Earrings Promotion & SEO

I added this pair of earrings to my etsy shop, http://www.KRDesigns11.etsy.com/ before this afternoon's virtual lab on SEO. I think I learned that if I listed similar items, I was competing with myself for Google rankings, so somebody please buy a pair of cream pearl and crystal ab earrings. Seriously, you can find these in my shop; easiest way is to click on the item in the feed listing of recent items in my shop under my blog banner. I rearranged my shop to put coordinating items next to the earrings.

I wrote in the new earrings description about the matching choker necklace and bracelet and gave links to the previously listed items. I learned that it would give my new listing a better chance to be crawled by google if I had put the new listing link in the descriptions on the choker and bracelet. Good thing I went to the virtual lab on SEO. Think I have to rewrite my shop announcement, change my shop title and definitely redo listing titles for keywords that buyers would search for. The tags can be more technical to my item because people who search etsy are more likely to know and use such terms. The ones in the titles are for searchers on google. Oh, and I should not have changed or added categories.

Glad I'm learning these things now that I've already done it wrong! There is a forum thread about the mistakes made in the first year of having an etsy shop--I need to read it! We were promised more info on the blog about success--I received mine today after the lab. So, if you are an etsy seller, that email was the understandable part of the lab. Read it and change what you need to.

The next etsy beadweaver challenge is on insects, so I've ordered delicas in aquas, lime and orange. Did you think I was going to write purple, lavender and lilac--show me the bug and I'll use the color scheme--I don't need to buy more purple beads. There was the flying purple people eater!?! Time to sign off.

Three Pages of Items Listed in my Etsy Shop!

I am celebrating having three full pages in my etsy shop. My April Challenge bracelet filled the third page. I set three pages as a goal for the amount I would like to have in my shop, but my earring promotion goes through the end of the month, so my shop will have more pages. The panel discussion on the Handmade Marketplace gave me the idea that I need to have more of my special work in my shop. I hope to attend the next session in the virtual lab tomorrow.

So the challenge bracelet fits in that oh wow (at least to me) category. My imagination, fantasies and feelings come through in the art jewelry I make, more than just beading a bracelet. Dancing with the Sky expresses that by using colors and textures I love. Being on line you miss the drape of the fiber created of beads and the glorious feel of the bracelet against your skin and the glamorous fantasy that I as a senior citizen imagine. I would love to show you my work in person.

Today's earring promotion is an air blue opal Swarovski bicone paired with a heart themed pewter bead cap I purchased last year on etsy. The local bead society yahoo group page was filled with how to find out who made the bead cap on one of the listings; this is by that artist, but the one that everyone raved about was sold. Ask me in the comments if you want to know the seller.

Another Earring Promotion

This photo is of a petite and dainty pair of earrings I call Purples. It has alexandrite (looks blue or purple depending on the light)Swarovski crystal, a purple shade of Czech blue iris round beads, and a round Swarovski violet opal bead. It also has a petite special price during my April promotion, so click on this item under my banner to go to my etsy shop.

Today is Easter which I spent time with my family. I have a beadwoven bracelet which looks close to completion if I spend a lot of time beading tomorrow. It is light blues and green with a silvery accent--typical of my style design.

Feel free to comment on my blog. I really don't feel like writing tonight.

Another Pair of Earrings

The third pair of earrings in my special April promotion are Swarovski light topaz with a crystal ab roundel and yellow jade round beads. I like this shade the best of Swarovski yellows. I frequently use crystal ab roundels in my earrings rather than metal accents. Guess that's because I like crystals.

I really like Waterford crystal. I collected Christmas ornaments for a number of years until I realized I was decorating the tree only for myself and stopped the tradition. I need to have a fresh cut tree, nothing artificial.

It may seem like I am writing about Christmas, but it is more about traditions. Most of them in my family of origin revolve around food; since I have food allergies/sensitivities, and shouldn't eat sugar and starchy carbohydrates, I can no longer comfortably eat those traditions. Some of them I realized I never really liked--the large fruit and nut chocolate eggs that we had to share come to mind. Eggs were decorated for the fun of decorating them, not the mess and certainly not for the hard boiled eggs. Ham used to be glazed with brown sugar over the maraschino cherries and canned pineapple rings. There were ever enough cherries to suit me! Today I had a serving of fresh pineapple which tasted good for a once a year or so treat. The rest of my family of origin's traditions involve church attendance.

Anyone care to share a tradition that I might be able to adopt?

Another Pair of Earrings

I am always surprised where the picture ends up. This time I have a line to write above it. Oh well! These earrings are my selection for day 2 of my earring promotion in my etsy shop. If you want the details, you can click on the description of my recent listings under my banner.


I am using this promotion to test the number of views of my etsy shop. According to the sites that help you manage your shop, I have had no views on my promotional earrings. Also, my shop is not included in the first 20 pages of listings in the etsy search for beadweaving which is what I do. I've spent a lot of time setting up my etsy.com shop, today is my second full month of adding items which now total 59, with no sales. Life.

I joined the Etsy Beadweavers team, which gives me places to say I listed a new item, and we look at each others. When I list the earrings, I cannot post them on the beadweavers places because they are not beadwoven. So now I wonder if the views I have gotten on other items are from my fellow beadweavers (sellers), from supply sellers trying to sell me their merchandise or if they were potential customers. If you are a potential buyer and are reading this, please add a comment to let me know.

I am going to be learning more about search engines. Not exactly what I wanted to do, but seem to need to do in order to make all the time and effort I've put into setting up an etsy shop worthwhile. If you would like me to blog about SEO, please comment.

A pastel artist I know sends a fairly regular weekly email to many people; he always includes a photo with a lesson of sorts. This week there was no photo, so I wrote him asking if I missed it. He responded with the photo and a comment that only 2 people inquired about the missing photo. How sad. If you are interested in pastel paintings (he's good) or live near Chicago, I can put you in contact with him to view his website or take classes from him.

So it's not just husbands that don't listen to their wives and vice versa!

April Earrings Promotion

I listed these Swarovski tanzanite ab and dark blue indigo earrings with marcasite and sterling silver bead caps as the first of my promotion. I fell in love with the marcasite heart beads when I saw them in the bead shop in Geneva, Illinois. I always find something special when I visit and the ladies are so knowledgeable. It is a place people bring broken jewelry to be repaired, so I've seen some unusual pieces of jewelry. They give advice when asked but do not teach classes.

My blog now lists my most recent items added in my etsy shop right under the banner. If you click on it, you are in my etsy shop on that item. I need to move or better define this feature, but will wait until I have time to make more changes to the blog look. I'm amazed I was able to get it to work; etsy's designers get the credit.

April Promotion of Earrings

I have been absent from this page for the month of March working on life, photos of my entire inventory and art fair applications. Since I am stalled on photographing my entire inventory (photo editing hurts my eyes), I've decided to focus on those items I haven't taken pictures of which is most of my earrings and combine it with a promotion in my etsy shop http://www.KRDesigns11.etsy.com/

Each day in April I will list at least one pair of earrings which will be featured that day. Since the styles are not in the Illinois Artisan Shops, I won't be undercutting their prices and you can get a good deal (not a KMart blue light special though). Earrings ship for $2.00 or free (US only) with the purchase of another item and are not returnable (for sanitary reasons).

The Illinois Artisans hold Art Sprees in the atrium lobby of the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago every month except January. I will be participating in the July, September and December Art Sprees. I have new items in both the Chicago shop and the Southern Illinois Artisan Shop, Whittington (Rend Lake). My Waterlilies bracelet (photo on 2/23/10 post) and a couple of my better creations plus more are in the Chicago shop on the 2nd floor of the Thompson Center. Tammy Deck of www.tlddesigns.com/ will be the featured artist in April. The Southern Illinois Shop has blue (Swarovski light sapphire crystals) and white pearl and lavender items. It is right off 57 and would make a good break if you are driving through the area.

The results of art fair applications include being on the wait list for two late summer fairs with several more with the jury still out. The art fairs I applied for are highly competitive, especially in jewelry due to the number of artists applying; the preference in the past has been for silver/gold/precious stone type jewelers.

I have done a little beading. Some luscious beads arrived last weekend including some white iris charlottes size 11 whose sparkle will be featured in a necklace.

The photo I will share is a sneak peak of my Use the Muse IV entry which is sponsored by http://www.artbeads.com/. I am supposed to tell how I feel about the "muse" which is less than positive emotionally at this point (out of sync with the seasons), but if I'm successful, the beautiful agate stone will adorn the muse and the chain embellishments will create something that is truly a new style for me. I have until mid April to complete it, and the big reveal will be in May or ???? see http://www.usethemuse.com/ for more details. This qualifies me to be entered into a random drawing; FREE BEADS!!!! if I win.