Sales Where you Least Expect Them

As a crafter - an entrepreneur, one must believe in what they do with all of their heart. I recently went to a large family function and was pressed to bring my jewelry with me. I was extremely hesitant, because I DO NOT in any way believe in pushing my jewelry on relatives, but it actually went really well! They had never heard that I made jewelry before, and were all really excited about it I made quite a few sales! It just goes to show that sales are made in all sorts of ways. Now I have big plans on new products I want to make. Many with a romantic theme - and that's all the hints you get for now!

Artfire or Website, and Doing my own HTML

I've been kinda experimentally using artfire to sell my jewelry since July 4th 2009 (3 days ago) to see if it would be worth it to sell on artfire as well as etsy, or if I really liked it maybe switch to artfire from etsy. There's a lot about the site I really like. Like they're 'sale' feature. you just enable it and tell it how many percent off you want on all your items, and bam! Canada Day / 4th of July sale 20% off was in effect in about 6 seconds. lovely. Much faster than on etsy. I like the layout of etsy more, but that wasn't a big issue for me. The only thing I really didn't like is that I don't seem to be getting very many views... at all. I bought an add space in their necklace sub-catagory, which only cost me $2.50 for the week (they're on sale right now - half off) which I thought was awesome, but in 36 hours it has been seen 1944 times (that is that 1944 people have viewed the necklace page - not necessarily that they saw my add) and has been clicked a grand total of twice. woo.

So I decided I'd probably get more views if I became a 'verified seller'. Right now I have a "basic seller" account of artfire, which means that I don't pay I thing for listing or selling, and no monthly fees. the only draw backs are that I can only list 12 things, and can't customize the look of my shop as much as a verified seller. Verified sellers pay something around 12.00 a month, and that's it. they don't pay a thing for listing, or making a sale (etsy takes 3.5% or something) and they can list as much as they want.

My only issue with that was that I wasn't sure if I'd get any more views even if I was verified, and the the idea of having my own website came into my head and wouldn't leave. my only issue though is that I've never known anyone to buy jewelry off a private website, and I was pretty sure no one had ever made sales off a private website for jewelry, so I posted a topic on the etsy business forums, and everyone was so helpful <3.

My general consensus was not to leave etsy, because it's hard to advertise for a personal website, and it's so alone in the big internet that I might get totally lost in it all, but having a website as well as an etsy is great because then you have your own domain name to put on your business cards, and to tell people about, which makes you seem so much more creditable. That was an idea I was really excited about, and a few jewelry etsians told me that they actually make MORE money from their website than they do on their etsy's after like 3 years, but that's ok. and one girl refered me to her web host http://www.pappashop.com which I haven't tried yet, but I think I will be going with. $10.99/month for a year for a website with paypal and everything. very exciting.

I was going to sign up last night, but I found out you have to pay for the whole year at once, and as it turns out I didn't have 150.00 kicking around (it becomes 150 something after it's changed to Canadian) so I decided to wait a couple paydays :P

Until then I've decided to learn HTML so that when I do get the site I can make awesome layouts and things for it so it looks as professional as I want it too. and then I can make myself a blogger layout too and stop changing mine all the time :P

Pancakes

Yesterday I went out for lunch with my sister and my friend for my friend's birthday. We were supposed to go out for breakfast, but it got a little postponed due to the fact that no one was ready to go on time.

We went to "Pancake House" which was awesome because I am in love with pancakes <3. I ordered banana chocolate chip pancakes, which were delicious. The menu just said 'Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes' and described the pancakes, but I couldn't find how many it came with. They were 6.99 so I figured maybe three, or even just one really big one would be reasonable, because I've decided that all restaurants are really expensive. I got six pancakes! They weren't like, the size of the plate or anything, they were like the size of my hand, but it was still so much food. It was incredible. I was just sad I couldn't finish them all. If I ever go back though I'm definitely getting these veggie crepes my sister got. She let me have a bite, and they were the best things I've ever tasted. It was like an omelet, but less "eggy".I'm not much of a fan of eggs.

Art Fire

I just signed up with art fire. I haven't listed anything yet - I'm still figuring everything out. It's hard thinking of it as my shop too, I've become so used to using Etsy I feel like I'm 'cheating' on etsy by using artfire too :P. A lot of people sell on a number of websites, as well as selling at places in real life, so I don't feel too too bad. One thing I'm happy about is that the name "Lizzibelle" hadn't been taken, so I get to keep my name consistant throughout my shops :)

one thing that kinda sucks is that I ordered my mini moo cards this morning, and it doesn't have my artfire on them, because it didn't exist this morning :P That's ok though because I'm not even sure if I'll be sticking with artfire, as I have barely even had a chance to look around the website. and I don't think I'll have much opertunity to do so tonight. It's my grandparent's 50th annaversary tonight so we're all getting together for cake, and I don't think I'll have much computer time after that, but I'll be sure to check out the site tomorow and let you know how it goes! ^-^

Big Plans

I read this post last night and it really inspired me. I've been putting new items in my shop, and renewing items, without getting a significant amount more views or sales. I was starting to get discouraged, but now I've decided that if you have a plan, (a good plan) and stick to it, you can make these things happen. Even jewelry sales on etsy.

So I decided to re-vamp everything. I stayed up until almost 3:00am trying to find the perfect blogger template. This one was my favorite, and I think I'm going to stick with it, until I learn how to use HTML (if ever) and make my own personalized banner ^-^

This morning I woke up and made a new banner for my shop which I'm really happy with, and a new avatar, which wasn't anything special, but a long time coming.

I also re-did my candy apple ring :). I had originally made it with 3 apple quartz rondelle beads, but I decided today that I like it better with four. So I remade it and re-listed it :)

Now I'm working on an idea for a contest. I'm not quite sure how I want to to go, but I have always thought contests online, in magazines, and in stores were fun and good spirited, so I'd really like to have one! I'll keep you posted as to the contest details, and hopefully have it all planned out soon.

Canada Day

Yesterday was Canada Day. I had so many plans for the day, that I went to sleep the night before with a list taped to my wall to ensure myself that I wouldn't forget any of the things that I was supposed to do the next morning. Sleeping in was not on that list, but did add a little craziness to my morning as I scrambled around trying to get everything done before supper.

I decided to make my pie first so the oven wouldn't been on all day when it was so hot outside, and just incase we needed it for supper (which in the end we did)
My pie shell was rolling out fine, until I tried to get it off the table and into the pie pan >< it stuck to the table like no pie shell I'd ever seen before, so I balled it all up and decided to try again, throwing twice as much flour down before trying to roll it out this time.

Well the pastry already had more than enough flour in it from the last time I tried to roll it, and now there was a thick layer of flour on the table, so instead of rolling, the pastry decided sliding around the table would be fine.

Eventually I got the pie in the oven and the kitchen (and myself :P) cleaned up and my hair curled. Supper was great, everyone loved it, and after supper my fabulous boyfriend agreed to take me to the fireworks! ^-^

It was totally packed, but we met up with our friends and spend an hour and a half trying to find the "perfect" spot to watch them from. I thought it was all a little excessive, (especially because we didn't know exactly where they were going to be setting them off) and would have rathered spend that time getting mini doughnuts and checking out all of the little shops. In the end though it paid off because we found the best spot ever, and I got to see fireworks closer than I'd ever seen them in my life :)

Canada Day / 4th of July Sale

Living in Canada I wanted to have a Canada Day sale to spread the celebration from my home to my shop. I was conflicted to though because I know that the majority of the people on Etsy are from the US and how big of a deal the 4th of July is to them there. I wanted to have a sale for each of the holidays, however I didn't want to have a sale that only lasted 24 hours, so I decided to have a week long sale for the two holidays together :)

I spent an hour last night going through my listings and editing them to get them ready for the sale, because I'd rather mark everything down than have to do paypal returns. I'm just glad I don't have 6 pages of stock in my shop or it would've taken me all night :P

Now my shop's all ready to go, and I'm going to go curl my hair and make a cherry pie! ^-^ Happy Canada Day Everyone! (and 4th of July in a matter of days :))