Newsletter Crew:
Andrea of Handmade by Andrea Baker
Brandy of Wyles Style
Sarah of Scrapadot
Shannon of All Grown Up
Tamara of TPdesign
BEST OF ETSYMOM SPRING CONTEST
Spring is just around the corner and what better way to welcome it than by participating in the Best of EtsyMom Spring Contest? You‘ll be contributing to a good cause, and have a shot at winning half the proceeds! To participate, you’ll need to submit one item (retail value of $10 or less) to Cara of Green Bean Boutique. Your item should be similar to what you sell in your store and related to the contest’s theme (Spring/Easter).
Voting will take place amongst EtsyMoms for the best/most creative item at the EtsyMom forums between 02/27/08 and 03/08/08, and the member with the most votes will be the winner. The items will then be grouped together as an EtsyMom collaboration, and will go up for auction at Mommy Auctions.
The winner of the contest will receive half of the proceeds, and the other half will go to charity. There is currently a vote at the EtsyMom forums for the charity that will receive the funds. VOTE If you want to join in, there’s still time – but your item must be received by February 23rd. For complete contest details, please visit this link to read the original post.
In order to make this contest successful, we need all of our members to help spread the word! You can mention it in your shop announcement, the Etsy forums, chat rooms, your blog, at craft shows…the list goes on and on! We want this to be HUGE so please help out by doing anything you can to help promote, even if you don’t submit an item for the contest.
PROMO THREAD CHANGES
As you may already know, the EtsyMom team has switched from daily promo threads at the Etsy Forums to promo threads on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. The Wednesday thread is the normal promotional thread, and the Saturday thread is for EtsyMoms running a SNS or similar weekend sale. Check out the current thread and join in! It is a great way to get involved at the forums and help promote the EtsyMom Street Team!
SPOTLIGHT
To be featured in this section, please post your Spotlight Moments here.
Jodi of Happy House Quilts has written an article. Art Therapy – Does the environment make a difference for kids? Written by guest writer Jodi of Happy House Quilts. She has also been featured on Cool Mom Picks. Jodi is a Master's Level Art Therapist who studied at Eastern Virginia Medical School and has worked therapeutically with the entire developmental age spectrum.
Baby Fish Mouth has been featured in the following blogs: Celebrity Baby Blog , The Daily Stroll , Mums the Wurd
Tamara of TPdesign was featured on Mama's Magic blog! Check out the lovely photos in this feature. Tamara will also be doing a truck show February 9th with 40 other fellow Etsy artists in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Stacey of Beaded Socks was featured on Mama's Magic and her Cloth Doll Diapers were featured on Sobellissimo. She wrote: "Play imitates Life here in my house as my daughter already use a sling and cloth diapers on her cabbage patch dolls! Share the same experience with your little one."
SHOP OF THE MONTH
The featured shop for this month is Busy Mom Creations.
BusyMomCreations says it all for this Missouri mother if four. Liana has 5 year-old triplets and a 2 year-old that she stays home with! Yes, triplets! How she finds time to make her beautiful cards and paper gifts, she may only know!
Liana joined Etsy in July of 2006 after hearing about it on a card making web-site. She says she had no idea what Etsy was but once she looked around she fell in love with the community and joined right away. She joined EtsyMoms when she read Jodi's post on the Etsy forums and thought it would be a wonderful way to meet other mom's that sell on Etsy. She says she felt welcomed from her first post. "Everyone is so supportive and it is great to know that I am not alone in trying to balance finding time to make my business work around a busy mom life" she stated.
BusyMomCreations carries her popular moving billboards (which I have one of and is great!) She says what encouraged her to make advertising vinyl car decals was the encouragement on the EtsyMoms message boards and it has been a best seller ever since. Way to go EtsyMoms!
Liana will not give any pictures of her workshop area until she reigns it in! She tells me that it is absolute chaos! (Are any of our shops not?) She also sells used children's items on a local website, so she has to get more under control than her creative area. Until then she thinks her creative area is plotting against her!
Liana would like customers to know that her shop is a fun mix of handmade greeting cards, paper gifts and vinyl decals. She is a busy mom and loves to spend her "extra" time creating!
BIRTHDAYS
Happy Birthday EtsyMoms!
January 5th: Whimsy By Jess and Bumble Bird
January 8th: Andrea Baker
January 13th: Georganne
January 15th: Elizabeth Gwen Originals
January 20th: Mudpies and Moonbeams
January 29th: Mizannie
February 1st: TPdesign
February 2nd: Cozy Coleman
February 6th: City Life Jewels
February 11th: Kreative Thoughts
February 12th: My Little Cuddlebugs
February 16th: Alayna Creations
February 17th: Knot Ending
February 21st: Pumpkin Haus
February 25th: Artwork By Andrea
February 27th: Busy Nest Cards
BUSINESS TIPS AND TRICKS
A United Front
With all the competition out there one way to make sure you stand out from the others is to have a cohesive look. Most people think of this as an after thought, but it will make a difference in how your customers view you and your shop. In this article I will go over just a few of things you should think about when creating a united front.
First thing most of your online customers see is your shop banner. Make sure this looks professional and is not pixilated or stretched. There are several EtsyMoms, like AutumnDaisy, that can help you create a new one for very little money. Your avatar can have the same look or you can use an image of something in your shop, just make sure that it grabs their attention. This is especially important when you are in the forums.
Once you have your overall look on your banner you can now go to your business cards, receipt pad, packaging…in other words all the rest of your printed materials. Business cards are probably one of your most important marketing tools when you are first starting out. Because of this I recommend taking the extra step and having them designed for you instead of using a pre-made template that anyone could have. If you are worried about price, you can have one of the EtsyMoms design something for you (if you can’t) and upload it to VistaPrint.com. You can get 250 cards for $3.99 + $4.99 for uploading your image (a one time fee).
Another thing to keep in mind is your receipt pad. Most people are going to keep their receipts, at least for a little while. Why not have them designed by PurpleHug, complete with your shop banner, email, shop url or whatever contact info you would like. These are great to invest in. If you don’t have the extra money for that at least take a screen capture of the order on Etsy, that way if there is ever a problem you can refer them to that.
Last but not least is your packaging. Since most of your customers are probably online and you never meet them make sure that you are wowing them from the moment they receive your package. Print up address labels with your logo or shop banner. If there is a holiday coming up or they bought it for a special occasion, write something on the outside of the package. Make sure when they open the package things are not in a jumbled mess. (Now I know that you can not always help the way things show up, but at least try from your end) Include a hand written thank you note. The ones I include are simple, I printed thank you on some scrapbook paper cut it a little bigger than a business card and write on the backside.
If these seem like overly simple ideas, they are, but so many shops forget to do the little things to keep their customers coming back. Enjoy and if you have any questions feel free to contact me at tpdesign01@yahoo.com.
NEW MEMBERS
97 new members to EtsyMom in the month of January! Welcome to all of you!!