Shop Talk 02 | 5 Quick Steps to Up Your Online Game

Running your own business is a never-ending to-do list. I constantly feel inadequate because I create these huge (big dreamin') lists for myself and I don't always complete the tasks. True, most of our duties take longer than a couple of minutes, but there are lots of things we can do to quickly up our online game! Below are just 5 that I have come up with for today and I hope they inspire you to take action and quickly knock out some tiny details that will pack a big punch!

01. PURCHASE A UNIQUE WEB DOMAIN. | If you have a website or blog I hope you have already done this (if not, get to it!) but even if you only have an Etsy shop, it's important for you to have a unique web domain. This is another way to set yourself apart from other Etsy sellers and it will also be easier to let people know where they can shop your goods! It's super easy to direct the domain to your shop and will make your business cards look even more professional!

02. ADD YOUR WEBSITE TO THE "ABOUT" SECTION ON YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE. | This is super easy to do and seems like a no brainer to me, but I can't tell you how many business pages do not include their website here. Facebook is a great marketing tool but your goal is to get them to your website/shop. You don't want visitors to have to hunt for your website so make it easy for them! You can see how I have mine set up below.




03. CREATE CUSTOM FACEBOOK BUTTONS | This is a great way to customize your Facebook page so it is in line visually with your other brand elements. Add widgets to help get the content you want, available on your page!

04. SNAP A QUICK BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTO. | Do you have an Instagram account for your business? (If not, I highly suggest you sign up immediately! It's super fun and easy to quickly share what's going on with your audience!) Customers love to see what's going on behind the scenes. Do you have a new product line in the works? Are you busy packaging up orders? Let them in on bits and pieces of the every day hustle. They want to know more of your story.

05. PIN 10 ITEMS (5 FOR PROMO, 5 FOR FUN). | As you probably already know, Pinterest is responsible for a lot of the traffic many small businesses and blogs see. Use it to your advantage. I like to pin my products to a variety of boards because some people only follow certain boards. Also keep in mind it's not recommended to bombard Pinterest with a bunch of promotional pins. Be sure you pin an equal amount more from other sources than you do your own peddling. (You can read more of my Pinterest tips if you're interested!)

So there ya have it! Five quick and easy steps you can take to instantly up your game! I hope that even if you have most of these covered that you were inspired with another idea! This "small business owner" thing is tricky and your work is never done!



3 comments

  1. These are great tips, Stephanie! I'm struggling with 2 and 3. I tried editing my page last night to add my site, but wasn't able. Am I missing something? Oh, and for number 3.....I've tried to do that several times but unsuccessful!!! I followed a tutorial that seemed simple, but I still struggled. Any tips?

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  2. Thank you, Elizabeth! For #3 - When you are looking at your page information, click the "edit" button. Once there click on the "Page Info" link at the very top. Go to the "Short Description" section and add the information you would like to show up. In my case it's:

    Southern Lovin' | Smalltown Livin'
    NSS 2014 Booth #2628
    www.stephaniecreekmur.com

    I will look into the FB buttons and see if they've changed it since I first did it but it was pretty simple. Do you already have apps set up? I found that to be harder than changing my actual buttons! Heres a tutorial from Ciera Design: http://cieradesign.com/2012/10/19/adding-apps-on-facebook/. If you have any other questions feel free to send me an email! :)

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  3. Hmm....I tried the Facebook edit by following those steps and entered the site, but when I saved and went to look it's not showing. I'm not sure why. I will check out the apps tutorial also. If I don't have luck I'll shoot you an email. thanks for your reply. I appreciate your help!

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