How to Succeed With Your Etsy Shop

The above illustration is so accurate that it made me laugh out loud! If success was as easy as a straight line everyone would succeed with everything they do. Of course, today I am just talking about Etsy success. How to succeed with your Etsy shop is something that is personal to each and every one of you.

I measure success differently each and every day. Some days it is gaining 50 followers or Getting 25 item hearts. Other days it is making a $150 sale and some days it is getting a $5 sale. The point is that there is no guideline written that shows what success is with your Etsy shop.

I like to set goals for my Etsy shop. When sales are down I set goals on how many descriptions I can rewrite in a day or how many new photos I can take. I try and stay busy improving my shop. When sales are up I try to set goals on how many items I sale or how much income I can bring in. I set a lot of goals.

The point in setting goals is to see where things are working and what needs to be improved on. There is no point setting a goal if you do not plan to analyze how you did! So, today, I would like each of you to set a small goal for the day and then this time tomorrow analyze how you did. My goal for the day is to revamp five listings. In that I m going to rewrite the Title, Description and Tags to try and get five of my items to perform better. Tomorrow I will let you know how I did.

Post your goal here in the comments and tomorrow we can all see how we did. Good luck, everyone!

Make Your Etsy Shop Work For You!

This year has been slow on sales for me so I decided I needed to step up my game a bit. I want to see those emails flying in with Notification of Payment Received! Last year I averaged 40 shop views and 120 item views a day. I also averaged 1 shop favorite and 10 item favorites a day. Those numbers did alright for me but nowhere near what I need.

So far this year I have averaged 69 shop views and 112 page views a day. Better though is my favorite average of 10 shop favorites and 63 item favorites a day! That's 29 more shop views a day but 8 item views a day less so far.But I am averaging 9 more shop favorites and 53 more item favorites a day. These numbers look good and are only growing!

This is all due to some really hard work. I spend my time fine tuning Titles, Tags and Descriptions. I cam constantly checking to see what my competition is doing differently. I am checking to see if my tags are performing. I check to see if I come up in Etsy search for the words I am aiming for. And it is all working.

I am just working two of my four shops now. I realized that I my have been spreading myself a bit too thin. So, dropping down to just two shops has given me the time to really spend some efforts growing my business. Next week I will be talking more about how I am gaining steam and how you can do the same. Until then have a wonderful weekend!

How To Gain More Followers On Etsy

I just published a new eBook guide on how to gain Etsy followers! It is written in my simple to follow instructional manner. I think it is a good read and will help you to gain a ton of followers which in turn will get your products in front of more customers. Getting your product in front of more people can potentially create more sales and more profit for you!

The book is a mere $4.95 and every sale helps me to continue blogging and feeding my family! Just follow this link to purchase the eBook from my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/179221653 As always, thank you for reading my blog. I hope you are having a stellar week!

How To Link Your Facebook Page To Your Twitter Account

This quick tutorial will show you how to link your Facebook Page posts to your Twitter feed. This way every time you post on your Facebook Page you will automatically tweet it from your Twitter account. This really helps you to be more active in your social network without having to do double the work!

Make sure that you are currently logged into both Facebook and the Twitter account that you want your page posts to show up on.

Step 1: Go to http://www.facebook.com/twitter and you will see that your profile page is first in the list. Under it you should see the following with a list of your pages:

Step 2: Choose the page you want to link to your Twitter account and click the Link To Twitter Button.

Step 3: You will be transported to the App Authorization page on Twitter. Authorize the app on Twitter.

That is it! Now, every time you post on your Facebook page you will automatically send a tweet with a link to your Facebook post. It really is that simple! Now you have doubled your social networking efforts. Enjoy!

BTW- I am still working on getting the new blog and website up and running. I will be announcing the date soon. I have already moved my Etsy shop to http://CraftKraken.etsy.com and have a couple of my eBooks up with more on the way. Check it out and favorite the shop!

Easy Etsy Bill Payments

If you accept Direct Checkout in your Etsy shop you can now pay your fees directly from your Shop Payment Account balance! This option has been asked for ever since Etsy Direct Checkout went live. Well, they finally listened to us and here it is!

Now you can use the Etsy Shipping Label tool without worry that your bill will skyrocket. After you print your labels just deduct the shipping from your Etsy bill by making a payment. This is really great news for everyone. Just remember that Etsy sends your funds to your bank on Mondays unless you request an earlier deposit.

Trending On Etsy

Ever wonder where you can find what is trending on Etsy? The answer is here: https://www.etsy.com/trending  This page gives you a list of what is currently trending on Etsy. It just so happens that somehow I now have an item from my shop on that page! It is huge news for me. That one item has received over 100 Favorite Hearts in the last 72 hours!

I didn't know much about what that page actually was but I finally have figured it out. If an item on Etsy starts to get a lot of favorites it goes to the Trending page. I do not know how many favorites it has to get. All I know is that once it got to the page it got a lot more favorites.

So, lets try an experiment. Everyone who reads this post go to https://www.etsy.com/listing/100050942/steampunk-gear-necklace-handmade and favorite the item. When you are done, come back here and post a link to one item you have in your shop that you would like to get more favorites on. Everyone then go and favorite everyone else's item. Lets see if we can keep my item on the trending page and get your items on the trending page!

Let the favoriting begin!

Post Your Etsy Listings To Twitter Automatically!

I've been talking about social networking and how to automate it to make best use of your time. I recently started using HootSuite to help automate and schedule posting to my social networks. They offer a free version that is plenty robust enough for most of us Etsy users.

The free version allows you to link up to five different social profiles including Twitter and Facebook! It also provides some basic analytics so you can keep track of your progress. It also allows you to auto-schedule your posts via an online dashboard. The different paid versions of HootSuit expand what you can do but for most of us the free version is plenty good.

I have been using it for a few months now and it sure makes my life much easier. It also helps me to make a much better effort of being engaging. The rule of thumb on engaging is 10 to 15 nonbusiness posts for every one business or marketing post. Being able to actually see the number of posts listed helps to make this easier. One of the really great auto-scheduling perks is that it sets your posts up to go live at peak times for the network you are using. No more guesswork on when to post!

Alright, that's all for today. Go and check out HootSuite and see if it can help you.

How To Gain Followers On Social Networks And Keep Them!

Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and others are the 'Word of Mouth' of the new millennium. To be successful you need to learn how to gain followers and keep them. They will be the bread and butter of being successful.

I have written many articles on how to start your Twitter account, your Facebook page and Pinterest along with others. That is the very first step to creating a useful and meaningful social network. They can't come to you if you are not there. Even Etsy itself is based on social connections. Favoriting, Following and Sharing is at the core foundation on how Etsy works and has become so very successful!

Over the next few days I will be writing about how to gain and keep followers in your social networks.  I am always open to questions and comments so let me know where you'd like the conversation to go. If you do not already have the social networks I have mentioned above started, search my blog for instructions on how to get them.

Social Networking For Etsy Shop Owners

How do you build your social network as a business? It really is pretty simple, be human. As an Etsy shop owner you probably have a personal Facebook profile and a Facebook Page for your Etsy shop. You probably have a personal Twitter and a Twitter for your Etsy shop. You may even have a personal Pinterest and a Pinterest for your Etsy shop.

I have doubles of everything when it comes to social networks, some things I even have triple or quadruples! How do I manage all of these social network profiles? The short answer i automation! That and I spend a lot of time linking my social networks to one another.

Over the next few weeks I will be talking about how to build your social networks. I will show you how to link your social networks together and how to use free tools to automate your social networks. I hope you will join in discussions that might help to answer a few questions.

For today I would like you to make a list of what social networks you use. Post them here in the comments section. Don't post any links to your networks just a list of which ones you use.