How often do you change your banner?

[watermediaworks]

Maybe I've got too much free time on my hands today (at home, in bed with the flu!). But I just finished a small painting today and decided I like it so much I would design a new banner around it. After a ridiculously long time trying to remember everything I've forgotten about photoshop -- voila!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/watermediaworks?ref=si_shop

Would love everyone's feedback and, more importantly, would like to understand how often you all are changing your banners and how important you think it is to keep things looking "fresh" vs. having a shop that people recognize when they go back to it. Thoughts??

[Former_Member]

I LOVE IT! Very nice and calming. Also goes with the theme of your shop.

I just changed my banner as well. I am using it as free advertising space and will definitely be using it more to grab my visitor's attention rather than just my shop name (as I had it before).

[Former_Member]

I've decided on keeping one banner, but changing for specific holidays when I'm expecting more sales. For example, I had a Fall then Christmas themed one. Considering a valentine's one, but I think I might just leave my butterfly.

[PearlesPainting]

I just keep the same banner...I used a photo of my work and it seems to work nicely.

Nice job on your new one.

[Former_Member]

I am planning on keeping the same banner and just changing the colors some with the seasons. In branding your shop it is important for there to be consistency. So try to keep at least some elements the same when you change things up.

[Former_Member]

We're going to change our banner with the seasons or events each month or so. The font we use will stay the same, but the images we use are obviously prints we sell so we will be rotating through them :)

[JewelMeShop]

I have the same banner which is my logo . I think I should devote some of my time to create a more interesting one.
Marcia your banner and shop are excellent!

[LauraWathenStudio]

Personally I'm going to stick with the same banner throughout the year, but just advertise any promotions that I run underneath my shop name, in the same font. I might change the images of my products when I sell them, but overall I'm going to keep the same look and format. I think this is an important part of branding your shop and making it instantly recognisable to repeat customers.

It took me a long time to get this one right so I dread to think how long it would take for me to completely change it again!

Great banner by the way! It is instantly obvious what you are selling from just looking at it.

[Former_Member]

I`m confused, I think my banner says what my shop is about but would love to know what else can I do. Maybe a change ? If someone could help me I would greatly appreciate. Any advice?

[Former_Member]

I've had the same simple banner since I opened shop almost 3 years ago ;)
Not because I love it but because I'm not all that computer literate and just didn't know what else to put there. BUT I finally found someone to help me with branding so woo hoo! new banner is in the works :) I hope to get several options made up so that I can easily switch them out around holidays or sales etc...

[WirequeenJewelry]

I've changed my banner anually. I like the idea of changing it but keeping certain elements the same.

[Former_Member]

I like it! It's a little plain, but if that's what you want, it will do. I like the painting :-)

I usually don't swap my banner out so much as my avi. But now that I'm designing banners for Etsy shops, I'm getting ready to overhaul my two shops. Especially my other shop - I just did a name change so I need to update my banner and avi to reflect that.

So this spring will be all about design, but for myself and for listings. I think it's nice having a few on deck to rotate out once in a while. I think it's great to have different ones for seasons, I've got one ready that is 'Mardi Gras' style that I'm waiting to publish. :-)

[watermediaworks]

Thanks, everyone! I really enjoyed looking at everyone's banners, too.

Walkers Wimseys, I think your banner has a great vintage feel to it and I love the color scheme and overall design. My only suggestion would be to put in small print below your shop name Vintage, Antiques,Collectibles - the way charmsbydiana has in her banner and several others do -- just to make it crystal clear what you're selling. (You could conceivably be selling arts or prints just looking at your banner alone.)

[BellissiBellaGifts]

I keep the same banner with my logo but add a seasonal item like hearts right now and I had a bow for the holidays and I will have blossoms in the spring. This way the logo remains, but people see that I am still working on my store every day. I am still seeing so many holiday banners on Etsy, which makes me wonder when the last time was those sellers visited their shop.

[watermediaworks]

I like the hearts, Susi! And the idea of a seasonal theme. I had noticed a number of holidays banners myself when looking around......

[BellissiBellaGifts]

Thanks, Marcia.

[Former_Member]

I've changed mine once or twice when I was starting, but intend to keep the one I have now, cause I think it's fun and it fits my style. But I'm not sure am I the only one deeply in love with my banner. What do you guys think?

[Former_Member]

Nice work on the new banner!

As for me, I had been changing my banner every few months but I finally came up with something generic that I'm happy with sticking with for now. I had included a product photo but it just wasn't sitting well with me.

[Former_Member]

@ MuffinTopKnits - it's cute! I love the shop name and combining it with the picture, I won't forget it!

[Former_Member]

I re-designed my banner once, but plan to keep it just as it is for as long as I have my shop

[watermediaworks]

Sini - I love the graphics and the logo, but I think it could use a pop of color. What if you made the background a vivic dolor that you use a lot in your work - like that gorgeous turquoise on your cherry tree bag:) The white seems a little plain against the all white background.

[Former_Member]

I just re-did the one in my other shop, I would love some feedback:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/GalleryTwelve

Of course, my entire shop is in the middle of an overhaul. I might move my graphic design services over to this shop, I'm not sure yet.

[AnneLondezGlass]

I love your new banner.

I don't change mine on principle because I want to try and get a consistent image for my customers to remember me... although nobody probably looks at it. I don't change my avatar either for the same reason.

[Former_Member]

I've just recently changed my banner to a really nice one that I came across while browsing the web, however I don't feel it represents something special about my shop. So, I could probably use some help with branding as well. I will most likely change the current banner again some time over the next few weeks.

I haven't decided on a permanent image or design (this includes my avatar) so I'm still trying things out. I'm learning a lot, that's important!

I wish I knew more about Adobe Photoshop or could try out copy. At the moment, if I have to design my own banner, I use either a basic paint program or a word processing program. I'm going to try out Picasa next.

I would love some help in this area!

[IslandPicnic]

I had the same banner for over three years and finally decided to change it for the holidays (red and green theme), and now I've changed it again to something I plan on keeping throughout the year, most likely.

I was looking around at other shop banners thee other day, before this I changed it, to see if people had just their shop name in their banner, or their shop name and a slogan, or hrase stating what they do - that's how my old one was. This time I decided to just go with the shop name, and let the shop title say what it is that we do, especially since it's not moved to right under the banner.