NewbiEtsy

What is your new item? ... View more

Welcome to the Newbie Team! I decided to create this thread to welcome new members to this crazy community of ours. I know from experience that getting your store up and running is a daunting task in itself, without factoring in the thought of marketing and self promotion. If you're like me when I first joined I'm sure you have a bunch of questions in regards to how to make YOUR store stand out amongst your other eleventy-billion Etsy neighbors.This group is here so you don't feel like you have to go it alone. Secondly, I wanted to give others a sort of one-stop-shop summary of all the answers to most of those first timer questions. My name is Shay, and have been recently "promoted" to team leader by our wonderful Captain, Allison 🙂 . I am by no means an expert, having just gone live with my shop a couple months ago, and am just compiling what I have learned from the process of trial and error in my time on here. The main question I see asked, and definitely the first one I wondered after joining is: HOW DO I GET MY SHOP OUT THERE? The task of getting exposure on Etsy still seems like a daunting feat to me but here are some things I've learned that have helped so far: Make sure your store is as well put together as you can possibly make it. Meaning: set it up as an actual online store front. Give yourself a critique and visit your store from a buyer's perspective; would you buy something from your store? Are your pictures all they can be? Are your store policies well defined (something I didn't even realize was important until recently)? Is everything spelled properly? A great resource I have found online to help tackle these problems is the Sellers Assisting Sellers site: etsymentors.blogspot.com You can find a Shop Critique Checklist as well as extensive information regarding shipping, resources and critiques. You can even find a mentor by area of expertise And as a jump off point for those great pictures we hear so much about: etsy.com/blog/en/2011/etsy-success-product-photgraphy-for-beginners Once you get your shop in order, you can increase your exposure by creating a Facebook page for your store. It enables you to manage a Facebook profile as your storefront and not have to compromise the privacy of your personal Facebook page. You also have the option to sign up for paid advertising to increase exposure. I like to use my Facebook page as a place to get more in depth with my work, like post making-of pictures and commissions I am working on. Since I do ceramics it takes me longer to build up inventory for Etsy specifically and Facebook is a way for me to stay fresh and current. We have a current thread in our discussions to post a link to your Facebook page, please go visit it! All other social media sites are a good way to increase traffic to your shop, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, although I personally have yet to go that route. Promoting your shop "in house", i.e. on Etsy itself, can be done through keywords, paid advertising, joining teams (hey you've got that one in the bag!), trending items, adding people to your circle and treasury features. After I sold my first item I decided to put the money back into my store and try out the paid advertising feature. I personally signed up for the $7 option. I have spent $7.33 so far and since then have gotten 8,288 impressions, 19 views and 2 favorites. I am still not sure if this is a worthwhile option for exposure but my costs are still covered from the first sale so I'm going to continue a while longer. I was also advised to stay relevant by not doing batch uploads for items but rather to do (preferably) an upload of one or two items a day so your uploads have the opportunity to appear in the "recently uploaded" section on the bottom of the front page several times. For my particular practice this is a little difficult to accomplish but when I do have several items to uploads I'll be sure to do them one by one. Keywords seem to be the best and most important part of getting more exposure in search results. I have yet to figure out the fine science of keywords but I know you're likelier to get more hits if your item is labeled in a very descriptive manner. "Beautiful one of a kind freshwater vintage pearl necklace" is likelier to be closer to the front pages of a search compared to "pearl necklace", just as an example. Tips on getting featured in search: etsy.com/blog/en/2011/make-your-shop-more-relevant etsy.com/blog/en/2012/how-to-get-found-in-browser In tow with keywords are a new development on Etsy called Trending items (etsy.com/trending), a page that will be featuring up to 400 items that have been appealing to shoppers recently. According to forum leaders the items featured will be selected based on a variety of shopping cues, such as views, favorites and purchases. This reinforces the community aspect of Etsy of visiting each other's shops and adding stores and items to our favorites. I highly encourage others to explore other Etsy stores. Not only will it give you an idea of how to better your store but by favoriting other's items and stores many are likely to return the favor, and maybe even put your items in a treasury. I also recommend adding people to your circle. Most people will return the favor and like and feature your items. You will also then have a sort of Etsy newsfeed to see what your new friends are looking at and you can in turn favorite what they are featuring. One of my favorite (and unexpected) aspects of Etsy is truly how community based it is, I have found people to be extremely supportive of one another (and The Newbie Team is one of those helpful, friendly places!) Treasuries are member selected collections of items from a variety of different stores. The major benefit of treasuries is the free advertising and exposure. If the right person with a huge following features your stuff in a treasury you could potentially have your items on the front page of Etsy without having to pay a thing. Also I find that a shop that has a lot of likes and positive feedback and featuring is much more trust inspiring. You'll also find shops which have a lot of likes pop up a lot more in the searches. Please make sure you join in on the Newbie Treasury Team Challenge thread! Also make sure to post a link to a new item in your store in our New Item thread, as well as like a couple other items and stores while you're there. All participation in the team is greatly appreciated. If we all pull together we are much likelier to succeed. Not only is it nice to know we have a good support network here but you never know who may have the same questions and need the same answers as you so please don't be shy. We have much to learn from each other, I'm certain of it. When I first joined I asked an established shop owner for some pointers on how to make it here in the Etsy world and her answer was that you will get out of Etsy what you put into it. Mind you that this particular person informed me that she spends an average of FIVE HOURS a day on Etsy. I, for one, do not have that sort of time to devote to my online store; I wouldn't have time to make new things! But I do agree with her first piece of advice, I spend maybe an hour a day on here (and a little less time on the rest of the internet) and have been pleased with the results. The best thing I have learned is that there really is an abundance of help, through teams and forums, available to us all here. I've just started out myself and it's been a fun learning experience so far. If anyone has any questions or comments or would like to add something please do so, as I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff I've missed out on or don't even know about! I'm very happy to be here and it's great to be here with you! Here's wishing you much success and many sales in your future endevors. WELCOME TO THE TEAM!! ... View more

Post a treasury that includes an item from each of the 16 shops above your post. Ill create the first treasury after 16 people post their shops page then the next person can continue the challenge by posting the next treasury! ... View more