Selling Online

In my last article, I showed you how to incorporate photos of your products into your store banner design. The working example was a banner for a jewelry shop. The photo we used in the banner was a grouping of handmade earrings.

Another method of incorporating your product into your shop banner and avatar is to scan your artwork into your computer. Of course, this method works best for those with flat products... Read more

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In the previous tutorial, we choose the best product photo to use in your banner and a font for your company name. Now we can begin to build our banner.

1. Open Photoshop. Click File – New to start a new image. Our banner needs to be 625 pixels. In the dialog box set the Width to 625 pixels, the Height to 100 pixels and the Resolution to 72.

2. You will also want to open your product photo into... Read more

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At this point in the banner design, we are ready to add your business name to the banner. You have already decided on the font you wish to use so let's get started.

1. Open your banner into Photoshop.

2. Choose the Horizontal Type Tool (looks like a T) from the Tools panel. Click inside the banner to activate the tool. You should see a blinking cursor. Click on the colored square in the Options Bar... Read more

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Designing your own store banner can be one way to keep the cost to a minimum when starting your new store. Because this banner will give a "first impression", you want it to reflect the products in your store. One way to do this is to incorporate a photo of your products as the second major element in the banner's design. Of course, the first major element in the design will be your business name.... Read more

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When you add your profile to your iCraft store, you have the option to add a banner. This banner needs to be 625px wide. What options do you have if your existing banner is not that size? Let's assume that your Etsy banner is perfect for your business and you want to use it on your iCraft store. But the Etsy banner is 760 pixels wide and 100 pixels high.

The easiest fix for this would be to reduce your Etsy... Read more

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For sellers on iCraftGifts.com, here is a thought about your advertising. Be sure that you offer a clear message that is readable and pleasant. Watch for clutter in your advertising!

I realized the other day that we are so bombarded by visual and audio stimulation that it can become overwhelming. Give your readers a mental break and afford them a pleasant rest with beautiful things to look at. It will be appreciated.... Read more

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This is an update to my experiment of using Entrecard as a way to get blog traffic. You can see the original post on the IndieCEO Marketing blog .

Entrecard (EC) says they are "The Ultimate Networking Tool for Bloggers." EC is a way to gain readers and boost traffic to your blog by adding an Entrecard box to your own blog. What happens is that EC members will go to your blog and "drop"... Read more

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How do you communicate with your customers? Email? IM ? Twitter? Social Networks? Snail mail? Phone? Print, Handwritten, Virtual?

Knowing your target customer's demographic is essential in planning your communications campaigns!

To grab your customer's attention, your messages need to be seen, so ensure that your customers are receiving communications in a way that they embrace. With so many... Read more

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This past week in Sellers' Bootcamp, we talked a lot about Twitter. If you're selling online and not twittering, you're making a big mistake.

I joined Twitter around a year ago, using it to announce new products. I used it, maybe four times a month. Two days ago, I mentioned a necklace in one of my shops, and watched the number of hits grow, and grow, and grow! It was amazing!

So you don't know what to... Read more

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In bootcamp day #4, we were asked to look at our "propositional benefit," or as our drill instructor, Christine, from PillowThrowDecor , explained, "why should I buy your necklace [or scarf, or soap, etc.] instead of the other guys?" Well, that got me thinking...

Everyone says their product are one-of-a-kind, and unique. But why are my journals and sketchbooks more unique than others?... Read more

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