Rockin' Robin Tweet Tweet Tweet

So today I wanted to explore the power of Twitter and the pull of social media. I can recall back in the early 90's when my mother and I started our company that we had to pay for advertising in the newspaper, we put ads in magazines, we pounded the pavement talking to designers, and a plethora of other methods to get our name out in the community for our services.

It took about 6 months to really get enough clientele to break even and another 6-9 months to be making a good profit. This was all accomplished with countless 12 hour days and sleepless nights of solving design issues.

Now starting a company can be so very much different. You can file for your own company status on Legal Zoom for about $100. You can create a Facebook, Etsy, Twitter, CafePress, Zazzle, Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress, or Stumble Upon page (as well as others) totally free. You can then almost sit back and watch it happen.

However, the best way to really make those pages become visible is to use them to your benefit. While I have never been a fan of social media I am beginning to understand the lower common factor in the media can help me tremendously.

When I started my Etsy store August 31, 2011 I thought this will be a fun side thing to do. Then the halloween season came and I had orders, so many I turned some away. It was quickly obvious to me that there was more to this than just a little hobby. Slowly but surely I started to create pages, Facebook was first which allowed me to have the benefit of friends that could see things that were going on. Then later I created a blog of my own, which has turned out to be so much FUN!!! If anything my kids will have this as a chronicle of our lives and the weird stuff that happens. Then came Twitter. 140 characters of sound bite glory!

You can put links to new posts on the blog, can link Facebook to it, can link up to your other sites as well. I honestly think Twitter could be the best starter gun to the entire process. I started by following all our team members and some of my pageant girls. Then I found other blog writers I loved on Twitter and followed them. I would reply to various tweets and figured out quickly that Twitter really does push social media on a second by second basis.

I know some of our members have a twitter accounts. I would suggest to all of you to explore this option. Most phones have a twitter application that you can use to keep your name in the minds of your customers. It also allows people to start seeing you less as a store and more as a person that they can get to know, which makes them want to buy. I don't make this stuff up there are articles and research that state that customers will tend to buy more from stores that they feel they "know" the people that work there.

So Tweet away, heck we even have a bird in our AREtsy logo, so maybe it was karma.

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is a day that seems to be either a love or hate it kind of day. There are those people that love to buy gifts and mementos for their loved ones just as an additional reminder that they are loved. Then there are those that are very ambivalent about the day and call it Hallmark's creation.

I am a bit of both! Every year I buy something small and special for each of my daughters. I sneak into their rooms at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night and put the little treasures on their respective tables. Then in the morning I make then a big breakfast with eggs and sausage (or bacon), biscuits, juice or coffee... THE WORKS!! Then I send them off to school to have a day that started with love.

Of course for the last 10 years my boyfriend (same guy 10 years) has been out of town. This year in Vegas. When he returns we will likely go on a bit of a date and enjoy some time just the two of us. *happy face*

What the day is really about, in my opinion, is that through the hustle and bustle of the day to day grind sometimes we forget to tell those people we love how much they really mean to us.

So today I wanted to tell all my team members that I am glad you are here. That you are creative. That you share your little wonders with the world through a small venue called Etsy. That you are an Arkansan. Most importantly that I have the overwhelming pride and blessing to be one of your team leaders.

Thanks to all of you, and without sounding too weird, I love you!

Making your Blog Better!

We have quite a few team members that blog, and in the process of starting my own blog I have read and learned a lot about blogging in general.

I am currently reading the eBook "Grow your Blog: Proven ways to add followers every single day". It is written by The Simple Dude and for the most part I can say it seems to be a decent educational tool for bloggers to read,  and gives some tools for ways to progress your blog. It is a short eBook too, so give it a shot if you have a couple of hours.

I have also been turned on the Bloggers Blog of Note (BON). I think this featured blog listing is kind of like Etsy's featured seller. You go along in your little world and hope that someone notices, then things go haywire!

I have previously posted about the Ping-O-Matic feature that helps your blog come up in search engines, and that it can be a helpful tool to find your little corner of the vast internet.

I have also mentioned in facebook posts and other miscellaneous spaces about Arkansas Women Bloggers. There are a vast number of groups out there for bloggers that are geographically and demographically specific. These groups are great for helping to grow your own blog and get traffic to your various pages be it Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, or otherwise.

I think the additional information I want to add today, is the layout of blog pages, and what fancy features you have on your page.

There are widgets, and gadgets, and buttons and a massive array of things you can have on your site, and those things may or may not be helpful to you. Take a look at your blog page, do you have a bunch of stuff that really doesn't pertain to the way you want your blog to grow? If you are on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, or other sites do you have follow buttons? Do you have your various feeds on there too? Are those two things close together or far apart?

You can add almost anything you like to your blog, and those things are always personal choices, but the real questions you have to ask yourself (and I am asking them to myself as well) ...... What items do I want/need that will help promote myself and my internet adventure in the best possible ways?

Now let's go out there and do some blogging! I know I need to start with some rearranging and site review of my own personal blog.

New Members?!?!

As most of you know we started working on a membership directory, which was a daunting task to undertake at the beginning with about 250 members there were a lot of messages to send out in order to make the necessary contact.

Well now we have gotten through that and only have to keep up with the newer members, but this morning there was a run on membership requests! I had to add FIVE! new members this morning alone! I love that people want to join our team! I truly hope that we can continually progress to make our team one of the best on Etsy with activities and events that help promote all of us!

As of right now our membership is at 292! We have a total of 113 listed in the directory! We really want to try to get as many people in the directory as possible, so if you know of anyone that is a member make sure they have sent in their information! Due to the leaders busy schedules we haven't gotten the blog updates finished yet, but they are in the process, so hang in there.

If you know of any craft shows, events, anything that might be fun for team members to attend or participate in, please let us know!