Friday, November 18, 2011

in progress


I am making good progress on my (now) ten holiday commissions, and have a chance to work on some of my own work which is fun! Above are a couple photos from the studio.

(The poorly lit painting on the far wall in the first photo is by the awesome artist Britt Hermann)

Last month Etsy made some monumental changes, which have caused a serious decrease in sales for myself and many of my buddies...bummer! So, it seems it is time to branch out a little, and my first step is to start a Facebook page for my artwork, (I know I am way behind the times) in hopes of reaching a wider audience.

Apparently the decision is much simpler than the reality. Either that, or I am a total moron...probably a little of both. After almost six hours wasted yesterday and today, and a lot of anxiety, I found myself with a normal Facebook page in addition to my art page, and ended up deactivating both because Facebook would not let me deactivate the normal page solely, and now I can't start a new art page because both of my email addresses are linked to the deactivated pages. I guess I have to create a new email account now??!!

I am tempted to give up, but I hate to let Facebook defeat me.

Sorry for complaining. I need a vacation from the internet.

Have a happy weekend.
xo
clare

10 comments:

linda said...

what a bummer clare - i hate wasting time on something that goes nowhere - but I'm sure you'll get it eventually.

love seeing a peek into your studio. hope you have a relaxing weekend, pre-holidays :)

R R said...

Be patient, it will all work out.
Facebook is frustrating but quite fun once you get a hang of it. It would be fun to see you there, too.
Nice studio!
Curious about the Etsy changes and repercussions. Does not sound fair. You have been there so long!
Have a nice relaxing weekend,
Rebeca

R R said...

PS. If what you are worried about in your personal FB page is privacy, you should head straight to privacy settings to allow only those you wish to access to your info. My account is very private and it makes me feel better that way. Then your Art page can be as open as possible, so that everyone can access it. It is like having two different personas.

Carol Schiff Daily Painting said...

Claire, what are the changes? I am on Etsy, but have been out of touch and apparently missed them. Could this be the reason my sales are down?

Have been a long time fan of your work!

Clare Elsaesser said...

Carol, Etsy changed their default search method from recency to relevancy. It sounds like a good thing, but now we can no longer renew items to get more visibility. Exposure seems to be based on creating very long wordy listing titles which incorporate every description and keyword a buyer might search with, and even then, being too specific in your title might eliminate your item from some searches, like if you list "original painting" and someone searches just for "painting" you won't be at the top of the search. So far everyone I have talked to has noticed a decrease in sales over the last couple months since the switch. As you can see I'm kind of worked up about this. You can read more here about the initial changes: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/keeping-it-relevant-default-search-is-now-sort-by-relevancy/

Leah Samour said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Leah Samour said...

I know Facebook is a hot mess, but I'm so excited you have an art page now! I love love love your work; any place I get to see more of it makes me happy:)

pauline said...

i absolutely LOVE your style. Your colors, composition... your paintings have so much expression & feeling.

lovely studio space...

Clare Elsaesser said...

Awe, thanks guys :)

Carol Schiff Daily Painting said...

Thanks, Clare! I have experienced the same downward slide in sales on Etsy!