Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Christmas Giveaway

Hi everyone,
We hope you had a great Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday weekend. For those of you selling, a great weekend for sales and for those shopping, we hope you found everything you were looking for.
Christmas is right around the corner. To show our Christmas spirit we are going to host a giveaway on our website http://www.thecraftshow.org/
Here's how it will work:
Each day we will post the picture of the giveaway on our website. The next day we will announce on our Facebook page that the giveaway is up for grabs. We'll close our wall overnight with the sponsors page up and announce anyone wanting in on the giveaway can like the sponsoring page and leave a comment that they've done so. The next morning, we will use random.org to choose the winner. The winner will then be posted and they contact the sponsor or us for their prize. We will do this each day in December as long as we have enough sponsors.
 Also in other news, we have a christmas sales section on the home page of our website. This section will be right below our giveaway. This should be good exposure for your business as people go to see the giveaway. Details can be found on our website http://www.thecraftshow.org/

We truly hope that you had a great Thanksgiving holiday and a greater Christmas holiday season coming up.
TCS

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Black Friday/ Small Business Saturday Weekend Sale - Day 4


Show your support for Small Businesses this year!
100's of items from dozens of small businesses made by real people, not mass produced by machines.
Sale will last from Thursday through Monday with new items added each day.
Day 4
 
 

  Knitted Metallic Flower Ring - Sterling Silver
 (Colors: Silver, Black, Red, Blue, Purple, Green, Gray and Rainbow)
   $42.00
   FREE SHIPPING (TO USA ONLY)
Youniques Creative Jewelry
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youniques-Creative-Jewelry-RINGS/293974797284681?ref=tn_tnmn

Shiny Silver Star Earrings $14.00
Tres Romantique Boutique
http://tresromantique.etsy.com/

Shimmering Multicolored Silk Tote Bag $19.99 (Free Ship in USA)
Neo-Notions
 http://www.facebook.com/neonotions and http://www.neo-notions.com/

2 snowman candles (UK only)  £3.99
 - Gothica Jewels
 http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.182894705132889.48248.100002370818313&type=1#!/gothica.jewels
 
Pink flower attached to alligator clip
$7.00
Krista's
https://www.facebook.com/Kristas86

Pink and Zebra Tutu Set w/ bow
up to size 3T
Regular Price: $23.50 shipped
Sale Price: $15 shipped
Southern Miss Bowtique
www.facebook.com/southernmissbowtique
 
Everyday Jumper, Owls Size 5t 
$35.00
 Grace Parks, a small batch clothing company
 http://www.etsy.com/shop/graceparks

To purchase any of these items, or if you are interested in seeing more offers, please click on the business page link under the item that you are interested. All purchases will be between the buyer and seller.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Thursday, November 24, 2011Black Friday/ Small Business Saturday Weekend Sale - Day 3

Show your support for Small Businesses this year!
100's of items from dozens of small businesses made by real people, not mass produced by machines.
Sale will last from Thursday through Monday with new items added each day.
Day 3
 

"Faith, Hope, Love" bracelet
Help Feed Malnourished Children!
 $12 (retail $15)
 
Stuffed animal inside an Ornament $25
Whimsical Mai

Snowman Tutu Dress and Top-hat $45 
Kayleigh's Klippies

Terrycloth bib apron with pockets  $18.75 for apron,  shipping cost:  $6.75
  Beloved Embroidery
        http://www.facebook.com/BelovedEmbroideryGifts
        http://www.belovedembroidery.com

Handmade Multi Layered Wooden Cross  $25
 Expressive Faith Decor 
 
Rudolph Tangled in Lights Hat!
*Can be made with earflaps & braids
 Sale :::  $8.50 + $4.00 Shipping
 Capelas Crocheted Creations

Color Clip Collections $8
Coffee Time Creations
www.facebook.com/coffeetimecreations

To purchase any of these items, or if you are interested in seeing more offers, please click on the business page link under the item that you are interested. All purchases will be between the buyer and seller.



Friday, November 25, 2011

Black Friday/ Small Business Saturday Weekend Sale - Day 2

Show your support for Small Businesses this year!
100's of items from dozens of small businesses made by real people, not mass produced by machines.
Sale will last from Thursday through Monday with new items added each day.
Day 2

Black/White Throw 45"x54" $60
Launi's Rag Quilts


Crystallized eco-friendly palm wax candle
  3 for $20 Sweet Scents Candle Shop
http://www.facebook.com/sweetscentscandleshop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetScentsCandles

"Masked Monsters 2012 Calendar" $10.00, but 15% with code: BLACKFRIDAY
Paper Forest
 http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlepaperforest


Grab-n-Go Coupon Totes $35.00+sh./hnd
  "Grab-n-Go Coupon Totes"
https://www.facebook.com/GrabnGoCouponTotes


21" waldorf doll winged horse    $85.00
  SewWickedlySweet
 http://www.sewwickedlysweet.etsy.com/


 The Gus Bunnies, everything moves.$20 and free shipping and handling.
 Gus Bunnies Gifts LLC
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gus-Bunnies/133012523473186


Owl and Apple Corduroy Pillow  $35 (plus S&H)
Chicky D's Accessories and Gifts 
http://www.chickyds.etsy.com/

  Sock Monkey hat & TY beanie  Newborn size $29.00
Purple Sheep
www.etsy.com/shop/orsonbay

To purchase any of these items, or if you are interested in seeing more offers, please click on the business page link under the item that you are interested. All purchases will be between the buyer and seller.


Thursday, November 24, 2011

Black Friday/ Small Business Saturday Weekend Sale

Show your support for Small Businesses this year!
100's of items from dozens of small businesses made by real people, not mass produced by machines.
Sale will last from Thursday through Monday with new items added each day.
Day 1


   Road Trip “Princess” NecklacePrice: $89.00
Kirsten Knudsen Designs
  www.KristenKnudsenDesigns.com

SOY MELTS & MELTER GIFT BASKET $20.00 (FREE SHIPPING IN U.S.)
Cathy's Creations of Roseville, MI
http://www.facebook.com/CathysCreationsMI

Get your very popular Slouchy! $11.25
Kerns Craft Corner
http://www.zibbet.com/kernscraftcorner

"Beach Buddies" Wine Glass Set $24.99 (free shipping)
 Love's Little Creations
http://www.facebook.com/loveslittlecreations

Wolf Quilt machine stitched 100.00 + shipping
Kathie D on Facebook 
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kathie-D/112625785470007

Lace Petti Rompers- Many Colors! $10 ($2 shipping) 
Cuppycake Baby Boutique
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cuppycake-Baby-Boutique/143901852365751

Hand Crocheted Panda Bear Hat $15
Lavender Starlight
www.facebook.com/lavenderstarlight
www.lavenderstarlight.etsy.com
http://www.etsy.com/listing/86387540/panda-hat


 Wool Felt Holiday Hand Muff $24 
HeartFelt 4 Kids
   
http://heartfelt4kids.com/


To purchase any of these items, or if you are interested in seeing more offers, please click on the business page link under the item that you are interested. All purchases will be between the buyer and seller.


The Craft Show Black Friday Special
Become a TCS Sponsor and get your business link on our website for 6 months.
This weekend only, purchase this and get your business a lifetime listing in our Shopping Directory free.
http://www.thecraftshow.org/apps/webstore/













Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday Weekend Sale

 
 Black Friday/Small Business Saturday Weekend Sale
begins Thursday 11/24
Dozens of TCS friends items at great sale prices.
 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

TCS Networking Tips

Good Day Friends. We thought that we would offer some tips and observations on networking our businesses on Facebook. These are strictly the opinions of TCS.

We've all created a business page on Facebook.
 It's assumed that we did this because we have products or services to sell. Now what do we do with it? Well, we need to get it seen, build our fan base and get some customers. How do we do this? First off, it takes time, it takes work, it takes knowledge and it takes some talent as well.
 We've said it before and we'll say it again. You could have the best product in the world but if nobody sees it, you can't sell it. You have to get it seen. Facebook is a great place for that to happen. There are millions of people on Facebook. You have to figure the odds are pretty good someone will want your product or service if enough people see it. With that being said, just showing your product to people is only half the battle. You have to have a bit of tact and promote you and your business the correct way.

Facebook is a social networking tool.
You have to be somewhat social to get people to notice you. This means not only connecting with people, but engaing with them, as well. We see it everyday on our page. People pop in leave an ad and dissapear into the Facebook night not to be heard from again until they post their next ad. Now, I'm a normal person and I assume most are that come to TCS. As the ads that are posted roll through our page, unless something catches my eye, or I am strictly paying attention to each ad, I may remember 1 out of 100 ads posted. I will tell you what catches my eye 100% of the time though. It's the comments on posts. Why? Because it's not just an ad. It's a human engaging in conversation. I'm human (I think :) and I like to see what people have to say. I would lay odds on it that most of you would be the same way. You would notice comments more than just ads flying by.
My point is, you not only want to get your business seen. you want it to get noticed, as well.
TCS Tip: Be social, make comments, like posts, etc. You'll get noticed, I promise this.

Never turn down the opportunity for free advertising.
Everytime you make a post, or comment, or even just like a post, its free promotion for you and your business. I see lots of comments to posts on our page. Most are from personal accounts, which is great. But I also see a wasted opportunity for some of the people that are commenting. They don't tag their business page behind their comment. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone comment from their personal account and someone commenting to that, "whats your page so I can like you". Thats a missed opportunity for another contact, a like or potentail customer.
TCS Tip: ALWAYS tag your business page when commenting on someones post. It's free advertising for you and your business.

Networking is Networking
TCS believes networking is making as many contacts as possible. Growing your fan base with many fans. Some believe that networking their business is just finding people and businesses that they are interested in.
On our "cruise" networking events, we always ask people to like everyone on the list. If this were to happen, we would all grow so much quicker. But I see comments like, "I only like the pages I'm interested in or I only want people that are interested in my business".
 Now, how each person networks is their right, but in my opinion, and this IS just my opinion, networking is people connecting with people, not just businesses connecting with businesses. Why would I let what someones business is stop me from networking with them? Pepsi or Sony or McDonalds doesn't care what business I'm in, yet they still want me to like them. If you keep in mind that you are networking with a person, not a business, you'll realize that even though they sell something you're not interested in, maybe they will be interested in what you offer. Or, someone they know may be interested, or, someone you know may appreciate you pointing them to that business that you aren't interested in. 

Be honest and trustworthy as a person and a business.
How you conduct yourself on Facebook is a reflection of you AND your business. Every post you make,  every comment you make and every action you take on FB is being seen by someone and an opinion is going to be formed about you and your business. Lord knows TCS has made comments or posts that we wish we could take back, but overall we keep in mind that what we say or do is being seen. No one is perfect and will make mistakes. We all need to think about how and what we say and do. People, real people are seeing this. 

Some observations.
In this part, I want to point out some things I've seen that fall into the category of  "Not Cool" :) I will not be naming or slamming any businesses for this. It may be an oversight on their part or they are just not knowledgeable of the fact.

"Not Cool"
-Excpecting help from others but not willing to help. Again, networking is people helping people.
I've seen people come to TCS and ask for others to come like their page, yet they don't bother to visit and like some of the others that have posted on our wall. If you come and ask for likes, try visiting a few pages posted first. You'll probably get some likes back by doing this and it shows you are willing to give as well as get.

- Signing up for a networking event and not particpating or as we call it "tag and run".
Someone who does this is intending to get likes but not give any back. If you only knew what people think of you and your business when you do this. Enough said!

-Advertising businesses other than your on on someone elses wall.
I've seen other businesses that charge a fee to promote businesses then promote that business on our wall for free. If you do this, you are getting paid to promote them on your wall, not ours. It is ok for you to promote YOUR business, not others. With that said, if you would like to promote a business on our wall that you are getting paid for, please see our "advertising options".

Parting note:
We created TCS with the vision of having a high set of standards. People helping People is our motto. We believe that there are far more people that want to do things right and treat others as they would want to be treated. We realize that from time to time their can be oversights, mistakes or just lack of knowledge to do things correctly. When visiting any page, always try to learn their rules and follow them before posting.
We offer lots of free advertising and promotion on our wall. It's a service we enjoy extending to everyone. All we ask is give a little back, help others, conduct your business in an ethical manner and enjoy :)

Have a great week ahead!
TCS

Saturday, November 12, 2011

TCS News and Views

It's the weekend! Time to enjoy family, and friends.

First off I'd like to wish Mrs TCS a Happy Birthday. The day is yours baby, have fun, enjoy and the only rule is ya gotta take me with you :) It's gonna be a ROCKIN Day!!! 

We would like to offer congrats to Gloria and Erica over at Wired Hanger. They have an outstanding piece of jewelry they produced that is going to be on display at the upcoming American Music Awards. You have to click on the link and go see the beautiful piece. We are so proud of our great friends. This should be an inspiration to us all. Dreams do come true :)

Also Congrats go out to Lory at Goody Goody Tutus. Her fb page just hit 10,000 fans. It's a tribute to the great products they have. Pop over and have a look.

Our website has a new feature. "TCS Great Finds". Each day we pick a business from our fb wall and put it on our website. Stop by each day to see another new great business at http://www.thecraftshow.org/ 

Our "Total TCS Promotion" raffle, has only three days left until we draw a winner. Each ticket is $1 for a chance to win the package worth over $50 of promotion for your business. Get tickets at the right side panel of this blog.

Have a great and creative weekend and week ahead. Dream BIG !!! 


Monday, November 7, 2011

Help TCS Help You

Happy Monday all. We hope your week is starting out great.

A few notes to get our week started:

We created our Facebook page 6 months ago to give people who own Homebased Businesses an outlet to get their names and products noticed by others. We worked and still work hard to do this. Our page has grown to almost 22, 000 friends. Thats quite a few that see when you post your business on our wall.

Then we created this blog, giving another outlet to spread the word. We've promoted it heavily and tried to do some fun things for people that visit. We want people to come see the great talent and amazing people that we are associated with. The more people that see our businesses, the better chance someone will become a customer.

We've created yet another outlet, our new website http://www.thecraftshow.org/. It's still new and growing. We are working hard to get it ranked high on the search engines and adding it to other directories. If we are successful it brings a whole new market of visitors to see your work. We've added our TCS Shopping Directory to the site as well. Social Marketing (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linked In, are great add ons, but search engines is still tops to bringing visitors and customers to your website.

Besides providing these outlets for you, we also spend time on our Facebook page with our cruises and shout outs to help you grow your fan bases. Rest assured that we are busy :)

We've spent some time telling you how we help, now we need your help. Help TCS help you.

On our fb page, people can post (advertise) their business, products or services. Lots of people do it, 30,000 a month active users according to Insights. All we ask for in return is,
1. when we post a page, is to please visit it and tell them TCS sent you.
(these pages have normally done something special and deserve to be rewarded.)
2. when we provide our cruises, please follow the posted rules.
(100's of people join our cruises and a few won't return the favor and tag TCS.)
3. Comment or like the posts of others. Be active on our wall.
(everyone likes to see comments or that someone has liked their post. It lets them know someone is seeing it.) TCS Tip: Participating by commenting or liking others posts, actually gets you noticed more than the ad you post.

On our website:
1. Visit it frequently, tell your friends about it, leave a review and visit the sites listed on it.
(all of the above helps in the search engine ranking and gets more people to visit. More people to see our work and better chances of finding customers.)
2. Make a donation.
(we could use help to buy advertising and better SEO for the website. Again, to get more visitors.)

TCS is striving to make http://www.thecraftshow.org/ THE place for shoppers to go to buy from small businesses :)

Have a great week everyone!!!