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Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Off With Her Head! - Sizing Photos for Etsy
Do your thumbnails look like this? Did Marie Antoinette come for a visit? This is such a gorgeous pattern. Why not show it! Resize your photos so that your customers can see the whole image before they click on it.
Check out the screenshot below.. If you were shopping, which would draw your eye?
The image to the left has been edited . You don't need to go that far to make sure the whole picture comes through. I scan at 200 DPI with no borders.
Next I resize the picture so that the longest side is 700 pixels. Then - I make a canvas that is 835 pixels square.
You don't need to purchase a photo editing program to do this. You can use
Saturday, January 10, 2015
How to Follow a Blog
How to Follow a Blog, let me count the ways.....
Mary Beth RetroMonkeys
Every blog has a way to follow it. Some easier than others.
Wordpress - If you have a Wordpress account, you simply click the follow button on the top of the page. The new posts will be sent to your "reader". If you do not have a wordpress account, there will be a Follow button in the bottom right corner. A box will pop up asking for an email address that you want the posts to be sent to. Done!
Next is Blogger by Google. Blogger is what we use for this blog as well as for patternpatter.blogspot.com Blogger is easy to follow whether you have a Google account or not.
Each blog has a Members section usually to the right side of the page.
As you can see in the image, If you have a Google account you simply click on Join this Site. You can choose to follow publicly or privately if you wish to be anonymous. If you are following privately your Google Account profile picture will not be displayed. To learn more about Public vs Private, CLICK HERE.
To follow the blog without a google account, Click on the Join this Site button. A larger box will open and display the choices of how to follow. The boxes (marked with an arrow) will expand the followers box. After you complete your sign up, you can open this to make sure that your profile is there.
Now for my personal favorite. Bloglovin! Bloglovin is a great way to consolidate all of the blogs you follow into one email! You can add any blog at all to your feed. Simply sign up at Bloglovin.com You can sign up using your Facebook account or with an email address. Make sure to adjust the settings once you have registered!
Many blogs have a button for bloglovin. If it does, simply click the button to add it to your feed. If there is no button on the blog you wish to follow, you can add it to bloglovin. First enter the blog you are looking for. I searched by copying the url. The one I was looking for showed up so I simply would click +Follow. If it doesn't show up, the box on the right has Add the blog to Bloglovin. Click that link
enter the url of the blog and click Add Blog
Bloglovin is my favorite! It gives you everything you want to see in an easy format. If you have a blog it also gives you stats for that too.
Questions? Just ask in the comment section and I'll do my best to answer. Or - go to the help section of the site.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Wikia Vintage Pattern Link Upload Tutorial
Wikia Vintage Patterns - Link Adding Tutorial
This tutorial has been edited using Windows 7 Home.
1. Search the Wikia for your pattern number, if found follow instructions below.
Be sure that your pattern is the correct picture as many patterns have duplicate numbers are are added as "A" or "B" and so on.
2. At top right is the contribute tab, click for menu, select "edit this page". Click box at top right "Minor edit", drop down and type "Add source/vendor external link", hit enter.
NOTE: For users other than Window 7 Chrome, if you have problems at this stage after hitting enter you may need to bypass the enter now step (after typing source/vendor external link) and go on to step 3.
3. At this point open your published listing up on Etsy, right click over the description for another window tab, click "Copy link address".
This tutorial has been edited using Windows 7 Home.
1. Search the Wikia for your pattern number, if found follow instructions below.
2. At top right is the contribute tab, click for menu, select "edit this page". Click box at top right "Minor edit", drop down and type "Add source/vendor external link", hit enter.
NOTE: For users other than Window 7 Chrome, if you have problems at this stage after hitting enter you may need to bypass the enter now step (after typing source/vendor external link) and go on to step 3.
3. At this point open your published listing up on Etsy, right click over the description for another window tab, click "Copy link address".
4. You are now ready to scroll down to Source/Vendors list, if you are the first entry, click at first dot under title, if not go to end of last entry, click and you will drop down to next line --STOP--. This is where it gets confusing but I promise to make this as painless as possible.
Scroll up to the button with the chain link as seen here:
5 Click the link, another window with pop up:
8. At #1, Target page or URL box, right click so that your pattern listing link will show in box, drop down to text to display box (slot) and type your shop name, how ever you want it to show up. At #3, click "to an external link" and #4 click "OK".
9. Now your name will appear at the Source/Vendor list under the pattern photo. --STOP-- This is another simple but sometimes forgotten finish:
10. Be sure to click "Publish". You will see the page change and with the new page your edits will show up in the right hand corner:
10. Now before exiting this page go to the top address bar, right click and copy for the Pattern Patter Team's backlink page!
You have now added a backlink.
Courtesy of www.etsy.com/shop/VintageNeedleFinds
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Pinterest - Business Pages
Pinterest is a great way to showcase your shop! Here's a few ideas of how to make Pinterest work for you.
Pattern Patter Team has team boards! If you do not have access to them, contact the social media leader and don't forget to provide your email address! She will send you an invitation! The team boards do have a few rules.
#1 Post only your own listings to them
#2 The children's, crafts, etc have their own boards. Please do not post them in the Decades Boards.
How do I get a Business Account? If you already have an account with Pinterest, you can convert to a business account. To read about how to set it up, go to: https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/set-your-business-account
How Can Pinterest Work for You?
Easy! Here are a few tips that I discovered on The Guardian Website
First - Promote yourself as an expert. Post links to blog posts that you have written, create lookbooks, advertising campaigns, customer testimonials, etc.
Next, Form a network - encourage re-pins and Pin-it's. Suggest that potential customers pin the items that they like to a board. To form a network, type in a keyword in Pinterest search. You can search Pinners, Pins, or Boards. So, for example, I searched boards for "sewing". I have other pattern sellers in my network. What I want is sewists. I look through the boards for pinners who sew. I chose a few to follow in hopes that the will follow me back.
The third way to make Pinterst work for you is to keep it fresh and relevant. As the writer of the Guardian article, Jess Collins states "Pins last forever so make sure you keep your content timeless and sticky so it remains of value." So, if you are going to post Christmas items, remember that they stay there all year round unless you remove them.
Forth
If there is a picture, there should be a pin. Any pictures on your website should become a pin. Use the Pin-it button and encourage the visitors to your site to do the same. Also, each of the Pinterest Boards should be strong enough to stand alone as a representation of your shop.
Number Five - Rich Pins! Rich pins are promoted Pins. They contain more information for your customers. Jess says; "These enhanced pins are well worth their salt, showcasing more sales information, live stock and pricing and free automatic emails to anyone who has pinned a product if you amend the pricing or run an offer."
The last way to make Pinterest work for your business is - Make sure the caption enhances the photo. Make it relevant, give them information that makes them want to visit your site. It counts toward SEO and Google search so make it good.
I want to make sure that Jess Collins gets credit for this post. I rephrased and consolidated but Jess made it an easy interesting read. Here is Jess' info: Jess Collins is creative director at Type Communications. You can follow her on Twitter @Jess_Type
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Holiday Merchandising
Holiday Merchandising Guide
by Mary Andrews, Etsy's Merchandising team
As things ramp up for the busy holiday season here at Etsy, we’re excited to share our updated Holiday Merchandising Guide. This comprehensive report is intended to provide information and planning resources for the holidays. We recommend bookmarking the page for easy reference in the coming months.
Throughout the guide, you’ll find information around key marketing campaigns, strategies for promotion and dates to remember, as well as our forecast for holiday trends. You’ll also find an overview of popular item categories and tips for merchandising your existing products to make them appealing to holiday shoppers. While reading, think about how you can use your own artistic voice to infuse these merchandising themes throughout your shop — in your item listings, photos, shop announcements, descriptions, tags, titles, social media promotions and more.
Think Like a Shopper
One of the best strategies for holiday merchandising is to update your existing listings by getting in the mindset of the shopper. Generally speaking, shoppers are looking for gifts by type, price and recipient — or some combination of all three. To capture their attention in your item descriptions, emphasize why your item would make a great gift based on their needs and highlight examples of potential recipients in your product descriptions. Below are some tips to get you started.
Gifts by Type: Help shoppers understand how your line of products fits into their gift list by describing the types of categories they’re looking for. Holiday shopping categories typically include the following: Décor and Entertaining; Fashion; Gadgets and Games; Useful and Utilitarian; Keepsakes, Novelty and Stocking Stuffers; and Party Favors and Thank Yous.
Gifts by Price: Having a range of price points in your shop will allow you to expand your target market. Popular pricing buckets include $25 and under; $50 and under; and $100 and under, in addition to higher-priced custom and luxury items. Read 3 Ways to Refresh Your Product Line for tips on diversifying your offerings with different types of materials and modes of production to appeal to different budgets.
Gifts by Recipient: Help shoppers check off everyone on their list by describing the type of person (or groups of people) your item would make a great gift for and why. The majority of gift recipients fit into the following categories: Women, Men, Parents, Grandparents, Teens, Children, Hosts and Hostesses, Coworkers and Bosses, Extended Family, Friends, and Workforce. Take your merchandising to the next level by describing the creative persona your product would be perfect for; do you make items perfect for the fashionista, tech lover or entertainer? Play up these creative personas in your item descriptions to help shoppers visualize their perfect gift.
Check the Trend Forecast
Take advantage of holiday gift trends by putting your creative lens and unique spin on ideas that resonate with your line of products. If you’re not interested in developing new products or following trends, think about adding props or styling elements that appeal to trend-savvy shoppers. Here are 10 holiday trends on our radar.
Mobile Accessories: With the release of the latest mobile devices, new ways to accessorize, store, travel and stay plugged into our favorite gadgets are at the top of gift lists this season.
Social Media Tie-Ins: While we’re talking tech, everyone’s upping their social game. Unique ways to capture the conversation are oh-so-of-the-moment. We’re seeing clever spins on everything from Instagram photo gifts to hashtag wall art — how will you keep it social?
Geometric Prints: We’re taking note of different plays off of geometric shapes, graphics and patterns.
Wordplay: Clever turns of phrase will be big this season, on everything from hand-lettered mugs to vintage signs.
Materials: Finishes and materials we’re taking note of this year and into 2015 include marble, agates and geodes, copper, natural wood, concrete, porcelain, stoneware, enamel, waxed canvas and wools.
Map Out Your Holiday Marketing Strategies
Once you have a good handle on your target customers and seasonal offerings, consider key shopping holidays. It can pay off to prep and list relevant product lines a few months in advance, since many press outlets start planning holiday coverage in late summer and early fall. Etsy also plans out promotions and works with media outlets in advance. Use Etsy’s Holiday Planning Calendar to create your own to-do list and deadlines. Check back on the Seller Handbook blog in the coming weeks for more information on Etsy’s holiday marketing initiatives.
Written by: Mary Andrews helps lead Etsy’s Merchandising team. She’s passionate about helping independent businesses creatively leverage their brands. When she’s not exploring the depths of Etsy for unseen treasures, you’ll find her nerding out over data, taking on a new DIY project or researching plant varieties to try growing with her husband in their urban garden.
Find the entire article here: https://blog.etsy.com/en/2014/2014-holiday-merchandising-guide/
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