Archive for the ‘Vista Print’ Category

After nearly three months of work to get Marble-T Design in shape for some serious expansion, I have been thinking about the role of social media, since that has been a big focus. I’ve also been thinking about the market pieces in place now and how they are working.

Biggest help of all so far has been getting up and operating on Linked In. I completed my profile with two basic pieces: the art and my interest in doing private tutoring, with the emphasis on the art business. Even more so has been the group aspect of Linked In. I’ve joined a couple of discussion groups and met some great folks. Art Business, Art Marketing, Manhattan Arts International, and TAFA have been incredibly productive. Advice, people viewing and commenting on the art, increase in “Likes” on the fan page as a result of round robin visiting – lots more people know about our marbling.

Twitter – can’t seem to develop this one to the extent I probably should. I do tweet interesting articles, retweet others’ information, but I am lucky to get a half hour each day to read recent tweets. I do know that taking advantage of the Tweet aspect of listing items on Etsy has led to a lot more views, as well as some sales. That’s a plus, but I can’t seem to devote the time – at this point – to being a major presence in TwitterWorld. I use Tweetdeck to schedule my tweets, but I got really frustrated when it wasn’t posting tweets for the TAFA fund raiser. That’s on my long-term list of things to do, because frankly, it’s not a priority right now.

Facebook has been great – of recent interest has been the 7th grade picture of my class in elementary school – lots of interesting comments there! But in terms of business, the Fan page has been much more active, with an increase in “Likes,” and I am trying to post something every day. With the integrating features, my blog automatically gets posted, as well as Etsy items, and I try to get an Ebay item up at least once a week. I can tell from the stats on Ebay that the traffic increases each time I post. And…sales have been up.

Responding. This is the key. You just can’t read this stuff without letting people know you’re out there, enjoying/responding to what they’ve posted. And that takes time. But it has to be done, and done in a meaningful manner. When I first started blogging (some 528 posts ago), I was thrilled the few times a comment came in, but I never acknowledged it.You must do that, and you must have something sincere to say. I love doing this now – it is so gratifying that someone visits, and I want to respond to that.

Ebay – business is increasing, and we can see that because we are marbling more often.

Etsy – slowly starting to build. The key has been finding the niche market for Etsy, which is some of our more expensive marbled fabrics, not the big art pieces. I do think with the right marketing I can sell some of the small marbled art pieces, if I keep things under fifty dollars.

Blog – back to almost every day, and traffic is increasing significantly. I’m finally taking the advice of some other bloggers and having at least one day a week for what’s on sale from Marble-T Design. I do enjoy writing, and I enjoy visiting other blogs. I’ve expanded additional pages on the blog, from art blogs to visit to resources available. I still have more that I want to add.

These have been the Big Three that are in place and are working. Each week I am nurturing them along.

Website – we need to add more items (we used to have close to 14 items available for sale), and we need to increase the traffic/sales to the site. I need to update some of the art work, and I have done some rewriting of copy within the site.

Cafe Press – well, not so much, but I am advertising something each week. It’s been interesting to see the Cafe Press ads online – every time I see one, one of the items is usually our gecko tote bag.

Marketing materials – new business cards with all the social media information on them, thanks to Vista Print freebies. Plus, new postcards as thank-you’s for customers, encouraging them to sign up for our newsletter and win free fabric.

BUT – absolutely the BEST thing in all of this is that hubby and I are finally able to work together each day with our art, creating and having fun together all the while.

I’m working on week 2 of being sick…it’s the usual viral thing that settles in my chest and makes me miserable. DH has already had it, and I’m hoping it doesn’t go on beyond this week, as the record for this bug has been two months. So for 4 days no blog entries – and did I ever miss recording my thoughts and progress. There wasn’t much except for the commission, which was due yesterday for the 80th birthday party, and it was half done – lost four whole days, and it would have been completely finished. I’m quilting as I go, and then piecing the quilted sections together. It’s really looking wonderful, but I’ll save photos until more is done.

Marketing Monday – Two weeks ago I posted marketing plans, and now it’s time to check and see how I did. The main one was to set a calendar for the blog and continue postings….which I did – sort of….

Marketing Monday – this is my second posting, and I think it’s going to keep me on track.

Top Ten Tuesday – did two posts – should be interesting, staying on topic.

Work-In-Progress Wednesday – two posts, this week I should have pics of the commissioned quilt.

Thoughts for Thursday – missed last week – too sick to move…

Photo Friday – made one of the posts, should have new pics this week.

Saturday Special – nothing yet, but I have plans…

Sunday Sampler – again, nothing yet, but there are plans….

Another accomplishment – get entry ready to mail to Alaska – went in the mail last week. And – last Friday I heard that one of the two pieces submitted made it into Ft. Collins Fabric of Legacies show, so that will go in the mail beginning of next week – and I think we will be able to make it to the artist’ reception.

Nothing on the tutorials, as I’ve been sewing so much – nice to know I can get as much done in a short period of time – bodes well for new pieces this summer.

Haven’t ordered anything from Vista Print, but that’s on the agenda for this week.

In terms of Etsy and Cafe Press, nothing yet, but Kimberly Baxter Packwood had a lot of suggestions on her blog and Facebook about successful Etsy stores, so I am pondering that. I think I can have my Cafe Press up for this week’s Saturday Special, with some of the digital work.

So – goals for this week:
* entries each day on the blog
* Cafe Press set up and ready to go
* Low Tide mailed to Colorado
* commission just about finished
* check for some new shows to enter for Fall

First time visiting the blog? Check out this overview.

Two more days of school, and then summer vacation starts, which isn’t always as productive as I would like. I usually get really ambitious right before school starts again. But this spring and summer look to be a “new leaf.” Since I started in March, and then took the blogging course in April, I have been extremely productive. Let’s go back to March….and then this post.

Website has been mostly updated – still need to get the new pages up and the links checked (which I’ve done on my school page…)

CafePress and Etsy? Way more thinking than doing, but I am getting a lot closer….

Shutterfly and iBook – not there yet.

Art shows – entered (and was accepted) at one, awaiting the results on another.

Garden Fantasy work is coming along nicely, as is general digital marbling – at least three new good pieces.

Trade name finally done and OURS!

And…we took a marbling class and have improved our production techniques. So overall these two months have been excellent. Now for my goals for next week:

Get Etsy shop operating.
Set a calendar of blog topics.
Order tote bag from Vista Print to see what it’s like.
Watch at least three tutorials from Photoshop (NAPP) on blending and masking – a really weak area.
Get entry ready to be mailed to Alaska.