest impact for you?

I think when I placed the Buy Handmade button on my website that made a big impact in my blog traffic. I was getting 40 hits a day for about a month.

Also I find that when I do seller interviews with someone who belongs to a street team that massively ups my blog traffic as the whole team will pop along to see what's been said about a fellow member.

In terms of web search traffic most of my Google traffic comes from people looking for tutorials. Almost every day a few people will be brought to the blog by searching for a mini food tutorial or a way to make leg warmers.

What is the Buy Handmade button and how does it work?

I found the Buy Handmade button on Etsy. You sign up to take the Handmade pledge, stating that you will try to buy mostly handmade from now on. You just insert the code for the button in your blog layout and you get a pretty pink, green and white button.

As for finding tutorials and sellers to interview I usually post notice on the Etsy forums and at Craftster or Indiepublic to say I'm looking for someone interested in a little bit of exposure on a blog to help me out with some content.

How has the Buy Handmade button increased your blog traffic? How long did it take for you to see results?

Buy Handmade had results straight away but it's become less of a massive draw over time. It gets you a great amount of initial traffic though and shows that you really support the handmade movement, making you more popular with your fellow sellers.

How much time do you spend on blogging?

I try to have something new at my blog at least 3 times a week.

When selling on Etsy, what online tool, technique, or activity has been the most successful in generating sales?

Truthfully I think so far Facebook has been the best tool so far in terms of sales. I've made a lot of sales to friends by putting up pictures there and some of them have also agreed to hand out business cards for me.

Views have been generated by posting on Craftster, Myspace, Etsy forums, Flickr and various social networks as well as contributing articles to a few places. I'm also starting to do a lot of offline advertising.

How do you use Facebook to promote your Etsy?

I put pictures up at Facebook after I do a big product photo shoot. I put in my full Etsy description and a link to my shop. If someone wants to help me advertise they can find the link easily.

How often do you do this?

I don't do it that regularly, usually once a month.

How has using Facebook increased product views? How about overall sales? How long did it take for you to see results?

It's increased views and sales to friends are good as they boost my overall Etsy 'scores'. Friends tend to think of me if they need some fun and different jewellery now. I've also opened a business Facebook page to see if that makes a difference.

What one piece of advice would you like to tell other bloggers or Etsians who want to increase their traffic and/or sales?

Online advertising is all well and good, social networks are great places to meet other crafters and get fast, free advertising. However I think many customers are not viewing these adverts and are more exposed to traditional forms of advertising like fliers, business cards, bulletin boards so remember to diversify your marketing strategy.

Jodie, thank you for taking a moment to talk about how you promote your Etsy store. It looks like you are finding success using many different kinds of places to promote. Your comment to remember traditional forms of advertising, I think, is also one that many of us tend to forget about when working hard at promoting ourselves online.

Dear readers, please check out the pretty little love objects over at Jodie's Etsy and visit her blog to read some interesting interviews, find a tutorial, and learn about other very useful tips.

Thanks again Jodie, and I wish you continued success!