My Very First Featured Etsy Shop is: Crystal Pearl! And There's A GIVEAWAY!!!

Crystal Pearl offers beaded t-shirts, tanks and lingerie, plus beautiful vintage and antique jewelry, including gold and silver, brooches, necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets, etc.

The shop's proprietor comes from a family well-versed in the art of needlecraft. As a child, her mother made a lot of the clothing for the family, her aunt worked in the center of London as a seamstress, and she herself, from a very young age, designed her own doll clothing, studied needlework and continues to make clothing for herself today!

Crystal Pearl offers high quality vintage jewelry and unique upcycled and hand embellished items of clothing using a variety of materials such as faux jet, amberite, metallic buttons, acrylic buttons, ribbon, synthetic fur, and 80 year old glass Chinese trade beads specially imported from Thailand!

Take a look at some of the offerings in Crystal Pearl's Etsy Shop!!

You can also follow Crystal Pearl on:

• Facebook
• Twitter
  
• Flickr
• Burdastyle
• USTrendy
• Blog

Etsy Buy Handmade CrystalPearl

As featured artisan of the week, Crystal Pearl would like to offer a special giveaway, her amberite whirlygig pendant, to all my blog readers. To the lucky winner of this week's drawing, Crystal Pearl is offering this beautiful handmade silver and amberite pendant on a colored plaited leather thong. Various thong colors available (please specify if you have a color preference and she will try to accommodate.) Great for clubbing!


Here's how it works:

1. Become a follower of this blog--Zur Designs
2. Become a follower of Crystal Pearl's blog

Those two steps will win you one chance at the amberite whirlygig pendant.

For extra credit (for all you over-achievers out there!) each one of the following activities will earn you one extra chance in the prize drawing:

• Become a fan of Crystal Pearl on Facebook
• Become a fan of Zur Designs on Facebook
• Follow Crystal Pearl on Twitter
• Follow Zur Designs on Twitter
• Become one of Crystal Pearl's contacts on Flickr
• Become one of Crystal Pearl's contacts on Burdastyle

Leave a comment at the end of this post telling me that you have completed the two basic steps and what extra credit steps you took and on Monday, October 26th I will tally it all up and announce the winner! Also, if you'd like to mention your blog or other sites...feel free and I will follow you back!

Also, if you have an Etsy shop and would like to be a featured artisan on my blog, leave a comment after this post with your shop link and I will convo you!

Thanks in advance and Good Luck Everyone!!!

Something New!!! Featured Etsy Shop!!!

Beginning Monday, October 19th, I will be starting something new! I am going to be featuring a different Etsy Shop every week. There is so much talent and so many great gift ideas on Etsy...I just wanted to take the opportunity to showcase some great shops and let you see for yourself! Enjoy!

Tips On Making An Etsy Treasury

An Etsy Treasury is a curated collection of Etsy items chosen by Etsy users. Each of these collections are posted on the Etsy Treasury page for a limited amount of time for buyers and sellers to look through.

Anyone with an Etsy account can create a treasury and they can choose anyone from the many Etsy shops available within the Etsy Universe to be a part of that treasury.

Usually these treasuries are themed by color or idea or concept. All the treasuries I have looked at are quite lovely. To your left is an example of an Etsy Treasury.

There are actually two treasury types of Etsy Treasuries: the traditional treasury and Etsy Treasury West. This gives you two opportunities to either put together a treasury or be chosen to be in one.

I ran across some resources that may prove helpful:

• Rachel Lucie, Jewellry Designs posted a wonderful how-to on her blog. I picked this information up in one of the forums of Indiepublic and wow it was quite a find. Take a look for yourself! Don't forget to view the comments on this post because there is useful information there too! One commenter mentions the Storque Article on Treasuries as a good resource.
• Here's a Treasury Tutorial from the Etsy Forums by Fishstikks that gave a lot of good information
  
• I also found this blog post by Owl on the Sill that was very informative.
• And once you make your first treasury, you will want to take a look at this post by Jessica Poundstone. I found this on Associated Content (AC) under Lifestyle, Crafts and Hobbies.
• And I love this article on why we make Treasuries by Etsy shop owner saltandpaper!
  

Hope these help!

Timothy Adam Webinar On Driving Traffic to Your Etsy Shop

So Tuesday night, October 13th at 9PM EDT, I attended Timothy Adam's webinar that covered topics involving driving more traffic to your Etsy shop (although it could apply to any online selling site). The material was awesome! Tim and his colleague Andy Drish began with the premise that there were over 1.5 million items listed on Etsy per month. Given that staggering number, it is necessary to develop new marketing strategies to drive traffic to your Etsy Shop. That is not to say that the tried-and-true strategies are no longer effective such as renewing items in your Etsy shop every day; this is just no longer enough to get seen due to the proliferation of items available for sale. As a matter of fact, Tim stated that renewing certain or all of your items (depending on the amount of items you have in your shop) gives buyers the impression of a fresh shop that is open for business each and every day.

In addition to the renew strategy, Tim also mentioned what we all know is important--the photos of our products. Without buyers being able to feel or touch our products, we have five pictures to convince them that this is the item they want to buy. I know for myself, I have a bunch of photos that need replacing because they don't show how beautiful the item really is!

Pricing was also discussed and Tim pointed us in the direction of the Etsy calculator tool that helps you determine the right pricing for your items. Andy explained the phrase "price framing" to us which simply put means that people like to regress to the mean when purchasing products. This bit of psychology can be very helpful for those of us who struggle with pricing!

Offline marketing efforts were also mentioned such as art shows, fairs, and utilizing business cards to get the word out there about your online selling shop.

But the meat of the webinar was about tapping into social networking sites and blogging as an effective means to not only develop a customer base but to create a community-based network within the handmade industry. Some of the highlights of information and advice he gave to us included:

• Use your blog as your home base and then send out to Facebook and Twitter sending them back to your blog in order to enhance the amount of traffic to your selling site
• Facebook is the fasting growing viral network out there and has the ability to show your network not only text but pictures to promote your work and the work of fellow artisans
  
• Utilize the Facebook Fan Page Insights to track your demographic information and see exactly where your fans are coming from
• Go out and find followers on Twitter by using directories like We Follow or follow who follows Tim on his Twitter channels so that you have a base of people who are truly interested in your industry and work
• Sign up for HootSuite which is an application that helps you manage your Twitter channels and actually has the capability of scheduling tweets for later so you can have steady timed tweets even if you are not able to be at your desk to tweet them!

The remaining part of the webinar was devoted to one of Tim's latest projects: Handmadeology University (HMU). This is a subscription based site that gives you all the benefits of Tim's knowledge and expertise plus the feeling of community amongst all other members of HMU. Here are some of the benefits you receive by being a part of HMU:

• Valuable ebooks about Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, Time Management, and Google Analytics
• 8 hours of recorded personal coaching calls
• Fabulous forums
• Tim's Product Launch Formula regarding building a solid email list
• A free webinar per month
  

And much, much more! Contact Tim Adam at one of his many places on the web for more information on how to become a member!
Here's an earlier post about resources for marketing and promoting your indie artisan business, in case you missed it!

What Is StumbleUpon And How Can It Enhance My Web-Based Business?

I must confess, I "stumbled upon" StumbleUpon a few months ago, installed the toolbar that allows you to be shown a certain website and you can either choose the "thumbs up" if you like it, or choose the "thumbs down" if you do not. It was fun...it allowed me to see content that matched my interests and I saw sites that I ordinarily would never have run across. But, I never equated it to my business and never really though of using it as part of my overall marketing strategy.

StumbleUpon is a social website which allows its users a new way to experience the Internet. Instead of searching for specific items on search engines like Google, StumbleUpon users only have to tag specific personal or professional interests and then ‘channel surf’ the web by simply clicking on a button on StumbleUpon tool bar.

Enhancing Your Online Business

The first step, after signing up for StumbleUpon is to check to see if your website/blog/selling site is already listed. You can do this by going to this page.

If your website is not listed, you can start using your newly installed toolbar to tag and review it by clicking on the blue thumbs up symbol which has “I like it!” next to it.

This will open a pop-up panel which allows you to categorize your website, write a short description and tag with specific keywords. Following which, your website will be included in Stumble Upon’s database and will show up when other users with interests similar to your tags use the Stumble Upon toolbar to surf the internet.

Here are a list of benefits from using StumbleUpon as part of your social networking strategy:

• Traffic from StumbleUpon ordinarily has the lowest bounce rate. The bounce rate tells you how many users instantly ran away after landing on your site. Latest data indicates that traffic received from StumbleUpon has about a 30% bounce rate which is rather extraordinary. Even very targeted Google traffic typically yields a bounce rate of between 70-80%.
• Tying into the low bounce rate, StumbleUpon users tend to have a large page view rate--averaging two pages per visit.
  
• Because each StumbleUpon user chooses categories based on their own interests, you will be receiving approximately 95% new visitors to your site that are interested in your products
• Each time one of the almost 8.5 million StumbleUpon users likes your blog post or your site, you get a new burst of traffic. That tends to create a rather steady flow of traffic when you are looking at almost 8.5 million users.
• StumbleUpon users tend to be a bit more polite than some of the other social networking voting sites. Therefore, there is usually no biting comments that can impact the opinion of other visitors to your site.
• StumbleUpon's almost 8.5 million users are from all parts of the world therefore giving your site international traffic.

How To Optimize StumbleUpon to Drive Traffic to Your Site

Naturally, once you have these deluxe visitors, you want to do what you can to keep them. Here are a few things you can do in order to keep the stumblers coming back to your site:

• Provide good content--try only to stumble the best content on your site
• Offer email subscriptions--having various options to view your site can help attract all different kinds of visitors and keep them involved
• Hold a giveaway--everyone loves free stuff! This will keep your visitors coming back more frequently
• Make StumbleUpon users feel welcome--if you notice in your analytics that many of your visitors were stumblers, welcome them to your site. Remember to post your richest content after you have been heavily stumbled to attract them to come back and stay on as a loyal follower
  

How Many StumbleUpon Visits Are We Talking About?

One can expect anywhere from 100 to 10,000 visitors from StumbleUpon every day and these are completely unique visitors! One of my fellow Etsians reported that her Etsy site was stumbled and she received 600 views to her shop in one day that ultimately culminated in sales if I recall. She didn't even know who had stumbled her and was anxious to find out so she could thank that person!!

Of course the number of users is going to depend on a lot of factors. Some of these factors are:

• The number of thumbs up you received from these stumblers
• The number of users in your StumbleUpon network
• Number of StumbleUpon friends
• Number of profie reviews you have which tends to make the user more credible

If you have a user stumble upon your site that has a large number of friends in their network and is known as an authority, you can expect to see the higher end of StumbleUpon visits each and every day.

So it appears that you need to have other Stumble friends and create a rich well rounded profie of stumbles; broad within your categories and take the time to review the sites you stumble upon...you can begin to generate a large volume of traffic to your site that will be a rich mix of people who are genuinely interested in the content you write and/or the products you sell. Did you sign up to StumbleUpon yet?

Optimizing Twitter As A Marketing Tool

I really enjoy using Twitter to market my indie business. I've developed some nice contacts within the handmade industry that promotes a sense of community. What I've learned is that you can develop a following if you put a little personal in with your promotion, be respectful by not constantly inundating people with with rapid fire tweets; but using Twitter to keep followers informed of items in your shop, giveaways, and features or resources from other shops within the industry.

Like many people who join Twitter, I followed everyone and happily tweeted for awhile and then began to see the significant impact Twitter had on the number of views to my shop and the number of contacts made within my industry. I became compelled to find out what tools were available to track the impact this and enhance my overall use of this fabulous micro blogging tool. The simplicity of Twitter warrants the use of some third party applications in order to maximize your Twitter space and experience...so I went off to check in with reliable experts about what types of tools and auxiliary sites were available to "pimp" my Twitter ride.

Well I soon found that there are thousands of amazing tools and sites out there related to Twitter!

Here is a small sampling of some useful applications and sites for Twitter:

• TinyURL--with only 140 maximum for each Tweet; shortening some of the lengthy URLs comes in very handy. I have TinyURL right on my toolbar so that it's at my fingertips when I am ready to tweet. This one is probably a no-brainer for most Twitterers but certainly a must have for those just getting started in the world of tweets.
• Twitterfeed--have feed from your Etsy Shop (or other selling venue) and your blog linked through Twitterfeed. This way whenever you post a new item to Etsy, it is posted directly to Twitter and every time you make a blog post, that goes directly to Twitter as well. This saves a great deal of time.
  
• Twitter Background applications--there are many of these to choose from! Some offer free backgrounds; others cost a nominal amount if you want to customize the background with photos and information about where else your followers can find you on the Internet. I've had good luck with MyTweetSpace but do a search and choose for yourself!
• TweetStats--tracks your Tweets per hour and per month and presents it in graph form. Additionally, the site gives you the ability to view your Tweet Cloud which shows you all the tags you have used. Good stuff!
• Twitter Grader--uses a special algorithm to rate the power of your twitter profile. It looks at a variety of factors including the number of followers, power of those followers and the level to which you are engaging the community. It takes just a few seconds to generate your free report.
• TwitterCounter--tracks the stats of over four million users and helps predict your projected users based on your Twitter statistics. You can also put a remote counter on your website or blog.
• iFollowBack--sign up at this sight and join groups that are closely related to your market or area of interest. You agree to follow back all users that follow you and it is simple to do this right on the site. This is the planful way to build a follower base and establish yourself within a community.
• TwitPic--share pictures on Twitter. You can post pictures to TwitPic from your phone, the TwitPic homepage or your Twitter account. I just signed up for this one to check it out.

And the list goes on! Here are some other resources I ran across that might help you optimize Twitter, whatever your goal might be:

• Timothy Adam--his Timothy Adam Design blog has quite a few informative articles on Twitter and how he has optimized the use of it to market and brand his business.
• Check out the information on The Crafted Webmaster and download her Twitter Newbie's Guide if you are just getting started with Twitter.
• Check out Mashable--The Social Media Guide for lots of good articles and information about getting the most out of Twitter.
• Here's an article from Smashing Magazine that lists "The 99 Essential Twitter Tools and Applications"

And don't forget to Tweet any good information you find!

And The Winner of the Zur Designs Giveaway Is...

First of all, I would like to thank all the people who entered my
very first giveaway! Thank you all for following my blog!

So I used one of those random number generators to make it
fair to all the participants. I matched the number against the followers list to determine the winner. It was really cool!

And the winner is...

Congratulations Kim and thank you for following my blog!

Check out Kim's blog, and visit her Etsy Shop, her ArtFire shop, and find her
on Zibbet. You can follow VA Beach Quilter on Twitter and check out
her Facebook Fan Page.

Again, thanks to everyone who participated!

FINAL DAY OF ZUR DESIGNS GIVEAWAY!!!

Zur Designs is having a GIVEAWAY!!! Today's the LAST DAY!!!

All those who sign up to follow my blog TODAY will be entered into a sweepstakes to win my Emerald Isle earrings! They make a great gift to start your holiday shopping or a great treat just for you!!



These earrings are made with bali headpins, potato pearls, swarovski crystals, natural green stones, bali spacers, and sterling silver fish hooks. They are elegant enough for dressing up but you'll want to wear them every day!
So here's how it works:

* Just click the "Follow" button on the right hand side of my blog
* Your name will be automatically entered into the drawing for "Emerald Isle Earrings"
* I will announce the winner on this blog on October 8th!!


Oh, and if you'd like me to follow your blog...leave a comment on my blog!

Thanks everyone in advance and GOOD LUCK!!

Fall Foliage Designs

Yes, the leaves are changing here in the Berkshires and the landscape hues have inspired me to create some special fall pieces!

Like this Fall Foliage Coil Bracelet made with ryolite, yellow rounds and orange bicone swarovski crystals, dreamcicle adventurine, ukanite rounds, a variety of natural stones, bali spacers and bead caps. Can't you picture wearing it for Thanksgiving? Or any of the fall parties coming up over the next few weeks?

I also designed a pretty ryolite ring wrapped in 14K gold filled wire with a pearl and a little natural stone surrounding the ryolite oval.
All the fall colors are represented in this sweet little ring!

Then I went wild with a variety of natural stones and made The Natural, a chunky coil bracelet. The large focal beads are grossularite and I used every shape and size of natural stones, bloodstone, and honey jade in between! Plus some bali spacers in two shapes. It's chunky, it's colorful, and it's great for fall!

Still working on a few more designs for this collection...so off I go to my studio to create some more! Stay tuned!

Zur Designs Giveaway Starts Today!!!!

Beginning today, October 1st (do you believe it's October?) and running through October 7th, Zur Designs will be running a giveaway! All those who sign up to follow my blog between these dates will be entered into a sweepstakes to win my Emerald Isle earrings! They make a great gift to start your holiday shopping or a great treat just for you!!



These earrings are made with bali headpins, potato pearls, swarovski crystals, natural green stones, bali spacers, and sterling silver fish hooks. They are elegant enough for dressing up but you'll want to wear them every day!
So here's how it works:

* Just click the "Follow" button on the right hand side of my blog
* Your name will be automatically entered into the drawing for "Emerald Isle Earrings"
* I will announce the winner on this blog on October 8th!!


Oh, and if you'd like me to follow your blog...leave a comment on my blog!

Thanks everyone in advance and GOOD LUCK!!

Zur Designs Is Having Giveaway!!!

Beginning October 1st and running through October 7th, Zur will be running a giveaway! All those who sign up to follow my blog between these dates will be entered into a sweepstakes to win these lovely Emerald Isle earrings! They make a great gift to start your holiday shopping or a great treat just for you!!

These earrings are made with bali headpins, potato pearls, swarovski crystals, natural green stones, bali spacers, and sterling silver fish hooks. They are elegant enough for dressing up but you'll want to wear them every day!

So here's how it works:

• Just click the "Follow" button on the right hand side of my blog
• Your name will be automatically entered into the drawing for "Emerald Isle Earrings"
• I will announce the winner on this blog on October 8th!!

Oh, and if you'd like me to follow your blog...leave a comment at the end of this post!

Thanks everyone in advance and GOOD LUCK!!

So Don't Take MY Word For It--Here's Some Great Resources

So why listen to me...get the information from these handmade indie business experts instead! Here are some great resources...an eclectic mix of websites, blogs, individual posts, and other forms of advice all providing useful information about promoting your online shop. These are in no particular order...just some useful links to give you an arsenal of tools to help you along the way.

Timothy Adam Designs--this blog, his Handmadeology site, and his various groups and forum posts across the Internet provide a wealth of information about driving traffic to your site, furthering your understanding of how to use social networking to enhance your business, the fundamentals of selling on Etsy and Artfire, and much, much, more. He is in the process of launching a new site, Handmade-Review.com is a site where handmade sellers and buyers can go to read reviews by the handmade community about handmade selling venues. Timothy also sponsors an "Etsy Top 10" promotion to help Etsy shop owners gain exposure in the marketplace. I can't say enough about the wealth of information you can find simply by following this man around the Internet!

IndieCEO--I first ran into GalleriaLinda on Twitter, followed her to the iCraft.ca forums and ultimately landed on her IndieCEO site. There is information about marketing, advertising, blogging, and preparing your business for the holiday season...plus much, much more! Again, just follow her around the Internet and learn as much as you can from her...IndieCEO was where I linked up with Timothy Adams!

Web Sites Work--this site is hosted by Rita Juhlin who runs the Home Based Jewelers Directory and Blogspot. Again, there is a wealth of information on this site including such topics as driving traffic to your site, getting the most out of your advertising, and there are a lot of great tools to incorporate into your website and blog. There are some great inspirational passages on this blog as well...we all need encouragement along the way as we work hard to achieve our dreams. Spend some time with Rita on her site...you will be very glad you did.

And here's a list compiled from a great deal of list posts along the way about driving traffic to your site:

• Use Twitter
• Use Facebook
• Join MyBlogLog
• Use StumbleUpon
• Use Digg
• Try Out Some of the Other Social Networks
• Make list posts
• Improve and update the look of your site
• Post entries rich in content
• Use a ping service
• Leave comments on blogs in your niche
• Write articles and press releases
• Participate in forums in your niche and put your URL in your forum signature
• Link to other bloggers in your niche
• Include your blog URL in your email signature
• Use pictures in your posts
• Post videos, especially video tutorials
• SEO your blog
  

Don't forget to click on the button in the right-hand corner of my blog to get some tips and advice from Erika Jurney at Try Handmade!

For you jewelry artists out there:

Jewelry Business Blog and Home Jewelry Business Success Tips both by Rena Klingenberg and both are goldmines for information about a successful jewelry business whatever business model you choose to follow (i.e. online, craft fairs, etc.). She has an e-newsletter that is just great and some really great books for your resource library. Rena was my first resource when I was getting started and I still pour through her information on a regular basis.

MarketingJewelry.com--Dr. David Weiman, a psychologist who provides insights into the jewelry customer. Sign up for his free newsletter and take advantage of some of his webinars, books, and courses to learn the ins and outs of selling jewelry and making the proper relationships with your customers.

Well, that should keep you busy for awhile! Have fun!

Listings in Directories to Help Promote Your Online Shop

Targeted handmade directories as well as general directories are another great way to promote your business. As I stated before, many of the social networking groups and some selling venues have directories where you can list your business, website, and online store.

Some directories offer just a listing with salient business information and others allow you to post photos of your work; it just depends on how the site is set up.

Specifically for jewelry artists, I am listed in the Home Based Jewelers Directory and also listed on their blog. I am also listed on Find It Handmade--a directory for all things handmade. I have listings at Luna Craft who offers free craft business, craft website, and craft blog listings.

As far as general directories, I am listed in the blog and Twitter directories of Loaded Web, which is a directory of businesses, blogs, and Twitter users as well as Twellow, the Twitter Yellow Pages.

I must confess I haven't committed to the task of sitting down and doing a search of possible directories...I simply sign up to those directories that I run across through researching or something catches my eye on Twitter or a blog. I do have a list of sites compiled that I gathered while browsing that I want to check out and use a litmus test of sorts...checking the last update, trying out a few links to see if the directory is up-to-date and worth listing my business there.

I know in the online marketing world, there is some debate as to whether directory listings are effective but I can only speak for my own results...and I must say that when I check Google Analytics, I receive referrals to my Etsy site and to my blog from the very targeted directories I am involved in.

So the choice is yours...next snowy day when you are stuck inside, this project might look good to you and ultimately help your business grow!

Promotion Through Artisan Communities and Networks

There are so many social communities that are specifically geared to handmade artists. For me, my medium is jewelry art so I have become a part of Jewelry Geeks, Beaders Showcase, The Jewelry Artist Network, and The Jewelry Makers Network. I also just became a member of The Handmade Artist Hangout which is tied into Handmade Crafts, the virtual craft show site and all it's affiliated sites.

Like any social networking site, you are given your own page to upload photos, make comments, invite friends, many of them have blog capabilities and there is usually a directory to list your online business.

One of the best ways to find the network for your specific craft is to search ning, the site where you can create your own social network...if you haven't checked this site out, it's really awesome! You can run a search of all social networks in your genre and check out all the social network sites or you can create your own!

There are so many benefits to becoming a part of these networks. They are great places to find new friends, receive support and feedback from fellow artisans, participate in targeted groups on a wide variety of subjects, take advantage of a wealth of information in the forums as well as participate in those forums, view instructional video tutorials on a wide range of topics, and they are a great way to showcase your work.

Most of these networks have a marketplaces where you can sell your designs and gain exposure to a very captive audience who loves all handmade! Many of these sites have direct links to Twitter, Facebook and other broad based social networks to enhance the number of people viewing your work.

Best of all, it's great being part of a community that shares your ideas and visions of the social benefits of buying and selling handmade.

Here are a few social networking sites to check out, in addition to the ones I listed above. Again, this is by no means a complete list, just a start to your journey into these wonderful social communities:

• Indiepublic--an independent art and design community. If you're an artist, designer, retailer, blogger, or just someone who gets giddy when they buy indie, they've saved a seat for you!
• MixxMade--an online community for indie artisans with a directory and marketplace to sell your designs. They have an extensive following on Twitter to increase artisan's exposure.
  
• The Cafe Handmade Lounge--A social network to connect those who love to buy handmade with those that love to create handmade.Tied into Cafe Handmade Virtual Craft Show.
  
• Try Handmade--indie shopping blog featuring jewelry, crafts, photography, clothing, gifts and more, all made by hand. Their mission is to to get people to move away from shopping at big box stores, and back to the more intimate and personal world of handmade.

Take a look around! I bet you'll find social networking sites tailored just for you!

Virtual Craft Shows to Promote Your Business

Virtual craft shows combine the fun and excitement of live crafts shows with the convenience of being available 24/7 all year round. you don't have to lug your items from show to show and there's no fighting the elements either!

Typically, the way these online craft shows work is that they allow handmade artisans to rent a virtual booth for minimal money. When a buyer clicks on an item within that booth, often times they are directed right to the artisan's selling site to make the sale. Not only do they get the lowest price possible, but it gives added exposure to the artisan's online shop!

One of the key advantages of these virtual craft show sites is that they typically use many effective online marketing techniques to drive traffic to their site on behalf of the artisans. These include:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Social Networking
• Blogging
• Article marketing
• Link Building
• Pay per Click Campaigns
• Project Wonderful
• Online Classifieds

These are all things many of us do for ourselves and it takes a great deal of time and effort. Renting a booth at a virtual crafts show enables us as artisans to concentrate our efforts in other areas...including creating new designs!

Here a couple of the virtual craft shows available to get you started!

• Handmade Crafts--Rhonda Jai, founder of Handmade Crafts, is dedicated to the handmade artisan community. She developed this site to help artisans reach a broader audience as well as to create an awareness of the industry as a whole. Handmade Crafts Virtual Craft show utilizes all of the online marketing techniques described above AND they are also beginning to use Podcasts available on their Handmade Buzz blog as well! It's well worth checking out as a means to promote your online store.

• Cafe Handmade--founded by a husband a wife team, Len and Kerri Testa, who love all things handmade and wanted to create a place to foster the handmade industry. They created their online craft show with a look and feel of traditional crafts shows. Hence the features on their website such as interviews with artists, the Cafe Homemade Lounge, Blockhead radio, and the aisles of the virtual craft show itself...all give the look and feel of attending a live show. They have about 10,000 visitors a month to their site and market your shop utilizing all internet marketing tools available to them. You owe it to yourself to check them out!
  

Often virtual craft show sites offer special discounts (for Twitter Followers for example) and run periodic specials on booth rentals. They are committed to the idea of handmade crafts, the sites foster a feeling of community for both buyers and sellers, and they are a wonderful way to enhance exposure to your work!

Resources for Promoting Your Shop Through Online Selling Venue

So you've chosen an online venue, you've uploaded your photos, wrote catchy descriptions for each of your pieces, found some sort of pricing structure that works for you...now what? As soon as that warm and fuzzy feeling of looking at your storefront wears off; you are going to be ready to sell!

One of the first things I would suggest is that you take advantage of the community aspect of your chosen selling site. They are goldmines and have tons of information on how to promote your online store! The best thing to do is familiarize yourself with the forums and other resources and chat with your fellow artisans! Chances are they are either in the same place you are or have gone the same process and are more than willing to help. Some sellers--in the spirit of paying it forward--are willing to feature you on their blog giving you great exposure and a chance to promote your work!

There is information on the forums about setting up a Facebook Fan Page, a must have in the marketing tool belt, as well as selling tips from shop owners that helped generate traffic to their shops and ultimately culminated into sales. So spend some time absorbing all the information within your selling community and share some information of your own. It is collaboration at its finest!

In the end you need to process all advice and make your own choices but insight from others who have already been there is always helpful.

The Business of Being an Indie Handmade Artisan

Introduction

One of my most favorite things about being part of the independent handmade artisan community is the collaborative nature of all involved. I have received advice from so many people within this vast community who love, support, and honor the handmade movement within the country and the world.

When it came to learning how to market my business and attempt to gain an online presence, there was a vast amount of resources available to me! They are proving to be invaluable as I come up on my second year selling my handcrafted jewelry online. Since this is an industry that is all about paying it forward...I thought I'd talk about some online marketing tips I've learned along the way and point you in the direction of some really fabulous resources. If you have this information already...you may know someone who needs it!

Just wanted to take the time to note that before I began establishing an online presence, I spent a good deal of time honing my craft, developing my style, and trying, through various methods such as open houses and small craft shows, to get a clear picture in my mind who my customer really was.

My sister Pat bought me this neat marketing book, "Marketing and Selling Your Handmade Jewelry" by Viki Lareau and one of the exercises she gave in this awesome book was a checklist or series of questions to ask yourself to help you create a customer profile:

• How old is he/she?
• Is he/she conservative or free-spirited?
• How much money does he/she spend on him/herself?
• What's his/her style--traditional, punk, earthy, elegant?
• Is he/she a stay-at-home person or does he/she work outside the home?
• How often and how much does he/she dress up?
• What does he/she do for fun?
• Does he/she belong to clubs or organizations?
• Where does he/she like to shop?
• Where does he/she go on vacation?

And so on....

Having a clear picture of your customer will help tremendously with all your marketing efforts!

Selling Venues

From what I've seen, most online indie handmade sellers have some combination of a website, blog, and at least one online selling site (i.e. Etsy, Artfire, etc.). I know in my case, since resources were rather scarce during this first year, I set up this blog, and I was set up a shop on Etsy. Now for me personally, as I sit down to write my strategic objectives for the upcoming year (I'm an MBA so I can't help it!), a complete shop and blog overhaul is in my plan but that is my personal choice and is in keeping with the direction I ultimately want to go. Many artists have great success using the selling communities available to them and then perhaps having a blog to tie it all in.

Information and resources available regarding developing a website should really be its own post; so for now I will give you a list of resources for online selling venues gathered from many different articles, blogs, and online communities. The list is by no means complete nor is it in any special order of importance but it may point you in the direction of getting your pieces listed and seen. So here goes:

• Etsy--more than just a place to shop; There are forums and learning labs. There are chat rooms and news articles. I learn something new about this site every time I log on! There is no upfront cost to set up your selling site but each item listed costs 20 cents for four months. If you make a sale, Etsy charges a 3.5% sales fee. It's very easy to set up your shop and there are guides and tutorials for every step of the way. One of my favorite features is the Etsy mini that you can post to your website, blog or social networking page. I also like they way Etsy guides you through the setup of Google Analytics so that you can track who has visited your Etsy shop by location, referral source, and customizable settings.
• Artfire--another great selling site! There is a free basic account where you can sell 12 items at a time. There are no selling fees nor commissions for the free account. However, for $12 per month, you get some really exciting features such as the Kiosk that launches to your Facebook page as well as many other robust features. The free account is a great way to begin and then as you begin to gain selling success you can move to a paid studio space. That's where you will be able to take advantage of full community interaction as well as a wealth of features that comes with a full-featured Verified account.
• ShopHandmade--this online selling site for handmade items and supplies combines it's love for handcrafted items and its love for the environment to provide a site where artisans can sell their items and recycle their unused supplies. There is also the option when setting up an item to be sold that part of the proceeds can be donated to environmental causes! There are no intial setup fees to open a shop and each item listed costs the seller 25 cents. Additionally, they have sponsors who will pay for all or part of the listing fees so that sellers can minimize the cost and risk of opening up a shop. The feature I like the most about this site is that setting items for sale is very easy and you can also be included in ShopHandmade's sales and they do the promotion for you.
  
• Bonanzle--this site is marketing itself as an alternative to buying and selling on eBay. There's a little bit of everything here to buy and sell but there's a good deal of handmade items represented. There are no fees to list items in your Bonanzle booth and there are monthly virtual garage sales called "Bonanzas" where you can hold a super sale and Bonanzle will drive traffic to your booth. Selling fees are calculated using a formula and is based on what they call Final Offer Value (FOV) which includes shipping. To give you an idea if you sell an item with an FOV of less than $50 your fee would be $1. One of my favorite features is they give you the ability to tie you shop feed into Google Product Search for massive exposure!
  
• UsTrendy--Unlike traditional web companies or existing social networks UsTrendy physically produces products submitted online as well as hosts physical events. Unlike traditional fashion companies - fashion designers submit the designs and then the people's voice determines each season's collection. Designers create a profile of their work. People rate the designs and the highest rated designs are chosen for production. There are no fees to upload your work and you are given a site that contains a portfolio, a blog, a calendar, and an UsTrendy store. If you rate the designs you receive Trendy Points which ultimately can result in prizes. It's a great opportunity to showcase your work in a very different environment.
  
• 1000 Markets--their mission is to support small artisan businesses. I originally heard of them through Try Handmade who has a special shop on 1000 Markets. Setup of the shop is free and when an item is sold, 1000 Markets takes 5.5% of the sale plus 50 cents. There is a beautiful look to this marketplace--very sleek and uncluttered--in my humble opinion!
  
• iCraft--based out of Toronto, Canada, this selling site connects artists, designers and craftspeople to those who appreciate their work. All creators of unique, one-of-a-kind items, can take advantage of the powerful marketing services offered. They do not charge a commission on sales. There is a one-time registration fee of $25.00 The first five items listed are free and then there are three different packages available: Starter, Professional, and Elite; all with different pricing structures. Their forums are awesome! I have gotten a great deal of information from them!
• Zibbet-- a global marketplace, connecting buyers and sellers of Handmade Goods, Fine Art, Vintage Items and Crafting Supplies. There are two types of accounts: Basic which you can list up to 25 item for free and Premium which is $7 per month (limited number of accounts available at this price) and has additional features such as the ability to add Custom Widgets to Shop (Blog, Twitter, Etsy mini). It's free to list on Zibbet and there are no commissions for either level of account.
• Fuzzb--there are numerous types of shops you can open here. The basic shop is sort of to give it a test drive; you can sell up to ten items for free. Then there are progressively more robust types of shops at $5, $7, $10 per month. The higher priced Gateway shops allow you to import all your selling sites such as Etsy, ArtFire, and Ebay, import their widgets, Rapid Carts and more to your Fuzzb Gateway and cross promote and sell right from you FuzzB Studio. There is also a community space to connect with other artisans.
• Rubylane--there is a one time $75 Setup Fee per shop which is refunded if your shop is not approved. The first 150 items are 30 cents per item; 151--1000 is 20 cents per item. Over 1000 is 1 cent per item. There is a $20 per month advertising fee for each shop. Advertising dollars go towards making the following ongoing marketing vehicles possible, which are designed to promote Ruby Lane and its individual shops, whether exclusive or not. These advertising funds pay for all or part of these, making the price reasonable for shops who choose to purchase them: (1)Regular full page ads in Maine Antique Digest and Antique Week, (2) Regular participatory ads in Maine Antique Digest, AntiqueWeek and American Style (3) Major magazine full or third page ads in Martha Stewart Living, InStyle Home, Country Living Collector, Country Living Magazine, Country Living Holiday, (4) The purchase of Google Adwords based on owners' suggestions from searches, (5) Ruby Lane promotional items such as customized flyers and mailing labels, postcards, window stickers, magnets, pens and more, (6) The Ruby Lane Co-op Reimbursement Program where we reimburse 40% of individual shop ads, (7) Ruby Lane Business Cards customized with your individual name and contact information, (8) Retaining a professional public relations firm on an ongoing basis to increase exposure of Ruby Lane and its shops in media.

As I said above, this list is by no means complete. Here are some links for additional sites to explore: eBay, ecrater, Bigcartel, ImageKind, Shopify, eBid, HyenaCart, Twolia, Yessy, Dawanda, SupermarketHQ, Elsewares, SilkFair, Folksy, MadeItMyself, Trunkt, Erayo, Lollishops, SmashingDarling, Lov.Li, Mintd, WinkElf, Artsefest, Coriandr, Misi, ArtistryArts.com

Just remember to keep in mind when choosing online venue(s) to market you work that it is important to have a clear picture of your own personal style as well as a clear picture of who your customer is. Then thoroughly explore each of these sites; asking yourself the question, "does this site market to my customer?". Then you can make a solid decision whether or not the site is right for you. Have fun!

My next posts will be a series of ways to promote your online shop...stay tuned!

My New Facebook Fan Page

So I now have a Fan Page on Facebook and OMG Fans!! Check it out at: http://tinyurl.com/lfuztu. I also have a widget on this blog that takes you there as well!

Zur Designs Was Featured in Beaders Showcase!

The Beaders Showcase is a place where jewelry artists can showcase their work and be a part of an artisan community to learn and share all aspects of beading design.

Each week they showcase six different artists and choose one of their designs. This week they featured Leather and Lace, a coil bracelet that I am particularly fond of!

I am learning so much since joining this wonderful community; surrounded by talented and supportive artists!

Zur Designs Is The Featured Shop on VA Beach Quilter's Blog!

On Labor Day, September 7th, the Etsy Shop of Zur Designs will be featured on VA Beach Quilter's Blog! I am offering a special promotion to readers of this blog so be sure to check it out! Happy Labor Day!

Pellegrino Studio/Gallery Opening and Wine Tasting

Saturday, August 29th, was the first annual Pellegrino Studio/Gallery Opening and Aberdale's Wine Tasting Event.

The event was held at the residence of Franco and his lovely wife Pat. They have a wonderful restored farmhouse on three acres of land in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts and the big red barn in the back houses Franco's studio as well as a beautiful gallery space.

Despite the persnickety Berkshire weather it was really a fabulous day and the event was very well attended.

Guests enjoyed wine tasting demonstrations that were scheduled at different intervals throughout the day so that all the guests could take part. It was a real education on wines and Sarah from Aberdale's was a wonderful presenter. The wine tasting was coordinated by the Pellegrino's daughter Lauren and Sarah from Aberdale's and was a real hit with the crowd! Fine food, good music, and wonderful art all made for a very successful event!

In addition to the paintings of the artist Franco Pellegrino, there were also displays of Patricia Pellegrino's photographs (Images--Original Photographs of the Berkshires and New England), jewelry by Zur Designs (handcrafted jewelry inspired by the Berkshire Mountains), and handmade candles, wreaths, and other flower arrangements by Everlastings (unique, handmade gifts for your home).

Note how I called this the "first annual" event. That's because I am hoping they will do it again next year!

Beaded Impressions Beading Contest is Open to Public Vote!

Vote for your favorite necklace and earring design in the 2009 Beaded Impressions Beading Contest! Public voting ends August 13th. It is a wonderful showcase of the talented jewelry artists out there! You will receive a coupon for 10% off any purchase just for voting!

They did have a bit of trouble with their voting page so there are instructions on how to access the survey and if you still have any trouble you can contact them directly.

In the necklace category, be sure to check out #26--Cosmo's Moon! No matter how it turns out, it was a lot of fun just creating the piece and entering the contest!

Have a great day!

Cosmo's Moon Necklace

So, I entered this necklace into Beaded Impressions Beading Contest!

I love the movie "Moonstruck"! I know some people think it's a little over-the-top but I grew up in an Italian family so for me it's like coming home!

In the movie, Cosmo's brother-in-law tells us about the enormous and magical moon that appeared one night during his sister's courtship. La Bella Luna--the moon brings the woman to the man. Drawn to the window the future brother-in-law found Cosmo in the yard gazing up at his sister's window. For years he believed that Cosmo's great love called up that amazing moon that woke him from his blissful sleep.

The idea that true love growing in the hearts of new lovers could draw down a moon of such splendor is a compelling metaphor and I always felt that this was more than a story of about two people falling in love. Perhaps it was really a tale exploring the intricate facets of love and the magic that love makes possible.

This necklace was inspired by such a moon, bright and shining in the midnight blue sky; an inspiration for love that will last a lifetime. I carried an image in my head of such a moon and with the help and inspiration of some beads from The Purple Door in Jamestown, R.I. and some beautiful crystals I received as a gift from my best friend, I set to work to create that vision.

Other materials used: 3.25mm sterling silver cable chain, a delicate 2.25mm diamond cut chain, mother-of-pearl 6mm beads, sterling silver star beads, czech glass beads in a midnight blue, bali spacers, bali toggle clasp, and a sterling silver heart pendant to symbolize love.

Cosmo's Moon Necklace can be purchased at my Etsy Shop and at USTrendy. Don't forget to check out all the entries in The Beaded Impression Beading Contest. They are all so amazing! I'd like to thank abeadstore.com for hosting this contest. Don't forget to check out their wonderful selection of beads and beading supplies!

P.S. I love the name Cosmo. It reminds me of a sweet man I grew up around who always saw me as a sweet little girl with curly blond hair long after I was no longer even close to being that anymore! Also, the Hermit Designer's middle name is Cosmo; proving I never met a Cosmo I didn't like!

Use The Muse II Contest

Well, I even though I didn't win the Use The Muse II Contest, I must say it was great fun and helped my design skills to stretch a bit; although for good or bad, my style still shone through! Here is my finished product!

I call it Dancing in the light because I picture pixies dancing. Perhaps because of the whimsical charms attached along the chain or the delicate nature of the Muse itself--a LillyPilly pendant made of soft shell and decorated in beautiful blues and yellows.

The swarovski crystals represent the light--I used the ones from the kit and also added some beautiful jonquil rounds, small blue bicones, and a gorgeous jonquil crystal pendant that I attached to the Muse with sterling silver wire.

The delicate pearls and silver balls that came with the kit and some bali spacers, bali bead caps, and a lovely silver toggle clasp seemed to tie the piece together nicely!

I would like to thank Scarlet Larson from The Beader's Muse as well as ArtBeads and Rainbows of Light who sponsored the contest. It was an opportunity for all jewelry artists to stretch their creativity, use gorgeous materials, and take a chance at winning a chest filled with beautiful beading treasures!

Dancing in the Light can be purchased at USTrendy and at my Etsy Shop!

The Celtic Knot Sister Necklace

I've been thinking a lot about my sisters lately...my two sisters Pat and Jude...and the sisters we have lost to cancer Liz and Cathy. Maybe because we spent Memorial Day together...all of us in one state; having the ability to run down the road a bit and be at another whole part of the family. Also my sisters Liz and Cath's children were there...some of them now have children of their own and it was great to celebrate the lives of these two great women simply by being all together.

Additionally, my sister Pat is working on a wonderful project about sister loss and I have been helping her launch her website which will be up and running very soon. The project is awesome and stems from the fact that when she lost our first sister, she began looking for resources to help her work through the feelings of that horrendous loss and found that there were barely any and what was out there for help and guidance was scattered and fragmented. Hence, the SisterLoss Project was born and she has done an incredible job using a integrated approach. I'll let you know when the website is launched...it's going to help a lot of people. I am so proud of Pat.
These were the things I was thinking about when I created this necklace. The Celtic Knot is a symbol of the lifetime bond between sisters; no matter how complex the relationship, it is one of the purest forms of love around. The delicate sterling silver chain holds groupings of beads featuring malachite and swarovski crystals and tiny sterling silver stars.

So this necklace is inspired by Pat and by all my sisters...and dedicated to all sisters everywhere!
The Celtic Knot Sister Necklace can be purchased at my shops on ShopHandmade and UsTrendy and at my Etsy Shop.

By the way, today would have been my sister Liz and her husband's 36th wedding anniversary!

Use The Muse Contest

I am so excited...I entered the Use the Muse II contest and am anxiously awaiting my kit! The prizes are awesome...all my favorite things! The grand prize is a treasure chest filled with freshwater pearls, all kinds of swarovski products (pearls, crystals, pendants), seed beads in a rainbow of colors and different sizes, and a LillyPilly Pendant, as well as a vast array of hand-dyed silk ribbons...plus much more. In addition, the grand prize winner gets a $50 gift certificate to ArtBeads.com who is one of the sponsors of this contest(the other sponsor is Rainbows of Light). Talk about heaven! There are several different levels of prizes so that many people can be winners.

The primary reason I am entering is I think it may help me think out of the box and grow as a jewelry artist...but don't get me wrong, a chest full of beautiful beads would also be wonderful! Wish me luck!

Fun With Gold

So my nephews gave me some gold-filled wire that has been really fun to work with! Made a few rings today...using some great freshwater pearls from The Purple Door in Jamestown and a big fat amethyst quartz I had in my bead collection. I think I am going to try some wire wrapping of pendants next so stay tuned!

What is gold filled wire you may ask?

Pure gold is 24Kt. and is so soft that is it impossible to utilize it in wire wrap jewelry. Gold filled wire is created by taking a sheet of 14 kt. Gold and bonding it through extreme heat and pressure to a core of semi-precious metal (brass). This is a very sophisticated process and only a few mills in the world do it. This process is not GOLD PLATING. There is a very big difference. The end result is a 14kt. tube which is strong, durable, and resistant to tarnish because of its 14 kt. gold covering. There is 100 times more gold in 14 kt. Gold filled (rolled gold) than in gold plate. A 14kt. gold filled piece is usually considered a lifetime piece of jewelry.

A Wonderful Holiday

I went down to Rhode Island for a family reunion and birthday party for my sister Pat and for me! It was great! My sister Jude lives down there and I stayed with her.

Hooked up with the Hermit Designer who is working on some interesting designs I'll be able to show you later on this summer!

My sister Pat and I went to a great bead store in Jamestown called The Purple Door (formerly Deb's Beads)! I bought some beads for this design I have been carrying around in my head for the longest time that uses two different types of chain and stones that reflect white and blue and gray and resemble what it feels like when you look at the moon at night. Found some really great black-gray jasper ovals to capture that moon like quality and some smaller stones that tie into the theme nicely.

What a great shop! It carries both beads and beading accessories and beautifully handcrafted jewelry pieces. If you are in or around Jamestown this summer...you should definitely stop in!

Okay, here's a tiny peek of what this moon necklace is beginning to look like...I am still in the early stages of design but I am soooo excited to show you!

Memorial Day Stretches On!

I'd like to extend my memorial day sale until May 31st! I am offering free shipping on each item bought during this week! Stock up on those birthday, wedding, and grad gifts....or pick a gift for yourself!!!!

Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day, wow, that happened fast! In honor of this special holiday I am lowering my prices for Memorial Day! EVERYTHING IS ON SALE!!! Some items have already been discounted and I took 50% off that already low price...check it out at my Zur Designs Shop on Etsy!

So can I whine a little? Everything I've read and anyone I talked to who is trying to make a living in jewelry design says the same thing: YOU END UP SPENDING MOST OF YOUR TIME IN THE BUSINESS END OF IT ALL...sometimes the creating piece gets lost! So that's what's been happening to me lately. Plus I am trying to learn some new techniques in chain and wire and metal so consequently the inventory development has slowed down as I practice, practice, practice.

But be patient dear friends...as I try to be with myself...because the new product lines with chain and wire as I grow stronger with this art form...are truly going to be inspiring and will definitely be worth the wait!

Mother's Day Sale!!

So I decided that Mom deserves something special this year...I slashed some prices in my Etsy Shop so you should definitely take a peek! All my newer creations are 10% off and some of the already discounted items are now 50% off. Check it out here!