Holiday Shopping

Today's Silver Price: $19.55/t.oz.

My Cyber Monday sale seemed to generate a ton of traffic in my Etsy shop. I didn't actually get any sales that day though. What's interesting is that I had an order placed right before the sale started, two orders placed the day after, and another order today. So in summary, my 20% OFF sale increased shop views, but did not get me any orders on Cyber Monday!

I've been trying to stay on top of my social media marketing lately. I read recently that Facebook is one of the best ways to promote an Etsy site, and that you should include a photo in every post. 

In an effort to create interesting posts with interesting photos, I've been playing with some photo collage apps on my iPhone. The picture below was my first attempt. I used an app called *Collage*. I wanted to show the creative process of making wire hearts for a necklace, and wanted to include all the steps in one photo. I posted this pic on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Then I found a better app called 'Instapicframe'. It has more options. This was the updated pic:

I used 'Instapicframe' again this morning. I wanted to show several images of my yoga jewelry in one picture:

So far I am enjoying making these collages! Hopefully they will help to increase traffic in my Etsy shop! 

Cyber Monday Sale!

Today's Silver Price: $19.93/t.oz.

I'm currently running a Cyber Monday sale in my Etsy shop. 20% off all items with coupon code CYBER2013. Sale ends at midnight tonight. The coupon code must be entered at checkout. 

This is the first time I've had a sale in my shop! Lets see how it goes! 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Today's Silver Price: $32.52/t.oz.

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

I woke up this morning to an email informing me that someone had purchased an item on my Etsy page. Today was a good day! One sterling silver and amethyst beaded bracelet SOLD!

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

Stores everywhere are preparing for Black Friday. People everywhere are preparing for Black Friday- making lists of stores they are going to hit, alphabetizing the items they will buy, taking out a third mortgage, raiding their 401Ks...  My first couple of jobs were in retail and the phrase Black Friday brings to mind chaos, bedlam, mayhem and hysteria. Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving when an enormous amount of shopping occurs. It has been dubbed Black Friday because this is the day that will often take businesses out of the red (negative profits) and into the black (positive profits). Thus hoping to spur even more frenzied shopping, most stores have implemented massive sales on this particular day to draw customers in... and it works. There probably are some amazing deals out there on Black Friday, but I don't think I have ever been out shopping on this infamous day. I prefer to stay home in my pajamas and eat turkey sandwiches.

The Monday following Thanksgiving and Black Friday has become known as "Cyber Monday" because of the tremendous amount of online shopping that now takes place on this day. Why do people shop online so much on Cyber Monday? I have no idea. Maybe it's because they are starting to emerge from their turkey-induced coma and want to shop, but don't have the strength to leave the house? Maybe they are too embarrassed to go out to stores because they have wicked turkey farts?

After reading so much lately about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I've been thinking that I may just put all of my jewelry on my Etsy page for these big shopping days. As I have mentioned previously I usually separate my stock between items listed on Etsy and items that I bring to craft shows. It is always a dilemma as to whether or not I post something on my site. Also that means a large portion of my jewelry stock would be sitting unseen in a box until my next show.

My plan for this weekend is to get every piece of jewelry that I can up on my Etsy page. Just throw it all up there and see what happens. As my aunt says, if you throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick. Guess what? This morning some of it stuck.