My Twitter Do’s and Don’ts

I’m fairly new to the Twitter world but have been there long enough to develop a list of rules for myself. I realize my list is probably different than your list, but mine comes from the experiences and interactions I’ve had so far. 

Quite frankly, the primary purpose I’m using Twitter is to promote the items I’m selling in my Zibbet and Etsy shops.  While I realize that most of the people with whom I’m interacting on Twitter are using it for the same purpose and are not my target buyers, this 2013 Rank Correlation Study from Searchmetrics shows the importance of using Twitter for better positioning your website in Google search results.  To quote from the white paper, “well-ranked URLs have many shares, likes, comments, plus ones and tweets.”

So, my list of rules has developed with that mindset and the realization that I don’t just want followers, I want quality followers.  It seems that for every DO on my list, there is a DON’T.

       1)  DO tweet several of my items throughout the day.

    DON’T tweet them all at once or continually.

        2)  DO follow those who have the courtesy to follow you.

    DON’T follow everyone – take a look at the profile and make sure the person is not a spammer or tweets content that is offensive to you and/or others.

        3)  DO retweet those who retweet you.

    DON’T retweet those who very obviously schedule their tweets in advance and never log on to Twitter again.

         4)  DO promote people and venues whose success is tied to your success.

    DON’T promote people who engage in controversy or drama.

I’ve looked into services which allow you to set up automatic tweets, but I haven’t been able to convince myself that it would be a good idea for me to use one.  I’ve seen too many people on Twitter bombard others with the same tweets over and over all day long – and I know they’re using a service.  In addition, they never bother to retweet the tweets of anyone else.  I will not continue to follow someone who does that.

I also don’t continue to follow people who, while they constantly talk about promoting a particular selling venue, never follow you even though you have followed them and retweeted their tweets and you are tweeting from the venue they talk about promoting.  And if they have followed you, they may unfollow you even though the majority of what you’re tweeting promotes that particular venue.  These folks tend to be very insular.  They usually promote only a select few from one venue.  But I have found that most of the promoting of my items from one venue comes from people on other venues.  And I’m going to return the favor even if I don’t list on those venues or I don’t like the venue.  Not liking the venue has nothing to do with supporting the sellers who have supported me on Twitter.

And then there are the people who seem to thrive on controversy and drama.  I stay as far away from them as I can, even going so far as to block them so I don’t see their tweets when I’m searching for a particular term or venue.  I do not want my business associated with their drama. 

There are some great people to follow on Twitter, and I've very much appreciated those who take the time to promote others as much as themselves.  Even though I don't say thank you very much, I hope you know that I am thankful every time I retweet one of your posts.

Read more ...

RESOLVED: Improve my photography

At the top of my list of resolutions for 2014 is a goal to improve my photography.  Every time I look at my pictures on Zibbet, I cringe.  I so admire sellers who are able to take clear and cohesive photos for their shops.  I've tried and tried to improve my pictures but it's hard to do that when I don't even understand my camera.  So part of improving my photos was also a resolve to learn more about my camera and how it operates.

If you're like me, you don't head to the manual - you go to Google.  Google is one big manual, right?  At any rate, I think I looked through at least 50 different sites.  Unfortunately, I found that most writers assume the reader has some knowledge of photography and her camera.  So, what they said made no sense to me.

But then I found this series "31 Days to a Better Photo" written by a professional photographer.  As I started reading, I knew I had found a winner - even though the second entry urges you to find and read your camera manual. :)

The series is worth reading in its entirety, although some of it was over my head.  What I came away with was an understanding about shutter speed, ISO and aperture - how they work together and how you use them to take pictures WITHOUT FLASH (she says you should never use flash, even for inside photos).  She also talks about white balance and something called a histogram.

Of course, I needed to apply what she had said about those concepts to my camera, so that's when I got out my manual.  I learned how to control the aperture on my camera and how to control the ISO.  I also know how to change the shutter speed and white balance.  I've learned that I need to keep the ISO relatively low in order to keep the noise in my pictures to a minimum.  And I wanted to use the histogram as a way to keep my pictures from being over or underexposed.  I learned that my camera does not have a histogram to use when the picture is being taken but does have an exposure indicator which I can bump up or down depending on the amount of exposure I want.  Something else I learned is that photo editing software will also have a histogram.  I have a Mac so I use iPhoto to edit.  I never really paid attention to the graph I was seeing but I'm now controlling all my edits using the histogram.

Because I shoot all my photos indoors, I also purchased two of those big aluminum reflector lights at the hardware store.  I saw this recommended on another site.  They were relatively cheap and I use daylight bulbs in them.  They have clamps so I can put two chairs next to my photo area and clamp the lights to the chairs.  If I want to keep the lights from reflecting in whatever it is I'm photographing, I put a piece of tissue paper over the front of the light.  The other thing I've tried is to use tinfoil as a reflector to get more light where I need it.  I just wrap a piece of cardboard with the tinfoil and place it where I need more light and less shadow.

I am also trying to take most of my photos in front of a window.  This really helps I find when I photographing glass.

I have a long way to go.  For instance, I still have my camera set on auto for white balance.  I know I'll never be a professional.  But I believe the photos I've taken since I learned more about my camera are a great improvement and make my shop look more cohesive.  Take a look at these befores and afters:

Austria pedestal vase with birds and roses

Fenton charleton vase magenta leaves on green overlay

Pair of roseville gardenia bookends

Read more ...

A Vintage Christmas

If you love vintage and antiques as much as I do, you’re on the hunt year-round for vintage Christmas items. Lately, I’ve been finding more of those on Zibbet. If you haven’t had a chance to stop by Zibbet, I highly recommend that you do so. More and more items are being added daily, and the selection is getting better by the minute.

Here are some of my favorite vintage Christmas items currently for sale on Zibbet. Whether you are looking for an elf, a Santa, Christmas jewelry, or home décor, there’s something for you. Just click on the picture to go to the item.

I’d also like to encourage you to visit these Zibbet shops which sell lots more than just vintage Christmas:

Any Old Time

Heirloom Angel

Om Again Vintage

Wildlifegardener

Spanky Luvs Vintage

Sweetie2Sweetie

Selections by Susan

Dixie Dime Store

Cozy Attic

Touching the Past

Read more ...

A love of vintage quilts

I love quilts – and obviously, I’m not the only one.  Every time I go to an estate sale, it seems there are one or more quilts in the house.  And the more age the quilt shows, the more I love it.  There is nothing like the softness of a vintage quilt.  You just know it has been well loved by its owner.  Some of the vintage quilts I see are crudely stitched, but beautiful nonetheless, and some have such fine stitching that I have to look really closely to see that it was indeed hand sewn.

I have a quilt that my grandmother made for me when I was a child.  It’s packed away now but I used it in my room for many years and will pass it on to a family member at some point.  Sometimes I wonder how family members can give up what I consider to be a family heirloom but maybe that’s because we don’t have many heirlooms in my family and I’ve always envied those who do.  To be able to connect with previous generations through those pieces of history has to be so satisfying.

I’ve added a few quilts to my Zibbet shop recently.  I found a hand sewn crazy quilt at an estate sale and almost kept it for myself.  It is not Victorian, but is lovely nevertheless.  There’s nothing to match a Victorian crazy quilt, in my opinion.  The amount of work that went into the embroidery and the colors and fabrics that were chosen created works of art that are unsurpassed.  But the crazy quilt I have has all the lovely bright colors, and I love that the maker used old ties mixed in with velvets and silks.  The quilt would fit a twin bed or would be wonderful as a coverlet on the back of a couch or daybed.

Vintage crazy quilt

Another quilt I have added to my shop is thicker and would work on either a twin or full bed.  The colors in it are primarily blue and yellow but there are also some pinks and reds.  The hand sewn quilt is in really great condition.  There is some fading on the back and a couple of stains on the front but you have to look really hard to see those.  

Vintage blue and yellow quilt

 

I have a handmade pink quilt which would look perfect in a girl’s room.  It has morning glories embroidered in pink, purple and blue.  

Vintage embroidered pink quilt

 

And I think this pink pajama bag which I also have listed in my shop would look perfect sitting on the quilt.  I had a red pajama bag just like this when I was a child many, many years ago.

Vintage pink pajama bag

 

I also have a couple of quilts which could be used for young children or babies.  One has bunnies appliquéd on it.  This quilt is so soft.  The other quilt has nursery rhyme pictures embroidered over stencils.  The nursery rhymes are Jack Horner, Boy Blue, Red Riding Hood, Bo Peep, Miss Muffet, and Peter Peter.  Both quilts are adorable.

Vintage bunny quilt

Vintage nursery rhyme quilt

Read more ...

Cha-ching for Zibbet sales

The one thing I knew that I would miss when I moved from Etsy to Zibbet was the cha-ching from the app anytime I made a sale.  So, I started searching for possible ways to achieve that on Zibbet and came across this video: http://media.macworld.com/media/vodcast/mwvodcast158-boxcar.m4v
 

In the video, the speaker shows the use of an app, Boxcar, to set up alerts on his iPhone or iPad, using a filter in gmail.  He associates a sound with the alert he has created.   There are many sounds to choose from including “cash” which gives the cha-ching sound I wanted.

I followed the instructions on the video and didn’t have any problems.  In the beginning, I had the filter set in my gmail account to “zibbet.com.”  So, I was hearing cha-ching anytime an email came in from zibbet.com.  But last night at 3:20 a.m., the cha-ching coming from my iPhone woke me up - I had made my first sale!  So, I was able to add to my filter the subject line from the email alerting me: A sale was made on your account.

Hope some other Zibbet sellers will find this information useful as they transition to Zibbet!

Read more ...

Great Zibbet finds for holiday gifts

Zibbet is a real handmade marketplace which in addition to handmade, also offers vintage and supplies.  I had opened my shop on Zibbet in 2012 but just recently started stocking it.  I'm loving the many options which are available for customizing my shopfront including:

• the ability to add widgets
• different banner sizes
• customized colors
• as many sections as I could ever want or need and the ability to put my items in more than one section

I also love the options for offering coupons and gift certificates, sales, and vacation mode.

Zibbet has grown very quickly in the past two weeks.  That means the selection of items available for gift-giving this holiday season is going to be outstanding.  Here are some favorites I've already found:

Polymer Clay Red Tribal Zentangle Earrings from Fantasy Clay

Bunny Bracelet Moonglow Beads from Rabbittude Buntique

Rainbow Kawaii 3D Nail Art Creation Kit from SaburKitty

Holey Chenille Cowl from All About The Buttons

Green leather wrap bracelet from Glamming beads

Blue and red space and planets mini beaded spine book from Glass Map Books

Genuine chalcedony pendant gold filled necklace from Exquisite Studios

Ice cream soap from Norma's Bath

Read more ...