Craft Shows – Behind the Scenes

Putting it All Together Marketing Strategy Pre-show Take advantage of social media Send out an email campaign Offer pre-show ordering with pickup at the show Discount codes- useful when market doesn’t support your prices (instead of changing prices) During show Social media lives, reels, stories! Business cards Collect emails QR codes After show Social media…

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Craft Show Tutorial with Karen Gresham (Part 1)

Craft Shows A great way to sell your handmade products and grow your business! What are the benefits? Make money Networking with other creatives Meet your local community and develop name/brand recognition See what is trending Positive affirmations on your product Opportunity for wholesale Gain confidence and experience Grow your social media and mailing list…

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Understanding Various Wreath Styles

I see this confusion all the time! Wreath makers on Etsy using the wrong keywords to describe their products! Not everything is farmhouse!! If you use a keyword in your Etsy title and it’s not relevant to your product, it’s doing a disservice to your listing. Why? Etsy may show your item to a shopper…

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Make & Take Workshops with Guest Speaker Mellie Mel

Hosting a Profitable Make and Take Party with Guest Mellie Mel In this video, let’s answer your questions regarding hosting a profitable make and take party with Guest Mellie Mel!   Learn why you can be offering classes and as well as some of the struggles.   Use coupon code julie20 (expires Sep 2021) at this link…

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Hashtag Research

Hashtags are a way for the social media platform to organize and categorize our posts as well as have a way for viewers to follow hashtags as well as search hashtags and find us. Hashtags can help you get found, they can’t hurt you if you do it wrong. Hashtags are not reliable and will…

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Canva – WordSearch Engagement Post

Here’s a fun way to engage your followers. Create a crossword puzzle to see who can find all the words or if they see a word first that might describe them or the next thing they might purchase. Be creative and use words that are relevant to your audience. Here’s one we did for a…

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Canva – Carousel Post for Enagement

Instagram allows for carousel posts. These are one post but can contain up to 10 images. The viewer is able to scroll through the posts in order to see the next image. You can just upload 10 photos but in this tutorial, I want to show you how you can make them look like a…

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Social Media Engagement Tips 2021

Most of the time I see handmade businesses only use social media to sell but social media is not made for selling! It’s made for people to people interaction.  So as Etsy shop owners, we need to remember to engage with people and not sell to them (all the time). It’s hard especially for an…

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Canva – This or That Engagement Post

Use a Canva this or that post to help with engagement on your social media channels. Rules for This or That post Only 2 options  Say this or that…choice 1 or 2, choice a or b, Green or Red, Round or Oval, Wreath or Swag, Grapevine or Deco Mesh, etc. Copy can go on the…

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Quickly Open an Etsy Shop

Please refer to the Etsy Quick Start Guide here for more information. Privacy Policy YOUR BUSINESS NAME Privacy Policy Last updated 12 May 2021. This Privacy Policy describes how and when YOUR BUSINESS NAME (“I”, “me”, “my”) collects, uses, and shares information when you purchase an item from YOUR BUSINESS NAME (LINK TO YOUR ETSY…

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Link in Bio Website Using Canva

What is a link in bio website? A link in bio website is a place on your social media bio where you can send your followers to get more information regarding your brand. Most bios give a place to include a website url making it the perfect place to include quick links for your followers.…

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Creating a Collage Graphic for Products

In this video, use Canva to create a collage of your products. Collages are a great way to group similar items together or create gift or shopping guides. Use this on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. Click here to use our Canva Pinterest Templates.

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How to Batch Edit Etsy Listings

Here’s a way to quickly update your listings seasonally so that your titles, tags and descriptions don’t include holiday keywords that are no longer relevant. This should be done after every major holiday (i.e., Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, etc.) This update also allows you to rethink other important changes like pricing…

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Instagram Reels

What are Reels? Reels is Facebook’s answer to TikTok! It’s creating short videos and piecing them together so that they tell a story. How to Get Reels on Instagram In order to get Reels you need to set your account to a Creator Account. If you only have a personal Instagram account, you need to…

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Facebook Page for 2021

We’ve uncovered best practices for your Facebook Page (this is a business page, not personal profile) directly from our Facebook rep and they are as follows: Facebook Stories –  Currently, Facebook Stories, does not fight the algorithm and can get more reach than a post on a Page It is recommended to either post Stories…

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StreamYard Training

In this video, take a look around Streamyard, the streaming platform I use for streaming to Facebook Pages and Groups as well as Youtube. If you’re interested in checking it out, use my link for $10 credit when you spend $25 https://streamyard.com?pal=5702314196729856

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Shipping Tips with Michelle Ronacher

Guest Trainer Michelle Ronacher Owner of Shelly’s Antiques & Wreaths Michelle is an expert in shipping having owned an Ebay shop for years where she shipped antiques and used toys. Her top tips for shipping: Pack your box like it’s going through a war. Ensure its all tied down since carriers throw our packages around. Use…

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Product Development Tips

For a sale to take place, many factors need to line up — there needs to be the right product, for the right price, the the right person, at the right time.  But first, you need to learn more about who your customer will be: Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) As a wreath seller, a customer…

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Etsy Branding – Receipt Banner

Your order receipt banner shows at the top of your receipts sent to your customers. It’s a great place to add more branding and to thank your customers. Here are the steps to add your order receipt banner: Log into Etsy.com Click your shop manager icon Click settings Click info and appearance Click choose file next to…

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Etsy Success Story – Jenny’s Wreath Boutique

Jenny used to be a 1 on 1 client of mine and also in the Success Circle so it was an honor to have her as a guest this month sharing her secrets with you. Jenny’s Success Path: Open on Etsy and sell Start Social Media (She prefers Pinterest and IG) Start a Youtube Channel…

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How to Prepare for a New Year

Hey Maker – If you’re new to Success Circle this month welcome!! We have a success path to follow and this quarter, my team and I will be restructuring the look of this path but for now, you can find a lot of information and a place to start if you’re not sure what to…

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Determining Your Business Structure

There are so many different ways to legally structure your business. And this list is not all-encompassing, but includes the most common for those wanting to start a handmade business. I’m going to be very honest with you. This was very confusing to me when I first started and just trying to figure it out…

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2021 Fall & Holiday Trends

Here are the upcoming 2021 Fall and Holiday trends from Dallas Market: Colors Corel is upcoming color for fall for brides Blue is hot Teal Emerald green Blush Plum Royals (rich emerald, ruby red, purple) Yellow gold Themes Candy Flocking on items Large poinsettias Large Magnolias Metallics in every color! Cardinals Animal prints to the…

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Mailchimp Ways to Promote Email Opt in

Email Existing List I know you’re probably thinking… but Julie I’m trying to get emails. Yes, you are and you should have more than one email optin for your business. But when you create a new one and you think your existing list will enjoy it, make sure to email it to them or you…

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Mailchimp Email Sequence

OPT-IN EMAIL SEQUENCE WHAT IS AN EMAIL SEQUENCE An email sequence is a series of 3-5 emails you send to someone who opts into your email list. How many you send will be up to you and your audience. WHY HAVE AN EMAIL SEQUENCE Email is another way to connect with your audience. If, and…

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Mailerlite – Opening Account

Mailerlite is an email service provider for housing the emails you collect for sending email campaigns. This option is a simple, beginner option for email marketing. If you have another email service provider (such as MailChimp) and you’re happy with that provider, you don’t need to complete this training. If you’ve tried to set up…

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Determine Your Email Opt In

To determine your email opt in idea, you first need to understand who your customers are and what problems they have that you can solve for them. Your goal is to build a relationship with potential customers in order to get them to know, like and trust you so that you can sell to them…

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Why Email Marketing

Reach a wider audience while keeping costs down – Email is a relatively inexpensive way to stay in touch with your customers and potential customers. It’s a professional way to educate consumers about your brand. 72% of consumers prefer to receive promotional messages through email. It’s convenient  – Not only can consumers stay connected with…

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How to Create Mailchimp Audience or List

Audience is another word for list. You’re creating a bucket to house all the emails you’ll be collecting for your business. In this video below, I’ll walk you through setting up an audience. If you get stuck, make sure to ask for help inside the Facebook group!

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Instagram Best Practices from Facebook

How Can I Grow My Community utilize the feeds: Feed, Stories, Live, Video, Reels post consistently across all feeds post across all feeds weekly Stories Post 8-10 a day, throughout the day, not all at once repost, share tagged posts, behind the scenes, slice of life content use the question sticker, use poll and quiz…

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Shipping Best Practices

Why is shipping so expensive? Shipping is one of the first challenges of a new Etsy shop owner. Many get frustrated and either quit or don’t start selling online because they can’t figure out shipping. Let me show you how I manage shipping with my wreath business. How are shipping rates determined? First, understand that…

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Pinterest Video 2020

What’s working in our business lately? Pinterest video pins! There are two ways to use video with Pinterest. Making a video pin and making a story pin. Watch below and let me show you how to find some keywords and make video pins: Also, below are video pin sizes you may find useful. You can…

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YouTube Updates 2020

I’ve been seeing a few YouTube updates in the past few months that I thought was important to share… But first, why YouTube? We have YouTube training in the portal here but basically, YouTube is owned by Google. People go to Google to search for topics. If you created videos that help answer questions your…

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Ways to Increase Sales in 4th Quarter

It’s crunch time. A lot of small handmade businesses make most of their sales during 4th quarter. I’ve put together ways to help you increase your 4th quarter sales below. Sell on Etsy – Etsy is a marketplace meaning they do all the work to drive the traffic to Etsy for you. All you need…

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Weekly Accountability Tracker for Marketing

Always remember who your ideal customer and audience is when using social media, writing descriptions or emails. Constantly put yourself in their shoes. How would they say that or what would they call that or what are they struggling with today, etc.   Engagement Post – Any post that gets your audience to take an action…

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Ways to Use Facebook Stories

So, what’s so special about stories?  After having a conversation with my media specialist at Facebook, she says Facebook is pushing stories in news feeds and since a lot of brands are not using them, suggested I use them to help with engagement on my page or with posts, I’ve already shared. She gave me…

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Success Circle Monthly Calendar

September Schedule! If you have a question, first search the group using the search box or go to the photos section of the group and then search for your topic and ask your questions under that photo. TAG Julie if you want her to see it. FB is very glitchy and does not show us every comment.…

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5 Tips for Improving Your Established Pinterest Account

Pinterest continues to be a driving force for handmade business owners and below are 5 tips to remember with an established account. 1. Know how to write save worthy pins Pin quality is an imperative. If you’re just putting random copy (text) on Pinterest Pins that’s not good enough; your pins should also include a…

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How To Create Facebook Video Like Page Ads

Running a like page ad is a great way to get more people to like and follow your page. However, you have to be very careful as to not attract those who will not be a paying customer or show interest in your brand. If you’re not sure who your ideal customer is, use these…

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Edit Photos on Phone Using Lightroom

In this video quickly learn how I edit photos for my Etsy shop or social media using the Lightroom app. You can download the app from your app store on your phone. Use the free version. Instructions are for iPhones but I’m sure it’s available on Android.

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Pinterest Story Pins

Story Pins are a work in progress and aren’t available to everyone yet. Also, you might see different versions of the feature depending where you are. Story Pins can include multiple images, videos, and text. You can use Story Pins to: Create a step-by-step guide Show steps for a DIY project or recipe Tell a…

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How to Craft the Perfect Facebook Live – 5 Day Challenge

Facebook Live 5-Day Challenge If you are not doing Facebook lives to grow your small business, ask yourself why? I want you to comment below and tell me your excuse so that I can help you through whatever your struggle is. Equipment? Looks? Afraid of being judged? Your looks? Your skill level? There really is…

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180 Power and Emotional Words for Copy

This is a list of 180+ power words for writing emotional copy in your Etsy descriptions, Facebook Posts, Blog Titles, etc. Studies show that people react to emotion which is hard to convey if you’re an online business. Try using some of these words to help build emotion with your copy. What is copy? The…

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Creating Etsy Shop Sections

Etsy enables you to organize your items by section. What if, when you went to your grocery store, everything was set out haphazardly — with the butter alongside the charcoal briquettes, the dog food next to the radishes, the cheese by the sardines? You’d never be able to find everything you needed to buy! That’s…

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Setting Etsy Shipping Profiles

You can save time adding shipping prices to products in your shop by creating shipping profiles. With saved shipping profiles, you can update multiple listings quickly with similar shipping costs. To create a shipping profile: On Etsy.com, click the Your Account icon, then click Shop Manager. Click Settings. Click Shipping settings. Click Shipping profiles. Click Add a shipping profile. Fill out the appropriate shipping details.…

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What to Include in Etsy Shop Announcement

A lot of Etsy users are mistaken into believing that the announcement section is only to post news like ‘Huge Sale’ or ‘Fresh Collection’. Wrong! When used correctly, the shop announcement is one of the best places to promote your store and increase search results. It can help you reduce bounce rate (the amount of…

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Facebook Ad – Video Views

Once you have a Facebook video get organic engagement and really perform well on your Facebook Page, you can choose to run an ad in order to get more eyes on the post. Below, I’ll show you how I run a video views ad to get more people to watch my video.

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Anatomy of a Facebook Post

Your goal on your Facebook page is to get engagement on your post organically. Organically means, not running an ad on the post. Once you can get a good organic post, then you can decide if you should run an ad. Your goal is to not make your posts look like a billboard for selling…

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Pinterest Video Pins

Video is KING! How many times have you heard me say this? Well it’s true no matter the platform and espcially true for Pinterest Pins! In this video tutorial, I want to show you various ways to use your video to create pins that get further reach and more clicks back to your products! Why…

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Mind Mining for Email Topics or Content

Here’s a great exercise for creating ideas for content or email topics. The more you know your customers and what they need from you, the easier this will be. Learn how to discover your avatar (ideal customer) here. There are various ways I’ve seen this done, but generally, you take one idea that you have…

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70+ Rapid-Fire Email Topic Ideas

One of the most common problems after starting an email list is trying to figure out what to write about. Below are quick topics I’ve created or ideas I’ve found to get you started. Make sure to use them for your niche, I gave a lot of wreath maker or teacher topics. It’s important that…

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Common Tax Expenses for Home Based Business

The following are common tax deductions for your business. Hopefully, you’ve been keeping good records of your biz income and expenses! I suggest everyone have a separate checking account for their business to help with tracking. Even if it’s not a biz checking due to high fees, just a separate personal checking account in your…

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Etsy – Ads

We’ve covered the opportunities for organic visibility with both Etsy Search and Google Search, and now we’ll explore the paid: Etsy Ads If you’re ready to expand your reach and take your shop to the next level, Etsy’s advertising platform makes it easy to drive more traffic from both on and off Etsy to your…

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Etsy – Google Search

Similar to Etsy Search, there are a variety of factors that determine your visibility on Google. Let’s look at these factors in more detail! Google Search, factors explained Note: The way Google ranks their search changes regularly, based on how they think they can best show results to their visitors. The information shared here are current best…

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Etsy – Customer & Market Experience

Your review score, whether or not you offer free shipping, processing times, about section and shop policies can all help make a shopper feel more confident and excited about making a purchase from your shop. Etsy states that having these areas complete can give your shop a slight boost in Etsy Search. Think about what…

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Etsy – Product Photography

Listing Photos All about listing photos. Once a buyer discovers your listing, your photos communicate your product and brand. Listing photos are a major influencer on purchase behavior. And if your items get views from shoppers but are not converting into purchases, majority of the time, it’s the photos. You can have up to 10 photos on…

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Etsy – Keywords Titles & Tags

The way Etsy determines visibility is always changing, but these are some of the current best practices we recommend. Etsy regularly updates their Ultimate Guide to Etsy Search, should you want to stay up to date. When a customer enters a search on Etsy, the search algorithm looks at listing titles, tags, categories, and attributes…

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Etsy Branding – Shop Cover Image in Canva

The shop banner displays across the top of your Etsy Shop homepage. It is the most prominent graphic that buyers see when visiting your shop. Shoppers only see your cover banner when they’re already in your shop.  Branding your shop could give shoppers more confidence in buying from you, but it won’t help you get…

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Etsy – Branding Your Shop

Branding brings the unique story of your business to life, helping your shop stand out from the crowd and connecting your products with your target market. Having a clear brand identity achieves several goals: 1. It contributes to the perception people have about your business. 2. It can make encounters or purchases much more meaningful…

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How to Stream Vimeo on a Smart TV

To stream Vimeo Videos to a smart TV, follow these steps. To add your private Vimeo videos to your Watch Later list in Vimeo using your laptop, phone, or tablet. Just follow the video links you received by email.   Step 1 Set up a free account at https://vimeo.com/join Step 2 On your computer or laptop, log…

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How to Create Vimeo PDF File for Digital Products

When I deliver digital products to a customer outside of my membership groups, I give them a pdf file with a Vimeo video or Vimeo Showcase link and password. I’ve created a sample Google Doc here to get you started with your own digital product creation. To use the Google doc, make a copy first…

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How to Create a Vimeo Showcase

A Vimeo showcase is a way to have multiple videos displayed uner one url and password. I think this would be good when you create a digital product and need multple videos in order to teach your topic but don’t have a website to embed the videos.  For example, when I give the Success Circle…

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How to Create a Vimeo Account

In this video learn to create a Vimeo account. Learn why I use Vimeo for business by clicking here.   How Much Does It Cost? How much does Vimeo cost? Find their Prices HERE. As with everything I recommend that costs, always start with free options and then grauduate to the next plan tier as…

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Why Use Vimeo for Business

I’ve been using Vimeo for a few years now and I love it to use for digital products. What is Vimeo? Vimeo is a video sharing platform like YouTube that was launched in 2004 by a group of filmmakers. Since then, the platform has grown to over 80 million creators — most of the artists…

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Who Is Your Ideal Customer?

In order to solve problems for your customers, you need to know who they are. You need to get very specific in who they are in order to have a better chance of converting a sale. There are TONS of people to market to in the world but only a select group who will actually…

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How to IGTV

Instagram (IG) is a great way to market your online shop and creative business! Instagram TV, which we all know as IGTV, allows creators to upload high quality, long-form, vertical videos that stay on your IG account until you remove them. IGTV allows Instagram users to create channels where they can upload videos between 15…

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Ways to Grow a New Facebook Group

When I launched my new free Facebook Group, I did a couple of things to get the word out and grow members over 1000 in one day. I created a free tutorial or video to entice people to join the group. I was able to use one of my hundreds of videos created in my…

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How to Create a Facebook Group

First, let’s discuss why I’m creating a free Facebook group after being on Facebook for almost 10 years! Facebook is changing and we all know it’s changing. It’s going to be changing in big ways and the algorithm is showing us it’s already started. Facebook will show you and prompt you with messages, to show…

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How to Facebook Group Cover Image

Below are a few basic templates for creating a Facebook ‘Group’ Cover image. Please follow the instructions below closely and watch the video.  Make sure to use Google Chrome when working in Canva.com. I’ve got more canva training here in the portal. Step 1: Login to your Canva.com account in a separate window/tab. Step 2: Click >>THIS…

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Shipstation

Shipstation is a great way to manage all of your shipments through various online stores. If you have an Etsy and Shopify store, this will combine all your shipping into one place. Even if you only have an Etsy shop, using Shipstation can save you time and money. Shipstation’s basic package is $9 monthly for…

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Facebook Page Plugin Embed on WordPress Site

If you want to have your Facebook Page embedded on your website on the sidebar, following these steps using their plugin. Go to https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/page-plugin/ Make sure your Facebook Page url is correct. Mine automatically populated but if you manage more than one page, you’ll want to check this. Now you can check or uncheck items…

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Book Recommendations

Below are books I’ve read and a couple I’ve purchased but not read yet. What books have you read that have helped change your life or business? I’ll keep adding to this list as I find more. The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin…

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When Products Start to Trend

You can use Google trends to determine when people have searched for a specific topic in Google Search, historically. You can use this information to determine when you should have your content or products ready in the marketplace to capitalize on the increased search volume. Below are some examples I’ve used to search for in…

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Create a Youtube Channel

You need a Google Account to sign into YouTube. A Google Account works across all Google products (e.g. Gmail, Blogger, Maps, YouTube). Create your Google account here: https://accounts.google.com/SignUp If you already have a Google account, sign in with that one. Go to youtube.com and sign in with your Google account. Once logged into youtube, go…

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Upload and Schedule a Facebook Post 2019

It’s important to post multiple times a day on your Facebook Page if you really want to see more engagement. And remember we build engagement on the Page so that more of your posts will be seen by more of your followers. In order to post multiple times throughout the day and not be tied…

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Text Replacement on Iphone

In order to quickly post a long string of text while on a Live or trying to post quickly on my phone when answering emails or social media questions, I use the text replacement feature on my iphone.  Some of you might have heard me talking about it during our Q/A calls. First make a…

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How to Facebook 3D Photo

Facebook is giving a lot of great FB juice to 3D photos, meaning more engagement and views.  What are 3D photos? 3D photos essentially draws from the depth map in an image captured by a dual-camera phone, and then it adds some custom software enhancements. The end result should be a perspective-shifting, pseudo-3D image. In…

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Instagram Hashtag Research

One thing has remained constant throughout all the Instagram changes over the years: the importance of Instagram hashtags. Using relevant, targeted hashtags on your posts and stories is still one of the best ways to get discovered by new audiences on Instagram. And this can translate into more engagement, more followers, and more customers for…

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Tips to Get Your First 1000 Real Facebook Followers

Make sure to completely fill out all aspects of your page, including: about section, url, profile picture, cover photo, address (if brick and mortar), mission, long description, email, phone. Make sure to use keywords (i.e., for me that would be holiday wreaths for front door in Columbia, SC). Create a few weeks of posting where…

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Ways to Find Craft Shows in Your Area

First, make sure the craft shows you find are for crafters and not also for a lot of MLM’s (Multi Level Marketing). You don’t want a lot of people selling Lip Sense, Lu La Roe,  or Pampered Chef. You want true crafters. Second, make sure the craft show you’re selecting has been around for a while. You…

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My Favorite Wreath Making Suppliers

Below is a list of my favorite retail and wholesale suppliers. Questions to consider before purchasing wholesale: What is their minimum? Where are they shipping from? Do they only import? What are their case sizes? Wholesalers: Liberty Floral Craig Bachman Imports (CBI) Sims Pottery Transpac Jascotina Allstate Floral American Best Raz Imports Fortune Silk Galt…

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How Optimize Your Facebook Profile

Your Facebook profile is the personal area of Facebook.  Everyone who has a Facebook account has a Facebook profile. Why should we optimize our Facebook profiles? Because this helps us to get more traffic to our Facebook business pages.  Think about this, when you post inside a Facebook group answering questions and helping other people…

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How to Facebook Premiere Video

Facebook premiere is a prerecorded video that you upload to Facebook and then schedule it to play in the future whereby giving you the chance to watch the video for the first time with your audience. I’ve come up with some pros and cons of doing a FB premiere and then further down this post,…

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How to Use the Etsy Shop Updates Feature

What are Etsy shop updates? Etsy shop updates are similar to a post on social media, sharing information about your shop to the world.  Creating a shop update creates a post and pushes it out to those who favorite your shop, an item in your shop, or have purchased from you on Etsy.com and in…

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Categorize Expenses

It’s important to keep track of both income and expenses for your business. When you stay organized from the beginning of the year, come tax time next year, you are much more prepared. I like using accounting software like Godaddy Bookkeeping or Quickbooks, but before I could afford to use those, I used spreadsheets to…

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Planning for a New Year

Ya’ll you can’t start a new year blindly! You need to have a plan. I’m not just talking about goal setting, like we did January 2018 or January 2016. Yes that’s great but I mean also planning out your time and your attention. Here are things I do at the beginning of a new year.…

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Creating a Productivity Schedule

Listen, we all have lives and we’re all trying to grow our businesses while dealing with distractions, heck even the holidays. Some are also trying to grow a business while working a 9-5 and you’re having a hard time fitting everything in.  This is where a schedule helped me greatly when I started out, when…

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Pinterest Tips with Expert Maggie

Notes: Pinterest is the best way to get organic traffic to your site and Etsy shop. There are 250 million people on Pinterest and 90% of shoppers start planning their shopping on Pinterest. When you create pins use the size of 600×900 or 735×1102 Make sure to use keywords in pin title, description, title, boards,…

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20 Facebook Live Ideas for Sellers not Teachers

Why do Facebook lives anyway? It’s a great way for people to put a face behind the business.  A great way for people to know, like and trust you. A great way to tell your story (we all have one) on why you have a business in the first place. It also is a free…

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Giveaways to Grow Your Followers with Kingsumo

Giveaways are one of the fastest ways to grow an audience or a following but if not done carefully, they could attract the wrong kind of followers and this will not help your sales. The trick is to run the giveaway away from your social media accounts and also to offer something that will attract…

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Sales Copy Critiques

Thanks for all who participated! I chose 3 examples to critique. If I didn’t choose yours, you can still learn a lot from watching the below videos.  Sales copy needs to be tweaked and changed about once a quarter as you learn more about your customers.  Try to use words they use and instead of…

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Writing Copy for Facebook Posts

Understand more about writing good sales copy by watching this training first. Then below I talk about sales copy and Facebook posts. There are two kinds of Facebook posts for your business page: One type of post to build engagement and another type of post to get your followers to take action with you. This…

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Writing Copy That Converts

The word “Copy” just means the words you use to entice someone to take action. This action could be to join a mailing list, to purchase, to Like your post or page, etc. The main thing to remember is that it’s not about you it’s about your customers’ feelings. You must tap into emotionally why…

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SEO – Creating Valuable Content for Search

Below are some of the notes I took when at the Haven Blogging Conference last month. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization (meaning words to use in order to get found on google, Pinterest, YouTube and Facebook) SEO is a game on two main fronts; User Experience/Intent and Content User Experience This may not seem like…

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Instagram Tips & Story Highlights

Everyone trying to build an online business should be on Instagram and here’s why: Facebook owns Instagram. There’s a massive shift going to Instagram Pages! It’s now easier than ever to share between Facebook and Instagram, making marketing on both platforms super easy! Heck, you can even answer people who comment on your IG page through…

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Pinterest 2018 Updates

Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest. Why do you keep changing on us? You make it SO hard to love you, or to teach people how to use you! LOL New Pinterest Features The new profile includes a fun new cover image.  – You can choose from a few different options for your cover image, such as your…

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How to Keep Engagement Up Over Summer

First, YOU have to be the one who starts the process. YOU need to keep the engagement up on your business before you expect customers or fans to also do the same.  So keep making and creating.  Keep making products, creating social media posts, keep telling your story, keep inspiring, keep giving great content. Will…

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May 2018 Advertise a Sale Timeline

So, you’ve stocked your shop and your ready to promote your sale! Here is a timeline of what I’ve done in the past that has worked HUGE for me! With every social media post and email include: Dates of Sale (July 1 -10) What the Sale is (% off, free shipping, BOGO, etc.) Where to…

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May 2018 Etsy Christmas In July Sale

Why: A CIJ sale will help to generate income during the slow summer months and its also a good way to clear out inventory to get ready for adding more inventory for the holiday season. When: You decide on the dates but the CIJ sale Etsy team typically runs the first week of July and…

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Etsy Sales Tips with Guest Kendra Goodrich

Notes I took from the interview: Income generating tips for the Summer Months with your Etsy shop… Do a Purge Sale or Clearance Sale in on a FB Live. Use your Etsy stats section to see what’s not selling. Create a form on either Google or typeform.com and ask for names, emails and paypal emails. …

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YouTube 6 Equipment

So after you’ve watched all the training, you’re probably asking yourself what do I need in order to make this work for my creative business?  Honestly, not much. You can make great videos with an iphone 7 or higher and a light kit.  Will other gear make it easier for you to record? Yes. But…

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YouTube 4 – Video Editing

Tips for editing your video: You don’t have to necessarily record in the order of how the video will be played. In other words, record opening/intro at the end. Instead of stopping and starting the camera when you need to do different takes, be quite for 5-10 seconds, clap 3 times quick and then be…

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YouTube 3 Keywords & Uploading Video

Keywords help you get found online, no matter what platform you’re on. However, we need to know which keywords perform the best. When starting out, stick to searches that are smaller (in hundreds or thousands) with low competition. This will help you rank better in those smaller searches. If you use searches with a large…

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YouTube 2 Channel Branding

Brand Your Channel Video Instructions on Branding your channel… Your header on your channel is prime real estate.  This is what your cover art could include: How many videos you post per week and which day your audience can expect new content A brief description of what kind of content your channel will offer Your logo…

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YouTube 1 Channel Creation

Create & Name Your Channel 1. Create a Google account Create a Google Account at accounts.google.com or use an existing Google account. 2. Log in to YouTube.com using your Google account login and password 3. Give your channel a name. If you have a very specific niche for your brand/business, your channel name should reflect…

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Etsy Shop Critique – 10 Top Tips

In this video, watch Julie critique a few Etsy shops. The majority of changes that people need to make with their Etsy shops are: Completely fill out the Etsy shop sections including Policies. Make sure you have clickable and cohesive looking shop and product images. Use all or most of the Etsy shop photos. Do…

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Instagram Shoppable Posts

What are Shoppable Posts? Instagram now lets you tag your images with a link back to your Facebook shop so your IG followers can purchase from you. This is brilliant and right now…no fees, unlike Etsy who charges a fee for every sale made.  More information on Shoppable Posts and How do they work here…

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Messenger Bots & ManyChat Training

What are Messenger Bots? Facebook Messenger Bots are automatic responses and messages sent through Facebook Messenger. Why Use Messenger Bots? Messenger Bots can have a higher percentage of open rates versus email open rates. Because emails are over crowded Because people only open email once a day and are on Facebook 5-10 per day. Opting…

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6 Tips for Avoiding Burnout in Your Membership

Over burdening yourself can have bad health effects and make you lose your passion of your purpose of helping others with your knowledge. When you are over worked and burdened out, you will start to hate getting out of the bed in the mornings for your dream job. Here are some tips to help insure…

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March 2018 – The Power of Passive Income

What is passive income? Passive income is typically products that you spend a good amount of time on upfront but then they can be sold over and over again. They are information products. So basically selling your knowledge. The amount of knowledge you have learned over the years is valuable information to those who are…

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Graphic Design Tips

Do you want to design your own graphics or hire a Graphic Designer? When you have an online presence it’s important to develop a consistent look in the form of branding.  This helps people to recognize you.  When you choose your brand colors (typically three or more), what message do you want to communicate.  Yes,…

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200 Facebook Page Conversation Starters

Instructions: Post once or twice a day on your Facebook Biz Page NOT YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE. Use these as a guideline; while you can copy and paste them directly, some need to be tailored to your audience and the products you sell. Pay attention to the responses your fans give you. Their responses are a great way to…

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January 2018 – Memberships

Memberships are an important role in my business but if you try to launch one too soon, you will not have the results you want and need to sustain them.  Below is my video intro but you can find more information below as well as a some workbooks to download.   Researching The key to…

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Your Business Success Path

Remember it’s a marathon, not a sprint! It will take lots of time, lots of work, and extreme dedication. But you can do it! You’ll be surprised at how God will use you in your business and guide you in journeys you never thought possible. There are many pieces to the puzzle of producing a…

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Choosing a Business Name

There’s a lot to think about when naming and branding your business. And believe it or not, I see many get stuck here. I want to assure you, you can change your name and rebrand anytime you want or feel the need too. Many big brands rebrand all the time and so can your handmade…

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Black Friday Sales

 VIDEO 1 VIDEO 2 VIDEO 3 VIDEO 4 VIDEO 5 Black Friday Sale Last week of October – First week of Nov stock your inventory and make many items as you can muster. Run a “pre black Friday sale” – before buyers have time to spend all their money on actual black Friday and…

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February 2018 – Websites with Guest Emily Brown

 First off, if you’re seriously going to be in business you must have a website. Having a website legitimizes you to the world. It can also be another source of revenue stream. I make close to a thousand dollars every month on running ads on my site and during the fall and Christmas season…

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Facebook Lives

VIDEO 1 VIDEO 2 VIDEO 3 VIDEO 4 VIDEO 5 Equipment These are recommendations for equipment mentioned in this month’s training. IPhone 7 – While any smart phone will work, the iPhone 7 by far has the best camera. If you don’t have an iPhone 7, don’t worry, you can still do FB lives and…

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August 2016- Facebook Pages 1.0

Facebook Pages TRAINING #1 Create Page/Personal Profile   Facebook Pages TRAINING #2 Posting Ideas/Tips   Facebook Pages TRAINING #3 Etsy/IG/Pinterest   Facebook Pages Q & A   Facebook Pages How to Schedule a Post   NOTES: Facebook Business Page Guidelines https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php Link to Create a Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/ Video on how to use Canva https://youtu.be/0_eTuhoy9QU…

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January 2018- Goal Setting

Dreams Dreams are wishes that seldom happen. Life does not hand you your dreams; you have to make them happen. Dreams are essential to winning, but they must come out of the clouds and be more tangible and touchable.   Visions A more tangible, touchable dream is a vision. Where there is no vision; there…

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January 2018- Setting Up Challenges for Email Optins

Challenges for optins are popping up all over the place. And I learned from a blogger during my last blogging conference a little bit more which I plan to implement one in my own biz this quarter! What is it? A way to grow your email list by having your audience sign up for some…

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Canva Training

Video 1 Opening an account Tool bar explanations Moving around Designing with Grids Photo tips Video 2 Branding and Brand Kit tips Video 3 0:00 Text alignment tips 8:29 White Space 11:07 Hierarchy 15:40 Color 18:40 Filters Video 4 0:00 Facebook Cover Photo directions 0:21 Etsy Cover Photo directions 0:44 Pinterest Pin Directions HELPFULL CANVA…

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November 2017- Ebooks

Identify Your Avatar (your ideal reader). This helps you to know what to write about on your blog. Answer these questions: What gender is he/she What age is she Where does she like to shop What magazine does she like to read Does she have pets? If so what, dog, cat other Does she have…

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Time Management

VIDEO 1 VIDEO 2 VIDEO 3 VIDEO 4 VIDEO 5 VIDEO 6 VIDEO 7 VIDEO 8 VIDEO 9 VIDEO 10   Get your Workbook.

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October 2017- Blogs & Blogging Tips

VIDEO 1 What is a blog? VIDEO 2 Why do you need a blog for a creative business. Examples of how a blog can bring in significant income.  VIDEO 3 How to know what type of content to put on your blog and examples of blog post types. VIDEO 4 Ideas on how to…

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Tips for Handling Custom Orders & Template

Questions to Ask Yourself? 1. How many custom orders could you comfortably take this month? 2. Where can you advertise you now taking custom orders? (Facebook, Instagram, Email) 3. How much of a deposit will you require before starting a custom order? Get your Custom Order Template here: Custom Wreath Orders Template  

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August 2017- Affiliate Marketing

VIDEO 1 VIDEO 2 VIDEO 3 VIDEO 4 Q&A Affiliate Programs & Networks Mentioned You have to apply to some affiliate programs directly. Amazon Associates is a good example of a program that is large enough that it is self-administered and you apply directly to the program through Amazon at if it is available in…

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Email List Building with Mailchimp

VIDEO 1 Why & How it Works VIDEO 2 Create a Freebie Write Emails VIDEO 3 Creating Images for your Freebie VIDEO 4 Set up Mailchimp Form VIDEO 5 Setting Up Automation in Mailchimp VIDEO 6 Embed Form on Blog VIDEO 7 Marketing Your Freebie List 5 ideas you have for creating a freebie for…

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Success Circle – Increase Sales

VIDEO 1 Customers and Products VIDEO 2 Competition and Descriptions VIDEO 3 Pictures and Marketing VIDEO 4 EMail, Pinterest, and Online Selling VIDEO 5 Key Words and Customer Service Notes  List below 3 things you will do or change this summer to increase your sales of your tangible items this fall…

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Informational Products

 VIDEO 1 VIDEO 2 VIDEO 3 VIDEO 4 VIDEO 5   ALWAYS SHARE VIRAL CONTENT FROM A PAGE THAT IS LARGER THAN YOUR PAGE…in order to ride their coat tails for FB juice. TIP – go to the magazine websites and search “spring, Mother’s Day or Summer” there are tons of articles you can…

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February 2017-Etsy Shop Academy

Steps on using this Training Step 1. Watch the training in full before opening a shop or making changes to your shop. Step 2. Take notes, “note takers are game changers“. Step 3. If you’ve not opened an Etsy shop yet, use my affiliate link so that we BOTH get free Etsy listings http://etsy.me/2mLNEee Step 4.…

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Finances & Bookkeeping

VIDEO 1 VIDEO 2 VIDEO 3 VIDEO 4 VIDEO 5 VIDEO 6 Download a Sample 12 Month Profit Loss Sheet Sample 12 Month Profit Loss Download a Sample Budget Sample Budget Download the SCW Retail Price Calculation Worksheet

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September 2016-Pinterest 4 Profits 1.0

Pinterest Module 1- Basics & Why Pinterest   Pinterest Module 2- SEO Basics and Keywords Pinterest Module 3- Create a Business Account Pinterest Module 4 – Your Business Brand Pinterest Module 5 – Boards Pinterest Module 6 -Pins and Pinning Pinterest Module 7 – Ways to followers Pinterest Module 8 – Tailwind App Pinterest Module…

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