The Crafted Webmaster

Email Marketing: Are you collecting email addressses offline?

2010-02-08T17:30:14Z

I was reading a report about a conference about email that was held in Miami a couple weeks ago (yes, they do have conferences on email) and found a statistic that jumped out to me:

Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes (a chain of restaurant/bakeries) acquires about half of their email address in their stores

So what does that mean? That means that if you’re only taking names and email addresses online, you’re missing out on a lot of potential sign ups for your mailing list.

If you’re doing craft shows, home shows, teaching classes, doing lectures, or holding open studios those are great opportunities to add more people to your mailing list. I’m sure that you probably already have a guest book or mailing list sign up. Make sure that you also have a space on your sign up page so that people can enter their email addresses as well.

From my experience, the perfect time to get folks to sign up is:

a) when they’ve just purchased something and they’re waiting for you to package their order. Signing up for your email list gives them something to do while they’re waiting.

b) after they’ve shown interest in your work but it’s clear that they’re not able to buy right now. Some folks feel guilty about not buying, so providing their email address is a way to give you something.

Here’s a few more tips to collect email addresses offline:

Provide plenty of room for people to fill out their entire email address. Some email addresses run pretty long.
In the report I read, Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes found that there was a 20% error rate on paper sign-up forms. Some may be due to handwriting issues, customer misspells then email address, etc. If you have a laptop, see if you can get your customers to type their information rather than write it. If that’s not an option, take a minute to confirm the spelling of the address with your customers before they leave.
Provide an incentive to signing up for your email list. Maybe it’s for a contest, a giveaway, or a special gift. This will encourage more sign ups and it will also encourage people to give you an accurate email address that they actually check.
If your business is mainly online, create ways to get more face to face time with customers. People that won’t give you their information to an impersonal website might be more than happy to do so after they’ve met you and saw that you’re a real person. If you’re on Etsy, join a street team, set up a home show or open studio, do a couple of local craft shows or art fairs. You’ll be able to get out of your studio every now and then and personally interact with your customers.

You can read the entire report at the Retail Email Blog.

If you want more tips on how to start and manage an email list, sign up for my FREE article series “How to Plan and Start a Great Email Newsletter“.

Links for Artists [Jan 31 -Feb 6]

2010-02-07T17:00:31Z

Throughout the week, I like to share interesting links for artists on my Twitter profile. Here is a list of the links I tweeted about last week:

RT: @guykawasaki: 12 reasons social media isn’t working for you- http://om.ly/emxb
Now Reading: Don’t Forget The Small Stuff This Year- http://ow.ly/12A37
Some great advice: biz ladies: logo design- http://ow.ly/12AdA
RT: @guykawasaki: 5 mistakes businesses make with Twitter- http://om.ly/emwf
Now Reading: Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for February 2010- http://ow.ly/12XTP
RT: @social_smallbiz: Top Tips To Get Retweeted On Twitter- http://bit.ly/cBXgt7
RT: @MABJewelry: @cnntech: There are reports of a Twitter phishing scheme. It’s good time to change your passwords: http://bit.ly/bJqPRn
RT @anddjournal: RT @RainerGS: 110+ #Resources For Creative Minds - http://j.mp/b7HoEN (via @veryloud @ubergio @Flipbooks) #Inspiration
Now Reading: Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color- http://ow.ly/12YEt
Now Reading: Color Theory For Designers, Part 2: Understanding Concepts And Terminology- http://ow.ly/12YUi
Now Reading: Email Deliverability Tips (make sure your emails are delivered)- http://ow.ly/136yN
RT @MariSmith: Block Facebook Apps Right From Your Wall Now- http://post.ly/Lq0h
RT @anitafiander: Twitter Explains Recent Phishing Attack- http://bit.ly/c6AH2t
RT @veryloud: RT @WebDesignBlog09: Some great advice! Lessons Web Designers Can Learn From Television Broadcasts http://bit.ly/bJRwF2
RT @packagingdiva: RT @MarktheSpaMan: Interesting > Multi-sensory #packaging wins consumers’ attention ~ http://bit.ly/b5C6uJ
This is great tool for photographing your work: DIY Light Umbrella- http://ow.ly/13oTf
RT @SarahRobinson: RT @GrantGriffiths: 7 Days to Turn Your Blog Into a Social Media Hub – Day 2: Decluttering- http://bit.ly/aIn0cH
RT @ConnieGreen: Ask For Interviews and Be Interviewed to Increase Your Visibility and Credibility: http://EzineArticles.com/3691790
RT: @guykawasaki: Easy = Good, Easy = True (some interesting findings here about how people like easy things) http://om.ly/etGj
Now Reading: 7 Rules for Perfect Press Releases- http://ow.ly/13yN0
Now Reading: 50 Ways to Get Your Life in Order- http://ow.ly/13zh4
RT: @artmarketing A Little Art Email Etiquette Sil Vous Plaît! http://bit.ly/dzeGMN
RT @DocJerry: WiseStamp - Email Signature 1.3.3 :: Add-ons for Firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8206
RT @PublicityHound: #Facebook hits 400 million users, up from 300 million just 5 months ago. Amazing. http://ow.ly/14cwQ
RT @johnhaydon: [video] Schedule posts with Editorial Calendar WordPress plugin by @chrisgarrett http://post.ly/MJTF
RT @michelfortin: 10 Online Photoshop Alternatives For Simple Photo Editing http://ff.im/-frzZ6
Now Reading: 7 Fixes for Terrible Email Subject Lines- http://ow.ly/14nzi
Now Reading: 8 Simple Steps to Growing a Quality Twitter Following- http://ow.ly/14ooX
Now Reading: Overcome Doubts About Running Your Own Craft Business- http://ow.ly/14oFq
Now Reading: Eight Simple Ways To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile- http://ow.ly/14qGt
Now Reading: Go “Hi Touch/ Low Tech”- http://ow.ly/14ByX
Now Reading: Increase Productivity by Doing Nothing- http://ow.ly/14BBJ
Now Reading: 16 Eco-Fashion Predictions for 2010- http://ow.ly/14Boc
Now Reading: The True Focus of Art Marketing- http://ow.ly/14BEX

Like this link list? Visit my Twitter profile and follow me to get these links daily!

Email Marketing: Creating Email Signatures with Wise Stamp

2010-02-05T20:49:39Z

Making sure that all of your outgoing mail contains a standard signature with a link to your website is a great way to passively promote your website to everyone you send an email too. But, if you’re using a web-base email program like Yahoo!, Gmail, or Hotmail, you may or may not have that option. However there is a free tool that can help. One of my Twitter followers, @DocJerry clued me in on a free Firefox add-on called Wise Stamp that allows you to append a custom signature to your outgoing Gmail, Yahoo!, or Hotmail emails. Plus, it also has built in support for your social networking accounts too! Check it out by watching the video below:

Art Blogging: Should you offer full or partial blog feeds?

2010-02-04T17:40:50Z

If you’re just starting out with your own blog, one of the things that you must make a decision on is whether you’re going to offer full feeds or partial feeds to those people that read your blog through a feed reader, like Google Reader.

What’s the difference between the two? A full feed shows your entire blog post in your subscriber’s feed reader. So people that subscribe to your blog via a feed reader don’t have to visit your blog in order to read your blog posts.

On the other hand, a partial feed only provides an excerpt of your blog post, perhaps the first couple sentences or the first paragraph in your subscriber’s feed reader. In order to read the rest of the blog post, your subscriber then must visit your blog to read the rest of the post.

So what’s the best choice for your blog? This is a question almost as old as blogging itself. At first glance, providing a partial feed to those that subscribe to your blog through a feed reader seems like the best choice because that then makes people visit your blog.

However, most popular blogs provide full feeds instead of partial feeds. A lot of savvy blog readers HATE partial feeds. I myself don’t subscribe to blogs that provide a partial feed…unless the content is really, really, REALLY good, and I unsubscribe from those that start doing so. A lot of blog readers I know feel the same way.

Why do a lot of blog readers dislike partial feeds? Think of it this way…if I’m taking the step to subscribe to your blog feed, I’m telling you two things:

I’m interested in what you’re blogging about and I want to keep updated
I prefer to read your blog through my feed reader (because it’s convenient, it saves me time, etc)

By providing only a partial feed to your blog you’re making it inconvenient for your subscribers to read content that they’re already interested in reading in the way they choose to read it. Putting up roadblocks to reading your blog is not a way to encourage loyal readers.

Okay, so how do you encourage those who read your blog to visit your website if they’re getting your content through their feed readers?

1. Offer an email newsletter. RSS subscribers are still pretty anonymous…you don’t know who they are and you can’t contact them directly. Not so with a traditional email newsletter. If you also offer great content through email, those RSS subscribers will be happy to join your email list.

2. Give your RSS readers exclusive offers to visit your website. If you’re running Wordpress, there are several plugins you can install that allows you to attach a special signature to your blog posts that only your RSS feed subscribers you can see. This is a great way to make your RSS subscribers feel welcome and to place special offers that encourage them to visit your website. One RSS signature plugin that I’ve used with my Wordpress blogs is called “Feed Footer“. You can check it out here.

3. Give your RSS subscribers a reason to visit your website in each blog post. At the end of your blog posts, provide a “call to action” to encourage those that are reading your blog through an RSS feed reader to come visit your blog. You can invite your readers to leave comments, sign up for your mailing list, sign up for a giveaway or contest, or participate in a poll. Just because these folks prefer to get your blog content through their feed readers doesn’t mean that they won’t visit your website if there is compelling reason to do so. Provide that in as many blog posts as possible.

So what’s your opinion? Do you provide full or partial feeds for your blog? Why or why not? Leave a comment and share your opinion!

Marketing Your Art Online: Are you always sowing a marketing seed?

2010-02-03T17:54:28Z

One of my Facebook page fans wrote to me that they’ve been online for awhile and that they’re feeling burned out with marketing online. She voiced a sentiment that a lot of artists have when it comes to marketing their work. It’s hard enough just to make your artwork and run your business. Marketing, either online or offline is one of those continual tasks that don’t always seem to get the results that you want or at least don’t get them fast enough.

Recently, I was listening to a podcast about effective creativity from The Accidental Creative called “Seeds“. In the episode, creativity and an artist’s nurturing of creativity was likened to farming. In order for creativity to grow and thrive, a farmer can’t just plant a couple of seeds and then want to harvest a crop just a few weeks later. Rather, there’s a natural process to nurturing a crop that requires a farmer to plant seeds, nurture the crop, let the crop grow, and then harvest when the crop is ready. Any attempt to harvest before then will end up killing off the field.

While the podcast was talking about creativity, marketing follows the same principal. Marketing your website is a lot like the “sowing the seeds” example in the podcast. Every blog post you write, every tweet you send out, every new subscriber to your email list, every ad you put on a popular blog is like sowing a marketing seed for your artwork. You’ll see results from some of these seeds right away…some you might not see weeks, months, or even a year or two later. On the other hand, while things like blogging, writing, and building your reputation online are things that take time to yield results, they are also things that continue to bring results months and years later.

And just like a farmer doesn’t just plant one seed and expect it to grow into an entire crop, if you’re trying to marketing yourself, you shouldn’t just try one thing and expect to get huge results from it. The more things you try, the more you get yourself out there, not just online but also offline the more you’re likely to get results. And the more you’re likely to have at least one technique succeed in case another technique fails.

So what if you’ve been trying and trying to market online and you’re really burnt out because a) you have too much to do or b) you don’t seem to be getting results?

1. Try something different. If one technique doesn’t seem to be yielding results, try something different…or make a tweak to what you’re doing already. Sometimes just stepping back and making minor adjustments can make a world of difference.

2. Do one small thing every day. Large projects like building a website or setting up a blog or redesigning a website can get you a boost, but most of your results comes from small things that you can do every day…like emailing a customer that you haven’t heard from in a while…or better yet calling them up or visiting them. Or writing a quick blog post, or shooting a quick video, or making some comments on your favorite blog.

Earlier this week Alyson Stanfield wrote a blog post about committing 15 minutes a day to do something important…like marketing yourself or creating art. Commit 15 minutes a day to do some marketing task every day this year. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll end up getting done.

3. Get help. You don’t have to do everything yourself. This is something that my husband is always telling me and I know that it’s something that plagues a lot of other artists as well. Get help addressing and stamping those postcards you’re going to mail out. Ask for more help with the housework or cooking if that’s one of your responsibilities. Get a professional to design that blog header or ad instead of struggling to do it yourself.

4. Take a mini vacation. If you’re absolutely burned out, give yourself permission to take a mini vacation to recharge your batteries. Take some classes, join a Meetup group and network with other artists, visit some museums and galleries, read about something completely different that what you’ve been reading. Listen to some new podcasts (starting with the one by the Accidental Creative about sowing seeds) or instructional CDs. But just like a real vacation, make sure that you specify a date to return so that your vacation don’t stretch out into weeks or months.

So, are you burnt out with your marketing? Leave a comment and let me know how you’re coping!

Website Content: Mine real life events for content ideas

2010-02-02T18:25:32Z

One of the things that makes blogging, article marketing, and public relations for your website so hard to keep up is the constant need to come up with new content ideas. One great source of fresh content ideas is as close as your television or newspaper.

Local events, holidays, national news, and even world events are great sources for new content to blog about, to write articles, shoot video, or even as a base to write new press releases. Not only are people already interested in these topics, but they also tend to get searched on in search engines, so it’s an opportunity to get boost in search engine traffic. Here are few examples:

Holidays- Holidays like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving…even Groundhog’s day gives you a great reason to create holiday-related tip sheets, articles, or crafting or art tutorials. For Groundhog’s Day, The Naughty Secretary’s Club wrote a cute blog post on how to make a ground hog puppet.

Local events- Do you have a local art show, craft show, or exhibition that’s of interest to your customers or readers? Offer to write an article for a local publication (either online or offline) about the event. Or perhaps you’re participating in one of these events? Use this participation as a reason to write a press release or a blog post about the event. The Publicity Hound, Joan Stewart talks about how write press releases based on local events in her free ecourse 89 Press Release Tips.

Word events- World events like the 2010 Winter Olympics and the Haitian relief efforts is news that everyone wants to keep informed about. With a little thought, you can figure out how to make these events relevant to your article writing or blog. For example DIY Life wrote a nice blog post about Craft Hope for Haiti which is an Etsy store that donates it’s proceeds to Haiti relief.

Popular culture or trends- Don’t forget to look to pop culture and trends for content ideas. What are some of your favorite television shows? Movies? Music? Books? Design*Sponge has a great series on it’s blog called “Living In” where a popular movie, television show, or book is chosen as a interior design inspiration. Here’s a blog post about the animated movie Fantastic Mr. Fox.

So, the next time you open up your newspaper, watch your favorite TV show, or go to the movies, keep your eyes and mind open. The inspiration for your next blog post or article might be closer than you think!

Links for Artists [Jan 24 -30]

2010-01-31T22:37:14Z

Throughout the week, I like to share interesting links for artists on my Twitter profile. Here is a list of the links I tweeted about last week:

RT @TerranceCharles: How to Be Incredible… http://bit.ly/4v5S3n <== Really good advice.
Now Reading: 21 Ways To Increase Your Conversion Rate- http://ow.ly/10×9N
Now Reading: 11 ways to get blog post inspiration- http://ow.ly/10KTt
RT: @artofthfirebird: 11 VERY POWERFUL Gmail Tips- http://tumblr.com/xwz5v31kh
Is your password one of these? Top 20 most common passwords of all time- http://ow.ly/10LYg (via @Harveymckinnon)
Now Reading: Devote 15 Minutes a Day to . . .- http://ow.ly/10NqJ
Now Reading: Seth Godin’s Linchpin - Demeaning or Enhancing the Word Artist?- http://ow.ly/10X9V
Now Reading: Social Networking Use Up 82%- http://ow.ly/11esh
Now Reading: The Perils Of The Poverty Conscious Artist- http://ow.ly/11mId
Now Reading: How to Give New Life to an Unsold Painting - And Make it Sell!- http://ow.ly/11rc7
Now Reading: 6 Elements of a Killer Website (And 6 Artists Who Understand Them)- http://ow.ly/11ugb
Now Viewing: 100 (Really) Creative Business Cards- http://ow.ly/11wS0 (via @ArtByChrysti)
Now Reading: How To Automatically Repost Content With Posterous- http://ow.ly/11xwp
RT: @wtek: Great tips for artists new to craft shows via @pacrafts 8 tips of craft show etiquette - http://shar.es/aPtrj
Now Reading: Facebook, Twitter and Blogging – business time wasters or money makers?- http://ow.ly/124eW (via @KJMiller)
Now Reading: How to Get a Viral Buzz on Twitter- http://ow.ly/124CY
Now Viewing: The Incredible Steampunk Jewelry Photography of Daniel Proulx- http://ow.ly/127lL
Now Reading: How to keep your email list from shrinking- http://ow.ly/124FK
Now Reading: 18 Blog Tips to Help You Succeed in 2010- http://ow.ly/124GF
RT: @GreatTwitTips- RT @BigBookofYou: 10 Tips For Managing Twitter As Your Usage Increases http://short.to/hqh7

Like this link list? Visit my Twitter profile and follow me to get these links daily!

Marketing on Facebook: Creating a Email Newsletter for Your Fan Page

2010-01-29T17:33:15Z

Do you have a Facebook Fan page? If you do, then getting people to visit it regularly to see your updates is one thing that will make it more effective for you. While Facebook allows you to send updates to your fans whenever you wish, those updated don’t ever reach your fan’s email box and the Updates section is rather buried in the Facebook profile system. So it’s up to your fans to remember to visit your Facebook page…and sometimes they may not visit as often as you like. Fortunately, there’s a free Facebook Application that can help!

Yesterday I did a video tour of a service called Nutshell Mail. It allows you to keep track of your social networking activity through email updates. In addition, Nutshell Mail also has a great Facebook Application for fan pages that allows your fans to sign up for email updates of your Facebook fan page. This app automatically sends out an email to fans that sign up for your newsletter every time you update your page. So once the application is set up, you don’t have to do anything except continue updating your fan page!

Want to learn more? Check out this video that I did on how to install and use the Nutshell Mail for Facebook app below:

Social Networking: Nutshell Mail, a new social networking tool

2010-01-28T17:25:57Z

If you have accounts on more than one social networking account, it can get pretty easy to get overwhelmed and behind in keeping up with a Twitter account, a Facebook Fan Page, and your regular Facebook profile page. If you’re finding it hard to keep up, here’s a new free tool that can help.

Nutshell Mail is a free service that gives your email updates about what’s going on with your social networking accounts. This is a great tool if you already have a regular routine for checking your email. You’ll be able to read and manage your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or Myspace account all through your email!

To learn more about Nutshell Mail, check out the video tour below:

Art Blogging: Mine your old blog posts for blogging ideas

2009-11-17T20:00:53Z

If you’ve been blogging for any length of time, you’ll undoubtedly will run into a “blogging slump” where you have no idea of what to write about next. One way to break through a “blogger’s block”, try digging through your old blog posts for inspiration!

Why is resurrecting your old content a good idea? Isn’t that just being repetitive? Not really. Unless you’re just starting out and your blog only has a couple of posts to read, people aren’t going to read through every single post you write. So refreshing an old blog post is a great way fresh sets of eyes and another chance for it to be circulated to interested readers. Plus you can also encourage fresh traffic to the older parts of your blog and that’s great for readers and your search engine rankings.

Here’s three ways you can breathe life into an old blog post

Follow up or update- Is there an old blog post that you can follow up on or update? Maybe you wrote about some issue or a news topic in the past. If it was about an ongoing issue, you can refer to you old blog post and write an update or a follow up.
Expand an old post- Is there an old blog post that you wrote that you can expand upon or turn into a series? Or perhaps you can put a new spin on a topic that you wrote about already.
Make a collection of past related posts- Have you written a bunch of blog posts around a similar issue or topic? How about rounding up these blog posts and making them into a collection? Simply write a brief introduction, provide the links to your old blog posts and your done! The great thing about these roundups is that they often make great resources that readers love to pass along and refer to over and over again!

These suggestions came from a past show I did on Blog Talk Radio called “How to Get Out of a Blogging Slump“. If you want more tips on this, you can listen here.

Also, if you’re thinking about starting a blog or if you already have a blog and you want to be more effective, sign up for my FREE e-course “50 Blogging Tips for Artists“. Get a free tip in your email every day that will help make your blogging life easier. Sign up now!

Links for Artists [Nov 8 - 14]

2010-01-17T06:30:00Z

Throughout the week, I like to share interesting links for artists on my Twitter profile. Here is a list of the links I tweeted about last week:

Now Reading: Six Steps to Preparing for a Gift Store Sales Presentation- http://ow.ly/AyFX
Now Reading: biz ladies 09: networking for designers- http://ow.ly/AGi8
Now Reading: Seven Strategies to Ensure Your Blog Is Worth the Effort- http://ow.ly/AGkk
Recession Proof Your Arts & Crafts Business- http://ow.ly/AGB0
Now Reading: Power Up Your Artist Statement- http://ow.ly/AGH4
RT @ditesco: Avoiding Twitter Phishing Scams in Direct Messages http://twittley.com/r/8b0 #Phishing #socialnetworks #Twitter
Now Reading: Use Your Mailing List- http://ow.ly/ATeM
Now Reading: Offline Marketing Tips For the Holiday Season- http://ow.ly/AToW
Some great advice for photogs: Five Ways to Make Money in a Popular Photography Niche- http://ow.ly/B373
Now Reading: How to Beat Your Competition When Selling Your Crafts- http://ow.ly/ATqm
RT @nyelarebirth: RT @abstanfield 10 Secrets To Sell Art In A Down Economy http://bit.ly/3Du5oR via @ericrhoads
Now Reading: Artist Website SEO Strategy #3: Link Locally! - http://ow.ly/BgUe
Now Reading: biz ladies 09: sole proprietorship vs. incorporation- http://ow.ly/Bg4m
RT @VintageLegacy How Etsy is using The Gift Guides Button to Upsell - http://shar.es/akL28
Now Reading: Does Your Post Frequency Bring in the Best Results?- http://ow.ly/BpaX
Some great advice: How to Be Positive - When Things Suck- http://ow.ly/BtSz
Now Reading: 17 areas to benchmark for social media optimization - http://ow.ly/BtNM
Now Reading: Seller How-To: 5 Tips for Etsy Item Descriptions- http://ow.ly/BxYK
Interesting tool to check out: Find Your Whole Social Graph on Facebook at Once With FBFriendFinder- http://ow.ly/By3L
RT @Thyme2dream: http://is.gd/4PL8p have you posted your handmade wish list on my Facebook page yet?
Now Reading: The Thing No One Told You About Marketing- http://ow.ly/By8J
Now Reading: Blog Promotion: 169 New Ways to Build Traffic Like a Ninja- http://ow.ly/Bygm
Now Reading: 18 Tips To Be The Great Artist Of Your Dreams- http://ow.ly/BCfd
Now Reading: How to Build a Better Twitter Bio- http://ow.ly/BHqK
RT @Maria_Luna: RT @handmadeology: RT @handmadecompete The 1st Etsy Desktop App for Etsy sellers- http://ow.ly/BI6t
RT @ldeandyment: RT @zwillingwear: @marymarytweets Etsy seller December Merchandising tips: http://tinyurl.com/yjm69k7
WTH?- RT @ConradSwailes: Have a read ! Facebook Unlinks Your Twitter Links http://bit.ly/7Ohye
Now Reading: Top Ten Reasons Why Gift Store Buyers May Reject Your Handcrafted Products - http://ow.ly/Cfix

Like this link list? Visit my Twitter profile and follow me to get these links daily!

Blogging: 3 Reasons to Avoid Mystery Meat Blog Titles

2009-11-12T20:31:54Z

A couple of days ago I was trying to get through a backlog of 900+ new blog posts in my Google Reader and I ran across this blog post title on one of my favorite blogs:

“My Head is Exploding”

Now considering that this was a blog that was about marketing and selling handmade items, I paused to wonder what in the heck THAT title was about. If was any other blog, I would have went straight to the “Mark as Read” button (the equivalent of the delete button), but decided to take a quick peek to see what the post was all about. It turned out to be a pretty good post on what to avoid when marketing your handcrafted items.

This minor occurrence in my blog reading day points to a problem that a lot of artists inflict on their blogs and their readers. The “Mystery Meat” Blog Title. That is, a blog title that’s so obscure that you can’t tell what the rest of the blog post is about. While this type of titles might seem clever while you’re writing them, you’re actually cheating your blog out of some very real benefits.

1. You’re missing out on possible readership- I read a lot of blogs and sometimes I get backed up on my reading. So when I’m in catch up mode, I’m relying on the blog title to help me make the decision as to whether I’m going to read the rest of the post or not. In most cases, if I can’t tell by the title what the blog post is going to be about, I’ll pass it over without reading it. And there’s plenty of other readers that do the same.

If you want to make things easier on your readers and also encourage them to actually read what you write, think of post titles that give them an idea of what they’re going to read. Your blog post title is a “mini teaser”. It’s the first thing that your readers will see and it should be something that will make them want to read more.

Won’t an unusual title encourage people to read the rest of the post? Yes it can, but you have to write these very carefully. Make them too vague or unusual and busy readers won’t bother.

2. You’re missing out on SEO potential- If vague titles are confusing to your human readers, then it’s also equally confusing to your non-human readers. I’m talking about the search engine robots and spiders that visit your blog so they can index your post for search engine results. And the most important piece of information they get from your blog post is….guess what? Your blog post title.

Remember that it’s the job of search engines to find the most relevant content on the Internet and organize it in an easy to find manner so that if someone searches for “how to market handmade items” into Google or Yahoo! or Bing, then they’ll get all of the most relevant websites that discuss this topic. And to a search engine spider, “My Head is Exploding” has nothing to do with that topic. Sure you might get listed…but it won’t be on the first page of search results. And that’s the spot that you’re aiming for.

3. You’re making it harder to share- If you’re on Twitter, which of the following tweets are you more likely to click on?

“5 Ways to Improve Your Etsy Sales Now”

“My Head is Exploding”

If you’re like most people, you’ll probably pick the first tweet. It’s to the point and you have a good idea of what you’re going to get when you click on the link. So what does this have to do with blog post titles? If you’re including some type of sharing link like “Share This”, “Tweet This”, or “Add This” at the end of each of your blog posts, that’s great because you’re making it easier for your readers to pass your post on to other interested readers.

But! You’re tripping them up by using a mystery meat title for your blog post. Remember that most of these tools automatically uses the the title of the blog post as the basis of the tweet or message you’re sharing. So if your blog title is vague or misleading, your reader will either:

a) Share your blog post as is and the vague title will result in less clicks and less sharing, or

b) Rewrite the automatically generated message into something more appealing…which costs them a bit of time and effort

If you want people to share your blog posts, make it as easy as possible for them to simply click on “Share This” and go…without getting them to rearrange the title. And a more relevant title will encourage more people to pass the sharing along too!

So what do you think? How do you come up with your blog post titles? Leave a comment and let us know!

Your Sales Funnel Stinks: 7 Reasons Why Your Online Sales Stink

2009-11-11T22:45:30Z

So if you have an ugly website, bad website copy and a horrible product, your online sales will suffer as a result. But what if the problem is your sales funnel? If you’ve just asked yourself, “What’s a sales funnel”…you definately need to read this week’s newsletter article…and figure out how to create yours.

In this week’s newsletter, I’m continuing a 7-part series on “7 Reasons Why Your Online Sales Stink“. This week’s article is about how your sales funnel (or lack of one) might be stinkifying your sales:

To read the article, sign up for the Crafted Webmaster Newsletter for free here: http://www.craftedweb.com/subscribe.html. If you subscribe now, you can get my free audio download, “10 Steps to Getting More Traffic on Your Website” and get 10 powerful tips on how to increase traffic to your art website.

Social Networking: What are Twitter Lists?

2009-11-10T18:21:44Z

If you are a Twitter user, you may have noticed that there is a new feature called “Lists” that has been added to the right hand side of your Twitter profile.

What are Twitter Lists? Basically this is a new feature that allows you to compile the people you follow into lists. If you’re a Tweetdeck user, this looks very similar to the “Groups” feature.

Say for example your a knitter and a whole bunch of the people that you follow are knitters. Instead of trying to use your main Twitter stream to sort the tweets from your knitter followers out from the rest the people you follow, you can use the Lists feature to separate those Twitters out into a list that you name “Knitters”. Just like the “Groups” feature in Tweetdeck, you can go to your “Knitters” list and just see the tweets from those you’ve added to your list.

Another cool thing about the Lists feature is that if you see a list that you find interesting, you can follow the list and keep up with the tweets from that list!

Want to know if you’re listed in any Lists? Simply check on the new “listed” link under your profile picture. There you can see how many lists you’ve been added to and you can click through to visit each individual list.

So what do you use Lists for? It’s a great way to organize the different Twitters you follow so you can follow certain topics easier. This is great if you follow a lot of people. Also, lists are a great way to find new people to follow as there are some Twitters than have curated some really great lists. A great way to find some good lists to follow is to visit the Twitter Lists directory Listorious. Whatever topic you’re interested in, you’re sure to find a list that covers it!

Email Marketing: How often should you contact your mailing list?

2010-02-06T19:24:42Z

How often is too often when it comes to contacting the folks on your mailing list? That’s a question posed by reader Gail:

Is there a recommended limit to the number of times that you should contact people who have signed up to receive newsletters or other information from you? Do you know if there is a wide variation between customers on how often they like to be contacted? For example,I am on the lower end of the spectrum when it comes to the number of e-mails I like to receive from any company, but am I in the minority?

- Gail

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to how much email they’re willing to tolerate. So how do you balance that out? Here’s what I wrote to Gail:

Hi Gail,

There is no “recommended” limit that I know of when in comes to how often is “too” often. A lot of it depends on who you’re marketing to. Some folks are more tolerant of frequent emails than others and how much they’re willing to tolerate it depends on a variety of factors including age, gender, occupation, and the amount computer skills and experience a person has. In general, most email marketing experts recommend that you contact your list at least once a month so that your subscribers don’t forget who you are.

What’s more important is to decide at the beginning what you’re going to be using your mailing list for and then design your program around that goal. How frequently you’re going to email your subscribers will depend on what your goals are for your email list.

For example, if you do a lot of shows and you want to use your email list to notify your subscribers when you’re going to be appearing at a particular show, then that’s how often you’ll be contacting your list. If you have a show every week, then you’ll probably be emailing your list once a week. If you have a show once every couple of months, then your subscribers can expect to receive an email once every couple of months.

On the other hand, if you want to use your list to promote your Etsy store and decide that a monthly newsletter with occasional short email updates is the best way to accomplish this then that’s going to be your frequency.

Once you’ve decided how you are going to design your email marketing, you then allow your subscribers to decide whether they want to hear from you that often by providing information on how often you’re going to contact them, when, and what kind of information they’re going to receive. Provide this information both on the sign up page of your mailing list and in the welcome email they’ll receive after they sign up. This way, they know what they’re signing up for and it sets up the expectation in their minds.

Don’t fall into the trap of not emailing your list because you’re afraid that you’re “bothering” your subscribers. Some artists are so terrified that someone is going to unsubscribe from their mailing list that they don’t email them as often as they should. Don’t be! Remember that these folks signed themselves up because they’re interested in what you have to offer. As long as you tell them up front what you’re going to deliver and then actually give it to them, you’re not bothering them.

And also, don’t be scared of unsubscribes. People are going to unsubscribe from your list for a variety of different reasons that may or may not have anything to do with you. That’s the nature of running an email list. I get unsubscribes every so often and once in a blue moon I’ll get a complaint that I’m “marketing too much” from a subscriber. But marketing myself is why I built the list in the first place and if they don’t like the occasional promotional message, then it’s best for both of us if they unsubscribe from my list. As long as I don’t get a whole bunch of similar complaints and unsubscribes from my other subscribers I don’t worry about those complaints too much.

As long as your list is growing steadily and the majority of your subscribers are happy, don’t sweat the unsubscribes too much!

Do you have a burning question about websites or promoting yourself online? Click on the “Ask a Question” tab at the top of the page and send me your question. I’ll send you an answer to your question personally.

If you want more tips on how to start and manage an email list, sign up for my FREE article series “How to Plan and Start a Great Email Newsletter“.

Email Marketing: How often should you contact your mailing list?

2010-02-06T19:24:17Z

How often is too often when it comes to contacting the folks on your mailing list? That’s a question posed by reader Gail:

Is there a recommended limit to the number of times that you should contact people who have signed up to receive newsletters or other information from you? Do you know if there is a wide variation between customers on how often they like to be contacted? For example,I am on the lower end of the spectrum when it comes to the number of e-mails I like to receive from any company, but am I in the minority?

- Gail

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to how much email they’re willing to tolerate. So how do you balance that out? Here’s what I wrote to Gail:

Hi Gail,

There is no “recommended” limit that I know of when in comes to how often is “too” often. A lot of it depends on who you’re marketing to. Some folks are more tolerant of frequent emails than others and how much they’re willing to tolerate it depends on a variety of factors including age, gender, occupation, and the amount computer skills and experience a person has. In general, most email marketing experts recommend that you contact your list at least once a month so that your subscribers don’t forget who you are.

What’s more important is to decide at the beginning what you’re going to be using your mailing list for and then design your program around that goal. How frequently you’re going to email your subscribers will depend on what your goals are for your email list.

For example, if you do a lot of shows and you want to use your email list to notify your subscribers when you’re going to be appearing at a particular show, then that’s how often you’ll be contacting your list. If you have a show every week, then you’ll probably be emailing your list once a week. If you have a show once every couple of months, then your subscribers can expect to receive an email once every couple of months.

On the other hand, if you want to use your list to promote your Etsy store and decide that a monthly newsletter with occasional short email updates is the best way to accomplish this then that’s going to be your frequency.

Once you’ve decided how you are going to design your email marketing, you then allow your subscribers to decide whether they want to hear from you that often by providing information on how often you’re going to contact them, when, and what kind of information they’re going to receive. Provide this information both on the sign up page of your mailing list and in the welcome email they’ll receive after they sign up. This way, they know what they’re signing up for and it sets up the expectation in their minds.

Don’t fall into the trap of not emailing your list because you’re afraid that you’re “bothering” your subscribers. Some artists are so terrified that someone is going to unsubscribe from their mailing list that they don’t email them as often as they should. Don’t be! Remember that these folks signed themselves up because they’re interested in what you have to offer. As long as you tell them up front what you’re going to deliver and then actually give it to them, you’re not bothering them.

And also, don’t be scared of unsubscribes. People are going to unsubscribe from your list for a variety of different reasons that may or may not have anything to do with you. That’s the nature of running an email list. I get unsubscribes every so often and once in a blue moon I’ll get a complaint that I’m “marketing too much” from a subscriber. But marketing myself is why I built the list in the first place and if they don’t like the occasional promotional message, then it’s best for both of us if they unsubscribe from my list.

As long as your list is growing steadily and the majority of your subscribers appear to be happy, don’t sweat the unsubscribes too much!

If you want more tips on how to start and manage an email list, sign up for my FREE article series “How to Plan and Start a Great Email Newsletter“.

Links for Artists [Nov 1 - 7]

2010-01-17T06:30:04Z

Throughout the week, I like to share interesting links for artists on my Twitter profile. Here is a list of the links I tweeted about last week:

Now Reading: Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for November 2009- http://ow.ly/yUUW
Now Reading: Artist Website SEO Strategy #1: Help Google Read! - http://ow.ly/yV2E
Now Reading: Paying for Development: Hourly Rate vs. Fixed Cost- http://ow.ly/yV41
Now Reading: How to Market Handmade Jewelry Locally: Low Cost Ways to Sell More Handcrafted Jewels- http://ow.ly/yV5c
Now Reading: 10 Simple Ways to Build a Strong Artist Brand on Twitter - http://ow.ly/z3QF
Now Reading: How To NOT Flush Your Art and Money Down The Toilet- Avoiding The Scam Artists- http://ow.ly/z3TK
Now Reading: biz ladies 09: trademark 101 for designers- http://ow.ly/z3Vx
Now Reading: The Foundation of Your Online Art Marketing Strategy is- http://ow.ly/z3Ws
Now Reading: How to Take Great Photographs with a Flash (and a Diffuser, if you have one) - http://ow.ly/z3QR
Some great advice: 101 Ways to Promote a New Blog- http://ow.ly/z3ZI
Twitter Lists In Detail or, “Yo Dawg, I Heard U Like Lists!” - http://ow.ly/z9dD
Now Reading: Get More Mileage Out of Your Blog Archives with Twitter Teasers- http://ow.ly/z9cn
Great advice for artists: Why Higher Pricing Sells - http://ow.ly/zciM
Now Reading: 6 Mistakes to Avoid on Email Subject Lines- http://ow.ly/z425
RT @TGenDS: AWESOME article on pricing handcrafted jewelry. A lot of things people don’t take into consideration. http://bit.ly/12Sbou
Now Reading: 8 Things to Consider Before Using Twitter Lists- http://ow.ly/z9b7
Now Reading: 15 Reasons Why Consumers Will Leave Your eCommerce Site- http://ow.ly/zALq
Now Reading: WHY charge a handling fee? - http://ow.ly/zeAw
Some great artist advice: The Benefits of Gallery Representation- http://ow.ly/zAMQ
Now Reading: Turn Twitter Friends into Real Friends- http://ow.ly/zTjo
Now Reading: Sell on Etsy? The Number One Mistake Etsy Sellers Make and Three Ways to Fix It! - http://ow.ly/zTqu
Now Reading: The Trouble with Online Photography Portfolios- http://ow.ly/zTsL

Like this link list? Visit my Twitter profile and follow me to get these links daily!

Website Design: Keeping ownership of your website

2009-10-26T19:53:47Z

This weekend I got a frantic email from a possible client that I had spoken to earlier last week. This client was unhappy with their current web designer and was interviewing me as a possible replacement. I asked the potential new client if they had ownership of their website and they said that they would check and get back to me.

Apparently, the talk with the old web designer didn’t go very well as the next email and phone call I got was panicked one asking me to please help them. The current web designer didn’t like the fact the client wanted to leave and had started to shut down parts of their various websites…and had threatened to erase them completely.

Now how could something like this happen? While most web designers I know are trustworthy and ethical, unfortunately this is not the first time I’ve witnessed something like this. If you have someone that’s helping you to design or maintain your website, you have to be very careful not to give them absolute control or allow them to own critical parts of your web presence…lest you might find yourself in the same situation as my unfortunate prospective client.

Here are some tips on how to keep control of your website:

1. Always purchase your own domain names- Never, ever allow anyone except yourself to purchase the domain name(s) for your website. Some designers will offer to buy the domain for you as a “convenience”. Don’t let them! It’s a simple matter for them to name themselves as the owner of the domain name which will make it impossible for you to do anything with it without going through your designer. That means that if you get into a dispute, then the designer can keep your domain name or refuse to allow you to transfer it over to another web host. You web designer can easily hold your entire website “hostage” this way.

Buying a domain name is not difficult. You can get one at My Namespot Domains in less than five minutes for less than $10 per year. Remember that your domain name is like real estate on the Internet and once someone purchases one, it’s theirs until they decide to give up ownership. Don’t delegate something that important to someone else.

2. Keep track of all your important account information- In most cases, your web designer will need to have access to your web hosting account information, or the log-in to your YouTube account or any kind of account that you might need to allow them access to do their jobs. Just like your domain name account, you need to be the primary contact for all of your online accounts. That means if anything goes wrong, the first person these companies will contact will be you…not your designer.

You also need to keep track of passwords, usernames, account numbers and you need to log on to these accounts on a regular basis to make sure that you have access to them. This will keep your web designer from locking you out of your important accounts in the case of a dispute.

3. Keep a copy of your website in your possession- Even if you’ve hired a professional to maintain your website for you, you should always have an up-to-date copy of your website in a place were you can grab it in an emergency like your computer hard drive, a CD, or a thumb drive. This is a good idea anyway just in case your web host starts having problems and you need to find a new host quickly. But it’s also a good way to keep an unscrupulous web designer from blackmailing you by threatening to shut down your website.

Also, if your website also uses a database of any kind…say your website has an online store like Zen Cart or OScommerce or you’re running a Wordpress blog, make sure that you also have recent backups of those as well…especially if these databases contains customer or financial information of any kind. It’s actually a lot worse to lose this information than it would be to lose your website. You can at least recreate a website…it’s much harder to recover customer information.

Ask your web designer to show you how to retrieve back ups of your website and databases if you have them and start getting backups of your website on at a weekly basis. If your web designer can’t (or won’t, which is a bad sign) show you how to retrieve your backups, contact your hosting company and have tech support show you how to do it.

4. Don’t allow your lack of knowledge get in the way- I’m always giving my own clients and potential prospects this advice and as a rule, I never register domain names or open hosting accounts for my clients, even if they ask me to. Some of the less technically savvy ones are always trying to get me to do stuff like this for them because they don’t want to have to deal with the “technical stuff”. But I always warn them that their lack of technical knowledge is the thing that makes them vunerable to getting ripped-off by someone less than honest.

The bottom line is that if you’re going to have a website, there’s going to be a certain amount of “technical stuff” that you’re going to have to deal with. It comes with the territory. And the more knowledgeable you are about this stuff, the less likely you’re going to be taken by an unscrupulous web designer. This doesn’t mean that you need to turn yourself into a tech nerd. But every small business owner who owns a website should know how to buy their own domain names, open up a web hosting account, open up accounts at YouTube, Facebook, etc, and how to make regular backups of their website. If you know how to do these things…you won’t find yourself in the position of the poor soul I talked to this weekend.

So what do you think? Do you have a web designer horror story you want to share? Leave your tips and stories in the comments section!

P.S. Some time back, I did a telephone interview on how to find and work with a web designer with marketing expert, Connie Green. You can listen to an excerpt of the interview here.

Marketing with Facebook: How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Business on the Web

2009-10-21T20:48:59Z

I’ve been getting a bunch of questions about Facebook lately especially questions about Facebook pages and widgets and apps and so forth…so I’ve decided to do a teleseminar all about Facebook! So on Wednesday, October 28th, at 8:00 p.m. (EST) join me for a 60 to 75 minute call on how to use Facebook to promote your business online. We’ll be talking about Facebook Pages, widgets, apps, and the best strategic way to use Facebook to promote yourself. If you’re new on Facebook or even if you’ve been on Facebook for awhile you might be thinking…”Okay, now what?”. Well next Wednesday, we’ll talk about what to do next.

There’s over 250 million people on Facebook connecting with family, friends, and yes, even their favorite business and companies. Learn how to be one of the ones that your customers connect with. Interested? Click here to get more information about the teleclass. All you need is about an hour and a telephone. I can’t wait for you to join me on the phone lines next Wednesday!

Selling Art Online: Is It Really Necessary to Have a Website to Sell Your Art?

2009-10-20T19:00:26Z

I got this great question the other day from one of my readers about whether artists really need to create their own website to sell their art.

Is it really necessary to have a website to sell your art. Isnt it possible to achieve the same thing with other options such as zazzle, imagekind, blogger, foliotwist, fineartstudioonline.com, etc.,? Without all the management challenges of managing your own site?

- Jeremy

There are a ton of services out there that can help artists get a presence online. While they’re all great, I always tell artists to be sure that they keep at least a part of their website presence under their control. Here’s what I wrote back to Jeremy.

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for the question!

No, it’s not necessary to have your own website in order to sell online. You can use a service like FolioTwist, Etsy, or Artfire to sell your work and many artists do quite successfully using this route. The advantage of using one of these services is that you can start selling without going through the process of developing your own website.

Plus in most cases, you don’t need to know HTML or web design in order to start selling. You also will avoid dealing with the technical part of maintaining your website, although you still need to maintain your inventory and content yourself just like you would with your own website. Plus, you are still responsible for getting traffic to your site. While many of these services may also have some built-in traffic or marketing services, you are ultimately responsible for getting people to visit your website.

However, there are some distinct advantages to having your own website that’s completely under your control. One advantage of developing your own website is that you have control over all aspects of your website, how it functions, what kind of content you can post, and how it looks. Plus, you don’t run the risk of losing your web presence with little or no warning. Remember that services like FolioTwist, Etsy, or FineArtsStudioOnline can be sold, go out of business, change their fees, or terms of service at anytime. If 100% of your online sales comes from one of these services and they go under, then 100% of your web presence is suddenly gone. Just last year, thousands of eBay sellers were scrambling to find alternatives to eBay because a series of policy and fee changes negatively affected their businesses or put them out of business completely.

A lot of artists who sell online have both a presence on a third-party service and their own website. They use the website strictly for showing their work and directing them to their web store. The third-party service is used strictly for sales as many have a built-in ecommerce component. Some actually sell both places and use the service to direct traffic to their own site. While this can create some more work, there are several advantages to this approach. One, you avoid the risk of having all of your eggs in one basket. You keep a measure of control over your web presence while you’re also taking advantage of using a third-party service. Second, this gives potential visitors multiple places to find you. Those that may not stumble over your FolioTwist site may stumble over your other web presence…and vice versa. So it doesn’t have to be a case of either/or, but rather a case of both/and.

For most newbies, I recommend starting with a service in order to get their presence up as quickly as possible. And it’s also good for getting familiar with mechanics of maintaining a web presence. Once they get their initial presence operating on a web service, they should start building their own web presence that’s completely under their control…whether it be a blog or a simple website that has contact information or a simple gallery of their work. While it can be some extra work, if done correctly, it can greatly pay off in the end.