Wednesday Wisdom

Feed your inner artist regularly.

...No, I'm not talking about eating a varied diet, though that is of course important ;-)
What I'm refering to is filling your artistic "pool", or nourishing your imagination. If you're any kind of artist or you rely on your creativity for any part of your life, then the chances are you've had days when you just don't feel very inspired or creative. I've realised that many people are trying to call on their imagination to help them when they haven't been taking proper care of it!
Your creative mind needs fuel and some time to spark that fuel into a flame before it will start working for you. For me, the very best way to allow this to happen has always been taking some time to appreciate nature. My second in line is listening to music that makes my spirit soar.

Please treat your inner artist this week to something that makes YOU feel inspired, and see how rewarding it is! I don't want to hear "but I don't have the time..." - There is always time enough to invest in yourself ;-) and in the long run, you will find that it is always worth it.

Much love,
Naomi xxx

We invite all of you to share your Wisdom with the blogosphere by
posting a link to your Wednesday Wisdom in Mister Linky below!
(Just the individual WW post please, not your whole blog- that way we can find your post later!)
Photograph from PetitPlat

Wednesday Wisdom

Be comfortable in your workspace.

Whether you're crafting or working online, please be gentle with your body when sitting for long periods in one place! This week I'm suffering a little from not remembering to do this, so next on my shopping list is a super comfortable chair for sewing and working on my laptop.

Take care ;-)
Naomi xx

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Post a link to your Wednesday Wisdom in Mister Linky below!

Wednesday Wisdom

Understand how to make the
best of your thumbnail photos

When someone views your store they usually do so in "gallery mode" this is when the images are the same size as the ones in your featured items bar at the top of your shop. To put your store in gallery mode just click the little box with 4 squares in it under your featured items. This is your store "window", the first thing your buyers see when they come to your shop. If you try to make each thumbnail look the best it can, taking into account the way your first image is cropped to fit it, this will make your shop look really great. To get the best out of your thumbnails try to take the photo you will use for the first image as a "horizontal" rectangle, aka "landscape" so that little of the composition of the photo is lost when viewed as a thumbnail.

These thumbnail photos are also how your listings are viewed in treasuries, having a great thumbnail increases your chances of making it into a treasury and therefore your chance of making it onto the Etsy Home Page. Always make sure that the first photo for your listing is the best one from your collection!

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Post a link to your Wednesday Wisdom in Mister Linkey below!

Wednesday Wisdom

To make an Etsy Treasury really special,
choose listings that mean something to you.

Sometimes, even though I want to make a Treasury, I just can't think of a decent theme to tie it all together. I bet I'm not the only one! I realised recently that if I make a Treasury based on my feelings or my life situation at the time, it often flows really well. It has more of a 'meaning' to me, and it's easier to spot the items that fit in with my 'feeling' (like a Moodboard!) than it is to randomly look for items that might look good together.

Also, this way, if it does make it to the Front Page, I'd be sharing a bit of my life or my soul with thousands and thousands of people. That's pretty cool!

The first Treasury that I made for The House of Mouse.

Much love,
Naomi xx

Play along with us and share your knowledge. Leave a link to your Wednesday Wisdom (not your whole blog, just the individual post please) below in Mister Linky.

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Wednesday Wisdom

If you sell small items, use a light box to create beautiful photos every time no matter what the weather is doing.

Great photos are one of the most important things to get right if you sell online. Your photographs are your virtual shop window: If they are not light, bright and eye-catching then often buyers will surf right past your store without even noticing your work.

Here's a tutorial Anna wrote on how to make your own lightbox


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Play along with us and share your knowledge. Leave a link to your Wednesday Wisdom (not your whole blog, just the individual post please) below in Mister Linky.

For more information on how to play visit this post

Wednesday Wisdom

My Wednesday Wisdom:
Increase the price of your highest value item by 25%, or create a new item for your store that costs 150% more than anything else in your shop.

If you have a higher priced item in your store it makes your lower priced products look more attractive to buyers. This is because most people avoid the cheapest items and the most expensive ones, they like to fall somewhere in the middle.

This technique is called Price Anchoring. Even though you will probably not sell any of your highest priced items, just having it in your shop will increase the sales of your lower priced products.

Make sure that this high-priced item is very visible in your store, put it in your featured items or at least on the first page of your listings, and watch as it helps you sell more!

Play along with us and share your knowledge. Leave a link to your Wednesday Wisdom (not your whole blog, just the individual post please) below in Mister Linky.

For more information on how to play visit this post

Wednesday Wisdom - Your Guide to Sharing the Wisdom

My Wednesday Wisdom: When listing an item on Etsy, the words in your title also act as tags, so try to use your 14 tags for other keywords to avoid doubling up and wasting them!

:-)

What is Wednesday Wisdom?

• A way for fellow Etsy sellers / crafters / bloggers / entrepeneurs (and anyone else who cares to join in!) to share the wisdom that they have collected in their creative adventures.
• Short and simple; easy and quick to write and to remember.
• Helpful, but not necessarily "new information" to absolutely everyone who reads it: It WILL help someone, you can be sure!

So what do you think? Let's share the wisdom and help each other to learn and grow!

Here's how to do it:

• Write your Wednesday Wisdom post (include a relevant picture if you'd like! It may help people to remember your advice ;-) ) Please add a link to our latest Wednesday Wisdom post to help people to find all of our helpful posts and to know where to share their own.
• Share it as much as you can through social media or any other methods, to help as many people as possible!
• Add your blogpost to the Mister Linky box at the bottom of each week's Wednesday Wisdom post here on our blog.
  

Simple! Let's play :-) Good luck, and please feel free to comment here with any questions or ideas, we love to hear from you!

Much love,

Naomi xx