While researching online marketing for small businesses, I encountered one ‘tip’ that was speaking directly to me and perhaps to you as well: Make sure your Internet marketing doesn’t die of neglect.
Most of us live very busy lives. Our days are filled with activities that revolve around our families and jobs, maintaining our health and homes, volunteering and traveling–the list is endless! And for most of us, the things on our ‘to do’ list we consider to be non-negotiable. In the midst of our ‘busy-ness’ there’s also our Zibbet shop that needs our attention. I have to confess that for the last few months, my Zibbet shops have fallen victims to my lack of attention to them. I’ve been busy with a full time job and several part time jobs. I’ve had extra family responsibilities that have drained my time and energy. My internet marketing was all but dead from neglect!
My first step to reviving the life of my shops has been the promotion of huge Christmas in July sales in several of my shops. I’ve made the effort to promote my sales on Facebook, Twitter and Zibbet’s Community Hub. While views aren’t everything, they are something and as a result of my simple promotion efforts traffic to my shops has dramatically increased. While dramatic a increase in sales is the ultimate desired outcome, getting potential buyers into my shops is the first step. Here are a few basic things we all can do to keep traffic flowing into our shops and into Zibbet overall…
Set aside a specific time, each day if possible, or each week at a minimum, to focus on your shop.Promote using social media. Facebook, Twitter, Zibbet’s Community Hub, Pinterest, and YouTube are excellent places to start. Select one or two to begin with and expand as you can.Include a link back to an item in your shop or your shop’s front page in every post.List something new on a regular basis. Search engines such as Google’s, love new content.Rearrange your shop every couple of weeks.Participate in Z Box.Please share strategies that have proven successful for promoting your shop by increasing traffic and sales.
Best wishes for much success on Zibbet!
Vicki is committed to assisting her fellow Zibbeters improve their shops for successful online selling. She is the owner of five Zibbet shops: LOC Design Studio, Papa Spivey’s Trunk, A Stitch and a Prayer and Think Like a Fish. You can follow Vicki on Twitter and through her LOC Design Studio blog.
Tags: Facebook, Google, Link, Make Sure Your Internet Marketing Doesn't Die of Neglect, Pinterest, Promotion, Rearrange, social media, Success on Zibbet, Twitter, YouTube, Z Box, Zibbet's Community Hub
Hello Mr. Peacock, this one is for you!
Judy writes the ‘Fantastic Five‘ column where she features 5 Zibbet items every week. She is the owner of four Zibbet shops: Portable Graffiti Graphics, Portable Graffiti buttons, Proofreader, and Wild Goose Chase vintage, crafts and supplies. You can follow Judy on Facebook.
Off we went to Indiana to interview Leah Ann Gast of Franklin, Indiana. Leah Ann’s shop on Zibbet is The Hoosier Stamper Handmade OOAK Cards.Leah Ann has been stamping for several years and loves her work. She is also a Stampin’ Up demonstrator.She makes easel cards that are 5? and 5 1/2? cards. Her cards are what she calls “fluffy,” made with top quality products and she spend hours making them. They are colored with professional mediums and she pays special attention to details.Please enjoy the interview, leave Leah Ann a comment, and then use the Share Tools so others can read it, too. Please spread the Zibbet Love!
My name is Leah Ann, known as The Hoosier Stamper. I am happily married to a super special guy. Between my husband and I we have 5 children and 13 grandchildren, life is never dull. I’ve been crafting as long as I can remember. I’ve loved every kind of craft as a child and probably done all of them at one time or another. I began stamping about 8 years ago and what can I say…I’m totally addicted. I enjoy spending time with my family. I love listening to music, mostly country. I have always been a stay at home (Domestic Engineer) I believe is what they call us today…I just call it doing my job as a Mom and Wife and love it. I enjoy my grandchildren, they keep life interesting and young if you let them.
I started with Stampin Up and just made simple little cards and after I found out about blogging and watching a few tutorials and asking questions, I just thought I can do that! There are so many wonderful, talented card makers out there. I love making the cards because they can be keepsakes to cherish and remind you of a special moment. I owe most of my inspiration to my Mom. She was an Interior Decorator and growing up we had beautifully decorated bedrooms, of course the whole house. My Mom’s house always looked like a picture out of a magazine. I watched her make her own draperies, upholster, antiquing and she taught me anything I wanted to learn.I have several people in my life that I look up too, but to just pick one I have to say my husband. He is a retired FireFighter/Paramedic out saving lives for 26 yrs. Because he is a bad diabetic, recently, in fact his is in the hospital and coming home June 22nd. He has been just a trooper, not complained, taken it with grace and acceptance and being a inspiration of life. Firefighter/Paramedic is a crazy sometimes dangerous job and he did it well. Now he is having to look at life differently, learning to walk again, and many, many other things. He has given his life for others and given so much inspiration to many.
At my age, just being alive is. I feel just doing what I love, being with those I love, give me a passion that nothing else can give you.It is user friendly. I’ve had customers say they really like it because it is so user friendly.I’m happy with Zibbet, but I would like to see that when a person wants an item, that it is paid right then instead of just committing to buy.Mostly my blog. I have also done several challenges, and that helps draw people to your blog. Give away blog candy once in a while. Post often. Tweet, tweet, tweet. I post my cards on my Facebook page, and my friends and family help spread the word.
Make sure you fill out all you can to identify your item on zibbet, especially your key words. When I got to Archivers or JoAnn Fabrics and meet someone, I always sent them to my blog so they can see my work and I also have a Zibbet ad on my blog.Read their helps. Ask questions to other sellers. Zibbet tells you pretty much everything you need to know, just take the time and read it when you can. When I first opened my shop, had no idea what I was doing, just kept filling out info, reading and the more I did the more I learned, still learning.At my age, just the best I can be. Happy and enjoy each and every day. An example for others. To live a good life that people can see a little bit of Christ like attributes in me and just spark, a little light of love. Because having faith in God has made me who I am, what I am and what I’m going to be.
Look who we have featured this week at Zibbet! Pat Labella from Henderson, Nevada and her awesome shop Vintage Intent.Pat collects kitchen items, grows heirloom vegetables, drools over antique autos, reads classic novels and watches old movies. Her specialty is vintage inspired art. She uses broken jewelry pieces that need a little love and recycles them into pendants. Vintage photos of unknown people become covers for unique journals. Discarded vintage books become one of a kind notebooks, notepads and journals.Please enjoy the interview, leave Pat a comment, and then use the Share Tools so others can read it, too. Please spread the Zibbet Love!
My name is Pat Labella, but I’ve been selling crafts and collectibles online for about 10 years as VintageIntent. I was born in Buffalo, NY, lived there for 50 plus years, then moved to the Las Vegas suburbs. Since I was a child, I always loved crafting and always made birthday and Christmas gifts instead of purchasing them. Later on, I became interested in antiques and collectibles. Now my two passions are merged into creating vintage inspired and recycled art. I enjoy gardening, but I miss the perfect gardening weather in Western New York. It’s too hot in Nevada to grow everything I want.I enjoy learning and cooking new vegetarian recipes. My favorite network is the Food Network.I’m an animal lover with huskies, tropical fish, a rabbit and a guinea pig.
I love shopping the thrift stores.I think it’s important to save the artifacts of past generations. I collect and sell vintage, but when an item is broken or incomplete and ready to be discarded, I try to repurposed them into useful and unique pieces.Strong women. My mother and grandmother were strong individuals. In this life inner strength will give you the power to do or cope with anything.
Family. They always come first.Health. Respect your body . Eat right. Lower stress.It’s an easy, friendly venue. I love the fact that I can list without worrying about fees and spending too much.I’d like to see individual blogs.
I write a blog Past, Present and Future, a personal website and I use Pinterest.List as much as you can. Don’t get discouraged. Try to promote on at least one other site.Retired, with a small business for fun and a little profit!
Every Zibbet shop, whether Premium or Basic, is set up with a tool called an RSS feed. Many of you may be wondering exactly what an RSS feed is. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS feeds allow for data that was just posted on one website (the source) to automatically be sent, or fed, to another (the destination). Using your shop’s RSS feed, every time you list a new item in your shop the information can be sent to your accounts on Twitter and Facebook, your blog and even to your Community page. Additionally, anyone who visits your shop can subscribe to your RSS feed and automatically be notified by email when you list a new item! Here are links to previous SOZ articles about how to set up RSS feeds from your shop:
In some places in the United States, school starts in a few days. Have you been thinking about supply shopping on Zibbet? Dozens of pages show vintage, supplies and handmade school necessities and fun items.
Having an awesome summer? Taking lots of photos? This week Zibbet has featured six photographers’ work found using the key word “summer.”
Zibbet currently has more than 4400 active shops–shops with at least one active item listed. With that number increasing daily, what about your shop makes it stand out in the crowd? Here are some important questions to ask yourself as you seek the answer to the broader question: What makes my shop stand out?
This week we “flew” to Tucson, Arizona to interview Amy Rae Som about her Zibbet shop, DragonsSpark. In addition to her Premium shop on Zibbet, Amy Rae is a member of the Desert Indie Designers, an artisans collective in Tucson, Arizona.She also designs online courses for health care professionals at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.Amy Rae’s shop gives FREE standard shipping on all orders!Please enjoy the interview, leave Amy Rae a comment, and then use the Share Tools so others can read it, too. Please spread the Zibbet Love!
My name is Amy Rae. I live in beautiful Tucson, Arizona, my hometown, with my husband Michael. I love all kinds of “makery”–crochet, knitting, drawing, sewing, origami, beading, etc. I design and code online courses for the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.I love color; if a particular color combination catches my eye–it could be something in nature, or architecture, or someone’s outfit–I’ll file that in my head and use it in a design. I also like ‘finding’ things–an old button, or a piece of scrap fabric, and challenging myself to create something with it.
There are a lot of terrific folks that I’ve met in Tucson who are making art and getting their work out into the world, while still being parents and/or holding down full-time jobs. I really admire and aspire to that.Family, friends, video games, music, cinema, theatre!I really love that Zibbet is designed with robust features for sellers. Actually making things is where the joy is, but setting up and maintaining an online shop can take a lot of time, so I appreciate the timesaving features like cloning items, coupons, and sales mode. The widgets to customize your shop are really cool, too!A Facebook shop would be cool.
Until recently, my husband and I had an actual brick-and-mortar shop. Since then, we do occasional festivals and fairs locally, hand out business cards and postcards. And we have a website and Facebook page.I would say, try to develop product lines instead of just one-offs, so you can use the shop sections and product clone features. And take advantage of all the shop customization features, like product layout and widgets.In the future, I’d like to be the mom who makes really cool stuff for her kid (better than store-bought!). ^_^