Wow, is it already November 1st? I often grumble at the fast passage of time, especially when we’re veering ominously into the colder months, but I’m really freakin’ excited to welcome November this year. I think that really being in a “shopkeeper” state of mind is part of it – I’m super stoked about marketing my products for the holidays. Frankly, it’s really cool to know that some lucky people will be ripping open wrapping paper on Christmas day and [hopefully] oohing and aahing over something I’ve made!
After several months of planning, I’ve made some decisions that will help my shop grow, and today many of those decisions kick in.
1. We’ve Moved! Janery is now on Etsy.
The new storefront. We'll have a better shop header loaded in a day or two.
When I launched Janery this past spring, I created my independent shop website using BigCartel. It had a lot of great benefits, and I thought it might brand me better to have my own independent shop site rather than being part of Etsy. But I wasn’t totally in love with the off-the-shelf design it gave me (and I don’t know enough HTML to get back into the code and customize it) and my $10/month subscription to BigCartel limited me to displaying only 25 items in the shop, max. And I quickly realized that if I love creating unique, repurposed items (like my Sunny Sweaters or my one-of-a-kind “Suit Up” recycled wool pillows) I’m going to need a lot more than 25 slots.
Sure enough, over the last few weeks my assistant Julia helped me list everything on Etsy, and we’re up to 44 products in the shop already! And more are coming, just you wait. . .
Want to find me easily? Just type www.shopjanery.com into your browser.
2. I’m Advertising
You usually can’t grow a business quickly without a) a miracle or b) advertising, so I opted for the less dramatic choice of the two. I’ve been advertising on IHeart Organizing (my fave organization blog, by far!) since day one, and have advertised on my favorite food blog, Peas & Crayons, but today launches my two new advertising campaigns that will hopefully target a new market that’s never heard of me.
First, I’m now a sponsor at Honey We’re Home, a beautiful design blog run by Megan, whom I met at Blissdom last year. Second, you’ll also spot a Janery ad in Emily Henderson’s Holiday Guide, which I believe is supposed to launch today.
Both of these advertising ventures are very exciting, and I’m curious to see how they turn out.
The only problem? My ad for the Holiday Guide will say www.janery.com – and eve though I went into my webhosting account and set up a “redirect” so that Janery.com takes you to my Etsy shop, it doesn’t seem to be working.
Now, I have some questions for you:
There are detailed many factors that went into my decision to migrate Janery to Etsy, vs staying on BigCartel or creating my own independent website (which I started to do). Would you like to hear my take on the pros and cons of the three options in another post?
I took my time analyzing and deciding on advertising venues, as well as preparing my shop for advertisements. Would you like to know more about what went into all of that?
Let me know in the comments!
12 Comments
I would be interested in hearing your reasoning.
And I am definitely going to have to bookmark your Etsy shop! One of these days I will be able to spend $ on decorative pillows and I am so coming to see you first!
This is such an exciting move! I’ve tried to use Etsy before and I’m not a huge fan. So I’d love to hear your take on BigCartel and why you decided not to go with that.
Wow, you were sick a few weeks ago and then BAM you have a million things you’re working on and accomplishing. I’m impressed and glad you are feeling better. Love all that’s going on in the house & with your business. Wishing you BIG success at Etsy. I think it’s about time I do another Etsy roundup of my favorite shops, staring Janery on my blog. 🙂
Wow, how exciting! I’m so happy for you with how the shop has taken off! I would love to hear your thoughts on Big Cartel vs. Etsy. I don’t plan on doing anything in the near future, but some day I would love to open an online shop so I would definitely like to hear your thoughts! Good luck with the new ad campaign!
Exciting! It’s so interesting to hear about how you’re doing this stuff!
I would LOVE to hear about the whole process of switching to Etsy (and I’m so glad you did), and I’d also enjoy hearing about your advertising decisions!
Oh, and I have a question for you… I remember your explanation for why you chose the name Janery for your business, but I’m curious why you chose to have a different name for your business than your blog. Most people choose to use the same name for both.
Hey Juleen! Thanks for asking, it’s a great question.
I have been blogging at The Borrowed Abode for 2.5 years now, and the business / shop came long after that. I started my blog hoping to focus on decorating my rental, and the name fit for that. I didn’t feel like that name worked well for a business that was primarily handsewn home accessories, so I decided to go with a different name altogether. I played around with SO many ways to try and tie the two names together better, but didn’t come up with much. I did eventually change my blog header so that it is just like my shop branding at Janery.com . I figured that that would help.
I realized during the process that I liked talking about business topics every now and then, so I decided to add those topics to the blog, even though the title is about the decorating aspect.
I hope this helps explain it all!
-jane
I’d love to hear about it!
Jane, I always love hearing the thoughts that go into your decisions. You are a power house. I can’t wait to see what you’re going to accomplish in 2012.
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congrats Jane!!! I love your products and I’m excited about all of your changes to grow your business! Heading over to check out all of your amazing products! 🙂