Managing an Etsy Shop and a Blog While on Vacation

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I spent last week on a cruise to the Bahamas, and boy oh boy am I finding it tough to get back to work.  The head cold I brought home with me isn't helping much.  I don't get sick very often so when I do I'm a pretty big baby about it.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you guys how I handled the shop and the blog while I was away.  I think it's a bad idea to broadcast across the internet that my house will be vacant for a week, so I didn't really mention it before we left.  I'm sure an industrious fabric thief could have figured out that I was gone and ransacked my stash, but why make it easier? 

I managed to completely avoid the internet (partially due to the fact that I haven't bought that smart phone yet), but I didn't completely abandon things either.  It did take some advance planning - I was SUPER busy the couple days before our trip.

I typically post twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.  We left for our trip on Sunday and came back Friday evening, so I wrote two blog posts ahead of time - a book review and a tutorial on embellishing a wooden tray.  Then, I set Blogger to publish the posts Tuesday and Thursday, like so:

• After finishing your post, click "Post Options" at the bottom left of the editing window.
• On the right side under "Post date and time", click the "Scheduled at" radio button.
• Enter the date and time you want the post to publish
• Click the orange "Publish Post" button.

There you go, easy as pie!  I will admit, when I wrote the first one I was afraid to click the "Publish Post" button.  I ended up going back and publishing it when I wrote the second one.  A good way to check and see if the posts are scheduled correctly is to go the "Edit Posts" section (where all of your posts and drafts are listed) - the ones you scheduled will have a scheduled to post date instead of saying "draft".

Once I took care of the blog, I moved on to getting my shop in order.  I added a line to the very beginning of my shop announcement (at the top of every Etsy shop) that stated I'd be away from the shop from October 3rd through the 8th.  I added a similar note to the message to buyers that is automatically sent by Etsy after every purchase.  You can edit both of these in Your Etsy under Shop Appearance.

I also didn't want to completely abandon renewing items.  I recently read about the Statsy Clockbot in this Etsy forums post, and it's AWESOME!  You schedule listings from your shop to renew on a date you specify, down to the time.  It even has a pop up list of all your listings (with thumbnails!), making it super simple.  Typically I list new items or renew twice a day, but while I was on vacation I just scheduled one renewal a day at my peak traffic time (9 am).  It was so easy and fast.

Now that I've tried out all these automating tools, I think I'll take advantage of them more often.  I typically have the most time to sit down at the computer after the kids go to bed, so I'm thinking I should plan on writing blog posts at that time and just scheduling them to post later.  I'm pretty sure I'm late to the scheduling blog posts party, but I'm totally on the bandwagon now.

This post got a little out of hand - thanks for sticking with me!  Here's the obligatory taking-a-picture-of-ourselves-on-vacation shot for you!

PS - If you're looking for a good book, I read The Lonely Polygamist while we were gone and it was really really good.  I must have read a review of it somewhere (probably People magazine) because evidently I requested it from the library, and as luck would have it it showed up right before we left.  Loved it.

Last Minute Craft Show Prep

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Yesterday my wonderful sister-in-law watched my kids all day so I could get some stuff done for the Rocky Ripple Festival.  I know I've said it before, but it is amazing what I can get done in an empty house!  I got everything tagged and ready to sell.  I also made some cute aprons - whatever's left after Saturday will go up in the shop next week after I bribe my little model with suckers.  I couldn't help but make myself a little apron to wear while manning the booth too.

I do have to run to Cash and Carry and pick up bags for those hundreds of sales that are surely coming my way.  I've been trying to prepare myself for the worst and hope for the best - even if I make (God forbid) no sales, at least it's practice selling at a craft fair, and it's getting my name out to people.  The weather is supposed to be beautiful - sunny and 72 - so if nothing else, I'll get to enjoy being outside all day.

Today I'm going to pile everything I need in the kitchen so Kenny can help me load my car tonight.  I went through this ridiculously comprehensive list yesterday and made my own (somewhat) shorter list of things to bring.  Let me tell you, I love a checklist - they make me feel organized.

Disappointingly, my SEO experiment seems to be headed toward failure.  My views are back down to where they were, and yesterday was even slower than normal.  It may be a combination of factors, though - yesterday I didn't add a new listing until almost noon, and my traffic peaks at 9 am.  Then, I was having Photoshop issues and didn't get my second listing up until 6:30 or so.  I'll give you a more detailed recap next week.

This weekend will be slow for views for sure - I'm going to put my shop in Vacation Mode Saturday so I don't have to worry about selling something on Etsy while selling the same thing at the festival.  For those unfamiliar to Etsy, Vacation Mode makes your listings inactive for a set period of time so no one can view them.  I'm pretty sure that's going to put quite the damper on my weekend page views.

Speaking of vacation, I'm not sure what to do when I'm actually on vacation.  Do I leave the shop open with a note that I won't be able to respond for a few days?  Or do I put the shop in Vacation Mode?  I probably won't have much traffic coming through when I'm not posting new stuff, but I'd hate to miss a sale.  I know sometimes buyers don't even read the shop announcement, so should I put a note in each listing?  If there are any Etsy sellers out there with advice, I'd love to hear it!

Look out for the Show Recap on Monday and have a good weekend!

Back to work!

Tweet We took a little vacation this past weekend to Cincinnati.  It was the first trip with just the four of us, and aside from a little sleep deprivation for Graham, it really went well.  I'm sorta embarassed to admit that one the main reasons we went there for the weekend was so we could go to IKEA.  My daughter even said, "Can we stay here forever?"  She's my kind of girl!

I have made some progress on my business to-do list.  I ordered sew-in labels and business cards.  I finally finished Handmade Marketplace, and I'm pretty much convinced I'm just going to have to buy a copy.  It has so much good info in at that I can't take advantage of now, so I'd like to revisit it in the future.  I also started on some inventory - a sweet little stuffed toy that is a copy of one I made for Bridget when she was little.

About a week and a half ago I filled out an assessment form on the Indiana Small Business Development Center's website hoping for a little local help on setting up a business.  I'm disappointed to report that I just got an email telling me to sign up for a seminar.  I was expecting some sort of business counseling, but maybe I expected too much?  I'm going to search around some more for some help here in Indy.

I have two birthday parties coming up, so when I got the email that White House Custom Color had press-printed cards on sale last week, I went ahead and made birthday invitations for both little monsters.  Bridget, being a typical preschool girl, wants a princess party.  Graham has no say in the matter (well he says "Buh!" and "Dada!"), so he's getting a space-themed party.  I can't tell you how happy I always am with these cards - I use them for invitations and Christmas cards - and mama loves a discount.

On today's agenda is mailing in my application for a "Doing Business As" license and waiting impatiently for a shipment of adorable fabric!