On Hiatus

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that I haven't been keeping up with the blog. I've spent a lot of time trying to create some jewelry for my ArtFire studio, which left me with little time to blog. Lately I've been really uninspired to make anything, or to write anything, so everything has come to a screeching halt!

I made three sales on ArtFire despite not advertising, so that was nice. I don't really think that ArtFire had any real hand in the sales that I did make, since two were referrals from family and one was due to keyword search.

I was using a free basic account on ArtFire since I did not have many items to sell. ArtFire recently announced that they are making a lot of changes to the site, including eliminating basic seller accounts. In other words, in order to keep my shop, I will need to "upgrade" to a pro account, which costs $10/month. They used some lame excuse about the new shop design not accommodating ads to justify the change. Well, I just can't justify paying $10/month since this is not something I do full-time.

So, it looks like my ArtFire shop will be closing as of September 13. I haven't decided whether or where I will move to another online storefront at this time. I might just have a lot of new necklaces and earrings added to my personal jewelry collection.

Ah well, it was fun while it lasted!

Becoming Collectible on ArtFire

During my lunch break today, I popped on over to ArtFire to do my daily Check-In, and I noticed I had a message in my inbox. This is not a frequent occurrence at this point in my crafty business venture, so I was super excited to see what it was all about. I had a message saying that one of my items had been featured in a handpicked collection by another ArtFire member. Yippee!

What's a collection, you ask?

Each member can pick some sort of theme and choose at least twelve items to feature that are somehow related to that theme. Collections are featured in a separate section on the site, they can be rated, and they can be commented upon. Basically, they are a nice way for other members to promote each other and themselves. Thanks to JazzitupJewelryDesign on ArtFire for including my earrings in your collection!

Painting my Room in Mint Green

Curated By: JazzitupJewel...

ArtFire.com

Indie Design

ArtFire Rocks: Things Uncommon

So far I've opened a studio on ArtFire.

Things Uncommon ArtFire studio

Some of the benefits I see with ArtFire versus other online handmade sales venues are:

• ArtFire offers a free Basic Membership. This means that you can set up a shop (called a "studio" in the ArtFire world) for free. You can post unlimited listings in your studio, and they will be active for four months (assuming they don't sell, but hopefully they will!). You get to personalize your studio with a banner and an avatar. Once you get your sealegs you can go Pro for a flat monthly fee (currently $9.95) - ArtFire does not charge listing fees, nor do they take a percentage of your sales!
• ArtFire does not require buyers to be members. To me, this is an awesome benefit compared to Etsy, where all buyers must sign up for an account with Etsy in order to make a purchase. I know how I feel about constantly having to create new logins and memberships (and the associated spam that inevitably comes with them). So I feel that potential customers would appreciate the ease of putting items in a cart and checking out without having to create yet another login and password to forget remember.
• SEO. ArtFire is big on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). They offer tutorials and information to sellers on how to get the most bang for their keyword bucks. They want you to be found, because buyers who do not know about ArtFire most likely do know about Google. They also like to keep members informed of changes in the internet search world, such as the latest changes at Google and what they mean to sellers.

It was super easy to set up an account and get started. Listing items is fairly straight forward, and navigating your studio is generally intuitive. So far so good. I need to get busy and get to work on some more items to list. Like I said before, it's going to be a slow process, and so far it has been. I feel like I've been working two full-time jobs despite not actually having the free time of another full-time job. But it is exciting, especially since I've already made one sale!