getting some help -- and where to start

ok -- so the holidays are over, and it's time to start thinking about your shop for 2014.

let me be honest with you right up front - - i need a break.  lol.  i am hugely grateful for the growth in my shop this past year, but a little down time sounds nice too. ;) let me also say, early on in this new journey together -- i don't have all the answers -- i'm learning like everyone else.  my plan for this blog is to share some things with you that i have found helpful -- but it is a TEAM blog -- so the team should be involved in it.  i hope to have plenty of opportunities for you to share what works for you and others can give it a try.    please remember - on the team page on etsy there is always a monthly discussion thread for help with any questions or advice -- the light is always on, and a pot of coffee ready.

anyway -- lol, went off on a tangent ;)

so today i went in to my shop and looked around - deactivated a bunch of christmas items (do you leave them up all year???) switched my banner -- and decided to look around at my settings and such.

if you haven't done that in awhile you may want to start there -- is your shop taking advantage of the free google ad placement?  do you have your facebook and twitter accounts linked up?

then -- for the heck of it, i clicked on the etsy apps  i haven't looked around in there in some time -- there are lots of things to play with and look at -- some are free, some are paid services -- some may be helpful, some a waste of your time --- but there are lots of things to check out -- tools to help manage your shops - to help in promoting --emailing customers, you name it -- you can probably find it.

in the comment section below -- or on the team discussion thread -- what outside apps, programs, etc do you use to help with your shop, with promotion, etc?

one of the apps i like to use is buffer.  i see from looking at the etsy app page that there are other sites that do this too --- basically, you can go into this app and set up tweets, and facebook posts to post automatically.  this was helpful for me during the busy christmas and holiday season -- i could sit down and write the posts all at once - and set the time and day, and not have to worry about it.

so -- are there things that make life a little easier for you -- share them below! :)

until next time -- happy handcrafting :)

--d