Simply Shiny Life

I did it. I opened an account on ArtFire, one of the latest offerings available to sell artisan crafts online.

ArtFire calls itself “the premier online marketplace for handmade products designed by artisans around the globe. Our free community is designed for artisans to buy and sell their works, while celebrating unique handmade items and designs. ” Also, according to the site they “spend money to advertise this site to buyers. How much? $7-10 million dollars on advertising in the next 12 months. Including the back cover of craft magazine for the next two years and purchased over 2 million views of ArtFire ads on websites ranging from Facebook to Mother Jones magazine in the first week of November! We will continue to buy advertising and increase that budget every month for you. ” Wow. A marketing plan. Wow.

Traffic rankings look pretty good, and the site is already advertising both in print as well as online venues. So why ArtFire? Well, for one, it has stats. Real stats. Wonder of wonders. Also, Artfire allows 10 images per listing, a vacation mode, and a markdown manager. With things like auto posting to Google base in the works. j

Artfire’s pricing is simple. Right now, as a reward to join and help work out all the bugs in the beta version of the site, you pay $7 a month. That’s it. No additional listing fees, no final value fees, no sales commissions. Ever. And it’s $7 per month forever. As long as you own your shop. Shop owners receive their own sub domain. Wow. Did I already say wow?

It is important to note, however, that the site is still in beta testing. What’s that mean? Its NEW. Shiny shiny NEW. And because it’s new, it has bugs. And by definition, that’s why its in beta…to test and find and kill the bugs. But, that’s also why the $7 a month offer is in place.. once the kinks are worked out, sellers will pay $20 per month. Fair trade off I think, don’t you?

Oh, and one more thing. If you create a verified $7 a month account right now, and then get 10 more peeps to create accounts too, your shop will be free for life. No monthly fees. Ever. How super cool is that?

If you are interested, click the link below. I’d love it if you used me as your referrer. Then pass along the love.
Register on ArtFire.com

UPDATE: After setting up my shop and interacting a bit on this site, here’s what I like so far:

1. Stats. Honest to goodness stats. I can actually tell where my referring URLs are from and how many of my items are being found via google. Holy cow
2. One page listing process. ONE page.
3. New items appear on the front page for a bit…very cool
4. Unlimited items for $7 a month
5. My stuff is already appearing in google searches
6. Requests are handled pretty quickly by the admin team
7. Traffic to the site is WAY up according to alexa. YAY!
8. Print advertising campaign already in place and growing
9. I can use HTML in my product descriptions. This means I can format text and add links, etc. YAY!

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The December issue of Bead Trends magazine features two of my artisan handmade jewelry pieces.  (I posted about the first time here) Very cool.

Artisan handmade amethyst and lampwork bead bracelet.

Sterling silver and amethyst wire wrapped hoop earrings

Very exciting! Bead Trends is a lovely magazine with great photos. The editor features lots of very talented jewelry artists monthly. I am humbled and tickled to be featured again.

These pieces are currently on hiatus from my shop, but will return in about a month.

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Last week I provided a list of venues for artists, artisans and artisan crafters. This week I’m profiling some of those sites on my blog.

I asked Christine from GirlShopSpot to tell us a bit more about her venue. And, as a bonus to my readers, she’s offered a $5.00 credit for a membership that will enable you to use all the tools she has available. This is a great offer to try out the site and all it has available. To receive the credit, all you need to do is enter ShinyAdornments as the referrer when you register to receive your credit.

What is the site name and where can artisan sellers find you?Girl Shop Spot, A Shopping Resource for Today’s Modern Woman.

http://www.girlshopspot.com/
http://www.girlshopspot.com/blog/
http://twitter.com/girlshopspot
http://www.linkedin.com

Tell us a little about your site’s history. What are its origins?

I was tired of seeing people spend their money on things that didn’t work and businesses that sold them the world and charged them all their profits. I also had a lot of requests from people on how I we could help.

I was also really tired of searching for things on search engines and not finding results to my liking. Especially unique boutiques and services. I was also really tired of the yahoo’s and other local sites who listed companies just to add to their numbers but didn’t have any real information to help find what we’re looking for. I love to see tons of pixs and info on whom this business really is. I don’t need a map. If I really like the place, I’ll order online or drive 45 minutes to get there, just give me all the information and pixs. I was tired of over populated websites just focused on product, product, product, and not anything about the business, such as larger sites who sell chain store products. I thought with both my husband and my backgrounds, we could help on a larger scale. That’s when we decided to create a niche site for woman to search local, national, and by category. Our goal is to become the ultimate resource for women.

So first we are focusing on fixing all those aspects above through our site, while still being able to sell through either direct contact with the owner and through direct links to purchase.

For instance you have a limit of products you can sell of 18. These are your top sellers, “Must Haves.” You’re already narrowing the search down for our shoppers by doing this. These items can be searched and found individually on GSS by the keyword title you provide for that item. The must have then brings the shopper to that item on their shop spot page when clicked. The shopper can then choose to click the must have to buy. This costs only 3 cents. This is a great lead, a lead you want to have and pay for. You’re not paying for the bounce rate, your paying for a pre-qualified lead. Someone who already learned about your business, has seen your product/service offerings, and likes what they see.

Tell us about the site’s staff.

We think like a big business, but operate small. We keep our costs down that way and still have new and different offerings and technologies than all the other sites that have been around for so long, who have big budgets, funding, and staff. To tell you the truth, I don’t know what they do with it all…some of them? I’d do things much differently.

It’s my husband, the tech geek, and I, the self proclaimed web enthusiast, who has been in marketing for a long time, works from home, raises their two kids, and loves to set things straight. We also outsource for a few things to some great talented people who are passionate about the same things we are.

What is your plan for the site? What are your goals?

Our plan is to expand our local and cyber reach, continue to deliver what we promise, stay cost effective, and develop more useful tools for business owners. We can’t tell all our secrets. There are some who are watching us closely.

Who is your target seller audience?

Mostly women, some men too. They are entrepreneurs, moms, artists, designers, business owners, crafters, Dr.’s.

Who is your target buyer audience? How will you drive buyers to your venue?

Women. And again, some men too. But mostly women of all ages 18 and up.

Most of our buyers and traffic are driven from direct keyword searches on the Internet from our SEO we provide to our Shop Spot owners. We also have some great marketing plans and efforts we are working on.

Is this an international, domestic US, Far East or European focused site?

Right now the local search is set-up for US, but we do have many international businesses who own cyber shops that advertise with us. Our intention is to expand to an international local search function as well.

What differentiates this venue from other online selling venues? Why should artisan sellers consider utilizing this site as a resource instead of other, older sites or their own sites?

We are a search site first, then a shopping community. There are so many social networking sites out there. We are more about setting things straight in the online advertising world.

We concentrate on getting our businesses found by those seeking them online. We also have a local search function to add to the mix and support Commerce by Community. http://www.girlshopspot.com/commercebycommunity.aspx

We have the first and only tool where advertisers can budget and measure their ad simultaneously. You can measure what, when, who, and where shoppers are finding you, what products and services they are interested in most, how they communicate with you, where specifically they found you from and what keywords, how many times do they click to view your sales and use the sales code…things like this make online adverting worth much more to the seller. And it’s only a few cents per interaction. It’s really cost effective and turns a light on for our advertisers on how much other forms of advertising are not working because you wouldn’t believe the numbers. And, yet some advertisers wouldn’t know what to fix, add, or change because the tools aren’t there.

We’re not discouraging sellers to have their own site or not to advertise anywhere else. It’s good to be found anywhere you think your audience may be and to create an online media plan. Have a budget in mind and weigh the site’s audience, brand message, professionalism, resources, tools, and costs to you and your business.

Even if a seller has time to keep up with a site of their own, they will still need to work hard to receive traffic and leads by advertising through other forms of online media.

GSS Blog and Marketing Tip for Today: Marketing of any kind takes time. Be sure your brand name and business is still receiving great recognition through all marketing activities that will correlate to increase of your sales in the months to come. Especially with online advertising, advertisers expect direct sales because they can make a purchase right then and there, but in fact online advertising is just the same as anything else. Just because people aren’t buying doesn’t mean they won’t remember you when they’re ready to make that purchase. Statistics show product and service research is done mostly online. Be sure to create a marketing plan and execute so your business has great representation when they do! http://www.girlshopspot.com/blog/

How have you structured your seller pricing?

The initial click to our advertiser’s shop is free. If a shopper doesn’t show interest in what they are selling that visit is free. This is what sellers get confused by because Pay-per-Click has been embedded in their heads. We are not Pay-per-Click. We call it Pay-per-Interaction. It costs a few cents for each interaction with their ad. This insures that our customers only pay for performance. The cost ranges from free to a few dollars a month. The more the seller provides and gives in an ad the more qualified their lead becomes, making both the seller and shopper a more satisfied customer.

In brief:

· The initial click to our advertiser’s shop is free.

· If there is no interest in what you’re selling you are not charged a thing.

· You get to choose and budget up to how much you wish to spend each month. There are no minimums.

· You can sign-in to view the interaction reports anytime. These reports are updated automatically when visitors come to view the ad. There’s also monthly e-mailed summary reports sent.

· We do offer a free membership with a logo image and use of many tools; however it’s much more beneficial to use the PPI Membership for both sellers and their shoppers.

What else should we know?

This truly is very cost effective. To be honest, it’s probably too cheap. That’s why sellers are better off taking full advantage of what they can sell and provide in their Shop Spot ad. Creating a page full of images and must haves can pay off for them greatly. They are getting much better exposure, brand recognition, and a chance to measure what’s working.

Note from the author: My initial email to this site was answered VERY quickly. A plus from the customer service side.

Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling more artisan handmade selling  venues with interviews and giveaways from the site owners. You can find this site’s traffic rank according to Alexa here

I thought it might be interesting to compare traffic rankings of available venues for artists, artisan crafters and designers. It could quite possibly just be my opinion, but it seems as though a myriad of new sites have appeared over the last several months proclaiming themselves to be the next great selling venue. Are they? Time will tell I guess.

I used Alexa.com to generate traffic rankings for several dozen handmade goods selling sites. Per Alexa they “compute traffic rankings by analyzing the Web usage of millions of Alexa Toolbar users and data obtained from other, diverse traffic data sources. The information is sorted, sifted, anonymized, counted, and computed, until, finally, we get the traffic rankings shown in the Alexa service. ” So, while not a 100% statistically correct collection methodology, the number comparisons are interesting to note. There really seems to be a big divide between what I consider the top tier of selling sites vs. those in the second tiers.

Is traffic the be all end all to guarantee sales to the indie artisan? Not necessarily, as evidenced by my experience on Ruby Lane (see my experience here) and as also evidenced by the thousands of etsy sellers that are selling little to nothing.

You need to be able to clearly articulate your intended audience, your expectations of service from the venue you are considering and do your research.

I’ve sorted the sites in from most to least trafficked. Remember, the LOWER the number the HIGHER the number of visitors a site receives. LOWER numbers are BETTER.

What others should be added to this list?

UPDATED LIST HERE

(Note: these rankings change and I will periodically update the listed metrics. Last update 3/1/2009)

UPDATED LIST HERE

Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling some of these venues with interviews and giveaways from the site owners themselves.

One of the teams I belong, the Artisan Beaders Street Team from etsy is hosting a weekly handmade jewelry giveaway from now through the holiday season. One of the goals of this event is to generate traffic to our blog and to each team member’s etsy shop.  I’ve compiled a short list of places we’ve been posting or otherwise advertising our event.

1. http://www.online-sweepstakes.com

2. http://etsygiveaways.blogspot.com/

3. Blog and giveaway threads in the etsy forums. I search for posts about giveways and the daily blog posts
http://www.etsy.com/forums_search.php?search_type=forum_title&search_query=blog and
http://www.etsy.com/forums_search.php?search_type=forum_title&search_query=giveaway

4. The ABSTeam thread in the etsy forum

5. My own blog

6. Twitter

7. The Posh Mama PoshTidbits blog  http://poshtidbits.blogspot.com/

8.  Chicgalleria.com (contact info@chicgalleria.com)

9. http://blogconteststation.com/

10. New Sweepstakes Daily at CashNet Sweepstakes

Here are a few more as suggested in the etsy forums:

* http://www.Prizey.net *  http://bloggiveaways.blogspot.com

*  http://www.the-giveaway.com/

*  http://www.prizeatron.com/

Where do you advertise your freebies and giveaways? What advertising sources work best for you?

Jewelry giveaway ends on Friday 11/21 at 5 pm!!

The Artisan Beaders Street Team on etsy (of which I am a happy member ) is pleased to present a little holiday present from us to you! Starting October 20th, participating team members will be sponsoring a giveaway of their fabulous handmade items. New giveaways will be posted to the Artisan Beaders Street Team blog each Monday, and winners will be announced the following Friday.

This week, we have a charming (pardon the pun) cell phone charm from Ainsley of Kaskaad Handmade Jewellery! Bright and sunny, this cell phone charm features a glass bead and Swarovski crystals, and is sure to make your phone cheery. Please note: this giveaway is for one charm; the photo above shows two different views.

How to enter to win:
Visit Ainsley’s shop, then leave a comment here* with a link to your favorite item. We will be picking the winner** on Friday, November 21st, at 5:00pm EST, so you have until then to leave a comment. The winner will be announced shortly after, so make sure you check back Friday afternoon. Thanks for playing!

NOTE: Please don’t leave your comments on my blog. To enter the giveaway, you must leave your name and contact info at the link above on the ABSTeam blog. Thanks!

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I’ve created a new etsy treasury for the SATeam featuring dark and brooding items available on etsy.  Guess I was kinda in that mood yesterday. The lovely jewelry creations are courtesy of my fabulous pals at Starving Artists.

Please click the picture below to view the live treasury. I’d love it if you would click each picture on the treasury and leave a comment.

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Jewelry giveaway ends on Friday 11/14 at 5 pm!!

The Artisan Beaders Street Team on etsy (of which I am a happy member ) is pleased to present a little holiday present from us to you! Starting October 20th, participating team members will be sponsoring a giveaway of their fabulous handmade items. New giveaways will be posted to the Artisan Beaders Street Team blog each Monday, and winners will be announced the following Friday.

This week, Vicki of Orion Designs is giving away a truly adorable pair of earrings! The Cocoa Waves Earrings feature glass beads and natural brass, and are perfect no matter the time of year. These earrings measure 5/8ths of an inch from the bottom of the earwire.

How to enter to win:
Visit Vicki’s Shop, then leave a comment here* on the Artisan Beaders Blog with a link to your favorite item.  We will be picking the winner** on Friday, November 14th, at 5:00pm EST, so you have until then to leave a comment. The winner will be announced shortly after, so make sure you check back Friday afternoon. Thanks for playing!*

NOTE: Please don’t leave your comments on my blog. To enter the giveaway, you must leave your name and contact info at the link above on the ABSTeam blog. Thanks!

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If you haven’t discovered it yet, the Starving Artists Forum, of which I am a member, has created the Starving (Jewelry) Artists Connection ….  “a community of artisans, designers, crafters, hobbyists, collectors and enthusiasts of all things created by hand!

Aside from providing a platform for all members of the community to promote and exhibit their creative endeavors, we offer a connection to one of the most active, informative and friendly Jewelry Making forums online…. www.starvingjewelryartists.com or www.tsjaforums.com

One of the regular features planned for TSJA Connection will be Design Challenges. We will start with a Jewelry Design challenge every other month. Each challenge will be based on a theme. Most challenges will be open to all techniques, however we may opt to include a few that are focused on specific methods from time to time.

There will be a poll for each challenge for you to choose your favorite design. The favorite design & designer for each challenge will be featured both on the Home Page here and at Starving Jewelry Artists Forum

Anyone may vote and leave comments; you will however need to register if you want to enter a challenge so that you will be able to upload photos. This site is separate from our main site so your registration information is separate also.

We hope you will decide to participate and share your creativity.”

I’d encourage you to check out the Starving Jewelry Artists Forum and the Connection.  Starving Artists is dedicated to giving jewelry designers a place to learn, grow, inspire and be inspired in a friendly, fun environment.

I like handmade polymer clay beads. Actually, I like them a lot.  And there are some REALLY talented artists creating some really fabulous beads.

This handmade bracelet and earrings use some terrific surrealistic like beads I purchased from a talented artist on etsy.  Both are available in my etsy shop.

The wild party bracelet incorporates sterling silver wire and several sizes of black onyx beads. The beads in the dangle earrings are accompanied by pink tourmaline rondelles, natural rose quartz beads and more black onyx round beads.