Crafty Biz and Marketing Essentials Series

I decided during vacation (between Christmas and New Years, if you want to be precise) to create a little more structure for my little blog, including some regular series and elements. One of the keystones will be a business essential series for those of us in the indie/handmade line of work (though it should translate easily to those in the vintage and supplies biz).

I'm not necessarily an expert in indie biz management, but I am a business management professional in real life (seriously!) and have learned MANY new skills in my first year as an indie designer and small business owner. I'll get some guest bloggers to share their experience and wisdom, as well. I hope this will be something that we can all learn from, and also share our collaborative experience and wisdom.

I think one of the toughest challenges for indie biz folks is marketing. Particularly online marketing. Google analytics? SEO (search engine optimization)? Keywords? Craigslist without being flagged and shut down? Blogging? Blog advertising? It can be mind boggling and overwhelming! It's such a mystery to many, while so absolutely essential to our success, that this will be a series all on its own. So stay tuned!

Just a quick tip for Etsy shop owners in this post. If you haven't already heard, Etsy implemented Google analytics for our shops! This is the best thing ever! Without this, I would have never known my shop is getting regular visitors from a bl0g in Turkey! I can now easily see exactly how many clicks my online ads are generating, and which of those are doing more than looking at my site briefly before leaving. I'm in heaven.

Here are some links to really good tutorials on how to set up Google analytics for your shop. You absolutely absolutely want to do this! I'll be more than happy - delighted, even - to help you with the process or to interpret data!

How to set up your google analytics on Etsy or Artfire
Google analytics data

Back to the business of knitting right now! Have a great weekend!