An accomplishment!

[PetiteTuques]

A few days ago I decided to buy my own domain- http://petitetuques.com and I've forwarded it here! It makes me feel like I'm more of a professional now rather than a hobbyist.  It's been one of my hidden goals- I thought it was something only rich, successful people did, until I saw the prices. It's actually quite economical for a small business to have a domain name, and just forward it to a shop like iCraft.

So who else has an accomplishment they'd like to share?

[Fairy Cardmaker]

That's awesome, Petite Tuques!  I had one once, but mine was expensive.  I had to sign up for 3 years at once.  So, I let it go.  Who did you get your domain name with?

I have an accomplishment too - I made a light box!  I tried to jimmy one, which I affectionately called "ghetto lightbox" but it was too small.  Ghetto lightbox, which I built from scratch with foam core, lived for only 1 week.  So, I dug in the closet and transferred all the junk we store in a bigger box into two smaller ones and my husband was kind enough to take a knife to the big box for me and do the cutting.  (I am wimpy.)

I was so excited about it, I went to the dollar store to get the bristol board for it and I bought a couple $2 props for it too.  You can see one in my shop - the froggy!  Are single props a good idea?

[PetiteTuques]

I used godaddy.com and you can choose the length of time you want- 1 yr, 2 yr, up to 5 I think..

Do you still use natural light with a lightbox? I like the froggy, but I think just having the card is enough..

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Congrats again on your domain name.  I wasn't sure how to do it without also buying hosting - that's why mine was so expensive.  And then I was mad that I was paying for hosting that I wasn't using.  You've done it the smart way!

I do try to use natural light, but in winter that only happens on the weekend.  My day job hogs all the sunglight.  I have a daylight bulb.  I use it in the winter.  I believe that picture was with both - natural light on it's face and daylight bulb above it.

Thanks for your thoughts on the prop or not.

[iCraft Admin]

Yes, you can purchase only domain, without purchasing anything else (email or hosting), and simply point that domain to your iCraft store URL, like https://icraftgifts.com/petitetuques This feature is called URL or domain forwarding. And domains alone are not very expensive now days. You can get some for $10.00 - $15.00

[Fairy Cardmaker]

This is good info.  Can you see stats on it - like how many people were forwarded?

[PetiteTuques]

I've looked and looked and can't find stats- maybe I'd have to upgrade my domain to see stats directly. On google stats, there doesn't seem to be any mention of my site.. I could be reading it wrong, or no one is using it yet.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Hmmm... I wonder if it would show up as a "referring" site in Google Analytics.  I *think* it would.  Time will tell!

My lightbox issue is becomming an obsession.  I'm on my third one.  I think I'm happy with this one. (Third time to charm, right?)  My focus has been getting my pictures to look decent.  After that, I'll start on the domain name thing.  (No point in driving traffic if what I have to show is crappy photos, right?)

What are you going to accomplish next?

Great work petitetuques! The domain will make it easy to promote your store in the real world, as well as online. I recommend you encourage friends, family, and anyone else to link to your store. In analytics you should be able to track the number of people who come in on the forwarded domain. You should see it also used in the keyword traffic, because people sometimes type the URL into the replacement box.

If for some reason you can't see that use of your domain, another possibility is to use Google Webmaster tools.
If you promote your brand and URL after a while, you will actually be able to see the usage in Google Webmaster tools.

You made right choice with Godaddy for registering your domain. Just one word of warning - make sure you never host a site through them. Their hosting is incredibly unreliable.

[iCraft Admin]

Another good thing about using your own domain is that you can setup your email for that domain, like mary@petitetuques.com, instead of mary@hotmail.com. It just looks more professional. 

[Ahkriti]

Okay all that SEO I have been doing finally paid off! Thank you Icraft for helping me out as well. Your expert tips on how to word my product names, tagging, description and use of Shop Name is definitely helping me find my clients.

I have a custom order now that I have to work on. (Exciting coz I love working on custom orders... :)This client is very ecstatic to have found me on icraft all because AhKriti  popped up on her google replacement for some ethnic jewelry.

Thank  you so much. 3 Cheers for icraftgifts.com!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

That's excellent news, AhKriti!  You are doing quite well here - hitting the ground running.
[clapping]

[iCraft Admin]

Hi AhKriti, glad to hear your SEO efforts are now paying off.  
Was your customer Canadian? Your iCraft store is now #4 on Google Canada for "ethnic jewelry" phrase.

[Ahkriti]

That's excellent news, AhKriti!  You are doing quite well here - hitting the ground running.
[clapping]

Thank you so much!

[Ahkriti]

Hi AhKriti, glad to hear your SEO efforts are now paying off.  
Was your customer Canadian? Your iCraft store is now #4 on Google Canada for "ethnic jewelry" phrase.

Thank you! Yes, she is a Canadian.
I think I need to work on that jewelry phrase again. Since I lived in India, when I opened my store, I spelled the term jewelry as in British english "jewellery" but in North America its spelt jewelry.