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Little bit of a trick “Behind the Twinkle” post tonight readers. I haven’t finished the earrings of which I soon will speak. Actually, I have Twitter to thank for helping me write the future Etsy description I’m going to use. Let me explain:
Last week I put in an order with Craftrunner. My charms and pendants arrived two days later (fantastically speedy service!). A couple of days after that while messing around with some feathered earrings that weren’t looking very glamour twinklesy, I tried out my new charms, namely “pistols” and “flowers” and BAM! The clever pun earrings are born – sans a proper range name. Sneaky earrings peak below:
Guns n Roses Feather Earrings by Glamour Twinkles Jewelry - soon to be available on Etsy
They might’ve been inducted in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, and now you can wear ‘em in your lobes: Guns and Roses Feather Earrings. Chortle to your heart’s delight over the name. I certainly did. My only problem is how to attach guns. I can’t decide which style I prefer, gun pointing downwards; or gun balanced across ways. And my question was somewhat answered on Twitter:
Behind the Twinkle - Twitter Assist
And thanks to @justhadto I now have a clever little joke for my Etsy description.
Below are the Rosie Crucian Feather Earrings. Rosicrucians are a group of sorts. Their name comes from the rose and the cross, hence the Rosie Crucian moniker.
Behind the Twinkle - Rosie Crucian Feather Earrings
The rose pendants I used here turned out to be much bigger than I thought when I ordered them from Craftrunner. Luckily, I’m fairly easygoing when it comes to exact measurements so I just adjust the jewelry design in my minds’ eye and everything turns out A OK.
O Pixelr, how I do Love Thee,
Trendhunter – I want to try something different t to get “Likers” on my Facebook Page from this blog. I guess I could harass peeps that like my blog posts, inviting them to “Like” my Facebook. Did you know it takes 7 attempts before someone will notice your ad or Etsy link or post… It’s one of the lessons from my marketing mentor Andreea Ayers.
Purple and Blue Charmed Ice Ring by Glamour Twinkles, available on Etsy
In other news, I’ve been reading a great little magazine from the people who bring us Trendhunter, called “Exploiting the Chaos” that you can download for the handsome price of ONE TWEET – giving you a doc-chock full of people who made it against the odds. Did you know that Fortune mag came on the market during the Depression? Me either. It’s full of info and factoids that made me go: hmmm, things that make you go hmmm, hmmm, hmmmm – got that song in ya head now, doncha?
Chained Heart Earrings by Glamour Twinkles available from Etsy
So, back to Likers vs potential customers. Yes, that’s what I was getting to in the opening paragraph. I don’t want to offer free jewelry if you Like Glamour Twinkles Jewelry, I want something quirky, kitschy and more Me-Like (pun most certainly intended). Something’ll come to me.
I’d been feeling a bit guilty because I thought I’d been in new business rethink mode for the past 2 years but I realised it’s only been since last September – I found an old Fishpond book purchase receipt in my old emails. It was for my Fishpond order of How to Make Money on Etsy by Timothy Adams, and it was dated 15 September 2011. Not that bad – knowing how S L O W L Y I generally work on any Glamour Twinklesy related tasks that I loathe doing (FB, I’m talking to you now).
In keeping with my new media-mindedness (have you seen my media friendly photos?) I’ve decided to do something somewhat creepy, in a market savvy way. I don’t know about you but I have some Twitter people who have become TwitStars to me. They are all creative people, living the dream of spending much of their working time creative fantastic jewelry, modelling the coolest of street wear, and are generally pretty cool people (to me). But I want to know how they made it this far. What does a typical week in the life of one of my TwitStars involve? Brilliant Idea#253 stalk their businesses online (see, creepy behaviour).
- Do they blog, how often.
- Do they Tweet/Facebook/Tumblr? How often?
- Where do they advertise? How many sales do they have?
- What’s their ratio of “Likers” to sales?
It’s all very interesting to me and I will enjoy learning about their business ventures online. Yeah, its kinda creepy.
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How could you resist the lure of the adorable teddy bear? They kept you warm when you were a child, you read about them finding some blond girl in their house eating their porridge and sleeping in their beds, you run away in terror when one turns up during your camping trip in Yellowstone National Park. The humble bear. It brings warmth and terror in equal measures. So naturally I’m thinking “bear attack, jewelry, bracelets.” It’s the conclusion we all draw. Because it just makes perfect sense. Much like this blog post. You’ve come to expect the unexpected with me and I think I’ve outdone myself. Check out my homage to horror with Cutie Pie Milkshake Bracelets, in Blue Bear, Brown Bear and Green Bear (he recycles…because he’s green, and all bears are naturally a “he”).
Hello. I’m an online advertising Newbie who doesn’t like wasting money on things that don’t show results immediately. The time has come for Glamour Twinkles to get her little act together and start advertising somewhere. I had a rather depressing week just gone. Etsy blog told us about Etsy Stats. They are available on each item in each store as well as the entire store itself. It did not make for nice reading. Sigh.
A Little Bit About Me
I’m a geek. I love researching a range of options and printing out as much information as I can. I have a memory like a sieve and forget about brilliant advertising ideas that I’ve studied as soon as another advertising idea pops into my head. This has caused problems. What if I spend a fortune (that I don’t actually have) on a pointless advertising system. Facebook anyone? I’m not a big Facebook fan. Sorry, I’m just not. Sure I’ve got a Facebook page but it is a genuine struggle to remember to post stuff on it. I’m too preoccupied with Twitter. So I decided to finally bite the bullet and at least START to come up with some advertising imagery. I went to my friends at Picnic to help me duplicate other jewelry adverts that I liked.
I Dream of Supermodels
You know, I never realised how much jewelry I have out there. I have my favorite photos, and, studying my sad stats, chose popular items from my Etsy shop. Then I had a brilliant idea! I love my retro backgrounds but a bunch of them all together doesn’t really have a look I like. You don’t need to tell me the problems with my above ads. I’ll tell you. Too big, too many photographic angle styles, some pics are cropped incorrectly. Hey, Picnik is a free service so don’t knock the ‘nickers!! Below I present my very, very draft advertising idea:
Possible ad style for online advertising adventures. I dunno...
Because I have a range of different jewelry – from giant charm bracelets to delicate rings I decided that my ad should have a couple of different pieces in it. I’m just not sure how expensive it will be.
The other thing I don’t know is how to create an ad that takes you to my shop when you click on the ad itself. Dunno what they’re called. Dunno how you work out the size, dunno how you know if its working, dunno how much is too much to pay, dunno where is the best place for me to advertise.
These have been the things I Dunno.
My Gothic Pagoda Earrings by Glamour Twinkles
What a feeling! I have had the most unboring, go-go gettum week. I diligently stuck to my routine and oh boy, does it feel GOOD! It makes me wish I’d done this much sooner.
My B&W Feather Earrings by Glamour Twinkles
Highlights of my business week:
Media Monday: Had me actually reading the Handmadeology blog posts and discovered the joy of Hootsuite. You probably all know about this incredible system where you can have all your Twitter lists, WordPress, Tumblr, Flickr and Facebook all in front of you at the same time. Incredibly I’ve only just now experienced this. Love…
Trade Me Tuesday: Listings ahoy. I’ve some new items to my listings, and paying more attention to the categories I’m using on our little Kiwi auction site – where you can auction off your pesky Kiwi’s (hardy-har-har)
Etsy Wednesday: With my new skills in Hootsuite I now have a buttload of scheduled Tweets extoling the virtures of buying Glamour Twinkles Jewelry on Etsy. You know the routine…
Attack of the Thursday: Actually, this didn”t work out so well but it wasn’t through any fault of mine. It was the slow downloading Internet service that had me frustrated and resulted in me …. switching off my Netbook (shakes, cold sweats, turkey cold). It was a very odd night. I ended up doing a form of “market research” by reading old tattoo magazines … for researching where I could feasibly advertise Glamour Twinkles Jewelry (and get a new tattoo…..)
Photo Friday: Hello Internet, how I missed you my darling. Lets never fight again. Now this was a bit of a cheat. I’m supposed to be updating Flickr and Facebook photo albums but after Thursday I wanted to catch up on the work I couldn’t do so I finally finished editing the 20 new pairs of Tattoo Earrings I’d shot months ago and never got around to finishing, Plus darling Picnik is closing in April so I’m using that as a handy excuse for not strictly following my own new rules. Hey, I’m a rebel, man. Business or not!
Edit Saturday: This is a pretty vague day. I mean editing? Edit what? Well, whatever I want. It was the earrings photos… again… I have so many of those digital fiends. But I’m glad I’ve finally finished editing them. The next step was sticking them into Etsy listings, as well as editing said listings to add to my scheduled Tweets so it all meshes together quite nicely.
Blogging Sunday: Well, you’re reading it. I’m also spending the day prepping draft Behind The Twinkle blog posts so I can “activate” them while I am work on Wednesday morning through my iPhone. Man, how did the caveman ever manage without the unstoppable mobile phone? And we were worried about Skynet. Tisk tisk humanity. Ironically enough I’ve deleted virtually all of my iPhone reminders because having my Little Red Business Book at home and Little Black Business Book at work has been far more effective. Sorry iPhone.
Strangely enough my new attitude is carrying over into my 9-5 corporate job (well 8.30-5.20pm actually). I’m pretty busy there as well and achieving mucho taskology. Added that so you’d know it’s still me writing these posts. I mean I’m still me. Just a more efficient me.
I'm Going to Miss Picnik
My, how we’ve changed. I used to devour actual magazines with gusto. Not so much now I’m afraid. Well, apart from tattoo magazines but that’s not what this blog is about. No, I’ve been working on my marketing e-course and purchasing the first mags I’ve got in, I don’t remember how long. Sadly, I’ve changed.
To market a product one must know their audience. One should also know a little something about possible promotional options. Thusly, magazines were purchased to that effect. Little hint, I’m not sure what my market is so I decided to purchase only NZ and Australian magazines. I figure if and when I have to send samples out the postage won’t cost the earth. So I went out and purchased:
NOT the magazine for me. Full of very expensive glossy clothes and high-end hair styling products. Weird, I thought it was a fashion mag. Purchased because it’s cover told me it held a “what to wear guide”. Didn’t really gel with this little reader.
The cover of this tome told me it had “summer’s hit list” and it also had a couple of articles on stylists which I’ll probably read later. Much later. Sorry, another no go from me.
(embarrassingly) Cosmopolitan
Cry, sniff, I used to love this magazine. The cover told me it had “fierce fashion, super glam looks….” ‘fraid not. I knew it was full of relationship BS but it used to have great editorials and fashion spreads. I used to find great pics that I would cut out and keep in little scrap books. And I’ve got plenty of these little style books - that’s what I call them. Sadly, this mag had nothing to write home about. Ciao.
See above. Cover had “look lush for less”. Very unlush to me.
My point is that I couldn’t see myself pitching an editorial storyline for any of these magazines to feature my jewelry – well, I mean for them to just look at my jewelry – and I was beginning to despair until I remembered one last magazine that I had forked out for:
At last. Exclamation points abound! Love this magazine. I’ve folded the corners on so may pages and articles that I may even be back next month for my magazine fill. Hurrah!
White Skull - Voodoo Earrings by Glamour Twinkles - available soon
I’m now back at my Girl Friday job in the big city and this past week has been rather distracting with new Twitter followers beeping my phone, blogs to read and pesky office work interrupting my dreams of featuring in print. But then, my job keeps me in the lifestyle I am accustomed to so I’m getting my head back in the work game. And as such I’ll really need to come up with a work plan if I want to keep up with all the Glamour Twinkly things I need to do to get my “bling” out there. Quite unlikely if I ever again refer to my jewelry line as “bling” argh!
This weekend has seen me in full photo shoot mode with the new items I’ve made these last two weeks (too many sunny days do not a good photo shoot make). Oh, and last night I got the shocking email from Picnik telling me they were closing. You know that moment when you read something so unbelievable that you must read it a couple of time before it sinks in? That was me last night as I prepped my dindins. I read the email and (being the habitual paranormal/hoax footage skeptic I am) I was waiting for the punch line. No, Picnik will be gone and Google+ will “take over many of their awesome features”. It all happens on 19 April 2012. As you can probably tell I really love using Picnik. It is an awesome photo editing system. But the show must go on. Thank goodness I always saved my edits to my PC and not on their servers. There must be some frantic saving going on in cyber space right now. So that’s been my past week.
Orange Bear French Fries - Cutie Pie Milkshake bracelet - photoshoot results
Cutie Pie Milkshake Bracelets by Glamour Twinkles - orange, pink and green colours
Oh silly girl, you shouldn’t have done that. I went and checked the lists I was listed on in Twitter. And aghast, I see @glamourtwinkles on a “They Follow” list. I do not think so! Okay, so it might seem like I just follow people randomly if they follow me. It reflected how I’d been using Twitter in the past.
Armed with these two websites below I am now all the more Twittier:
Now instead of automatically following everyone who follows me I have a 2-step process.
Firstly, I logon to Tweepi and check out my new followers. From here I can view their profile, and when they last tweeted – which is very handy for sorting the quality from the spam (or porn). If I don’t see them fitting into my Lists I don’t follow them. And, yes, I’ve gone through virtually ALL of my followers to check for any bad company, so to speak. I’ve cleaned up my own “following” tweeters. i no longer follow anyone who randomly tweets words of wisdom EVERY MINUTE. Come on, no actual human being can realistically do that! I don’t follow anyone who only tweets listings of whatever they are selling. I appreciate they have a business to run and I don’t mind the occasional listing tweet. I do this myself. But here’s the thing – I actually like reading tweets. I get inspired to work after reading someone’s tweets. An endless procession of Etsy listings does not make for very good reading.
And lastly, armed with Twitlistmanager I’ve got most of my followers sorted into lists. I’ve made my lists private, mainly because of the quirky names I’ve used, along the lines of: “actual humans”, “makes my business look good to follow”, “blogging bloggers”; “Supposedly Famous”, etc. BTW, none of those are the actual names I use.
So, if you see my name on a “They Follow” list and automatically assume I will follow you, just remember I will check you out.
Cutie Pie Milkshake Bracelets by Glamour Twinkles - orange, pink, blue
I put together the cutest bracelets ever. My sis gave me these brilliant little cuties for Xmas. I finished putting a bunch of bracelets together over the weekend. Unfortuateky it’s been too sunny to shoot any photos for my Etsy shop but they’ll be appearing there post haste. It’s my homage to the glam-fabulous @beibadgirl (discovered many moons ago on Twitter). Check her eyeliner-riffic gals on her blog BeiBadGirl.com.
Glamour Twinkles Tattoo Jewelry
… is when the magic happens. My favorite time of the week is the weekend at 5.00am when I leap out of bed with a hearty bound ready to create my Glamour Twinkles. As I have a full-time office job I tend to procrastinate when it comes to my small business, and I don’t really spend an enormous amount of time during the work week getting Glamour Twinkles Jewelry out to the masses. The only time I dedicate to my twinkles business is between 5.00am and noon on Saturday and Sunday. However, this weekend I decided to follow through with a vow I’d made with myself to dedicate time to online PR. And boy, have I been a busy little PR-er.
Vintage Glamour Twinkles - Red & Black Charm Rings
I’ve updated my Etsy shop with a remarkable price drop on the Swarovski Necklaces; there are new photos in the Chunky Charm Bracelet section; I’ve added Etsy to my Facebook page, I now have a Gravatar on this blog, I’ve added my Sparkling Candy Tumblr to this blogroll, and, thanks to Twitch Vintage, I have added random Trade Me auction reminders to my Facebook Page. I don’t want to annoy my friends with these auction notifications/reminders but I’m thinking about new page fans and the future “likers” out there.
Vintage Glamour Twinkles - Mermaid Treasure Earrings
Encouraged by the successful Tweeters I follow and their tweetsights (tweet-speak for “insights”) into their creative world. Their tweets about multiple emails to answer, the creative process in action, the glimpses behind the scenes is one of the reasons why I love being on Twitter more than Facebook. And contrary to popular belief I don’t do it just for the followers. They’re encouraging – no one wants an audience of one. But I’m surprised how quickly I’ve gotten into Facebook. I’ll admit, I’ve never seen the point of it on a personal basis but for my jewellery business I think it gets a big THUMBS UP! So click the Facebook link you see emblazoned on my homepage, and you’ll get a cherry welcome from me. I know it doesn’t look quite right but I’m still navigating the deep Facebook waters.
Oh, and that’s the last time I’ll be begging for “Likes”, it’s just embarrassing isn’t it?
Fooled ya! These are magnets.
I had an annoying sleepless night on Friday, waking up every hour or so for absolutely no reason. Very frustrating. And it effected my normally productive weekend. I’m love leaping out of bed at 5.00am on Saturday and Sunday so I can work on my jewelry – stuff for me, stuff for Etsy, ideas I want to try, tidying up my messy work area etc. But this Saturday I was rather distracted by (sighs embarrassingly) playing “Zombie Cafe” on my iPhone. I couldn’t seem to get into making the pieces I wanted to load onto Etsy. I even spent some of the morning tidying my flat – and I never tidy my flat! Eventually I made a couple of pieces and even took some photos so I’d have something to show for my distracted morning. I also spent some time on Twitter - narrowly avoiding the wrath of Lady Gaga fans when I dissed her latest song. Crisis averted. Later that night I went to bed late – hoping to sleep through the night only to oversleep and wake up at 6.00am. Drat! That threw off my GT time as well!! However …
Cartoon Necklace - Kissing Cousins Skull Detail Close Up - 13 February 2011
Cartoon Necklace - Kissing Cousins Skull Large- 13 February 2011
… I managed to get my Cartoon Necklaces finished, finish the photoshopping on the pictures, and then I did a very silly thing. I checked iTunes … and found three new games that I have been playing non-stop all afternoon. And I’ve loved it!
p.s. This is a little idea I threw together for my blog advertising idea. It really needs work but it’s something, right?
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And that was the Weekend That Was!
Alphabet Letters Set purchased at $2 Shop Closing Sale
Letter Spray is a clever pun of let us pray. Thank you, ladies and gentlmen of the audience. Every day feels like Sunday with the Xmas break still in full swing. But my nimble fingers have been somewhat active. I decided that this Xmas break I would be as lazy as I want. Last year I wanted to get out and go shopping during the stat days. Unfortunately shops didn’t open on my schedule and I was getting up and out to find the shops I wanted to spend at were closed during the Xmas/New Years break. This year I’m “chill-axing” until next week and then I’ll get myself together and start doing some online work to get my jewelry out on strangers bodies. I haven’t even used my netbook since … well I don’t actually remember when I last used it. Outrageous, considering the fact I use it every day normally. Thank goodness I have my beloved iPhone for feeding my online fixations.
Since my blogging and tweeting is plugging along merrily I’m getting enthusiastic about my Etsy and reserrecting my Trade Me which is this little Kiwi’s favorite auction site. I used to load stuff regularly on Trade Me website but I’ve been rather lax this past year. Although I’ve realized I can cleverly use the photos and text from my Etsy shop listings on Trade Me. The drawback is that Trade Me charges per item and things are only listed for one week as it’s an auction site but I’ve reasoned with myself that the Glamour Twinkles won’t sell themselves sitting in their safe little storage packages if people can’t see them.
Wilton Alphabet and Number Fondant Cutouts
I’ve gone letter crazy, as you can see here. I’ve been testing out making Femo letters with my www.wilton.com “Wilton Alphabet and Number Fondant Cutouts”and having some good results so far but some of the letters still have little marks on them when I push them through the cutout.
Femo Letters - The Beginning
Luckily I have I have plenty of time to experiment and perfect my method. I have an idea of making layered letters that look as though they have stripes in them. We’ll see how that works out.
