Tara Gentile, my friend and fellow blogger, is releasing a new interactive workbook & e-book called Storytelling For Creative Biz Success.

By using this guide, you will be able to create engaging content for your websites, blogs and shops – including an about page, product descriptions, blog posts, and more – from personal stories, useful information, and keywords in your niche.

Besides that, this product will also help you improve your web copy without hiring a professional copywriter!

If you pre-order a copy from now until May 25th, not only do you get a $14 discount, you also get instant access to the Introduction & the Creating an Effective About Page chapter!

I decided to put my money where my mouth is and implement some of Tara’s teachings for my own about page for Justine Smith Media.

Tara has a special (and very powerful) formula for creating your about page. Here’s how my about page shaped up after implementing Tara’s teachings:

Hi, I’m Justine Smith, creator of Handmade Marketer, the blog that helps creative people grow their craft businesses. I’m growing a business too, care to join me?

After my daughter Azura was born in 2008, I vowed never to go back to my dead end job again. I dabbled in anything creative, from sewing to handmade cards to jewelry design. By some stroke of luck (or was it marketing genius!?) I found success marketing my handmade jewelry to retail stores. Within a few months of launching the business, I was in 12 stores and growing. While the experience was incredible, my interests and ideas led me to blogging and by January 2010, I was successfully making a full time living with my accidental freelance business. Besides running Handmade Marketer, I blog for Outright & Meylah as well as consult for stresslimitdesign.

Here at Justine Smith Media, I can help you grow too – I offer video editing services for your tutorials and vlogs, social media consulting for your brand & business and SEO tweaking for your website and blog. I also share tons of free information about growing a creative freelancing career on my blog.

When you’re ready to take your business to the next level, I’ll be there to guide you along the way – from one freelancer to another.

Tara’s new interactive workbook/e-book Storytelling for Creative Biz Success comes out on June 10th but if you pre-order it now (until May 25th), you get an entire chapter to dissect and implement, plus a $14 discount!!!

… Or why I’m going to stop.

Twitter is my favorite social media tool by far. Better than blogging. Better than Facebook. Better than forums.

It’s so easy to use and anyone in the know uses it to network. When I use to sell jewelry and tweeted as Plume Adore, man was I doing it wrong. I would just write things like:

Taking Azura to the park

What color bracelet should I make today?

New listing added to Etsy (link)

What a maroon! It was ALL about me. Now that I tweet from a different perspective I am here to tell you that being a selfish tweeter is not going to get you ahead and may even SET YOU BACK.

With Twitter there is an 80/20 rule. You give 80 percent of the time and take only 20 percent of the time. By give I mean things like replying to other tweets, retweeting messages, asking questions (not related to your own company), providing help to other user’s questions and in general, just being SOCIAL. By take I mean sharing your own links or talking about yourself.

I constantly see people complaining that Twitter is not effective or it’s a ‘waste of time’. You don’t even need to spend more than a few minutes a day on it for it to not only drive traffic to your shop but more importantly, get noticed by people who normally would not notice you. For instance, you may never get a response from someone you pitched yourself to but if you start replying to their tweets with relevant comments/feedback, they may just remember you the next time you submit your work for consideration!

Things that will annoy people:

• Tweeting your own links constantly

–> This pisses people off and it doesn’t matter how many followers you have. I really prefer the tweets of people who are linking to funny, interesting or OMG articles and when they throw in their own posts/items, I’m happy to take a look.

–> There is an Etsy seller on Twitter who has over 30,000 followers and she just pipes out her own damn product links. Now I did a test and replied to the first question I saw her ask in weeks. I ended my answer with a question to see if she would respond but big surprise, she NEVER did. That’s not someone I’d ever want to follow again and the worse part that she probably doesn’t get, I would never ever purchase from her or recommend her products. She is ’selfish’ in my eyes and that’s not a good look you want for your own business, ya know?

• Asking people to retweet all your tweets

–> You can surely ask for a retweet when it’s important to you but if you ask for one every single time, it’s going to dilute your influence and brand.

• Never replying, retweeting or helping others

–> I use to always wonder (while tweeting as Plume Adore) why I never got retweets or replies but it was simple, I NEVER did replied or retweeted. The funny thing, I felt shy, like not wanting to ‘bother’ people with responses but that’s what Twitter is ALL about.

For more tips on Twitter, go sign up for Handmade Marketer ACTION tips here.

I got word recently that a new online website launching very soon is looking for jewelry designers who are interested in wholesaling their work.

The new site is catered to plus sized women so if you make jewelry and can accommodate larger sized pieces for this website, leave a comment here (make sure your shop URL is in the website box).

I will keep you posted on all the details closer to the launch date!

scoutie girl

Just a quick note to say I’m the newest contributor of Scoutie Girl, a blog with a penchant for the passionately handmade!

I will be writing a weekly pop culture inspired post filled with tons handmade goodies! I was telling Tara, Scoutie Girl’s editor, that the biggest reason I desperately wanted to contribute was because I needed a ‘getaway’ from posting about business related topics.  I am super excited and hope that you will stop by often and check out all the happenings at Scoutie Girl.

Later today my first official post will be up, My Handmade Oscar Party!

Project Wonderful is an amazing way to drive traffic to your handmade business but what if you thought outside the box and came up with more targeted ads and campaigns to help your business in the LONG TERM.

For instance, say you advertise your Etsy shop. Potential buyers might click and have a look around your shop but chances are high they will not buy immediately and here’s why:

• They don’t know you/you don’t have their trust
• They may not be signed up to Etsy
• They may be overwhelmed with the variety of items

Now say you changed things up and advertised ONE item and when they clicked on your Project Wonderful ad, it went to the item they saw in the ad. It would eliminate the “overwhelmed feeling” and if they are an Etsy buyer, they may very well purchase the product.

But what you wanted to capture people who don’t know you?

Easy: send them to a place they can get to know you better and BUILD TRUST with them so in time they will want to buy your products.

Try making ads geared toward advertising your:

• Twitter Page
• Facebook Fan Page
• Giveaway
• Blog Post
• About Me Page
• Helpful Tutorial
• Youtube Video

You can spend just 30 cents a day and find new blog subscribers or facebook fans by simply driving traffic to a spot that you can let people see YOU.

Not sure how to use Project Wonderful? Here’s a simple How-To Video:

Yes I realize this is a very simple how-to but it’s important for those who do not have a Facebook Fan Page to see how quick and easy setting one up can be. If you are not already taking advantage of this free and effective promotional tool go out and get started after watching this video:

When you get yours up and running, stop over to the Etsy Business Community’s Facebook Hub and leave a link!

Here’s a quick video on using TwitSeeker to find like minded folks for your Etsy Business:

Not using Twitter? Check out the quick start up guide here.

Is it possible to network and have fun at the same time? HELL YES!

If you are an Etsy seller, you need to head over to the Forums. You may think it’s a waste of time to sit around with other sellers gabbing about low sales, critiquing other shops and chatting about your Starbucks coffee (which I did this morning!) but in actuality, these moments increase your exposure, sales, hearts and you will gain valuable advice at the same time. Did I mention my very first Etsy sale came from a forum conversation!

Take Friday for example. I had the most visitors to the Etsy Business blog after I spent a little bit of time starting new threads, responding to help questions and chatting away about various things happening in Etsy land. Today I have already set my highest visitor record thanks to my morning forum chatter. The photo below shows that in the span of 30 minutes, 11 out of 20 clicks came from forum visitors:

One thing worth mentioning, DO NOT go into the forums if you have any major work to do first. Get that stuff out of the way or use the forum for break time. It can become so addictive that people forget they are suppose to be crafting, photographing, listing and SELLING.