The Wedding Necklace

I wrote about my niece's antique crystal necklace several times in the past but I finally finished it!

I ended up going with sterling silver. In the end, I just couldn't use the bronze wire even though that's what was used on the back of the piece originally.

The piece de resistance was when I discovered Swarovski makes dragonfly wings!!! The dragonfly is a symbol of good fortune. My niece's uncle and graphic designer is Thai and chose the dragonfly for her invitations... not knowing the niece has a dragonfly tat! When I found the wings... that just cinched it!

Unfortunately, Swarovski doesn't make them with the AB coating but...they still look lovely! I strung similar beads into a dragonfly dangle at the back of her neck. I left the length adjustable as the bride has TWO dresses!

The piece came with a bracelet that is still in perfect condition but she also needed earrings. I made her a red set to go with the wedding colors...

and a more traditional pair that matched the necklace

You'll have to wait a few more months to see the whole look!

Analytics in Action

Before we get started, I wanted to remind everyone about the BIG Treasure Hunt and SALE going on with the Promo Frenzy team on Etsy! You can click on the pretty button to the right to read my post about it!

In last week's web marketing lesson, your "homework" was to get  Google analytics set up for your websites.If you did that, you should begin to see some results and start to know how people are finding you.

Memorial Beads is a HUGE keyword for one of my websites!

To view YOUR results: From the Analytics dashboard, click "View Report" beside the site you wish to access. In the left navigation, click Content / Content by title. Scroll down to the bottom of the window and tell it to show "100 rows."

Below is the top search results for my glass beads website.

 Followed by the results for my Artfire Site:

You may be surprised that the top results are different!  My Etsy search is also very different! But I have different goals for each site! And I have multiple sites for a whole other purpose which will come next in this series.

My own website is ultimately where I hope people shop. It costs me less money to maintain but it is more work... My favorite thing to make that I only offer there is Memorial Beads containing the cremains of a dearly departed loved one or pet. Because they are time consuming and require much interaction with a customer, I don't want to pony up a sales commission to another site on those!  So my main goal is to give plenty of information on memorial beads and to inform customer's who already like my work that my newest stuff is there.

As you can see, my #1 search term is memorial beads. #3, #4 and #8 is my business name or some form of it. I mentioned last week that people are often searching for glass cupcake beads so... I spread some of those out on every site I sell on. #7 proves my point.

My Artfire site is where I move my oldest work from my site to. I also use Artfire as my main holiday venue for timely sales: Valentines, Christmas, Halloween, Breast Cancer awareness items go directly there and, a few weeks later, on to Etsy. I do this because those sites provide lots of traffic quick. And I want to turn those items around faster. Big traffic is where Artfire and Etsy excel...IF you know how to stand out.

Because I'm a rubber stamp manufacturer, I designed a set of stamps with jewelry makers in mind. I have to make perfect sheets of these to go into stores... but I have lots of "seconds" where the images didn't come out of the stamp machines perfectly. I sell these on both Artfire and Etsy and am amazed at how many people find my beads by looking for those stamps!  I knew that people were looking for them en mass from the Analytics on my rubber stamp site. But by making my seconds  (The images are still perfect but instead of one sheet of 12 images... the buyer could get 12 perfect but separate images) available on these two sites with LOTS more traffic than I can ever hope to generate on my stamping site, I pick up bead customers as well!

Notice my #3 term on the Artfire example: rubber stamps for PMC. My Etsy results are the same...  Do research on Google's keyword tool. Are there any items similar or closely related to the inventory you already sell that you could add to your shop??

Are people zeroing in on one detail of an item in your shop that you could offer more of??? Example, people often start searching for Christmas lampwork glass beads right about... well... NOW. By paying attention to that phrase (you can download and save your keyword reports!) and noticing when traffic requests are on the rise, I know when it's time to start stocking my shops!

By taking a hunch from the Analytics tool (Gee someone searched for purple beads!) to the Keyword tool: I find that way more people are searching for BLUE glass beads. I know I need to go back into all my blue items and make sure "blue" is higher up in the tags!

I would love to hear from you guys what you've learned from Analytics this week and did it make you take action???

Next week: Your google footprint and...how to fix it!

Promo Frenzy Treasure Hunt

The Etsy marketing team I'm with is having a November promotion: Treasure Hunt. You hunt for "buried treasure" in the shops participating and when you find this photo, you've found the treasure!

In that listing will be a coupon code for that shop and a discount!
Here are a list of participating shops and their descriptions.

And I will give you a hint... My code is in my "jewelry" section! 

1. Trinkets N Whatnots - www.galla15.etsy.com
Handmade Button, Crystal and Pearl Jewelry

2. Sewinggranny - www.etsy.com/shop/sewinggranny
Sewn items - baby, kitchen, home decor, holiday

3. CalliopeAZCreations - www.calliopeazcreations.etsy.com
Handmade Jewelry, Medicine Stones, Decorated Feathers

4. jQ jewelry designs - www.jQjewelrydesigns.etsy.com
Gemstone Jewelry that is Classic ... with an Edge

5. KrystalsJewelry - www.krystalsjewelry.etsy.com
Intricate Handmade Jewelry of all styles for all tastes

6. rooee - www.rooee.etsy.com
Quilts & quilted things, cloth dolls, fabric postcards

7. PaintedMemoriesByRos.etsy.com
Fine Art Note Cards and Prints

8. Peelirohini.etsy.com
Colorful and Unique Sterling silver , Gold fill Jewelry with Genuine Gemstones and/or Polymer Clay

9. www.etsy.com/shop/SunnyCrystals
Crystal Tumblestones, Natural Gemtone Jewellery & Decoupage Cards plus a bit of Vintage Jewellery

10. Symbolic Imports - www.SymbolicImports.etsy.com
Handmade Bath & Body - Lip balms, Sugar Scrubs, Handmade Soaps, Perfumes & more!

11. Beautifulswagstore - www.etsy.com/shop/beautifulswagstore
hair accessories, dog toys, baby gift sets, home decor, gift wrapping

12. Bijibijoux- www.etsy.com/shop/bijibijoux
Handmade jewelry/ beads/ supplies -

13. Newcreationz - www.etsy.com/shop/NewCreatioNZ
Fine art and photography craft

14. BountyOfBeads - www.etsy.com/shop/bountyofbeads
Handmade Bead Dangle Drop Charm Sets and Trinity Brass Findings
Jewelry Making Supplies

15. Fair Lady Boutique - www.etsy.com/shop/fairladyboutique
A Beading Boutique with vintage beads + components, Czech glass, gemstones, and custom made bead mixes

16. HollysFollyGlass - www.etsy.com/shop/HollysFollyGlass
Fine and fun Lampwork Glass Beads by artist Holly Dare.

17. Glitterbird Glass - www.etsy.com/shop/GlitterbirdGlass
Home decor and jewelry made from beautiful fused glass.

18. CrochetedbyCharlene - www.etsy.com/shop/CrochetedbyCharlene
Beautiful crocheted afghans, accessories, and much more.

19. Camillescloset- www.etsy.com/shop/Camillescloset
Handmade jewelery items.

20. Prittify - www.etsy.com/shop/Prittyfy
Handmade Jewelry, Modern, Altered Art, Steampunk

21. Crystalphotography - www.etsy.com/shop/crystalphotography
Fine Art Photography Prints and Greeting Cards

22. iaFlowerPower - www.etsy.com/shop/iaFlowerPower
Whimsical Crocheted and Knitted Baby Hats and more

23. Gabby's Quilts - www.etsy.com/shop/GabbysQuilts
Handcrafted Quilts, Tablerunners, Wallhangings and Embroidered Gifts

24. CNJ Ceramics - www.etsy.com/shop/CNJCeramics
Contemporary Clay Jewelry and Home Decor

25. LostLemonade - www.etsy.com/shop/LostLemonade
Body Care Products made to cleanse, moisturize and soothe

26. RomanticThoughts - RomanticThoughts.etsy.com
Handcrafted Jewelry, PreMade Scrapbook Pages, Vintage Items and More

27. Ooh Leela! - isabelafelix.etsy.com
Handmade dish towels and trendy accessories

28. KatersAcres - katersacres.etsy.com
Polymer Clay Creations, Trinkets, & Treasures with a Whimsical Feel

29. Magda - magdamagdaFashion.etsy.com
custom clothing, accessories and supplies

30. Ugly Duckling Beads - www.etsy.com/shop/uglyducklingbeads
Handmade glass beads, digital collage sheets, tutorials, and jewelry

31. BellaTheBead - www.bellathebead.etsy.com
Handcrafted jewelry and supplies with vintage soul

32.IdeasBloom - www.ideasbloom.etsy.com
Handcrafted decorative wreaths

33. Greenhouse Glassworks - www.greenhouseglassworks.etsy.com
Fused Glass Jewelry, Stained Glass Home Decor, and Handmade Cards and Tags

34. Five Supplies - Five0101.etsy.com
All the supplies you need to create

35. TheMayFlower Fashions - themayflower.etsy.com
Fun & Stylish Fashion Designs for Women

36. Something Wyrd- www.SomethingWyrd.Etsy.com
Handcrafted jewelry and beaded charms

37. iluvmarin - iluvmarin.etsy.com
Greeting cards, scrapbooks, cupcake toppers, & festive banners

38. Lexilouflowers - www.etsy.com/shop/LexiLouFlowers?ref=si_shop
Hair Accessories, Feather headbands, and Hair ties

39. Mt Baldy Glassworks www.mtbaldyglass.etsy.com
fused glass jewelry and home decore

40. LexiekinPrints - www.etsy.com/shop/LexiekinPrints
Personalized, customized and Printable Invitations, tags, cards and more!

41. Turtlexiii- www.turtlexiii.etsy.com
Sterling Silver Jewelry with Swarovski Crystals and Pearls, Gemstones & more.

42. IsabellesAttic- www.isabellesattic.etsy.com
aprons, accessories, baby items and more

43. AshlynDesign - www.ashlyndesign.etsy.com
Artisan handmade lampwork beads, metal charms, and finished jewelry

44. eveyinorbitshop - www.eveyinorbitshop.etsy.com
Mixed media art, original aceo and zines.

45. Suzie Tenzer - www.susietenzer.etsy.com
Original fine art paintings and prints

46. LindaB - www.lindab142.etsy.com
Artisan crafted beaded and wire wrapped jewelry, Jewish jewelry and accessories, wire beaded kippot

47. DellCoveSpices - dellcovespices.etsy.com
hand mixed spices, magnetic spice kits, cocktail sugars & margarita salts, organic popcorn, popcorn toppings & other treats

48. OverTheMoonGifts - overthemoongifts.etsy.com
personalized gifts, accessories, and home decor

49. craftycreations81 - www.etsy.com/shop/craftycreations81
Peacock feather items, wedding items and items for newborns/children

50. nan gates designs - www.nangatesdesigns.etsy.com
Fabric handbags, totes and accessories 


So come on over, join the fun searching for buried treasure!!!

Clearance Sale on Artfire

I'm hosting a glass bead clearance sale on Artfire until the 31st! 20% off everything in my Fall / Winter holidays category with coupon code Spooky11.

You will find Christmas items:

Halloween items

 


Fall glass beads:

And a few goodies I moved there just for the sale! ;-)

It's a good time to stock up and prepare for the holidays!

Analytics

This is the beginning of a new Wednesday marketing series I'm going to write for the small business person. What qualifies me to write this? I've worked in advertising for decades. And the last several years I have taken numerous classes devoted to web marketing and run my own experiments in SEO (That's Search Engine Optimization for you newbies). I've gotten an education by trial and error.

One of the things I've learned from analytics is that people frequently look for cupcake glass beads so I always make sure I have some in every shop! .

I was going to begin with the importance of a Facebook Fan page... but I quickly realized that is putting the cart before the horse. Before you can start implementing changes, you have to understand what people are searching for when they find you, which of those searches benefit you and your business and which don't.

And the most powerful tool to do that with is Google Analytics. It is excellent and FREE! If you have a blogger account, you already have a google account. If you have set up anaylitics, just hit the blue ACCESS button. If not, hit signup below the blue button and do the basic account set up. Once there, you want to scroll to the bottom and add a website profile.  Enter the address and it will give you some code to paste into your website.

If you are an Etsy or Artfire seller, you will have to turn on Google analytics from within those apps. And even though you can check your stats on those websites, the analytics site is much more thorough in helping you understand what's going on and how people are finding you.

Why do you need to know how people are finding you?? To make it easier to find you! For that, you need to do a little research on what people search for...with another free google tool, called the Keyword Tool. (Did I mention?? Google ROCKS!)

Head over there and enter every possible search term for finding your business. Here's the one I did:

And even though I only typed in five search terms, Google gives me a whole page of suggestions...ones I've taken to heart (and action!).

The first thing I see is that glass beads is a far more common search term than lampwork beads...but still that 27,000 hits I have the potential to capitalize on... so I work BOTH terms into my keywords.

I also learned that many people are looking to buy them wholesale. And while I can't really do this on my Etsy / Artfire sites, I can offer wholesale glass beads on my glass beads website. Hey... did you notice how I just used top level key words in my two links??? That's how it's done! You should be blogging with your keywords as well!

Your homework this week is to get your anayltics set up and to snoop around keywords for your items. If you can, use those keyword suggestions in your listings titles, copy and tags.

Basic Black

It was my turn to create a collection for the Fire Divas on Artfire this week:

Its so Basic

Curated By: HollysFollyGl...

ArtFire.com

Sludge

Glass workers always keep a cup of water on their work stations. You never know when you may have to douse a fire! Seriously...not too often...but, it is a handy place to dispose of unwanted bits of hot glass and many a wonky bead dies a fast death there.

Since it had been a few weeks since I torched, my water cup had dried up! When I picked it up to refill it, I was kinda shocked at how heavy it was. My 8" tall cup was over half full of glass and graphite sludge! So I poured it out on a metal pan and took a pic:

I can see the remnants of a couple of vessels, lots of cane pulls, half beads and bunches of glass!

Still Creating...Just Not with Beads!

Whew! What an absolutely nutty week last week was! I was busy and creating every day...just not always with beads!

• I had a large wholesale wood mounted stamp order that took THREE 12 - 18 hours days.
• This was interrupted by a product rollout at the restaurant chain that I make food safe rubber stamps for. Every day last week, my work -day was interrupted by overnight rush orders. 
• My personal favorite head - shaker of the week: Shipping a $4 item overnight at a cost of  25 bucks! And I had shipped an overnight order to the same location the day before! If you wonder why corporate America is in the toilet... I would say it's lack of foresight and planning!
• Taught a crazy kumihimo class! I love watching people "get it!" Photos on that next week!
• Had a cookie class cancel and suddenly rebook when more people signed up. Had to cram three days of prep into ONE! 
• In all the crazy hours I worked last week, I still got in one torch session...but only made boobies to fill custom orders... sigh! 

Since I have nothing beady to show... Here's a pic of my work table:

Praying this week is just a little calmer!

Treasuries and Collections Galore!

I will say one thing for joining a more active promotions team: I've been in treasuries and collections A LOT lately!! Check some of them out:

'Black Halloween' by gbrosseau

Dark Orange and Pea... Brigite $25.00	Linocut PRINT - Bri... srajab1 $23.00	Needle Felted Acorn... NatureFelt $30.00	Spider necklace Got... DoBatsEatCats $40.00
Fringe Scarves Hall... FlorasFinest $19.95	Wings of Night TaviaSanza $20.00	ten vintage large b... artyfactz $199.00	Ornate Orange Black... GiltyGirlVinta... $27.00
Halloween Orange Ca... steffie97 $10.00	Vintage Glamorous 1... HOTEL1953 $120.00	Halloween orange bl... HollysFollyGla... $16.00	Web Cape Handmade B... kiamichi7 $65.00
Raven Leather Mask AnnieLibertini $75.00	Felt Bead Necklace ... felttess $25.00	Orange and Silver P... unashooshie $15.00	Gothic CHOKER Skele... ash2ash $39.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

'Fall is Here!' by overthemoongifts

This collection was inspired by my favorite time of the year

Crocheted Bathroom ... ProdigyCrafts $27.99	Save the Boobies Ti... HollysFollyGla... $8.50	Goldstone & Crystal... RomanticThough... $20.00	Lotion, Shea Butter... LostLemonade $5.00
Scarf and Rose Chif... magdamagda $9.90	Pillow Covers 26x26... beckorama $55.00	Pumpkin thank you n... TheCraftingPla... $3.50	Cocktail rim sugar ... dellcovespices $3.75
Trio of Pumpkins crochetedbycha... $15.00	Newborn Pumpkin Hat PetuniaandIvy $20.00	Candy Corn Lampwork... TurtleXIII $15.00	Fall CHUBBY OWL - P... toystorynutty $6.50
Halloween Soap - Ca... SymbolicImport... $6.00	Fall Wreath Autumn ... IdeasBloom $65.00	Autumn Inspired Boo... nickollette113 $12.00	Fine Art Photograph... Crystalphotogr... $40.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And you know I love my Divas!

Purple Passion from the Fire Divas

Curated By: AmySimsDesigns

ArtFire.com

Please check these out and give them some clicky love and tweets!!! Believe me, handmade artisans so appreciate the attention!