New to Etsy and could use some help

[LiquidAccents]

Hello! My name is Samantha and I am new to etsy.

I am currently working on my online website and figured I would give this a go.
I only have a couple shop listings so far, and am not having much luck
If you have advice and critiquing on what I can do better please let me know. Also if you would take a look at my items and favorite them I would kindly return the favor.
Also I am not sure what is in supply and demand, and what items I will have better luck with.

I paid for promoting and feel like it was a waste.

Thank you

[BZOriginals]

Samantha:

I know you just got started, but you have some serious work to do. First off, you should get your banner, policies, announcement, About page all in place. 2nd you need to get a full page of items, I actually recommend to shoot for 100 initially and then 365 after that so you have something to renew or list daily.

Here are tips that I have written up in the past that I hope will help. Wishing you the best of luck. We have 3 shops and I quit my day job 1 1/2 years ago and am just working Etsy. It's hard work if you want to succeed at it, but it is possible. Good luck!

TIPS FOR ETSY NEWBIES (or Oldies)

1. SHOP APPEARANCE: Shop Banner & Avatar should represent your product and shop name and should be up as soon as possible. You can always change it later. Crop a photo or create a collage and crop it to the size needed. Don’t have the software? Search shop banner on Etsy for over 13,000 hits of people that create one for you.

2. SHOP POLICIES are critical for Etsy seller protection as well as adding an element of comfort to your buyers. Not sure what to put? Search other shops and see what they say to give you ideas. Shipping, returns, discounts are all things to consider. Etsy helps you with that.

3. ANNOUNCEMENT - Google picks up not only your general shop description, but also the first two lines of your announcement page. When an item is initially opened, they can also see those first few lines of your announcement page. Put your specials on the first few lines or some verbage to draw in those buyers. Put a link to your policies in there or your social networking sites or a bit about shipping. If a customer cannot get their questions answered by looking at your shop, they will likely just move on to someone else.

4. Your ABOUT page is often an overlooked section. Etsy is truly a social network. You are not selling only your product, but YOU as a person and seller that buyers want to buy from. Creating a connection is a huge part of buyer attraction. Tell your story, your dreams, your goals, and share a piece of yourself. Your buyers will connect and you can also make some great online friends.

5. WORK your ONLINE ETSY BUSINESS DAILY (or as close to daily as time and sanity allows). You could be crazy like me and work from 10 to 14 hours a day, but the hours are not as important as the time spent, something that is a work in progress for myself. Schedule your time on a daily or weekly basis, but most importantly, listing something, renew something, heart somebody’s items, make a treasury or participate in the forums and/or teams every single working day. Every single time you get your name out there, your shop name out there, is a potential sale. Work up a business plan that includes all of this and more.

6. PHOTOGRAPHS are critical! Search for your items! Do your photos POP out at you next to all the similar items? I prefer light backgrounds. While natural items look great on darker backgrounds, you can’t clearly see at a glance what you are looking at. Scrapbook paper with natural prints like sand mixed with real seashells, rocks or tiny pieces of driftwood can give you that natural effect also. I use a mid-level Cannon camera with good macro ability and Picassa (or you can use other photo editing software) to lighten backgrounds, touch up the cookie crumbs you thought you brushed off or the dog hair that worked its way into the photo (where do those come from?). Natural light is recommended, but hey, did you notice we live in Colorado so natural light doesn’t always work! A table placed next to a window may be a good substitute.

7. TITLES, TAGS & MATERIALS. These are critical if you want to be found. The first thing people see on a cell phone or your listing are the title, the 1st picture and the materials. Etsy searches first by title and the closer your primary words are the beginning of the title, the better chances of coming up sooner in a search. Try to use all your important words once and not be redundant using the same word over and over. Secondary Etsy searches tags. Use all 14. Fill in which your shop name, your name, the town you live in, all colors, your team names (EMHC if you want to be included in team treasuries.) You CAN put MORE THAN ONE WORD PER TAG. Tag like a buyer would search. While you can cut and paste your title into your tags, that’s the lazy way and you are making duplication. Draw attention to sound, smell, emotion, taste with words like “cutting edge” “ocean beach sea” “color changing” “eerie spooky” – you get the idea.

Google also picks up the first few lines of your description. I cut and paste my title into the first line of my description and work additional verbage in behind it. Don't make your descriptions lengthly paragraphs. They get lost on cell phones and people generally won't read anything if it more than 3-4 lines long. Something again I need to work on.

8. CUSTOMER SERVICE AND COMMUNICATION: I feel it is really important to answer questions and contacts (“convos”) within 24 hours or less whenever possible, the quicker the better. Lack of communication can be conceived as rude or an unwilliness to make a sale or be cooperative. People want to do business with people that are on top of their business and communicative with issues and questions. If you are in a position, you are unable to do so, consider putting your shop on “vacation” mode. When you do get a sale, package it professionally, taking care to box it or wrap it like you would expect to receive something. Hand written thank you notes, customized packaging and a word of what a pleasure they were to do business with can go a long ways towards return customers and positive reviews.

9. SEARCH YOURSELF AND CHECK YOUR STATS – Just how easy are you, your shop, and your items to find? If you can’t find yourself, how do you think others are going to find you? Search your items, your shop name and yourself on Google. Someone might not remember your shop name, but they remember your first name and town you live in. Does your shop show up on the first page? What does it look like? How can it be improved? What can you change to get it on the first page? (I will go into Google Ads later, but that is an alternative). Search your shop name, your name, your items on Etsy? How easy are you to find and where do your items show up? Again, this goes back to tags. While you don’t need to put your shop name or your name in all items, put them in some so people can find you! This becomes a constant state of improvement, particularly with Etsy’s recent category changes.

How are people finding you? Check your stats to see what items are being looked at. Try to guess why - is it a fantastic picture or catchy title. Stats can lead to sales. Look at them daily or at least weekly.

10. SEARCH ETSY and find successful sellers. Look for the number of items sold, what is selling, what do the photos look like, What do their policies and descriptions look like? How about their About page and announcements. Learn from others, participate in the forums with questions and above all else, remain positive. I spent hours doing this when I first started and learned a lot. There is a ton of good information in the forums as well.

11. SOCIAL MEDIA: While Etsy is not specifically a social media site, it certainly is very social. Interaction on any and all social media sites only puts your name and your shop name out there even more. Utilize Etsy’s links to Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. It’s free advertising, so why not? Participate in EMHC’s Instagram challenge. Heart, follow, share, recognize and be recognized. Treasuries are a part of social media as well. Pay it forward to someone who hearted your shop or items by including one of their items in a treasury.

12. TEAMS. Team participation is a part of Etsy’s social network as well. Copy the ULR’s from your relisted and new listings into Word and then cut and paste on team promotional threads. Every time you heart something, all your followers can see it in their Etsy feed on their home page. Every time someone hearts your item, their followers can see your item on their home feed! It’s all about sharing and caring.