Interview with Etsy's HOOLALA Jewellery

Posted on March 19, 2012 by admin

I was able to pin this busy founder of Hoolala down for a short interview. Today we chat with the extraordinarily talented Sam Jones of Hoolala from Lancashire England. Sam has one of the most successful shops on Etsy and is years ahead the curve when it comes to branding. Her creations are unique and Sam knows how to incorporate the latest trends into her designs. Thanks to Sam for taking time out her very busy schedule to share her process with Becklee blog. Be sure to "like" her facebook and follow her tweets.

God Save the Queen

1. would you give us a brief history of Hoolala?

I have always made things as far back as I can remember. I can never find anything I like in the shops I want to buy but I am a huge fan of handmade and vintage. I used to wear my designs to meetings when I was a graphic designer. At one meeting near London a client said ooh I love your bracelet and I said I made it myself. They commissioned me to make a collection for one of their spas which turned in a collection for 4 of their other therapy rooms - the collections sold out twice and my business was born! A year later after I had developed my ideas one of my pieces was picked up and featured by The Sunday Times Style Magazine and I haven't really looked back since.

2. We have been running a series on branding, How has branding effected your business?

I started my brand in 2005. I always knew what I wanted the business to look like and in my minds eye it was always going to be iconic which was a union jack, red post box and a little red bus. Which which were all familiar images and objects from my childhood. When I started Hoolala no-one was really using the union jack apart from the top end designers such as McQueen, Westwood and Galliano who were and are all huge influences on my work and they represent real British talent. Now the union jack it is everywhere and it is getting to fever pitch as we are in a Jubilee and olympic year too! I think that the icons I have used are instantly recognisable all over the world and that was important when I was designing the corporate ID for my brand.

3. Your designs are so unique, how do you deal with plagiarizer's or theft of your designs?

Thank you. Well that is a really good question. I do have an IP lawyer and I always email the plagiarist first to point out that their designs are stolen. The problem is the internet is a huge place and it you can tie yourself in knots emailing non existent companies to cease and desist and this is very costly. I have started to use a lot of vintage parts in my work which makes it much harder to copy pieces. Also I find people who deal in antiques and vintage a very interesting bunch they are so friendly and have great stories to tell. I love my weekly trips to the local flea market where I spend most of my time these days.

hoo2 291x300 Interview with Etsys HOOLALA Jewellery

4.What bit of advice would you give to someone just starting out? In relation to branding your products.

I gathered 5 of my favourite objects which would represent the look and feel of my brand and developed my logo from there.

Visualise how you want your customer to see you. Getting it right first time round and it will save you a lot of time and you will look professional from day one. It took me 12 months to research and develop my brand and logo and it was certainly time well spent.

Think about your logo and how it will look 1. online 2. on a business card 3. on packaging 4 on an avatar etc.

Keep it simple.

Choose your corporate colours and fonts then stick to it so you look professional and people will begin to recognise your brand if you have consistency - think of coca-cola and how iconic that logo is. it hasn't really changed in the last 50 years and is instantly recognisable all over the world. It is simple and has impact be it on a pin badge or on a huge bill board poster.

Don't spend huge sums of money on printed letter heads, comp slips and business cards. If you business is handmade I think you should reflect that in your branding - I love handmade business cards and always keep them on displayed on my pin boards and around the studio.

5. Please list all the places that we can find your products. Photos are welcome too.

All over the world! From UK, Moscow, Japan, USA and online. The best place to see new things are either on my Facebook page search hoolala jewellery or www.hoolala.etsy.com.

How To Install Google Adsense To Your Website Gem Cocci

Posted on February 27, 2012 by admin

I have posted on this topic before but I like the way he lines it out. From Gem Cocci at http://www.overwhelmingtraffic.com

google adsense How To Install Google Adsense To Your Website Gem Cocci

The first thing you must do is to acquire a domain name and web site hosting to run your own website or you can try registering on a blog site. The next thing you need to do is to learn how to access and use your cPanel (control panel). Once you’re in your cPanel you are going to look for the program that will install the WordPress platform onto your website so you can operate a blog from it. If you’re having a hard time with this procedure you can simply look for online videos showing you how to find the WordPress installation program and a tutorial on how to install it or you can get a blogging software to install it for you.. There are plugin’s available for your WordPress blog which are going to help you optimize your website in order to make you achieve web traffic (site visitors). One example is the All In One SEO Pack plugin, this is going to ensure you that your every post is optimized properly. Another very important plugin that your website need is the Google xml sitemap plugin. This plugin will create a new sitemap each time you add new content to your website so you don’t have to do it manually. Once you have created your blog and you have all the necessary plugin’s installed, you’re ready to add your Google Adsense blocks into your blog. What you need to do is to make an AdSense Ad, also known as the Wide Skyscraper. Google will supply you with a code that you can put right into a widget to be able to add this advertisement into the sidebar of your website. Now you can start creating content for your website and be able to post it. Most important is you can then include Adsense advertisements inside the content of your post. When positioning the other two Ad blocks you won’t be using skyscrapers, instead, you need to create a square or rectangle Ad and place one at the top of your content and one in the middle. Your web contentsor blogs must be updated every day and you must look for strategies to drive traffic to your website.

About Gem Cocci Gem Cocci started out as a blogger who loved to write about anything and everything that she found interesting! A few years ago she stumbled into one of Tim & Anthony’s sites and was introduced to the intricate world of SEO andinternet marketing. She is now one of the main writers in several of their blogs.

check big How To Install Google Adsense To Your Website Gem Cocci

shareshare

Technorati Tags: branding, computerhelp, marketing

Branding: Using Pinterest- Get on the Train

Posted on February 14, 2012 by admin

If you are serious about marketing you and your brand, it's time to jump on the train. I have resisted because I thought it would die out. But it is getting stronger everyday and will pass Tumblr very soon. My mantra when talking about marketing is that we shop with our eyes first and Pinterest is all about the images of the items that you like and want to share.

This is a great article about it http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/02/06/the-marketers-guide-to-pinterest/ Here is my Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/beckleecottage/ I can already see the value of this site. My name brand BeckLee Cottage is there for SEO, I can see pins and links to other sites. That will give me exposure and continue the links with other people. This may be bigger than anyone ever imagined. Well the developers imagined it but the rest of us may have not. I had an invitation a long time ago and just deleted the link. Now once I wanted one I had to get on a waiting list for a week. I got an invitation the other day. One of my favorites Etsy shops the Silvermagpies is already using it on her own branding. Let me know what you think about Pinterest. I would love to know. best BL Here is another article that gives more info on Pinterest.

Technorati Tags: Asheville, beckleecottage, branding, Etsy, marketing, pinterest, seo, socialmediasolutions

Branding Series Part Seven: Domains and Hosting

Posted on January 24, 2012 by admin

Sorry it has been so long since I have written. My social media jobs have been keeping me busy but anyway. I wanted to talk to you about setting up your own domain on a blog. I suggest WordPress.org. I planned on going through the process step by step but found this wonderful set of videos by Steven Downward. He has a series of videos that will lay out the process very nicely. You might watch the entire series as he also explains how to set up a hosting account and set your name servers. Domains and hosting. I found his site to be one of the best for WordPress information. So check him out and next post will be about posting content on your blog. best BeckLee

Technorati Tags: bluehost, branding, computerhelp, Etsy, godaddy, hostgator, stevendownward, Tuesday Feature

Branding: Facebook Storefront and Goodbye to Etsy

Status

Greetings Friends

On my last post I posted an article from Mashable on selling on Facebook. I want to talk further about that concept as part of our series on Social media solutions and branding. As some of you know I am closing my Etsy shop after being a part of Etsy for the past 3 years. I have met some wonderful people who will be friends for life that I will keep in contact. However. all of my sales came from BNR's and other Etsy folks. which is not bad. To stay current it is constant attention with very little reward. My traffic from Google was meek at best after looking at my Google Analytics in-page analysis and other reports I found that most of my traffic was from inside of Etsy and the rest from facebook. So... I needed to focus elsewhere. My blog/facebook get 5 times the traffic of Etsy. So I needed to focus my energy where the traffic was landing..right! Which is more about branding then the products.

The issues with Etsy for me is that it is so large and unless you list items every few minutes the chances of showing up in any searches were very slim unless you sell something very unique. The problem I found with the searches, if you sell say sterling silver earrings, how many returns will be pulled up on the Etsy search or from Google. Thousands,that is why I have been harping on branding for so long. If you have a brand that is getting noticed on Google you will have a better chance in the searches to be found by your brand name instead of your item listing. To illustrate my point I will use the brand Coke, if you searched for brown fizzy liquid or brown carbonated beverage, the site for Coke might show up or the word cola would be a better bet. See what I mean? Of course Coke has spent millions to brand their product Coca Cola as has Pepsi Cola.

A few months ago I wondered onto a fan page of Biker Chic Jewelry. I commented on something on her page and she mentioned that she sells a lot on Facebook, what! you sell on facebook? She told me about the Store Front AP and away I went. Which leads me to the point about Etsy, once Google algorithms search changed to relevancy on Etsy it was all downhill. Not just for me but for many of my Etsy friends, who have been with Etsy since its inception. Etsy is a complicated path to navigate. you may get found in Etsy relevancy search which may bring up thousands of items with the same keywords. What I am attempting to say if you brand yourself, you have a better chance of getting traffic sent from Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.

From the Mashable Article about using facebook for sales of crafts and products. With more than 500 million active users on Facebook, there are more potential customers using Facebook than there are logging into eBay and Amazon combined. Most of these users don’t see the site as a purchasing platform, but more and more businesses are adding an option to use the social networking site to browse and buy their products. These four Facebook apps offer flexible options for adding a storefront to your business page.

So I don’t want to bash Etsy as it is a fine place to place your crafts for sale and there are some wonderful people on staff. For me I needed to look for other avenues. If you get the chance pop over to my facebook storefront. I have a few items for sale just to test the waters. Recently I took a course in SEO- (The Challenge) and learned how to tag and use keywords to market online. I found that I could get my sites indexed and ranking number 1 in Google easier than I could sell a pair of earrings on Etsy shop. As they say my 2 cents worth on this subject.

thanks for stopping in

BeckLee

Technorati Tags: beckleecottagedesigns, bkerchicjewelry, branding, Etsy, facebook, feature section, linkenin, marketing, socialmedia, socialmediasolutions, twitter

BeckLee Cottage Designs

Social Media Solutions for Small Business