Can Etsy Help You Quit Your Day Job?

So, you hate your day job. Can selling on Etsy really help you quit your day job? The simple answer is YES! Unfortunately it is a bit more complicated than that. The real answer is that Etsy can REPLACE your day job. You might want to consider how much time you have to put towards your new 'Day Job' of Etsy.

I generally spend 10 hours a day between working on my Etsy shop, social networking and making products for my shop. I am in a hard market- Jewelry. It is often times difficult to put myself out there above everyone else. Of course I do have a small advantage since I have been a jewelry maker for over 25 years.

Running an Etsy shop is a full time job. In fact it is 1 1/2 to 2 full time JOBS! At least until you get a good rhythm going. What is your typical Etsy day? What do you do? How long do you spend on each part? I want to know what you do with your time. Share with everyone here. Tell me about your Etsy day.

Yes, I said I was going to continue the Etsy Shop Makeover Challenge but it seemed that no one was participating so, I am putting that on the back burner. Just to let you know though, I have tripled the amout of daily treasuries I am in from just rewriting a few of my listings. If you wish to have me continue that series just let me know.

An Interesting Change To Your Etsy Shop

We've been discussing your Etsy shop in my Etsy Shop Makeover Challenge. First I asked you to look at some trending and hot treasuries. Next I asked you to pick 10 items and completely rewrite them. It's funny how I didn't even notice a very important change to your Etsy shop that can affect you in many ways!

It would seem that Etsy has changed how many items default to your front age of your shop. It used to be that you had 4 Featured items and then 20 other items on your front page. Now it seem they have changed it to 4 Featured items and 80 other items! This makes it super important to have your best items in the front of your shop!

If you have less than 80 items there isn't anything you can really do except make sure that your best items are at the top of your shop. If you have more than 80 items you NEED to put your best items on your first page. I currently have over 400 items and am in the process of rewriting 80 descriptions and titles and tags to insure that my best items are at the forefront of my shop. Yes, it is a daunting task but one that is much needed.

On a related note, I suggest making sure your listings are diverse on your first page. Give your customers a showing of what you do. I try and not have two of the same type of item next to each other on my first page. This means spreading my rings out with my bracelets and necklaces to insure a more broad view of what I do. You want to show potential customers as much as you can without seeming too disorganized.

That is all for today. I will get back to the challenge tomorrow. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Love Your Etsy Shop

Sorry for disappearing for a few days. Very recently I found true love in my life. You know, the air sucked out of the room, weak in the knees, romantic love. The kind most of us only ever read about in books or see in those romcom movies. It is a very wonderful feeling that I have never felt in all my 40+ years on this planet. It makes the small menial tasks seem less menial. It makes cleaning the dishes less like a chore. It makes everything better.

Now, I have been thinking about this quite intently over the last few days. It occurred to me that your relationship with your Etsy shop should be the same. You should not feel like it is a chore to go in and constantly tweak your key words, or clean up your descriptions, or share your listings on social networks. It should be a joy.

If you approach your Etsy shop like it is just a job, well, then you are not ever going to fully be happy. Unless of course you are one of those people that LOVE your job! I think you can see what I mean though. Your Etsy shop is an extension of you. Whether it be a love of art or a love of vintage goods or a love of providing crafting supplies for others to make art, your Etsy shop should be all about love.

So, I would like to know what you love about your Etsy shop.

I'll start. The thing I love most is taking pictures for my Etsy shop. It is frustrating and sometimes I take 100 pictures and only one or two turn out the way I want them to. I end up going back to the camera and trying again until I can come up with five shots that are just right. I am constantly trying to better my pictures. In fact, I have been in the process of rephotographing just about everything in my shop. With 400+ items it could feel like a chore. Fortunately, for me, it doesn't. It is worth every moment I spend doing it because I love my shop.

Now, I would like to hear from you. What do you love about your Etsy shop. Leave a comment here and share the love! Or if you'd rather keep it quiet, send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

How Etsy Can Help You Quit Your Day Job

There are a lot of success stories out there about how Etsy allowed people to quit their day job. If you get right down to it, it isn't really quitting your day job, it is changing your day job to Etsy. It is a lot of hard work. The harder you work the better chance you'll eventually not have to work for the man- or the woman!

How do you go about making enough money to make Etsy your full time income? A good product is a start. Great pictures are good. Wonderful titles, yep. Tags and keywords that people look for, check. Clear concise descriptions that answer any customer's question, a must! You have all that? Kudos to you! Now what?

You have to let people know about your shop. Advertising is the key. Whether it be an ad in a magazine, a link from a website, a link in your signature, your shop address on a business card or word of mouth, the simple fact is, if you build it and no one knows about it no one will come.

You have to get the word out. That is what my little blog is all about. How to market your shop. How to get the word out. How to make people want to buy your products. I write a lot of articles for you. I am not sure if it is helping you or not. I am doing most of the trial and error so that you can avoid the the errors!

If you have a minute, please comment here one question that you would like answered about marketing your shop. Let me know what you want to know. That way I can continue to help you out in the best way that I can. If you'd rather not comment feel free to send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

I hope each and every one of you have a great weekend and many sales! Thanks for following me!

10 Tips For Better Etsy Sales

We are always looking for easy things we can do to increase sales in our online marketplace. Whether it is an Etsy sop or Artfire or Woogiewoo, there are some things that can be done to help draw positive attention to your shop. Here are 10 tips and tricks to help:

1. Business Cards- Even if you don't do show or have a brick and mortar business cards are very important. Put one in every order- even on repeat buyers. Carry them with you- you never know when you might be in a conversation and want to direct someone to your shop. a business card is a reference point and much easier than trying to get someone to remember your web address.

2. Signature File- I cannot stress this enough. Have a signature on your email, your forums and anywhere else that allows your signature. If you have a Facebook page this is the most important link! Once you have them on Facebook you get to advertise to them multiple times! If you just have a link to your Etsy shop you may only get one view.

3. Be ProActive- Whether you are on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or forums, be helpful and active. Answer questions. Post useful information. Don't just post ads. Strike up conversations. People like to see that there is a human behind your shop.

4. Customer Service- The customer is always right even when they are wrong. Arguing with a customer is petty and 99% of the time completely useless. If a customer wants to return an item let them. Make the customer happy at all costs. never make the customer feel like they are not important.

5. Keep in Touch- I collect email addresses by asking to sign my customers for a news letter. Once a quarter I send out a special deal just for my previous customers. It might be free shipping, a free item with purchase or discount code. It keeps repeat customers buying.

6. Offer Specials- I try and offer specials every week. I post them on Facebook and tweet them. Flash sales, holiday discounts and special offers can turn someone who might be interested into a paying customer.

7. Never Look Desperate- Even if your electricity is about to be turned off, NEVER let your customer know you are having problems! Nothing turns people off more than the sob story of how you have to make $xxx to keep your lights on.

8. Answer Fast- Answer every question a.s.a.p. Letting someone wait days for an answer will almost kill a sale every time. The faster you answer the more important your customer will feel.

9. Be Clear- If you are not sure what your customer is asking, get them to explain further. Nothing is worse than sending out a custom order only to find out it wasn't what the customer was asking for.

10. Advertise- Your advertising cost is tax deductible. Even if you can only afford $10 a month that is better than nothing. You must decide where best to spend your advertising dollars. I suggest Facebook. That has always worked for me.

There you have it. Please feel free to add to this list in the form of a comment. Or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com See you all next week!

How Is Your Etsy Shop Doing?

With all the recent changes Etsy has made I would like to know how your shop is doing? Have you noticed an increase or decrease in views and sales? It seems that every time Etsy makes a change in the way they do things I experience a decrease in sales at the start then an increase over all after a couple of weeks. I really would like to know what your experience is.

So, today, please leave me a comment on how you're doing compared to say last year at this time. Let me know as many details as possible as to why you think you are doing better/worse. If you don't want to leave a comment send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

New Product Page Design On Etsy

Etsy has a new look. Well, actually it has been this way for a awhile now. Though there was nothing wrong with the previous look, I think this new look is a little better. The image position is better, the call to action is better, the details of the listing are better, the description is in a better location, the images for other items in the shop is better and my favorite is the what they did with tags.

I like the placement of the pictures much better. Although I am having issues with the zoom button. Before you clicked on the images and it made them bigger. Now you click on the image and it goes to the next image. I am sure many long time users are having the same issue. Still, it look cleaner and even has a bit of the Ebay feel to it. I am sure that was intentional.

The call to action is very prominent on the page. "Add to Cart" is a bright green bar that begs you, entices you, compels you to add the item to your cart. That is a good call on Etsy's part. Having the "Ask a Question" button right there is also a good thing.

Having the details right there next to the image is a good thing too. Showing that it is a handmade item, vintage good or supply right there at the top helps to clear up any confusion. Listing the materials here brings up a really good point. I notice that most people have not used capital letters in their list of materials. You may want to change that. To get a better look you should match what Etsy does. They pretty much capitalize each letter of each word (except the little words, a, an, the, etc.) and that gives it a good clean look. Also letting everyone know where it ships to is a good call.

Though the description is in a good location, I think they should have made it so that it was on the same page so that people didn't have to scroll down to read about the item. This is a VERY important reminder that your images are the most important part of your listing! Yes, titles and tags are important to get a customer to your page, your image is what is going to sell them!

What Etsy did with tags is brilliant. They changed it to "Related to this Item." Now we all just need to figure out what kind of tags other people are using for our type of items and make sure that when someone clicks one from another page you will show up. I suggest finding your competition and see what tags they use. Pick 5 of their tags that you do not have and add them to your list. It couldn't hurt and I bet it helps!

That is all I have to say about that for now. Remember, if you are thinking of opening an Etsy shop, please use my link http://etsy.me/14F6klT and we will both get 40 free listings! Also, I have a couple of eBooks that could be very useful to you. Visit my Etsy shop here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/marketmyshop And lastly, if you want to ask me a question please email me here: MarketMyShop@gmail.com

How To Make Money On Etsy

Etsy is a great way to make money. You have the ability to create a shop with very little overhead, very few fees and a built in audience. However, it is just like a real job. You have to work for your money. The harder you work the better chance you have making money.

To make a decent amount of money on Etsy you need a product that people want. You have to get the people that want your product in front of your product. You have to entice them with eye catching titles, great photos and descriptions that will answer all of their questions and you have to have your product at a price that they are willing to pay.

Starting next week I will be dissecting an Etsy listing into all of its parts and explaining how to have the best chance of selling possible. I'll share how I create a listing and you may be surprised by the order of what gets filled out first, second, third and last. For me it isn't necessarily starting at the top of the page and working my way down.

I hope that all of you have a great long weekend. Please note that since it is Memorial Day Weekend I will not be blogging on Monday. For those of you not in the US I hope that you will also have a great weekend even if you have to go to your day job on Monday. Until next week!

Etsy Goals for 2013

What kind of goals have you set for this year? Have you, like many others, set a goal of doubling your income. Or perhaps you have set a goal of adding 100 new items to your shop. Regardless of what goal you set, you are going to need to find a way to reach that goal.

For me, I have decided to set a goal of doubling my sales from 2012. I am pretty specific in my goals as well. I don't just want to double the number of items sold, I want to double the entire income of 2012. It is a pretty lofty goal but I think goals should be high. No reason to aim low when you can aim high!

Now, I have to come up with a plan to meet my goals and it doesn't just mean doubling my stock. In all actuality I probably need to triple my stock to double my sales. It is called diminishing returns. What is diminishing returns? A yield rate that after a certain point fails to increase proportionately to additional outlays of capital or investments of time and labor. In simple terms it means that when you get to a certain point you can no longer double your profits by doubling your stock. (Okay, it means much more than that, but that will do for now.)

So, for the next few articles I would like to talk about ways other than increasing your amount of items to achieve more sales. I do not have all the answers. In fact I probably only have a handful of answers in the grand scheme of things. So, I encourage you to share what you have done that has helped increase your sales. I also encourage you to share what didn't work!

That is all I have for today. Let me know your thoughts and questions with a comment or email me at MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Craftopolis - A Friend For Etsy Users

Craftopolis is a great place for Etsy users to streamline some things that Etsy doesn't necessarily make easy for you. The very first thing you should do when you get there is put your username in the box. That will bring up a few options for you. For convenience sake I am using my shop TangledMetal.

After you enter your user name you need to import your Etsy account info. Don't worry, this api does not store anything on their system. Simply click the Import button on the left box for Etsy. The right hand box imports your Google Analytics if you wish to use the Tag Report Feature. *Please note you need to be logged into your Google account that you have your analytics on

After clicking import, you will be moved over to your Etsy account to allow access to your account. If you are not signed into your Etsy account you'll be asked to log in. After clicking Allow Access at the bottom of the page, you will be brought back to Craftopolis.

Here you will see some general information such as when you joined Etsy, number of listing you have and how many Hearts/Favorites your shop has. If you signed into your Google Analytics account you'll be able to see how your current tags and keywords are going. Edit Express is my favorite. It bring up the option to edit all of your Price, Title, Quantity and Descriptions form on page. No more opening each page individually! You can also do a global price increase by dollar or percentage with the option to round up or down!

These tools are invaluable to anyone who has more than just a few listings. With my 350 to 400 listings at any given time, it has saved me literally hours work! I hope that you will all give it a try. And just for the record, Craftopolis did not pay me in any way for an endorsement! In fact, they do not even know I am doing this write up!

Do you know of a cool time saving tool for Etsy or ArtFire? Please feel free to share with me. I would be happy to give it a try and do a review. Please send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com and i will get right on it. Have questions? Comments? You can leave them here or send them to my email listed above.

Useful Etsy Tools

I love it when I find useful tools for Etsy. Craftopolis is one of the better sites I have found in recent months. It allows for one or two very easy ways to do things. My favorite Feature is the ability to edit the descriptions of every item you have on Etsy from 1 screen. Let me tell you, it really saves a ton of time.

Next week I will be doing a full review of Craftopolis so that I can give them their due. Do you use any site that has great Etsy tools? Would you care to share? Please post a comment with the website and what tools they have. I will do a review and tell everyone about it.

I hope you all have a great weekend. See you all next week!

Successful Failures of 2012

Hello all! Did you miss me? It has been quite some time since I have made time to blog. Hopefully this year I will be able to keep up a little better. The last you saw was that I had started a new shop on Etsy: Steampunk Oddities. It was a split off from my original shop Tangled Metal. The idea was to separate my chainmail from my steampunk items. It did not work as planned.

I had great intentions, I really did. I figured if I was making 25 to 30 sales a month with one shop I could make 50 to 60 sales a month with two shops. That didn't happen. In fact, my sales actually went down quite a bit. It was a complete failure. However, what I learned from it all made it a complete success also.

Over the next couple of weeks I want to share with you all the things I did wrong and I could have done better. My hope is that you can learn from my mistakes and save time, energy and money with your shop. So, come back tomorrow and see what I have to say about my first mistake: Opening a second shop.

What Brought You To Etsy?

I have been on Etsy for just a little over a year now (16 months to be exact) with my Tangled Metal Chainmail and Steampunk Jewelry and Accessories. I was introduced to Etsy by my girlfriend who had just started selling there. She had been a long time eBay seller and was looking for something a little different.

I was working as the Special Events Director for an advertising company. I had all but quit the life of Renaissance Faires and Art shows to settle into a day job. Little did I know I was destined to pick the pliers back up! After being laid off due to changes in management I decided I did not want to continue with the 9 to 5 (for me it was more like 7 to 7) and I started making chainmail again.

I had sold online before with my own website and was not excited about trying all of that out again but I took the plunge. I read everything I could find about Etsy. I experimented with all kinds of SEO. Many experiments were great failures in what NOT to do. I had a couple of arguments with staff members at Etsy. I even had a hand in changing the relevancy search. Etsy used to only want single word tags but I and others helped convince them that was NOT the way people searched for items on Etsy.

I have been enjoying a lifestyle of not working for the man. Though, my 9 to 5 has become 24/7. At least I really enjoy what I do. Out of a desire to help people not make the same mistakes I have made, I decided to start this blog. The rest, as they say, is history.

What is your story? How did you come to Etsy? I would really like to know. Leave a comment with your story or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Etsy Back To School Sales

It seems school starts earlier and earlier each year. I remember when I was a kid it started in September. Now it seems that most schools start in Mid-August. Now is the time to start your Back To School Sales! Remember that it isn't just elementary and high school about to start back up, it is also college.

I generally offer a percentage discount though an Etsy coupon code. Some people offer free shipping on their orders. The choice is up to you but be sure to take advantage of it. Put "Back To School" in your tags and titles on items that are specifically for school.

Oh, and don't forget the teachers! They are going back to school as well! So, if you have items that would look great on a classroom wall or a teacher's desk, there is another opportunity for you. I hope your Back To School Sales are the best they have ever been. Don't forget Halloween is just around the corner so you may want to dust off a few of your items...

Leave a comment or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com I would love to hear what you have to say.

As always, my blog is 100% free. People ask me all the time why I do this. When I started Etsy there just wasn't all that much info out there to help me figure it all our. Etsy tends to make their instructions difficult to follow. I wanted to be able to help others by making things easier to understand.

People also ask how I make enough money doing this. The honest answer is I don't. I do sell a Facebook Advertising Guide in my Market My Shop Etsy Shop. I also do a little consulting on a one one one basis. If you are getting something out of this blog and you'd like to 'buy me a drink' or say 'thank you' you can send a gift through PayPal using my email: MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Shows, Stores and Shops!

Many of you know that I have an Etsy shop (Tangled Metal Etsy Shop) and some of you know I do a show now and again. (see above image) What some of you may or may not know is that I am opening a retail store. Juggling it all around sometimes seems like a daunting task but I manage.

My Etsy shop does okay. It is growing. The more items I add to the shop the better I do. I am almost to the 300 mark as far as items. I have cheated a little bit and started listing some of my Christmas product. Funny thing is that people are viewing them too. Go figure.

Today I have a show in Fayetteville, AR. (Fayetteville First Thursday) It is a small show with an attendance of around 1500 people. It is a short show being from 5pm to 8pm. It also as a small price tag of only $20 to vend. I like the small shows because they do well for me. Well, most of the time they do. This show is once a month and I have started to build up a following. That makes it worth while.

Saturday I jump into the realm of owning a retail brick and mortar shop. (The Curious Crow - the website is a work in progress) The shop is pretty small, only 400 sqft or so. It is in a heavy traffic area in a great tourist based town called Eureka Springs, AR.

I also try and blog here every weekday to help others learn from my mistakes and successes. I am a pretty busy guy. I like working but I am not a workaholic. I believe in time off and vacations. I try to take a couple of hours each day to do noting productive. I cannot shut off my mind but at least I give my body a rest. I also try and sleep in once a week. I know that isn't something all of you can do but if you can try it! When I say sleep in, I mean an extra hour of sleep not stay in bed all day. :)

Today is one of those days when I really din't have much to say. Sorry about that. Tomorrow will probably be much the same. However, next week I will get right back to the tips and tricks and how to's! So, please, stand by! Let me know if you have any questions or comments and have a great day!

Etsy Shops And Facebook Ads

Why would you choose Facebook for your next ad campaign? It works, that's why! Before I start telling you how to sign up for the ads I want to take a minute to make sure that we are all on the same page. For the ads to work you need to have a working knowledge of Facebook. You also need to be active on Facebook. Which means that you need to devote some time to it every day.

Your business Facebook Page should be all about your business and very little about your personal life. Sure it is okay to talk a little bit about yourself, after all people want to know you are human. What they do not want to know is what you drank last night or what political party you support or what church you go to. Save that for your personal profile. (If you do not already have a Facebook Fan Page you may want to read these previous articles on them: Facebook Fan Pages For Your Shop, Using Facebook Fan Pages to Increase Business, and Making Facebook Work For You)

If you cannot engage your fans there is probably no point in advertising your page. If your shop is a mess there is probably no reason to advertise your shop. So, it may be time to do a little spring cleaning in your shop. Without the foundation of a well organized shop and an engaging Facebook Page you would just be throwing away money advertising.

Think on that and come back tomorrow to find out how to get started with Facebook Ads. Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment or emailing me at MarketMyShop@gmail.com

More On Etsy Direct Checkout

I thought I would give you an update on Etsy Direct Checkout. I have had this up and running on my shop for a few weeks now. In fact, five of my last eight sales were through Direct Checkout. It does take a little while for the money to get into your account. Not a huge issue as long as you have some money for shipping. In my opinion, I do not think I would have gotten those sales had I not been using Direct Checkout. So, for me, it is a good thing.

I sell many of the same items over and over again, so I know exactly what most of my items weigh. It really isn't a problem for me to create a shipping label with a tracking number and mark it as shipped within minutes of an order. This really does two things for me. One, it gets the ball rolling on getting my money from Etsy, and two, it puts me in a great light with my customers for such fast shipping! In the note to the customer I say that their item will be shipped out within 24 hours except on weekends and holidays.

Direct Checkout may not be great for those who create custom items on a regular basis. Especially if you use the money for materials to create it. In those cases it is probably better for you to make sure to set up a custom listing and let them know that it needs to be paid for through PayPal or some other medium.

I hope all of you have a great weekend! I start moving into my Brick and Mortar shop tomorrow. Wish me luck! And always, if you have any questions please leave a comment or email me at MarketMyShop@gmail.com I may not answer with an article but I do always try to answer!

Daily Etsy Checklists

If you have had a shop on Etsy for any length of time you'll agree that there is plenty to do every day. Of course it is also possible to spend way too much time on Etsy. I try to follow a list of things to do on Etsy to make sure I have a daily presence but don't spend all day lost in Etsy land.

I have not made a treasury in several months. I really should be ashamed of myself. Treasuries are great for building your circle and making new friends and sometimes customers. In my experience, Tuesdays and Thursdays were the best for treasuries. Early morning treasuries seemed to do better than ones in the after noon.

I try and list new items daily. Or if I do not have a new item to list I will renew an item. I do this so that the item has a chance to pop up on people's "Newly Listed" feed view. I generally make several items before I add them to Etsy. I do several listings at once and set them to Draft so that when I want to list one I have several to choose from.

I also post new items to all the teams I am on. Most of the teams I am a member of have a thread just for listing new items. Several people will favorite the items and that shows up in their feeds. That helps get the word out. I also tweet every new listing. Within 10 minutes every new item I list has 15 to 30 views.

I also like to put some of my items on my Facebook Page. This usually gets a little bit more interest for the items. If you'd like to see more about that go "Like" my Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/TangledMetal and you can see some of what I do.

I also do quite a bit of tweaking titles, tags, descriptions and even rotate photos. I try and change things up a little depending on what is trending. I add Mothers's Day or Prom or Spring Fashion and other trending and seasonal descriptions to appropriate items.

All of the above can be done in a couple hours a day by creating a list and prioritization it. Allot specific amounts of time and stick to it. Use a timer if you must. But try and get a little of everything done rather than a lot of one thing and none of another.

That is all for today. More tomorrow. Let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Advertising For Etsy Shops

Where do you advertise your Etsy shop? Advertising is one of the things that most people feel is a complete waste of money. That is about as far from the truth as you can get. Do you really think that if Coke or Pepsi stopped advertising their current customer base would be enough to pay all of their stock holders their dividends?

The main purpose of advertising is to get new customers. The secondary purpose is to inform current customers of special deals. I advertise exclusively on Facebook now.  Well, other than the standard link in email, business cards and signatures in groups and message boards. I direct all my traffic to my Facebook page.

From my Facebook page I list new products and do giveaways. When I have a sale the fans on Facebook are the first to know and sometimes the only to know. I spend about $50 a month on Facebook ads and I am well compensated for it.

Where do you advertise and how is it working out for you?

Google and Etsy Revisited Recap

This week I have been revisiting ways to get your shop found On Etsy and Google. Tags, Titles and Descriptions need to be well thought out and well implemented.  I always start with my tags and work the description and title from there. Here are a few tips that might help you to come up with better tags.

1. Ask your mom what she would use to search for your item.
2. search all your tags on Etsy and Google and see what shows up.
3. Look at your stats and see what words people are finding you with.
4. If a tag isn't working, drop it and try another.
5. Ask someone for help.

When you come up with good tags and use them for your title and in your description you stand a much better chance of being found. Of course just being found isn't your goal. Your goal is to make money by selling your products. Soon, I will revisit photography and pricing to help you hook that customer.

Let me know if you have any questions.