Virtual World

Don't adjust your screen. The picture is kind of dark because it was 5:45 a.m.! It's what my backyard looked like when I woke up this morning....*deep breath*...I love waking up and feeling like I'm laying in the backyard. Just watching the sun come up is kind of calming.

But I can't lay here staring out of the window all day. I've got things to do, people to see, and flowers to crochet!...Before I take off to do that though, I wonder...have any of you ever visited the Virtual Labs on Etsy?! I ask because I realized yesterday that it's been a long time since I visited a lab. With my tweeting on Twitter ( Come follow me! I'm Poetesswug2 http://twitter.com/PoetessWug2 ), doing my blog every day, crocheting and working on SEO linking in my "Wuglyees" shop ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/wuglyees ), I just haven't taken the time!
   But if you have an Etsy shop, making handmade items to sell, I think the virtual labs are invaluable to your success. I say this because of the wealth of information and encouragement that I personally have received in the labs. Here's what you do....
    Go to Etsy, click on "community" in the upper bar, then click on "Virtual Labs". In the middle column you will see the schedule for upcoming "Events", including the times for them. In the colored boxes, or "Rooms" it'll tell you which one has the current event going on. The size of the boxes kind of tell you the capacity of each room too. (In other words, how many people will be able to fit in there.) The "Auditorium" is the largest.
   I usually visit either the "Newbie Chat" or the "Shop Critiques". The newbie chat, while it sounds like it's just for "NEW" people, isn't!  Not only is it attended by newbies, or people new to Etsy, but there are also always other Etsy shop owners there. They, like me, attend so that they can meet the new owners and offer help if needed. It's a way of giving back what was given to us when we were newbies. The idea of that lab, though, is to help new people get their questions answered about the workings of etsy. I like attending it because I get to share with new people what I've learned: what a "Treasury" is, what the purpose of the forums is, how their announcement page should look, what info should be included in their profile and policies page, how and what to use as item tags, how to take pictures (Okay, so I don't usually do much talking on this subject!! LOL Although I do know HOW it's suppose to be done...I just haven't mastered it yet!), and so forth.
   My favorite, though, is the "Shop Critiques". That's where I've learned the most! What happens in that lab is that a person from Etsy administration visibly pops into the middle of the room, which is configured in little boxes all in a circle around her (Or in a half moon shape in the smaller rooms). Then, while she reads the things we're typing to her, she answers questions, picks different shops (which you can volunteer to be a guinea pig for), and tells them individually what she thinks about their shop. She gives advice on what to fix, what's great already, and what to aim for to make your shop more successful. A lot of people visit this lab so that they can get some personal attention and clues to why they aren't selling more from their shop! It's not easy to get picked. There's thousands of Etsy shops! You have to be quick at typing. I guess I must be pretty quick, because I've been picked a couple of times so far. That's how I found out that I needed to fix my shipping info and how to do it...The last time I was picked she was impressed with my progress and how my shop looked, and was at a loss as to why my shop wasn't selling right now. She gave me some encouragement to keep crocheting and building up supplies because she was sure that come September-ish my sells would pick up. I hope she's right!
   The fun things in the lab are the little symbols that you can play with in the bottom bar, below the chat bar. If you click on the little red 'heart' a lot of other symbols will show up in that row. To sling them across the room, just click and hold on your own avatar, drag and point the line where you want the item to go, and then release the click! (In my opinion this is only fun when the room is empty!!! LOL It is rather annoying when the moderator is talking about something you're trying to pay attention to, and some "joker" starts flinging things at people...Some people never grow up!!)
    I've met some wonderful people, and shared some helpful experiences  with people that I've met in the virtual labs. I'm gonna try to get over there tomorrow. There's a "Shop Critique" scheduled at 4:00p.m. on "Tagging". I think I can use some help in this area too. (for the Etsy searches to pick up more of my items.)  Maybe I'll see some of you there! Just click in one of the boxes, type my Etsy name, "Wuglyees" and say Hello! You can tell if I'm there by my Etsy avatar. It's not the Wuglyee bear that I use on twitter. It's this...

   I'd love to hear what you have to say about my shop, and...look at your shop too! You know how nosy I am!!! LOL...{My poem today is one that I sell in a frame in my Etsy shop!}

Fishing-Life

This world is like a pond in which
you can't help but get wet.
We are like the fish snatched up
into the fisher's net.

The pond-it represents all of
our jobs and bills and debt,
that we swim in every day,
chasing the bait that's hard to get.

The world throws out a line
that we follow to the top;
Then we're pulled away from safety,
and on land we flip and flop.

Even if we get away,
we're now wounded, dry and tired,
`cause we've jumped out of the frying pan,
and now we're in the fire!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/21471916/fishing-life-poem-in-a-frame