Social Media Scheduling Made Easy

Grow Your Small Business Using Social Media

Almost all of us know that social media is powerful in reaching multitudes of people and getting your message to your ideal customer.  Yet for those of us with a handmade business, where we design and create our products, photograph our products, and post them online for sale, time management is a constant challenge.

How do you find the time to post your content and promote your products throughout the various social media networks?  

1. You can stop at various times throughout each day to create and post your social media content on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, and Tumblr.  But if you do that, can you really fulfill your orders or make anything new for your shop? 
2. You can just focus on one social media network and post on it several times a day.  This is more manageable. But is it a good marketing strategy to put all your eggs in one basket?
3. You can choose a scheduling app to post your content for you to the channels you want them to go to. You need to decide what you want to post, and then tell the app what should go out when and where. 

Use Social Media Scheduling for Best Results

I found Viraltag to be the best social media scheduling app for me.  It is a pleasure to use this tool, and it works with many different social media networks. Viraltag is a "Marketing Platform for the Visual Web". Their goal is to help you grow your brand by using the power of images.

Connect to -

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
• Tumblr

Once you connect to your preferred social networks, you will find the Viraltag logo at the bottom right of images online or you may upload an image from your files.  These photos can be selected and posted to your social media accounts at the timing you prefer.

In the screen shot below, you will see that I chose a photo of a product from my shop, clicked on Viraltag, and it now appears in my Viraltag scheduler. From here I can write a description, add or change a link, and choose the social media networks on which I want to share this image. I can then add it to my queue which places it in the next time slot for the network I chose, I can schedule it for some other time, or I can post it immediately.

This is a quick process.  Once you have scheduled some posts to social media, you may go to your dashboard on Viraltag to see what is scheduled for the various dates, times and social media networks. You can edit from this page. You can see below that I have one posting for Facebook, one for Pinterest, and one for Twitter.  They will each post at the same time.  This can all be edited or deleted.

If you want to design or tweak an image, you can click on Content from the menu on the left, and then you have the option to design your perfect image in Canva for the social media network you are using.  The best thing about this is that by clicking on the Design in Canva button Viraltag sends you directly to Canva.  You can then create your design there perfectly proportioned for the social media network you have chosen. You then simply click on Publish and Viraltag brings you back to their app to finish writing a description and posting your design.  So smooth!

Now, we all know that we should be measuring the results of our efforts.  Viraltag comes to the rescue on that as well.  Viraltag displays all your recent posts and lets you know the shares, likes, and comments you have received.   See the screenshot below for an example of that.

I hope you will give Viraltag a try for scheduling your social media images.  The team there is very responsive if you need help, and they provide education as well.  Words cannot express how good I feel about having this tool available.  Now I can focus on my social media calendar once or twice a week and then go about my business of designing products, making them, photoing them and selling them to my customers.

Note:  I am updating this post on 1/12/16 to let you know that I am now an affiliate of Viraltag.  Please click on the Viraltag ad in the sidebar of this blog if you wish to join.  They will provide me with credit toward my monthly fee if you join through my affiliate link.

Handmade at Amazon - A New Venue to Buy and Sell Handcrafted Items

Thursday, October 8,2015 was the big day.  Many serious artisans of handcrafted items were waiting for Amazon to launch their new Handmade at Amazon platform.  Artists applied to be a part of this group of people allowed to sell their wares on Amazon.

Do You Work Your Art?

Interview by Debbie at Work Your Art

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Debbie for a featured post on her website called Work Your Art.  It was a wonderful experience.

Debbie had a lot of good questions for me that required me to really focus on my business of selling workplace fashion ids.  You can read the full interview in her article "A conversation with LeAllyson Meyer from Colorado, USA."

What Do You Do to Work Your Art?

There are so many ways to work your art to get it noticed by those who are interested in what you have to offer.  The opportunities to sell online abound these days.  There are so many options, it is difficult to choose a path and settle on it.

Here are some ways to work your art.

• Sell it at craft shows
• Sell it at galleries and boutiques
• Sell it online through a marketplace such as Etsy, Zibbet or Amazon
• Sell it through your own website hosted by an online venue that provides templates, selling tools and support such as Shopify, Big Commerce or Volusion.
• Sell it through your own website on Wordpress or Blogspot by choosing a theme or plug-in that supports e-commerce.
• Send out emails to people who sign up to receive notice of your sales and new products
• Set up a shop on Facebook
• Run Facebook ads
• Regularly post on social media such as Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and Google+.
• Focus on obtaining exposure through magazines, blogs and other media

I certainly cannot find time to do all of these things.  Some fit my style better than others.

From all I know and read, the key to success with any of this is consistency.  I personally am consistent on my Etsy site and my Plum Beadacious website.  I am achieving results and growth there.  But I am not consistent in blogging, email newsletters, and social media.  I need to improve.

Education Lights a Fire

I have found that educating myself on new techniques, improvements I can make and e-commerce business really lights my fire.  I attended two days of webinars presented by Creative Live on Monday and Tuesday of this week.  These full day webinars were presented by Andreea Ayers of Launch,Grow,Joy.  The first day covered optimizing your website, and the second day covered Facebook marketing.  Both were excellent, and I took copious notes.

These webinars were free to me for those two days.  They are now available for a fee through Creative Live.  My point is there is so much free education available, it is amazing!  I have so many tasks to complete from the notes I took those two days, it could take the rest of this year to do all of them.

I know that paying a fee for some of the more in depth education would be worth it, but for now, I plan to take the best of what I obtain for free and apply it.  Later I can delve even deeper with paid education or consultants.

Outstanding People Who Educate on Selling Your Art

Debbie - of  Work Your Art

Andreea Ayers  of  Launch, Grow, Joy

Amy Porterfield  - Social Medial Strategist

James Wedmore - online Video Expert

Melanie Duncan - Pinterest Expert

Tara Gentile  - Business Coach

If you are marketing your artistic creations, let us know what you like to do.  What works for you? Let's start a conversation.

Resolve to be Resolved - Too Many Choices

Resolve is a Loaded Word -

I am not much for New Year's resolutions anymore, but I am one to plan and make goals. Anyhow I have "resolved" to revitalize this blog and to become more consistently active on social media sites. What's not to like about that, right?

So I knew right off the top of my head that these two goals are of importance to me and to growing my business. So now what? Ah, that's where the difficulties spew forth and overwhelm me. It comes down to too many choices.

Thinking It Through

I am a start from the very beginning kind of gal and look at everything in detail. Personality tests always categorize me as analytical. Good strength don't you think? Well for every strength there is usually a corresponding weakness. Mine is that I can analyze things to death, and not make a move to do anything.

Let's look at my first goal - revitalize my website.  Here is where my brain went on this one.

1. My first resolve was to analyze what blogging platform I really wanted to use.

• I have an old blog on Blogger.  It's pretty easy and straightforward to use.  I don't know how to fancy it up the way I would like, and not sure if I can do that on Blogger.
• This blog is on WordPress.org.  Wow, do I ever struggle to create the look I want here.  But WOW - what can be done when you do know what you are doing is fantastic.
• I looked at other possible platforms, and did a quick trial run of Squarespace.  It is nice, but a whole new learning curve for me.
• I finally decided to stay here on WordPress.org and to work hard to learn more about using it.

     2. Once I settled that after many hours looking at excellent published blogs, and at Blogger,Wordpress.org and Squarespace, I decided I had spent too long on the first step, and headed to the second step, to improve the look and quality of this site.  So then I tried out multiple different themes, and finally came back to the same one I have been using.  It is the Adorable theme from Pretty Darn Cute, and uses the Genesis framework.

     3. Next I started trying to develop a new header, so headed over to Canva.  I spent many hours there trying out different ideas.  Meanwhile, I had looked at a blog called Mom Gets Real and was drawn to the colorful header, design of the site,and the fact that you can know what to do to find information there.  I used her header as inspiration to design the one I have on my site right now.

Choices, Choices, Choices

This all took most of my time for over two weeks.  Most of the problem for me was making choices from all the possibilities out there.  I love so many choices, but I also love looking at every choice available to me.  You could spend the rest of your life doing that.

Words that would come out of my mouth during this process:

• I am so confused!
• I could scream!
• I don't know why I want to blog anyhow!
• I could just bang my head on this desk!

At least I just said these things to myself. LOL!

I still need to tackle my second "resolve" to be consistently active on social media sites.  I need to do much better at my decision making on this one.  I do know I should focus on one or two social media sites and actively participate in them.  So which do I choose?  Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram?

Oh no, my head hurts again!

Do you have any helpful hints to deal with too many choices?  Does that plague you as well?  Leave your comments below.

If you liked this article you may also wish to read more on dealing with choices in this post, Constraints, Ignite Your Creativity.

Do You Have a Pinterest Business Page?

I like Pinterest!

Do you have a Pinterest business page for your small business?  I use Pinterest for my business, and find that by doing so I receive some traffic from my Pinterest page to my shop.

How to create a good Pinterest business page

I received an email from Mitt Ray at Social Marketing Writing that provides an excellent infographic describing the steps that need to be taken to set up a good Pinterest business page.  Take a look at it here to see if you are doing these things on you Pinterest business page.  If not, you may wish to do some of this to enhance your presence on Pinterest and drive more traffic to your shop.

Please visit Mitt Ray's website Social Marketing Writing for other valuable information about Pinterest.

5 Favorite Business Blogs

I spend a lot of time reading business blogs each day. I need to educate myself on blogging, e-commerce, social media and small business, and this has been a wonderful way to do so. I have come up with a list of my favorite business blogs that continue to provide me with relevant up to date information.

What is a business blog?

Business blogs cover a very wide range.  The ones that I favor cater to the small business owner who operates an on-line business.  These are so good for those of us who work on our business from an office or studio in our homes.  Business blogs, just like lifestyle blogs can vary considerably from one another. That is what keeps them interesting and why I follow a number of them. The business blogs that I like speak to real people, and they do not assume that I have lots of prior knowledge about their topics.

My Top 5 Business Blogs

Sits Girls -

This blog is all about the art and science of blogging.  If you write a blog or if you are contemplating doing so, this website is the place to be.  This business blog provides you so very many resources, and they feature the work of many other bloggers.  My connecting with them, you are able to connect with the blogging community.  I need to utilize their resources more than I have done.

Blogging Tips -

What I like the most about this business blog from  Zac Johnson is that he utilizes many blogging experts to write and publish posts.  Each post is a little different and provides the flavor of the blogger writing the post.  I found a new blog that I listed below when reading one of the posts on his blog.  If you are a blogger check out this business blog.

Here is a photo of Zac and his dog from his about page.

Social Media Examiner -

This business blog is a treasure trove of information.  I have to admit, the beautiful graphic of a hunter searching through the jungle with a magnifying glass and the tagline "Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle" grabbed me right away. Michael Steltzner is the founder of this remarkable website that calls itself a social media magazine.  The podcasts are wonderful as are the articles.  This is another of those sites that you can spend hours perusing.  You can learn so much from the information presented in this business blog.

Buffer -

I like to use the Buffer app to schedule postings on my Facebook page.  They also have a business blog that is awesome.  They have articles about many aspects of doing online business. Check it out and enjoy the read.  Here is an info-graphic from their content today.

HubSpot

This blog addresses all kinds of business needs.  Some are for larger business with lots of employees, and others are for any size business.  I have been receiving their posts by email for a number of years.  One of my favorite things about HubSpot is that they write and provide downloads of lots of educational materials.  They have information on developing email lists, writing blogs, using social media, SEO and more.  You may find that they ask you to sign up for their programs which cost money.  If you do not want to do that, just let them know that.  They will still continue to provide the free information.

Please comment below to share with us any good business blogs that you read

5 Ways a Blog is Like a Message in a Bottle

How is a blog like a message in a bottle?

1. Message in bottle bobs around in the ocean

The vision most of us have of a message in a bottle is one of the bottle bobbing around in a huge ocean that covers masses of the earth's surface.  It is a vision of the bottle being by itself in the middle of nowhere.

How is this like a blog? A blog is out on the worldwide web amidst millions of other blogs and yet is all alone in trying to connect up with others.  It is bobbing around on the internet if it has no direction given to it.

2. Message in bottle lands on a beach

A bottle is picked up by a current in the ocean and eventually may land on a beach somewhere.

A blog may also find its way into a current of information on the internet.  Perhaps the blog has some good keywords in it. It may land in front of a reader's eyes, but are they the eyes the blog was intended to reach?

3. Message in bottle is noticed by a person on the beach

Once the bottle is on the beach, someone may notice there is a bottle on the beach.

Someone surfing the worldwide web may notice the blog there.

4. Message in bottle is picked up by the person who found it

A person needs to want to open the bottle on the beach.  Does the message paper show through the glass bottle? If the bottle is clear, or an interesting shape, or perhaps it looks really old, the person may be curious to see what is inside.  If it is an old beer bottle, most likely the person will not even see that there is a message inside it.  The person may not even pick it up.

Again, the same is true of a blog. Is the title intriguing enough to grasp the full interest of the person who has found it on the worldwide web? Does it hold promise for the reader?  Does it look like it will answer a question for the reader or solve a problem for the reader?

5. Message in bottle is read by the finder and shared with friends

The person who picks up the bottle, retrieves the message.  It may intrigue him, and if so, he will most likely share his find with others, and may keep the bottle and the message as a treasured keepsake.

If someone clicks on the blog with the intriguing title, he will read it.  He may find it contains valuable information that he wants to share with his friends.  He may post it on Facebook or some other social media. It becomes a treasure to him to bookmark.  It may cause him to subscribe to the blog so he can receive more valuable messages.

If you write a blog, what are you doing to make sure it gets in the right current to be noticed and read by the right people?  How do you grab their attention and provide excellent content so that your reader will find your messages to be a treasure just like the message in a bottle?

Etsy Pocket Shop - Add One to Your Website

What is an Etsy Pocket Shop?

Have you noticed blogs and other websites that display a small version of the owner's Etsy shop at the side of the page?  Some people add what is called an Etsy mini to the page, and some use a widget developed by Craft Cult to add an Etsy Pocket Shop to the page.

Features of a Craft Cult Etsy Pocket Shop

The Craft Cult Pocket Shop has some additional features that I like.  There are tiny tabs across the top of it.  The visitor to your website can click on those for more information about your Etsy site.

• Shop tab - provides scrolling pictures of the items for sale in your shop.  The visitor may click on this to go to that item in your Etsy shop.
• Info tab - provides key information about your Etsy shop including number of items for sale and number of items sold.
• Hearts tab - provides access to a list of all the people who have hearted an item or your shop
• Feedback tab - provides your feedback comments from your Etsy shop starting with the most recent.

How to add an Etsy Pocket Shop to your Website

Take a look at my Pocket Shop at the right, and at the bottom left of it you will see the words "get a widget".  Click on that to go to the Craft Cult page that will give you the tools to put together your own Pocket Shop.  After you enter your Etsy username, you will see a variety of choices to be made for the style of your Pocket Shop.  Choose one of those.  I am using "vintage postcard".  Then you will need to select the style of animation you would like to use.  I am using "slide".  The next step is to specify how you want your items to display.  There are a number of selections available there.  Finally, click on Get Widget.  An HTML code will display for you.

Copy the code and paste it into the appropriate area on your website.  I am using WordPress.org so I paste the code into the side bar of my design using a Widget under Appearance.  If you are not sure how to do this, consult the Craft Cult Widgets page for instructions for your platform.

All of the instructions to create your widget are also available at the Craft Cult site  .

Celebrating 1000 Sales on Etsy

I am so excited!  I hit a milestone today.  I made my one thousand sales on Etsy!  To my wonderful customers, THANK YOU!

I started my current shop Plum Beadacious on Etsy in February 2008, so it took 6 full years to get to this point.  I was so green then, and lacked the knowledge I needed to be a successful handmade entrepreneur.  At that time I took some photos of my limited number of jewelry items, wrote what I thought was a good description, and posted them for sale.  I would go a month or so between sales, and I did not attend to it as well as I should have.

Yet it was a constant dream of mine to create beautiful jewelry and sell in on Etsy.  I bought books on the subject, read the information on Etsy, and constantly scoured the internet for help and advice on everything including identifying my market, taking good photos, writing good descriptions, pricing my work, and social media to get the word out.

Although I hit this milestone that seemed as though it would never come, it is pointing me onward to reach the next milestone.  I truly enjoy doing this business and would love to share with you about selling handmade products online.  If I can help someone else along the way, that would be wonderful.

Enjoy each facet of your small business or whatever it is that you do.

Etsy Sellers - Have You Been Treasured?

Where are your Etsy Treasuries?

Hey there Etsy Sellers!  Do you know how to find out if you have been treasured in an Etsy treasury?  You may not always receive a convo from the creator of the treasury to let you know.  You may find out if you scroll through your Shop Activity on your Etsy Dashboard.  But if you don't do that everyday, you could miss knowing about the treasury.  I love to know when one of my items has been featured.  So to find out every time you have been included in a treasury, you can use a nice simple online tool.  You can also copy the widget for that treasury and post it somewhere for everyone to see.

Craft Cult is the place to be to answer your questions.  When you go to this site, you will find a number of topics across the top of the page.  If you click on the one called Widgets, it takes you a page where you can select Treasury to find out if you have ever been included in any Etsy treasuries.

Etsy Treasuries

When you choose Treasury, you need to complete the following:

1. Enter your user name in the field provided and press Enter.
2. Select the button labeled "Lists Featuring" to find all the treasuries that people have made that include an item from your shop.
3. You will need to wait a bit.  Craft Cult will then display the number of treasuries that have featured your work. I think 100 is the highest it goes, because mine always says 100 at this point even when I am added to a new treasury.
4. Click on the dropdown arrow in the box below and a list of all the treasuries that include your products will appear.  Just choose one and click on it. A tiny thumbnail of it will appear to the right.
5. To get the code for this treasury to use on your website, go to step three and choose a size that you would like the treasury to be on your website.  You may need to experiment with this depending upon where you are placing it on your page or post.  I use full size when I post them on my Etsy Treasuries page.  The one I used on this post is also full size.  Full size loads more slowly than the smaller sizes.
6. Then click on snapshot or dynamic.  I choose snapshot.  Dynamic treasuries will change if a product is removed from Etsy.  Snapshot will show what originally was placed into the treasury.
7. Click on Get Widget, and the html code for that widget appears.  Copy that code and paste it into your website in a place that accepts HTML code.
These treasuries are so pretty.  Remember that when you post a treasury, you are also spreading the Etsy Love.  There are many seller featured on each treasury.


Share the Etsy Love!

Packaging Jewelry for Shipping to Your Customer

How do you package your jewelry before shipping it to your customer? If you are a buyer, what do you want to see when your package arrives?  From my experience, a buyer wants a special experience when purchasing a handmade item.  I have found a way to do this that is fun for me and for the customer. I have developed a way to package my jewelry items to send to my customers that meets with their approval.

This is not gift wrap. It is my normal everyday wrap when someone purchases an item from my shop. I want them to feel good about the purchase from the moment they open the envelope. I use a 6x9 padded mailer envelope, so that provides a good sturdy shipping envelope for the small items I send out. For larger orders, I go to a small priority shipping box. Once the customer opens the envelope and pulls out the item, here is what she sees.

I use small cello bags.  In this case I use Wilton bags designed for cookies and such.  This is the Garden Party theme.  It is my favorite.  I place the item into an organza bag, wrap that in a thin foam packing sheet, and place it and a couple of my business cards into the cello bag.  Then a cute sticker that I ordered from an Etsy seller is used to close the bag.  It provides a thank you, my name, and my website address.  I also add a receipt into the envelope. When the customer opens the cello bag and removes the foam packing, she sees the item in an organza bag.  I try to color coordinate with the jewelry if I can. 

 I have been surprised to hear back from some of my customers about the packaging once they receive their order.  I am delighted with their responses.  Here is some of the feedback I have received.

 I loved the way it was packaged, made it fun and exciting to open.~ Becky 

Packaged beautifully in gift pouches ~Sophia 

It came in a lovely gift wrapping that made gifting it perfect.~ Christine 

The packaging was almost too pretty to open.~Merry 

There are many creative ways to package your items for shipping.  Please share with us what you do for this.

Handmade Spark - You Gotta Love It!

I can't prove it, but I think Handmade Spark is one of the best things going for Etsy sellers!  I joined Handmade Spark on July 29, 2010 paying only $6.00 for a month's membership.  This site allows an Etsy seller to have a mini-site on www.handmadespark.com.

This site has good articles and SEO, which means it gets traffic!  So....

I signed up on 7/29/10.  At that time I had sold 23 items on my Plumbeadacious Etsy site in two years.  I have been listing/relisting about five items a day for several months, and my last sale was on July 15.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE! I sold three items to different new customers from the time I signed up on 7/29 through yesterday, August 1.  Hooray!

Take a look at what I sold.  Each of these items has been listed on Etsy for a long time.

Yellow Millefiori Bracelet sold on July 30

Under the Sea Earrings sold on August 1

Pink Flower Violet Leaf Earrings sold on August 1

I Joined 1000 Markets

Are you familiar with the new venue, 1000 Markets? It is one of the most inspiring and professional markets for handcrafted goods that I have seen.

1000 Markets is an exciting place to be. The structure of the sight and the diversity of the artisans contibute to the feeling that you have stepped into a live bustling open air market, and that new experiences that delight the senses wait for you at every corner. Just like in a large open air market, you can spend hours letting your fingers stroll from one shop to another, never sure of when you will have seen everything. Yet you can also use all the technical aspects of the modern day internet, and key in specific searches to find just the item you want.

I am so honored to be accepted as a seller there. I spent a lot of time looking at the various markets and shops there, and studying what made them good. The quality of work, the quality of the photos, and the unique banners all contribute to this high level of professionalism. Please take a few minutes to visit my Plum Beadacious shop at 1000 Markets.

Do You Use Facebook?

I read somewhere the other day the use of Facebook by women over the age of 55 has increased 175% in something like the last six months. Can you believe it? I suppose I am one of those women. I never used it much because I couldn't figure out what to do with it.

Now I am getting into the groove and using it to show my newest jewelry. Another idea I saw for use of Facebook is to provide special discounts to those who visit my page and become a fan. I am going to try that too.

Social Networking is not easy for me. It does not come naturally. Still and all I am determined to get the hang of this because I love making jewelry, and I thoroughly enjoy learning all the new things that I come across on the internet. I am so fortunate to have this opportunity to market my work without having to physically travel all over the country.

Let me know what your experiences are. Do you have some tips? If so, please submit them to me for consideration to post here with a link to your shop.

Oh! By the way, become a fan on my Facebook page. See my newest jewelry there, and I will offer specials there for purchases through my Etsy shops.

Here's my newest posting on my Plum Beadacious Etsy shop.

Valentine's Day Jewelry Live Event

I am so pleased that I have been invited to submit photos of some of my Filigree Romance jewelry to Mona Hair for her Live Event broadcast on NowLive. This is an internet based video broadcast, and you can listen to it at http://www.nowlive.com/showid/63074. Please join her on January 18 at 12 pm PST, 2 pm CST or 3 pm EST. She will be featuring a number of jewelry designers on this show. You will need a userid to join the broadcast. Go to www.nowlive.com/support to sign up. You can also call into the show to comment by clicking on the Call Show button and following the system instructions.

Mona may be featuring some of the following pieces from my Filigree Romance shop.

Jewelry Marketing Successes

Sometimes I have trouble seeing how far I've come because I can see how far I still have to go to meet my goals. Does that ever happen to you? If you are creating handcrafted jewelry and selling it, do you feel like you are succeeding at what you want to accomplish?

When I look at the numbers and all the time I put into trying to sell my jewelry, I sometimes get discouraged. So I decided to stop and look back over 2008 to see what I did in the last year. I was pretty surprised!

• I doubled my overall jewelry sales last year from the year before. This was combined online, craft show and word of mouth sales.
• I started this blog.
• I redesigned my website, www.plumbeadacious.com and now publish it via a different web host.
• I redesigned one of my Etsy shops, www.leallyson.etsy.com to focus on Filigree Romance jewelry
• I joined ShowMeEtsy, an Etsy street team, and participated in one of their craft sales.
• I've tried a little bit of social networking.

What are your successes? Please leave comments to share them. Celebrate your successes!

A few items I sold this last year:

New Website on GoDaddy

After two years of hosting my website with CityMax, I decided to start over and create a website using GoDaddy's Website Tonight. I am so pleased with this site builder. It is very user friendly, and I can preview my updates prior to publishing them. That was not possible with CityMax unless I created a whole new page and kept it hidden, and then replaced the old page with the new. See my new PlumBeadacious site hosted by GoDaddy.

I also decided not to have my own shopping cart on my site. Everything is listed on my Etsy shop, and the new website will link customers through to Etsy. When I tried to list jewelry on my own website and on Etsy, it became difficult to track what was for sale where. Sometimes I had things posted both places, and sometimes I found that I didn't have certain items listed at all.

Watercolor Blues Necklace and Earrings Set

Have You eBayed Today?

Lime Green Swirl Lampwork Earrings for sale - eBay- plumbeadacious2

Red & Pink Lampwork Earrings - on sale at eBay - plumbeadacious2

I am trying eBay again to market my jewelry. I've tried before and almost gave my jewelry away by starting with $.01 auctions and $.99 auctions. Bidding frenzies just did not happen for me. My bidders are cool and collected. They sit back and watch.

For the last three weeks I have posted earrings on eBay after doing some serious studying of keywords and categories. I priced my earrings at $6.49 per pair, the rock bottom I could take without actually losing the money I put into them. I've got about a 30% sales success, which for eBay is just fine. Unfortunately, I have yet to work up a bidding frenzy with my customers, but I have had a few small bidding tussles between bidders. Here are some of my most recent sold items.

Craft Fair Frenzy

Aah! I am home and comfy after a long day as a vendor at a craft fair. Today was an unseasonably cold and windy day here in St. Louis. The craft show was indoors which was good because lots of people came. They could not work outside in their yards, but they wanted to get out and do something. I am pleased with the sales I made at the craft show. My earrings were popular, and many compliments poured into my happy ears especially about the flower earrings. Here are a few of the items I sold

Spring Craft Show

Wow! It has been way too long since I posted anything here on my blog. I have been working diligently everyday to prepare for the craft show that I am participating in this weekend. I have everything boxed up, displays loaded, receipt books ready, etc. We set up tonight on Friday. I am pleased that I have this opportunity to set up the day before the show. That way if something is not quite right, I can try to make it right for tomorrow.

The weather should be good tomorrow but still cool. The show is inside at Lindbergh High School. See the details here at Plum Beadacious. I will be introducing my Cottage Garden Collection and my Filigree Romance Collection. Wish me well!