On the subject of collaborations (because did you see my latest collaboration with Dirty Laundry?), here's probably the most clever way I've seen a user make it to the FP on Etsy:

Can you see it? Via Mireio Designs.

Once in a former life, I was an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) developer. I helped companies move from the nether regions of Google to the top rank in their selected keywords, so I generally like to think that I know what I'm doing when it comes to SEO best practices and where to go to find the best SEO information on the web.

When I was an SEO, SEO Moz was basically my blog Bible. I'll admit, my site right now does not have the greatest SEO score — though I am on page one for my top keyword &mdash but since my fiance recently was hired at SEO Moz as a developer, I've taken more interest in it again.

(Disclaimer: I have not been in any way asked to write this or compensated for this blog post. These are my personal opinions.)

Enter Open Site Explorer, a new free tool from the SEO Moz crew to browse external links pointing at your site (or shop, in this case). For the next 48 hours, the pro version is free to evaluate, which is why I'm posting for the second time today. (I know, that's unusual.)

What's it good for, you ask? Well, it's good to find new sources of links for your brand, and good for finding out who's already talking about your brand. It is replacing the Yahoo! version of this tool, which Micrahoo (Microsoft merged with Yahoo!) will be doing away with sometime in the coming months.

Read on to see some screenshots and learn how to evaluate your Etsy shop using Open Site Explorer.

Apologies for not warning you of this sooner than yesterday, but we will be closed as of now through Monday morning, Jan 11th to play catch up and take inventory. We had a ton of sales over the break (thanks!) and I'll be trying to get as many as I can out by end of next week.

A shopper on Etsy recently asked me a question about our perfumes' longevity, or how long they last on the skin, and I gave a pretty lengthy answer that I thought might help some others out. So here you go! Here's my two scents cents about how to tell whether or not one of our perfumes (or any, for that matter), will last a long time on your skin:

While your personal chemistry does make a bit of a difference, here are some general things to know:

• our feminine perfumes are roughly 85% concentrated and our men's colognes are 40% concentrated, which is typically much higher than regular department stores. which means a little goes a long way.
• our foodie scents and resinous scents tend to last longer than some of our other citrus/floral scents.
• our perfumes are oil-based (vs. alcohol-based), which will usually help with the longevity factor.
• there's a handy new chart — more on some of our web redesign (sometime) soon — on our website shop with a category called "body". I consider this not only to be if the fragrance is light or heavy, but also a good indicator of how the throw and staying power is. If the fragrance has a body over 3, you're probably in for a long haul with that fragrance.

The best way to tell if they will last, of course, is to try a sample or two, and to try them more than once. Sometimes your mood, the alignment of the planets, and/or your hygiene can affect how they wear. The other sure-fire way to make a scent last is to layer it with a similarly-smelling body product, or using them as scented oil in the bath as well as a body fragranace. I've also heard spraying or dabbing some on a scarf or using a scent locket works better for some people.

Hopefully that answers some others' questions! I have a lot more news to post, but... I'm running out of time for this weekend already, and it's only just begun!

It's that time of year again for New Year's resolutions. I'm not normally one to make personal goals that I can never attain, but I do believe that the only way to accomplish a task is to know what you want when you first begin. I decided to skip personal resolutions this year (my to do list is already long enough) and work on more business-related resolutions.

Please do not hesitate to provide any thoughts and feedback you might have about 2009 and its ongoings, and I will be sure to take everything to heart as I prepare for 2010. Hope everyone had a happy holiday! We are still on break until next week, so for now I leave you with my inspiration mood board for our 2010 resolutions.

10. Save more of everything.

The rest are after the jump. :)

I'm one of those who strongly believe that Fragrance is not subjective & not personal (plus the beauty is NOT in the nose of the beholder) and that we should always make a distinction between we/our tastes & personal disposition and what we smell. The nose is never wrong, only the words/associations might not be precise. Of course, the perfumer like any artist should forget about any known or learnt rule to "reinvent" the scent and our evanescent universe.

Perfumers learn to smell, recognize and "see" beyond the obvious facets of a material but, beyond any artistic interpretation of a material (or if you put cyclogalbanate in the green or fruity family) the truth "belongs" to it.

Now, it seems that there is some science in that and it's less about "artistic" speculations.
— Octavian Coifan, 1000 Fragrances

We have had the most amazing weekend so far. The first day of the Etsy Rain Holiday Craft Show went off with only a few minor hitches. Show-stoppers so far have included the D.I.Y kits, Madeline, Anita, and Ayn, who I think is making a seasonal come-back since she's so darn Christmas-y. We made a few custom perfumes today and saw a few familiar faces from past Show & Smell events. I have enjoyed meeting a lot of fellow Etsians I have only thus far known via Etsy and/or Twitter. I'm looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings, and hoping I'll be much less delirious!

On that note, I'm off to an early bedtime and to mull over some formulas. I have big week ahead after this in preparation for Indie Banditas, I <3 Indie Holidays, and our Bust magazine featurette! Hope to see you soon!

Flower Reed Diffuser - Red Rose, Diffuser Oil, Elegant Glass Bottle by MelroseFields

I'm not really a candle person (don't know why, just never have been...), but I do like me some reed diffuser action. I've been looking for cheap-ish ways to offer them for my fragrances but can't seem to find a decent wholesaler of the kits. Ah well. 'Til then, I can enjoy maybe one of these?

2 oz Simply Scented Reed Diffusers - choose your scent by VirtuesofNature

Mini Diffuser by mahleewan

Tub and Tile soft scrub by mrsjonessoapbox

What would happen if you took Sweet Petula and Villainess and combined the two? Theoretically, the result would be Mrs. Jones's Soap Box, which I saw awhile back on Lilyella but couldn't resist blogging about myself. The packaging alone marries simplistic and clean with grungy and apothecary in a way that doesn't seem trendy or overbearing, and really just entices me to try them out.

To make matters more interesting, these are not typical spa luxury self-pampering products as they may appear. Nay, but they are cleansers, polishes, detergents, and other earth-friendly products for "life's less glamorous jobs". I dig.

No, my round-ups aren't really new, but my miscellaneous, non-b&b/vegan focused round-ups are certainly new to this blog. At any rate, please enjoy this inaugural mish-mash of pretty awesomeness. :)

Baby Skull Bangle in Sterling by michellechangjewelry

Sexy Boyfriend Sheer Buttonup Top by lamixx

Soft French Lace Bag by tortillagirl

A question answered by Madame Scodoli. God I love these labels. From her profile:

After the gates close and all is quiet on the midway, Madame S. retires to her wagon and spends her evenings sewing, crafting and making soap for the rest of the performers.

But what does a bearded lady know about hygiene? Plenty. After a hard day of displaying her petit goatee, the madame loves nothing more than to climb into her clawfoot tub with a tall glass of whiskey and a clove cigarette. Then, naturally, she emerges to brush her face one hundred times on each side. Fine grooming is what Madame S. is all about.

Her soap and perfume are all-natural and vegan friendly [except that they are made with beeswax (note by Meredith)], always tested personally by her and the rest of the troupe. And all of her soaps are excellent for shaving, not that Madame S. would know anything about it.

It's been awhile since I blogged about anything really pertinent and it's mostly because blogging about my life right now might seem really dull. It's a lot of rinse, lather, and repeat. But I've been working hard to ramp up my productivity and really improve my customer service for the shop.

As everyone is well aware by now, I was floored with orders from the featured seller spotlight and had no idea before then what I could really handle. Now, well, I know what I didn't know before. I have identified a lot of problems with how I run my shop, post my listings, and have devised solutions for each.

Problem: Manually keeping track of order status is time consuming, wastes paper, and wastes energy.
Solution: I built a brand new Order Tracker where customers can now search the status of their order on their own when I am MIA, which I am bound to be with having a 40-hour a week day job on top of this. Using Mail Merge and Excel, I managed to swiftly import my sales data to my Movable Type interface right here on this site.

Problem: Custom sample packs are too hard to produce in a short amount of time.
Solution: Unfortunately, with the way that Etsy delivers its sales data, it's just too difficult to track buyer notes for more than ten orders at a time AND keep my turnaround time at a minimum of 14-21 days. So, to keep me sane, I will not be posting listings for custom sample packs in advance of purchase. I will only be listing pre-picked packs with plenty of variants involved. If you still prefer a custom pack, you must convo me for a sample pack to be created just for you.

Problem: Custom DIY kits are too time consuming to produce for the price offered.
Solution: Like sample packs, DIY kits will come pre-packed with essential and fragrance oils that I've chosen to represent a genre or category of perfume. Similarly, layering notes will be grouped in 4's and 8's in terms of octave in the olfactory scale or perfume genres. I'll have new add-ons for the kits where you can purchase an octave for a reduced price, or purchase solid perfume kit in lieu of a basic oil kit. Again, I'll try to list as many varieties as I can to cover all the smelly bases.

Problem: It takes too long for me to ship my larger items.
Solution: Unfortunately, perfume is a waiting game and I can't always brew ahead of time. I don't know what I'm going to need down the road. So I've broken up the perfumes into two groups: catalog and on demand.

• Catalog perfumes are, just that: items in our general catalog. We'll keep these on hand as often as we can and just won't list them if they're not in stock. If we're out, you can reserve a perfume for shipping when they're back in store at a date we'll communicate to you upon reservation made. Turnaround time: 14-21 days or TBD.
• On demand perfumes on the other hand, are brewed in smaller batches and might be listed in advance of their brewing. Their turnaround times will be longer because of their brew nature. No reservations are accepted for OD. On Demand perfumes will also include ALL custom work not already mentioned. Turnaround time: 21-36 days potentially.

Beyond these solutions, I've also detailed exactly what types of products we'll be listing when we reopen, but I'll have to save that story for another day. Please comment if you have any questions about the new solutions!

It was a really tough decision, but I've decided that I won't be vending at Urban Craft Uprising this summer. I apologize profusely for anyone who was looking forward to getting their sniff on, but I just don't have the stock (let alone the energy for a two-day crafting extravaganza) right now. Everything has been spoken for by outstanding featured seller spotlight orders, and every time I think I finally have enough stock of something, I run out. Good golly. I never expected this, at all.

That being said, I'm still hard at work cranking out packages and I have really appreciated everyone's patience. All of my customers and supporters have been fantastic and I cannot thank you enough. It is just me around here, but I did also have a little bit of help from my boyfriend, at least, helping me to tag and label and drag stuff to the post office, and keep me sane when things got a bit rough the last couple of weeks. So, we're getting there. I think I am down to the last 50 packages with only 25 orders remaining to produce. PHEW.

I have a couple of other things on my plate, too, which is kind of making for some interesting exercises in time management. I am hard at work on a DIY tutorial for Indie Fixx, one of my all time favorite blogs. Additionally, I have a few graphic projects, including a logo for an old bandmate of mine who is now the Director of Comedy at Breakthru Radio (how rad of a title is that?). And lastly, I'm attempting to streamline my processes further so that when massive rushes like this arise in the future (one can only hope?) I am much better prepared.

To that end, there will be some changes around here when we reopen in September (I am taking the ENTIRE MONTH OF AUGUST off of retail - yay!). I won't be removing any fragrances, but some will be sold in limited supply only. We'll have a few new formats, and I'd like to start doing more one-off, limited edition runs, and focus more on custom and DIY perfumery and events.

I'll have more details as I know them, of course, but that's the weather as it is now. Speaking of the weather, it is STIFLING in Seattle and the heat is making it difficult to melt wax properly. I'm hiding out in corporate America as long as I can afford to today.

This is just a drive-by type of post because I have oodles of other things to be doing (even other blog posts I ought to be writing), but I wanted to post a brief an update behind the scenes from the 48 hours as a featured seller on Etsy. I did a lot of research beforehand to other featured shops' successes during their live spots, analyzing what they sold and how many, but never imagined this. One user convo'd me to say, "Holy cow! You are on fire! This makes me afraid to be on the front page." Too true (it's a tarp?). Hopefully this post might help future featured sellers know what to expect.

Analytics
Google reports show that 6,800 unique visitors found their way to Sweet Anthem on Monday, while 5,100 found their way on Tuesday. Hits from the featured seller page or homepage count as direct, apparently, but I won't wax on that.

Other sources of traffic included Craft Cult, Etsy Snack (?), the etsy_finds email, and Facebook, and of course, Twitter - while users homepages include Yahoo!, Ravelry, and Flickr.

A visitor's overview for Monday looked like this:

• 7,260 Visits
  
• 6,815 Absolute Unique Visitors
  
• 27,082 Pageviews
  
• 3.73 Average Pageviews
  
• 00:02:34: Time on Site
  
• 40.23%: Bounce Rate
  
• 13.06%: New Visits
  
• 42% used Internet Explorer
  
• 39% used Firefox
  
• 13% used Camino
  
• 90% of visitors were English speakers (en-us or en-gb)
  
• French and German followed as next most popular

A traffic snapshot for Tuesday looked like this:

• 39.45%: Direct Traffic
  
• 39.61%: Referring Sites
  
• 14.37%: Search Engines

Conversations
I was lucky enough to have the day off on Tuesday and spent some time running errands. When I returned home from just a couple of hours I had ~180 new emails. Granted, most were orderbots & paypal receipts, but... yeesh. There are over 100 conversations between Monday and today, probably 50 unique threads. If you do a lot of custom work and it is received well, be prepared to type until your hand hurts.

Conversation topic breakdown

• 80% advice on custom or DIY perfume note choices
  
• 10% congratulations, chit-chat, check-ins, shout outs, high fives, etc.
  
• 5% address confirmations
  
• 3% wanting to know when I am getting married due to something I said in the last question... seriously. At least one user commented that I should just up and propose.
  
• 2% alchemy requests or requests for custom listings due to complexity

Sales numbers
I haven't done extensive mining on this yet, but I can tell you some basics.

• Total receipts: 137 (most with multiple items)
• Percentage custom orders overall: 10%
• Percentage international shipping: 30%
• Percentage WA state shipping (from U.S. shipping): 1%

Goals
It always helps me to set goals, so here are mine for the next few weeks. You'll notice I had to make some leeway on my Saturday-only shipping because of postal holidays and that I have an upcoming wedding to attend in Texas.

• Previously outstanding orders, July subscribers: tomorrow, July 3
  
• 1-25 + promised deadlines: tomorrow, July 3
  
• 26-50: out by Thursday, July 9
  
• 51-75: out by Saturday, July 18
  
• 76-137: out by Saturday, July 25
  
• Orders placed Tues Jun 30 and after: out starting July 25

Please note: if you are using this as a guide when to expect your order, the "26-50" numbers indicate the number in which the package was completed. While we try to place priority to date the item was ordered, we can't hold up other items that are already ready to go. Yours might be bumped to a different outgoing group depending on the product availability.

On the subject of turnaround times, the earliest I have promised most general orders not prior discussed with me are actually scheduled to go out Saturday, July 18 (14 days) and the latest I hope to be shipping the orders from Tuesday and after is Saturday, August 1. I am attempting to get ahead of the game with the above dates and keep trucking as much as I possibly can to reduce future turnaround times, but sometimes it doesn't always work out the way we plan.

However... that, ladies and gentleman, is what we call 'a wrap'. Time to get to work!

We've had so much fun with Etsy over the years and have loved every second on that little gem of a handmade-focused site. I personally have been a longtime lover of all things handmade and anything in the DIY movement for a very long time, so when I discovered it in 2006, I fell head over heels.

So I am super excited that today, my wee little shop is the featured seller. Read the full interview here, or after the jump in this blog post. I'm in pretty darn good company, too. Everybody from The Black Apple to one of my own cohorts in smelly crimes, Sweet Petula.

We've been featured on the Etsy front page now twice this month, first thanks to a staff pick and then yesterday to the above gorgeous treasury!

As a result, I'm extremely low on stock and will not be relisting Your Choice collections until I return from NYC. I apologize for the inconvenience for Etsy buyers - you can still get them here on this shop in the Collections section - but I need to slow them down a little somehow. *huffs around out of breath*

For the followers wondering where Brianne, one of the original four perfumes offered in this shop, had wondered off to, she's back. Through the end of this month, you can find her on Etsy as a limited edition fragrance for an early summer launch. Unfortunately there just isn't enough local dewberry to go around, and we're darned picky about our dewberry, so for now this is all we have left of this popular and hard to find perfume of ours! It's just too good to hoard with the summer weather finally starting to embrace the Northwest.

In other news, the Whos Your Mama? craft show this weekend was a roaring success, and we had such a pleasure (even if I am red from head to toe, thanks, elusive Seattle sun!). I have photos to post at some point, but you know how that goes... many thanks to Gretchen, Emily, and Dakota for inviting us!

I'm sad to admit now that I actually deleted my "gardening" category on this blog. I am also sad to admit that I only have one plant leftover from this winter -- a lonely jade on my living room windowsill. I would love to blame my southward windows and the 5pm sunsets we have in Seattle, but I doubt they're the culprits, truly.

So, I'm flexing my springtime muscles, I think. I'm edging to get back to earthier hobbies, and while I love experimenting in the apothecary (I made my first tinctures this week), it's clear I need something where I can really get my hands dirty. And not break the bank.

Enter, Etsy. Oh, Etsy, how I fill at least half of my browsing history with your endless pages. And, oh, the plants & edibles category, how underutilized you have been! Check out some of my favorite inspirational garden related finds, and let's see if I can't get something besides a cactus growing again this spring!

Spring Cleaning Sale: Mar 27-29

$5 Bottles & Sample Packs

• Company: YouStinkSoap
• Release Date: Unknown
• Description: A blend of fig, amber, sandalwood and lemon. Soft, sweet and fruity with hints of musk. A vegan perfume with shea butter for extra moisturizing benefits. Approximately .15 ounce oval twist-up tube.

In more efforts to use this blog a little more regularly, here are some recent purchases and hearts found on Etsy. I cannot promise this won't become an Etsy find round-up blog because it's just too darn fun to browse.

Purifying and Blemish Controlling Facial and Body Serum - Tea Tree, Clary Sage, and Lemon

I actually purchased one of her perfume oils and am wishing I would have browsed more without being so grabby first. Heh.

Roll on Perfume Oil(Vegan)--You Choose the Scent

Honestly, this shop had me at Acorns & Black Oak, but you know I also cannot resist anything with fig in it ever (see Black Mission Fig). Zen Tea also sounds wonderful.

Bubble Bath Dough In Reusable Container

Fellow Seattle shop Red Leaf has some really interesting looking products, one being this bubble bath dough.

More later, but for now I've got some work to catch up on. I'm always on the hunt for vegan & green bath/beauty goods, so feel free to drop me a line if you know of one I might have missed!

5 reasons to visit our Valentine's Day show tomorrow and Saturday:

Ginger Blossom Olive Oil soap (by Sweet Petula)	Shea Butter Moisturizer Hand and Body Balm Provence Scent (by Sweet Petula)
Cleansing Body Wash in Mediterranean Mint (by Sweet Petula)	2ml Travel Size Perfume - Maureen (Far East Tea Time) (our own) 2ml Travel Size Perfume Sample - Ayn (Blackberry Tart) (our own)

Not to mention, Salumi (you know...famous Seattle deli...owned by the Batali family...?) is around the corner and a perfect spot for a long lunch.

Please stop by and see us all day Friday and Saturday for a special studio celebration hosted by Sweet Petula, located at 208 S Jackson St in Seattle, WA. It's not too late to reserve your order to be picked up in store! Just e-mail us and we'll add your items to the reservations list.

See you there!

I've been obsessively thrifting via Etsy lately. I don't hardly even look at the regular categories anymore these days, though I did buy a really adorable case for my new DS, from Dory Designs. I just click straight to the vintage category and start browsing by whatever I'm looking for. The result, yesterday, was buying the above purple blouse and a black pencil skrit at Anthologie, and elsewhere, a pair of saddle shoes and a bomber jacket, and some secretary-style tops to match a recently locally thrifted vintage Givenchy pencil skirt.

So, the fashion bug has definitely bit me. I've become terminally lazy when it comes to getting out my jeans and into some decent threads, partially to blame being the fact that graphic designers are almost expected to show up in converses and band t-shirts. I thought I'd take a break from work to share just a few of my recent favorite Etsy shop discoveries, after the jump.