More interesting finds

Marketing is tough. Especially when you have a product that bunches of people are selling. I have found that selling in person is much easier than over the internet because the purchaser gets to pick up a necklace, a bracelet, or a pair of earrings, put it up to her face or arm and see whether the colors will work. She can both see and feel the quality of materials and worksmanship. Nothing on the net even comes close to that in order to make selling easier.

But I know enough from marketing, a subject I studied a little in college, being that I was pursuing a degree in accounting, that it takes exposure, lots of exposure. And on the web, the "lots" is expotentially larger.

So in pursuit of exposure, I joined Entrecard the other day. There's been buzz about Entrecard on various social networks to which I belong, but frankly it befuddled me. However, because of the searing Texas heat, I had a bit more time on my hands indoors so I finally investigated Entrecard and its concept and signed up. I was pleasantly surprised ... it can be fun. Exploring other peoples' blogs and seeing my blog views jump has been a thrill. Whether that will translate into sales still needs to be seen, but at least there's additional exposure. If you haven't checked into Entrecard, and you're a blogger, the widget is somewhere to your left ... look for the picture of whoever is advertising on my blog for the day with the black outlined yellow banner that has an E followed by the words "GET ONE." If you're on Entrecard, please drop your card. I do investigate the blogs that drop cards on mine.

Of course, this exposure is causing me to wish I have "moderation" of comments turned on! I need to see if I can adjust my settings on Blogger.

Speaking of exposure, our weekly Skwigglezine blogger to be featured is Michelle of Michabella Creations. Check out both her blog and her website! She does beautiful work. And yes, while the world may take the view that she's competition to me, I know that there's room in any discerning woman's accessory wardrobe for more that ONE jewelry designer just as she buys various labels of clothing, shoes and handbags. Frankly, I'm proud of my association with other talented jewelry designers.

Picture for the day ... earrings! These lovelies are available here in my Etsy shop. They are only $12 and they are made from 14k gold-fill and genuine Swarovski (watermelon color ... not the official color name, but the one I know how to spell and they are the color of watermelons!). I haven't readjusted the price to take into the consideration the large increase of gold prices that has occurred since I bought the 14k gold-filled materials I used to make them! Back then, gold was selling around $750 an ounce. It's now around $930. My dollar isn't buying as much gold-fill chain as it did last year!

I've stumbled upon another interesting social/business site that I just signed up for today ... it's called Zenzuu and it's still in beta testing. But google it, check it out, and if you want to sign up, click here. It claims to kick back advertising revenue to it's members (80%) rather than pocket it all like other popular social networks. Sponsoring other members earns more for you ... yup, social networking gone MLM. It costs $0 to sign up, all commissions paid will come out of advertising revenue. I'm not sure of the exact business model ... it is a multi-level marketing entity, but hopefully I'll either figure it out or it's posted somewhere on their site.

Multi-level marketing often leaves a bad taste in people's mouth when they hear or say the phrase, so there's a more PC version: network marketing. Either way you say it, it is what it is, and it's not a bad thing. It's NOT a pryamid scheme because in MLMs there's a product or service being exchanged. Pyramids are entirely cash transfers with nothing to take out of them, and they are illegal just about everywhere. But the MLM business model is legitimate and is one of those things that you'll get out of it what you put into it. Nothing is free, nothing is gained by sitting on one's rear end. I liked Zenzuu's message in its terms that you'll have to actually do some work if you want to see results.