New to Town

Over the past four months (only four? Wow. Where has the time gone?) I've noticed a few things that I've figured out during that time and wanted to share. Right now I'm working way to hard on Christmas (I'm drawing all my presents this year. Go me. -_-) to really utilize all of them but my New Year's Resolution (and you should make this one too) is to improve in the following areas. A. Get used to blowing your own horn. I hate doing this. I feel like I'm one of those people in the kiosks at the mall that want you to stop and try their new hair straightener or something. But guess what? You are a sales person! No sales, no money! Which makes this whole venture a little pointless don't you think? Not to say go out and spam people with ads but you need to really like what you make and feel confident going up to someone and say "Yes. I make widgets and my widgets are super awesome because___" Then insert the part where people "ooh" and "ah" and can't believe you made that. Hopefully, they tell their friends. B. Spread out your listings. New listings rank higher in search and such so if you list a bunch at the same time your fame will be more fleeting than if you spread them out over hours or even days! And sometimes one items will lead to another people like. Relisting does this too, but depending on your budget may not be worth it. (Handy Tip: Etsy doesn't warn you when you're listings expire. Poof! It's a surprise! Fun, right?) C. Social media. Yay! Post your stuff on Facebook. Tweet it. Get it on Wanelo. You never know which items may go viral. Tell your family and friends. Share...share...share! Oh yeah and check out this handy guide your team helped make: http://fav.me/d5gh39g (PDF) D. Participate in the forums (See! You're already here! Good job!). Answer questions on the main forums. Go through the new items threads and favorite some items. Play the item above you game. Get out there and meet people. And support other people's shops as well. E. Make Treasuries. (watch me not take my own advice. I have no excuse). You find fun items. Other people find fun items. People think you are cool. Cool people have their shops visited. Cool people also use this prototype: http://www.etsy.com/teams/13135/add-item-to-treasury-from-item-page F. Make sure you're making money. Regardless of whether this is a hobby or a full-on business venture, make sure you're making money. Profit is good. Deficit, not so good. There's an Etsy Calculator for that http://www.gregledet.net/efcm.html Search Ads are rarely worth it and there's so much free marketing strategies anyway. and perhaps most importantly: G. You can always improve your SEO. Because mainly people go to search when they want something, and even if they know your shop and are willing to look for an item again. They have to find you first. Use all your tags! Make sure your tags are general. If you're not sure what to tag your item, ask people what they'd search for when looking for your items. Also remember to repeat key terms in both title, description, and tags but don't make those monster titles, such as "Cute Cuddly Velvet Plush Child's Doll, Fuzzy Mane and Tail Rainbow Unicorn Made to Order" Don't be those titles. Google doesn't like those titles. It will cut off those titles when people search for them (I think it's 60 or seventy characters. It's weird. Play with it.). Keep it simple. Say only what you need to say and make sure the more important words are near the front. "Rainbow Unicorn Plush - Made to Order," maybe? I also say this as it's my personal Etsy pet peeve and I figure if it bothers me, then I may not be the only one that this is a turn off to. (Etsy search ranking doesn't always make the most sense and changes. Best to pay attention to the Etsy blog and read: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/how-to-get-found-in-browse/ and http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/how-to-get-found-in-search/ ) Newbies! Remember. Sales take time! You're looking for a small fish in the big pond that is Etsy and you're not the only one fishing. It'll take time for people to notice you but once they realize that you have one of the most awesome lures in the pond, they'll keep coming back. You just need to get to that point. My college town had a great gelato place downtown. I passed it a lot, but never went in. Finally one of my clubs held a fundraiser there, I was skeptical but once I tried it, WOW!!! Best gelato ever! Go back all the time. Nothing like it here in AZ. You have the advantage on the gelato place in having the internet to market (and the fact that fresh gelato is hard to ship) but still, people are passing you by but perhaps afraid to go in. With time though, you'll get there. We're rooting for ya! (P.S. start listing your Valentine's Day and St. Patty's Day items NOW) ... View more