A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That....

Over the last few days I have made some progress. I have signed up on Etsy for two teams. DUST (Down Under Street Team) and EtsyBloggers. I am currently waiting for approval from EtsyBloggers.

I have also been trying to promote my blog more, I shamelessly mention it whenever I have he chance! Although I have been seeking out other people's blogs and adding their links to mine. I think this is a really good way of networking. I feel it's likely that they will mention my blog to others if I tell them that I have added their link. Well I would hope so anyway, and if it doesn't then it is a good way for me to bulk up my potential feature article pool.

I have been extremely lazy with my creating of jewelry, I am hoping to get into this today, I have heaps of ideas rollig around in my head and really want to get them out. It has been really cold and this has put me off I think, cold fingers don't like fiddling with wire! Also I like to spread out when I'm building and I don't like to spread out when I'm cold!


Another exciting thing that has happened is that a 'stranger' commented on this bracelet of mine that I have pictured on Facebook.





I have pointed her in the direction of http://flickr.com/photos/tracylacytrinkets due to the fact that it has more and much better photos of my things on there.

This has prompted me to update my Facebook photos now though, as I get alot of exposure to my existing friends through Facebook. I feel like I can get around the issue of feeling like I'm soliciting to my friends.

I am really looking forward to getting involved with EtsyBloggers. Although I already had plans to do feature articles. I was intending on doing this primarily with jewelry makers and suppliers. Now I will hopefully have the chance to look at other creations and creators.

I have decided to up my prices on my items in order to see whether it makes any difference. After reading some article on Etsy I feel like I was previously seriously 'undervaluing my craft' as it is called. I don't seem to have seen a difference as yet, but I haven't added any new items for a while so I haven't expected that I would have any extra exposure recently.

I am currently in the process of searching for a feature artists. Hopefully I will have that finished later today - if I can fit in around everything that I have planned for today.

So, here are my plans:

- search for a feature artist
-dix my Facebook photos
-promote my blog in http://www.beadingforum.com.au/forums/index.php
-MAKE SOME JEWELRY!
-I also plan to look for inspiration outside my normal sources.

Introducing TracyLacy Trinkets!

Well, first a bit about me. I have recently (about 6 months ago) taken up jewelry making. It has become such an obsession that I now have a huge collection. I decided recently to put some of my items on Etsy to try my luck selling. Etsy has now become my new obsession! To the point that it is eating into my jewelry making time!

I have decided to write this blog in order to track the progress of my Etsy shop and my journey into online selling. I am looking in the future to maybe begin a website so I think that will also become part of my journey.

So, an update about how I'm going so far. I have managed to sell 2 items - granted they were a matching set of earring and bracelet which I sold to the same person, so I think the fact that I have had two sales could be called lucky! Here are the two items I have managed to part with:

Since then however, I have had no more. This is not getting me down because I have been reading the forums and there seems to be a lot of other sellers in my position - some who have been a seller for longer than me - who have not yet sold anything. There has been plenty for me to occupy myself with on Etsy whilst I anxiously await my next sale.

I have been scouring the forums for advice, tips and tricks. I have found a wealth of knowledge here and it has become invaluable. There seems to be no question that goes unanswered. I have also recently begun dipping my toes in the chat rooms - I think this may be a very good place to get some exposure.

Aside from this I have taken on the advice that setting up a flickr account is a good idea, and have uplaoded a couple of pictures of each of my items that I have for sale, as well as some other items that I haven't offered for sale yet. I'm hoping that this might generate some interest and allow some people who are not currently Etsy members to be exposed to my items. You never know my luck! Feel free to take a look - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracylacytrinkets - I am happy for any new contacts!

So to round up, I have a few things in the pipeline - my plans are to do some extensive research into building a website to get exposure away from Etsy. I also need to spend some time making somemore items - my inventory is becoming a little lean! I am going to try and reach a target of listing a new item every 1-2 days. I also want to try and set up some sort of mailing list or news letter for my shop.