How To Write Good Copy

Once customers are dazzled by your photography and are visually interested in your product,they’re going to read your copy to see if it matches the picture they see. If the picture and the words don’t feel right together, you’re going to lose the sale. Technically speaking, ‘copy’ is the description you write for your items. Be sure to spell words correctly, use correct grammar, and give your customers all of the pertinent details (color, size, condition, purpose, material) they need about what they’re buying. And just because I see it all the time and it drives me cuckoo, there's no ‘a’ in any of the following words:

consistent/consistently
definite/definitely
independent/independently

But copy is much more than basic information, and you can take the most beautiful pictures in the world, write crappy copy and kiss your shop good-bye. Let’s look at a couple examples. First, let’s look at examples of ‘bad copy.' I'm using my own pictures, and I'm making up this bad copy so no one comes after me with a pitchfork.

Example #1:


These are 3 pairs of earrings look like fruit for only $17 which is a good deal. One is red, one is orange, one is hot pink. The picture only shows one earring, but you really get 2. Like I said, this is a really good deal Please check out my other items. I have a lot of things on sale. If you would like me to make you something, just ask because I don’t charge a lot to make things. If you like my shop even if you don’t buy anything please tell your friends about my shop. I have been selling a long time and nobody is buying anything and I don't know why maybe its the economy.

Example #2ITEM: AUTUMN JASPER ROUND BEADS
SIZE: BIG AMOUNT: 20 (I THINK. HARD TO COUNT BECAUSE THEY KEPT ROLLING ALL OVER THE PLACE.)
DO *NOT* PLACE AN ORDER WITH ME UNLESS YOU HAVE READ ALL OF MY SHOP POLICIES. I DO NOT OFFER REFUNDS FOR STUPIDITY.

Do either of those made up descriptions make you want to buy anything at all? No. In fact they make the biggest mistake that untrained copywriters make: they reveal the seller’s insecurities and weaknesses. No one is going to buy from you if you aren’t confident enough to represent yourself well or describe your product well. Another copy killer is cutting and pasting copy directly from eBay straight into Etsy so that you have auction verbage listed. There are no auctions on Etsy. Care enough about your shop to make that your copy reflects the correct venue.

Now, let’s look at good copy! One of the most popular bath & beauty shops on Etsy is Gudonya Too. With their permission and my serious handmade soap affliction, let’s look at one of their listings and see how a great picture and excellent copy sells the everloving yum-yums out of this soap:

Gudonya Whipped Clean (tm) - Wild Blackberry --- vegan ---8oz Jar

VEGAN - VEGAN - VEGAN - VEGAN - VEGAN - VEGAN - VEGAN (MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCT FACTOR)

OOH LA LA! Can I just stop here and ask you something? Do you like loads of fabulously-smelling bubbles running down your body? Yeah, we do, too. And that's just one of the reasons why we love this stuff! (RELATES TO CUSTOMER ENTHUSIASTICALLY & PERSONALLY)

But before we go on and on about the great lather, the wonderfully strong scents, and the fact that one jar of Whipped Clean seems to last forEVER, let's talk about the fragrance.... Wild Blackberry-- This one is a true Southern Blackberry scent; very pungent, sweet and fragrant aroma of ripe Blackberries ready for picking. Dark and delicious, a heady full bodied fragrance. Great "comfort" scent just for you!!! Now back to Whipped Clean and why we think you should be showering or bathing with it... All you need, literally, is 1-2 swipes through it with your bath pouf and you've got enough bubbles and aroma for a car wash! Honestly! (FANTASTIC IMAGERY)

The NEW WIDE MOUTH plastic jar is bathroom-friendly (yes, ahem, one of us is always dropping things in the shower. Perhaps it's all the lather, perhaps someone's just a klutz, but the point is that we haven't broken a jar yet.) We especially like this packaging with kids/teens in the house. And believe us, if you have this fun stuff in the shower, there's no WAY they're going to stay out of it! It's pretty easy to access the Whipped Clean in the bottom of it, whether you use a bath pouf or not, which is another plus for us.

So why do we call it Whipped Clean? That's easy - it looks like whipped cream but that phrase was already taken. It's a pretty solid mixture that lathers easily in the hardest of waters and is kind to your skin. (More advertising coming your way here... ) Of course, we always recommend following up your daily body cleaning ritual with a sMOOchy! (BRINGS CUSTOMER IN ON PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS)

Being trained by a MASTER bath and body formulator, we make and use all of the items ourselves and stand behind the quality. We use only top-shelf oils and ingredients, including fragrances and essential oils, and the scents are very strong. All bath and body items are labeled with our brand name of Gudonya (pronounced good ON ya). Gudonya.... the way it SHOULD be! (EXPERTISE)

PLEASE…Convo us with any questions, comments, suggestions or custom orders! (ACCESSIBLE)

Thanks for spending time with us and have a Good on you TOO day!!! (GRATITUDE)

All Content, including product names, in www.gudonyatoo.etsy.com and www.gudonya.com is ©Copyright 2005-2007. All Rights Reserved (PROFESSIONAL AND TRUSTWORTHY)

Now, I will grant you that that is a lot of copy, and you certainly don’t have to write something that long, but I chose it as an example because it demonstrates every aspect of what good copy can and should do. It draws the customer in, excites them, engages them, relates to them, involves them in the entire process of the product, empathizes with them, over-delivers on customer service, guarantees the product and ends by solidifying trust with the potential customer.

Any copy you write always needs to reflect your personal style. If you're not a stream-of-consciousness type, then the copy written above wouldn't make sense for your shop. Here's a much simpler example of successful copy from blacksheepbeads at ArtFire.

Vintage Plastic Beads - Faux Pottery Clay Beads

These funky vintage plastic beads remind me of antique pottery - they have the appearance of clay with a carved design visible beneath the finish. They measure 16mm and are drilled through the middle; you'll receive 10 in the lot.

That copy is simple, engaging, and it adds value to the product. You get all the information you need and feel comfortable purchasing the product.

Writing copy isn't difficult; it's a skill that once practiced over and over, can become an art in itself. If you love what you do and know what you're selling, you can write good copy. We live in a 24/7/365 world where anybody who knows anything about anything can become a self-proclaimed expert on any subject in ten minutes by setting up a blog with the right keywords and posting articles about the current hot topic and the next thing you know, they’re being quoted as a reliable source on CNN. If Joe-the-Plumber can get a book deal, you can write copy that engages your customer and keeps them in your shop! Trust me!



Parts of this article are an excerpt from my e-book How to Make It Small When Your Trying to Make It Big. Top photo is The Writer by emmaklingbeil. Save $4 on the book when your register your shop on the Handmade Highway, the living directory of handmade sellers.

How to Link a Button On Your Blog

I've gotten a couple requests to explain how to do this, so I thought I'd do a blog post about it. This tutorial will explain how to link any image/graphic that you have on your sidebar to a particular website.

Since I made this post, I stumbled upon this site where you can make your own neat-o buttons really easily, so I re-did mine. I'll leave this post up though for those who are curious about the process.

A few people have asked where I got these buttons for my shops:











I made them.

In this example, I'm going to show you how I link the first button from this blog to my Etsy shop.

Step 1: Make a button or grab a button. In this case, I made my own button.



Step 2: The next thing I did was host it on photobucket. You can host it on Flickr, too, or any other image site you want. So because this image is now hosted on photobucket, it has a web address: http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/riskybeads/Etsybar2.jpg

Step 3: Now let's look at code. This looks complicated, but it's really not. We're going to break it down. You know what a link looks like from step 2. "Hard-coding" a link in html is the code you use to make a word 'clickable.' This is the framework of that code. Please note that the * you see need to be taken out of the code when you use it.

<*a href=" target="_blank"*> <*/a>

Think of it as what the 'h'tml is 'referring to.' Let's do a simple example. I'll show you how I'm hard coding CraftyKids, the department I run at Handmadenews.org. Again, the * are there so that the code doesn't compile and leave you with just CraftyKids on the page as I'm trying to teach you this.

<*a href="http://www.handmadenews.org/department/index.php?did=20 target="_blank">Crafty Kids<*/a>

The pink is the link and the aqua is the words that I want to show on the page. The rest is code. The reason you see a target="_blank" is because I want that link to open in a new window when someone clicks it. I don't want them to have to leave my page. Click it in the above paragraph and you'll see.

Now let's take it to the next level and involve the button image. It gets a little more complicated, but we're going to break it down the same way. Again the * are only there to stop the code from compiling.

The first part you just learned:

<*a href="this is the link that where we want the reader to land target="_blank">this is what we want them to see on the page<*/a>

Now, for an image, instead of putting WORDS in the code as if you're hard coding a link in text, you put the link to the IMAGE that you want to see on the page.


<*a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5248866" target="_blank"*><*img border="0" alt="Etsy Blog Bar 2" src="http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/riskybeads/Etsybar2.jpg"/*><*/a>

Reading backwards, I'm color coding it to show you that the red is the basic link to my image, but the aqua in front of it tells the link that it's going to appear on the page as an image. My Etsy shop link in front of that tells it that when it does, it will lead people to my Etsy shop.

<*a href="link to your shop" target="_blank"*><*code specifying that link will appear as an image"link of image"/*><*/a>

That code came right out of photobucket. See below.


I got all of that info from the orange arrow. I just had to change what was originally in the red part and make it my Etsy shop. Photobucket doesn't know where I want my button to go. I did the same thing for all of my other buttons. You don't need to know all the fancy color coding; it's just helpful to know what the code is doing in case you have a snafu and you're baffled.

Step 4: Now that your code is ready, log into blogger and go to customize layout. Choose 'add a gadget' on your sidebar.








Step 4: Now that your code is ready, log into blogger and go to customize layout. Choose 'add a gadget' on your sidebar.
























Next, choose 'HTML' under 'Basics.'



A dialog box will open up. This is where you'll paste your code.

There's no need to use the title space unless you want to. Just paste your code in. Here's what mine looks like but remember that mine has several buttons in it.












You can see where each one of my shops is listed in that code as you read down the page. I know this seems complicated, but after you've uploaded your image to flickr or photobucket a few times, you'll get the hang of it. Like I said, you're only really replacing one link in that case, just the link that comes after the "a href" as I call it and telling the image to point to your shop.

I do the same thing for every ad that runs on my blog or link to any other site. Once you know how to do it, you're good to go. Good luck and feel free to comment if you have questions.

~Lori

If you need someone to make buttons for you, I'll make you a set of up to 6 in your size and color choice for your blog for $15. Just email me riskybeads at gmail dot com. If you'd like even more information about running your shop in general, please click here.

Why the Public Option Means Everything to Me

This is my story, and it's one of many that sound exactly the same.

I have chronic migraine headaches. I've had them since I was a child, but they became debilitating when I went to college and got worse and worse and worse. In college, Imitrex wasn't out yet, so I would walk to Student Health where they would pump me full of Demerol and Phenergan, put me on the shuttle, and drop me off in front of my dorm. It wasn't uncommon for someone to help me up to the third floor (no elevator). I would sleep for 24 hours, wake up the next day and go to yesterday's classes, not even knowing what day it was.

When Imitrex came on the scene, things got a little better, but it only works if you catch the migraine at the very beginning and unfortunately, I tended to sleep through my aura and wake up with a migraine that was past that point. Turned out to be a good thing, though, because regardless of what my neurologist prescribed me, Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, United Healthcare and any other insurance plan I've ever had, thinks it's unsafe for me or anyone else to have more than 6 injectable doses or 9 tablets of Imitrex a month. Despite appeals from my neurologist, they think they know better. It's fun to play 'is this going to be a real migraine or should I not waste this dose?' You should try it sometime.

I can't work an 8-5 job because of my migraines and the now associated health problems. I can work, don't get me wrong, but I can't keep a schedule. You can't rely on me to be anywhere at anytime, especially in the summer. I've lost more jobs than I've ever had. Every time I lost one, I had to carry COBRA because if you let your insurance drop, then the next insurance you get will rider you for at least a year before they'll cover your pre-existing conditions.

Had there been a public health care option available to me when I lost my job, I could've have transferred to that. I could've not carried COBRA and all of it's horrific financial side effects. I would've been able to make a better choice for my life. I could've taken a less stressful job and not worried about trying to push myself to make enough money to stay in the game for medical insurance because that's all I was ever doing. For fifteen years, every occupational decision I made was made based on health insurance.

My self-esteem took a nose dive all the way to Hell, but not anymore. There isn't an insurance company, a politician, or a pharmaceutical company who's going to dictate one more day in my life. I'm done. If the people that we elect to run this country can't figure out something so unbelievably basic as health care, then shame on them.

Shame. On. Them.

Do I care if they taxes to pay for it? No. You took my tax dollars overseas and killed a bunch of people. You took my tax dollars and gave them to bunch of unbelievable idiots on Wall Street. I'd really appreciate if you'd use my tax dollars to do something decent for a change.

Do I quiver in fear of a 'government run health care program?'

Give me a break.

An insurance company has dictated the care I'm allowed to have my entire life. They don't give a #$%^ what any of my doctors think I need. Do you really think I'm the least bit worried about the government? Are you insane? Do you get what this is about? This is people's lives. Sick, suffering, and often extremely poor people. They aren't the least bit afraid of the government 'rationing health care.' They're afraid of politicians rationing health care. You're the ones causing the problem. Grow up.

Super sick people can't get to the polls to vote, you know? Did you ever think of that?

~Lori

Top image is Inside Trying to Get Out by Carapace.

Learn and Earn--A New Contest

As most of you know, I'm a columnist for the new and flourishing blog Handmadenews.org in the Inspiration Department. The entire site is made up of 12 departments, and there are currently over 50 editors and columnists providing fresh handmade content on a daily basis. And because we have a large pool of writers, you aren't getting just one perspective on any one subject. You're essentially getting a tapestry of handmade knowledge and experience woven into one place for you!

If you're looking for business and/or marketing tips, there are articles on pricing, bookkeeping services, jump starting your marketing plan, how to write a press release, how to approach consignment shop owners, and many, many more.

If you'd rather stop racking your brain about keywords and tags and listing, there's plenty of light-hearted fare in our Just For Fun section, including the Top 10 Signs You Have Craft ADD. And if you're just sick of reading altogether, try out some of the puzzles I've made in our department! Here's this week's crossword and word find. New crosswords come out each Sunday and new word finds each Wednesday.

Personally, I've found a ton of fascinating articles in Green Wise, including this one and this one. I'm not even going to name them. Just click them and you'll see why that's one of my favorite sections. You can get some fantastic stump-your-friends trivia!!


So, here's the contest:

One of my fellow columnists, Daniella Cortez, is sponsoring a Handmadenews.org scavenger hunt contest on her blog. See this post for details! There's a great selection of prizes to win, including a pendant from my shop if you so choose! So check out Daniella's blog and handmadenews.org and win some loot in the process. You'll have fun; I promise!!

Take care, Lori

Reluctant Rain Giveaway--WINNER CHOSEN

**CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BLACK PUMPKIN FOR WINNING THE CONTEST**
So, my weather forecast for this weekend said it was going to rain the whole time, and yet, it hasn't. Hmmm. So, I think that my idea to have a Reluctant Rain earring giveaway is a good one! So, between now and midnight on Memorial Day, see below if you'd like to be in the drawing to win these earrings!

not every drop that

falls from the sky

is eager to do so

don't ask me why

All you have to do to enter is go to my shop and comment with a complete sentence using the names of 3 of my pieces. You can add articles (a, an, the) and any version of the verb 'to be,' but otherwise, it has to be my text! Of course, if you can do it without using any extra verbage, I will think you're quite the wordsmith and elevate you to some sort of wizard category in the liberal elitist section of my brain. (Lucky you!)

Also, please leave your email address in the comment so I can contact you if you win! Thanks!

~Lori

Would you like to take 15% off your order in any of my shops through midnight on Monday? Just email me ahead of time with the code LIBELITIST15P and the names of the items you want to purchase, and I'll give you the discount.

Viva La Moda!

The new issue (vol. 3) of VivaLaModa is out!! This is a great online fashion magazine. It has fantastic articles about handmade fashion and so many other things. This month's issue has:

A great tutorial for a basketful of coasters on p. 42
Enchanting Eye Makeup Tips on p. 48
Turn your ordinary T-shirt into a fabulous shabby-chic halter top! p. 58
How to make a cheater's herb garden on p. 75
How to wear a silk scarf p. 86

Read VivaLaModa here!

(my contributions are on pages 15 & 32. They're not instructive, just reflective, lol.)

Turning Over Rocks...

I'm looking for a few good stories for my columns in the Inspiration Dept. of Handmadenews.org and I'm looking for some specific types of stories/experiences. If you feel like you have a story or experience similar to what I'm requesting below and would like to be interviewed, please email me with the type of story you're responding to in the subject line. I call this post 'Turning Over Rocks' because I often find when I talk to people that we talk about one subject and then the more we dig, we actually get to the kernel of another story where the real inspiration lies, and that's what I write about.

I'm interested in the following stories/experiences about:

************************************

Collecting vintage items to sell or not to sell, the process, the choice, the places, the people, the serendipity, things you learn along the way

Making handmade supplies, the decision, the process, the feeling of seeing your parts in someone else's work, good experiences and bad experiences

Living with and/or loving another artist, waking up to someone who's still painting the same painting he was painting when you went to bed six hours ago

Commercializing your art, how it makes you feel, how it changes who you are/what you create

Fear of inspiration, being unwilling to do what you know you're capable of

the inspiration continuum, something that you experienced twenty years ago suddenly inspires what you do today

*********************************

These are suggestions to get people thinking. If you feel another connection from those suggestions, feel free to email me about that as well.

Thanks, Lori

Savannah Mermaid Metal Wall Sculpture Signed Original by frivoloustendencies

Handmadenews.org

If you're looking for one place to go to find a plethora of news, information, and crafty tips and inspiration about and for the handmade community, then you need to check out handmadenews.org!

There you'll find articles on featured sellers, business tips, marketing, going green, craft trends and techniques, fun stuff, guilds, and stories and tips to keep you inspired!

I'm a columnist in the Inspiration Department, so please come by and check us out!

ArtFire Mother's Day Giveaway-May 2009!

**CONGRATULATOINS THERESA!! SHE'S OUR WINNER!**

It's time for the ArtFire Mother's Day Giveaway!! It's your chance to win a bunch of Mother's Day girly goodness from a bunch of awesome ArtFire sellers! This giveaway will run from today, Sun. May 3rd - Sat., May 9th at midnight. There are 8 sellers participating in this giveaway, so please read the entry rules them carefully! On to the loot!



This month's prize consists of my Clouds & Berries bracelet from Risky Beads, a Seafoam Narrow Glass Fused Barrette and Oriental New Jade earrings from AJewelGift, a Tea Pot Rose Fabric Key Fob from PrettyPurse Designs, Rose Glycerin Soap from Soapsmith, a 'Mom' bookmark from Bijoux Designs For You, Hand Knitted Coffee Sleeve by LilBritKnits, Black Raspberry Vanilla Satin & Silk Lotion by Shine Your Hiney Soap Co., and a Country Blue Apron Towel Kitchen Set by acadienne. These products retail for $99! Here are some close-ups:




But, wait, it gets better!!

Each owner of these shops has volunteered one of their products because they want to promote their shops but also ArtFire as a venue so we are all offering 10% off in our shops during this giveaway! Use this code when purchasing: RBMAYAF10P**

The winner of the contest will be chosen by the random number generator at random.org, so each comment is one entry unless it's incomplete, in which case it will be skipped. To enter the contest, you must visit at least 4 of our 7 shops listed above, come back, and leave 1 comment that mentions your favorite item from those shops, not 4 separate comments. After completing your main entry, you can earn extra entries by doing any or all of the following, putting each one in a separate comment:

--visit the other 4 shops you didn't visit in your first comment and mention your favorite item in one comment for all 4 shops

--blog about the giveaway and link back in a separate comment

--tweet about the giveaway and link back in a separate comment

Want automatic entries in this giveaway? Well, then all you have to do is:

--purchase from any Artfire shop from May 3-May 9 and link back with your order #. Your seller will give it to you or ask for it.

--purchase from any of our 8 shops and receive 2 extra entries per shop and link back with your order #. Your seller will give it to you or ask for it.

Please remember to leave your contact information in your comment. We can't contact you if we can't find you!!!

-Lori

If Your Mother's Favorite Color is...Red

She might like something like this for Mother's Day...



All artists and items can be found on 1000Markets. Click the item and off you go!
Did you miss purple, turquoise, pink, yellow, green, orange, or Mom?

More spotlights coming soon!
~Lori

Psst, our ArtFire Mother's Day Giveaway kicks off on Sunday!

If You Drove Your Mom So Crazy, She Wanted to Change Her Name...

She might like something like this for Mother's Day...



All artists and items can be found on Etsy or ArtFire. Click the item and off you go!
Did you miss purple, turquoise, pink, yellow, green, or orange?

More spotlights coming soon!
~Lori

If Your Mother's Favorite Color is...Orange

She might like something like this for Mother's Day...




All artists and items can be found on 1000Markets. Click the item and off you go!
Did you miss purple, turquoise, pink, yellow, or green?

More spotlights coming soon!
~Lori

Opportunity for Child-Centered Artists/Photographers

Do you want to go places?

Natural Cars (set of 3) by happysquashtoys

I'm working on a comprehensive website focusing on activities for young children (ages 3-5 mostly), and I'm going to need graphics for the site as I build it. Rather than use stock images, I'd really like to use the space to promote indie artists and photographers instead. I want to capture the real essence of childhood, handmade toys, puppets, parent-child interactions, wonder, etc. I'm interested in pulling from--to name a few:

*artwork designed for children

*photographs of children

*photographs of objects, especially toys

*photographs of adults and children interacting

*artwork that features child-like people or characters that isn't necessarily something you'd hang in a child's room, but still gives off a child-like vibe.

*possibly even product photos if they fit what I'm writing about, so if you're a puppet, doll, toymaker, you can sign up as well. I plan to feature handmade toys, etc. as the site expands. (case in point --> the picture that opened this post)

I really want to give indie artisans free exposure by featuring their work on content related pages, so it would similar to being featured on a blog...only better because parents and teachers are the audience for this site, so if that's your target customer, then this could be a good match for you. Ideally, I'd like to have several artists/toy makers who would like to have their work featured on the site so I have a pool of photos/pictures/artists to choose from as I write. You will always be notified if I'm using your photo, get credit for your photo and a link straight to it in your shop in return or if you're work is not for sale, a link to your site.

Comment below if you're interested or email me. If you have any questions, please ask!

Thanks, Lori

If Your Mother's Favorite Color is...Green

She might like something like this for Mother's Day...



All artists and items can be found on ArtFire. Click the item and off you go!

More colors coming soon and themes!

Did you miss purple, turquoise, pink, or yellow?

If Your Mother's Favorite Color is...Yellow

She might like something like this for Mother's Day..



All artists and items can be found on Etsy. Click the item and off you go!

More colors coming soon and themes!

Did you miss purple, turquoise, or pink?

If Your Mother's Favorite Color is...Pink

She might like something like this for Mother's Day..



All artists and items can be found on ArtFire. Click the item and off you go!

More colors coming soon and themes!

Did you miss purple or turquoise?

If Your Mother's Favorite Color is...Turquoise

She might like something like this for Mother's Day...



All artists and items can be found on 1000Markets. Click the item and off you go!

More colors coming soon. They're are soooo many!

Did you miss purple?

If Your Mother's Favorite Color is...Purple

She might like something like this for Mother's Day...



All artists courtesy of Etsy.

Saturday Night Special-- April 18, 2009

Tonight's Saturday Night Special, good thru midnight, is a FREE pair of earrings with any purchase! Free pair must be $10 or less. Please indicate your choice in notes to seller and I'll include them with your order! Just think, you could get these for free!

Famished

How to Find a Great Mother's Day Gift

The handmade revolution is sweeping the globe, isn't it? You can't log on to Twitter without hearing about twenty giveaways that are going on (guilty) or finding out about a special deal on handmade soap, and who doesn't love handmade soap? I love it so much, I've now resorted to naming my showers, "I just took a pomegranate shower, and tomorrow, I'm thinking it might be a blackberry sage morning!" Okay, I'm kidding. I would never open two bars at once.

Anyhoo...

So how do you navigate the handmade highway and find a great Mother's Day Gift because, let's face it, most mother's are picky--or let's go the peanut butter route, and say 'choosy.' So if you could sit on your mother's shoulder while she went shopping for herself, where would she go? I'll bet you that one of her favorite trips would be here:

The Succulent Wife's Guide to Mother's Day Gift Guide is a collection of hand-picked handmade gifts from every corner of the handmade marketplace. You can rest assured that the sellers in this market have quality and coveted products, top-notch customer service, and a true passion for what they create. I've either worked with and/or purchased from many of them and can vouch for them personally.

The Succulent Wife's Market is part of 1000Markets, a venue that is one of the most inspiring and forward-looking handmade venues on the scene today. It is juried but only to ensure that a seller is indeed ready for the marketplace, not to narrow the variety of products available to the customer. The Succulent Wife's Market is the perfect place to find a gift for Mother's Day as there are more than thirty sellers included in the market. I promise you that were your mother to set her virtual foot into The Succulent Wife's Market, you'd have to hire an extraction team to get her out! Once you do, let her browse The Succulent Wife's blog for details on even more Mother's Day gifts that didn't make it into the Look Book--that way she'll forgive you for calling in the SWAT team. Give The Succulent Wife's Market a look; I promise you, you won't be sorry!

~Lori

Items pictured in this piece are:
Silk File Organzier by Decorative Instincts
Family Stone Pendant Fine Silver Eco-Friendly by The Pretty Peacock

Tea for 2 and Earrings, too!

Cauliflower Power

Yay! The bunny is coming! This Friday is really Good because from now until Midnight on Easter Monday, you can get a FREE pair of earrings with any purchase at any of my Risky Beads shops! Your free pair must be under $10. Just indicate which pair you'd like in notes to seller, and I'll send it along with your purchase! Shop Risky Beads at:

ArtFire still has free shipping and Guest Checkout! (i.e.-no account needed!)
Have a great holiday weekend!

Lori

Don't Be LEFT Out!

 

 

Last Thursday was the unexpected birthday of a new project I'd been pondering, the introduction of a new blog Lefthand Madens!  I started this enterprise to spotlight left-handed crafters and artisans in our community because I know there are a gazillion of us out there and most of us have challenging moments because of our left-handed existence--some of which are so ingrained in us, they're subconsciuos at this point! 

So I started a thread at Etsy and ArtFire to smoke out some Southpaws and I now have about 80 artists to feature on the blog and am hoping to feature about 2 a day along with other nifty left-handed trivia, info, and products. If you're interested in being featured and sell at either Etsy or ArtFire, please comment in either of those threads and I'll 'heart' you as my LHM 'shop.'  If you visit LHM at Etsy or ArtFire, you'll see all the requirements for being featured in the shop announcement for each shop.  It's basically just an interview and then the code for either an Etsy mini or an AF window.  If you sell at another venue, no problem!  Just email me at lefthandmadens [at] gmail [dot] com for the info and I'll feature you, too!

I hope you guys will go to both LHM hubs on Etsy and ArtFire, and make Treasuries and spotlights featuring your fellow southpaws! We're having a lot of fun over there and I've set up a place for you to enter our shop directory and sign up for our mailing list! National Left-Handed Day is August 13th!

Southpaws Unite! --Lori (aka Risky Beads)

So which venue is for you?

Well, if you've been selling your handmade wares for a while, I'm sure you've had to wrestle with the question I pose above more than once. Most of us go the route of wondering whether our products are good enough to sell (because creativity doesn't always come with a side of ego-mania, lol), and then we venture out to one site to get our feet wet and soon find out that there are a ton of sites out there that we could be selling on and end up with our head in our hands trying to decide which one is right for us or which two or three or eight? It's maddening regardless of where you are in your handmade success story. If you're not having any luck, you wonder if you just need more exposure. If you're selling like hotcakes, you wonder if taking on another venue is the answer to your bank account's prayers or just a fast track to an early death doing what you love. So instead of looking at the seller's point of view, I'm going to give you my perspective on the 4 venues where I sell in the hope that maybe you'll find your fit. And if other folks sell at other places besides these four and would like to comment, please do. The more info the merrier.

I currently sell at Etsy, ArtFire, 1000Markets, and Zibbet. For me, Etsy leads in sales, but I've been there much longer. Last month, ArtFire really started to pick up for me. I've had 1 sale on Zibbet and none on 1000Markets yet, but that's okay because there's something to be said for having an internet presence in more than one place. You never know who is looking. So, looking at the venues overall and assuming that you're new to the handmade carousel...

Etsy: (free to set up shop; $.20 to list an item; 3.5% commision on each item sold)

Optimally speaking, you should set up shop at Etsy if you have a defined brand, an identifiable niche and marketing strategy for your shop and product. Etsy is huge and when it grows, it's like rabbits having rabbits. If you know what you're doing and how you're going to do it, then GO! Etsy doesn't jury, so anyone can sign up. Hooray, right? Well...here's the thing. Sure, anyone can sign up, but if you're not ready for handmade prime time and you're not aware of that and/or the reason why, it's going to take you about six months of relisting and promoting in the forums, etc., to realize that you've hit the handmade ceiling at Etsy--and it's pretty low, and Etsy's ceiling has layers; there's the front page and it's curated cousins, the featured sellers and those that fit that mode and style, the folks that have already clawed their way to the top before Etsy became humongous, those who list, promote, and make treasuries like crazy 24/7, and tons of suppliers whose listings you'll also be competing with. If you don't have a shop or product that hits it out of the park, you're going to find that you don't have seats in the press box either.

If you're wondering whether you fit Etsy's mold, go to the front page, click on the gift guides, look at the featured seller choice and then go down the list and look at previous featured sellers. These are great shops with great products, and if you look closely, you'll see Etsy's vibe as well. Etsy leans towards the minimalistic crafter, designer, and artist. If you want to claw your way to the top of the heap at Etsy, I have two words for you: WHITE SPACE. Just know what you're competing against--be it other sellers or Etsy's idea of trendy. Both can be daunting.

ArtFire: (free to set up shop w/ max of 10 items, free to sell; verified membership for $12 mo. flat fee, offer good for a limited time. Verified membership gets you extra bells & whistles like no competition on your product pages, etc.)


If you're just starting out and trying to get your ducks in a row, then ArtFire is a good option for you. ArtFire is a great place to set up shop, list up to 10 items for free, and then delve into the forums and get to know some people. Doing that will give you invaluable feedback on your listings, whether or not to improve your pictures and how, and answers to other questions you may have, and you won't pay anything to do that. Now, you may say, "Well, I can just as easily set up shop at Etsy, list ten items for a measly $2.00 and dive into the forums." Yes, you can, but be warned: once you become part of Etsy, you will start relisting because you'll want views and that's the way you're going to get them. Your $2.00 won't be $2.00 after the first day. (My actual average listing fee for each piece that I sell on Etsy is $.60. On a slow month, my Etsy bill is about $70; on a good month, it's $120. Convert that business model into ArtFire and BAM! $100 saved.) At ArtFire, you don't even have the relisting option so you have to learn other ways to promote and improve your shop. You can't rest on your relisting laurels because you'll end up on your butt. Now, you can also start out at just $12/mo. and take advantage of the extra features ArtFire offers like Rapid Cart which allows you to embed code right onto your blog and sell your products without anyone going into your ArtFire shop. One of the other really nice things about ArtFire is that they now offer No Account/Guest Checkout which means that your customer doesn't have to join ArtFire to buy from you. That's a nice bonus! ArtFire also has a 1 page listing process and gives you room for 10 photos of your product. (Somebody is hearing our prayers!)

If you're still banging out your brand and trying to iron out your niche, ArtFire is a good place for you to start. If you're dying to set up shop at Etsy as well, but you don't quite feel ready, set up a buyers account there under a different name than your shop name and get comfortable in the surroundings. You'll be amazed at how fast the learning curve is and how much more confident you'll feel after you've listed items for awhile and gotten a few views, hopefully a couple sales, and some feedback!

Zibbet: (no cost to list, 7.5% commission on final sale)


Zibbet is a fairly new site, is still in beta and has a strong art focus, but it has a nice clean, sleek design and should appeal to those who find Etsy's framework appealing. There is a 2 page listing process compared to Etsy's 4 and it only allows you 4 photos instead of 5, but since the site is still in beta, Zibbet, like ArtFire, welcomes suggestions from the community as it finalizes it's design. Several artists on Etsy are frustrated with what they feel is a weak committment to the promotion of fine art on Etsy's part--both from a lack of active promotion from Etsy in a consistent top-down way and because a lot of faux art seems to flood Etsy's listings on the weekends. Zibbet is trying to learn from this now and remains aware and committed to promoting and showcasing fine art alongside quality handmade items. I like the atmosphere at Zibbet. It's warm and welcoming, but also thoughtful and gives real consideration to the fact that each shop is both someone's passion and most likely their livelihood. I find this kind of respect refreshing. Perhaps Zibbet's view is a bit different because they're not American, lol. (That's a slam on my country, not theirs). Zibbet's founders harken from Australia so perhaps that's where the more laid back attitude comes from. They're less consumed with defining what art should be for everyone else and more concerned about giving each artist access to showcase their talent to the world.

1000Markets: (juried process, shop is approved before it can go 'live,' no cost to list, 5.5% commission on sales)
Lastly, there's 1000Markets. I haven't necessarily saved the best for last, but definitely the most intriguing for last. I encourage you to visit that link about several different times because each time you do, you're going to see something different, and that for me is the genius of 1000Markets. I would spend time on that site even if I didn't have a shop there because it's gorgeous, and the fact that it's randomly gorgeous and not lockdown gorgeous is a tribute to the work Matt and the other admin have put into it. 1000Markets isn't a hard-core juried site, but there are rules; you do have to have a good product, take good pictures, and have solid and comprehensive store policies. You feel like you're amongst real crafters and artists there, and that you're really browsing in an open air market when you're shopping, and that makes all the difference to the buyer. I participate in 4 markets on the site even though I only sell jewelry. All of my pieces aren't represented in each market, though, because they might not fit each market and that's fine because the markets are designed around the buyer's experience. If the buyers wants to wander into a retro-themed market, then those are the items they'll see. Maybe I'll have pieces in that market or maybe not. There are seasonal markets created as well; many of my pieces were part of a Valentine's Day market there.

But the actual genius behind 1000Markets was in the foresight. Because they approve each shop in the first place, every merchant operates on an equal playing field from the start and that makes the depth of site and the buyer's experience truly dynamic because no merchant or product is ever discouraged or excluded from prime placement on the site. Everyone's exposure is equally random, and in this hand-over-handmade world, 'equally random' and 'free to list' are two of the most beautiful phrases I've ever heard!

If you sell at any of the other handmade venues such as DaWanda, Trunkt, Big Cartel or one of the many others, please feel free to add to this post. The more information the better!

Take care, Lori

There's still time to enter our April ArtFire Giveaway! (thru 4/7/09)

Pieces featured in this article are (in order):
Some Days are Harder Than Others by The Midnight Orange, $18 at Etsy
Bunnies Print at The Secret Nest, $15 at Etsy
Home for Bunnies Print by NoosedKitty, $18 at Etsy
Let's Not Blend In by Colorfly Studios, $6 at ArtFire
Just a Dream Within A Dream by aMelancholyDwelling, $15 at Zibbet
Inspire Me-Spool Sentiment by goshery, $6 at 1000Markets

Aren't we cute?

I found this picture of my sister, Monica, and I today. It's from the summer of 1978 when we were at my grandmother's house in Mt. Holly, New Jersey. Monica is on the left, and I'm on the right. Those are my grandmother's kick ass tomato plants in the background!


~Lori

April 2009 ArtFire Giveaway!--CLOSED FOR NEW ENTRIES!!

**CONTEST CLOSED FOR NEW ENTRIES--WINNER IS LENNOX KNITS**

It's time for the April ArtFire Giveaway!! It's your chance to win a bunch of eco-friendly girly goodness from a bunch of awesome ArtFire sellers! This giveaway will run from today, Wed. April 1st - Tues., April 7th at midnight. There are 11 sellers participating in this giveaway, so please read the entry rules them carefully! Our theme this month is Eco-friendly/Earth Day products, so on to the loot!


This month's prize consists of a Love Your Mama tote bag by NotMoira, an Antique Doll Part by CobWebPalace, a Vegan Trio of Unscented, Lavender, and Oatmeal Guest Soaps from Green Hill Soap Co., Brennan the Friendly Bath Monster by the Shine Your Hiney Soap Co., Scrubbies by leahMarie, Unscented Body Yogurt with Goats Milk from MeaCulpaBodyandBath, Pom-Great-Nate 90z Palm Wax Candle from Jennuine Candles, Earth Day Glow-in-the-Dark Ornament from BAKidagain, Handpainted Key Hanger from ChelseaLynnDesigns, an Earth Day Upcycled Scrabble Tile Pendant from NinjaJenn, and an Upcycled Pendant 'Peaceful Times' from Campgirldesigns. These products retail for $91.00!

But, wait, it gets better!!

Each owner of these shops has volunteered one of their products because they want to promote their shops but also ArtFire as a venue so we are all offering 10% off in our shops during this giveaway! Use this code when purchasing: RBAPRAF10P** ArtFire is a relatively new site in the grand scheme of the online handmade market scene, but we like it because it's very open and has a fee structure that allows us to put our money into our product. If you've been considering giving ArtFire a try, I encourage you to do so as the shops offered at the discounted rate are going fast!

The winner of the contest will be chosen by the random number generator at random.org, so each comment is one entry unless it's incomplete, in which case it will be skipped. To enter the contest, you must visit at least 6 of our 11 shops listed above, come back, and leave 1 comment that mentions your favorite item from all 6 shops, not 6 separate comments. After completing your main entry, you can earn extra entries by doing any or all of the following, putting each one in a separate comment:

--visit the other 5 shops you didn't visit in your first comment and mention your favorite item in one comment for all 5 shops

--blog about the giveaway and link back in your comment

--tweet about the giveaway and link back in your comment

Want automatic entries in this giveaway? Well, then all you have to do is:

--purchase from any Artfire shop from April 1-April 7 and link back with your order #. Your seller will give it to you or ask for it.

--purchase from any of our 11 shops and receive 2 extra entries per shop and link back with your order #. Your seller will give it to you or ask for it.

Please remember to leave your contact information in your comment. We can't contact you if we can't find you!!! Anonymous entries with no email address will be deleted.

-Lori

P.S. If you'd like to read the interviews I've been doing with these sellers in preparation for the giveaway, here they are: Chelsea Lynn Designs, Jennuine Candles, Campgirldesigns, CobWebPalace, MeaCulpaBodyandBath, Green Hill Soap Co, Ninja Jenn, BAKidagain, and NotMoira

P.P.S. If you see deleted comments in the thread, it's because an entry wasn't filled out correctly, and I deleted it to keep the count correct for the drawing.