Making Progress

May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I hope all the mothers and nurturers out there had a wonderful day with their friends and families. I had a wonderful day spent with my mom, husband, and daughter. It was a day of extremely blessed emotional happiness.

The last few days have been incredible for me. I finally accepted that I CAN do what I set my mind to. I conquered what I felt was a big hurdle called PHOTOSHOP. I’m not sure why I made it get the best of me but I was able to finally sit down and embrace the creativity that came to me, and boy did it.

I was able to list 3 blogger templates in my design shop. Let me tell you folks there are more to come! Not to mention I have some new ribbon designs I’m launching in the next few weeks in the etsy shop. I will make the announcement here so you’ll be the first to know.

I just wanted to shout it from the roof top that I’ve finally made progress in my life and it is great!

Have you made progress in yours? Please post below I would love to hear from you!

Happy Monday!

Filed Under: General

Cha Cha Changes

May 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Hello folks.

I wanted to finally update my blog that’s been neglected for well over a month. Over two months ago I had promised myself that I would consistently blog here but I didn’t keep that promise (hangs head down). I felt like I painted myself into a corner by how I defined this space on the web. I’m not sure why but I tend to complicate things that don’t need to be complicated. I wanted Shop Girl Speaks to be an advise blog about retailing and other related topics. I wanted it to be serious and business like. I placed so many restrictions as to what I thought I should blog about that I didn’t even blog.

I have another blog where I talk about my weight loss journey but honestly it felt like it was my wah wah diary. I felt all I did was complain and list my failures. So I’ve decided to make some changes here at SGS.

SGS will feature all facets of my life. Whether I’m working on a new craft project, designing a new website, venting about an experience in my life, or showing you a coveted office space, I will blog about it here. This space will be the hub of what happens in my life, good, bad, or indifferent.

The only thing constant is Change.

Filed Under: General

Workspace Wednesday: Home office

March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I don’t know about you but when I get to my desk I want to feel like I can conquer all the tasks for the day. If my office space isn’t organized then I feel very counter-productive.

This new series will spotlight work spaces that I find inspiring. Mind you my office space is beige with a side of beige. So many of the work spaces you’ll see here will be bright and colorful. One day I hope to have a colorful workspace I can share with you. Until then, enjoy!

What work spaces inspire you? Post below!

Filed Under: Blog, Workspace Wednesday

Setting a Standard

March 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Establishing how you run your business practice is vital when developing your brand. One important step is to set your company standards. Setting your company or brand standards can be anything your want to be known for. A clean shop, friendly staff, up to the minute designs, pricing, ecetera.

What ever you decide you want your company to be known for you must communicate that to everyone who works with or for you. It is way to gain respect for your brand. Let me give you an example. Think about when you go shopping at your favorite store. What is it about that store that you like? What do you dislike?

Examining the things I like about a store; for a clothing store knowing items are in size order is a plus for me. I typically wear an extra large so I naturally go to the bottom of the stack of tee shirts or the back of bar on a 2 or 4 way rack for the larger sizes. Given that the shop standard is to size their items from smallest to largest from front to back or from top to bottom. It makes finding my size very quick and easy. This to me is one way you can make your customer’s experience a very easy, simple, and pleasurable one. Imagine how frustrating it must be when your customer is trying to locate an item but she is unable to find her size because a standard hasn’t been set. Now she has to rummage. That may discourage her from visiting your shop again if she knows she has to hunt for her size.

A great store that features standards is Sephora, the cosmetic store. Their shop fixtures are called gondolas, that is the fixture that makeup can be found on. One standard is to feature the “tester” or “try me” item in front of the sale-able product that is located behind it. It would be kind of awkward if the tester of an item was found BEHIND the sale-able product. The customer would have to reach behind the product to try it out. Best thing is to have it front and center. The other standard is tagging the item as a tester so the customer is informed that there is sample of the product to try without having to open up sale-able product to try before she buys.

Another standard is to feature a station at the end of the gondola. Each station provides the customer with a mirror, makeup remover, alcohol, mascara brushes, cotton rounds, facial tissue, and a trash receptacle. This prevents the customer from looking around aimlessly for the items she needs to remove the lip color she dislikes.

If you haven’t set standards for your shop start today. Sit down and develop of list of things you want your brand to be known for. You may work alone to come up with a core list and then present that list to your team if you want their feedback. Start with the exercise that I mentioned above. Think about your favorite shops and why they’re your favorite. This is a great foundation for establishing standards. Once you have your list of standards implement the no cost ones immediately. It could be as simple as having a greeting, sizing, colorizing, or setting a cleaning schedule. It doesn’t have to cost money, be complicated, or stressful. You will find that setting standards will change staff and customer behaviors, minimize confusion, and help with communication.

What are some of the standards you’ve established for your shop? Please post your comment.

Filed Under: Blog, Merchandising

Must have Plugins for WordPress

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
If your site is build on WordPress this is a great infographic to ensure your site is working at it’s best.

Infographic: WordPress plugins 101

Must have plugins for WordPress by WordPress Jedi

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media

Pin your way to the Top

January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Follow Me on Pinterest

If your on the web as much as most of us you may have heard about Pinterest. The new social media addiction. I want to share with you how you can increase traffic to your site, Facebook page, or blog with this powerful social media website.

The other day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Peanut Butter Fingers. Julie posted an at home circuit workout that I thought would be a great idea to “pin” to my board. From there I linked that image to my blog and within 24 ours my page views went from 12 at best to 481 page views!!!

You can harness the power that is Pinterest by linking your Pinterest page to your website, blog, or shop. People find inspiration everywhere and why not post what inspires you so your customers can see where a design originates. I would advise however to minimize self promotion with your Pinterest account. Let your Pinterest account show your customers, fans, and admirers a different side of you and drive traffic to your website.

Below is a sample of what it looks like when you post a pin to your blog.

A great way to start with Pinterest of course is to sign up for an account if you haven’t done so already. Once you’ve created your account you will create boards. Example board names would be color, fashion, home, art, you get the idea. I would create board names that inspire you to create your designs. If you’re inspired by birds, or patterns, or whatever well create a board for that. You’ll build a list of followers that will follow all or some of your boards.

Here are simple steps to adding content from Pinterest to your website:

1. Log into your Pinterest account.

2. Go to your Boards page.

3. Select an image or “pin” from one of your boards. Don’t worry if you don’t have any pins. Click the Pinterest logo at the top of any give page then select “Popular” located below the Pinterest logo. I’m sure you’ll find something there. If not select one of the specialized boards and “Re-pin” or “Like” an image.

4. On the image or “pin” page you will see a series of links on the right side of the image. You will select “Embed” this will create a popup with a HTML code.

5. Right click on that code. It will automatically select all the text. You will click “copy” from the menu that appears.

6. Paste that code into a blog post. And Whalah! Now you’ve shared your image with your blog readers or website visitors.

Please be warned that Pinterest is quite addictive. I guarantee you’ll spend more time on there than you planned.

I would love to know if you’re already a “pinner” on Pinterest. Post your Pinterest URL below so I can check out what inspires you! Happy Pinning!

Filed Under: General, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Social Media Cheat Sheet

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Filed Under: General Tagged With:

Happy New Year

January 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Hello fellow shop owners!

I hope this new year has found you starting off on a new foot! Have you prepared for this year? Mapped out your strategy? Have well defined goals? If you haven’t no worries I’m here to help. Please post below to let me know what you would like to learn more about. I’m here to help you succeed!

Shop Girl

Filed Under: General

Step 7 and Beyond: A beginner’s series

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Welcome to my New “Getting Started” Series. This series is perfect for the new shop owner that has a great looking website and now needs traffic and sales. I am going to focus on building traffic for the next few blog posts, so sit back and relax.

Driving traffic to your website can be quite a daunting task. As I mentioned in my previous post there are many simple ways you can drive traffic to your site. Do you have a blog? Twitter account? Linkedin account? Facebook page? If not then you need at least one of them. Preferably a blog, you can share your life, expertise, and most importantly your store and products with your customers. They can give you their feedback and you can follow through by responding to comments and interacting. Your blog can be a vital tool in building your business and your brand.

Okay so you have your new store and you have mediocre traffic, you want to know a good way to get some traffic to your site? Giving you two cents worth. Yes that is right jumping right into the conversation is a vital key to business growth. Not only on your blog but on someone else’s. I must confess I love to read other people’s blogs. Just like I love watching house hunter’s on HGTV or a “What’s in my bag” video on YouTube. Okay with that being said, giving your opinion allows you three opportunities. The first one being the opportunity to network with like minded people (including potential customers) interacting with the blogger, and lastly the opportunity to list your website on their blog (yes, a direct link to your blog…hello? traffic!). I am not sure if you know but the more sites that link back to your website/blog the higher you go in the Google search engine ranks! So get out there and interact.

So how do you start if you have not read any blogs that are relative to the same demographic as your site? Do a Google search. Search for terms that are relevant to the product or service you offer to your customers. Do you sell baby items? Search for Mommy blogs, baby blogs, and the like. Once you find the blogs you like leave a comment. Then sign up for the RSS feed for the comments and the blog. You will receive email updates to any follow up posts to your comment. See it is that simple. Of course this is just the beginning but it is a start to what you would call a marketing plan. I will go into depth about a marketing plan at another time. I really want to focus on the importance of having a blog and interacting with others. This is your opportunity to become a Social-lite, move over Paris! ;-)

Next blog post will be about other opportunities for you to interact with your customers and to promote your website. Let me know what you think. What do you do to get the word out about your website? Leave a comment! I appreciate your feedback!

Filed Under: General

Aren’t you tired of the 6 steps of getting started?

February 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Not sure what I am talking about? You know when you are shopping around for a website template and the web designer’s site lists the 5/6 steps to “Starting your business.” Uh, hello? There is a bit more than just 6. Here is step 7 and beyond…

Now I am not being a Debbie Downer, or a Jealous Jenny. All I am saying is that there is more to starting a business than just 6 steps. Where is step 7 through infinity? I mean really folks. Plenty of these websites just want to sell you a service or product and that is just fine, but there is more to it than just those six. It’s almost like you go on a tour of the Grand Canyon you stand on the edge and your tour guide mentions that if you put on your sunglasses and lean over you will get a great view! Uh okay!?

Let me be the first person to help you TRULY get started on “Starting your Business” this is the first day of the rest of your life, er business! ;-)

Once you have your shop set up with the pretty template in place, how do you get your customers to your site? Uh yeah that is a crucial step don’t you think? There are many different ways to get traffic to your site. Let’s get some of the obviously simple ways out of the way. Okay you “pros” you may know this step but the newbies out there do not. Let’s help them out shall we? Yes, lets!

Simple ways to drive traffic to your site:

1. Tell someone, tell everyone! Okay so you are shy and you don’t want to get in someone’s face. That’s okay. That takes us to the next step.
2. Start a Facebook fan page. Face it folks whether you love or hate Facebook it is here and it is a tool you should utilize to grow your business.
3. Set up a Twitter account. It is truly easy! Be sure when you are choosing your twitter name that is the same as your business name or very close. This is one rule of branding.
4. Print it on your business branding products. Business cards, letterhead, clothing tags, shopping bags, etc.
5. Join a Top sites list. Have you taken advantage of this little gem? There are many top sites lists out there that are waiting for you to add your banner and your business information. Most of the time it is FREE! yes I said it FREE! Now there are some Top Site administrators that sell spots on their Top Sites page that you can choose to invest in but most of the time just submitting your link is enough. We will get into details of submitting your site to a Top Sites website at another time.

Whew! That should get you started. I know, I know you are probably saying. Well duh Shop Girl I already knew that! Okay so if you already know it have you applied it? Huh? Why not double check and come back for the next installment of “Step 7 and beyond!

Filed Under: General, Getting Started Tagged With: ,
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