My LIfe as the "Soap Lady"

Just discovered this

2012-02-29T10:28:00.000-08:00

You know I am always interested in way to make my on-line venues perform better, and there are only so many hours in a day. I find myself knee-deep each day in trying to keep up with Twitter, Facebook. StumbleUpon as well as my Etsy shop, Website and the blog of course. So I just discovered this really wonderful tool that will halp you promote your Etsy shop all in one place, it's http://shopmarketinghelper.com/ I just signed up today so will have to let you know how it goes, but it's really cool, you can schedule to promote items on all your social media sites all in one place, you can schedule it for the month or even for right now, it allows you you to also promote coupon codes as well. Do check it out!

The site even has tutorials as well, no excuse! :-)

I really need this...

2012-02-27T12:11:00.001-08:00

Like I really need more rings, I haven't enough fingers as it is! I found the cutest thing on Etsy today, here's a picture

and a link to the listing http://www.etsy.com/listing/72434527/two-cats-ring-with-pearl they have more than one, but don't be too surprised if you see it on my finger! If you're a critter lover they have some REALLY cute things!

Amazing candle Giveaway!

2012-02-25T16:54:00.001-08:00

Ok, so you guys know how I feel about fragrance and I'm REALLY picky about it too, you know that by the aroma of my soap. So, it follows that I am also picky about my choice in candles! My favorite handmade candles on the planet are made by Whitehall Candle of Walnut Creek. (http://www.wcandle.com/)

So, they are having this FABULOUS giveaway of a set of 6 of their AMAZING floral travel tins! This is a great opportunity for you! Go, enter! Tell all your friends! Feel free to Tweet it and put it on Facebook too, it's really special! Just go to the website link (above) and scroll down a little and you'll see the entry. Good luck!

OK, I think I figgered it out...

2012-02-22T13:31:00.001-08:00

I've been trying to get this link for you http://www.handmadeology.com/25-creative-and-cheap-ways-to-promote-and-spread-the-word-about-your-etsy-shop/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+handmadeology%2Ffeed+%28Handmadeology+Today%29 It's a great resource for cool marketing without spending a fortune, so check it out!

holy shamoly

2012-02-22T13:26:00.002-08:00

I tried to log in here a few days ago and it wouldn't cooperate, I finally figured out it wanted me to use Chrome as the browser, oy vey! So, that's why I have been missing for a few days! I still need to figure out a few things, such as how to share a link with you, I found a good one! I'll be back soon!

Domain Registry

2012-02-18T06:26:00.000-08:00

There are a ton of registrars to obtain your domain name (your "www.xxx.com) and in the begining I went with GoDaddy. I personally wasn't that thrilled with the service and there are actually quite a few of them that are inexpensive. When I registered Twobo Soap co (http://www.twobosoapco.com/ )I used Namecheap. They're a good place to go, inexpensive and I found their service to be very helpful. Check them out of you're in the market! http://www.namecheap.com/domains/transfer-a-domain.aspx

And now for something completely different...

2012-02-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

I have another soap line that I've just started and I've been having a ball with it. It's still VERY new, so there's not a lot to show you yet. One of the main differences with this line is that I'll be playing with color, and the fun thing about color is, you never know WHO will show up in the swirls! Can you see the angry guy in this?

next Giveaway!

2012-02-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

The next give away is for one of our All Purpose Shampoo Bars, made with Handcrafted Beer and Avocado oil! Click below to enter! (starts 2/16/12)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Valentines Day

2012-02-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

I;m doing something special for Valentines day, these cute little buckets fuilled with 8 Tub Truffles. I don't do the Truffles that often because they are VERY time consuming, it took me most of the day to make these 15!
The Truffles are cool, they're made with cocoa butter, oatmeal, all kinds of skin loving things and make such a nice gift.
The tags are really sweet, they came from an Etsy shop of course! Aren't they sweet? They debut tomorrow at my Kaiser Vallejo Farmers Market.

Rainy Days

2012-02-07T06:44:00.000-08:00

I know we need the rain, I always say it would be nice though if the rain only occured while those of us that work at the Farmers Market were already packed and outta there!
The trick is to keep everything dry, which I can do as long as the wind isn't bad. I'll usually do my "condensed" set up, where I try to make my set up as narrow as possible so it's nowhere near the exposed edges of the tent.
I also make sure I have my warm socks and leg warmers (I get more teasing about that but guess what, I'm gonna be warm!) and hand warmers, those are my must haves for rainy weather, oh and my warm hat too.
People wise, you never know what kind of day you'll have. The staunch folks that support the Markets year round will come out. I thanked a man for coming out one day and he first said "no thank YOU for coming out" and then added "well I have to eat!" and that's the thing I really love, not just a fashionable thing to support the Farmers Market, it's really a commitment to do the best you can to "support local" and therefore the envirnment and all that good stuff!
So I'll be in Concord today, I hope to see you! You can always run between the drops :-)

More on reviews and Giveaways

2012-02-05T18:56:00.000-08:00

This is the latest Review/Giveaway we were involved in http://www.joanandriahs.com/delta-moon-soaps-hearts-for-your-valentine-review-giveaway/
The way it usually works is, you give the reviewing site one of your products to review and if they happen to enjoy your sample, they will do a review and host a giveaway for it. You will then provide the giveaway once the winner has been chosen. Here's the reason to get involved in these:
You get lots of exposure from the blog, which will promote the giveaway as well. If the blog has a lot of Twitter Follwers, Facebook Followers and regular followers of the blog, they will all learn about your poducts. It basically ads to to a ton of exposure for the cost of two soaps (for me). I have done a couple of these now and have found them to be very worthwhile, I don't know where else you can get that kind of exposure for so little expense. Give it a shot!

We have a winner

2012-02-04T05:37:00.000-08:00

S. McHenry of Charlotte NC is the winner of our very first giveaway.

I would have to say doing the giveaway was alot of fun, it was fun seeing all the entries go up! We used www.rafflecopter.com to manage the giveaway and it couldn't have been easier.

Thank you to all who participated! I'm sure we'll be doing another one soon. How often would you like to see giveaways?

One of my favorites!

2012-02-02T06:53:00.000-08:00

If you are a fan of Soy Candles, you already know how wonderful they are, here's a hint as to one of the benefits provided by Whitehall Candle: Soy "wax" is a natural and renewable resource, unlike paraffin wax which is a byproduct of the petroleum industry. Soy candles give off considerably less soot than paraffin candles and burn cooler and slower thereby lasting longer. Our soy wax comes from farmers in the Midwest and is biodegradable.

The real reason I love these candles is the amazing quality and fragrance! I just received this one yesterday (a gift from a dear friend) and had to take a quick picture before I got into it! It is amazing, truly! It came from www.wcandle.com
and I have been a fan for ages! they also do wedding favors, corporate gifts too. They just recently introduced this line, made with pure essential oils!

If you're in the Market for an amazing gift or treat for yourself, start there!

I came across this....

2012-02-01T07:59:00.000-08:00

Since so many of us are cat lovers, I discovered a Flickr Group with this interest in mind http://indiefixx.com/2012/01/26/indie-cats/
Here's an example of what you'll find there:

By the way, the Blog where I found this, Indie Fixx is another cool thing to check out too!

Great Marketing Blog

2012-01-31T06:54:00.000-08:00

I have recently come across this really great Marketing Blog, Handmadeology and it's just a wealth of information! Do check it out, I have found it very usefull http://www.handmadeology.com/

Soap Giveaway!

2012-01-27T21:06:00.000-08:00

We're running a soap giveaway, one full sized bar of your choice!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Your Target Market

2012-01-26T15:39:00.001-08:00

I came across a great blog article from the Makery Blog that talks about finding your Target Market. It's really important to Market to the right people, otherwise you're just "spinning your wheels". That's a bad thing. Check it out, very informative. http://www.makeryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/TargetMarketEbook.pdf

Nice write up

2012-01-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

We had a really nice review done on our Captain Gregg's Choice soap, please check out the Blog "why we love Green" here's a link, enjoy!
http://www.whywelovegreen.com/2012/01/goats-milk-soap-deltamoonsoap.html

(the link works now, don't know what happened!)

Cool Site

2012-01-24T05:46:00.000-08:00

I came across this cool site today that specializes in things being reused, I am all for that! They have some cute things like the bag pictured here

that is made from non-biodegradable juice boxes, great use for them, they don't end up in land-fills that way and plus it's just cute! Here's the link for ya http://www.reuseit.com

Best Friends Helping Best Friends Fight Canine Cancer

2012-01-23T05:59:00.000-08:00

A dear friend of mine is participating in a k9 Cancer Walk to raise money for the Morris Animal Foundation. Please support her by making a donation if you can as well as passing this message on. Here's her message, you can donate from the link as well http://support.morrisanimalfoundation.org/site/TR/Events/CCC?px=1071651&pg=personal&fr_id=1220

Thanks so much!

Discovery Du Jour

2012-01-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

This one is a free website where you can upload photos and edit them, things like removing the background etc. I just found it so haven't played around with it yet myself. Here ya go:
Http://FotoFuze.com

Bath Time for Baby Sloths | Too Cute

2012-01-13T05:43:00.000-08:00

Advertising

2012-01-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

This can never be said enough, you have to do self promotion. Just having an on-line shop/website, or even a brick and mortar store isn't enough, you have to do something to draw the folks to you!
I am always looking for effective ways of doing that, here's one I just discovered, it's called Blogads. You can choose which blogs to advertise on and you of course get the stats and all that on how active the blog is. I am running my first promotion today, on a blog called the Graphics Fairy.Here's the link,http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ you can see it's a pretty active Blog, which is what you want, better chance of being seen! It's only going for a few days on this campaign, I'll let you know how many hots I get from it!

Picnic

2012-01-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

I just discovered this cool photo editing site, you may already have heard of it, it's called Picnic, and it's free. http://www.picnik.com/app#/home/welcome
I think it has a lot of great things you can do with it, and it's especially helpful for making ads that you publish on other sites and blogs. Here's a 125 x 125 ad I just created this morning, it was really easy! Check it out!

New Design

2012-01-09T05:52:00.000-08:00

I've been working with a graphic designer on Etsy and the banner she made came out so good, I used it on the website as well as my Etsy Shop and just had her do coordinating Business cards. I am almost ready to order them, how nice to have that ready before I'm on "empty". Anyhow her Etsy Shop is called Studio Sub, here's the link for you http://www.etsy.com/shop/studiosub?ref=ss_profile
Very easy to work with and I just love her work.
Here's the card (drum roll please)