Today this little blog turns 2! And it’s surprisingly a big deal. I guess I never thought I’d actually stick with it this long. A large part of that is because of you guys. Yes, this is a valuable creative outlet for me, but without knowing that -miraculously- there are people out there reading it, I know it would’ve fallen by the wayside a long time ago. As one of my Twitter buddies said the other day, the best part about blogging is having so many people that you’ve never even met get you. Even in this age of over-sharing and super-connectivity, it can sometimes feel like no one is seeing past the surface or really understanding you. Realizing that fellow bloggers and readers actually get excited about the same little things and have the same kinds of problems to deal with – it’s kind of amazing. So, thank you, for visiting and reading and following and commenting and geeking out with me over fun things. You guys rock. 😀
That being said, since I kind of just charged full force into blogging and running an Etsy shop, I didn’t really sit down at the beginning (or the middle…) to figure out how I wanted things to run, and what I wanted them to be. So I had a sit-down with myself and sorted some things out. So here are the announcements I’ve been hinting at all week:
1. I am doing away with sponsor ads. I’ve been offering sponsor ads for a year and half, and quite simply it hasn’t paid off. And I never really came up with an interesting way to feature sponsors in posts. I know no one reads the sponsor round-ups. I don’t read sponsor round-ups. And more often than not I didn’t get responses to the sponsor questionnaire in the first place. Nor did I want to offer a guest post spot to each sponsor, because, well… I’m a little possessive of this online space. I don’t want it to become all sponsored/guest posts. So as of today sponsor spots are going bye-bye. I will probably still buy sponsor spots on other blogs that I want to support, but most likely I will point the ads to my shop.
2. I’ll be offering blog design services! You may or may not know by now that my day job is as a graphic designer. And I’ve been meaning to start offering my services in the blog world as well as the professional world. So now I will! Whether you need a button, a new logo/header, some business cards, or a whole new look for your blog (WordPress only at the moment), I can help you out. I should have my new design services page up and running this week. In the meantime, you can email me for more info if you’re interested.
1. Made to Order Shirts
As much as I love the variety of playing with a million different color combos for the t-shirts in my shop, sales-wise it just doesn’t make sense. And with one of the brands of shirts I was using, the seasonal color options (while fabulous) are very short-lived and not available after a point. Which makes it hard to do requested custom orders when the person needs a different size than the one I had printed. So I’m transitioning more towards made-to-order shirts, using a brand I know I can consistently get stock from. I’m still working out all of the details, but a listing in this new style would look like this. A set style, with set ink/design options, but your choice of size. There will be listings that focus on the style of shirt (like the example I linked to) and give you design options, and there will (eventually) be listings that focus on a certain design, but give you shirt color options. This is going to be a work in progress over the next few weeks/months, as I figure out what styles I want to offer and print up examples. There will be men’s options as well as women’s; I know I’ve kind of neglected the menfolk options up to now. But yes! That’s the plan, and I’d love your feedback on this idea/move, if you have any.
2. Updated Paper Options
I was already offering made-to-order prints, but I’ve now updated/expanded the paper options. The all-custom options will remain up, and I’ll also be offering listings where there are set color choices to help people browse for what they want. I don’t have any of these ready to go yet, but an example would be a listing for Midnight Owl, where you have a choice of silver ink on black, white on navy, black on smoke, and black on teal. These should be hitting the shop in the next week or two. (pesky thing, having to have examples already printed in order to have photos for the listings)
3. No More Tote Bags
I am also phasing out the tote bags. I’m just not feeling it anymore. They’re a pain to print, and don’t seem to have generated a lot of interest. So once my current stock is all printed and gone, they’re gone. To see what’s left and snag one at discount prices, see my new:
4. Sale Section!
Part of cleaning shop is off-loading older stock. Some select shirts and all of the tote bags have had a few dollars taken off, and are available for immediate purchase at this discounted price in the new sale section. This section will probably be added to/updated pretty frequently as I transition to the more made-to-order focus.
5. Coupon Code!
And if all that isn’t enough, to celebrate 2 years and all of these new changes, I’m offering a coupon code to my shop for the whole month of June! Use code WOO2YEARS for 15% off your order – good on ready to ship, made to order, and custom items!
So, that there is all of my bloggy and shop news! If you made it this far, you’re awesome. Now I’m off to do weekend-y things. Happy weekend!
