Susan Lower » Susan Lower

5 Ways To Tell Others About Your Shop

Susan Lower — Wed, 30 May 2012 02:18:50 +0000

Let’s give your shop a “shout out” and let people know you exist. No, I don’t mean standing out in the middle of the street and shouting. Not only could that be dangerous, but someone might think you’re a little off your rocker today.
But don’t let me discourage you if that’s really what you want to do. There are, however, other ways you can tell others about your great shop of handmade goodies.
1. Tell your friends you’ve opened up a shop. Not strangers, your friends. Those people you see most often and on a regular bases.
2. Make an announcement to interested parties. For example: Writers often announce when new books are coming out. Why? Because over time they develop a readership who are interested in reading their books, or a certain type of book. When you announce you have a new product, certain type of product, it generates excitement through interested parties.
3. Create memorable advertising flare. Leave business cards or little samples after you’ve gone to a restaurant, at conferences on freebie tables, and other tactful places where some might pick up your shop name and hold on to it.
4. Become and accessory to a charitable event. There are many charitable organizations and other types of fund raisers that are looking for small businesses to donate to help raise month for their cause. This is where you give your best work, not that painting that just didn’t come out right or the half bent book cover copy that isn’t of any value to you. Here is your chance to shine, and do something good for other. It will come back to reflect brightly upon you if completed in a professional and resonating way. Customers like to see that shops they buy from are involved outside their studios and craft tools.
5. Throw a party. I think I may have mentioned this back in January. But hey, throw a party anyway. Invite friends to invite there friends. Share your new space (studio or store front), have an online gathering with hash tags from twitter or a facebook fan page commodore. You get the picture. And don’t forget the candy! You need to feed your attendees. If you’re having a physical party, throw out the party platters and open the buffets of snacks and punch.
If your party is virtual, then you need to give them some eye candy to go with all that reading and waiting in front to the computer. Free samples, games that lead to a chance to receive discount coupons or free goodies from your shop.
Now that’s the kind of party I like!
How will you tell others about your shop?

Horse Romance

Susan Lower — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:23:06 +0000

A friend of mine sent this to me on facebook.

As many of you know, my current WIP is called UNBRIDLED.

A true horse romance!!

Why Sell on eBay?

Susan Lower — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:05:15 +0000

EBay started out as an online auction site for selling virtual anything, and I mean anything. That is until restrictions began to apply.

Today, however, you can set up shop on eBay and sell your craft along with tons of other commerical products and services. It’s just not an online auction anymore thanks to their “buy it now” feature and ability to create your own store front.

So why would you sell your craft on eBay vs/ or along with somewhere else?

Selling on eBay gives you these benefits:

* well known site filled with repeat customers

* listing fees and commission fees for each listing sold

* high traffic area (enhance the repeat customers)

feedback ratings

* eBay bucks (buyer incentive)

* flexibility in product sales

* search engine ranking

I personally have both sold and bought on eBay, ranking from craft supplies, gifts, and a multitude of items. But is it the best place for you?

That’s for you to decide.

Why Sell on Artsefest?

Susan Lower — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:03:03 +0000

Artesfest is an online craft show. It features crafters from all over the United States.

Not nearly as popular as Etsy or Art Fire, this site doesn’t rank as high in the search engines, but I did come across it never-the-less.

One of the biggest benefits this site promotes is it’s way of bringing together crafters and buyers in a virtual craft show atmosphere.

Site features:

* Monthly fee for listings

* Limited space with option to purchase more space for photos and listings

* 100,000 unique visitors every month

* Online Craft Show – open 24/ 7

* Inventory Control

* Site Builder

* Domain URL

* SEO

You can read more about Artsfest craft benefits on their page: http://artsefest.com/pages.php?pageid=9

And their pricing at: http://artsefest.com/pages.php?pageid=7

What do you think? Would you sell here?

Why Sell On Artfire?

Susan Lower — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:58:50 +0000

Today we start our series on where to sell your craft.

In all fairness, I thought we’d go alphabetical, starting with Art Fire.

I jumped over and visited their site. And in the words of one of their current sellers (right off one of their pages):

“Where else can you have a custom studio website within a venue that does your SEO, ranks you top in searches, links a Google friendly blog to your studio, provides comprehensive marketing insights & advice for networking your business, teaches you how to photograph, write descriptions, make video commercials, and allows you to promote yourself with live links to other places you sell? Only on ARTFIRE – and these cutting edge Mavericks are always introducing the latest tools, features, tech trends and giving insights that you could apply to other places you sell. They give you the tools AND teach you how to use them – you can’t put a price on that education and you can’t find this anywhere else on the web!” Natalie of Swank and CapriciousAdornments
Art Fire offers sellers a place to sell their craft with no additional commission charges. Just one flat fee per month. Just like a regular website fee, it gives you a place for unlimited listings of your product, a built in blog, and promotional tools.

Key Features of Art Fire:
* One Monthly fee – no commission

* Blog/ Website set up layout for shop

* Personal Domain URL

* Global Shipping Profile

* Multiple Payment Processors

* Analytics

* Vacation Mode

* Rating Feedback System

* Tweet Your Items

* Pod Casts for sellers

* Search Engine Optimization

* Community

If you’re interested in finding out more about setting up a shop on Art fire, you can visit: http://www.artfire.com/groupdeal
If you’re already selling on another venue, Art Fire has this great article on comparing it’s service to others: If You’re From Etsy.
If I’ve left anything out or you’d like to leave a comment of your own experience on Art Fire, please do so!

SDCWA LOGO CONTEST

Susan Lower — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:51:33 +0000

I’m so excited!!

This year the Saint Davids Christian Writers’ Association is having a special contest!!

So here are the details:

Design a logo for the Saint Davids Christian Writers Association, capturing the values and mission of our organization.

Each entryshould be submitted as two files, one a 300 dpi jpg and the other a 72 dpi jpg.

All entries must be submitted byJune 4, 2012.

Send entries to: treasurer @ stdavidswriters.com (eliminating the spaces in the address).

This contest is open to anyone, and the person designing the winning logo will receive a full tuition scholarship to the 2013 SDCWA conference. (He or she will still be required to pay room and board.)

You can see the old logo here at bottom right side of my blog. Can’t wait to receive all your entries!!!

Getting It All Together Again

Susan Lower — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:40:30 +0000

The past several weeks have been crazy busy here in the Lower household. I think we’ve all caught a dose of spring fever, that or the blossoming flowers and beautiful birds have just become too distracting. I’ve had a blue jay and a cardinal visiting almost daily the wood pile outside my kitchen window. It’s so hard to focus on dirty dishes when there is a vibrant colored bird looking back at you through the window. If only they would stay long enough for me to zoom my camera to photograph them for you!

But I manage, really I do.

My fingers have been busy typing on my keyboard, too. I’m happy to say the revisions are finished on FORGOTTEN REINS and will be sent back this coming to the requesting agent.

In the mean time, I’m about seven scenes from finishing UNBRIDLED and Bell’s been asking when we’re going to start a new middle grade story. So over the weekend, we sat down and started plotting out the next book. I love seeing how excited my kids get when I ask them for story ideas. I feel as if my middle grade novels are just as much theirs as they are mine!

Call it spring fever if you want, I’d like to call it writer frenzy. The national write a script in a month is going on right now over at Script Frenzy. Any other year I participate, but this year I didn’t sign up. Now that FORGOTTEN REINS is revised and UNBRIDLED is almost finished, I’ve got a dozen other story ideas in my head.

I’ve been researching the next middle grade novel and I’m having a lot of fun with this. That I’ve gotten some heavy decisions lifted from my chest, I feel so much freer to write again.

I’ve been leaning toward writing a western, what do you think? The sheriff and the outlaw’s daughter, or maybe preacher’s daughter and the outlaw?

Where To Sell Your Crafts Online

Susan Lower — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:51:30 +0000

The Internet is full of places to shop. Type in any keyword and come up with at least a hundred places where that item can be found.

But where do you go when you’re the seller? What keywords come to mind when looking for a place to sell your special craft?

Automatically, we find places like eBay, Etsy, and Artfire. Yet, there are a few more places out there, aren’t there?

Where to sell your crafts online can be more of a chore of finding a reliable site, than deciding which online shopping site is right for you to set up shop.

Think of it as driving down a street or walking through a mall and seeing an empty shop. The possibility is there, but is it the right place for you to sell your craft?

When seeking a place to sell your craft online, you need to ask yourself the following questions: (just like you would if opening a store front of your local mall.)

1. Is this a good location for me?

2. Is the price to sell (rent, listing fees, etc…) affordable?

3. What benefits does one shop offer that appeals to selling my craft more than the other (comparison shopping).

4. How much traffic is the online site drawing in?

5. What type of promotion does the site offer beside you promoting yourself?

Over the next couple of Talk Tuesdays we’ll be looking at each online venue available to sellers to set up shop and sell their craft online. If I miss an online venue, please let me know and I’ll check it out and post it. Please feel free to express your own experience with these shops: Etsy, Art Fire, Ebay, and Artsfest. (In no particular order).

Where do you sell your craft?

Vintage Note Cards

Susan Lower — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:13:33 +0000

Over the Easter weekend, I sat down with my mom and we made these really neat vintage note cards.

I have to admit, I think the vintage violin is my favorite of all the cards we made. All these neat vintage graphics came from the graphic’s fairy. There are thousands of them to choose from over at this blog.

Which one is your favorite?

Show Me The Money!

Susan Lower — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:47:02 +0000

In the 1996 film, Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise plays the role of a sports agent. Cuba Gooding Jr, plays the role of a football player that is a veteran of his career. During the movie Maguire (Tom Cruise) goes out on his own and works his butt of to get this high school kid a place with a well known football team, while still trying to hold on to Gooding’s character Tidwell.
At one point in the movie, Tidwll says to Maguire, “Show me the money.”
Maquire has to prove himself worthily by getting Tidwell a new contract, meanwhile he finds that the high school kid has already signed with another agent and his efforts were for nothing. But, Tidwell remained a loyal client.
In the end, Maquire showed Tidwell the money.
That’s exactly what your customers, readers, and clientele expect from you. Show them the money….show them your product is worth the price and their time.
Nora Roberts didn’t become a best selling author because the only thing she could do was write. She became a best selling author because she proved to her readership that she was worth their time and their money. She gives them the stories they want that promise to be better and better with each new book she puts out there.
She’s just one example. Artists, crafters, your work is just like a book. Maybe you’re a writer and it really is a book, but no matter what you create you need to put your worth into the work. Let your passion and talent shine through that customers will keep coming back to see what else you’ve got.
Show them the money and they’ll show you a whole new world of expanded clientele. Because when one person is in love with something, they recommend and share it with a friend.