Saturday, September 29, 2007

90 Features in 90 Days-Press Release

Get your art or fine craft featured 90 times in 90 days! Want to know how? Here’s the deal; post on Etsy’s messageboard on this thread; http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5276160&page=1 (if you don’t have an account you can easily open a free buyer or seller account at http://etsy.com in order to post there), and agree to swap features with me and however many others also post on that thread there as you want. If you have either a blog or a website that you can use to post pictures and 1-2 paragraphs complete with link to that person’s online store on each feature you swap, you can do this! If not, and you would like to participate, you can easily start a simple and user-friendly blog by going to; https://www.blogger.com/start and set one up in a matter of just a few minutes. I was well into my 40’s before I ever knew what a blog was and I picked it up very quickly.

For those readers who don’t know me, my name is Pippit Carlington, owner and jewelry artist of Giftbearer, and Street Team Leader of The Art Jewelry Collective, a group of jewelry artists from Etsy who collaborate in our marketing efforts with the goal of educating the public about the value of art jewelry, supporting a living wage for jewelry artists, and upholding standards of high quality and innovation in the jewelry industry.

The 90 Features in 90 Days Challenge came about as a way to increase sales in my own business, but it occurred to me that the group and even others outside the AJC could utilize the same method to increase their number of sales, based on the law of averages. Just imagine being front page news every day until Christmas, the biggest gift-buying time of the year!

I figured if I could swap features with 90 people and do one feature per day between the time I get 90 participants and Christmas, that should create a large enough internet splash to have a noticeable impact on number of sales. The results of many blogs reciprocating, when combined, would be like advertising in a much bigger venue. The impact of such a marketing challenge will make whichever sellers do this extremely visible all over the web; the more people you swap with, the more visible both you and they are. You can also increase this exposure two-fold by linking to your feature stories.

The end result should eventually be increased sales because you have reached a larger number of potential buyers of your work, and because not all the participants are working in the same medium, there is great potential for cross-promotion, such as handbags with jewelry, or clothing with jewelry, and with only about 10 minutes a day invested in posting your features. So this holiday season not only raise a glass, why not raise your odds, and maybe even… your income!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Let Me Hook You Up!
Is it an earring or am earwire? It's both! These are hot off my workbench from a wild inspiration that came to me in the middle of the night. I have been wracking my brain for quite some time to come up with a repeatable design that is both elegant and doesn't take days or weeks (as many of my other designs often do), and voila! Here it is! These are made of one continuous piece of Argentium Sterling Silver wire that is shaped into an earring hook at the top. Their cutting-edge design provides a special safety feature to prevent them from falling off, as they are work-hardened springy so that the ends touch the bead in the back, creating a clamping tension that allows the wearer to slip them on and keep them on until they voluntarily take them off. These earrings eliminate the hassle often associated with most earrings that have several parts which can come loose. Since these only have the one piece of wire and the bead, there is less that can potentially go wrong or become disconnected. Their compact construction makes them easy and comfortable to wear, and because they are made of wire they have the added benefit of being light-weight relative to their size.
Saturn Spiral earrings are easily customizable and their shorter turnaround time makes them great to sell in larger quantity to stores and galleries as well, while maintaining their handmade charm.

If you would like a pair (or would like this pair) please contact me. I can use many kinds of stone beads for the center, and they need not be round. Order a few for gifts for your friends and family over the holidays. At $30.00 using a 9-10mm center bead, these are a really good value. Let me know if you have something special in mind, and I can "hook you up". This particular pair is available now in my Etsy online store.

(All Giftbearer designs are copyrighted)

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Hemlock Wreath Reflecting Mountain Stream-Bracelet

This new piece is now available for purchase in my Etsy store. Buy that special gift well before the Christmas rush. This bracelet is one=of-a-kind, has a sterling silver box clasp on it with three leaves carved in it, fits a 6 1/2" wrist. Fine, water-clear quartz briolettes seem to drip from the ends of branched fringe which shimmers with a matte blue-green irridescence.