tracey knits Archives

June 21, 2016 by ETTWomen

A New Way to Run Your Business

My daughter was recently invited to a friend’s Bat Mitzvah. She is 13 years old and this Jewish right-of-passage is a regular occurrence this year. I dropped her off for the ceremony and expected to hear the usual tale of how well her friend chanted Torah upon picking her up. How wrong I was! My daughter regaled me with a story about a service in Spanish with just a few prayers in hebrew, traditions she had never seen before. I asked so many questions she was not able to answer. How was I just learning that this even existed?

I realized that this could be directly applied to my business. For years I have been refining the way I run it, learning new things but pretty much staying in the same lane. Is there something that is already out there, parallel to my own strategy, but different in ways that I had never experienced?

There is no one right way to run your business. Personally, I have found great success selling hand-knit golf club covers online, through my own website as well as through the handmade marketplace Etsy. Local fairs, a staple for most crafters, have been a waste of time and money for me. However, I have begun doing better research and investing in events that attract more of my target audience, significantly increasing my success rate.

Is there something you haven’t tried or failed at that other people in your industry are doing? It may be a matter of tweaking it to make it work for you.

in entrepreneurship 2 comments

June 8, 2016 by ETTWomen

You May Be Searching All Wrong

Recently, my Mother in Law came to me with a problem because she knew I was a knitter. She was having a hard time finding a pattern she liked. She wanted to make a sweater for my niece with a cute animal on it. If you know anything about knitting, making baby clothing is one of its most popular options. Why would she be struggling to find something so popular online? After a few questions I figured it out: search terms.

Search terms are not always so clear cut. You may think that “Animal Sweater Pattern” would bring up a Noah’s Ark of choices, but it was in fact the word Animal that was holding her back. When I limited that search to Bunny Toddler Sweater Pattern, the search results were 10 times greater.

So how does this apply to you?

The words you are using for your product may be too general. How to Knit is not as effective as How to Knit for Beginners. The first will certainly get you listed, but the second will get you a higher ranking on Google and therefore more likely in front of your target audience.
Your words could be too specific. Sometimes trying a similar term can increase your chances. How to Knit for Beginners could be Easy Knitting Projects or Beginner Knitting Pattern. Make sure to include these different phases in your content as well as the more generic ones to cover all your bases.
You could just be wrong. Using the wrong term could very well be the problem all together. She didn’t want a sweater with Animal from The Muppets. She didn’t want one with all the animals in the zoo. She said my pet needs that and wanted a cute bunny or teddy bear. When we use the right words, we get the right results.
The easiest way to know is to do a google search using your terms. If the results are similar or too dissimilar you have your answer.
Things mean other things. You know how some kids will look up pictures of chicks and get results that are NOT appropriate? Yeah, that. “Hooker” is a term crocheters use lovingly to describe themselves, you can see how that could cause confusion. Just be careful, ok.

Now all you have to do is sprinkle these keyword phrases throughout your content and let google do the rest.

in entrepreneurship 3 comments

March 11, 2015 by ETTWomen

Top 5 Lessons From #TheDress

Have you been living under a rock? I didn’t think so. This means you have seen/participated in the global phenomenon that was “The Dress”.

More than Kim Kardashian’s behind, more then Ellen’s Oscar selfie, the dress sparked shares and conversations around the world. Was it a trick? Was it a clever promotion? Nope, just a woman taking a picture of a dress to share with her daughter in consideration for a wedding.

As a small business owner, it is my dream to have something I share make this much impact. So I have been studying what we can all learn from it.

Here are my top 5 Lesson from #TheDress:

Perception is reality.
Blue and Black or White and Gold, it didn’t matter how you saw it, it was right. If your customer’s see your brand differently then you do, it is time to either adjust your own thinking or your focus to put you both on the same page.
Conversation is key.
It’s a dress that got people talking. If you are in product based business, putting your items into unusual environments might garner the wanted results, service based businesses may want to discuss misuse or abuse in your industry and how you don’t do that.
Use what you have.
All she had was a picture of a dress, posted it on tumblr and asked a question. Engage with your audience where they are. Ask them questions, give them advice, play games. You don’t have to do this everywhere either. If you love pinterest, use that. I am most comfortable on twitter (@traceyknits) and talk there more than anyplace else.
Trending.
You can tie-in anything. Note how I took the topic of the dress and turned it into something else. If everyone is talking about it, it is easy to get people to be interested in what you have to say about it.
Keep it simple.
A dress and a question. For you it could be a picture of a grumpy cat and a tagline about your business. Don’t overthink it, you never know what is going peek someone’s interest, just keep trying different things.

So what color did you see? And what did you take away from this viral sensation? Would love to know, leave me a comment below!

Tracey Rediker is owner of Tracey Knits,
maker of playful hand-knit golf club covers.
Website • Facebook • Twitter • Youtube

Photo Credit: Buzz Feed