Indie Seller Tips - Social Sites

 So many of you have been told to post your product on tumblr, pinterest, wanelo, or make friends on Facebook or Twitter and get a good following so that you can get more exposure and sell more. Get a link on blogs or even get your own website. What is the right thing to do?

Here  is my experience.

I have posted my merchandise on many sites. If you are lucky to get posted on a well read article, like a LOOKBOOK for fashion or a jewelry or home magazine if that's you product, fantastic. This will bring you a lot of business. It not it has been recommended that you post on tumblr or Pinterest. From my personal experience, I have not received any business from either one of those sites.

I definitely do believe that making a store twitter and Facebook account are important to support whatever other social site you are using. But don't just rely on the autobots to post for you. Show up in person and leave a little bit of yourself there. Say hi to your friends. Share yourself, but don't share too much. This is a tricky subject and best left to another post. Just make yourself real and likable.

As for where to post? I am positive that it is different for different types of merchandise. I find that I get the most direct sales from Wanelo. I can see direct correlation from my visits to my sells. I actually get a lot of visits from google shopping, but those rarely make sales. Wanelo makes sales.

I also get a LOT of visits to my shop from RebelMouse. It's a nice little social network that just reposts sharing tweets or facebook posts. Seems to bring people into the shop.

I also get a lot of visits from my website and from blogs I have ads on. If you have a website, make absolutely sure that you are using your metatags to show what you sell on your shop so that people can find you in a search. Also make sure to occasionally post your website socially, even if you don't sell directly off of it. Any posting you do will rank you up on search engines. The more visits you get, the higher your ranking. Remember, your website is there should you decide to switch selling venues. People will know where to find you.

Remember to give Wanelo and RebelMouse a try. You'll like them I think.

To The Friends I Haven't Met

I have so many friends through Twitter, Facebook and my selling sites, that I have never met face to face. And because of this, I don't know if you're chubby, or thin (unless you are so proud to loose weight that you show me) talk with a lisp, have a limp, are strait or gay (your spouse could be same sex), are missing limbs, have pink hair (like my DD) or gray hair, have tattoos, are dyslexic (or choose to ignore spellcheck) or anything else that some people might use to try to fit you in some "category".

You are my friend.

Every time I might think I've fit someone in the right category, they prove me wrong. Like the friend who is not only Catholic, but an active member of her church, who is constantly posting in favor of gay rights. I've given up putting people in neat boxes a long time ago.

So if you are really short, really tall, missing teeth, have your nose on the wrong side of your head, or are even planning to vote for Romney, I'll still love you as a friend, because anyone who can put up with me and the things I have to say, are worth keeping.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Life on Mars - facebook and other time suckers

Did you ever click through a picture on facebook and follow to the original posting to read the comments? I did the other day. I even shared this so others could read. Now, I thought it was kind of interesting, so I clicked through to the original post. You can too if you want to waste 5-10 minutes of your life.

I was sucked into the comments which were clever, and funny, and sometimes just damn dumb. So I wasted about 5 minutes of my life reading some of them. As a matter of fact, I've wasted about 15 minutes writing this and you've wasted time too.

I really don't consider time on twitter wasted. I love to socialize and I like my twitter friends. Although I can spend an awful lot of time there.

As for my week, I'm still getting over the cold. Resistance low from the flu, so I haven't been out too much to see what my crazy neighbors are doing.

Spring is here (I hope) and the sunshine will bathe our last year of planet Earth in love and light. And if you believe that no bunker in the world is going to protect you, or George Lucas from what's to come.

What Evah! - Tweeting with Deepak

This should probably be in Life on Mars, but I just couldn't wait till next week.

Sometimes My Big Mouth gets me a little Further that I ever expect it to. Like yesterday, when I started this little RT comment on Deepak Chopra's Tweet. This is a copy of Twitter Feed from TweetDeck so you have to read from the bottom up.

Just my average snarky comment, but it was from my heart. I seriously believe that we should try, even if we can't do. 

I didn't realize at the time that he was borrowing from the Yoda "Do or Do not. There is no try." Until Poppy and the boys told me. But that was a little different as Yoda's was to a direct action, not a philosophy.

Well anyhow, another lively conversation that made my morning a little more interesting.

Introduction to Etsyquette 101

Etsyquette is little kindness and proper behavior on Etsy. It is Excellent Customer Service. Good Manners on Forums and Treasuries.

I will be Gleaning Forums and Twitter Posts to Find the very Best suggesions on Etsyquette And Bringing you a New Lesson Monthly. I will Start with Customer Service followed By Treasury Posts and then Forum Etsyquette. These are going to be focused on Seller Etsyquette, but may include buyer Etsyquette also.

Please convo any suggestions you have to akaCINDERS.etsy.com or tweet or DM me at akacinders and let me know if you would prefer to be anonymous.

The following are some suggestions from your fellow Etsians.

CrabappleVintage: Contact your customers in some way after their order. It gives them confidence that their order didn't fall into a void and gives you an opportunity to have another positive interaction. I'll sometimes send a convo if I get an order on a Saturday and can't mail it til Monday or if I'm waiting for a pending payment. If I know I'm going to ship an item right away, then I'll simply leave feedback after shipping.

RoughMagicCreations: I find it off-putting when I convo a seller to say I've featured his or her item in a treasury, and the seller replies that, as a special "thank you," I can get a discount on a purchase from that shop.

GlassRiverJewelry: If someone makes a mistake when posting in the forum, many people feel the need to post in the thread pointing out the error that the original poster made. It would be nice if people would not continually point out the error and just let the admins do their job.

Peaseblossomstudio: How about derailing threads on purpose and constantly calling out FP makers. URRRRRGH! Those bug me more than anything!

arosha: 1. If you ask me a question, and I responded (I ALWAYS do, BTW) - then I expect some response back. Even "I read it, thank you" is sufficient. Sometimes buyers have very complex requests that require a lot of effort to answer - and then leave you with no response at all to your detailed answer.

2. Let me know if you blogged about me! I would love to leave a comment and spread the word - but I need to know it's happening.

3. Let the seller know you have some problem with your purchase before leaving a neutral or negative feedback! Most issues can be handled and solved by communicating.

Future Posts will include a wonderful interview with a seller who has taken their shop from ordinary to fantastic, with a lot of hard work,and how she accomplished it. And I will also have an insightful interview about SEO with tips on what it is and how to.