Updates!

First I want to say that I'm happy with the response to the Fall Newsletter Giveaway. I knew that joining the newsletter was more of a commitment to me so I made it a worthy prize. Well over 50 people have signed up since I opened the giveaway up so that is a good thing. I sent out an e-mail today to everyone on my subscriber list as of this morning. There were about 10 people still pending so if you thought you signed up but didn't get an e-mail from me today than you had better try signing up again to be safe.

Last night a friend from high school asked me about my Etsy shop on Facebook so I posted another link on my homepage and low and behold I woke up this morning to 5 sales. I have my Etsy mini on my FB page but I guess I need to be more proactive about letting people know about it. I certainly don't want to spam my friends since I primarily use FB to connect with people I know but this was a good reminder that it doesn't hurt to let people see that I sell some cool stuff.

I've been bringing lots of scarflettes back from the dead the past few weeks like the one at the top of the page. Shades of Clay is 100% cashmere and incredibly luscious with a handmade clay button to close it up. I'm a little concerned since a lot of the pictures for these items aren't up to my current quality. I know that they won't sell if they aren't listed, and relisting something is a lot easier than taking the pictures for something new and going through the whole listing process. So I think I'm going to continue to do it and just move them down the page a bit so that the pretty new pictures are at the top. I love that Etsy allows us to rearrange our listings now. This is a major perk for sellers and gives us a lot more control over how our shops look.

Overall I'm happy with how the fall is going so far. I need to do some more Project Wonderful advertising and possibly find a few more advertising opportunities. I hope that you are finding ways to get yourself out there as well. If you have any ideas for cheap promotion please share.

Random Blog Updates

I am thrilled with how well the contest has taken off. There is still time if you haven't gotten entered yet. I'll be choosing the winner this Sunday. I wanted to give you a close up of the headband and wristcuff. I really like how the headband came out. I'll be using this pattern with some more I'll be listing for the Spring. The wristcuff is very similar to several that are in the shop now, one in silver and the one in gold colored wire shown here. I love the paper beads that I got from Jessprkle. They are so organic and natural looking.

I have 22 signed up for the newsletter and 6 pending confirmation. I plan on sending out a newsletter 4 times a year. I will give some specials, probably free shipping and who knows what else. I will also use it to let locals know where I'll be available in person including any craft shows or what not. I plan on trying to get people to sign up at my shows this Fall for the newsletter. There are always people at the show that stand around and talk to you for awhile, whether they buy something or not. I always give them my card but I think enticing them to sign up for the newsletter will be a great way to bring them into the fold so to speak. It's not just our scarves or jewelry or artwork that we are selling but it can and should be a way of life and/or personality.

I'm also intrigued with all the tools that Bravenet has to offer. They have free ad sponsored web hosting and domain names which I guess means that your blog would be home to their sponsors. This is not something I'm looking to pursue right now but it is something to think about. If anyone has any strong opinions on why I should have my own domain I'd love to hear them. Right now I don't think I see the need. If you are so inclined you can get signed up for a 5 year plan for $4.99 a month and get up to 10 domains and 600 GB Bandwidth with no sponsors. I haven't done any comparing but that sounds like a good deal to me. They have some other free tools I'll probably be adding as I go along like Visitor Guestbook, Site search, a public online calender for upcoming events, e-cards, and live chat rooms.

You may also have noticed the Paypal Gift Certificate tool in the top corner. I thought I would go ahead and add that option. I have seen others adding direct check out to their blogs which is something I will be considering also. It might make it easier for those who don't want to have to sign up with Etsy to check out. I have made a few sales to people who found me on my blog by just sending them a Paypal invoice but if the option was there to just check out it would eliminate some steps. Has anyone gotten any direct sales from a checkout box on their blog yet?

I really don't want to get my blog too cluttered, but there are so many options available. I have to weigh the benefits of each new addition with the clutter factor. Eventually I may be looking for a 3 column blog template that would allow me to spread out more. I have been using this standard template from blogger since I started and I like it's clean look still but I may have outgrown it's functionality I'm afraid.