By the Hum of the Burners

 

I've really dropped the ball with keeping my website updated. I am well aware that search engines will regard a site as abandoned if it doesn't get updated regularly - & they have a much more frequent idea of "regularly" than I do! If a site hasn't been updated in a month, it starts to fall in ranking, making it harder for people to find it. Last week saw 27 visits to my website. This is actually better than I expected considering there's been no new content for like 2 years! And also no meta tags, nothing for a search engine to latch onto. More than half of these came from google.This tells me making time to keep the website current is worth the effort - if 27 people visited when I put in zero effort, how many would I get if I actually tried?

The last update was so long ago that the cover image no longer represented my main body of work. It's been so long that I had to relearn how to do it - & I'm not even writing code, I use a (now pretty old) software called Kompozer to update my site. To avoid this in future, I'm implementing a new approach: when the kiln is firing, I'm updating. Updates don't have to be major to intrigue the web-crawling bots that search engines use! I changed the cover photo & added a link to my Patreon page and my Instagram; I added a link to a signup form for my newsletter, The Messy Minute. (I tried to embed a signup form but nope! that is not happening.) I reminded myself where to put meta tags, and typed in words like pottery, ceramics, handmade, stoneware, sodafired, Maine. I think of these like paint primer: you can't see them so you're tempted to skip them, but they make a huge difference in your results. 

Next - though maybe not today - I want to add an FAQ page. For the obvious reasons, of course, but also because Frequently Asked Questions are frequently googled questions, and people searching for things like "Is handmade pottery food safe?" are the kinds of people I want visiting. This is a suggestion from my friend Milly's Guide to Marketing Art & Crafts Online. Blogger is being stupid about creating this link, but you can find it here:

https://marketingcrafts.online/product/guide-to-marketing-art-crafts-online/

Anyway! Time to go look at the cones! The kiln is in its climbing reduction, so doesn't require a lot of attention, so after I peer through the spyhole, I think I'll lie in the hammock & read the new Longmire novel. I'm interested in your ideas about keywords or other strategies you use to make your website a better business tool. Comment if you have ideas for me! XO L

Dare to Update!

Though I have my own website, I run the online shop through SquareUp, the same folks who provide credit cards processing when I am at art fairs. I used to use paypal for this, but that meant building a page for each item I wanted to list; obviously that is a bunch more work! For several months now, SquareUp has been...not nagging, exactly...let's say encouraging me to switch over to their partner, Weebly, to host the online store.

I was pretty resistant to this idea! I didn't want to try & learn a bunch of new stuff in the middle of the holiday season, and I am enough of a crotchety boomer to be irritated when things change that were working just fine before.

Even a crotchety boomer can learn! I made the switch today, and so glad I did. First, there really wasn't a whole lot to learn - if I had wanted to, I could have just clicked the button & the site would migrate, and I could just toddle off, never having to change a thing. I was tempted to do exactly that, but I'm glad I didn't. The new site looks the same as the old site, but has some cool new features. I've just started exploring, but so far I have discovered:

1. I can share specific sections of the site now! So when I do the cat-dish fundraiser, or want to talk about handmade tools, or the Fine Mess Glazebook, I no longer have to say, "Click the link & then scroll down to..." I can share a link to the exact section I am talking about. 
2. I can now offer gift cards! I don't know why this pleases me so much; it makes me feel...I don't know, real. To celebrate my realness, I'm going to offer blog readers a promo code for 10% off. Enter this code: BLOGREADER to get 10% off. Code good until the end of January; the gift card never expires. Well, until I do, I guess. 

I know there's more - I've still got some poking around to do. But I know lots of you used SquareUp, also, so if you've been hesitating, don't. I took the leap, and it was fine!

Blue and Russet Vase with Flowers

Click here to purchase this vase!

I while ago I did a step-by-step on a thrown and altered form that has been fascinating me for a little while now, but I think this is the first time I've shared a fired result. Everythign about this one hit the way I hoped it would - the soda distribution, the way the textures caught the glaze, just the joyousness of the thing. It's for sale, here.

As an aside, I have switched - mostly  - to Squaredup from paypal. It's cheaper, and I have the little swipe device, so I can use the same account for in-person sales as for web sales. Squareup also automatically deposits at the end of the business day (their business day, but whatev, they had to choose sometime) instead of making you log on and request your money. Listing items in my Square store is a little...non-intuitive, though. I have to list them in the library, then import them to the store, and only then can I do things like add a second or third photo. And I haven't found a way to just add a "square" button to pay, like paypal offers, to incorporate into my own website. So, not sure if I am done with paypal entirely. I'm interested to know what your experiences have been.

Adding Promo Codes to Paypal Buttons

So, I was shopping online the other day, and looking to buy a t-shirt from The Gap. I found the shirt I was looking for, and I was sorely tempted to buy two, because I have one already and I know they are very soft, fit perfectly, blah-blah-blah. Didn't want to spend quite that much though, so I settled on a color, and went to on the complete the transaction. When I was partway through, it asked me for a promo code.

Huh. I know, generally, what a promo code is, but I had never used one. Just out of curiosity, I googled "GAP discount promo code" and discovered a code for that day, that I could type in and save 40%. Just because. No special reason.

I bought two shirts.

And I started thinking, what if I wanted to offer facebook fans a promo code? Or people who sign up for my as-yet-imaginary newsletter? Surely Paypal offers a way to do this.

Sadly, no, actually they don't. However! I discovered that you can add html code to your paypal button, to allow for the entry of promo discount codes. At webdesigneretc.co, John Futia has a code generator you can utilize.
This is good timing, because I have lots of nice pots left over from the pottery tour, and my website badly needs new items. I plan to spend some time this week updating, and maybe try out this discount-code code. Here's a test button I made; you can check out how it works with completing the transaction.

The coupon code is COUPON

Enter Coupon code

Whaddaya think? Pretty neat, huh? If I were doing this for real, I would use a script obfuscator, so people couldn't get the promo just by looking at the source code.


PS. That shirt is ridiculously cheap now. Maybe I should go buy some more! With a promo code! If it gets any less, they pay me to take it.
PPS. Okay, so it's doing this weird thing where it adds a dollar shipping and handling, which, NO. Obviously I will need to add shipping to pots, more than a dollar, but I thought that would be a separate line. Hmm. So, still needs work. I play with it this week, see what we get.

Two Things

Firstly, my first paid website is live! Check it out here: bevwainer.com

That was fun! Bev is more or less what I expected my clients to be: an artist who is not particularly techie, and doesn't particularly wish to be, but needs a web presence. I can see how web building will be a good compliment to clay work. They are so different. When I don't feel up to the one, the other seems inviting.

And then there's soap! I made a loaf of soap today. I usually think of soapmaking as a winter thing, but I had been getting requests, so pulled out all the ingredients and gear. I made one loaf that I feel confident will turn out well - Tahitian Beach:

Blue and green swirls, white and gold froth, and those are little soap-cast seashells gracing the top! Unmolding tomorrow to see what the bars look like.

I also made one smaller loaf as an experiment. We'll see that one tomorrow, too, but I am less optimistic there.

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Yesterday was butterdishes! I had thrown and stretched these on Sunday but it was Friday before I got a chance to assemble them. They are some of my favorite things to make: enough elements to keeping things interesting, and a broad surface to decorate. It's hard for me to remember to leave something for the glaze to do! I expect these to be part of the August 15th firing.

I haven't forgotten that I am supposed to be doing a video of butterdishes. Maybe during the glaze firing. It's hard for me to make anything while the kiln is firing, for some reason.

Yesterday was also website work. I built my own, noticed that it was not that hard to do, and a few weeks ago, I started putting the word out that I was available to build websites. I had in artists in mind; lots of artists are not especially tech-y, but nevertheless need a website. People are always asking if you have one, for one thing! And if you want to show someone what you do at distance it really is still the best way. I've gotten a few responses already, and started building the first last night.I'll post links to the finished sites here, once I get the go-ahead from the artists involved.

And today? Raku Workshop!! I run a series of them in conjunction with Portland Pottery every summer; this is the second this year. The sky is looking a bit ominous...here's hoping it holds off. Maybe, like weddings, rain is good luck for the firing?

Tomorrow I am back in the studio, finishing some salt & pepper shakers and plates, and throwing for a new account: Craft Company No. 6! More on this later.