let’s talk business…..

hey, y’all!

so, in an effort to be more intentional with my business combined with my previously almost blind panic over all this free time i have coming up when little man goes back to school and, added to that, my passion for the jewelry i create, (wow, i’m a bit of a basket case!) i’ve been slowly trying to make my way into some sort of organized marketing & business plan.

what does this mean?

i have no idea. i’m hoping you can tell me ;-)

a few months back, i questioned the existence of my etsy shop and then made a few changes to see what popped. so what popped? nothing. my views are lower than they’ve ever been and sales through the shop have been non-existent. while i love all that etsy has to offer, i think God has given me my answer. it’s time to close my etsy shop. now the question is, do i move the couleurs collection to my site?

and speaking of my site, i’ve recently discovered that my shopping cart program is.not.working. not correctly, anyway. i would loooooove to be able to hire someone to just do this for me but the funds aren’t there yet. so that means researching a new cart and – i think – redoing my site to accommodate the new shopping cart software. right? for those of you with stand-alone shops, any shopping cart suggestions?

and now on to marketing. you may have noticed the various blog button over in my sidebar there? i’m venturing (again) into blog advertising. each month, those will change depending on which blogs i’m sponsoring. i’m tracking my ads & traffic and (perhaps) i’ll let you know how each ad performed. i’ll also be participating in a few more giveaways than i have previously – we’ll see how that goes! i’m trying to choose the blogs i sponsor carefully. i’m not just looking for more sales & higher visibility. i’d like this venture to be mutually beneficial. i want the blogs that i work with to be blogs i would actually read. bloggers who share my values.

so, all of you indie artists – got any helpful tips for the newbies? please share!

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and speaking of giveaways, don’t forget the one goin on over at naptime diaries! giveaway closes on sunday at midnight!