Where did the Fall Go?

So I'm starting to get ready for my return to Boston...classes, final projects and papers are wrapping up like crazy. I'm sad but excited to come home, especially to hit the ground running with all these new ideas I have for my business. Muah ha. I'm going to miss Italy sooo much - especially now I won't have anyone to talk to in Italian!

I have so many new ideas for new jewelry, some new prints from Serigraphy that I'm going to throw in my etsy shop, and some new business strategies to implement for calligraphy. I'm moving back to Boston, and that = crazy rent, so gotta bring in the big bucks!

Sorry about my lame not-writingness. Here's some pretty pictures of Italy in the meantime, and I'm going to restart the weekly featured seller pieces, and have some cool ideas for etsy treasuries, too. Yay :)

Month 2 From Italy!!

Hey guys -

Just wanted to keep you guys updated -

School's been pretty crazy, and I've been planning lots of travelling around Europe (well, as much as I can on a budget. So help me out and buy from my etsy site!!! yaaaay! :)

We're thinking Greece for the week break, I'm going to Paris next month, and I'll hopefully get a few more things lined up. I REALLY want to go to London, and I hve to make it to Rome and Sicily before I leave. Because it's October already!!! Ahhh!!!

Here are some pics from Pisa (obviously) and Ravenna. I went to Ravenna the second week, Vinci the week after (like, Leonardo di Vinci-Vinci? Yeah.) Then two weeks ago I went to Pisa and Lucca. All of them were amazing; I'm going to Sienna this weekend.

So I'll try not to overload with pics, but it's very hard. I've uploaded all of them to my facebook in photo albums of like 80 photos!! Crazy stuff. I've started to also think about coming home and getting organized. Since I've lost internet at my apartment, I've had a lot more down time, which is kind of good, as I've been forcing myself to really write my business plan. It's been helpful already thinking about implementing new business strategies and after analyzing this past year, I can establish what has been working and what hasn't. It'll be a challenge to get through the holiday rush 8,000 miles away, but I really don't want to miss out!

Featured seller articles should be coming back soon, as well as treasuries and all sorts of funn stuff. So stay tuned - and I'd love to hear from you!

Kisses.

Google Analytics: DO IT

Okay, I know that the very word "analytics" make some people cry out in the night. You don't have to, I swear that it's completely fine. And, necessary; sales today are all about metrics, understanding trends, knowing when sales are up and down, and how to prepare for that. You can also determine what marketing techniques are working against what is not; in the long run, this saves you both time AND money :). So you can do it, I know you can.

First, set up a google analytics account here http://www,googleanalytics.com/. Follow the prompts to get you up and running.

1) Enter your etsy website (or blog, etc.) into the "website URL". Name your account.

2) Enter your contact information.

3) Agree to the terms and conditions, and then hit "create new account"

4) They will provide you with lots of code; find the code that is in the parenthesis or in quotations. It will most likely begin with U and look something like this "UA-10294920-1"

5) Copy the code, and go to "Your Etsy". On the left hand side, scroll down under "Shop Setup" to the "Web Analytics" link.

6) Paste the code, and wait 24 hours. You're good to go!

Now you can track and see what is most effective in terms of driving traffic to your shop. Be sure to check out all of the cool features, like where and what countries are checking out your site (it's soo cool seeing that I have gotton 5 hits from London!), and the primary sources driving traffic to your site. You can also do this for your blog.

Happy analytics!!!