{Business Tips} Promote Your Business With Tophatter

May 11, 2012 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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Have you checked out Tophatter?  Tophatter is a fairly new live auction site that you can attend right from the comfort of  your home.  All you need is a laptop, internet connection, and of course a Tophatter account.  As a buyer, If you decide to decide to bid and win an item, PayPal is the [...]

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{Green Business} Handmade Chibi Business Card, and Eco-Crushing Joon and Scout

May 4, 2012 by Tiffany Norton
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I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and writing, lately about green business practices.  I’ve been combing, lurking, scoping and scouting all over Team Eco Etsy, in a hunt for pretty examples of our team’s amazing green business practices to share with you.  I have found a veritable mountain of inspiration, which I hope to [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} – Fianaturals – African Eco Friendly Jewelry With Natural Beads

April 27, 2012 by Polarity
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This month we take a peek at the amazing Fianaturals. Fianaturals is the gorgeous African eco-friendly jewelry shop of the amazing Fia of Brooklyn. Fia is a mum, jewelry designer, painter, teacher & organic gardener. She makes beautiful, natural jewelry from sources around the world! Fia’s banner is perfect! It evokes the exotic continent of Africa [...]

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{Business Tips} Business Plan of Attack

April 20, 2012 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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Back in January, Lori of Drinks to Design, wrote a great post, 2011 – Look Back & Plan Forward.  It is now April {can you believe it?} and if you haven’t already, you should take some time to devise a plan of attack.  There are lot of people out that that will stress the importance of having [...]

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{Business Tips} Greening Your Shipping Practices

April 13, 2012 by Tiffany Norton
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Team Eco Etsy puts its money where its mouth is!  If you visit  our team page, you will see that our team prides itself on this mission statement,  ”As a global team of eco-minded Etsy sellers, our mission is dedicated to protecting our planet by utilizing methods to reduce carbon footprints in managing our businesses in [...]

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Etsy Success Symposium 2012

April 6, 2012 by ecokaren
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The 2nd Annual Etsy Success Symposium 2012 was held on March 30, 2012 at Etsy’s Headquarters, NYC. A handful of lucky Etsy sellers got to attend this awesome symposium and I was ecstatic to be one of them. I paid $50 for breakfast, a full day of workshops, one-on-one consultation with one of many Etsy [...]

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{Business Tips} Considering a Wholesale Show?

March 23, 2012 by DrinksToDesign
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At the end of 2011, I set a number of business goals for myself in 2012.  One of the goals on the list was to increase the wholesale side of my business.  I have had wholesale customers, but they have arrived on my doorstep in interesting ways – someone saw my shop on Etsy, a [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} A Little Rewrite for Writesy – novelist, poet and student of the world

March 16, 2012 by Polarity
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This month’s Thoughts on Shops takes a look at the amazing little corner of Etsy that writer and maker Jenn Flynn-Shon of Phoenix, Arizona calls Writesy. Jenn writes blogs, articles, zines, novels and prose and is finishing up her first full-length fiction book to be released this spring. YAY for Jenn! Writesy’s banner totally works! [...]

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{Business Tips} 4 Simple-Yet-Effective Tips for Running Successful Facebook Ads

March 9, 2012 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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I’ve toyed around with Facebook Ads but not enough to offer any ground-breaking advice. However, our own Kelly Engel of Growing Up Wild shared some simple-yet-effective tips to help us get up and running with Facebook Ads. Running Effective Facebook Ads I paid for about $230 in facebook ads last year.  For me they were a great [...]

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{Business Tips} Building Lasting Relationships With Your Customers

March 2, 2012 by Tiffany Norton
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As small business owners, we spend a lot of energy attracting new customers — building a fantastic product line, updating our shop photography, rewriting item descriptions, and marketing and promoting our shops.  Of course it is important to spend time working on gaining new customers, but it is also critical to think about valuing (and [...]

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{Business Tips} Keeping Your Shop Looking Fresh

February 24, 2012 by DrinksToDesign
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We put a lot of focus on how to drive traffic to our shops through marketing and advertising both on the web and off.  However, sometimes it is easy to forget the importantance of keeping our shop looking fresh and new to those who come back to the site on a regular basis.  Here are [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} Tinkan Designs – unique, recycled ring pull jewelry and more!

February 17, 2012 by Polarity
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Tinkan Designs is the amazing upcycled shop of metalworker, blacksmith and artist Annabel from the UK.  Annabel is a self-taught jewelry maker and general maker of ‘things’! She has used a variety of recycled materials over the years, mainly because she hates waste (a true eco-etsy girl) and she finds it hard to throw anything away if it still has some life in [...]

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{Business Tips} Etsy Introduces Direct Checkout

February 10, 2012 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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On February 7th, Etsy announced that they will be rolling out a new Direct Checkout feature over the next few months.  At present, Etsy shop owners have been able to accept major credit cards payments for shop orders only through the use of PayPal. If you noticed the announcement in your shop and watched the video, you [...]

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[Business Tips} A Fresh Look At Surveys

February 3, 2012 by Tiffany Norton
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It is part of our human nature, as social creatures  craving acceptance, to wonder what others think of us.  As business owners too, we often wonder whether our customers are interested in our products, drawn in by our photography,  and engaged in our stories.  It can be hard to ask what others think of us, [...]

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{Business Tips} 12 Trends to Watch in 2012

January 20, 2012 by DrinksToDesign
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The word “trend” can sometimes be seen as a polar opposite of “green”.  A trendy outfit can be one that is worn once or twice and then discarded into a landfill….or hopefully upcycled into something beautiful and new!   However, for me, the word trend encompasses business opportunity.  Understanding trends in consumer behavior can open [...]

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{Business Tips} 2011 – Look Back & Plan Forward

January 6, 2012 by DrinksToDesign
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With 2011 officially in the rear view mirror, right now is a great time to take a look at your performance stats from the year and set some solid goals for your business in 2012.  Information today is abundant, allowing us to easily track sales, Facebook fans, blog followers, traffic drivers and much more.  At [...]

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{Business Tips} A Year of Ideas to Build Your Business

December 23, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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  As the year winds to a close, I thought it would be fitting to take a look back at the business tips from 2011.  This year, we had 8 awesome bloggers contribute to create 49 posts.  All of these posts were aimed at helping advance our Etsy shops and improve our performance both online [...]

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{Business Tips} Last Minute Holiday Marketing Ideas

December 9, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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Time is quickly running out for the last minute holiday sales.  As shipping time will begin to inhibit gifts arriving in time, here are a few creative techniques to continue holiday sales right up to the last minute. Provide e-Gift Certificates Many shops have gift certificates available this holiday season.  Creating an e-mail version of [...]

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{Business Tips} Holiday Shipping Deadlines: Get It There in Time

December 2, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

The holiday shopping season is in full force! You can help reduce your shopper’s holiday anxiety and your own by posting critical HOLIDAY SHIPPING CUT-OFF DATES in your shop. Your holiday shipping cut-off dates are the dates by which customers must order certain items in order to get them in time for Christmas.

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{Business Tips} Lessons from the Summit of Awesome: How to Get Publicity

November 18, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

  This post is offered by our very own Mary Kearns of Herban Lifestyle.  Mary attended the Summit of Awesome hosted by Hello Craft, where she attended some great workshops. Today, Mary shares with us the great things she learned from the workshops she attended.   Lessons from the Summit of Awesome: How to Get [...]

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{Business Tips} Two Hours to a Holiday Ready Etsy Shop

November 11, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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A couple months ago, Etsy kicked off their annual Holiday Boot Camp aimed at getting shop owners organized and prepared for the holidays.  For those who have been participating in the program, you are set and ready for the quickly approaching Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days.  For those who consider participating or are [...]

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{Business Tips} Get Local with Holiday Craft Fairs (bonus Recycled Newspaper ToteTutorial)

November 4, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
Craft Fair

Can you believe that Christmas is only 7 weeks away? Let me repeat – CHRISTMAS IN ONLY 7 WEEKS AWAY! Now that I’ve planted the seed and a sense of urgency into your brain {as if you weren’t already stressing over it}, let’s talk Holiday Craft Fairs.  Craft Fairs are a great way to gain [...]

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{Business Tips} Inventory Overload?

October 28, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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As 2011 winds to a close, we begin to think about starting 2012 with a clean slate and fresh outlook.  We optimistically envision 2012 to kick off with our business organized, focused and poised for success.  Yet, with a couple months of 2011 remaining, many of us see some of our inventory that we would [...]

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{Business Tips} Etsy Search Ads

October 21, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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Anchor Bottle Cap by Pir8t Back at the beginning of July Etsy introduced the “Sort by Revelancy” option.  Lori of OneShadeGreener helped demystify the whole Relevancy vs. Recency deal.  According to a post written on the Etsy blog by  Natalie Schwartz, “Even when viewing search results sorted by relevancy, recency of the item matters, especially [...]

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{Business Tips} Marketing Strategy – Kick Starting Your 2012 Plan

October 14, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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I know.  It’s October.  You are knee deep in getting your shop ready for the busy holiday season.  You can’t imagine why you would dive into a 2012 plan yet.  However, this is really a great time of year to start collecting information and thinking about changes in your overall strategy for 2012. So, I’ve [...]

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{Business Tips} Sometimes it Takes a Village

October 7, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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Image of “Little House” by Wearwolf I’ve written quite a few interesting topics here on EcoEtsy (if I may say so myself) things like how to Price for Profit, SEO stuff, and I’ve offered quite a few marketing tips and techniques.  In a post title Driving Traffic to Your Shop, I wrote a little blurb [...]

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{Business Tips} Etsy Photography Tips and Techniques

September 30, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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I find the photography in Etsy shops to be one of the most fascinating elements of branding.  The photos are the key to making an artist’s design “speak” to potential buyers.  Yet, the medium itself is an art form.  There are many sellers on Etsy that specialize in photography and have worked for years to [...]

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{Business Tips} Growing Beyond Etsy

September 23, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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“Step Outside Your Etsy Comfort Zone” “Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone.“ Robert Allen co-author of The One Minute Millionaire Esty is a great platform in which to start a business.  When you decided to open your shop on Etsy, you instantly gained access to millions of potential buyers and tremendous marketing [...]

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{Business Tips} Etsy Shop Photography – Finding Your Visual “Voice”

September 16, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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There are many elements in your Etsy shop that establish a unique overall shop personality.  However, few items have as much impact on that personality as your product photography.  Photographs come up in search, inspire inclusion in treasuries, cause shoppers to “click through” to your shop, and ultimately demonstrate to a potential buyer that your [...]

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{Business Tips} Google Analytics the Best Gossip in Town

September 9, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

Everyone LOVES getting traffic to their shops. Right? You may spend hours at a time advertising and marketing your site, optimizing your site, updating your product pictures, fixing your product tags, coming up with better product titles, reworking your product descriptions to include effective keywords, etc, etc, etc. However as great as this all is, [...]

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“How To Make Money Using Etsy” by Timothy Adam – Review and Giveaway

September 1, 2011 by ecokaren
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If you’ve been reading our blog, you’ve read how to improve your shop’s SEO with keywords, linking, and relevancy. You also read how to use Google Analytics to determine where your traffic is coming from and what to do with the information once you know. We are all trying to improve our business, right? Well, [...]

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{Business Tips} Decoding Your Etsy Shop Stats

August 26, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

Last week we wrapped up our Etsy SEO post series with a post on one of Etsy’s most recent and talked about change – the move from Recency to Relevancy when it comes to searches. In the whole Etsy revamp, you may have noticed the NEW Shop Stats link found under the Orders section of [...]

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{Business Tips} ETSY SEO: Relevancy Over Recency

August 19, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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Last week, Etsy made a significant change to their search engine which impacts how customers find your shop via search.  The previous default search based on recency was replaced by a default based on relevancy.  For anyone who has spent time (and money) determining the appropriate re-listing strategy for a recency search, this change immediately [...]

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{Business Tips} Etsy SEO: Linking to Your Shop’s Success

August 12, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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This is my second post in the Etsy SEO series. In my first post I walked you through the most important element of SEO: Keywords. I hope that you’ve had time to read the post and incorporate the use of keywords in your shop. Today, I’ll be shedding some light on the the role that LINKS play in the whole SEO deal.

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{Business Tips} Etsy Love – Hearts, Circles, Teams and Treasuries

August 5, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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Necklace by Sevenply I’ve spent some time lately going back through the great advice provided to some of our team members in the Thoughts on Shops column here on EcoEtsy.  While some of the ideas relate to the shop being reviewed, I’ve enjoyed how the insights can really be leveraged by our entire team.  As [...]

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{Business Tips} Etsy SEO: Use Keywords to Improve Your Shop’s Traffic

July 29, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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Lately we have been offering some great tips on Blogvertising, Advertising on Facebook, and Using Facebook as a Marketing Tool. But, I think it’s time we turn our attention to a different way of getting traffic to your shop.  It’s time to talk about Etsy Search Engine Optimization.  Since this a loaded topic, I’ll be [...]

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{Business Tips}Climbing the Etsy Ladder of Success

July 22, 2011 by magpietree
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This {Business Tips} article comes to us from Laura Skelton at Prix Prix. Her upcycled and repurposed Etsy Listings are proof that her {Business Tips} will produce results. PrixPrix is a wonderful example of how business life beyond etsy can be a really great thing! Make sure to check out her website and stop by her [...]

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{Business Tips} Advertising on Facebook

July 15, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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After Myra’s awesome Business Tip post last week Business Blogvertising with Project Wonderful, I thought a nice follow-up would be the opportunities that exist with very targeted advertising on Facebook.  Some quick searching around the web and feedback from our own EcoEtsy team members, allowed me to quickly realize that success with Facebook advertising is [...]

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{Business Tips} Blogvertising with Project Wonderful

July 8, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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Today I am going to introduce you to Project Wonderful, a blogvertising site that kicks butt.  In past posts I’ve offered some awesome tips, which included a blurb about Project Wonderful, but today I’ll expand on the topic.  If you’ve never heard of Project Wonderful let me share some of the awesome features it boasts,  [...]

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{Business Tips} Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Handmade

July 1, 2011 by magpietree
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The 4th of July or Independence Day, has been a day of celebration and revolution since the 18th century. Over time, the importance of the event has been strengthened by community events, barbecue gatherings and glorious displays of fireworks. I say strengthened, rather than weakened because all of these things have become American symbols of [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} Magpie Tree – the ultimate jewelry and accessory upcycler!

June 30, 2011 by Polarity
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Magpie Tree is the wonderful shop of Indianapolis artist and repurposer of all things repurposable Nichole Hall-Permell. Nikki is drawn to the beauty of the old and its potential to be created into something new (we love that!).   Her banner is adorable (and I read something new is in the works). Naming her shop after one [...]

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{Business Tips} Growing Pains

June 24, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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Hand Painted Art Fabric, Tree of Life, Sunny Day by Quiltartfabric Nearly two years into my jewelry business endeavor, I find it hard to believe sometimes that I’m still going through so many growing pains.  In the beginning, the challenges were focused on design, product and pricing.  Then, the attention turned to marketing challenges – [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} – Juani1 – Crocheting Plastic Bags & More

June 23, 2011 by Polarity
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Juani1 is the wonderful plastic bag recycling shop of Juanita Rivas-Raymer of Los Angeles. Juanita is not only an artist- she also teaches prenatal and Hatha yoga and is a Birth Doula. Her amazing  La Bolsa Chica includes some adorable crocheted fish and an octopus (recycled from plastic bags!), crocheted plastic shopping bags (recycled from plastic bags!) and some [...]

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{Business Tips} How Loose Change, Online Gigs and Yard Sales Can Help Your Business

June 17, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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If you have an Etsy shop or any other type of business, you know that you have to have some kind of money to cover your on-going expenses, such as Etsy shop fees, supplies, shipping materials, etc. Every business needs to have some sort of cash flow. You also need to get your name out [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} Earnest Efforts Gives Natural Woodworking Their Earnest Efforts

June 16, 2011 by Polarity
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Earnest Efforts is the amazing natural woodworking shop of Earnest, Ellie and Myrtle (AKA Rick and Heather .. and Myrtle) of Winston, Oregon where they create the most amazing boxes, baby rattles (their baby rattles are currently sold in over 75 stores in 4 countries), drawers and shakers. Their gorgeous pieces are created with sustainably [...]

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{Business Tips} from Oprah

June 10, 2011 by magpietree
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I am not a person who can claim that they have watched all 4,561 amazing episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show, nor would I ever attempt it at this point. However, the last episode of this American syndicated talk show had me scrambling for a pen; afraid I might miss her little pearls of wisdom. The woman is a [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} Greener Frog Gets Your Gifts Wrapped Up EcoEtsy Style

June 9, 2011 by Polarity
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Furoshiki is the ancient Japanese art of wrapping square pieces of beautiful cloth for gift giving and carrying items. It is a wonderful eco-friendly practice and alternative to throwaway gift wrap and lunch bags. Greener Frog is the wonderful Etsy shop of Doris from North Vancouver, Canada. Doris offers stunning furoshiki wraps in two sizes. Her work is [...]

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{Business Tips} Budget – Time is as Important as Money

June 3, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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Grasshopper Mandala Record Clock by EyePopArt As business owners, when we hear “budget” we automatically think about money.  We balance the books and ensure that we are not overspending.  Marketing opportunities hit our mailboxes and in-boxes.  We diligently evaluate each one and determine if the benefits to our business are worth the financial investment. What I’ve [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} Natural Grace Has a Passion for Creating Organic Lotions!

June 2, 2011 by Polarity
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Natural Grace is the wonderful organic and vegan lotion shop of New York’s Heather McCoy. Heather creates amazing creams, facial and bath products, baby products, herbal oils and green home care items. She has a passion for creating organic lotions! The first thing I see is her shop banner which is beautiful and works very [...]

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{Business Tips} Top 5 Gadgets You Need for Your Business

May 27, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

I’m obsessed with new technology, a little vice that has helped me discover some great gadgets that could help you run your business more efficiently and look “cool” while doing so. Here are my top ____ gadgets that could make a difference in your business

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{Thoughts on Shops} – a question from Picky and some minor tweakings

May 26, 2011 by Polarity
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Thoughts on Shops is back! For this week’s tweaks and peeks we take a look at Picky the amazing old fashioned french children’s boutique of Canadian seamstress Elsje Boer. Elsje has the specific question of whether to have 2 shops for her 2 different lines and wanted a second opinion on branding, adding DIY patterns, made to [...]

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{Business Tips} Got Followers? Using Facebook as a Marketing Tool

May 20, 2011 by magpietree
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Getting Acquainted First let me give a Big Thanks to the owner of the opening photo! They are not a member of Team EcoEtsy but interesting social media pics are somewhat difficult to come by, so thank you Bri at Rotated Designs on Etsy. I’m very excited to be a new member of the EcoEtsy [...]

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{Business Tips} Event Displays that Draw Attention

May 13, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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Display Envy.  You know it when you see it.  You go to an art fair or festival and there are always a few displays that make you stop and say “Wow”.  These artists always look busy, draw customers in with their inviting design, and you are left wondering how they created their stand-apart display. While [...]

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{Business Tips} 5 Tips for an Outstanding Marketing Campaign

May 6, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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  This week’s business tip is courtesy of our very own Sonya Kanelstrand of Organic Living by Kanelstrand. Did you know? When you were starting your online business, you have to do more than create, photograph & list your fabulous products; you also have to act as your own marketing manager. Here are 5 essential tips [...]

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{Business Tips} A Strategy for Events

April 29, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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Events.  Some artists spend most of their weekends all year long traveling to events near and far, while others don’t do events at all.  For some, an “event” is a trunk show in their living room with 15 close friends, others wouldn’t consider anything with less than 100,000 attendees. How about you?  Do you participate [...]

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{thoughts on shops} Stella saves the Day

April 28, 2011 by rikrak
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Welcome back, lovelies! Today we’re visiting my fourth and final (thoughts on shops) for April: the gorgeous handmade jewelry store of Stella saves the day! I just love this unique shop. It’s filled with gorgeous, one of a kind, limited edition, keepsake locket necklaces, charms and delightful earrings. { Great storytelling } Right away, I [...]

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{Business Tips} What’s Your Policy?

April 22, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

Now that Team EcoEty is in the spotlight with our latest feature in  Sprint’s New Green ID Pack for Android, it’s time to step-up our game. Over the past few weeks, my fellow co-editor, Lori of OneShadeGreener, has offered some great tips focused on helping define your brand, in her posts “Your Profile Tells Your [...]

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{thoughts on shops} curb appeal with Darryl Black

April 21, 2011 by rikrak
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  Welcome back lovelies!  It’s another fun shop visit! This week we’re headed to the fabulously unique handmade eco friendly apparel shop: Darryl Black. I just love the gorgeous upcycled designs here. I think the look is edgy, fashion-forward, well-constructed  and just brilliant. I’d love to help Darryl take these beautiful creations to the next [...]

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{Business Tips} Your Profile Tells Your Story

April 15, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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Once Upon a Time by PeacesofIndigo For many people, talking about themselves is a very difficult.  This makes the blank white canvas of the Etsy profile page a dreaded space for Etsy sellers.  However, the profile is one of the biggest opportunities in your shop.  This is where your true personality can come through and [...]

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{thoughts on shops} a trip to Un Lieu Sur Terre

April 14, 2011 by rikrak
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  Hi again cuties!  It’s another exciting shop visit! Welcome to the wonderful whimsical world of Un Lieu Sur Terre.  The shop announcement promises *handmade storytelling* and so begins our delightful trip. What lovely work you do, Lila! Translated, un lieu sur terre means “a place on earth” and I love the way the shop [...]

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{Business Tips} Business or Hobby?

April 8, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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This topic has always intrigued me.  As you all may already have figured out, I’m the shop owner of Herban|Luxe on Etsy, where I offer handmade makeup products which are created using formulas I developed. I have been creating my products for over 10 years now – but here’s the funny thing – when I [...]

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{thoughts on shops} eyeing the 5seed shop

April 7, 2011 by rikrak
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  Hi nicies! I’m so excited to be here, sharing the April {Thoughts on Shops}. As we all know, there are so many important elements to crafting a fabulous business. Each week we’ll look at a few ideas that help to make our indie business shops as great as they can be! Today we’re visiting [...]

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{Business Tips} Avatar – Simple Image, Complex Decisions

April 1, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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The avatar – 125 x 125 – a small square image.  This seemingly simple image has caused many shop owners hours of angst trying to determine what image is “right” for their shop.  The choices are straightforward – a personal photo, a product photo, the shop logo, or some combination of the three.  Yet, the [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} – Some New Stitches for Artistically Stitched

March 31, 2011 by Polarity
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For this week’s Thought on Shops we are looking at the wonderful hemp clothing shop of Artistically Stitched. Wendy is a work at home mama and artist creating one of a kind pieces from hemp and other materials – her work is gorgeous and definitely made to last! Let’s start with the visuals because it is hard [...]

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{Business Tips} Tax Tip: Know Your Deductions

March 25, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

Tax season is here! IRS has extended the tax filing deadline to April 18th this year – that’s 3 whole extra days. So, it’s time to suck it up and get your paperwork ready to file your taxes.  Although your accountant or tax preparer won’t need all of your paperwork, (s)he will need your total [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} – Some Shop Tweaks for Natures Art Melbourne

March 24, 2011 by Polarity
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For this week’s Thoughts on Shops we take a look at Melbourne sustainable jewelry shop – Natures Art Melbourne. Martina is the amazing maker behind this wonderful little piece of Australia. Martina spends every winter in Australia’s Outback  – slowing down, walking the land, reconnecting, starting to see …  receiving gifts from nature – how incredible [...]

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{Business Tips} Don’t Fear Vacation Mode!

March 18, 2011 by Greenearthgoodies
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I first opened my Etsy shop a year and a half ago, though spent a good 6 months reading everything I could in the forums to learn best practices, prevent pitfalls and get my shop started off on the best foot possible before listing my first item. One of the things I quickly heard (and [...]

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{Thoughts on Shops} Some Tweaks for Betsy and Bess

March 17, 2011 by Polarity
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For this week’s Thoughts on Shops we visit upcycled purse and accessories shop – Betsy and Bess. Betsy and Bess is an Etsy shop owned and operated by maker Elizabeth in Tennessee. Her shop profile begins: I am a poet, A daughter, a sister, a wife. An artist, A sewist, a woman, a life. (totally [...]

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{Business Tips} Discovering Your Visual Identity

March 11, 2011 by DrinksToDesign
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Last week in the Thoughts on Shops post, a quote from Polarity really struck me: “Before you need a banner,  you need an identity and, then, you need a kick-butt banner and kick-butt pictures that reinforce that identity.” That quote led me to think about how we discover and define our shop identities. A strong visual identity is [...]

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Thoughts on Shops – A Marketing Tweak with Herban Lifestyle

March 10, 2011 by Polarity

This week for Thoughts on Shops we will focus on some marketing tweaks for consumable products (products that get used up) – tweaks that will attract the right customers to shopkeepers that create handcrafted consumables and tweaks that will keep them coming back for more. I have never made soap or any lotions or potions, but can guarantee you that soap making is [...]

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Going Up? The Elevator Pitch

March 4, 2011 by lorigami

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out how to apply many of the lessons presented at the Etsy success symposium. There was a lot of great information, but one thing that I found myself coming back to again and again was one of the simplest: The 30 second “elevator pitch” [...]

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Thoughts on Shops – A Visual Tweak for Remaine Wicked

March 3, 2011 by Polarity

A new series called Thoughts on Shops kicks off today! Every Thursday we will take a peek at a different team member’s shop and do some public (these are some brave shopkeepers, folks) critiquing and tweaking and try to offer them some tips to help them sell more of their makings. For this week’s shop tweaks we are going [...]

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Business Tips: 5 Simple Tips for a Successful Marketing Campaign

February 25, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

I’ve been bombarding you with tips, from Pricing for Profit to Driving Traffic to Your Shop to Keeping Your Customers and Getting New Ones; but there’s two questions  that keep coming up -  How do you make it all work? and How the heck do you know what’s working? Here are 5 simple tips to [...]

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Running Multiple shops

February 18, 2011 by Greenearthgoodies

It’s not uncommon to hear from new sellers on Etsy that running a shop and their own business takes much more work and time than they ever anticipated.  “I work more than I ever have in my life,” is a sentiment often mentioned in the forums or heard from fellow sellers. So one might concur [...]

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We are getting better and better

February 17, 2011 by ecokaren
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We are excited to announce some great changes to our humble abode here on Eco Etsy’s site. We have added some new tenants and moved the furniture around a little so that you can appreciate the comforts of our home better. As you have probably noticed, we’ve added a new feature called, {Tuesday Treasury} where [...]

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Etsy’s Success Symposium

February 11, 2011 by lorigami

This past Tuesday, Etsy held their Success Symposium at Etsy Labs. While many of us watched what we could via livestream, Katherine Rasmussen of reiter8 was actually able to attend the symposium in NYC and was gracious enough to send me a writeup of her thoughts. A big, big thank you to Katherine who makes [...]

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Business Tips: Driving Traffic to Your Shop

February 4, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe
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When I first started writing this post, I was originally going to title it, “The Art of Promotion”, but I soon realized that I’m not trying to turn you all into MBAs.  The goal is to get your brains fired up and give you some ideas to help you drive traffic to your shops. It [...]

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Etsy Resources, Part 4: Etsy Apps

January 28, 2011 by Greenearthgoodies

In case you haven’t noticed from the myriad of posts that I’ve written over the past couple of months, there are a LOT of incredible resources available to sellers on Etsy.  To recap so far, we covered: Part 1: Alchemy & the Forums Part 2: Pounce, Etsy Emails/Newsletters & The Storque Blog Part 3: Treasuries [...]

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Keeping It All Organized

January 21, 2011 by lorigami

Keeping track of inventory and supplies in a “normal” business is never easy, but when you factor in a lot of reclaimed, recycled and one of a kind parts, it can turn into a real mess with a quickness. Since January tends to bring with it resolutions of getting organized, I thought it would be [...]

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Business Tips: Trademarks & Copyrights

January 14, 2011 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

A copyright provides protection for your creation.

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Etsy Resources, Part 3: Treasuries & Virtual Labs

January 7, 2011 by Greenearthgoodies

So in case you missed it, in Etsy Resources, Part 1, I covered Alchemy and the Forums; in Part 2 of Etsy Resources, I covered Pounce, Etsy Emails/Newsletters and The Storque blog.  In a continuing effort to make you aware of the myriad resources available to sellers on Etsy, I’m continuing the series, this time [...]

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Goals for the New Year

December 17, 2010 by lorigami

Before I get too far into this, I’d like to apologize for going off-format a little with this post, I hope you guys will bear with me… Somewhere back in grade school, a teacher of mine made the bold claim that there were no stupid questions. I remember she said that if one of us [...]

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Business Tips: Business Insurance

December 10, 2010 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

In my last blog post I shared with you some tips on Pricing and shared a nifty pricing calculator. But, there is more to business than pricing your products. As crafters and artists who have started businesses selling our creations, we focus all our energy on our creations.  Dealing with the business end of things [...]

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Etsy Resources, Part 2: Pounce, Etsy Emails and The Storque

December 3, 2010 by Greenearthgoodies

As the second part of a mini-series on Etsy resources, we’re going to explore 3 more areas, specifically Pounce, Etsy emails and The Storque.  You may not be aware of all the great information you’re missing out on! For those of you unfamiliar, Pounce is a feature on the front page and it serves two [...]

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Business Tips: Preparing for Cyber Monday

November 26, 2010 by lorigami

We all know about “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving. It’s pretty hard to ignore it, given the crazy tactics many big-box retailers resort to in order to get our attention. In the past few years however, another shopping date has emerged: “Cyber Monday”. Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving, and is when many [...]

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Business Tips: Pricing for Profit

November 19, 2010 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

Pricing is one of the things that many small retailers struggle with. Today my mission is to help you change your thoughts about the way you set your product prices and hopefully get you thinking in terms of “Pricing for Profit”. I mean, let’s face it, you didn’t open your Etsy shop to give your [...]

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Setting Up a Shop Page on Your Blog

November 12, 2010 by Ojamiya

If you have more than one shop, displaying your shops on your blog or hosted site can help show off your shops and bring them traffic. Having a centralized page for all of them really looks professional. I’ll show you how to do this for Blogger and for a self hosted WordPress blog (not WordPress.com [...]

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Business Tips: Giving Back

November 5, 2010 by lorigami

With the launch of the team giveaway this week, we’re officially into the holiday season of giving. Participating in a program like this is really a win-win situation for everyone, especially for those of us who often want to help those around us but don’t always have extra money. For your customer, knowing you’re contributing [...]

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Business Tips: Do You Know Your Target Market?

October 29, 2010 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

According to Quantcast.com, during the month of August 2010 Etsy.com had approximately 5 million (US) people visiting the site – that’s in one month!

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Etsy Resources, Part 1: Alchemy and the Forums

October 22, 2010 by Greenearthgoodies

We all know that Etsy is the place to buy and sell handmade goods, vintage finds and craft supplies, but as a seller, do you take advantage of the various resources that Etsy offers? There are a myriad of resources and to cover them will require several posts.  As such, we’ll focus on 2 areas [...]

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Business Tips: Keeping Customers and Getting New Ones

October 7, 2010 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

As business owners we all struggle with the same issues, no matter how big or small our businesses are. Keeping existing customers while building your business and getting new customers is an extremely challenging feat.

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Guest post: Using “Redirect” to Make Your Website a Hub for Your Shop

October 1, 2010 by Greenearthgoodies

Today’s post is by Amy, the Team Graphics Designer of EcoEtsy. She is the owner of Ojami on Etsy where she creates altered Bento Boxes and sells Sashiko (Japanese running stitch embroidery) supplies. You can contact her through her shop, blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Many Etsy shop owners have multiple Etsy shops or shops on [...]

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Aligning business with charity

September 24, 2010 by Greenearthgoodies

The decision to donate money to charitable causes is a personal one.  But the decision to donate a portion of the proceeds of your shop can run the range of emotions from feeling honor and pride at helping a deserving cause to shame at promoting it as some consider it distasteful to mention these things. [...]

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Getting into Craft Fairs

September 17, 2010 by lorigami

A funny thing happened after I complained about how difficult it was to decipher the application rules of a festival I wanted to vend at last year: This year I wound up running it. I never intended for that to happen, but it has actually been a great experience, if a little overwhelming. The festival [...]

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Business Tip: Nuts and Bolts of Doing Business

September 10, 2010 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

et’s talk Nuts & Bolts of being in business. We know it’s not as easy as saying, “I’m gonna start a business” then waving a magic want and two seconds later you are a successful business owner. There is lots that goes on in the background.

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Do promo/discount codes work?

September 3, 2010 by Greenearthgoodies

My last post regarding whether or not to include freebies with orders mentioned an alternative idea to include promotional/discount codes if a shop owner was unable to or unwilling to include freebies.  This post will explore that topic a bit more to determine if this type of marketing strategy works to bring in more sales. [...]

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Selling in a Brick & Mortar – a few things to consider.

August 27, 2010 by lorigami

Seeing your work on the shelves of a popular store is a really great feeling. However, that feeling can fade rather quickly if you are unprepared for the ups and downs of the world of retail. Here are a few things I’ve learned the hard way, shared in the spirit of making it a little [...]

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Business Tip: How to Improve Your Etsy Shop

August 20, 2010 by Myra @ HerbanLuxe

“All Etsy Shop owners work hard to make their sites look appealing and keep visitors on their site, this is sometimes easier said than done. What is your best tip for improving your Etsy Shop?”

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Freebies: to give or not to give…

August 13, 2010 by Greenearthgoodies

…that is the question of today’s blog.  There are certainly pros and cons to giving freebies away with customer orders so we’ll explore both sides, give some ideas on unique ways to gift your buyers if you choose to go that route along with some important considerations. The Benefits: First let’s talk about the positives.  [...]

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Finding your Focus

August 6, 2010 by lorigami

Hello! It’s time for another installment of Team Eco Etsy Business tips. *cue soundtrack* On my last visit here I shared with you the trials and tribulations that were part of the process of writing my business plan. That was a tricky post to write, and I have to admit it was a lot of [...]

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