Vendors Wanted: Florida Artists, Artisans, Crafters for Online Art Fair - Positions Available for National and International

We are all curious about "want ads" - right?  Especially those for artists!

I want to update you on the online art fair and selling venue that is quickly coming into its own, Zibbet. I have had a Premium shop on Zibbet for a little over three months and have settled in nicely. The look of Zibbet is white, clean, and uncluttered, which is an important criteria for my shops. And if you have a Premium membership, you can customize your shop to fit your artistic look - right down to the Zibbet logo color in your shop!

What amazes me is that I can have widgets for my other venues on the shops pages, such as an Etsy mini, artfire cart, iCraft window, Facebook, Twitter, and anything with code.

So, really, you can make your Zibbet page to be YOUR "Grand Central Station" that points off to all your selling directions for all of your promotions. I have three twitter widgets for all my twitter accounts and then a widget for my GalleriaLinda Facebook page too! I have gotten followers from these.

In my Zibbet GalleriaLindaLoft vintage jewelry shop - I have almost half of my iCraft.ca shop in a widget window at the bottom of my vintage items. Take a look at my GalleriaLindaLoft Vintage Jewelry shop here! (Scroll down to bottom).

Zibbet has a fabulous short-term promotion running right now.

One month FREE with a premium Pro Membership until July 20.

After your free month, the fees are still reduced to $9 a month until 119 (at this writing) shops are taken. Once you start your free month, you will be so excited to see the seller features available. Click here to get started and hope to see you there!

A GREAT offer from iCraft.ca Handmade Selling Venue!

I have been selling my GalleriaLinda handmade jewelry on iCraft.ca exclusively for over 2 years now and I love it - it is hard to believe it has been that long!

iCraft is a "handmade only" selling venue that is a "paid by month" model. The Canadian site allows us to sell in USD or CAD dollars. The reason I love iCraft is:

• Sell handmade only makes it more focused
• Artful site design - lots of white space that allows our products to be noticed
• Friendly and responsive admin - very important to sellers (and buyers)
• Monthly fee and no listing and selling fees - this allows me to budget with no surprises
• Active community on forum
• iCraft Sellers' Bootcamp - free training workshops to all members and held several times a year

Well, I do like to share exciting news from my selling venues, especially when it has to do with saving money! For a limited time, iCraft is offering to members - only until 5/31 9pm - unlimited listings for $50 A YEAR and you can buy up to 3 years. That is $6 a month!

Not a member yet? Easy peasy, become a member for $25 one time fee CAD then take advantage of this low price for unlimited handmade listings! Just pay through PayPal for automatic currency conversion!

Hope to see you there!

Just a Quick Note About Zibbet.com - New Selling Venue

A new handmade selling venue is on the scene and I am sure you have seen Zibbet mentioned on the Etsy forum and elsewhere. Sellers are taking shops faster than a skinny minute! Some of you know that I try a variety of selling venues to find out what is a fit.

Currently, I sell on iCraft.ca, Etsy, Artfire (free), and Bonanzle.
I just opened a GalleriaLindaLoft shop on Zibbet.com. I have tried and decided "no" on HandmadeFuzion, eCrater, BigCartel, and 1000Markets. Yup, I have tried them all.

Why Zibbet? Well if you will check out their sellers features, you might swoon. I have opened up my bead shop and my vintage shop - it was fast and easy. I will be upgrading to the pro shop shortly since now that I have tried it out, I really love it! The site is so clean looking that our products are actually showcased. That is one thing I dislike about Artfire - it is so busy that you cannot focus on the artisan goods.

I am looking for the right venue for my three products - handmade jewelry, vintage jewelry, and beads. I found my place for GalleriaLinda handmade jewelry on www.icraft.ca and love it there. It suits handmade jewelry and they only take handmade items - no vintage or supplies.

Etsy is so squirrely right now that I am frustrated with no views and certainly no sales. My sales came to a screeching halt the first of March and views are few and far between. Besides, my Etsy listing fees are more per month than Zibbet's current fees. I will save money! I have only seven items in the Zibbet GalleriaLindaLoft vintage shop and people are looking! You can't sell unless you have people looking, I always say, so it is a breath of fresh air.

Since Zibbet is new, they, of course, do not equal the traffic of 5-year old Etsy. But you can bet they are catching up with others. Check www.quantcast.com to compare venues. Zibbet is just under 1000markets in traffic with only less than a year under their belt. They have already beat out Silkfair. Both of those venues have been around several years.

Let's just say I like this venue and wanted to announce my shops.

If you want to open a customizable pro shop, you are invited to use my referral code. For every PRO shop referral will give me $1 off each month! Once you set up a shop, you can participate as well to get $1 off each month for each referral. All it takes is networking!

If you have friends already on Zibbet, by all means use their referal codes, but at least use someone's.Here's to a breath of fresh air!

Participating in iCraft's Sellers' Bootcamp!

I am embarking on a high-energy Sellers' Boot camp in iCraft.ca!! Already, the sales strategies are electrifying!

This is a new admin-supported program started by Christine of PillowThrowDecor for sellers on iCraft.ca! Christine not only produces the most elegant pillows for your home, but she is also a sales expert that creates energy that motivates!

She is the one that started the awesome "Odd Sock" category to move merchandise. Check out PillowThrowDecor's "Odd Sock" deals - unbelievable!

The Sellers' Bootcamp program goes for 28 days with assignments for each day that will help you fill your promotional "bag of tricks" by the end of the month. The idea is to get into the habit of spending 30-45 minutes a day doing things that will help sales. You can check out the iCraft.ca Sellers' Boot camp forum.

Retired from another career, Christine states that a part of her professional background is in sales training. She states, "As independent business people it is all about accountability. I do much better when I know there is a team of people marching along with me every day and are as committed as I am to doing assigned activities!

If you are considering trying iCraft.ca as your handmade selling venue, now is the time! Remember, if you use a referral number when you pay your one-time registration fee, you receive six months of shop fees free for an unlimited number of items! Shop fees are very reasonable. In case you need one, GalleriaLinda's referral number is: 1c28439c38!

Must go...off to boot camp!!

Behind The Scenes at Artfire.com - Article & Interview With President John

Here is a great article and interview with Artfire.com's president, John Jacobs that provides a glimpse into how ArtFire got started and how the staff works so efficiently.

The article, by Darla Dixon of the Atlanta Artist Examiner, explores the inner workings of Artfire.

From the article....

What makes ArtFire different from other handmade art sites?

As the Internet becomes increasingly more competitive, businesses that want to be successful will need to diversify and increase their online footprint. We for example have seen many of our suppliers become our competitors over the last several years, as barriers to selling on the Internet have come down. We encourage every artist and small business to think of the threats that venues pose to your business. If you say the wrong thing in a forum or to Admin, or unintentionally violate the 700 page TOS, is your company expelled or booted? This is a very real threat to online business and makes a very strong argument for diversification.

We don't believe that any artisan or seller should ever put all their eggs in one basket.

Read the entire interview here, and tell 'em GalleriaLinda sent you!

Artfire Shop & Free Custom Marketing Plan? How Can You Go Wrong?

Update:

• 3 Verified Artfire Members credited to GalleriaLinda
• 2 Free Artfire shops credited to GalleriaLinda (won't count unless become verifed)

If you have not read this, see below for great opportunities for you!

Only you and I can create our own futures. Therefore, I am getting serious about selling on Artfire. I want The Artfire Free Ride for Life and you should too!

(I know this is a long post, however, it is an important opportunity that could affect your bottom line).

I seldom post the same content on both blogs, but I wanted you to know my commitment to you, so I am posting this on Indie CEO as well as GalleriaLindaShowcase.

Looking ahead at your business expenses is wise, especially for 2009. This information is worthy of consideration for online sellers who create handmade items or sell vintage items. Only you can create your future! You could have a full verified shop on Artfire, for free, for life.

Artfire is having a promotion that benefits shop owners and now I am offering to help you with your success!

Before I get into what I have up my sleeve for you, here are reasons to join Artfire for $7/month:

• Growing fast, extremely responsive admin, fast roll outs of new features that work the first time, listens to sellers, so many new features on the list to come


• Unlimited number of free listings


• Google Analytics statistics to support your marketing efforts


• No selling fees, no final sales fees, no listing fees


• Ways to be featured, seen


• Random searches mean that your items will be seen more frequently without you worrying with it – list and let the search do its thing


• For $7 a month, you have invested money equal to 35 listing or relist fees a month on Etsy - one a day plus a fraction. If you are a serial lister or relister on Etsy in hopes for your items to be seen, you will love this value. On Artfire, there are no selling fees when you actually sell those listings!


• When the total 5,000 verified accounts are taken, the monthly fee will jump to $20/month. Now, don’t you want to get in before that happens?

Once you sign up for a verified shop, you too can work on your own new shop's Artfire Free Ride for Life. I will help you – keep reading how!

The Artfire Free Ride for Life promotion for my shop is when 10 people sign up for a verified $7/month shop and attribute their sign up to GalleriaLinda's Artfire Shop. GalleriaLinda will receive an Artfire Free Ride for Life shop. How great is that?

I want to give you a gift, plus, I am personally committing to help each of the 10 shop owners who sign up referencing GalleriaLinda, achieve this goal for themselves.

Here is how it will work:

• The first 10 people who use GALLERIALINDA’S Artfire link and sign up for a verified $7/month Artfire shop, will be placed in a GalleriaLinda drawing, of only the first 10 people total from both blog posts. (you must use my link, not someone else’s…and there are many around and many Project Wonderful ads using ArtFire's logo - don't get confused, ALL the links in this post are GalleriaLinda's links to the Artfire Free Ride).

• As each completes their sign up attributed to GalleriaLinda’s reference, they are to come back here to this post to COMMENT that they did sign up by leaving their new Artfire shop name. (Alternatively, you can comment on the Indie CEO post about Artfire). I will check. If you do not comment here, you will not be in the drawing. I don't want that to happen.

• Each of the 10 signups will be confirmed as verified shops on Artfire by me.

• You have a 1 in 10 chance to win consulting time for a custom basic marketing plan for your business – a $50 value. (I am a marketing communications consultant for small businesses by day). This marketing plan will be created from interaction between us by either phone or email and customized to your business time availability and goals.

Wait! There is more! Keep reading because here is the best part:

Once GalleriaLinda's 10 slots are filled and achieves the Artfire Free Ride for Life for GalleriaLinda, for those first 10 people who signed, I will run a 125x125 pixel ad for each of the 10, one at a time, for one whole week on my 3 web sites that links to your own Artfire Free Ride

The ads will run one at a time in the sequence of the sign ups, for example, number 1 signer will be the first week ad to run, then number 2 on the second week, to number 10 the last 10th week ad run. The ads will be placed simultaneously on my three websites (2 blogs and 1 web site) for one whole week along with the Project Wonderful ads located there.

Let’s summarize...a 1 in 10 chance are the best odds you may ever get!

Drawing winner to receive marketing consulting time is awesome in itself.

But, free advertising for your Artfire Free Ride for Life for one whole week on three different web sites is over the top. I want you to succeed too!

What do you say? Are you in?

You Must Go See iCraft's Front Page Feature Header!

iCraft.ca keeps on their toes with new and exciting features on their still young web site.

They have revamped the entire front page over the last few months. It has the same basic, clean design but they have added flash featured items. Today, they introduced fabulous flash rotating header in the whimsical iCraft design that incorporates the best of the best in handmade!

The header is very slick and contemporary looking and adds a sophisticated ambiance to the site while showcasing some beautiful things.

Can you be believe that my bracelet was included in the roll out? What a great day this was! I have been selling on iCraft for almost a year and I love it.

iCraft is well worth a look by anyone that wants to sell handmade. It is well run, well designed, and the seller back office is such a joy to work with.

By the way, you can my turquoise glass and cherry red acrylic swirl bracelet in GalleriaLinda's iCraft shop!

Selecting the Right Online Selling Venue

It seems to be the time of year to try new things!

As a business owner of the online jewelry business GalleriaLinda.com, I read forum posts in the various indie arts areas online and have found that when one person discovers a new or little known selling venue, everyone jumps on board and clamors to set up additional shops.

Much discussion is had and I too get caught up in the excitement and sheepishly admit I have a variety of shops setup all over the Internet, some which are empty! Many, as it turns out, are not conducive to selling to my target customer...

Defining your target customer.....

Read the rest of this article on GalleriaLinda's indie business blog: Indie CEO!