Category Archives: my jewelry

How are Customers Finding You on Etsy? – Interpreting & Utilizing Your Etsy Shop Stats, part 5

Hi there! Welcome to our fifth and final article in this Marketing Magic series on effective ways to use and interpret your Etsy shop stats. I hope you’ve found this helpful thus far! Here are the links to the previous articles for a recap:

In Test #3, we discussed analyzing the various sources that generate traffic to your Etsy shop. On a similar note, today we’ll discuss traffic sources from within Etsy.com that lead viewers to your shop. So we’re not talking about people doing a Google search, we’re talking about people that are either already browsing Etsy.com or already somewhere in your Etsy shop.

#4. Review Your Traffic Sources FROM ETSY

The Thought Process

Once a viewer finds your shop or listing, however they found it, you want to keep them there (by “there” I mean within your shop) as long as possible. Think about if you owned a brick & mortar shop. Customers would come in and browse, see an item they like, possibly add it to their cart, move on and see another item they liked, and keep browsing on and on. Your internet shop is different. They might land on a listing page from a Google or Etsy search and never see the rest of your shop other than that one listing. It’s up to you to help them browse.

The longer a viewer spends browsing your listings, the likelier you will be to make a sale, or at least get some items favorited. There are several things you can do to keep a viewer browsing within your shop, and you can use your Etsy shop stats to monitor your progress.

The Testing Procedure

Once again, filter to a weekly or monthly view of your stats. Check out the other box below your graph, titled “traffic sources on Etsy”. This is basically giving you a drilldown of the “etsy.com” number listed under the “traffic sources” box to the left. Examine where your inner-Etsy views are coming from. Possible traffic sources from within Etsy can include the following:

Your Shop – when a viewer clicks on a listing from the home page of your shop
Your Listings – when a viewer clicks on a link (to another listing, to your shop home page, to a category section, etc.) from a link within another one of your listings
turquoise rosette titanium studs in my shop – see how etsy automatically adds some links to other listings in my shop
- Search – a viewer searches for something from the Etsy.com home page
- Search within your shop – a viewer searches for something from the search bar on your Etsy shop page
- Other possible traffic sources include the Etsy home page (score!), treasuries, favorites, convos, Etsy’s browse sections, teams, or another shop’s listing.

Questions to Ask Yourself Now

Where is most of my inner-Etsy traffic coming from?
Do I have a substantial amount of views coming from within my shop, like from listings and shop sections?
Are there steps I can take to increase the links and connectivity within my shop to increase a viewer’s browse time?
Are there steps I can take to increase my page ranking in Etsy search results?
Have treasuries and my participation in Etsy teams or forums been a good way to drive traffic to my shop?
What can I do to increase my chances of being featured in treasuries and on the Etsy front page?

Lessons Learned

Unless you were featured on the front page, you want most of your traffic to be coming from Your Shop and Your Listings. Yes, search traffic from Etsy.com is great, that means your tags are doing their job. However, lots of views from your shop, listings, and section pages means that people are sticking around after they found you via search or whatever other method. It means they like your shop!

To boost these views, make sure your listings have helpful links included in them. You can link to other relevant listings or categories. Here are some examples of effective listing linking:

“If you like this style of ____ check out my other _____ here.”
“Check out my entire line of _______s or my shop section of _____ here.”
“If you’d like this _____ but in another color/size, see my _______ here.”
“Back to our shop here _______”
“Check out the _______ that matches this listing.”

another example from my turquoise rose studs listing – see all the links to other places in my shop that I have sloppily circled

The idea is to think like your target customer and provide them little links and breadcrumbs to other parts of your shop that will make their lives easier and increase your chances of making a sale. The good news is that these days, Etsy does a pretty good job of adding a lot of links for you already. On each listing page, they will automatically add links to other listings in that same section, a link to convo you, and a link to your about page.

Don’t forget to monitor your progress after you’ve tweaked your listing links and any other keyword or tagging work. Check your traffic stats on at least a monthly basis to see if your views from Etsy searches or inner-shop browsing has paid off!

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We hope you’ve enjoyed our series on how to analyze and interpret your Etsy shop stats! We’ve discussed just some of the many processes you can perform to effectively utilize and analyze your Etsy Shop Stats. After running through these tests, remember to continue checking your stats to see if your efforts have improved your traffic. Our goal is to get more people to your shop and increase your sales. Happy selling!

Kate & Linny Feature

Yay yay yay! We are so excited to announce that Lazy Owl Boutique is featured on the awesome mompreneur website Kate & Linny this week.

For the next few days, we’re offering a special deal (25% off) on our trendy dahlia titanium studs in a variety of bold spring colors. These flowers are on titanium posts, 100% nickel- and lead-free and perfect for sensitive ears.

Our dahlia studs are a great addition to your springtime wardrobe and work great for everyday wear. At $2.50 for shipping and no extra charge for additional pairs, you can even order a few for filling those Easter baskets or as Mother’s Day gifts! As always, all Lazy Owl items arrive in be-ribboned jewelry boxes, ready for immediate gifting.

See our deal here, and grab a pair or two at this limited time special price!

turquoise & dark pink titanium studs by lazy owl boutique

We encourage you to check out Kate & Linny and support the other featured mompreneurs. Every item featured is either made by, developed by, or sold by moms!

500 Sales Giveaway!

Yay! We are proud to say that Lazy Owl Boutique has hit 500 sales on Etsy this week! To celebrate our amazing fans and all the fun we’ve had in the past few years, we’re hosting a special giveaway!

The prize will be two of our most popular items – our cream owl studs and our navy anchor studs (a retail value of $26). Both pairs of earrings are on titanium posts so they are perfect for even the most sensitive ears! Keep both pairs for yourself or give one to your BFF 🙂 If you’re curious about the full details of these earrings, check out the listings for the anchor earrings and for the owl studs.

You have one week to enter! Winner will be contacted within 2 days of the contest end-date for mailing address, and of course the prizes will ship for free! Good luck and please share…and most importantly, THANK YOU for supporting handmade!

Enter the giveaway contest below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bridal Jewelry Trunk Show

Come visit me next Saturday in Katy at a local bridal jewelry trunk show hosted by The Loken Group. Only a select handful of local jewelry artists will be present, including Lazy Owl Boutique. This is a great time to browse and order customized jewelry for your big day or for your bridal party.

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FREE Bridal Jewelry Trunk Show Nov 10 from 2 to 4 featuring local custom and fashion jewelers, raffle prizes, wine & snacks. Brides, bring your mom, mom-in-law to be, sisters, friends – as many as you like!

http://bit.ly/RwdnDg

Hope to see you there!

Introducing Roundtable Goods

So, I know I keep alluding to this new shop in Houston I’ve been a part of lately. It’s time I finally formally introduce you to Roundtable Goods, Houston’s new 100% handcrafted 100% local artisan marketplace in a homey little neighborhood we call the Houston Heights.

It all started when I was at a slightly less-than-fun craft fair in late April. Some random woman from Etsy named Juanita came and found me while I was quietly manning my lonesome booth (located in a primo spot across from the men’s bathroom of course). I had briefly traded a few messages with Juanita through Etsy over the past few weeks, but didn’t really expect anything to come of it. Maybe I have an underlying belief that everyone that sells things on Etsy is slightly crazy (including myself?), so when a very normal, happy-looking woman introduced herself as Juanita I was pleasantly surprised she had taken the time to seek me out at the show.

Juanita started talking about craft shows, Houston, new groups, and even the possibility of opening some sort of storefront. Then, she said the magic words, “19th street“, and I think that’s when I fell in love. To me, W. 19th Street is the perfect little Main Street USA of Houston. One of the only spots in this ginormous city where, for a few lovely blocks, pedestrian shopping is still practiced. Not only that, but there’s not a single national chain or department store to be found. Smack dab in the center of a neighborhood that clings tooth and nail to its roots and history, it’s a small mish mash of funky and eclectic, trendy and modern, vintage and antique small local businesses. And Juanita had her eye on a space for lease right on this very street! I had never even really dreamed of selling Lazy Owl products in a storefront, let alone being part of one, but when I got the opportunity to be part of this I knew I couldn’t pass it up.

This is the Lazy Owl Boutique area at Roundtable

I can’t exactly describe what followed. Somehow, in the space of just two months, we went from a group of eager strangers with a totally raw, unfinished space to a collaboration of artists with a painted, fully-stocked handcrafted boutique open to the public.

Lazy Owl bunting necklaces

Juanita found a group of local artists with all sorts of talents. We fine-tuned our business pitch and met with these ladies in late May, hoping that 2 or 3 would be willing to come on this adventure with us; I was totally astounded when over 13 of them jumped on board! Our leased space was formerly a storage room for antiques – unpainted, old ceilings, concrete floors…the list goes on. But with a lot of elbow grease (and only a small amount of yelling) we turned that space around in a matter of weeks.

Just a small selection of all the amazing goodies we have in the shop

We are a team of artists from very different backgrounds and even different cultures, some of us work full-time day jobs, some of us have children, and something different drives us all. But our passion for our creative art and our drive to offer Houston something new and different really motivated us to bring this vision to life. We are starting out slow – only open on the weekends for now – but we definitely have big plans and big dreams!

I am so proud of what we have all accomplished together! I hope if you are ever in Houston you stop by Roundtable Goods on W. 19th Street. You might even see me working behind the counter; regardless, you will see some wonderfully unique heartfelt and handcrafted treasures.

It’s our one year Etsyversary!

Oh happy day! At the end of this month we will be celebrating Lazy Owl Boutique’s one year Etsyversary (that’s our Etsy anniversary, just in case you couldn’t figure that out)!

One year ago this month I was going through a lot of changes. I was just beginning a well-deserved vacation at the beach away from my hell job when I got a wonderful offer for a new job. I debated for a few days, scared out of my mind. I had never actually quit a job before. I always just had to leave because I was graduating, leaving to study abroad, etc. I returned from the beach well-rested and at peace with my decision and put in my two week’s notice that Monday morning.

Over the next few weeks I created, created, and created on overdrive, along with taking lots of photos and figuring out how the heck to get started on Etsy. By the end of May, Lazy Owl Boutique officially opened for business! It was definitely slow going at first, but it has been a very rewarding experience and I’m delighted to say that in less than a year we have reached over 100 sales!

We’ve made some mistakes but learned a lot along the way in just one year. Check out this awful product photography for example:

Ay yi yi! Talk about gloomy.

We’ve fine-tuned the creating/photographing/listing process and even begun to sell in person at craft shows! We are even in the process of joining with a handful of other local handmade artisans to open a unique handmade boutique in Houston (stay tuned)!

One year ago I would’ve never thought I’d be capable of doing all that I am now. And I have all of you to thank! So thanks to all my family, friends, fellow artists, and customers who have supported Lazy Owl on this journey.

To celebrate our one year Etsyversary, we are giving away hairpin freebies! Get one freebie hairpin with a purchase of $10 or more, and two hairpins with a purchase of $30 or more! Check out Lazy Owl’s facebook page to pick out your favorite hairpin(s) and include your top four preferences in the note to seller during checkout!

You can also view the hairpin selection below:

Free hairpin choices!

Spring Craft Show Display

As I mentioned (not sure if I did actually, let’s pretend), I did a craft show last month in Katy, Texas. Setup was all day the Friday before the show started. My craft show adventure weekend started out pretty stressful. It was a really busy week at my day job, and my husband ended up having to work late on Friday (and all day Saturday) so I was flying solo nearly all weekend. I left work as quickly as I could to go home to grab my tables and inventory and head out on the 45 minute drive out to Katy, during rush hour AND during a terrible thunderstorm. Of course when I finally got home, my puppy had peed all over her crate.

By the time I made it out to Katy, I had about an hour to set up as much of my booth as I could all by my lonesome. After check-in I found out my booth was not actually IN the main arena, but in a hallway…directly outside the MEN’S restroom! The show director promised me this would be a preemo (primo? premo? is it even a word?) spot, so I decided to put a smile on my face and make the best of it.

Anyway, it wasn’t a super wonderful show, but it was my best yet (out of 3, still a craft show newbie here), and a great experience. I met some other wonderful vendors, made some good sales, and handed out almost all my business cards.

Plus, I got to debut my new and improved show display (see past discussions of my display here and here)! I graduated from 2 to 3 tables, with the addition of my vintage china plate tiered displays (that’s a mouthful!), and all my new titanium post earrings. I also made a handful of colorful yarn wreaths to sell. AND I got to try out my new VistaPrint banner!

One side of my display

Oh hello, men’s restroom!

Antique shutters, antique plates, yarn wreaths…

Handmade earring card display for my plated stud collection

Birdhouse display and antique printer’s tray display

Check out my tutorial for how to make my DIY ring box display here, and also an explanation for how I built my DIY earring card display here.

I’ll be setting up my display again May 19 at the Friendswood Fine Arts Institute’s Art in the Park!

March Madness

Please pardon my prolonged absence! March has been flying by for me. My husband, an engineer, has been working turnaround at his plant. For those of you who haven’t grown up around engineers, turnaround is basically a time where the plant shuts down and the engineers have to work 24/7. He is home and awake for about an hour or two every day.

This has left all the cooking, cleaning, and household duties to yours truly. And…if you know me, you know I don’t cook. I don’t really know how to cook honestly, so this month has been interesting for me because as a good wife I need to put food on the table for him to eat every night after a long day at work! Thanks to Pinterest, I’ve been able to find some recipes that even someone as kitchen-challenged as me can handle.

So, to sum up what I’ve been neglecting to blog about in March, here we go in photo form.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

This was the first dinner I attempted. Probably not the best idea. It was a good recipe and I allllllmost pulled it off, but I have no experience baking chicken. I left it in there for the amount of time the recipe called for, but I apparently over-cooked the chicken. The crust was still totally yummy, but the chicken itself was really tough.

Broccoli cheese soup

This recipe was great. I’ve never made soup before (did I mention I’ve never made like…anything before?) So getting the flour base down and all that was a challenge. But the soup turned out great. I even heated a couple frozen pretzel rolls to go with it. Success!

I am also taking a beginner’s sewing class this month. It’s been very interesting, and not nearly as intuitive as I thought it would be. This is the pattern I’ve started out with. I had no idea it had so many pleats…and pockets…I’m still working on it. I have all sorts of dreams of making purses, dresses, etc. etc…

Blueberry Snack Cake

I made this delicious blueberry snack cake. It was pretty easy, even for me. Definitely yummy.

Essie nail polish in Tart Deco

I’ve also been really obsessed with coral lately. I got coral shorts, two coral tops, a pair of coral shoes, and finally this light coral polish from Essie. It’s going to be all the rage this spring/summer I swear (I hope). See my coral treasury:

‘A touch of coral’ by LazyOwlBoutique

Coral Bracelet Coral Je… jewelrybycarma… $98.00	Salmon Pink Jersey Infi… IskraAccessori… $18.00	Vintage Coral Corning C… Madeinthe50s $20.50	Red, coral and peach sa… thepaisleymoon $12.00
Mini Ruche Bag in Sea C… jennyndesign $212.00	Coral Lattice Print Pil… MiCasaBella $78.00	SALE Salmon Wrap Bracel… CitrusMangos $24.00	Coral Ocean Beach Sea P… ZeppiPrints $48.00
Womens Clothing Top Cot… FineThreadz $32.00	Coral Rose Ring – Adjus… sweetie2sweeti… $5.99	Wristlet Clutch, Coral … AppleWhite $27.00	Little Coral Chandelier… NestPrettyThin… $25.00
Dogwood Mother’s Da… ThePaperMenage… $4.00	Salmon Coral Necklace -… WildflowersAnd… $44.00	Scandinavian door photo… JessPetersonPh… $30.00	1950s Skirt – Quilted F… ragsfeathers $45.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Moving on….

Chicken lasagna

This was big-time for me. Chicken lasagna! The recipe was actually not too difficult, just very time-consuming. I used a grocery store rotisserie chicken for it. I also did not use any of the low-fat versions of the 270 cheeses that went into this recipe, I went with the real deal. But the husband loved it! I will admit, I was pretty impressed with myself for pulling it off haha.

Turquoise and yellow chevron earrings

Over at Lazy Owl, I posted a new collection of handpainted metal feather earrings. They were really fun to make. I’m definitely into bright, happy spring colors right now.

Pasta salad

For some reason I’ve always been in love with the idea of pasta salad. Plus, a couple days after I made chicken lasagna, I thought a pasta salad would be nice and easy to make. I didn’t realize it’d take me an hour just to chop up all the dang veggies. Also, I seem to have no concept of how much food a recipe makes in the end, so we ended up with about 2 pounds of pasta salad. Luckily, it turned out to be pretty good.

Oreo and peanut butter pie

Omg, the weekend after my husband’s birthday, I made him this oreo peanut butter pie. It was seriously SO GOOD. And easy enough for me to handle. This was the first time I’ve ever made a homemade oreo crust, which was basically just melted butter and crumbled up oreos. I’m pretty sure I’d like a pie that’s just all oreo crust. That was the best part…

Hunger Games Mockingjay inspired wire wrapped ring

I also bought my tickets to the Hunger Games yesterday; we are going on Saturday. Super pumped! I will admit to buying a few of the Capital Couture nail polishes as well…I’m hoping they come in before the movie.

Last night I attempted chicken, mushroom, and spinach quesadillas. Everything went fine until I put the finished creation into the skillet and attempted to flip it with a spatula. Disaster!! I cannot flip quesadillas. Most of the filling ended up on top of the tortilla. But it still tasted good!

Today I’m tackling sloppy joes! So as you can see, I’ve been keeping busy, and it’s been all good. I’ve really enjoyed the feelings of creating and providing. It feels good to take care of someone (and myself). What have you been up to this month?

Handmade Louisiana

Today I had the honor of being selected as Handmade Louisiana’s Shop of the Day.

Handmade Louisiana is a group of artisans and crafters from Louisiana. Even though I don’t currently reside in Louisiana, it’s been great to re-connect with that distinctive Louisiania “feel” via the internet.

The group consists of so many talented people! Follow us on facebook to see different shops and items being featured daily. You can also check out the HML blog.

Also, check out this awesome HML treasury inspired by my candy cane bunting necklace!

‘Red and White’ by TrappedInTimeDesigns

Inspired by LazyOwlBoutique’s amazing Bunting Necklace

Red and white bunting n… LazyOwlBoutiqu… $24.00	Red House in Snow 5×7 (… magnesina $10.00	Mermaid Paper Doll – A… theFiligree $9.00	Vintage Red and White C… PageScrappers $50.00
Car Wash – Hand Spun Th… FridayStudios $31.00	Toy Leash Tether Strap … JoshandTeo $10.00	Funky Earrings, Red Whi… WildWomanJewel… $18.96	1950’s Vintage Dres… VintageFrocksO… $120.00
Big Top Ring – Red and … WildWomanJewel… $13.43	Vintage 80s top t shirt… moonandsoda $29.00	Red and white leather C… Quistt $40.00	red and white .vintage…. thevintageclos… $125.00
Red, white, and blue ba… allthingsforba… $26.00	Bakers Twine Red White … VintageThriftS… $26.50	Red Pillow Covers TWO 1… PureHomeAccent… $32.00	Set of ten red and whit… ratbeankat $12.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Thanks for all the love today yall!

Pinterest: I Tried It! Antique Rake Jewelry Holder

This pin has been on my “Organization Inspiration” pinboard for quite some time now:

rake jewelry holder

I get dressed and accessorized in my bathroom. The problem is, all my jewelry holders and boxes are on the dresser in my bedroom…not exactly a long walk away, but my favorite pieces of jewelry tend to wind up on my bathroom counter, so while getting ready I usually just pick up whatever is around in the bathroom. Thus, I frequently neglect all the fun jewelry that’s sitting in the jewelry holders in the bedroom nearby.

I liked the idea of this antique rake jewelry holder because I can utilize the limited wallspace in my bathroom to hang some more jewelry in there, and then I’ll be more likely to wear more of what I own, since it’ll be right there in my face!

I didn’t have any cool antique rake heads lying around, so I decided to buy myself some since I liked this idea so much. I found not one, but two awesome rake heads for sale on Etsy at thejunkman.

After bothering my handy husband to attach them to the wall, I went to town hanging all my necklaces. Here’s the final result (I apologize for the awful shadows):

The silver single pearl, antique gold knot, and fabric rosette necklaces are all from Etsy.

The two long strands of pearls, large teal crystal,bird’s nest, and purple gem necklaces are all from Etsy. The aqua necklace is similar to one I have for sale in my shop.

I think now I might add a length of twine or ribbon across the top of the rakes so I can hang even more dangling earrings in here. Exciting!