Why I love ArtFire

This just seemed to be a good day for this post. How do I love thee, ArtFire? Let me count the ways. ArtFire is a wonderful site for artisans to create their own studio and be in charge of their own success. Tony and the rest of the admins give us tons of information about understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how to make it work. Because of what I learned on ArtFire I can look at my Google Analytics page and understand exactly what I did or didn't do and how that effected my views and sales. There are tutorials and workshops that help us figure this whole crazy SEO thing out. There are posts on the Panda slap (if you don't know what that is, it's Google's new search algorithm) and how to slap back. Tony posts the current list of the top 100 keywords. This is helpful because if your items fit into one of the categories described by those keywords, then you know what words to use in your item titles to get them found.

There is another group that makes ArtFire worth it. There is a group of people on ArtFire that makes themselves available on a daily basis for mentoring, support, constructive criticism, and dancing kitties when you make your first sale. Some of these folks are known as Fire Mentors and Mavens. But not all of them belong to these 2 groups. Mostly they are just people who want us to succeed. We all win when we all win. When sellers help each other we all win by bringing more traffic to the site. We support each other by promoting each other's work. It is a happy and supportive environment. And out of all the sites I sell on, ArtFire is without a doubt my favorite. I feel like the more I support ArtFire and help it grow, the more it will do the same for me. It is truly a cooperative in the truest sense of the word.

So those are just a few of the reasons that I love ArtFire. I would suggest that you go check out some of the wonderful shops over there. You will find beautiful handmade items and a seriously supportive atmosphere. I hope you end up loving ArtFire and it's family of admins and artisans as much as I do.

ArtFire

Life is getting busy!

So a lot has happened in the last week. I got the part time job I applied for! It is in a photo lab about two blocks from my house. I think it's funny how I've gone full circle. One of my first jobs when I moved to Texas 8 years ago was in a photo lab. I was recruited from there and started my long exhausting journey into retail management. I actually loved working in the photo lab. I loved the details in processing film, digital imaging, and printing photos. I also enjoyed sharing those happy memories with my customers. It doesn't pay much. But I just need a supplemental income to fall back on until sales start growing.

And now for the super exciting news that is causing my life to be busy....I have been contacted to create custom designs for someone. It makes me really happy that someone sees value in my art. I'll be busy for the next few days creating designs. Once everything is settled and the art finished I'll post a link for you all to see the final product.

I am also working on 2 new lines of designs for Zazzle products. And I'm still considering listing a few things on Etsy. I'm interested in how my keywords and tags will work on Etsy with their new relevancy search. If nothing else it might give me some insight into changes I can make to my seo on ArtFire.

So that's it for now. I've got lots to do and less time to do it. Have a happy day everyone!  :-)

Newest strategy

So I still have a million things to do to improve and promote my ArtFire studio, but I also want to diversify a bit. I considered Etsy, but I really would rather not have to pay to list. I suppose I could list one thing every other day and it works out to $3 a month. I have several reservations regarding Etsy. They have made several changes recently. Personally, I think most of them make sense from an outsider's perspective. But the forums are full of people screaming. Although that is not unusual. I mostly just worry about the lack of communication from the administration. ArtFire is so awesome about communicating with us. I guess I got spoiled. :-)

So my latest strategy is Zazzle. For those of you unfamiliar with Zazzle, it is a website that allows the seller to design customizable products using their own designs. I have already designed a few products. The coolest, in my mind anyway, are 2 really cool pairs of Keds. That's right, I designed sneakers! I would post a link to them, but they have to be approved before they are released for public view. I spent most of yesterday creating new designs based on my style of art that would work better on more products. I am just getting started, but I can see that with intense promoting, Zazzle could easily produce a decent income stream. The best part is that all the shipping and production are done by Zazzle. All I do is create art, design products, and promote. So check it out:

My Zazzle store

I'll be adding new products on a fairly regular basis. It is pretty time consuming. I think a realistic goal is 2 new products each day. That leaves me with time for creating art and promotion for Zazzle and Artfire. Plus I am still selling on ebay which takes up a good chunk of my day on Sunday.

All in all, I feel good about the direction my business is taking. I'm trying to carefully weigh my options and make choices based on activities I can actually fully commit to. It doesn't do me any good to sign up for 50 stores or sites and not be able to put in the time at any of them. I think it's much more productive to commit to a couple sites and really work my you know what off to promote them.

So that's what new in the life of The Artist Michelle. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week! :-)

Michelle

ArtFire Studio Heating Up!

I am happy to report I have had 5 more sales on ArtFire since my last post! And I finally managed to get my ArtFire studio banner working ------------->  Yay! And I have curated my first collection on ArtFire. http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=collections&op=details&cid=26108 This collection is a small token of my heartfelt thanks to some of the lovely artisans on ArtFire that have helped me with words of wisdom and encouragement. I have belonged to many online communities in the past decade or so. And I can honestly say that the ArtFire community is without a doubt the most helpful and supportive community out there.

The best part of this community is that having none of the censorship and heavy handed policies that other forums have in place has in fact created the type of community the other sites wish they had. Sure, once in a while someone feels the need to vent. We all have those days sometimes. But instead of the "feeding the troll" attitudes I've seen elsewhere, this community tries to empathize with the poster and remain supportive. They offer sympathy and words of advice. The "kill them with kindness" theory of community management seems to work amazingly well.

So my unsolicited advice for the day is this; if you are looking to sell your handmade wares online, and have no idea how to start, check out ArtFire. There you will find a truly supportive community of artisans and admins that really want you to succeed. If you decide to join I would check out the 45 day guide, the help guide index, and the business talk sections on the forum first. Just these 3 sections will probably answer any questions you may have about listing, SEO, taking great photos, pricing your items, and anything else you might need help with.

Referral link for 3rd month free on ArtFire.

Thank you all and I look forward to seeing you over on ArtFire and checking out your art!

WOOT! I sold my first painting on Artfire!

I can't tell you how happy this makes me. It really isn't about the money. For me, it's about another person finding value in my art. I am blissfully happy right now. :-)

What I need everyone who wishes they could do this....quit their job....sell their art....to know is...you can! Trust me when I say that I know how hard it is to have confidence in your art. You think to yourself, "What if I'm just a hack? Maybe I have no actual talent. What if people just point and laugh?" I have had all these self defeating thoughts and more. But you seriously need to let it go and think about how much creating art makes you happy. If making it makes you that happy, there are bound to be people out there that are happy looking at your art. And there are people who want to take that happy feeling and have it in their home.

There is no "right time"! There is only today! You matter! Your art matters! I'm not saying you should all go out and quit your jobs. But somehow you need to make the time to work on your art. Only you can make it happen. I believe in you. Now you only have to believe in yourself.

Be The Artist!

Up Before the Early Birds

Good morning! It is currently 6:20 am and I have been up for 3 hours already. I tried to go back to sleep but my Ninja kitten decided it was time for me to get up and play. So I admitted defeat and made a pot of coffee. Ninja played for about 5 minutes and was ready for a nap. So she's sound asleep and here I sit. But I put the time to good use. I got my new Zibbet store set up.  http://www.zibbet.com/TheArtistMichelle I got the banner for my Zibbet store working in the side bar over there --------> But for some reason I still can't get my ArtFire banner to work. I'll keep working on it.

Seriously though, if I don't spend several hours today taking pictures of my other finished pieces, the world is going to think I only have 7 drawings done. I have several paintings ready to go, plus crochet bags, and paper stars. I'll post some pictures here hopefully this afternoon.

I've been reading a lot about SEO and it is confusing as all heck! I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent person. Even a bit of a nerd. But when I start reading about links and keywords my brain starts to turn to ooze. I mean, I get the concept easily enough. But all the info seems to contradict itself and seems a bit impossible. For instance, I read that duplicate titles are bad. But how many different ways are there to describe my drawings? Then one person says I should be using the highest searched keywords. But someone else said not to use the highest because everyone else is using those same words, so my item could get buried.   I guess the best way to figure it out is to keep changing things up and testing different things. But even then I'm not sure I'll be able to figure out why one listing has many views and another has no views.

My job hunt is progressing slowly. But to be honest, I'm not really trying very hard. My silly ex-job paid me my vacation time and sick time, so I have a couple more weeks before I need to be worried. I did find a possible job that doesn't sound too horrible. lol I should be getting a call back on Monday so I'll keep you updated. The original job I applied for didn't work out. Which is probably good since it was a full time position. The fewer hours, the better as far as I'm concerned. :-)

It's starting to get light outside so I need to go start setting up to take pics of my stuff. Have a great day everyone!

ArtFire Up and Running!

So I got the scanner working on Eric's computer and figured out the max resolution I can use for images. I have 7 pieces listed so far. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it gave me the opportunity to practice with the listing tools and figuring out images. I still need to read through all the help guides so I can understand how SEO works. I think I have good titles, but I also remember something about duplicate listings. I don't know how different they have to be in order to be found by search engines. And how different can I really make them while still getting all the keywords in the titles? It's a tad confusing, lol. And I can't figure out how to get the banner link to work on here. I guess I need to read some more. Have a happy day!  :-)

I can't figure out the banners but I think I can get a link to my studio page to work. Cross your fingers and click:

http://www.artfire.com/users/TheArtistMichelle