Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Having a Cottage Style Decorated Home, What do You Have

Having a Cottage Style Decorated Home What do You Have. 

Having those cottage style homes is light, can be airy, fresh, is fun, and is clearly original. Today's style can often incorporate the soft palettes of green, blue, yellow, shades of lilac, and of course pink too. Sometimes you may see things brightened with a brisk color used too. Using pastels for color, some pretty florals, and with some vintage home accessories gives your home that cozy cottage style.

Lace handkerchiefs, lace trims, fragrance candles and some sweet smelling soaps, those comfortable rocking chairs, wallpapers, fabrics are so yummy for the home of cottage styles. Also, sometimes some glassware whether it is clear, or slight coloring that sparkles in the light may be displayed. Picture some of those furniture slip covers that are inviting, some vintage style upholstery, and of course the layers of weathered paint. Gotta love that chippy paint.

This cottage style decorating can surface pretty much anywhere, and with it the attitude is what can also make the house cottage styled. Depending where the house is located sometimes I have seen seaside, shells, and sailboats incorporated with their decor too.

In today's expression of the cottage style is with the thought of flea markets, fresh flowers, vintage patterns, and a little bit of romance with it too. It's a welcoming feeling to all who may visit. 

I love cottage style homes, and hope to have it with our home eventually. It's a working progress. I really do admire the style when I see it in books, magazines, and by many who share their homes with us. Which style of home are you?

Thanks for visiting with PassnItOn, come back often to read, share with us here, and make comments. All are welcome. When in roam visit my LilacsNDreams Artfire Store, and my LilacsNDreams Ecrater Store. Maybe you will find something to fit with your cottage style homes from them.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Blog, Blogging, Blog Pages

Blog, Blogging, Blog Pages . . . . Hello everyone, and Welcome to PassnItOn! Glad to see you here. Why is it when it becomes summer we all kind of slow down with things, schedules we had seem to alter themselves, and know what I mean? LOL:)

Don't take me wrong, I have been checking in with my stores every day, making sure everything is ok, if there are any changes, and all of that. But, during the summer sales do slow a bit with everyone vacationing, camping, traveling, visiting, activities, and so on. I like to take this time to go through inventory at home, clear some things out, clean house a bit more, and spend time with my blogs and my website too. 

When you have a chance, please visit LilacsNDreams Blog. Working on a few changes there, ran into a glitch with having pages with blogger, but has found another way around it. Hopefully it will work as planning on. I noticed another blog tonight, was very nice, a seller from Artfire, and for her pages she had a box on the side bar for her, and had it titled Categories. I had seen this method explained to do when in search of working with pages on blogger. I questioned if I would like it, but got to see how it worked. Not too bad, and I know others are using that way too. 

Anyway, check out LilacsNDreams Blog with blog, blogging, vintage, collectibles, repurposed, and see what is happening with the pages there. See the solution that was chosen in that case, and read why it was done too. 

Thanks for visiting with PassnItOn, and wishing ya'll a super weekend! Have fun, and be safe:)

 

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Vintage, Collectibles, Repurposed, Upcycled, Artfire, Ecrater

Hello and Welcome to PassnItOn!

Welcome, and happy you stopped by! I had been working on different topics to post to my blogs, but have gotten off here just a little bit. When you can, stop by to see my LilacsNDreams Blog. Check out the tabs/pages I have added to it for Thrift Store Finds, Sharing Blog Love, Links I Love, and Coffee House Talk. Oh, yeah, don't forget my website too! I have started to add subcategories to my Blog there like with my main blog. They are all a working progress, have ideas what to do with them, but am not getting them to work fully for me as I need on my main blog. So, will have to play with them a little bit more. 

Visit my Artfire Store for vintage, collectibles, and remember I have started to add some inventory of repurposed, and upcycled items too. Fun! Fun! I do have some things at my Ecrater Store, and will be transferring some products back to that...I hope to have it done this week:)

Hope everyone is surviving the storms, and any flooding where you are. Thanks for visiting, and be safe everyone. Happy Hump Day to you!:)

 

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Seo Used in Blog Blogging Websites


Seo Used in Blog Blogging Websites. Welcome top PassnItOn!

Tonight I am going to cover a little bit more about blog, blogging, and website blogging too. This is kind of a carry over from the blogging topic that was started a few days ago.

There is much to be said about blogging, much to be suggested, and many opinions and suggestions in what to do, how to do it, where to do it, etc. Blog can rank with search engines, and can also be found in searches with topics that you choose to discuss. Each new post is a new web page that searches become aware of too. 

In order to work more with the search engines you need to work with your SEO as well. Keywords, keyword phrases, on line optimization, off line optimization, etc. Use some of the available tools to help you with searching for keywords, and phrases to use. Remember links are good that go out to places that are fitted with your subjects, or links being used. Also, it is important to have backlinks coming to you as well. Those should come from sites of same interest that come to you with their links. 

To see more of a detailed explanation to some of this, visit LilacsNDreams Blog Post about this same issue. A little bit more details were done to better assist you with this topic. Remember you are welcome to comment, leave suggestions, and share things too.

Thank you all for visiting PassnItOn, and Welcome to visit anytime. Happy Hump Day to all. 

 

Friday, June 10, 2011

Busines Blog, Hobby Blog, Money Blog, Pleasure Blog





Business Blog, Hobby Blog, Money Blog, Pleasure Blog. Do we need to blog? Is it necessary to blog? Does blogging really help us? 

Many people blog for many reasons. Business, Journaling, Diaries, Art, to make Money, for Fun, political, groups, and so on. With blogging you are able to meet people, make friends, and find it can be very beneficial for your business or whatever goals you choose to blog for. 

When blogging if you use keywords, keywords in titles, have content, tags, meta tags, links, backlinks, and so on you are better found with search engines. Google likes content, and each time you post it is considered a new web page which also gets attention of google too. 

I recommend reading the blog post Why Blog, Blog for Business or Pleasure or Both by LilacsNDreams, and find out what was all shared there. Gives you some things to think about, and also lets you know that blogging is really a good thing to be doing. 

Thanks for visiting with PassnItOn, and wishing ya'll a great weekend. Take care, have fun, and enjoy!:)

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Storefronts and How Much is Enough

LilacsNDreams Blog Storefronts, and How much is Enough

Hi! Welcome to PassnItOn today! Just stopping by to drop a quick note to ya'll to check out the link above for LilacsNDreams Blog Post. Been getting some good comments, reviews, private messages from Lilacs, noted to Facebook, Noted to Link In, and was noted on Twitter too. Pretty good, huh? A topic that many sellers online can relate to, and know they are not alone with their decisions. Others too face some of the same things. 

Anyway, click the link, and have a look, leave a comment, maybe share something, and have fun. Thanks for dropping by PassnItOn. See Ya!:)

 

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

How Many Storefronts is Enough

Remember that Old saying that many of us see, hear, and repeat to others too. "Don't Put Your Eggs All in 1 Basket"

Hmm....With that thought in mind How Many Storefronts Do You Really Need? Many times we ask this question, it often comes to mind for many of us, and we ask ourselves...Do I need another store? Do I have enough? Will I make more sales if I have another store? How many stores is enough. Will it benefit me? Many questions asked with very good reasons too. 

The thought behind the idea is the more stores you have, the more visitors, more traffic, and all that you will attract. There is no right, or wrong answer for me to offer. You need to find what works for you, and what you are more comfortable with. I am not able to give a single answer to this that will cover all sellers. Many mixed feelings, and ideas about it. Some sellers find that having everything under 1 roof works for them while other sellers feel they can do better if they separate things into different stores. 

First, ask yourself if you should have 1 store per type of product you will be selling, or do you want 1 store with maybe multiple categories. Something to consider depends on the product you are selling. It may not all be for the same customers you serve. Example I will use is selling electronics, and clothing within the same store. Will it work? Is it appealing to you? Try to maybe see it through the eyes of a customer too.

Then, if you have everything into 1 store it might be helpful because you would have more listings, you would have more people coming to check things out, it could bring you more traffic, customer would not have to chase around with stores, and etc. Doing this could make a bit more work with categories to cover everything for products you have to offer, and to help assist customers when they enter store to visit, browse, and shop. My thought was like a catalog you would browse, and shop with. Also, Simplicity. If we can keep things closer together in 1 place then how much easier is that not only for us, but also for the customers too.

So, IF you did split things up into separate stores, how much should you have in each one of them? I have seen, and read it many times. You should have at least 100+ items per store to get descent traffic to stores, and to assist with placements in google searches. I am thinking SEO too. Actually it would help you with any search engine. 

If you have separate stores should you have all stores located with multiple market places. Should you have them spread out with different locations. Consider fees, and time spent doing all of this too. It would really depend on the type of product you are offering, and if it would really be necessary to do this. Ask yourself if is would be beneficial to you.

I do apologize again about not giving you a right, or wrong answer to this. I have seen many people find, and experiment with many things till they find works for them. I see numerous sellers having 1, 3, 5, 10, 12 shops and more too. They have found this works for them. I'm thinking WHEW! I've had 5-6 shops, and did not really like it. Helps to not duplicate things for sale in your stores, but it was very time consuming going from store to store, maintain this store, need this done at that store, and then hold up on doing things because You have to get this order ready for shipment from another store, etc. This item sold, now which store did I have that listed in. Did I duplicate it, and if so, better get it out of the other store as soon as possible so I do not have a double sale happen to me.

I have 3 stores now, and debate if I should still have 3, and maybe 2. I am testing the 3rd store right now, and see if it is one to keep, or if I should use just 2 instead. For me, I will need at least 2 stores because not everything I sell can be considered vintage. Some of it is collectible pieces not old enough to be considered vintage, and therefore cannot be listed with 1 of my stores. So, 2 stores for sure would come into play for me. Some people are at a venue where they can house everything under 1 store. Hey, I did it with Ebay many moons ago, and I did great with it there! Like everything else, time happens to us, and we feel the need to move on.

Well, I hope this little topic is enough to have you think about what you are doing with your store/stores, and if you feel it is the right path for you to be taking. I wish you all well, and the best of luck with all your decisions, and sales of course too!:) Always Welcome to visit PassnItOn, leave comments, and share with us your experiences too. Thanks again everyone!

WildflowerzCottage Artfire Tantalizing Teal Collection


Craft Tutorials

Beautiful Tantalizing Teal Artfire Collection that was curtated by WildflowerzCottage. Such a yummy teal used. Visit Artfire to see this collection with the sellers that were featured in it. See more pictures for the Fenton Green Opalescent Grape and Cable Glass Bowl at Artfire featured in this collection. 

Hope you enjoyed your visit, and thanks so much for visting with PassnItOn! Visit anytime, leave a comment, and share with us here too. 

 

Monday, June 6, 2011

Artfire Vintage Pink Collection Made by Metal_Artistry


Craft Tutorials


Hello, and Welcome to PassnItOn! Glad to see you here. I wanted to share this Collection from Artfire that was curated by Metal_Artistry called Vintage Pink. Don't you just LOVE Pink?! I think this person did a wonderful job showing things of years gone by. Visit Artfire to view this collection, and to visit all the sellers that were included with this collection too. Never know, when roaming around Artfire you just might find something to treat yourself with too. 

Thanks again for visiting PassnItOn! Hope you enjoyed your visit. Always welcome to drop by here, leave a comment, and share things too. Take care, and have a super Monday everyone!

 

Friday, June 3, 2011

Website, Hosting, Shopping Carts, Domains

Hello everyone, and Welcome to PassnItOn! Glad to have you here, and that you could drop by here!


 Here is another topic for everyone to read, for some shared opinions, and to offer what I have read too. First of all, most of this posting did come from my blog at LilacsNDreams too. Asking about Websites, should I have one, do I really need one, it's so much work, really necessary, and they can cost too. Yes, you are right, they can be costly. Depends what you all want to do with it, what your goals are, and how much you would like to spend with it too. 


 It doesn't matter how many storefronts a person has it's a good idea to have a website. The website can serve as your home base, helps with links for your web presences to one another, and can serve as your 'hub' that can direct visitors to your stores, your blogs, and can serve appear as an online business card for you too. 


Before jumping into having a website I would recommend doing some research, and look around a bit. Do searches about websites, see what others have to say, and suggest. Calculate how much you would like to spend for a website. Incude the cost of hosting, your domains, shopping carts, and do you intend to advertise to get your website out there too? Many things to consider. 


What is the best Host, and what should you consider? You need to consider how it needs to be affordable for you. I know Hostgator starts about $3.96 a month, and I see them mentioned often by others using them. The host needs to perform well for you, and your visitors. You need to be able to draw traffic. Does it give you the option of setting up a shopping cart? Make sure you have support staff that is available 24/7, and that it has the tools to let you edit the site yourself too. And, does it provide for a blog if you would like to have one. Another thing is can you do the domain with them, or do you need to go else where for that? 


Having a website is great for your business cards. You use your main domain name on the card with the URL, and it will lead people to the website. At the website they can view, and click to where they prefer to shop at. Your traffic can come from your host, and also your business cards too. 


Now, there are some websites that are free to use. Depends how much work you want to work with it yourself, what you are knowledgable with, and where you feel comfortable at. 


I have a free website. There are different free ones out there. Some I have liked, and some I do not like as well. Google has one you can set up as many pages as you want, it's free, and takes a little work. I am not all computer literate so sometimes anything will take a little work for me. Check google for  sites.google.com/ Or, just go to google, and search for it there. Microsoft Office LiveFreeWebstore.org, Webstarts.comWix.com, and  Weebly.com are some others offered for free. I know you can get one at Vendio, don't let the ebay thing bother you as it can be done without ebay, and I think that one was free? 

There is also Pro Stores, and I do believe that starts at about $30 a month. I have heard others mention it with good comments from them. I have been noticing some websites done with vistaprint.com. Sorry, I do not know the cost for them. Yahoo has business sites/stores that can be used, and not sure of their cost. Just a lot out there, and no way I could mention them all. Search google for many of them, read forums with sites and social medias to learn of some, and just roam the internet to find them too.


As mentioned I have a website free, and that is with Weebly.com. Through bannerfans.com which is also free, I have made my banners, avatars, and things that are used with the site. One of my tabs on my website is for a blog. I have directed 1 of my domains to this website. I got my domains through GoDaddy.com. I have never had an issue with them, pay a small yearly fee for the domains, and that cost is sooo small compared to paying fully for a website, and all the extras with it. 


I do not have a shopping cart on the site. I could have it, or the buy it now buttons as weebly does have that. Instead I chose to use my rapid cart from Artfire, My widget from Ecrater, and for Addoway and the other stores I also have my RSS Feed going to the pages for them. 


I have chosen to use my website, and my blogs as my landing pages showing my links to the stores I sell with, links to my blogs, link to my website, and so on. Maybe at some point I will add the shopping cart, and sell either with my blog or website. But, for now, for me, I am comfortable using them as landing pages, and making an internet presence that way. Please, visit my LilacsNDreams Website, and have a look around. It is not perfect, I am sure there is much more to do with it, and different ways to do things, but I am comfortable with it, and it works for me. Great support at weebly, and they have been getting used by quite a few too.


I hope this has helped you with the issues of a website. I know I have not covered everything for you, but hope I was able to give you some things to think about, consider, and research with. Thanks again for visiting with PassnItOn, and visit with me here anytime. Always welcome with the visits, comments, sharing, and so on. 



Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Selling Online is Hard Work For Sellers




Hello, and Welcome to my PassnItOn Blog! Below you are going to see a topic about Selling Online, it's hard work, different than the brick and mortar stores, and some things involved with selling online. Sharing my opinion, and others are welcome to comment, and share too. Also, what you read below has pretty much been copied over from my other LilacsNDreams Blog, but wanted to share it here with you too. Hope you enjoy it.

Today I am going to discuss a subject that many of us deal with as sellers online.  Please remember this is in my opinion. There is no right, or wrong. You are welcome to comment, or share with us here too. When searching, or doing a listing with any of the venues I sell with I try to put things into perspective as if I were the buyer is generally how I work with most of my listings, and things I do for Online Sales.


I believe that Selling Online is hard work, and could be even more if I did everything I read and seen mentioned to do. It is very time consuming, and much harder to do than selling in person in my opinion. I feel it to be harder as the buyer is not able to touch what is being sold. Therefore have to work more with our descriptions to help the buyer feel the product, and also make the search engines happy with words we use. Along with this are pictures so that the prospective buyer can also better see with our descriptions what is being offered. As some of us know, pictures can also be time consuming with lighting, finding the right angles, amount of pictures, etc.

Another issue is that there is no two way conversation between the seller, and buyer to see the buyer's eyes. Seeing someone's eyes helps get a feel about the upcoming purchase. Helps you to better assist with addressing things right on the spot. Conversation is always helpful. I myself sometimes get too winded when describing things in my listings. I am trying to get the buyer to see what I see, feel what I can feel, and hopefully answer questions without wasted time between us contacting each other through emails.


Time is spent with shipping costs, finding the best one to offer for the item being sold, and the best way to ship from past experiences too. Unless the items I offer can be put to something smaller like an envelope, I generally send items USPS Priority Mail with insurance included. Reason for that is generally the shipping rates are a bit better, customers get their items within 2-3 days, and the insurance is always included for a more secure delivery. That comes from past dealings with the postal service. If a customer contacts me, and wishes to have it sent another way, I will work with them to do so as requested. I work with my customers the best possible way that I can.

Another thing as a seller to keep in mind is the venues we choose to sell with. Some of the venues do not cater to the same type of buyers, and sellers. I have found that sometimes what can work for one seller does not always work for another seller. There are many venues out there to choose from, some have higher fees to sell with than others, some advertise for their members, some work well with their members by having an operational site with support that can always be contacted too. It all depends what works for you, and where you find to feel comfortable with. It is important for you to pick the right selling venue for You.

Some have their own websites. That is more cost to some with hosting fees, domain fees, shopping carts, and with your own website you also have to work harder to get yourself seen within search engines for the prospective buyer to find you. For me I have my blogs, my website, all having domains directed to them, and find this to be a smaller cost for me. With my blogs, and websites I offer the links for the venues I sell at, instead of a shopping cart I use the Artfire Rapid Cart, Ecrater Widget, and the RSS Feeds for the sites including Addoway. If any questions I can be contacted with no problem as I do read my emails through out the day. Also, if a seller would like to purchase directly from me I am more than welcome to invoice them through paypal.

So, what did you think? How has it been for you selling online, and have you found what can work for you? If so, please share with us here. Thoughts, comments, and opinions are always welcome at PassnItOn. I only ask everyone to be civil, and remember that we all have our own opinions to things with no right, or wrong answer.

Thanks so much for visiting with PassnItOn today! I enjoy the visits, the comments, the sharing, and hope to see you again. Take care till the next time Everyone.  Remember to visit with my stores with the links provided on this blog page to the right. Thank You!





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