The Facepalm Moment

We all have them, the moments where you ask yourself what the heck you were thinking, how you forgot that, or why did you think it in the first place?

Well, I just had one.

I've been advertising One Stitch Designs for a while now on various fashion and fiber artists blogs. My ad has a coupon code in it, same one I've used in my Etsy shops when I have advertised before.

Well here's my facepalm moment.

I made the code in my website and went on with my life. And today when I went to add a customer specific code (for joining my mailing list), I realized it wasn't active. I forgot to triple check everything and make sure it was active!

That was smart. I wonder now if anyone had gotten to my cart and when the code didn't work, they left. I know I've done it in the past.

Moral of the story: always check everything.

Now, in recognition of my stupidity.

*FacePalm*

Plus Size Blog

One of the things that I learned from my marketing review was that I really should have my own blog in addition to this one that sticks to the subjects that are closely related to what I do such as designing clothing for plus size women, selecting and shopping for luxury yarn, sweater design and other plus size issues including my mixed feelings about my own weight loss. (Yikes!) I've got a new one set up now and I hope that some of you will come visit me at Mirabilis Fashions Plus Size Blog and tell me about the things that you'd like to read about.

In Support Of Handmade

(all items shown on this blog post are 100% handmade items)

Today is the day where many shops are closing their shop for the day in protest of etsy's decision to allow a seller who claimed to have a handmade shop that could not have been handmade in any one but etsy's definition to stay open.

I will not mention names, or put a link here, miss perfectly manicured pretty hands carpenter has had more than enough exposure.

I understand why these people are closing shop for the day, the silent protest, hoping that their approximately 0.5% of shops closing for the day will put a large enough blip on etsy's radar to tell them something.

But Etsy knows what we want, and closing our shops for the day isn't going to hurt anyone but ourselves. I know I cannot afford to lose out on even one tiny sale, literally every penny counts!

handpainted yarn from EweAndMeYarns, who is my go-to chick for all handpainted yarn

Some of the shops closing today have been bashing those of us who have decided to stay open, it's sad.

Many of us have devised a way to show support of handmade in our own ways (after all, isn't this why we are in business for ourselves, so no one can tell us what to do?). These other alternatives are positive.

*There's the Stop, Then Shop movement, which will refrain from buying today (May 10, 2012), and buy everything they wanted to buy tomorrow.

*Some of us cannot afford to buy anything, those of us in that boat are doing a whole lot of promotion for people we know to be handmade sellers.  This is done on pinterest, twitter, facebook, in treasuries, on blogs, and wherever else a person may promote

*Some of us are going to go ahead and take the plunge on some items we've had sitting in our carts and were on the fence about.

1930s replica dress from P1xie

There are so many ways you can support handmade any day, not just this week.

Buy and promote handmade by the seller in anyway you can. On etsy, on any other site, even on the sellers own websites.  If they have one.

Q: How do you know it's handmade by the seller?

 A: Sometimes it's hard to tell. I usually do a search for that item. if it's a reseller item, or "charm on a chain" (which in my opinion is not handmade unless you made the charm or the chain), you'll usually see several other sellers selling the same piece. Many people add a few beads or dangles to the necklace, this is OK, as it shows a little bit of creativity.  On higher priced stuff, it's not always so easy to tell, though usually a Google search can bring up the original maker

 Wrist warmers by Shiv from Faded Lace (this is the chick who did a few of my pics)

Both Karen and myself are 100% handmade (although I do have a supply shop where I sell some knitting needles and yarns that I didn't make)

Further Adventures in E-commerce

It sure has been a busy month for me with all sorts of good things going on as well as getting some eye-opening advice from a marketing professional that understands my demographic very well.  First for the good news:

- I have over 600 Facebook fans now and they're starting to interact with my page and talk to me.  I'm hating it less every day.

- People are also commenting on and sharing my posts on Google+ but it's still a ghost town compared to Facebook. 

- My stand-alone shop has done more business in 2 months than my Etsy shop has done in the last 6 months and those months included the winter and holidays.

- I've started a new blog to go with my shop and as soon as I get more content out there I'll let you all know about it so that you can visit me there too.

- I learn more and more about SEO every day from being a leader on the SEO team and even though it's a lot of work I love seeing people start to get great results because they took it seriously and really researched their keywords.

- I'm eventually going to be featured on a plus sized blog for professional women (yay!) and will probably have another feature done by a popular plus size blogger during the holidays.  The best part of this is that they have nothing to do with Etsy and are out there in the real world of advertising.

The rest isn't exactly good news but it definitely goes under the heading of useful advice. 

- I was told by a well-known plus size blogger that my stuff was too white and middle aged to appeal to her audience.  After I scraped my chin off of the floor I realized that she was right.  Although I wouldn't have phrased it that way and would have referred to things like "youthful urban fashion" without bringing skin color into it I did appreciate how blunt she was.  It helped me to focus on where I should be marketing and it isn't to trendy young women on a tight budget.  I already reach that demographic on Etsy and it's virtually useless to me.  The average person under 30 probably isn't shopping in my price bracket and I avoid trends like the plague.  If I invest a lot of money in clothing I want it to last for years and years and not look silly in it by the next season. She also said that people my size don't understand plus size shoppers and I was tempted to send her a picture of myself in a 3X from a few years ago but there was no point in arguing with her.  

- I was lucky enough to get a professional marketing review for free and boy did it open my eyes because she was simply brutal about Etsy when it comes to older women.  She felt very strongly that older women do not see Etsy as a place to buy clothing at all, never mind high end items, the plus size categories are a disaster of a mess of mislabeled stuff and that I'm setting myself up to look like a tacky amateur if I stay there.  She said that she would be much less likely to buy my items if she were aware that I also had an Etsy shop and that I should eradicate the word "crafts" from my vocabulary because I don't make macaroni art.  Her strongest advice was to shut down my shop there and if I wouldn't do that I should at least open up under a new name so that I don't taint my real business name.  Yikes.  I have to think about this because I can add a "for the home" section to my own shop to put the blankets in but I still have a few straight size sweaters that don't fit with the plus size theme of the shop.  Leaving Etsy altogether would probably be great for my blood pressure also because they're the most outrageously immature, rude and obnoxious entity that I've ever handed money over to. It isn't like I make much money there anyway and it falls far behind local sales and sales from my own website.  (She also asked me if Etsy sold anything that wasn't white or beige and that was my best laugh of the day.)

So, my adventures in learning about e-commerce continue...



A few hours later... Hmm - that certainly seemed to hit a nerve. I'm not much into replying to abusive anonymous convos so I'll take a stab at it in public. My comments about Etsy are certainly not meant to be a universal criticism and I wasn't implying that everyone that sells on Etsy should be ashamed of themselves or of the site. The marketing expert was talking about one specific type of product targeted to one specific demographic that Etsy doesn't try to serve. For the people whose products target the same demographic that Etsy does and whose work falls within the traditional craft categories and and pricing of the other types of items there Etsy is probably just fine. All of that long convo blather about hating me and unliking my page is sort of childish, don't you think? I'm sorry if anyone was offended but it would probably be better for your blood pressure to just ignore me. Sheesh.

I know, I've been terrible about keeping up with this blog lately because I've been so swamped with work. I keep meaning to do a long post on how to design clothing with thread lace but I'm so tired of doing it that I can't bring myself to write about it in the little spare time that I have. I've also had some great shop reviews and gotten some great advice from a marketing exec that I want to tell you about too as well as to celebrate about how my new shop is already doing better than my Etsy shop is. So, instead of writing a real post I'm going to treat you to 2 of the funniest legal letters that I've ever seen. The short version is that Etsy has decided to allow factories to be called collectives and selected an importer to feature on the front page. Much drama and hysteria ensued and the legal threats started to fly around. The first letter is from the outraged reseller's "lawyer" and the second is a response from a real attorney. Here is the response: You've got to love a guy that can legitimately fit "intractably mentally ill", "bumptious", "malapropisms" "preposterous", "ridiculous", "empty thuggery", "freakishly unprofessional" and "gibberish" all into one legal communication. It almost makes me wish that someone would sue me so that I could hire him.

http://www.regretsy.com/2012/04/24/update-ecologica-malibu/

www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.regretsy.com%2F2012%2F04%2F25%2Fno-you-cease-and-desist%2F&h=PAQFINoqPAQH8eC7JkJ63ySTrVfFArCfuM4DR01_jjQh7yQ

Tips for Running Multiple Venues and Shops

Most people agree that you need to run multiple venues to have a successful business.

While this is not always true (many successful businesses are run on one venue), it certainly helps for security, being found by a wider range of people, and sometimes even for hitting your target market better.

The more venues you are on, the more webpages you have, the more likely you are to be seen.

Also, having different venues helps if one closes.

I currently sell from the following pages:
OneStitchdesigns On Etsy (finished Items)
OneStitch on Etsy (supplies)
OneStitchdesigns.com (mixture of 2 shops above)
TraditionalByNature On Etsy (rustic home goods, wedding decor, business card holders)
Ravelry page
Craftsy page

So how does one juggle all of these different venues?

Well, It isn't easy!

Because I have different crafts in many of the shops, I devote certain days to a different craft. One day, I'll make a new design, another, I'll work on new colors of old designs. Some days I work on stitch markers, on others, I'll make paper stuff.

Every day I'm coming up with new designs in my head. The list of designs I want to make real is very, very long.

I spend at least one day a week doing computer work only.

Traditional by nature is the easiest, I just design the product, my fiance makes it, and he runs TraditionalByNature.com The etsy version caters to a different market, and I know Etsy real well, so I run that shop.

It's easier if you stick to one craft, but it's boring :)

I make sure to do a little bit of work in each shop everyday. And put at least one link back to each shop everyday.

Except forRavelry and Craftsy. I just list there, and leave it be. Both are for patterns, both have their own really good traffic. And neither take much work.

It's a lot of work, but the security is worth it.

Something Odd I've Noticed

This seems strange to me. Whenever there is a thread with that Etsy game where you pick an item from the shop that posted above you as your favorite thing in the shop I see the same pattern. People who don't crochet always pick one of the most elaborate, difficult and expensive items in my shop. People who do crochet almost always pick the simplest, easiest and least expensive items. I suppose that the obvious answer is that they don't like the sweaters but you'd think that a few non-crocheters would feel that way too. I tend to be the opposite - I always like the crocheted things best that show the highest skill level with the most amount of effort put into them. Go figure - it's just another one of those "only on Etsy" mysteries, just like "custom made vintage" (huh?) and "She's copying my copies of other people's licensed trademarks!".

In other news, I figured out a way to send a message to an actual staff person on FB to ask why the last $150 in free ad money they've given me won't work. I didn't get an answer yet but it felt like a major accomplishment just to find the form.