Studio Mothers: Life & Art » results

Kelly: Taking chances?

Kelly — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:09:17 +0000

I got a call about a week and a half ago from an internet marketing company. It was Friday afternoon, nearing dinnertime so the girls were following me everywhere as I tried to take the call, but I held on and listened. This isn’t the first time this has happened. I’ve been contacted by internet marketing companies in the past telling me they came across my website and thought they’d be able to help me market the site better, and therefore hopefully, bring in more business. This has never interested me much because, between my arts festivals and my random website and Etsy store sales, I honestly have about as much business I can manage while also holding down a full-time career, raising twin five-year-olds and playing around with other art mediums. I think I’ve held off on any real marketing because I was afraid of what it might bring; sure more steady sales would be a nice bonus, but more sales might also mean I might have a hard time keeping up! I suppose that is not a bad problem to have…to a point. But still, I listened.

This guy had done his research. He knew my site well and seemed genuinely impressed with my work, the layout, the photography and the navigation. Overall, he truly liked the site. He said he found me on the 24th page of a Google search for “artisan jewelry” while doing some research for another client. And yep, he was right; very few, if any, people are going to find me on the 24th page of a Google search. One of my goals for my jewelry business this year was to investigate more internet marketing opportunities, and maybe he just caught me at a good time. He offered me the search phrase “lampwork jewelry” at what I thought was a pretty reasonable rate. I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, so he gave me some examples of other clients he represented and the search phrases for them, and I checked them out while I was on the phone with him (the benefit of having broadband internet service!). After talking to him for about 30 minutes and pulling up his business online while I was talking to him to make sure he was truly legit, I finally bit the hook. So, now what, you ask? Well, enter “lampwork jewelry” into your Google search bar and see what you get. It only works for Google, but Google is pretty darn popular, don’t you think? Only time will tell if it’s worth it or not, but it’s month to month and I can cancel at any time so I figured I’d give it a few months and see what happens! Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are just around the corner.

Miranda: Chapter 3 finished

Miranda — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:21:01 +0000

I’m seriously surprised that I finished another chapter, given that I got sidetracked this week with messy client projects and reading Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and now Robert Olen Butler’s From Where You Dream. (The books are interestingly related, and have had a significant impact on me.) I don’t know if my chapter is any good, but I wrote to my outline and the words are there. It all came pretty organically.

The magic want in my icon is not to imply that I’m a brilliant, creative magician, it is intended to illustrate that my fairy godmother (a disco queen, apparently) saved my creative bee-hind. It was actually yesterday that I thought to myself “Crap, I am supposed to be finishing another chapter this week!” Since I seem to have fallen into a rhythm of posting a new blog post on Fridays (as that’s the day I try to save for writing) I knew I had little time to get my act in gear. But I did, and have sent the intro through Chapter 3 to a new reader for review. (I’ve also figured out that sending sections for review is a part of having a “completed” draft–or at least, completed enough.)

I wish I’d kept the book a little more in the forefront this week, as I might have had better results, but at least I met my deadline–which is the whole point, at least for now. Get the thing written, incorporate feedback along the way to make sure I’m not delusional, and then, once it’s completed, go back and make it good.

While I’m on a streak: for next week, Chapter 4.

Miranda: Fruitful weekend

Miranda — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:10:31 +0000

Weekend was a success. Yesterday managed to get through a bunch of things on my household to-do list and spent Toddler’s naptime camped out in bed myself (luxurious 2.5 hours), cozily writing thank-you notes, writing in my journal, and starting a new sketch. (Yeah, OK, I had total trash TV on in the background, sound turned low…) During naptime today, I made good progress on Chapter 3 and made some revisions to the earlier content based on a reader’s feedback. Still have some Sunday-night tidying up to do, but the weekend was a good mix of productivity and fun (went out for Mexican food last night with six kids in tow, and fit some reading in too).

I hope everyone else had a few rays of creative sunshine this weekend!