Home and Garden Ready for Spring Outdoor Decor

Zen Natural Beach Stone Chime

$85 including postage at

Coast Chimes

This exceptional Zen style Pacific beach stone wind chime reflects a natural beauty that will captivate and delight you. The smooth rounded beach stones are carefully selected from the Pacific coastline; they add a touch of raw, organic, Zen charm to this beautiful piece. Below is a similar chime, but with a copper wire spiral piece of sea glass.

These are all unique works, completely handcrafted in Canada by an artist with over 30 years of wind chime design experience. Premium materials mean that these are all season outdoor chimes.

To see all the one-of-a-kind beautiful handmade wind chimes, visit Coast Chimes.

 

Navigating the Evolution of Online Selling: A Journey Through eBay to Etsy

Etsy SEO, Titles, Descriptions, Tags, Etc.

In the early 2000s, as the internet blossomed with opportunities, I embarked on my online selling journey, initially through eBay. Back then, eBay was a novel space, with a relatively sparse community of sellers, particularly those offering handmade crafts. It was a golden era for sales, with a growing wave of curious shoppers exploring the platform, excited by this thing called 'online shopping'. These were the days of effortless transactions, where success seemed just a click away.

However, before long seasoned sellers began to forewarn of changing tides, signalling the end of the easy selling days. Amidst these whispers, a new player emerged onto the scene – Etsy. In 2005, I decided to explore this fresh avenue, joining a community that was still in its infancy. With fewer sellers vying for attention, establishing a presence and achieving success was relatively straightforward.

Over the years, Etsy underwent significant transformations. The once spacious marketplace became increasingly crowded, teeming with sellers eager to showcase their wares. The platform evolved from a menu-driven interface to a visually-driven one, dictated by the mysterious algorithms of its creators.

Having been an early adopter of Etsy, I found myself fortunate to have a loyal customer base, which somewhat shielded me from the full impact of these changes. Yet, I couldn't ignore the shifting landscape entirely. As a precaution, I diversified my online presence by creating a Shopify website, heeding the age-old advice of not placing all eggs in one basket. Very recently, despite my reluctance, I delved into the world of SEO, spurred on by community discussions and the ever-present reminder to "work on your SEO." This with great reluctance, as just looking at the term SEO brought forth yawns.

While my sales remained steady, the staggering influx of new sellers onto Etsy, numbering in the hundreds of thousands each month, gave me pause for thought. The marketplace was undeniably more crowded, making it increasingly challenging for products to stand out, particularly those lacking in SEO optimization.

It wasn't until I found myself assisting a friend in setting up their Etsy store that I decided to delve deeper into the intricacies of SEO. Armed with resources like the Etsy Sellers Handbook and insights gleaned from forums, I embarked on a journey of self-improvement. With the aid of tools like eRank and Listadum, I began to unravel the complexities of Etsy listings – from crafting compelling titles to optimizing images and fine-tuning tags.

The process was undeniably labor-intensive, especially for the first, and worse, listings I attempted to improve. However, as I honed my skills, the task became more manageable. The results spoke for themselves: increased visibility, higher engagement, and, most importantly, a tangible impact on sales.

A definitive moment came when I revamped a listing for a set of copper wind chimes, positioning them as the quintessential 7th-anniversary gift. Previously buried in the depths of search results, a some significant tweaks propelled them into the spotlight. Within days, the subsequent surge in views, favorites, and sales served as a testament to the efficacy of SEO optimization.

In hindsight, the journey to mastering SEO may have been arduous, but the rewards were undeniable. It's a constant learning process, but one that is indispensable in navigating the ever-evolving landscape of online selling. So, is it worth the effort? Absolutely.

The Wedding Anniversary Copper Wind Chime

Coast Chimes, $195 USD

Free Shipping, Free Engraving

 

New Works, Coast Chimes Wind Chimes

Cobalt Blue Glass, Natural Beach Stone Chime

$95 US incl. shipping, Coast Chimes

Detail, Blue Glass Beach Stones Wind Chime

Handcrafted Copper Hook

Managing to find some time to create new works these days. I find that very refreshing, energizing. It's so much fun to select nice glass pieces, natural beach combed materials, and to see what I come up with. It's still after all these years most often a big surprise how these simple materials come together to create stunning beauty.

You may visit my website to see all my wind chimes, from small antiqued brass chimes to very large natural driftwood beach stone works: Coast Chimes. Satisfaction is always guaranteed, along with free shipping to the USA or Canada.

 

Mexico, Junk Food Labels - A Great Approach

 

Short Break on a Long Beach

Todos Santos Mexico

Healthy Choices! Could this be at least partially the result of the Newish junk food labeling requirements in Mexico? I suspect the answer is yes.

Too many calories, too much saturated fat, too much salt. Yeah, hard pass.

Oh look! This won 5 stickers. Hard pass.

Too many calories, sugar, saturated fat. Maybe I'll snack on some carrots instead.

Just back from a short visit to San José del Cabo and Todos Santos in Baja California, Mexico. The towns were lovely, the people warm and welcoming, the beaches awe inspiring.

Visiting local grocery stores, I was struck by the junk food warning labels. To help fight obesity and a number of health problems known to be caused or made worse by poor diet choices, the Mexican government implemented this labeling requirement in October of 2021. I was struck by the labels, and I also noted what people had in their carts. Wow! No Coke, no chips, no cookies-- a lot of fruit, some bottles of water, fish...

I have to wonder why in the world Canada (my country) has not noted this exceptional legislation and copied it. It's simple, and does not cost the population anything (unlike taxing junk food), leaving the choice to the consumer (and to the manufacture in that they are free to improve their ingredients to get some, or all, of the black stop signs off their product). I think it takes some boldness (read low intelligence, ha) to grab something on the shelf with 4, 5, or, gasp, 6 black stop signs. This is a good thing. The health issues caused by poor diet cause not just misery for the individual, but society as a whole (we all pay for sick, disabled people).

Come on Canada! Get with this.

Wind Chimes, Coast Chimes, New Works

Natural Driftwood and Beach Stone Zen Copper Wind Chime

$295 US at Coast Chimes, including shipping to the USA or Canada

February and early March are traditionally the slow period for wind chime sales, which is actually excellent. This provides a window or time for me to switch from packing and shipping to producing. So I am now able to devote a larger chunk of time each day to creating new works, and to photograph and place said works on my website. So any day you visit Coast Chimes, you will likely see some new amazing wind chimes, such as the stunning beachcomber's wind chime featuring driftwood, beach stones, and seven copper chimes pictured above. Or the charming beach stone cobalt blue chime pictured below.

Natural Beach Stones with Cobalt Blue Glass Chime

$87 US at Coast Chimes, including shipping to the USA or Canada

 

Making an Art Website

 Coast Chimes' Website Banner

A website for me is a constant work in progress

I'm proud to not only make all my works completely by hand using techniques mastered over many years of study, trial and error, but also to have learned how to manage all other aspects of running a (very) small business.

This includes taking photographs, managing supplies and stock, finances and taxes, Etsy, and building my very own website— the focus of this post.

Somewhere around 30 years ago, a very savvy fellow artist on eBay warned me that things were changing, that eBay could not be depended on in the long term, and that I should make my own website. I knew literally zero about that, other than that my internet provider at the time included a small amount of space for people who wanted to make a website. I found a little more information about that space, opened it up, and stared at a completely blank screen! Welcome to HTML.

I fortunately do have determination. Thinking back, I have no idea how I managed, but somehow I cobbled together an very basic website (back then, tons of sites were like that.. well, maybe not quite a bad as mine, but bad). Most remarkably, some orders filtered through!

As time went by, and I would nibble away at improving my site. I learned a bit more, and a bit more, and it got better (but still really bad!). Eventually, I moved on to using commercial software (Rapidweaver), which produced a huge bump in the quality of the site. I went through a number of versions using that software, always somewhat happy at the conclusion of the latest revamp, increasingly unhappy as time went by (time for another revision!). And always learning.

Finally, cloud based solutions clearly seem to reach a point to be a viable option. So I moved over to Shopify. Another steep learning hill. I am still with Shopify, and still learning. The one thing that I know for certain is that the more I learn, the more I realized there is a lot more to learn!

I'm never going to be a pro. Not a chance. I rely on the extensive available documentation, and even more so on forums, where usually the latest mess I make already has someone who has encountered the same mess, and skillful people have offered solutions.

Most recently, as I get a bit braver about digging into the actual code, I have found ChatGPT to be a lifesaver. For example, I did not like that the theme I use had an automatic 'hover to zoom' effect. I looked far and wide, and could not find a way to disable this feature. I did find through a forum the likely section of code responsible for this zooming, but I did not feel comfortable simply erasing it, because doing something like that can have unintended sad consequences. I provided ChatGPT with the code, and it confirmed it was responsible for the hover to zoom, and provided a clear simple way to disable it. Best of all, it worked.

So now, after spending several weeks putting the latest version of my theme in place, fixing all the pictures (over a 1000!), adding Alt Text to every picture, fixing the banner (see above), re-writing the descriptions, and many other changes small and big, I plan to take a break and start making new things to get restocked. In the mean time, please visit my new and improved site: Coast Chimes 

Natural Driftwood Copper Wind Chime, Coast Chimes

 Natural Driftwood Copper Wind Chime

by Coast Chimes

Natural materials such as driftwood and beach stones mesh with copper chimes so nicely. They are made for each other! All that better, with wind chimes most often being out in the yard or garden, where everything in a Coast Chimes wind chime integrates, never clashes.

Visit the Driftwood and the Beach Stone collections of Coast Chimes to explore the many options.

Natural Simple Materials: Driftwood, Beach Stone, Shell Wind Chimes

 Coast Chimes Beach Stone Zen Chime

$85 incl. shipping at Coast Chimes

I am a fan of simplicity. There is a beauty to simple. It's easy on the eyes. I believe it simply reduces stress. It's that simple.

A lot of my wind chimes incorporate materials from nature, and you can't get any more simple than that. Basic found materials, with minimal changes, make for a very appealing effect. For yard and garden decoration, why not consider adding elements that come from nature? That's going to fit in so nicely! 

Visit my large selection of driftwood, beach stone, and shell wind chimes, and pick something that will bring a feeling of contentment for years to come.

Coast Chimes Website Update

 Coast Chimes Handcrafted Wind Chime

glass, copper, driftwood, beach stone, brass

There is typically a small lull in activity after the Christmas rush, and I almost always take that as an opportunity to catch up on various tasks, long neglected. This involves restocking (making new stock), and having a look at my website.

This year, I have almost completed a major overhaul of my website, Coast Chimes. I thought it was pretty good, but reading up on 'best practices', I understood that a lot of things needed to be done.

I shrank and standardized all the pictures— a huge job, with nearly a 1000 images. Everything loads faster, and everything looks nicer. So worth it.

I tried, once again (for the hundredth time!), to improve the text / descriptions. I know this will never be a completed job, as nothing is ever perfect. But I improved the writing, and will let it be, until next time.

I deleted my 'sold' collection. Why risk people wandering over there, where there is nothing to buy? And maybe not figuring out how to get back to the available works? And by eliminating that section, I didn't have to work on all those extra pictures and all that extra text, to make it conform to the rest of the revised site. Win, win.

It always feels like a major slog to wade into a website, when you are far from an expert, to fix things. It's rewarding though to manage to make improvements, to clean things up. A great way to start the new year. Hop on over and check it out: Coast Chimes.