You will find napkins, tablecloths, runners and silverware pouches in a soft Fall sorbet hues. I hope you will like it as much as I do!
Here is a sneak peek! For more details, click here!
Showing posts with label SMALL BUSINESS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SMALL BUSINESS. Show all posts
NEW COLLECTION ONLINE!
I'm pleased to announce that we'll launch our first "on the table collection" this Monday!
You will find napkins, tablecloths, runners and silverware pouches in a soft Fall sorbet hues. I hope you will like it as much as I do!
Here is a sneak peek! For more details, click here!
You will find napkins, tablecloths, runners and silverware pouches in a soft Fall sorbet hues. I hope you will like it as much as I do!
Here is a sneak peek! For more details, click here!
JEN KINDELL.
JEN KINDELL
Artist, Studio, San Francisco
Can you give us an introduction on who you are and which path brought you to create these prints?
My name is Jen! I would describe myself as a craftsperson, a botanical illustrator, a printmaker and an educator.
It has been a long beautiful journey. I began by creating works heavily based on my own tastes in product and subject. I simply wanted to create things through my own joy and in celebration of nature’s gifts.
Can you give us an introduction on who you are and which path brought you to create these prints?What is your favorite part being an artist?
My favorite part of doing what I do is being able to imagine and craft works using processes that I find either therapeutic and enjoyable. I have gone through moments or months that I forget how to cultivate this. Self doubt certainly creeps in at times.
When did you start painting veggies? And why?
In 2012, after I had received my teaching credentials I struggled through seeking a teaching position that spoke to my soul. I felt very vulnerable yet proud to have completed something that did not come easy. I spent two months in a tightly grasping this future vision and deeply wanting this to be a reality. This work was birthed from this time of uncertainty and frustration. I craved moments to turn off my brain. To stop my worrying mind. My boyfriend encouraged me to try making, drawing as a way to distract me from my worrying mind. I checked out Twyla Tharp's book: Creative Habits from the library. I then used this book as a starting point in cultivating habits unique to myself. I also had some questions that I asked myself: What do I want to make? What would I like to have in my home? After asking these questions I noticed that I loved illustrations of produce and plants. For a few weeks I explored drawing California produce that I found interesting or new to my mind. Though the subject matter of California produce was sparking a joy within, the process of drawing wasn’t. Instead of continuing exploring drawing I shifted to thinking more about other processes. This is when I became attracted to screen printing. I had a simple knowledge of the process of screen printing at the time but not yet fully developed. I then taught myself along with the help from others in my community and close friends how to burn screens and register multiple layers. There was a ton of experimenting, learning during this time. Many trials and error yet I felt so gratified and excited to learn all these new things.
What inspires you most?
Two things give me great inspiration to create. Nature. Mother Nature is a bottomless vessel of inspiration for me in my life and provides fuel to create. 2. Other’s creations whether alive or gone. Humans creating inspire me. Specifically, I am inspired by craftspersons both in other fields currently creating and those who are long gone but left us with works to enjoy. I especially cherish and gain the most inspiration from apparel designers and ceramicists. I enjoy the forms, compositions, and color combinations from both these makers and from Nature.
Do you have some projects for the future that you want to talk about?
I plan to push limits in my process and trying out new materials.
How do you start your day and what does your daily routine looks like?
Coffee and spending time with my boyfriend comes first. Next, I spend some time meditating and being in my garden. Sometimes it is just a few minutes out there. This gives me peace and joy that can fuel me to either go on an adventure of teaching at the museum or working on my craft.
How long have you been in San Francisco and where do you originally come from?
I've been here for six years. I grew up in Nokomis, Florida on the west coast of Florida. If you are ever passing through this little town, hit up Nokomis Groves ice cream and give their orange or lime ice-cream a try! Thank me later.
Describe SF in 3 words.
Accepting
Diverse
Vibrant
What is your favorite place to eat in SF?
I enjoy these two pizza places: Pizzeria Delfina in the Mission and A16 the Marina.
Do you have a secret boutique or space that you love in SF and you'd like to share with us?
It's not necessarily a secret because I love directing people to this special space created by Paulina Nassar and Nick Sarno. Their shop Press: Works on Paper makes me feel good.
What are your favorite spots in town when you want to relax?
Weekly visits out at my local farmer's market brings me a sense of deep connection and peace. It's called Mission Community Market. It combines the idea of a portable community center with a traditional farmer’s market. I feel so grateful to have this special place to enjoy each week. There is live music, local high school students share their knowledge of gardening, vendors commute hours to sell harvested bounty and neighbors share stories and laugh with neighbors in the streets.
Fort Mason Center is a world of beautiful spaces resting on the edge of the city, with epic landscapes and abundant opportunities to connect with Nature.
Thank you so much for your time Jen! It was so nice to visit your studio again. Look at her website here: http://jenniferkindell.com/
PINTEREST / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK
HOW WE DRIVE TRAFFIC TO OUR WEBSITE.
By Kirsten Mesch
There are a number of ways that Happy French Gang drives traffic to our website and blog. There is direct access, referrals to the sites, social media (Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.), and organic web searches. We use these to drive traffic...but how exactly are we managing to do that?
OVERALL TRAFFIC SOURCES
Notice on the above graphic (thank you Google analytics) that our social media brings much less traffic than the others. Because social media is a very effective way to drive traffic to our site, we could definitely utilize it more. A good way to do that would be to post frequently and at multiple times a day. The more you post to social media, the more likely someone is to see it at any time of day. Along with posting more frequently, it has also been proven that more people are willing to click on your tweets if there is a photo or video attached, so it would be helpful to include lots of photos!
DIRECT ACCESS
Direct access is pretty straight forward. People hear about the product and they go directly to the site to order or read the blog. Most of direct access comes from word of mouth, or from other websites or advertisements, and people write down the website to visit at a later date.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is one of the most important ways to drive traffic. There are a number of social media outlets that we use:
Organic web searches are search results listed on a search engine results page that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being advertisements. This may seem like something we can have no control over, but that's not true. With every post that we make, we give them keyword tags. This helps improve our SEO. The more keywords we have, the more likely our website is to show up on Google. For instance, this post has the tags 'small business,' 'social media,' and 'analytics.' If someone were to Google "small business analytics" there is a greater chance that this blog will be on the Google results listing page because of the tags. Another way to increase SEO is to post a lot. The more content you have on your site, the better your SEO and the greater your chances of showing up in web searches. We also make sure that our posts are tagged with similar keywords, and then use those keywords throughout our other social updates. This consistency helps to build up brand image and tie all of our social media outlets together - after all, we do have two Etsy stores, this blog, and the Happy French Gang website, so it is important to keep things consistent through each.
REFERRALS
Referral traffic is used to describe visitors to your site that come from direct links on other websites rather than directly or from search engines. Referrals are great, because it means that other websites have mentioned us. Whether it be a stockist, a blogger friend, or just someone that likes our products, we get mentioned by them and that draws people to our site. It is essentially free publicity, which you really can't beat. However, our referrals also come from advertisements that we place on Sunday in color, Chloe Fleury and Body Chemistry (click the links and check them out!). Happy French Gang is also always on the lookout for events to participate in in order to meet new people and spread the word about our product. More referrals come from:
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Over the past three months, our referrals primarily came from Happy Morning Blog. Unlike over the past six months, where the majority of referrals came from events.
In the past month we haven't participated in many events, so our blog has been getting us the most referrals, however, we are also seeing a boost in referrals from other blogs.
PINTEREST / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / BLOGLOVIN'
There are a number of ways that Happy French Gang drives traffic to our website and blog. There is direct access, referrals to the sites, social media (Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.), and organic web searches. We use these to drive traffic...but how exactly are we managing to do that?
OVERALL TRAFFIC SOURCES
Notice on the above graphic (thank you Google analytics) that our social media brings much less traffic than the others. Because social media is a very effective way to drive traffic to our site, we could definitely utilize it more. A good way to do that would be to post frequently and at multiple times a day. The more you post to social media, the more likely someone is to see it at any time of day. Along with posting more frequently, it has also been proven that more people are willing to click on your tweets if there is a photo or video attached, so it would be helpful to include lots of photos!
DIRECT ACCESS
Direct access is pretty straight forward. People hear about the product and they go directly to the site to order or read the blog. Most of direct access comes from word of mouth, or from other websites or advertisements, and people write down the website to visit at a later date.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is one of the most important ways to drive traffic. There are a number of social media outlets that we use:
- Twitter is used to post product photos, exciting things happening with the company, and general life events happening. Whenever we post a new blog, we link to it via Twitter that way our followers are always up to date.
- Pinterest is something that we are focusing a lot on. Anytime we post a blog, there are always photos on the blog, which we then pin to our Pinterest page. That way if people see a photo they like and they go to the site, they are directed to our blog. It is also good to pin a lot, and to pin often. The more one pins, the more likely they are to gain followers, and thus, the more likely they are to gain traffic to their website.
Organic web searches are search results listed on a search engine results page that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being advertisements. This may seem like something we can have no control over, but that's not true. With every post that we make, we give them keyword tags. This helps improve our SEO. The more keywords we have, the more likely our website is to show up on Google. For instance, this post has the tags 'small business,' 'social media,' and 'analytics.' If someone were to Google "small business analytics" there is a greater chance that this blog will be on the Google results listing page because of the tags. Another way to increase SEO is to post a lot. The more content you have on your site, the better your SEO and the greater your chances of showing up in web searches. We also make sure that our posts are tagged with similar keywords, and then use those keywords throughout our other social updates. This consistency helps to build up brand image and tie all of our social media outlets together - after all, we do have two Etsy stores, this blog, and the Happy French Gang website, so it is important to keep things consistent through each.
REFERRALS
Referral traffic is used to describe visitors to your site that come from direct links on other websites rather than directly or from search engines. Referrals are great, because it means that other websites have mentioned us. Whether it be a stockist, a blogger friend, or just someone that likes our products, we get mentioned by them and that draws people to our site. It is essentially free publicity, which you really can't beat. However, our referrals also come from advertisements that we place on Sunday in color, Chloe Fleury and Body Chemistry (click the links and check them out!). Happy French Gang is also always on the lookout for events to participate in in order to meet new people and spread the word about our product. More referrals come from:
- Instagram is great for posting photos of products and every day life. Our Instagram is linked to our Twitter account, so every time a photo is posted, it is also tweeted - again, just another good way to catch people's attention and bring them to our site.
- Happy Morning Blog is used to draw web traffic in a number of different ways. First, we post plenty of blog posts and give each post photos and labels. This will help to increase search engine optimization (SEO), and allow our site to show up in more organic web searches. We also feature local artists and store owners on the blog - interviewing them and showcasing their products. We also have a product video for the Zipillow. All of those things add content to the site and allow for greater search ability, therefore increasing the amount of hits the website will generate.
Over the last six months, our referrals primarily came from our blog and events that we participated in. Very few referrals came from other blogs, Instagram or advertising.
Over the past three months, our referrals primarily came from Happy Morning Blog. Unlike over the past six months, where the majority of referrals came from events.
In the past month we haven't participated in many events, so our blog has been getting us the most referrals, however, we are also seeing a boost in referrals from other blogs.
PINTEREST / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / BLOGLOVIN'
HOW-TO: TWITTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS.
By Kirsten Mesch
For many small businesses, social media can be key to building up brand awareness. But what happens if you don’t know how to use Twitter effectively? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Build a strong foundation.
First and foremost, it is important to make sure that you fully fill out your profile. There are three sections you should make sure are filled out completely.
Follow people with similar interests.
Once you’ve set up your profile, begin following people. The more people you follow with similar interest, the better. You can follow your friends or clients first, then follow your competitors (to keep up to date on what they’re doing) and finally, follow local businesses and business you work with. After you’ve followed all of those people, Twitter will recommend people for you to follow, which is very helpful. Once you’ve done that much, use the search bar to find more people. You can search by key words, such as “hand-dyed” or “handmade” and see who is currently talking about the same things as you, and follow them.
Drive traffic to your website or blog.
By linking your Twitter to your blog or website, you’ve already taken a step in the right direction. To drive more traffic to your website, you can create a tweet around a link, writing a message that compels people to click to learn more. Because you only get 160 characters in a tweet, you can use a URL shortener, such as TinyURL, to shorten the link to just 20 characters.
Use keyword targeting.
Keyword targeting in the timeline lets you reach Twitter users based on the keywords in their recent Tweets and the Tweets with which users recently engaged. By searching keywords, you can show users the right message, at the right moment, in the right context.
Tweet multiple times a day to increase visibility.
The best times of day to tweet are debatable. But I suggest tweeting in the morning, afternoon, and evening. This way you reach people at all times of day, and in all time zones. You can tweet either the same thing multiple times a day, or slightly change the post a bit. Your call.
Use hashtags to increase your following and searchability.
When you see a tweet with a hashtag, click on the hashtag to see a list of all tweets that include the same hashtag. You will see tweets from people you do not follow, and it is a good way to follow more people. You can also create a hashtag unique for your business and use it in your marketing to help people find your company and the conversations around it.
Use photos in your tweets.
People love to look at photos, and are more apt to click on your tweets if there is an associated photo. Photos are also a good way to tell your brand’s story. By using photos of your products and interests your followers can learn more about you and what you have to offer.
Consider using promoted tweets.
Promoted Tweets are ordinary Tweets that you purchase to reach a wider group of users or to spark engagement from existing followers. Essentially, it’s paid advertising. It is effective, but it does cost money, so it is something to keep in mind after you’ve tried the other tips to build a following.
PINTEREST / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / BLOGLOVIN'
For many small businesses, social media can be key to building up brand awareness. But what happens if you don’t know how to use Twitter effectively? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Build a strong foundation.
First and foremost, it is important to make sure that you fully fill out your profile. There are three sections you should make sure are filled out completely.
- Location - Tell people where they can find you. Typically your city and state are sufficient.
- Website - If you have a website or blog (or both) share them on your profile. This is a great way to provide additional information of interest to Twitter users looking into your business, because they can be linked directly to your website.
- Bio - You only get 160 characters to tell people who you are and what you do, so it is important to talk about the benefits you deliver; whether that be with products or services. For example, Happy French Gang is “handmade, hand-printed, hand-dyed in San Francisco.”
Follow people with similar interests.
Once you’ve set up your profile, begin following people. The more people you follow with similar interest, the better. You can follow your friends or clients first, then follow your competitors (to keep up to date on what they’re doing) and finally, follow local businesses and business you work with. After you’ve followed all of those people, Twitter will recommend people for you to follow, which is very helpful. Once you’ve done that much, use the search bar to find more people. You can search by key words, such as “hand-dyed” or “handmade” and see who is currently talking about the same things as you, and follow them.
Drive traffic to your website or blog.
By linking your Twitter to your blog or website, you’ve already taken a step in the right direction. To drive more traffic to your website, you can create a tweet around a link, writing a message that compels people to click to learn more. Because you only get 160 characters in a tweet, you can use a URL shortener, such as TinyURL, to shorten the link to just 20 characters.
Use keyword targeting.
Keyword targeting in the timeline lets you reach Twitter users based on the keywords in their recent Tweets and the Tweets with which users recently engaged. By searching keywords, you can show users the right message, at the right moment, in the right context.
Tweet multiple times a day to increase visibility.
The best times of day to tweet are debatable. But I suggest tweeting in the morning, afternoon, and evening. This way you reach people at all times of day, and in all time zones. You can tweet either the same thing multiple times a day, or slightly change the post a bit. Your call.
Use hashtags to increase your following and searchability.
When you see a tweet with a hashtag, click on the hashtag to see a list of all tweets that include the same hashtag. You will see tweets from people you do not follow, and it is a good way to follow more people. You can also create a hashtag unique for your business and use it in your marketing to help people find your company and the conversations around it.
Use photos in your tweets.
People love to look at photos, and are more apt to click on your tweets if there is an associated photo. Photos are also a good way to tell your brand’s story. By using photos of your products and interests your followers can learn more about you and what you have to offer.
Consider using promoted tweets.
Promoted Tweets are ordinary Tweets that you purchase to reach a wider group of users or to spark engagement from existing followers. Essentially, it’s paid advertising. It is effective, but it does cost money, so it is something to keep in mind after you’ve tried the other tips to build a following.
PINTEREST / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / BLOGLOVIN'
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