9 Tips To Help Your Etsy Shop

Today I am taking a break from the Etsy Shop Makeover Challenge and going to do some Tops and Tricks to make your Etsy shop shine! Please feel free to add any tips or tricks that you may have to this list!

1. CHECK YOUR STATS EVERY DAY- Log into your Etsy account each and every day and check your stats. See where people are coming to your shop from, see how many people visit your items and shops, see how many favorites you get each day and more!

2. CHECK WHAT'S TRENDING ON ETSY - This is a great way to know if you have any items in your shop that are 'trendy' and could use a little boost. If there are similar items in the Etsy Trends Feed check the items and see what tags they are using and change a few of yours to match.

3. BE PROACTIVE - Join teams and be active! Join the forums and let your voice be heard. Know what is going on around you on Etsy by being proactive!

4. CHECK OUT FRONT PAGE TREASURIES - This is how you can keep a finger on the pulse of what Etsy wants from you. These front page Treasuries are hand picked by members of Etsy and reflect what they think is trending. Knowing this can help steer you to create more popular items.

5. A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS - Make sure your best photos are your main photo! Don't be afraid to switch the photos around a little to see which one works best for you.

6. NEW CONTENT IS KING - Google loves pages that change and hate pages that are static. Rewrite your Titles, descriptions and tags at least once a quarter. I try to do this as my items need renewing. This will always insure that my items are fresh and ready for Google to take notice!

7. DOT YOUR I'S AND CROSS YOUR T'S - Nothing is worse than reading a title or description with misspelled words and incorrect grammar. We are all guilty of it from time to time. Employ the help of a friend or family member to proof your work!

8. MISSPELL ON PURPOSE - Add commonly misspelled words to your tags. If one of your tag words can and is commonly spelled wrong, add it to catch traffic from those who type it wrong. I m not suggesting using a ton of misspellings but a few won't hurt and may just help! (Please note #7 above is talking about titles and descriptions)

9. USE ALTERNATE SPELLINGS - As with the suggestion above, if you are marketing to the whole world, use alternate spellings on your tags. JEWELRY is also spelled JEWELLERY and COLOR is also spelled COLOUR and ARMOR is also spelled ARMOUR! So, make sure you are caching all your audience by adding common alternate spellings.

I would love to hear what you have to say about all of the above tips. Please leave me a comment- ESPECIALLY if you have more tips and tricks to add!

7 Tips And Tricks For Better Etsy Sales

This week we have talked some about shipping and keeping track of changes you make and a little bit about Twitter. Today I wanted to give you a few tips and tricks that are easy and easy to see results from. Feel free to add to the list with a comment.

1. Rearrange Your Shop! Don't leave it to list your most recent items. Rearrange it to put your best face forward. If you make sever sales of stock items or renew a lot of items rearrange your shop again! Keep it pretty!

2. Quality Trumps Quantity! This goes with many things. Twitter followers, Facebook Fans, Pinterest followers and beyond. One good active follower will do more good than 10K people who do nothing!

3. Encourage Action! Saying things like "at time of purchase" can be "when you purchase" or "buy now" or other proactive words. Don't be timid! But don't be rude.

4. Coupons Are Gold! There are now several types of coupons you can offer with all kinds of stipulations. Offer coupons often and reap the rewards!

5. Keep In Contact! Ask your buyers if you can add them to your mailing list. Keep all those email addresses handy for seasonal promotions!

6. Encourage Social Networks! Get those people on your social networks so you can talk to them often. If you send them to your Etsy shop they will visit once if you send them to your Facebook page you'll have them for a long time!

7. If It Ain't Broken Don't Fix It! If you are doing something that is working well, make a note and keep it up! Don't change anything without having a record of what it was before. That way you can always revert!

That is all for the week. I hope you all have a prosperous and pleasant weekend. Feel free to leave a comment. Don't forget I am on many social networks: MarketMyShop On Twitter and MarketMyShop on Facebook and MarketMyShop on Etsy See you all next week!

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!

13 Tips And tricks To Increase Your Etsy Sales

From time to time we forget the obvious ways to spread the word about our shops. Here are a few Tips and Tricks to help you increase your sales on Etsy. Please feel free to add your Tips or Tricks to the comment section.

1. Make sure you have a link to your shop and all social media in the signature of your email. You'll be surprised at how many people will click on the link. Even friends and family will click and share your links.

2. Put a link to your shop or social media in your signature on message boards and forums. Be sure that you are active on the forum or message board and that you have permission to post links in your signature. (Join forums and boards that relate to your craft and be active)

3. QR codes are a great way to promote your shop offline. I wrote an article about How To Create QR Codes. Check it out, create your code then use it. I suggest using it to link over to your Facebook Page so that you keep that person. If you just link to your shop it may not be a lasting customer.

4. Offer rewards to all your customers. Whether it be a coupon code (my Coupon Code Article) or a free gift, when someone receives something special they will remember you.

5. Ask if you can add your customer to your newsletter mailing. When can you ask? I send out a convo when I ship items. I ask if it is okay to add them to my newsletter. It is hit and miss but I do gain about 50% of all customers that I ask. I also set up a sign up sheet when I am at shows.

6. Don't be afraid to advertise. Coke and Pepsi didn't get where they are today by sitting around waiting for sales. Weigh the pros and cons. If you cannot afford paid advertising there are tons of free options out there. Even if you can only set aside $25 a month for advertising you'll be shocked how much of a return you can get. I suggest Facebook advertising because once they become a "Liker" of your page you can put ads in front of them multiple time rather than a one time deal. (I have an eBook on how to use Facebook Ads for Etsy here)

7. Make sure people can find your products. Make sure you have plenty of solid usable key word and key word phrases. Ask your friends or your mom how they would search for your product. This will help you figure out your key words. Etsy calls these Tags.

8. Make sure your description is descriptive. You can have some fun stories or statements but be sure your descriptions accurately describe your product. Try to go through all your senses. Does the item have a certain feel to it? how does it make you feel emotionally to wear or use it? Does smell or hearing play a roll? Your customer cannot touch your product before they buy, try and make it so they do not feel they have to.

9. Titles are super important. Bland titles generally do not do as well as cute and fun titles. Just make sure your title makes sense. If someone reads it on Google is it going to make them want to click through? If you Tweet from Etsy does the title make sense?

10. Photos are everything. One good photo is far better than five bad fussy dark ones. Try to take pictures from as many angles as you can so the customer can see what it looks like from every angle  Remember they cannot touch it so you have to make them feel like they have. (I have several Photography Articles here)

11. Selling on Etsy is a job. The more you put into your job the better it will be. Take time to read everything you can including the Etsy Sellers Handbook. Etsy produces it for a reason- it works. Read the Etsy Blog too. Tons of great info is in there all the time.

12. Schedule your time and stick to it. If you have not posted something on the Etsy forums, rewrote a Title or Description, Taken a better photo, listed a new item or renewed something today you have not been doing your job. You need to try and do something every single day.

13. Never Give Up - Never Surrender! If what you are doing isn't working, try something else. If that doesn't work, try something different again! The beauty of Etsy is you can fine tune things and test them multiple time. Once you find something that works, keep doing it until it doesn't work anymore. Things change you have to constantly keep up with new trends and the like.

That is it for today. I hope these tips help you. Please feel free to share this with anyone you know on Etsy and get their feedback. As always if you have questions please send them my way and I will try my best to answer them. MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Tips For Making More Sales On Etsy

It has been a while since I did a post of tips and tricks so here you go!

1. Reply to every email or message - Every email is important. Well, maybe not spam, but that isn't what I am talking about. When someone emails you a question, reply to them a.s.a.p. Whether it is a question or a comment, reply. It will build customer confidence if nothing else.

2. Always be polite and understanding - Let's face it, over any amount of time you will have a customer that is unhappy for some reason or another. The customer may not always be right but it is your job to make them happy. Sometimes it means going above and beyond. Sometimes it means loosing money. Sometimes it means a repeat customer.

3. The answer is yes - When someone asks if you can do something for them, a custom order, a modification, the answer is yes. It may mean working outside your normal realm of expertise. It might mean calling in help from a friend to get something done. The minute the answer is no, the sale is gone.

4. Mark your items as shipped - Even if it is after hours or on the weekend print a label and mark your item as shipped. You'll be amazed at your feedback about shipping fast! The only exception is for custom orders. There you should send a message letting the customer know you have their order and you're working on it.

That is it for the week. I hope you all have a great weekend! Feel free to add to the list here by leaving a comment. You can also email me at MarketMyShop@gmail.com

10 Tips For Branding Your Etsy Shop

One of the best ways to get more business on Etsy is to stand out int the crowd. Chances are, what you make is not exclusively made by you. There are thousands of crocheters, jewelry designers and people selling vintage goods. Each day that number grows. I have talked a little this week on branding your shop. Today I want to give some tips for you. Some you may think common sense but they might just be the key that puts you in front of the right customer.

1. Put your name somewhere in your description. Google will pick it up. That way if someone can remember your name but not your web address they can find you.

2. Put a signature on your email. Put your business name and a link to all your sites including Etsy, website, Facebook, Twitter and blog.

3. Sing your Etsy convos with "your name from your business." I sign all of my convos with "Eric from Market My Shop" because this builds name recognition and name association. It may seem redundant but that is the point!

4. Once you have a logo, don't change it. It is okay to modify it for the times but make sure it is always recognized as your logo. Over time this will build your customer recognition.

5. Use your shop name as your login id on all social networks. This means Facebook, Twitter, blogs, forums, pinterest, everything! You want people to see your business name at every turn!

6. If you are a member of a newsgroup or forum where you can have a signature USE IT! Put your shop name and a link to your shop.

7. Put your business name on your Etsy banner. You have no idea how many Etsy banners I see with no text on it at all.

8. Be active! That means be active on Etsy, Etsy forums, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Pinterest and anywhere that you can put your name.

9. Comment on blogs and Facebook posts. Make sure you are logged into your business name when you want to post on a blog. It is simple advertising and brand building.

10. Don't be afraid to try something new. If a new social media site opens up, join it. You never know what the next Facebook or Twitter will be. Getting your name in early on can be huge.

That is it for today. I hope you all have a great weekend! Let me know if you have any questions by emailing MarketMyShop@gmail.com or leave a comment.

Tips For Reaching More Customers On Etsy

We would all like to increase our sales. It all comes down to putting your product in front of the right people. I have come up with a few tips for you that will help you do just that.

1. Make sure your photos depict your item. Do not use overly busy back grounds. Make sure your first photo is front page treasury material.

2. Make sure your title contains the keywords near the beginning of the title. Etsy puts weight on the first three words. Limit your titles to five or six words. Long titles can turn people off.

3. When describing your items make sure to use a lot of key words. Etsy does not weigh the descriptions but the search engines do.

4. Use keyword phrases in your tags. Single word tags do not generally do as well as descriptive phrases.

5. List and Renew items during peak hours. I find between 9am and 4pm Tuesday through Thursday are my peak hours. Check your stats to see when you are getting the most views.

6. If you have a lot of items to list or renew spread them out throughout the day. Renewed items and newly listed items are shown many places on Etsy. Take advantage of that.

7. Tag for holidays and special events.

8. Be sure to Tweet and or list new items on Facebook.

9. Tweet about your item at different times during the day. People look at Twitter at different times. Same goes for Facebook. Not everyone will see your posts at the same time. The more people looking at your Facebook or Twitter means more opportunities at different times. Try not to be too spammy.

10. Start over at number one and do it all over again tomorrow!

I hope this helps a little. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me at MarketMyShop@gmail.com The tips listed above are all topics I have covered in greater detail. Just search the blog or use the tag cloud to the right to find articles that explain things in greater detail.

Etsy Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday Sales started as a way for businesses to continue eliminating stock for the year end inventory. It is also a way for those businesses without a brick and mortar to be able to get those extra sales right before Christmas. It is especially good for people who sell on Etsy.

I personally am combining my Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sale with a week long sales event that started yesterday. If you have the ability to add a section to your shop that is probably the easiest way to organize your items. I unfortunately have all 10 of my sections in use.

There is a great alternative to having a shop section just for Black Friday or Cyber Monday. What you do is make sure all of your items are tagged with Black Friday and or Cyber Monday. Go to your shop view and type Black Friday into the "This Shop" Search. This will bring up all of the items in your shop tagged with Black Friday. Then you just copy the long link in the address bar of your web browser and go to a URL shortening service. I like tinyurl.com but there are many to choose from.

After your URL is shortened use it on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, etc. to point people to your sale. This will work with any search term and is a great way to showcase only certain items from your shop. Be sure to keep a copy of the shortened URL handy in case you'd like to share it somewhere else, like say, a newsletter.

I hope this helps. Tomorrow I will be discussing a few more tips to help spread the word about your sales. Then I will be taking Thursday and Friday and spending it with family and friends. Then I will be back on Cyber Monday! Let me know if you have any questions MarkeyMyShop@gmail.com

Etsy Christmas Tip: Gift Boxes

Assorted Jewelry Boxes on by displaydiva Etsy

I thought I would mention gift wrapping again. When you wrap a gift it does not have to be boxed and papered and taped. When I gift wrap items I put them in a nice small box and tie a hemp or jute string around it. That gives it the old time look from years gone by. Of course this can become very expensive depending on the boxes you use.

I came across the above pictured boxes on Etsy recently. There are 100 boxes for $25.50. That makes it affordable enough for putting every item in. Of course these are smaller jewelry size boxes. If you search around on Etsy and eBay for "paper gift boxes" you'll find plenty of boxes in every size and shape. You really don't have to spend a lot of money to go the extra mile.

That is it for today. I have to keep my tips short this week because I am swamped with orders. Hopefully I will be swamped for the rest of the year! I will do my best to keep the tips coming. Though I never seem to run out of ideas it would be great if you would send suggestions for future blog posts to me. Just email me at marketmyshop@blogspot.com

Christmas Tip: Free Gift Wrapping

One great way to encourage people to buy your items is to offer to wrap it for them. This will make it easier for your client. It does not cost much for you to wrap a present. I wrap all of mine in plain brown paper with a hemp string. This gives it an old time look. It takes me maybe an extra 2 or 3 minutes. I put a tag on it for them to fill out or offer to fill it out for them. If you plan to wrap a present with a bit more expensive look you can offer to wrap their purchase for an additional cost.

On Etsy it is against their Terms Of Service to charge for something contingent on the purchase of another item. So, in other words you are not allowed to sell Christmas wrapping as a separate listing. The same thing applies to shipping upgrades. You can however, in your listing, offer to upgrade shipping or charge for wrapping by saying that you will create a custom listing just for them.

I prefer to offer gift wrapping free of charge because people love to get something for free. It is probably a good idea to add a picture to your listing that shows how the gift will look. It isn't necessary unless you are offering multiple types of wrapping paper.

That is the tip of the day. Come back tomorrow for more.

Twitter Revisited: Part Four Tips and Tricks

This week we have been talking about Twitter. By now you should have an account set up, your profile pic and brief profile up. Hopefully you put in a link to your website or shop in the website section of your profile. Now it is just a matter of gaining more followers and converting them to buyers.

There are a couple of things that you can do to help increase your followers. Be an expert and be personable. If you are a jewelry designer, talk about your techniques. If you sell vintage items, talk about the thrift store or yard sale tactics you employ. When someone asks a question and you know the answer feel free to answer. Got nothing to say? Post an inspirational quote.

Be sure to follow the 10 to 1 rule, sometimes 15 to 1 rule. For every business tweet, post 10 to 15 non-business tweets. Don't overwhelm your followers. Tweeting is like blogging, if you are inconsistent people will just get bored and ignore you. Tweet at least once a day, no, seriously, it will help. It is best to tweet when people are around. You may be awake at 3am but the majority of your audience is probably still sleeping. Tweet to them when they are awake.

Following these tactics you will start to gain a following of people who respect and like you. People will ask you questions and answer questions when you ask them. Try to treat Twitter as more of a social networking platform than as a business advertisement and you will find people will enjoy reading what you have to say. They will be compelled to click your link in your profile and visit your shop. And if you weren't the pushy salesperson they will be more inclined to support you.

Here are a few tips that will help you with your Twitter account:
1. Ask questions and opinions.
2. Answer people when they ask questions even if they did not ask you specifically.
3. Talk about what you do.
4. Don't bombard your followers with links to your shop.
5. Tweet consistently.
6. Tweet when your audience is awake and at their computers.
7. Always be friendly.
8. Never get into a public argument.
9. Retweet people when they have something of value to say.
10. Suggest followers for people.

Relevancy Revisited: Part 4 Tips

This week we have been revisiting Relevancy. We talked about tags, titles and descriptions. Today I have some tips to help you out when you are creating a new listing. Of course, the tips should work for revamping a listing as well.

1. Have the item in your reach when you start your listing.
2. Upload your pictures first.
3. Type your tags second.
4. Use your tags to create your Title.
5. Use your title and unused tags to create your description.
6. Try to use two keyword phrases in your title.
7. Use as many of your keyword phrases as possible in your description.
8. If you get stuck on tags, check out what tags your competition is using.
9. Be sure to put a link back to your shop sections in every listing.
10. Use call to action phrases in your description like "When you purchase..."
11. If your item has color, list it in the tags.
12. Looking for names of popular colors? Check out what colors people are doing for treasuries.
13.  Be as accurate as possible with all measurements.
14. Provide both US and Metric measurements so your customer does not have to convert.
15. Optimize your title and tags for Etsy.
16. Optimize your description for Google.
17. Check your stats and see if the tags you used are getting people to your shop.
18. If a keyword phrase (tag) isn't driving traffic to your item change it.
19. Optimize for trends, seasons, holidays and events.
20. Check your stats every day.
21. If you have Google Analytics, check them at least weekly to track your progress.
22. Make sure your photos put the focus on your item not props.
23. Don't give up.

Twitter Tip Follow Friday

Follow Friday (Now #FF) is a tradition on Twitter where people would suggest people to their followers so that they may follow them as well. It is not as big of a thing as it once was but there are still many who do it religiously. The format is quite simple: #FF @user1 @user2 @user3 @user4 @user5 @user6 @user7

Some people get quite creative with their Follow Friday. Though you lose room for as many names it gives your Follow Friday a bit of a personalized look and that can be helpful. Being witty and humorous can really help you to gain more followers. Here is an example: If you don't #FF these people you are square @user1 @user2 @user3 @user4

You can post as many #FF's as you like but try not to repeat the user names. I tend to have a text list of all the users that I will FF and mix them up each week, This way you are not listing the same names to the same people week after week.

It is considered good etiquette to thank people when they #FF you. Just remember that there will be some people that will return your FF and there will be some who do not. Thank those who do and for those who don't just don't include them the next Friday.

There are several variations for #FF for each day of the week. People have created all kinds of reasons to follow each other in this manner. One that I saw recently was #SteamTuesday. This is just one of the many ways to get a few more followers.

10 Customer Service Tips

Good customer service is the key to making sales. People tend to ask questions before they buy and your answers and attitude can mean the difference between a sale or never hearing from them again. Here are 10 things you can do to help make your customer's experience a positive one.

1. Offer shipping options in your Shipping Policy.  Priority, Express, FedEx and UPS cost more but the customer may be willing to pay to get it faster, especially around the Holidays.

2. If you make jewelry give the customer the option to modify the size. Allowing someone to make a 7" bracelet 6 1/2" could mean the difference in a sale or not.

3. Offer a different color option in your listing. As long as you can make something in different colors offer it.

4. Send a freebie with your order. A small gift can create a repeat customer.

5. Put links to shop sections in your listings. Make it easy for your customer to browse.

6. Theme your "Thank You" notes. If a Holiday is near wish them a happy whatever. If no Holiday is near tell you customer "Hope you're having a great Summer!"

7. When someone asks if you can do something, modification, change color or something else and you can do it, be sure to make a call to action. "Yes, I would be happy to. When you order please put that in your comment so I will remember who you are."

8. Follow up if you do not understand. Sometime you'll get a note attached to an order that you just do not understand. When in doubt, ask. Get on the same page.

9. If you can't do something suggest someone who can. A customer will remember when you helped them out with something. Plus, it helps your fellow sellers out.

10. Be sure to address the entire email someone sends you. Nothing is more frustrating than to have all but one question answered. It could turn a potential customer off.

Top 10 Tips For Your Shop to Succeed

It is time for another installment of the Top 10!

1. A Picture is Worth 1000 Words- Always strive to have the best photo that you can take. It might mean retaking your photos if you get a new camera. It might mean retaking your photos for seasonal or holiday settings. If some of your items are not making it into treasuries and you think they should be, inspect your photos. What is causing people to overlook them. Try and change the angle or the lighting.

2. Title Relevancy- Titles may need to be changed to stay on top of the game. Remember your first three words are the most important. Be sure that the first three words are what you want to optimize. Make sure that the first three words are the most popular search phrase for your item.

3. Check Your Tags- Do you still have some one word tags lingering after your relevancy makeover? There is no time like right now to go and check. Remember that tags are keyword phrases that people type to find your items. Using the keyword "red" probably won't help anyone to find your product. "Red Glass Beads" may be exactly what needs to be there for someone to find you. 20 characters may not be a lot, but it is better than just using three characters.

4. Use What is Given to You- Use all five photo slots. Use your shop sections. Use all 13 tags. Use the Recipient, Occasion and Style sections in your listing. Use your materials. The more complete your listing the less likely that there will be questions.

5. Ask For Help- Everyone starts out like a newbie. There, I said it, experts are not born they are taught. Try to learn from the mistakes of others so you can make new fresh mistakes of your very own. Teams are a great way to find help. Just be polite and ask for help. Remember, the only stupid question is the one that is never asked.

6. Read Everything- There is so much information on how to do anything that you'd want to do that is might be impossible to read it all. Tutorials on how to use your exact camera. How to start a Twitter account. How to market through Facebook. If you have a question there are tons of answers. Google can help you find the answers.

7. Change Your Plan of Attack- Is something you are doing not working? Switch gears. Reassess what you are doing and why it isn't working and try something different. It is as simple as that. With all the info out there, you'll find more than a few ways to do just about anything from photos to coming up with good tags.

8. Take a Break- Getting frustrated? Take a break from what is frustrating you and do something different. If your photos are giving you a hard time move to tags. If the computer is making you want to pull your hair out, go to the studio. If nothing is going right, go for a walk. Do not let anything cause you too much stress, it isn't worth it.

9. Try New Things- It is just fine to try new things but do not completely redesign your shop on a whim. Try working on a section at a time. Do 10 listings and see how it goes. If it works, try 10 more. If it doesn't work try something different with the first 10. If you change your entire shop and it does not work, now you have to change your entire shop again.

10. Be Yourself- Whether you are on a team forum, Facebook, Twitter or at a show, be yourself. When you are writing your descriptions be yourself. You are your Brand. Make sure you are selling yourself in every item. One great thing about making handmade items is people love to hear the stories behind why you are doing what you are doing. Selling yourself helps to sell your items.

I hope these tips will help to make you even more successful. Do not get discouraged, the fact that you opened your shop puts you above all those people who never will have a shop. If you have questions feel free to ask. I am always looking for great tips so please be sure to let me know if you have a tip or suggestion.

10 Tips For Etsy Success

How do you measure success with your Etsy shop or ArtFire Studio or where ever you sell your items? Do you measure it through how many sales, how many views, how many favorites? No matter how you measure your success there is always room for improvement. Today I offer 10 tips that can help you become successful with your online shop.

1. Keep A High Inventory - Some say that there is a "magic number" of items to have in your shop before you start to really make sales. Most agree that it is somewhere between 50 and 150. This comes from the old saying "You can't sell what you don't have." Keeping your inventory up will help with sales. Giving the customer many choices seems to really help.

2. Organize Your Shop - Have you ever been in a store where nothing really seemed to go together? It was just a mess. You can't find what you are looking for in a messy shop. There are two ways to organize your shop and I suggest using both. First use your shop sections. On Etsy you have 10 sections and on ArtFire you have considerably more. Group like items together in the shop sections. A note about sections is that they have some SEO power with them. So try to use good keywords in your sections such as "Beaded Bracelets" or "Silver Earrings" so that the search engines will pick the sections up. Using just "Bracelets" or Earrings" works okay just for your shop but it does not help outside of that.

3. Never Undersell Yourself - People expect to pay more for handmade items. Having items that are very inexpensive in your shop will make your customer wonder if you are importing the items for resell. Now, some people go over the top and price things very very high. Unless you have made a name for yourself pricing a small painting at $5000 is probably going to cause someone to chuckle and move on. Try to stay within the competitive market with your prices but never try to undercut prices just to make a sale.

4. Add To Your Circle - Circles are a great way to gain more attention. Adding people who make things you like can help a lot. Many of the people that you add to your circle will add you back. When you create a new item it shows on the "New items from your favorite shops" of everyone who has added you to their circle. When you make a treasury or favorite a shop or item it gets published to your circle feed. When someone favorites you it gets posted to their feed. It is a way to become viral on Etsy.

5. Participate In Teams - Join teams that are within your type of shop medium. There are tons of teams. Joining a team isn't enough. You need to be active on the teams. Participate in discussions. Ask questions. Answer questions. Participate in team challenges. It is fun and will draw attention to you.

6. Spread The Word - Tell the world about your shop. Use social media to spread the word about your new items, shows or whatever you are trying to promote. Write a press release for your local newspaper. If you are going to be in a show ask the show to feature you in their advertising, provide them with a good write up and nice photos. Make it easy for them and they can hardly refuse.

7. Pay Attention To Your Stats - Check what keywords people are finding you with. See what time of day you get the most visits. That is a good way to know when yo release a new item. Don't just check your Etsy stats, check Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Google Blogger Stats and any others that give you hard facts about how you are doing.

8. If It Isn't Working Change It - If over a period of say 2 weeks or more no one has clicked on your items using the keywords you have optimized your item for it may be time to change your tactics. You might need to reevaluate your title and tags and try to figure out why you are not getting the traffic you want. You may need to optimize for a smaller niche.

9. Help Someone New - If you know a little, you know a lot. Helping someone to not make the same mistakes you made is not only a nice thing to do, it will make a friend. Helping someone out will show that you are a person who isn't just in it for the money. You never know when you might need a friend to give you an honest critique.

10. Ask Questions - Don't assume that you know it all. I have been working with the web pages since the internet was just a wee baby. I do NOT know it all. Things change in the blink of the eye. What worked great yesterday won't work today. If you find yourself in a position where you don't know what is wrong, ask a question. If you think you know the answer but are not sure, ask a question. The only dumb question is the one that goes unasked. Asking a question does not make you look bad, it makes you look intelligent!

I hope these tips will help you out. I am always looking for more great tips to add to my weekly top 10 so please feel free to share, I will give you credit. This blog is 100% free to you and I am always happy to answer questions so feel free to ask.

10 Ways To Get More Sales

We've all seen the this graphic on or stats page. Some even obsess over it. There are things that you can do to help increase the potential of more sales. Today I will give you my top 10 ways.

1.   SEO - Make sure your items have relevant Titles, Descriptions and Tags. You can see my earlier articles for information on all of these. Remember to try and think like a buyer when coming up with the keywords you want to optimize for. Ask your friends and family how they would search for your items,

2.   Photos - A fuzzy photo is worse than not having a photo at all. See my article on light boxes and save up for a good camera. For less than $500 you can get a professional quality camera that will make your photos pop. The camera used to take all of my photos is a Cannon Rebel Digital SLR.

3.   Teams - Join active teams on Etsy. Find ones that can help you with your SEO, treasuries and critiques. It is sometimes difficult to keep up with all your teams but I scan mine over morning coffee and try to answer as many questions as I can in the time I allot myself for teams.

4.   Forums - No matter how small your niche there is more than likely multiple online forums that you can join. If allowed, put your shop link in your signature. Be part of the forum and don't spam your shop. Just engage the members of the forum and let them come to you.

5.   Blogging - If you don't have a blog you are missing out on great opportunities. If you can't blog five times a week, blog on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Try to post your blog around the same time every day. If you find some spare time write several blog posts and schedule them to post at a later date.

6.   Facebook - Fan pages are great. If you do no have one get one as soon as you can and start telling people about it. I will be doing a tutorial on Facebook fan pages next week so stay tuned.

7.   Twitter - Twitter can suck you in. You can also fall into the trap of just promoting yourself. Be yourself. Answer people's tweets. Tweet funny stuff. Tweet quotes. Retweet others. Again, I will be writing up a full tutorial very soon on this.

8.   Email Signature - Put your shop link in the signature of your email. If you have multiple emails put it in all of them. You never know who will click on a link.

9.   Business Cards - Business cards are an amazing way to spread the word about your shop. You have no idea how many times someone has asked me what I do for a living. I hand them a card and tell them a little about it then tell them to visit the website for more information. Many sales have come my way over the years because of that.

10. Local Shows - Unless you live under a rock or somewhere way out in the country there are probably small local arts and crafts shows. Or at the very least a Farmer's Market. Find out how to set up a table. You may not think your items would do well at the shows but you never know until you try. I have been set up several times at shows that were country arts and crafts and sold a lot of chainmail jewelry.

There is my top 10. If you have any advice please leave a comment. Let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them. If this is your first time to my blog, be sure to check out the archived articles.

Photography For Your Handmade Or Vintage Shop

Chainmail Star Pendant by Tangled Metal

If a picture is worth a thousand words, you have an extra few thousand words you can add to your listing in your online shop. Whether you are selling handmade goods or vintage items or supplies your pictures are a very important part of your shop. I talked about keywords and titles earlier and that is how you get your listings found in the searches. Photos are how you get the person to click through to your items.

Since people cannot touch your product you must make sure to have good photos. When you are taking photos try to imagine yourself looking over an object. What do you look at when you are trying to decide if you want to buy something or not? If it has a clasp is it strong enough, if it is a vintage items does it have a makers mark, if it is a supply what size is it in reference to a coin? You have to answer these questions in a photo.

Mini Studio In A Box $83.32

It all starts with a light box, camera and a tripod- or at least for smaller items it should. Light boxes range in price from the homemade free to the professional ones that cost several thousand dollars. Personally I use one that I made from a cardboard box and an old white sheet. I am working on a tutorial on how to make your own light box and will have that up soon.

The photo box to the left is very affordable since it comes with lights and a tripod. I have actually seen this one in person and it is a good economical choice. It is great because it folds up so it can be stored when not in use.

In my home made light box I use four lights to make sure to wash out as many shadows as possible. I like a stark white background, so does the Etsy front page. *hint, hint* Some people are really good at using props to tell a story. Be cautious not to pull the story away from your item.

Some tips for you:

1.) If your photo is blurry you are better off without a photo at all. If you can't focus on it with your camera, research the settings available and try again. Or buy a better camera.

2.) If you have a busy background that detracts from your item it is as bad as having a blurry photo. Props are great but don't go overboard. Remember the focus is your item not your props.

3.) If your item is something like earrings or a bathing suit you may not want to show it on a model. I know that sounds weird but a lot of people have issues with wearing something that has come into contact with certain parts of the body.

That is it for today. Be sure to share this info with everyone you know that might benefit from it. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.