My Business

I’m 5 months in, and am really starting to like what I’m creating.  I’ve also learned a lot about opening stores on various sites (Etsy, Art Fire, 1000 Markets), and building my own website.  I’ve made 11 sales on Etsy, 1 sale on Art Fire, and 1 sale on 1000 Markets.  I haven’t made any on my website, but I feel this is okay for now as I’ve really just started marketing my own site in the past month or two, and I know that people aren’t always okay with buying from an ‘unkown’ site.  I do think my website has driven people to my other storefronts, which is great!

So, all of this is to say that I’m going to be evaluating all of my stores, and will be closing at least one in the next few weeks.  It won’t be my website as I’m positive this has been a good marketing tool, and will help me in the long term. I know that four storefronts is too many right now.  So, one must go.

On top of my online presence, I’m starting to make a real effort to reach out to various boutiques/B&M stores where I can sell my totes.  I’m also looking into a few weekend craft/art fairs that I can take part in.  I’ve noticed that some of my best selling is in person, so am excited about branching out more.

Would love to hear from those sellers out there who are also evaluating their shop(s) and offline selling venues.  What are you doing to increase your presence in the world?  How do you feel about multiple store fronts?  What is your plan for the rest of 2009 to get more product out there?

Trying 1000Markets

I’ve had a storefront on 1000Markets since November, but haven’t had product there in a few months.  I’ve decided to add product to my storefront there to see how things go.  I’m working to narrow down my shopping venues to a couple outside of my own website.

I wills say that 1000Markets does look much more professional than Art Fire.  They are a juried site, which keeps things clean.  I’m really looking forward to learning more about this site.  I do want to learn more about what 1000Markets will do for marketing.

As of right now, even with its issues, I think Etsy is staying on the list, and from the outward appearance of 1000Markets, I’m pleased, but am not sure they have everything I can get at Art Fire.

Will continue to update my experiences here.

Please check out my 1000Markets storefront…  Would love to hear any feedback in the comments section.

Getting the Creative Spirit While Running A Business

I love creating, always have, and have recently embraced it enough to make a go at bringing in revenue.  It is fun to do my craft and see a side revenue come in becuase others appreciate what I have done, but I must admit that the creative spirit can be hard to find sometimes when I’m trying to figure out what the next ‘it’ thing will be.  So, to help myself remember my creative spirit I have told myself to always have something that is new and fuly creative and not based on any market factors.  That way while I’m doing ‘business creative’ I’m also being fulfilled by working on items that I’m not doing solely for business.

I also notice that while times are tough, the creative side of me is helping keep things in check.  When I get engaged in a project, my mind is able to let go of everything else and just enjoy the moment.  It’s yoga for my brain, and I find that when I’m stressed out, I turn to my craft.

My hope is that I continue to build my creative based business so that when things do start to turn around, I’m ready for the upturn.  That by the time people are ready to purchase, I’ve worked through a lot of the hurdles and have learned how to balance running a business with my creative spirit, so that when I’m very busy, I’m already grounded.

Ways I keep my creative spirit right now:

1. View everything around me with a creative eye… figure out how I can draw creativity from an object, experience or person
2. Take a walk outside and soak in the natural creativity around me
3. Surround myself with other creative people so we can each support each other during good and bad times
4. Keep the non-creative items of running a business in order so I don’t have this on my brain when I should be dreaming up new fun things
5. Read lots of newspapers, magazines, online blogs, etc. to gather new ideas
6. Go to my favorite fabric store and allow myself to browse for hours… look at fabrics and notions I wouldn’t normally consider
7. Doodle… while on the phone, watching TV, or just listening to music… I find this really relaxes me and becomes a great exercise in letting my brain just wonder
8. Look into classes to learn something new around my craft

These are some main things that help me keep my creative spirit going.  Would love to hear about some of the things you do to keep your creative spirit alive and kicking!

Google Analytics Overview – Round One

Hi everyone!  So, I’ve noticed that a lot of people have asked about using Google Analytics once it is set-up on your Art Fire site (or other sites).  So, I thought I’d do a round one overview of some of the great high level features you can use starting… now!

Using an Analytics account from a blog I used to run I’ve captured screen shots to walk you through some of the key areas (or what I think are key):

1.  Google Analytics Home Page – Here you will be given a months worth of data shown at a very high level.

1. You will see number of visits in graph format by day
2. You will see the overall numbers for the entire length of time chosen (one month here)
3. You will see Unique visitors and a map that shows where they came from by country (highlighted on the map)
4. You will see a graph showing how users found you and a list of top content pages viewed

2.  Let’s dig a little deeper – You can narrow down data to a day or group of days by clicking on the arrow next to the dates shown in the upper right, click on one day or create a span and click ‘Apply’:

3.  Once you have the date(s) you want, you can start digging into the data.

4.  Let’s start with Visitors-Overview:  Here you will get a great snapshot of your visitors, overall visits and unique views, along with the browser they were using and connection speed.  To explore some more, click on anything that is hyperlinked and you’ll be taken deeper into the numbers:

5.  Next is the Map Overlay:  Here you can see users by country, city, subcontinent region:

To get to the city layout, click on the drop down above the country list (right now it is set to country/territory) and pick cities:

Click on a city name, and you will see detailed stats for that region:

6.  Next we will check out the Visits Trending section, starting with Visits:

This area gives you a look at your visits by day, and the average # of visits per day:

Next take a look at the Absolute Unique Visits (this only captures an ip address once so you get a real feel for the number of people checking out your site):

Next lets see how many Page Views there were (this gives you a good idea of how much content is being looked at):

7.  Let’s see how people got to you by looking at the Traffic Sources section:

First is the overview section which will show you visits, a graph that shows high level sources (search engine, referral link, direct) and top traffic sources and keywords:

Then… I like to look at Referring Site, Search Engines and Keywords (Keywords is especially powerful if you are or are planning to run an ad campaign… it will help you really narrow down which key words are being used to find your site.  For my ad campaigns, I choose to buy keywords that aren’t appearing here so that I can broaden my market, as I’m already being found easily through Google Search on the keywords here):

Referring Sites:

Search Engines:

Keywords:

I will end this first high level overview of Google Analytics here.  I hope this gives you a good idea of what type of information you can begin getting, right now!  It is so helpful to know how many people are finding you, what part of the world/country is coming to your site, and it is especially great to know how people are getting to your site so you can get smart about marketing campaigns, etc.

I will go more in depth next time, and will also do some very specific write ups on the AdWords component, which really helps you see how succesful the specific parts of your campaign are doing.

Feel free to leave a comment with any questions or feedback you may have.

Artfire Series – Listing A New Item

As promised, I will be highlighting my experience getting started on Art Fire.  Here is an in depth look at the listing process, which I find much easier than other venues, so far.

Here is a set of screen shots showing the one page listing process:

1.  Enter product title, price and upload pictures (simutaneously!):

2.  Enter shipping (you can save shipping profiles for easy loading), description, story behind product and categorize:

3.  Add your store category, materials used, tags and date/time that you wish to have the product automatically reduced in price:

4.  Save product and watch it appear on the front page of Art Fire!

This process is much more simple than others.  I like having one page instead of 2 or 3 or 4.  I like that photos can upload at the same time, and I like the automatic settings for price reductions.

Some things that need to be improved (being subjective here) and Art Fire has said they will:

1. Once pictures are uploaded need a way to easily move the position they are in (first, second, third, etc.).  Right now you need to re-upload to the position you want the picture in.
2. There should be a drop down here that allows you to put this product wherever you want in your store (instead of chronologically).
3. There should be a check box or drop down that allows you to make this product a featured product in the store.

These are the main things I’ve been wanting on this page, I’m sure you have others… feel free to list them in the comments section.  Would love to hear about your experience setting up shop on Art Fire.

Happy Holidays!

Getting Tags for My Bags!

I decided to get iron in tags for my bags and totes, and I think it’s one of the gretest investments I’ve made.  It really finishes my bags/totes off and gives them a more professional look.  It also allows people to tell others where they got the bag and who made it.  To find my tags, I did a Google search, compared a few places and ended up with a great company to get them done for me.

I love to iron in my tags… it feels so great to see my logo go into a bag that I’ve made!  Between that, cards and this website, I feel like I’m a real business. 

Here is a close up of my tag.

Also, please remember to vote for the pattern you want me to publish.  Will be closing the poll this weekend.

Hope everyone is having a good week!  I’m busy and ready for Christmas and New Year’s!