Some of you are seasoned Etsy sellers, but some are "newbies"...I'm still pretty green myself! So I thought I'd share a little tutorial on Treasuries, one of the nicest networking tools on Etsy!
The quickest way to access the feature is to click on the front page treasury link "See More" then on the right you'll see "Create a List" First take note of the trending tags under that,just for a frame or reference. Then click and start! Read the treasury guidelines on the right first. I usually open another tab and start searching for whatever theme I happen to be thinking of. You can search for items by teammates, favorites, handmade, vintage or particular items, colors or descriptions! Note: open the items you like in a new tab by right clicking the item and choosing that option, it's easier to keep your search page open. Sometimes I know the title I want before I start, sometimes I'm struck with an idea after finding something inspiring. Then I write my description. It can be to let people know the affiliation of the artists featured, your inspiration, a little story or memory or I've even used song lyrics and poems! Items are added by copying and pasting each one in a box. You can drag and drop the items around to change their order. Remember composition is key to being featured on the Front Page! Good photos, cohesive theme, balance of tones and color are the necessary elements for your composition. Think of it as creating a work of art or collage! Next, and this is critical: Tag it! Use all of the tags you can but keep them relevant. The general category of the items you chose works best. But if you are doing a team treasury, use the team tag and the team's name as well, i.e. upcyclers, teamupcyclers. My next step is to generate a live treasury code using whaleshark @
http://www.whalesharkwebsites.com/tools/treasury.php This tool is easy to use, and has its own tutorial. A couple of notes: For a Facebook FBML box (an application you definitely want on your fanpage as well as My Etsy) use three columns and the small setting, this is also a good setting for most blogs. You can also use the 4 column tiny setting but it is harder to see. The only drawback to the 3 column is that you lose the 16th item! I usually post my treasury on my blog before I notify featured artists so that I can provide the link to it in my convo to inform them they are "treasured", which you must do to ensure more views and clicks. I share it on my Facebook page and add the url to the convo and I also give my twitter url as well and tweet the treasury. Remember you can also share and tweet the treasury using the features to the right of the treasury. A little trick I use for notifying featured sellers, I keep open my treasury, then I right click on the artist's name and open in a new tab, I do this 4 at a time, then run through and click contact on each one, then after writing my first message, I copy and paste it on the rest. The greeting is usually prompted after hitting the first key, depending on your browser. I use Firefox. I do this for each row, which keeps me organized. All in all, it only takes a few minutes this way and won't cause your convos to shut down for sending too many at once- which can happen! All of this has to be done fairly quickly to keep your treasury "hot" which is one way it also gets FP'd. There's some controversy about this, some say the same ones are always on, I don't know. I do know that multiple comments by the same person or the curator does NOT help! Admins tweaked the settings a couple months ago to change all that. Don't be discouraged by all of this, it sounds more tedious and trying than it is. Once you get the hang of it, I think it's fun and a nice way to see what's out there on Etsy, and check out your fellow Upcyclers' shops! Plus it's a nice way to take a break once in a while! If anyone has any suggestions or tricks to add, please do! Any questions, don't be shy...
