Simply Shiny

Shiny Spotlight Thursday
There are some really talented artists, designers and creators that sell their handmade items on Artfire and etsy. I thought it might be nice to highlight some of the things that caught my eye this week while browsing.

Clicking on each image will link you to the seller of each item, if you decide you simply must purchase it.

If you haven’t opened an account on etsy to purchase handmade items, you really should. Also, if you haven’t checked out Artfire in a while, you need to browse the new shops and the new studio designs. Artfire doesn’t require you to open an account to purchase handmade goods. Easy peasy.

The US celebrates it’s independence this weekend. This week’s selections were inspired by that red, white and blue themed holiday.

Itty Bitty Medium Tote Handbag - Red White and Blue - Handmade Purse By Itty Bitty Bags

Red, White and Blue Lampwork Bead by Betsy Beads

All American Apple Pie 16oz Hand-Poured All Natural Soy Wax Candle By Sky Line Candle Company

4th of July tutu set By Glitz Glam Boutique

Patriotic Dog Collar from Retro Animals

Look for the Shiny Spotlight every Thursday.

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My pal, and very talented jewelry designer, Brandi from Catie’s Blue, posted about the words people use to find her shop, according to Google Analytics. You should read her blog post aptly titled Google Analytics - Hilarious .

Her post prompted me to share some of the more hysterical search terms used to find my etsy shop. I figured you might get a giggle out of them as well. Plus, I have an ulterior motive. I’d like you to comment and share some of yours. Google Analytics is my friend.

LOL

So without further ado, here is my list of some of the more, ahem, interesting search terms used to find my etsy shop. BTW.. have you SEEN my etsy shop? I’m pretty sure none of these things exist in it, nor have they EVER existed in it.

1. lavender pigs
2. 1970s modern plastic desk
3. american tourister vintage tiara train case
4. art deco bowls
5. babys first mukluks
6. betty crocker dinner for two cook book 1958
7. black tap pant women’s plus (comment from author: Seriously? Seriously)
8. fetus necklace (huh?)
9. foundling (I guess it could be worse.. it could be fondling. LOL)
10. how to crochet balls
11. sperm earrings (um, wha?)
12. stuffed animal noses

Ok, your turn. What are your favorites? 

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From time to time, I profile fellow artisans from Artfire and etsy. Today’s artisan profile belongs to Cindy from Jewelry Tales.  Cindy is also a fellow member on the Starving Artists Jewelry forum.  If you’d like to chat with like minded, seriously talented artists, join us.

Etsy shop link: Jewelry Tales
Name: Cynthia Newcomer Daniel of Jewelry Tales
Blog: Jewelry Tales: http://jewelrytales.blogspot.com/
Behind the Scenes at Jewelry Tales: http://cindydaniel.blogspot.com/
Author of SATeam Blog: http://starvingartiststeam.blogspot.com/

Where did you start and how did you learn to make the products you are creating today?
I began making jewelry at a very young age; honestly, I cannot remember ever not making jewelry! Both my my parents were lapidaries and jewelry makers; they used to let me do some of the rough work for them, and, as a special treat, I would be given a bit of casting wax to carve, or a few stones to use in my own “designs.” We had a hug box full of bits and pieces; beads, settings that hadn’t worked out, pieces of wire; you name it, and it was in there. I was always allowed to use anything I liked from that box, and I liked a lot!

What are your favorite materials?
I’ve had so many different favorites! These days, I’m very interested in using seed beads, but I like to combine them with other media. I have an amazing collection of lampwork beads; I can’t resist them. I also like using metals: gold, silver, and lately, I’ve been drawn to brass.
What are your favorite pieces to create?
I love to make big, over the top pieces; the more ornate, the better. But in between making that sort of thing, I’ll often find myself drawn to making things with simple, clean lines. I look at it as a way of “cleaning my palate” between courses.

What’s been your biggest handmade/creative oops?
I don’t believe in oopsies. If something isn’t going the way I thought it would, it’s time for me to change what I’m thinking. I was blessed to have a very creative grandmother; one of my earliest memories of working under her tutelage was of her telling me that if I didn’t like the way it was going, the problem was mine, not the work. The work was fine; I was the one who needed an attitude adjustment! I’ve never forgotten that, and I find that the things that go “wrong” are often my best pieces; all I have to do is relax and go where they want to go. That’s when real creativity happens!

What inspires you?
Everything. Ideas come from things I see, things I hear, and things that I would like to see. I have more ideas than time; I tried to keep a notebook once, but I quickly realized that I would never go back to it, so it was a waste of time for me. Once an idea is discharged in a sketch, I’m done with it. I work on the fly, letting inspiration happen during the whole process. I never know what something will look like before I start.

How do you describe your design style?
Insane. I get a general idea: sea, time, ornate; and then I go to my closet and pull things out. Everything that appeals to me at that moment, and might possibly fit my theme, comes out and goes into as many trays as I need. Then I start. Sometimes I start with the focal, and other times I may start with the body of the piece. Wherever I start, I build outwards from there. I don’t have a plan, I let things develop organically. Sometimes I have to set things down and wait a bit before I know what to do next; I’ve learned never to rush my process. When I’m working on one of my big pieces, I often “bead through” and make several smaller pieces before the big one is done. The worst part about this sort of process is getting everything put away when I’m done. I have learned the hard way that if I don’t put it all back immediately, I lose things!

What artists have influenced you, and how?
Monet, with his use of color and inference; Picasso, because he’s just so much fun; Dali, because he’s crazier than I am; G.H. Rothe, with her strength and use of line and movement; and pretty much everything from the Art Nouveau period, with its lushness, line, and sensuality.

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out? What do you wish someone would have told you when you first started selling online?
Play. Don’t take yourself, or your art, seriously. Don’t try to be an artist; try to be a child. Enjoy your materials, enjoy using them, have fun. If it isn’t fun, set it aside and do something else. Art must be loved. If you don’t love it, take it apart immediately.

How do you spend time when you are NOT creating?
Gardening, wandering, and reading. I love to do things that have possibilities and uncertainties. I like not knowing how things will turn out, and am at my happiest when I have no clue what will happen next.

Thanks Cindy!

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A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article about some of the differences in how your handmade items from Artfire and etsy appeared in Google results.  You can find the full text of that article here .

Etsy has since listened to it’s particularly angry seller base and updated the title structure in our item pages. This title structure is important as our items are listed in the google search results in the fashion that etsy has enabled the set up.

If you remember previously, etsy’s title structure was:

Handmade <Category Name> on Etsy - <My Item Title>, <My Shop Name >

This was problematic at best for sellers, because Google and other search engines return results titles that range from 60-75 spaces. The Etsy model added about 30 characters with the “Handmade (category) on etsy bit”, my shop name adds 15 characters, which only left 15 to 30 for my actual item title.

The new etsy title structure was rolled out around June 18th. It is

<My Item Title> by <My Shop Name> on Etsy

Since that date, I’ve been testing Google search results to see if my items started to appear with the new title structure. Some have, most still have not.  Items that I haven’t renewed lately are still appearing in the old etsy title structure. Recent items I’ve added or renewed are finally appearing in the new structure.  This is frustrating as it appears I will need to renew, at 20 cents per item, all the handmade jewelry in my etsy shop, in order for it to be updated in the Google listings. This isn’t the case with my Artfire listings, however. I updated ALL my listing titles in both locations at about the same time. Meaning, I edited the titles to ALL my etsy listings and almost all of my Artfire listings. Guess what? The Artfire listings I updated are already appearing updated and correct in the Google search results. Rock on Artfire technical crew.

Here is an example from my etsy shop: These earrings used to appear in google searches as:
Handmade Jewelry on Etsy - Handmade Aqua Teal Peruvian Amazonite ……
(Note: Google inserts …… once the character limit has been reached in a title)

I renewed them last week, so now they appear as:
Handmade Aqua Amazonite Dangle Earrings - Amanda by …

Not perfect, as my name still doesn’t appear in the results title, but better. Looks like I still need to work a bit on the item titles. One thing to note. Having the ‘on etsy’ at the end of the title effectively cuts in out of the results title all together if you item title and shop name are 60+ characters together. Keep that in mine when editing your item titles to make better use of the available character space.

Unfortunately, my shop name is long. If I had suspected how it might impact SEO down the road, I’ll bet I’d have chosen a shorter name in the beginning. Live and learn I guess.

So what do you need to do?

• Find an item in your shop and perform a test search using the title in Google to see what appears
• Review your Google analytics to see what search terms are bringing buyers to your shop
• Ask yourself how YOU would search for that item if you were a buyer. Use those terms in your item title.
• Count the number of characters in your shop name. Add that number to 4 (The number of characters, including spaces for the word by, which is included in the title in Google results). Subtract that number from 60. The result is more or less the number of characters you have left to use in your item title. For instance in this item from my Etsy Shop:

Handmade Gold Fill Labrodorite Earrings -Stormy Seas

There are 52 characters including spaces in that title. I’d expect the Google search result to be:
Handmade Gold Fill Labrodorite Earrings -Stormy Seas by ……………
About 55 characters total because Google won’t cut the ‘ShinyAdornments’ shop title in half. It just excludes it all together if it exceeds the character number limit.

If I want my shop name to appear in the title, I need to make the overall title shorter. Perhaps edit out the Stormy Seas name from the title all together.  If I edited out the “Stormy Seas” part, which, less face it, potential buyers probably aren’t using in the search criteria, my title would most likely appear as:

Handmade Gold Fill Labrodorite Earrings by ShinyAdornments on …..
about 61 characters

Hope that helps a bit. Feel free to email me, or you can find me on plurk,  if you have questions.

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I went to lunch last week with a good friend who is also a Mom. We were talking about so called ‘good’ and ‘bad’ words. Stupid was one on her list that was not allowed to be said in her house. So, given that requirement, here are a few dozen ways of calling someone stupid, without actually saying that word.

1. A few clowns short of a circus.
2. A few fries short of a Happy Meal.
3. A few beers short of a six-pack.
4. Dumber than a box of hair.
5. A few peas short of a casserole.
6. Doesn’t have all her Corn Flakes in one box.
7. The wheel’s spinning, but the hamster’s dead.
8. One Fruit Loop shy of a full bowl.
9. One taco short of a combination platter.
10. A few feathers short of a whole duck.
11. All foam, no beer.
12. The cheese slid off her cracker.
13. Body by Fisher, brains by Mattel.
14. Has an IQ of 2, but it takes 3 to grunt.
15. Couldn’t pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel.
16. An intellect rivaled only by garden tools.
17. As smart as bait.
18. Chimney’s clogged.
19. Doesn’t have all his dogs on one leash.
20. Doesn’t know much, but leads the league in nostril hair.
21. Elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor.
22. Forgot to pay her brain bill.
23. Her sewing machine’s out of thread.
24. His antenna doesn’t pick up all the channels.
25. His belt doesn’t go through all the loops.
26. If she had another brain, it would be lonely.
27. Missing a few buttons on his remote control.
28. No grain in the silo.
29. Proof that evolution CAN go in reverse.
30. Receiver is off the hook.
31. Several nuts short of a full pouch.
32. Skylight leaks a little.
33. Slinky’s kinked.
34. Surfing in Nebraska.
35. Too much yardage between the goal posts.

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