Saturday 15 August 2015

Summertime ... things are slow ...

so I'm taking the opportunity to have a bit of a play with how my shops look online, update information and have a re-read of relevant SEO help and selling best practise.

Okay, so that all sounded very enthusiastic and professional.  Indeed the various links have been up on my laptop as I sew, but I confess there has been little reading and more watching ... I discovered the entire three series of Just Good Friends on You Tube and got hooked (Paul Nicholas was my absolute heart-throb as a teenager and I still have a soft spot for him).  Watching these back to back, hearing the theme tune over and over has resulted in lack of sleep due to my brain constantly playing the song in my head.  In a way, I'm pleased I've now finished the last episode - I can go back to watching the various TV catch up services - random progs of interest - and get rid of that darn tune!!

So, back to the "relevant reading".  I've come across a few excellent, helpful, articles on line:

For those with an Etsy shop I found this blog post by Erin Heaton, "14 tips from my first year selling on Etsy" very helpful indeed.  It's well written, easy to digest and has an additional link to basic SEO info for Etsy too - bonus!  You'll find you can't help but pop over and check out Erin's lovely shop while you're there.

This next article is a blog post from Folksy about pricing your work.  It's an area many will find difficult, including myself.  Occasionally I'll supply a shop with a small wholesale order and it's this that got me searching for a pricing update.  This blog post runs through everything about wholesale vs retail when it comes to pricing.  It's an interesting read and one I really need to start taking on board.

This last link I haven't yet read - it's a biggie!  From the website Moz, it's titled "The Beginner's Guide to SEO" and should be an enlightening read ... when I really have nothing else to do/watch/concentrate on!

Tweaking my shop has been fun.  Katie designed my new header (shown above) and small images (she's still tweaking one of them ... you know what it's like ... "working" with your 18 year old daughter).  I also decided to update my photo as it was long overdue.  Armed with my iphone, hair brushed and lippy applied, I headed out into the garden to snap away.  Felt a bit weird really ... I'm not one to take selfies and when I do I cringe at the results!
I see I took 81 photos which meant lots of sifting through, experimenting with black/white, sepia, contrast, brightness etc., and then narrowing it down to a few that were decent.  I'd chosen some with my specs, some without, hair tied back, hair loose, sultry look (well, sort of), smiley look ... then got my nearest and dearest to pick.








I agreed with his choice to start with...






but then switched to a smiley pic in the end and am happy with how it looks.

It's the first time I've taken a photo wearing my glasses (which I rely on more and more these days due to the close work needed for sewing).  Not many people have seen me with my specs on, so it was a bit of a surprise for them!





Hope you're all enjoying your summer and keeping busy.

PS - I just have to add this link to another exceptionally helpful blog ... it's right up there as one of the most inspirational blogs for craft sellers.





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