Former_Member
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Any tips?

Hi, I'm new to this team, and I'm really happy to join. I have not had much luck selling my masks (the last time one was bought was the end of April). Would anyone else on the team be willing to take a look at my shop and give me some pointers for improvement? Are my prices too high? My names too boring? My tags not specific enough? How do you guys get your stuff bought?!? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
-Regina (Aveanart)
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Former_Member
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Re: Any tips?

Hi Regina,

Those are the questions every small business owner asks. My busiest time is alway October, the rest of the year is slow, to be honest. That's awesome that you got an April sale. Masks are a niche market and a luxury item, so people aren't going to buy often. A lot of times they're gifts or special occasion items.

You have a unified black & white look to your store. That will appeal to a certain crowd. Your prices are right in the ball park from what I've seen doing my own research. The names and photos are compelling. Tags include colors as well as "mask" words. I would suggest adding "goth" and "tribal" to your tags. Part of the game is trying to figure out what words would you type to search for your mask?

There's a cool seller's tool prototype called "Compare Ideas". It lets you compare search terms and get stats on them: http://www.etsy.com/prototypes/compare

Another thing is driving web traffic to your store with social networking sites- Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogs, etc. It's a lot of work, but sometimes it pays off. Persistence and patience, I think are the keywords.

Good luck!
Jill
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Former_Member
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Re: Any tips?

There is an interesting one in mask universe - the Guy Fawks mask, that is oversallable all over the year. A trend that is still overasked, and as soon as you're finding a certain social group in blogs or social networks, you can have much new commissions. For example I'm asked to make one every 3 days.
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Re: Any tips?

Like Jill already said, October is usually the best time of year. And, the more sales you get, the more your name is out there and the more customers you'll gain. It's a cycle, definitely.

As for suggestions, I think it's awesome that you are using your tags. I agree that "tribal" could be a GREAT tag for you! Keep using every single tag, even if you think your "descriptive" words are no good! Better get a hit or two from each word than none at all! ;D Your pictures are cool--they ARE kind of dark, but not in a "this is poorly lit" kind of way, so I think that will appeal especially around Halloween.

In titles, you want to make sure you have some of your strongest description words (you've done that on a lot already--"peacock", "zebra stripes", etc...). I do it wrong, quite frankly, because I insist on TITLING each mask, and that isn't honestly the best way to drive traffic in. The first words of your title are the most important in the Etsy search engine, and I completely waste mine with my official titles. ;D

As for pricing, if anything you can try increasing them a bit. Feathers can be really expensive (especially the super-flamboyant ones like you are using!), so people expect them to cost a certain amount. If you aren't charging enough, then that can be a turn-off because people are afraid your masks are "cheap". You will be the best judge of what you feel your masks are worth, quality-wise!

So, my advice really boils down to: Keep on, keepin' on! Don't get discouraged! And, if you feel like you still just aren't selling what you'd like try experimenting (with tags, pictures, etc.). Good luck! :D
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Re: Any tips?

Cross-promote yourself like crazy. 80% of my hits come from outside links, according to my Google analytics. It's easy to generate hits if you just do a little extra work.

If you have a facebook page, put up a link to every new listing you make. Better yet, a picture of a mask in progress and a link to the finished Etsy listing really peaks interest.

My most popular site for sharing my mask art is http://www.merimask.deviantart.com Go to DeviantArt and open a gallery there (it is free) and blog about each creation. Load great pictures that are eye-catching. Be sure to include a link to the Etsy listing for each entry. My images go viral from there...I can have up to 2,000,000 hits on a viral mask picture originating from my DevArt site in a single day. It's all free advertising, as long as your business name and website are on there somewhere. :)
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