Have you ever had success as a result of advice given here?

[Former_Member]

What was the advice and how did you succeed?

[Former_Member]

When I first started on Etsy there were many talented Etsians who gave me some great advice about my shop.

How did I succeed? I think that I'm doing fairly well. Its been over 5 years since I started here!

[AuntBsAttic]

Advise: - Do SOMETHING - even if it's one small thing - EVERY DAY - for your shop.
I juggle several part time contract jobs - and have incorporated time every day to devote to my shop - even if it's just clicking the 'publish' button on a draft listing on my way out the door! Every day activity keeps my shop fresh & active - and keeps me focused!

How did I succeed? - by studying what works best for my shop - watching for changing trends in SEO and social media - and keeping the Big Picture in mind - I achieved the sales goal I had projected I needed to begin seriously considering retirement ! My 'seasonal Etsy shop' along with my increased wholesale opportunities are now a year round business :) For me - that's success !

[Former_Member]

Thanks for sharing. I feel inspired to press on or in my case print on.

[Former_Member]

Yes. The main advice I've been able to use is a) increase inventory b) brighten my photos.

[xoxocrocheted]

Everyone has encouraged me to brighten my photos and that has nearly doubled my sales. Also, the idea of doing something - even something small - EVERY day to move your shop along is great. In my case, it's usually making products and shipping out boxes, but on days when I'm not busy with that, I fine-tune my policies, brighten my photos, come up with new ideas, create treasuries, etc. Here are a few ideas for when you don't have a lot to do on your shop:
1) Make a treasury
2) Participate in teams
3) Switch out your featured items to maintain variety
4) Update quantities
5) Update your tags
6) Rearrange titles
7) Post on facebook/twitter/instagram
8) Write blog post
9) Brighten photos
10) Switch out banner
11) Create coupon code
12) Update shop announcement
13) Favorite some items

Each and every one of these helps, whether it is to encourage more sales, organize your shop, take advantage of social media, or help other shops out. By doing at least one every day, my shop is continually being improved!

[BlacksmithCreations]

Thank you Jay for this list of things to in your shop when you're not doing the everyday things.....

[SnarkFactory]

All of these things are excellent!
My number one most helpful thing I've heard is, "just keep trucking, if something doesn't work don't take it personally, tweak and evolve and be dynamic. If you can whether that storm, you'll inevitably be successful."

After all, Steve Jobs MASSIVELY failed before he became an utter success and an absolute game changer.

:)

[Former_Member]

Great question! I think I've had success by trying to keep adding products to my shop. However, there's a lot of things I've done that have resulted in little or no success.

[Former_Member]

true Laura it takes many times to succeed. You have to keep going right-this is what I tel myself.

[Former_Member]

Jay thanks for the list and for the email. Thanks for sending me the details on the shoes. I will look it over.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

Everything I've learned is from this team.

Improve photos, titles and tags
Use back listings in all listings
Take advantage of my shop announcement and section titles for SEO (actually that came from an SEO team)
List often
Stay active on the forums

[Former_Member]

Love that list, Jay! When I don't have an order in the works, I also do more social media type marketing to fill up that time. As much as I love the occasional "afternoon off," I really try to make sure I spend at least some of that time improving my shop! Even little tweaks help!

Lately, I have been researching blogs to pitch to. That's pretty time consuming, but placement on one great blog can really make a difference!