E vs. Artfire experiment Comparison 3-25-10 3:30pm

OK. I have bumped both threads now and still have not made any sales. Checking in with the view comparisons on the two previous pieces and looking at the third just to see if the "promotion" I am running has in fact increased traffic.

Garnet and Amethyst

Etsy~ 26 Artfire~ 79



Carnelian pendant

Etsy~ 24 Artfire~ 48



Vintage rhinestone and briolette pendant

Etsy~ 8 Artfire~ 36 today, exactly the same as yesterday.

Hmmmmm.....

Experiment update 3-24-10 12:39pm

So, I have posted about the special I am running in both my shops on my Facebook page. I put links for both shops in the status post. This evening I plan to Twitter both shops equally with the special as well.
Let's see how the views are stacking up.
Garnet and Amethyst piece
Artfire~ 75 Etsy~ 26

Carnelian pendant
Artfire~ 46 Etsy~ 22

I also added one more piece to my Etsy shop that is also listed in my Artfire shop. I am just doing this to offer a little more variety to the experiment and see if adding a new piece and then offering a special would increase it's views.
On Artfire, its been listed since March 9th and has 36 views. I listed it on Etsy yesterday and it has 6 views so far.
Let's continue to see how this goes.
I need to add my Etsy shop to my Google Analytics today too.... just to see how they compare.

Jewelry party research

I have been wanting to start hosting handmade jewelry parties in my local area for a while now. I picked up the idea reading about the idea in the Artfire forums. It hadn't even occurred to me to try it. And then I started to ask myself questions about the idea.

In my quest for answers, I took it to the forums. I began asking as many artisans as I could about hosting or being hosted for handmade jewelry parties. I wanted to get an much information about it as I could.Some of the things that were plaguing me the most were how high the attendance for these kinds of parties was and also what the host/ess got in return for hosting.

The answers I got varied quite a bit. The incentives for the host/ess of the party ranged anywhere from 30% of the party sales in free jewelry to 15% of the party sales in cash. Most of the artisans I spoke to offered a percentage of the sales in credit towards their product. I was planning to offer a dollar amount in credit on jewelry in my studio as an incentive.

I also inquired about door prizes. This was interesting. Some artisans said yes, absolutely offer 2-3 door prizes for those attending. Some artisans were very much against offering door prizes but instead offered sale rpices or coupons at the door. I was planning to have 3 door prizes available and do it raffle style. For each additional person a guest brought, I would give them one more ticket for the raffle.

The guest list is usually comprised of friends, family, and co-workers of the host/ess. However, i found that alot of artisans also send out invites to those customers on their email lists in the area. This greatly ups the attendance of the party. That average of invites per party was about 50 and the actual attendance was about 20. I have a much smaller base to invite... closer to 30 people. However, if each of them brought one friend... that could up the attendance significantly.

The one piece of info that was most encouraging to me was the average amount of sales made at each of these parties. Every artisan I asked about this said they made anywhere from $400-1500 in sales! WOW! I can only HOPE my first jewelry party sales are that high. Even at the local craft shows I do I only make about $200.

I plan to host the first jewelry party at my own home to get the ball rolling. Other artisans say they offer a in home party at least once a year and can get additional bookings from that show. I also feel this would be the most welcoming way to introduce my friends and work colleagues to my work as well as the idea of hosting my jewelry in their home for their friends, family, and colleagues. I was going to try and do this party next week already but no one seems to be able to attend and I discovered I had a conflict as well. I am hoping to reschedule for the week of Spring Break and/or the week following.

So, there you have it. All the information I collected about jewelry parties. Its not a lot but it gives you an idea and it definitely encouraged me to try giving a handmade jewelry party in my are.

I would like to take this moment to thank all the artisans who contributed information to my jewelry party research:

TimelyImpressions http://www.artfire.com/users/TimelyImpressions

catinalife http://www.artfire.com/users/catinalife

BAKidagain http://www.artfire.com/users/BAKidagain

girlseattle http://www.artfire.com/users/girlseattle

Tali's Creations http://www.artfire.com/users/talicreations

If I have left anyone out, please let me know and I'd be happy to add you. It was hard to keep track of all the answers I got since they were so spread out across the forums and various emails.

Breaking the ice.

I have decided, after lots of Facebook plugging and some research.... that the best way to entice people to host a jewelry party featuring my jewelry is to throw the first party myself in my own home. I can then show the ladies how I put together certain kind of pieces (not give away all my secrets but give them a taste), explain how I do custom orders, let them paw through my supplies and current stock and also explain to them how I intend to run my "jewelry parties". I think this might entice some of them to offer to host parties for me. I am also hoping to get on my laptop while they are here and show them around the Artfire site. This will help not just my studio but Artfire in general. I bet most of them have no idea exactly what Artfire is. Its a win/win situation. So next Tuesday I'm hoping that there will be a small flock of ladies in my house pawing through my things. Guess we'll wait and see.

Jewelry Party Offer

I have decided to run a special for the people in my immediate area and even those who might not be close by but would be willing to work with me on this. I am offering to do jewelry parties with my creations. I will offer the host/hostess $30 credit to spend in my studio for simply hosting a jewelry party featuring my things. For every $50 in sales I make at the party, the host/hostess will earn another $10 credit. I think this is a heck of a deal!

I am also hoping to collect information from other artists who have done something similar in their areas. I'll combine my experience and knowledge with that info and write a complete blog about throwing handmade jewelry parties. My hope is that by compiling the information I might be able to help out other jewelry artists considering this idea.