March Treasury Winner--VOTE!

Below is a list of 3 top picks for the March contest (based on number of views) Vote for your favorite--winner announced online & at the next Handmade Triad Meeting (tuesday, april 5th).

by SweetAnnaCreations

by PopRocket

by Gremlina

Upgrade Your Business with Facebook!

Don't let the opportunity to use a free Facebook page pass you by! Whether you're an Etisian, Artfire lover, eBay shopkeeper or other, there is no better way to network, socialize, promote, explore, discover and upgrade your business. From sharing with friends at the click of a button, to keeping past customers up to date on new sales, coupons, new products and events, Facebook makes staying in touch SIMPLE!

Recently Facebook has added an 'upgrade' option making pages even more effective. Already using Facebook as a tool to reach new and existing customers? Take the tour of the facebook upgrade nad find tools, like the ability to post to other folks pages AS YOUR BUSINESS. This is huge! Now you can spread your little business icon all over the place--like dropping business cards all over the internet!

Other key features:

• You can link your posts with twitter--double exposure without double work.
• Pictures of your work blaze across the top for visitors to see choice examples of your creations.
• When logged in as your business you get a News Feed of different pages you've 'liked' as your business.

& remember--first things first. 'Like' Handmade Triad's page & SHARE with your friends and customers.

this post brought to you by Lacey of Gremlina Vintage(for ideas on how to use your facebook page, feel free to stop by ours!)

Treasury by TBSCreations

Latest treasury featuring some members of Handmade Triad.

Check out this talent!

Some of our newest members are featured in this treasury.

Be sure to check out their etsy shops.

WhatWasOld Vintage

MSR Pottery by Misunrie

HauteChocolateNC Handmade Chocolates

Faux Design Studio

Gremlina Vintage Shop

LightHeartedStudios

Dani Keith Designs

Keena's Kreations

LeeLu Creations

Witch Hazel Handmades

Faye's Crochet

IKow Designs

Purple Hook

Flying Pig Pottery

The Gnome Shack

Slow Turn Studio

Hello 2011...

Hello 2011... we were wondering when you were gonna get here.

This is Traci, aka TBSCreations. I am the "leader" of Handmade Triad. We had our first team meeting of 2011 last night. It was great because we had lots of new people, plus the 'usuals'.
We have some great new ideas for 2011 and lots of excitement and enthusiasm to go with it. Something we need! One of our goals we discussed was getting our blog back on track. Hopefully my fellow team members will help out. I have total faith in them.

Speaking of my wonderful team members, I created an Etsy treasury today featuring members of Handmade Triad. Check it out!

We are looking forward to all the wonderful things in store for us in 2011.

Art Oasis at The Greenhill Center Greensboro

Firday August 7th members of the NCTriad Etsy team will be participating!! The event is from 6-9pm in front of the Greenhill Center on Davie Street in Downtown Greensboro. We would love to see you out there!!

Rewined Recycled Glassware @ Salute! Wine Festival

Rewined Recycled Glassware will be at the 'Salute! Wine Festival' in downtown Winston-Salem Saturday May 9th. It's going to be a great time, come join us if you can!

This picture is from the Great Grapes wine festival we did last month in Cary, NC. The Rewined Recycled Glassware banner was done by my friend Anne at Red Canary a digital fabric printing company.

The fine ladies helping me out are Justi from witchhazelhandmades and Katie from the Green Bean. Thanks so much for your help!!!

Tagging: Getting found on Etsy

One of the complaints I hear often from sellers is that it is so hard to be found on etsy. I agree that there is a TON of stuff on there and it is sometimes hard to stand out in a crowd, BUT there are some simple things you can do to maximize your chances of being found. The very first and easiest is to be a good TAGGER. You get 14 tags on each of your items and if you are not using them all then you are not being a good tagger. Check out this article on Etsy containing great tagging tips. I include things like " mom, dad, wedding, housewarming, green, eco chic, etc, etc" I try to put myself in a shoppers shoes. Check out this item of mine and the tags I put on it for ideas.

Etsy also tries to do lots of promotions. Often to participate all you have to do is tag your item with a specific tag. For instance, Etsy wanted to feature earth friendly products and asked sellers who were interested in participating to tag their item with 'earth tones'. This increases your likelyhood of your stuff getting seen by the etsy admin's and featured in an 'etsy finds' email. (By the way, I was featured in one and got over 3,500 unique visitors to my shop in one day!!!)
These promotions can often be found in the storque. Glance through it now and again to see if there is something your items fit with.

Happy Tagging!!