Best in Class: Third iCraft's Sellers' Bootcamp Starts November 1

Just in time for this most important holiday selling season, the third iCraft Sellers' Bootcamp will kick off on November 1, 2009 with a bang! The www.iCraft.ca site is an international selling venue exclusive to handmade items.

Designed this time specifically for the holiday selling season, this FREE online sellers' marketing class goes for 28 days (weekends off) and has daily marketing and advertising assignments (free and low-cost methods) to promote your shop that will take only 30 minutes a day.

What I like about the class is that it makes me accountable to prioritize what will give me the biggest bang for my efforts. This will be the third iCraft Sellers' Bootcamp I have taken and I have to tell you that I come away each time with new strategies. It is well worth my time for a third one!

The program leader is Christine Skaley (PillowThrowDecor) who comes from a 26-year career in sales, sales training, strategic planning, and instructional teaching. She is a fabulous motivator and leader and will lead us all to organized time management, marketing and advertising best suited for our shops, and other business tactics. (She is a master with fabric and sewing too!)

If you are excited to participate and are not yet an iCraft seller, you can become an iCraft seller now as your main shop or as a second shop in order to particpate. You will need to have at least 5 items listed. That is just as easy as pie!

In fact, if you sign up for an iCraft shop with a seller code (1c28439c38), you will get 6 months free for your shop! ($25 one-time registration fee does apply).

Who knows? You may be one of the iCraft Sellers' Bootcamp participants earning a free shop makeover (banners and avatars), an SEO makeover too! More free things will be offered by sponsors.

IndieCEO will be providing to all bootcampers an ebook on computer maintenance for PCs for small and home businesses - a street-smart must have! 

Join us! You will definitely learn some new things and the iCraft Sellers' Bootcamp goal is for all of us to come away with new customers and sales. You will love the atmosphere at iCraft as an all-handmade selling venue. See you in the iCraft forums on Nov. 1!

Speechless Advertising

We are so bombarded by visual and audio stimulation that it can become overwhelming clutter. Advertisers are quickly invading every nook and cranny of your lives to get their message to you. Sometimes, their tactics are self defeating.

We cannot even watch TV without a bottom scroll, animated images popping up in the corner, and reminder text of shows to come. It is frustrating.

As I thought about this, I was working on a design for new postcards for GalleriaLinda. I tried putting multiple jewelry designs on the card, then thumbnails on one side of a bigger photo, and it all just looked junky. There was no clear message other than “here, see EVERYTHING I have ever created!”

I came up with “speechless advertising.” This is not a new concept, although I put my own name to it. Speechless advertising for my postcard utilized one strong photo and my web address. That is all. The idea is to peak interest and curiosity. If a visual is strong, simple, and uncluttered, curious people will go to the web site.

When I look at these postcards, I breathe a sigh of relief. Relief felt from animation, pop-ups, voices, and all the other things that try to get our attention.

Less is more. Strip your message to its essentials. Try a minimalist approach to your advertising!

It's 10 p.m. - Do You Know Where Your Shipping Package Is?

As online sellers, we have a love/hate relationship with our shipping process. On the one hand, we want our packages to happily wing their way in ecstasy to our wonderful customers.

On the other hand, we know that our package has to march through a threatening forest of dangers in order to reach the customer.

Due to volume, over-worked employees, and rush, shipping through the US shipping systems during the holiday selling season can be brutal to packages and frustrating to sellers and buyers,

I had an incident with a package that really enlightened me on this whole process. I had purchased some jewelry supplies from a handmade independent seller and never received the package. The two of us brainstormed but it was not insured (I, as the buyer, did not opt for insurance), and it was sent as first class. Therefore, there was no way to track.

The seller graciously sent the items again. I did receive a package this time that was mangled, torn, taped, dirty, and had a very odd item in it - not my supplies! I took the package to the post office and talked to the general manager. We deducted that the package - a bubble wrap envelope - got caught in the sorting machine and ripped open. The next thing he told me astounded me.

Sometimes the sorting machines will easily snag on corners, pieces of tape hanging off, or anything not securely sealed. When this happens, a bunch of envelopes and packages jam the sorting machine and rip and spill all the contents on the floor! It is up to the postal employees to gather up all the contents and ripped envelopes to try to match them up. If there are no clues - they just start piecing together anything.

Obviously, they did not match up my package's contents very well. Someone else received my supplies, while the person waiting for the content of my package would never see it. That is sad but avoidable.

Here are some tips to minimize threats to your shipping packages:

• Because of the story above, I now put all my items into one large zip lock baggie before putting into my shipping packaging. That means that my sold items in my shop packaging, business cards, invoice, thank you note - are all in one contained bag. So, if it spills on the post office floor, at least the invoice is there with the ship to address and all the contents should be together. If you sell larger items, you can still figure out how to do this.

• It is good policy to have the "ship to" and "ship from" addresses inside the shipping package. I insert an invoice as my shipping document that has both of these. If the shipping label gets ripped off the package or the package is ripped open - this is your second defense in getting it back on track.

• Don't use inkjet printers to print out your labels. When they get wet, they run and sometimes can be illegible.

• Do waterproof the inside contents, either with secured and taped bubble wrap, baggies, or some sort of plastic. Picture you package waiting in a bin outside for the truck to back up and a downpour starts - and yours is on top!

• Tape, tape, tape - even US priority boxes. There are incidences where thieves will extract contents from the corners of even a priority box. They are looking for an easy and quick mark, so don't give them one. Lock down tight your outer package.
  

• I suggest that you make your shipping package generic so not to draw interest to unsavory people who may be tempted to steal. Some sellers pride themselves with branding their outer packages with logos, shop name, and other branding. Even Etsy has a video on their recommendation to personalize your outer wrapping. I strongly disagree with this. The place for personalization is on your product packaging inside your shipping package.

• Therefore, I suggest that you don't use your shop name or product identity on the outside of your shipping box. If you notice, big companies are now sending their products in packages that have very generic return addresses and names. It is my recommendation just to use your return address without a name or use your personal name instead of your shop name. And, never use the word "jewelry" anywhere! This just temps those who may step over the line and steal.

• Be sure that your shipping package does not rattle. Use bubble wrap or tissue paper and packing papers to keep the contents from rattling. Rattles might invite postal employees to inspect, which is OK but can delay your package and ruin your outer wrapping. If you are shipping something that rattles no matter what you do….like baby rattles….write on the outside "Rattle OK."

• Be aware that your package may face extremes of temperatures - sizzling heat sitting in trucks or below freezing temperatures. If you have a sensitive product, such as soap, candles, or cosmetics, research how you might best package your product for shipping. Call shipping vendors for advice.

• Is it OK to use recycled packing materials? I think so and I do it. Be sure your outer packaging is clean with untorn edges. Any packing materials, such as bubble wrap, foam, and packing papers should be very clean and only very gently used. This is your choice, however, as some sellers insist on only the best new materials. That is OK too.

• No, no, no smoking or tobacco odors hovering around your materials. This type of material will absorb odors! That is a turnoff. And that goes for pet hair too.

• Newspaper as packing material is not the best. Inks from newsprint can get on hands that unpack it (yuck!) or on the contents.

• No need to frustrate the customer by packing tiny loose items in a lot of fill material where the customer has to pick through packing and then not know if they got it all. This fill gets all over everything too. Paper shreds, peanuts, and other fill material can be used appropriately for larger items or tiny items put into one container inside.

• Be sure your outer package fits your inner package. It is weird to receive a huge box with a teeny package inside. It can make a customer think they are paying too much for shipping. Likewise, if your outer package is so snug to your inner package, it may not protect the contents, or worse, may spit open.

• Wrap breakable items well. Visualize boxes being dropped, other heavy boxes being thrown upon yours, and (heaven forbid!) your box falling off the truck! It happens. Plan for it.

• If you send small items in a business envelope to save on postage - just don't - or be sure it is only paper. Any kind of ridge, lump, bump, or ripple (even a staple) from your item inside can jam that cranky ole sorting machine and you know what that does….you may never see the item again. Don’t send neck chains, flat earrings, or even cord in a business envelope. Package purposefully for the item.

• Know the smallest and largest package sizes that your shipping vendor will take. Know requirements, such as addressing (One side? Both sides? Etc..), regulations on using string and taping (you are not to tape over any part of an international label), brown paper wrapping, and everything else.
  

You are the shipping expert in your customer's eyes!

Add your comments with other shipping tips!

Now skeedaddle over to GalleriaLinda's shops
to see new items for the season!
>wink<

Online Sellers, Start Your Engines: Are You Ready?

It is hard to believe that October is knocking at our door this week! Although I plan ahead for the holidays, it always creeps up on me! Are you ready? For artists and crafters who are online sellers, it is especially important to be organized.

Many of us work day jobs and work our online business in the extra hours. Others of us have children and families that need our time, over and above our shops. Therefore, we must be organized. Here is a checklist to help you. See if you are ready for the holiday rush!

First, take a deep breath. Think about what you want to accomplish this holiday, both for business and family. Write all of it down on paper. Then, start crossing off some things. Be realistic with your time. The holidays are the busiest for your shop AND for your family. Don't shortchange both by taking on too much! Here is your list for your business!

For a printable copy of IndieCEO's Holiday Checklist for download - click here.

Product

• Determine the designs you need to start to create or finish before Oct. 30
• Plan to expand your inventory in numbers - 50 to 100 items is a good start, more is better
• Add a "stocking stuffer" product line that is lower priced - create many and promote them heavily for increasing visitor traffic to your shop
• Order all supplies needed for these designs (mailing times and availability may be limited during the holidays for urgent orders later)
• If you exhibit and sell at craft shows this time of year - take that into consideration for product inventory volume for your online shops - don't be caught short with your online inventory
• Schedule on your calendar, "appointments" to create and finish your designs, photography, and listing - help family to understand that these are real business appointments - even if it is 1 hour a day

Shipping

• Order shipping materials - bubble mailers, boxes
• Obtain the Priority shipping boxes from your post office NOW (if you use them) - availability will be limited later
• Obtain a stack custom forms from your post office now - may not be available later
• Check your label paper or sticky paper stock for printing out PayPal shipping labels
• Check your shipping tape stock
• Design and order or print/cut the components for your product's finished presentation - jewelry boxes, organza gift bags, earring cards, ribbons, stickers, etc...

Packaging

• Will you add a free gift or sample in your orders? If so, plan now to make or buy
• Will you be offering holiday wrapping? Figure that process out - pricing, how to list, etc...

Online Shop

• If you sell on multiple venues, decide strategically where you will post your product lines - you may want some of each type of product on all venues or you may want to keep the venue shops more specialized - just know what you are doing
• Create your shop announcement now while your head is clear and not rushed - keep until you are ready to post
• Tweak your shop's policies. Be sure they are clear, especially return/exchange policies
• Tweak your shop's "About Me" page - update it for fresh content
• Tweak your shipping profiles - at least check them out for accuracy
• Determine a "buy by date" for receipt of items by December 22nd or earlier and add to your shop announcement, policy page, and all your listing
• Retake photos that are gray-ish or not so good - re-stage older product - it will make them look like new listings

Marketing, Advertising, Promotion

• Order business cards, post cards, thank you cards, etc... now (to include in your packages and to hand out)
• Design, print, and cut anything you need, such as earring cards, backing for cello bags, etc…
• Decide on any sale incentives - sales, discounts, incentives (BOGO, etc...), free shipping
• Do you send customers holiday cards? If so, organize now, address envelopes, or if ecards, gather email addresses
• Do you send out holiday newsletters? If so, organize now by writing the content, getting the format design completed, and gather email addresses
• Write up your holiday sale incentives marketing blurbs and decide where and how you will post or distribute (blogs, Ning, shop announcements, twitter, Facebook, ProjectWonderful, advertising, etc...)
• If advertising online, create your graphics especially for the holidays
• Prepare fliers or post cards with these incentives - to drop off around town locally
• If you are on a venue like Etsy, determine your relist budget for November and December - you may want to bump up the number of times during the holidays
• On the venues where you sell - look into in-house holiday promotional opportunities offered - make decisions on budget
• Always have business cards with your online URL with you and hand them out freely during the holidays - these could have your incentive on the back if you wish
• Give business cards to friends to hand out during the holidays

The Most Important of All!

• Put on your Santa hat, grab a cigar, and have a hot toddy and holiday cookies!

Wishing you the very best selling season - ever!

~Linda

Advertising Your Blog with Entrecard - The Experiment

If you follow this blog, you know that I like to experiment before I have an opinion of a source. You can check out IndieCEO's experiment with ProjectWonderful advertising to see what I mean. I have been eyeing Entrecard and thought I would give it a good try.

Entrecard is touted as "The Ultimate Networking Tool for Bloggers." It is a way to advertise your blog to gain readers and boost traffic by adding an Entrecard box to your own blog. You can see IndieCEO's Entrecard box to the right of this post. That is where people will "drop" their cards or have their requested/approved advertising show.

Entrecard is like its own little country because it has its own economy system! No cash payments are needed.

You simply earn credits by dropping your card on other blogs. By purchasing advertising with those credits, you can select the blogs where you want your ad to show. There are other opportunities to gain credits listed on the site that you might explore. I was able to earn enough credits when I first signed up to actually advertise on others' blogs right then and there.

There is a system to receive advertising on your own blog. You can either approve each one or choose to have an automatic approval. I prefer to approve each one because the content and look of ads on my blogs are very important to my brand.

Here are the Pros and Cons of Entrecard that I have found:

Pro

• Free advertising that costs no money - just time and thought.
• Fun - there are a variety of categories for artists and crafters to surf through - I have found such interesting blogs
  
• Networking - I have begun to see favorites and tend to comment there and receive comments back
• A way to gain readers
• A way to boost traffic
• A way to gain followers to your blog
• A way to have your blog promos seen, like your shop minis, twitter link, those kinds of things
  

Con

• Most traffic is just that - traffic - and not specifically readers
• Many will "hit and run" by going to your blog, dropping a card to get credits, and zoom out of the blog
• It takes time - whether little or a lot is up to you
• You must participate consistently to gain benefit by spending a little time each day to drop your card
  

Here is my summary of Entrecard:
I do like it, given my expectations. I don't expect tons of readers and commenters. I don't mind the ones who "hit and run" because it boosts traffic numbers. I also have ProjectWonderful ads on my blogs and the increased traffic boosts the bids on the ad boxes.

Those that linger to read and comment are the jewels of the process. You can gain a great networking group long term if you stick with Entrecard and participate. It may take a while but that is what I am going for while I am building traffic. I have also added to my blog "followers" through this method.

If you want to try it, click here for Entrecard!

Are You Rolling The Dice with Your Advertising?

No one wants to waste money, the least of which is business money for a very small business owner. Are you rolling the dice with your advertising dollars? Hit or miss? Whether you advertise online, offline, or both, it is important to plan your markets.

To small online sellers, that means we need to know who our customer is and where they can be found. When that is determined, we must go through the exercise of researching advertising opportunities within that demographic.

Artists and crafters especially can be unaware of this important step. I read in forums all the time about sellers sharing their advertising success and missteps, regardless of product, customer demographic, or price category. If you sell little girls' hair bows and have great success with advertising on several blogs, it is likely that my jewelry is not targeted to that audience. Although sellers have a kind heart and want to share what they know, it is important for you to step back and ask "is this where the customers for my products are?"

Basic marketing is truly not rocket science but requires that we think through our decisions. Here are a couple of out-of-the-box conceptual ideas of where to find customers online or offline for a variety of handmade products to jump-start your thinking for your own products:

• Handmade hats, crochet, knitted, felted-cold climates, cold weather sports gatherings, colleges/universities,
  

• Little girl hair bows-dance schools, pageants, first communion outfits, children's photographers
  

• Home decor pillows-independent interior designers and decorators, model home stagers, home staging consultants
  

• Photography-tourist shops, independent interior designers, home stagers, model home designers
  

• Journals and Diaries-college students, poetry reading groups, English teachers/assistants
  

I hope you get the picture. Brainstorm about who would love and use your product. Then, think out-of-the-box about where they are!

Product Videos are Easy for Your Marketing!

There are all kinds of video sharing and photo slide show utilities online for small businesses to use for their marketing.

One interesting online video utility I recently found is Animoto.

With photos, you can produce a 30-second video for free! When you become proficient at your video productions, you may want to make a full, unlimited video for only $3 each or get an annual pass for $30 per year.

I uploaded basic jewelry product photos just to see what the free plan would do. After doing this test video, I am now ready to figure out how to make it engaging. Some thoughts are to make it a "story," starting maybe with a photo or two of your location and photos of you working on your craft that are intermixed with the product photos. Title pages are good too.

There are easy ways to share your free video with MySpace, Facebook, and twitter, as well as upload to YouTube.

You can check out the GalleriaLinda.com Handcrafted Jewelery 30-second test video here. Remember, it has music that will start up and it is just a quick try. I see good potential and a great start to making this a useful marketing tool! Online video utilities make expanding your marketing toolbox to video easy.

If you have had success with other video production online utilities, please post here to share your experiences!

Why Your Business Needs Social Media

Why social media for your business? This may have the answer! I came across this slide show with a great message about businesses and social media.

Unfortunately, you will need to step over a few "F" bleeps but you will find inspiring content that I really felt important to share. (This is a good example of how you conduct yourself for business on social media. Be professional at all times. In this case, the message is more important than the "F" bleeps but how much more valuable this piece would be without them).

In the middle of the slide show, there are excellent stats on the major social media sites that will amaze you. It is my opinion that social media is growing into huge monster that is chaos. We as a community are now trying to bring chaos to order through learning how social media can be effective, both for personal and business use.

The business use of social media holds so much potential for YOU.

If you are a business owner that says "Why do I care about what people eat for breakfast?" - you are missing the point by light years that can effect your business plan for years. Social media is no longer for teenagers. It is for businesses, huge and small, to make their mark in the world and connect with customers.

It is a conversation, not an ad. Just remember that!

As one commenter (TechCrafter) below offered - it is especially well-suited for "reputation management." How true. How critical.

A good place to start to see what has been said about you or your business is http://www.socialmention.com.

And, to set up a Google Alert at http://www.google.com/alerts with your business name and key words.

Find IndieCEO and GalleriaLinda on social media:
IndieCEO on Twitter
GalleriaLinda on Twitter
Linda Harrell on Twitter
GalleriaLinda on Facebook
GalleriaLinda on Blogger
Plus many other networking site!

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

Plugging Your Art or Craft into Technology

As online sellers, by default, we must have basic knowledge about technology. This includes not only how to upload our product photos and create an online listing, but also how to utilize online social media, promotion, and optimizing our online presence for SEO.

I often get emails from readers about a variety of things. This week I received a great email from Bren, who introduced me to a fabulous technology resource blog for artists and crafters.

Take a look at Tech Crafter.

From the author:

"The underlying Tech Crafter theme is to provide knowledge to those who are interested, in a format that is as easily understood as possible. I've been focusing on SEO as it's been a hot issue for many artists, crafters and sellers over the last few months, but that's not the only topic we'll be exploring.Starting next week, I'll begin to expand topics to include articles on the application of technology in arts and crafts. These will include tutorials, reviews and focused articles on creating and developing your own web site.

I am also developing tools to assist sellers, ranging from simple promotion tools to full-blow reputation management systems. As these require a lot of development work and testing before being deployed, they won't be happening as frequently, but when they come, be assured that they will be of the highest quality!"

This is a resource to visit over and over. Be sure to RSS the Tech Crafter feed into your reader for easily-understood direction on the technology issues facing online artist and crafters. You will find it in the IndieCEO resource blogroll.

Silkfair's New Shop Setup - Web Branding Your Online Business!

Important News for Online Sellers and a special deal for Indie CEO readers!!

SilkFair has a new shop setup that will blow your socks off. Shop costs are important to all of us and as we surf around trying various venues, many of us really want our own web presence and ecommerce setup.

Perk up your ears, because Silkfair has launched Silkfair Custom Shop(TM), a new e-commerce platform that gives online sellers easy set-up, speed, and customization.

• You can create your own online branded web presence that is personalized in every aspect.


• You can use your own domain name.


• And, (get this) you can have built-in interactive marketing tools for blogging, customer forums, product videos, search engine optimization (SEO) and more. This is too awesome. Think of a forum for your customers to get them interacting with you in the design process
  

The Custom Shop platform is powered by Silkfair technology, allowing online sellers a standalone e-commerce site with all the sophisticated functionality and absolutely NO listing fees. You pay a low monthly fee for this custom shop.

How about two months FREE to try it out!???

I have been given the privilege of offering to my readers a SilkFair two months FREE trial offer.

Details of plan: First 2 months free, thereafter at regular price $24.99 per month. There is a 3% final sale fee on any items sold. You cannot beat that!

Here is the coupon that you'll need when you sign up:

* IndieCEO special silkfair coupon code : launch09pub*
*Expires : on 8/16/2009*

When you sign up for the custom shop, you'll see two plans presented and you will see a coupon code field with a "Show Hot Deals" button.

Key in the coupon code and then click Submit and that will show you the 2 months free plan to be selected. For your convenience, here's a step by step process of opening a store:

1.User selects "Start Up" button from Silkfair homepage Custom Shop banner.
2.Register on Non-non Member if no account yet on Silkfair
3.Click "OK" on the pop-up window notification reminding user to click on email verification in their InBox
4.Click "Yes" to 'Create your shop. Do you have anything to sell?"
5.Enter credit card information on the 'Seller Identification Verification' pop-up window, and save
6.Click "Yes" to 'Do you want Custom Shop?'
7.Select a template
8.Enter a coupon code. Authorization and subscription goes through
9.Congratulations! Your custom shop is now ready

GalleriaLinda is going to open a free trial shop and I will blog about the experience. Let me know your experiences too in the comment section.

Gosh, a blog IN my shop and a FORUM? I have to try this! Free is always a good thing for small businesses!