Simply Shiny Life

This one made me cry I was laughing so hard. If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure your volume is turned on.  So which clip was your favorite? The roll over in the entry? Trying to park? Trying to fill up at the gas station?

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From “Knot Comes Loose“, by My Morning Jacket

Baby, baby, can’t you see that I’m smilin’?
Can’t you see, there’s a part of me that’s brand new?
Used to be, was a part of me felt like hidin’
But now it comes through

Deep in my heart
That’s where the knot comes loose
Deep in my heart
I will remember you...

Love this song, and it inspired these super cute handmade sterling silver knot hoop earrings.  I’ve knotted the wire and then hand hammered each one. They are available as oxidized  or shiny, and both are buffed to accentuate the knot and the texture.

You can find them at ShinyAdornments at artfire and ShinyAdornments at etsy

In a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artisans and artisan crafters.

This week I’m profiling another of those sites. I asked Emma, from MISI, to tell us a bit more about the venue. 

What is the site name and where can artisan sellers find you?
Our website is called MISI, which stands for Make It Sell It. It’s a website that brings together people who make hand-crafted items with people who want to buy.

Our main location is the website, www.misi.co.uk, but you can also find us at:

Blog: misiuk.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/misi_uk
Facebook Group: http://tinyurl.com/dbdqhc
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/misimeuk

Tell us a little about your site’s history. What are its origins?
The idea for MISI started early in 2008. I have always been a keen crafter, although by profession I’m a web developer. Early in 2008 I decided to join the two sides of my life together and create a top-notch, online, craft marketplace for the UK.

There followed nine months of blood, sweat and tears because I was determined that the site had to be absolutely exceptional. It was worth it in the end because when MISI was born in September 2008, the general response was massively positive.

It fills a gap in the market and does just what the sellers and buyers need it to. And I love it!

Tell us about the site’s staff
My name is Emma Hogg. I’m the boss and techie-in-chief. I previously worked as a professional web developer so it makes sense for me to do all the geeky stuff. I’m a work-from-home mum and a keen crafter – you can find my own crafty creations for sale on MISI too!

Ian is our Marketing Manager. He masterminds our publicity machine and helps to spread the MISI word.

Linda is our Accounts Manager. She beavers away behind the scenes keeping our finances firmly in order.

I should also mention my husband who does a great job at reminding me to eat and sleep so I can continue to function on MISI!

What is your plan for the site? What are your goals?
When we were developing the site, we set ourselves the goal of becoming the UK’s leading site for buying and selling handmade. Since launch it’s taken off faster than we dared hope and I think we are very close to achieving that goal already. I think that the difficulties in the economy have helped us, plus people’s concern about issues such as product miles, sweatshops and the blandness of the corporate high street.

We’ve been lucky to recruit a good number of high quality sellers in a fairly short space of time. We were recently joined by our thousandth seller, which we’re very excited about. And there’s room for many more!

The next steps for us are (1) to keep on growing in a measured fashion, (2) to keep developing the site so it stays one step ahead of the game and (3) to keep delivering what our community of sellers and buyers wants.

MISI Front Page:

Who is your target seller audience?
All crafters are welcome at MISI. Our sellers offer a very wide range of creations – everything from jewellery, to toys, to furniture, to edible gifts. Prices start at just a couple of pounds, all the way up to a couple of thousand pounds.

MISI Gift Guide Example:

Who is your target buyer audience? How will you drive buyers to your venue?
We have a perpetual PR machine generating visitors to the site. We target our efforts at bringing in people who are likely to be interested in buying unique, good quality handmade products.

Is this an international, domestic US, Far East or European focused site?
Our main focus is on the United Kingdom and we aim our marketing at a UK-based audience. Listings are in UK pounds. We do however welcome international buyers and sellers as long as they are happy to transact in UK pounds.

What differentiates this venue from other online selling venues?
MISI is so much more than `just another place to sell’. MISI is also a social network for crafters with our lively forum at its heart – a place where you can chat with a growing community of like-minded crafty souls

Why should artisan sellers consider utilizing this site as a resource instead of other, older sites or their own sites?
A good question! Here are the ways I think MISI stands apart:

1. At MISI you are part of a friendly crafting family.
2. MISI is specifically aimed at consumers who appreciate handmade products. This means you can be sure that your products are being showcased to the right target market. This also means a community of buyers who will appreciate the value of your creations.
3. MISI offers low commission and listing fees for the crafter. It’s cheaper than listing on auction sites and you get a super-long, five-month listing.
4. MISI allows links to the crafter’s own website in the shop front and profile pages which help boost your own site traffic.

How have your structured your seller pricing?
MISI is free to join and free to set up a store. Item fees are 20p per listing (irrespective of the quantity) and 3% of sale price (when your product sells).

What else should we know?
We have regular buyer promotions based around forthcoming events such as Mothers’ Day. Check out our homepage to see what the current promotion is. Top tip – it’s a great way to make some crafty extra sales!

Thanks Emma!

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

I was listening to Norah Jones tunes online and ran across “September Rain”, her cover of the classic Al Dubin tune :

The leaves are brown, came tumbling down, remember
That september, in the rain
The sun went out just like a dying ember
That september, in the rain

To every word of love I’ve heard you whisper
All the raindrops seem to play a sweet refrain
Though spring is here, to me it’s still september
That september, in the rain

The leaves are brown, came tumbling down, remember
That september, in the rain
The sun went out just like a dying ember
That september, in the rain

To every word of love I’ve heard you whisper
All the raindrops seem to play a sweet refrain
Though spring is here, to me it’s still september
That september, in the rain
That september, in the rain

It inspired this handmade umbella pendant necklace. I’d made a similar version with a heart attached a while back. This one is much simpler, made from black onyx rounds and sterling silver.

“They’ve made a paste!!” “Really? What color is it?”

One of my all time episodes. Classic Friends. Classic Ross.

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Ceridwin, from the Wander Lust Bling blog, has featured my handmade pearl necklace in this week’s Thursday Temptations.

Very cool!

thanks Ceridwin :-)

Do you use the same tags in BOTH your title AND your tags? If not, you might want to reconsider doubling up.

A very smart peep on one of the forums I belong to discovered that if a buyer is browsing for items within a category, and then decides to narrow their search, etsy’s search functionality only searches the item tags, and disregards the words in the item title.

If the buyer uses etsy’s text search prior to choosing a category, the search defaults to looking in tags AND title. However, once the buyer chooses a category, the search defaults to tags ONLY. (See the images below)

Main Text Search, tags AND titles:

Search in categories, only tags:

Looks like I need to review all my item tags to ensure I’ve included everything I should. You might want to as well….

A big thanks goes out to my top entrecard droppers for the last month!

Entrecard is used to increase traffic to your blog. According to the site “Entrecard is a free blogging network that brings visitors to your blog. By joining our network, you can earn Entrecard credits which allow you to display an ad of your blog on other blog sites within our Network.”

I’ve been using it for several months now, and, well, so far so good. My increased surfing to drop cards has resulted in my finding some new regular blog reading stops as well as some new places for Project Wonderful ads. For more information about what it is and how to use it, visit this link
 

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Yep…it seems like I’ve been preaching the Artfire gospel of late. But, dang, they just keep rolling out more and more super cool functionality.

The latest: Rapid Cart. Essentially a shopping widget that verified sellers can install nearly everywhere. Rapid Cart espouses super fast check out (28 seconds!!) and the buyer doesn’t even have to be registered on Artfire.

ShinyAdornments

Buy Handmade

If you’d like more info about the Rapid Cart widget, check out this post in the Artfire Forum.