I took the plunge and have now made two of my photographs available for purchase. I had some printed in various sizes to be sure I was happy with the quality. I'll admit, I was impressed even if it's with myslelf. I think it's okay to pat yourself on the back every now and then, especially if you are usually hard on yourself.
Anyway...even more fun, I've enjoyed tweeting about my new listings and watching my "views" on Etsy climb in seconds. This reflects the amazing power of Twitter for small businesses. I could see that within seconds I had close to 20 people look at my photo. Overnight, the number climbed to over 80. Very quantitative evidence that it works.
For my readers who may be unfamiliar with Twitter:
"Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers." - Wikipedia
Here is another first hand example of what Twitter can do:
My friend/neighbor just opened an Etsy shop, Rosenlof Photography, featuring some of her photos and photo cards. [BTW, you should check them out. They'll make you smile. She has a sharp sense of humor]. I've been helping her with the nuances of Etsy and decided to tweet about one of her cards.
I sent a tweet to my 760 some followers.
One of my followers, @Waterrose, retweeted my tweet to her 4,390 some followers.
Within minutes, and as I picked up the phone to tell my friend to watch the views increase, she made her first sale. AND, it was from someone in the UK.
This all happened within a few MINUTES! It was so fun to watch. Twitter works. It may not be for everyone, but it can be a very useful tool.
Do you have any Twitter stories to share?
