Your Shop Toolbox

Well, I have a new name and a new Etsy shop. Just the beginning stages but I think this will be good. I just added a new domain and will be putting the blog over there pretty soon. If you have a moment to go favorite my new Etsy shop it is located at http://YourShopToolbox.etsy.com I just have a couple of items up but it is a start.

I will be back in the thick of things as soon as I can. Hopefully I can start helping out with all of your questions. I am really looking forward to reconnecting with you all!

How many of you are still out there?

Hey gang! You are probably shocked to see me!! I have been so super busy that I am not sure what to do! I am working a full time day job- okay, maybe it is a bit more than full time- and running three retail shops on Etsy!

I really would like to get back into blogging and helping people with their Etsy shops. Although, I feel like I need a new name, a new look, a new format, a new EVERYTHING! I need suggestions, a lot of suggestions!

I feel like I abandoned all of you. I am not even sure anyone out there is still around. Let me know what you think, bad or good. Feel free to comment here or send me an email. use TangledMetal@gmail.com for email today.

I hope you all don't hate me for being gone for so long...

Sell On Etsy App For Kindle Fire and Fire Phone

Can you use the new Sell On Etsy App with Shop Update on Kindle Fire and Fire Phone? The answer is YES! I got it to work. It takes a couple of steps. Rather than write it all out I am going to include a couple of links needed to make it work:

How to sideload Apps on Kindle Fire Phone: www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-sideload-apps-on-the-amazon-fire-phone/

How to sideload Android Apps on you Kindle Fire:www.howtogeek.com/178357/how-to-sideload-apps-onto-your-kindle-fire/

ES File Explorer for Kindle: www.estrongs.com/?lang=en

Sell On Etsy App Version 2.19.0: apk-freedownload.com/download-etsy-handmade-vintage-goods-latest-ve...

I hope this helps! It got me able to use the new shop update feature on my Kindle Fire Phone.

P.S. Sorry for not posting much lately- I have been super busy! More soon!

How Many Of You Are Still Out There?

Wow, how time flies. It flies whether you are having fun or hard at work! I have been doing both! Life has gotten really busy and I have just not been able to make the time to write a blog in any kind of timely manner. For that I am truly sorry. I have tried and have failed miserably!

I ended up closing my supply and findings shop. Eventually I plan to reopen it with more great items and eBooks. But for now I am just not able to maintain it. Plus, all of my eBooks became outdated seemingly overnight! So, I will attempt to let you all know when I have the shop back up and running. It will probably have a new name and personality. It will be ready, as they say, soon...

In the meantime I could really use your help answering a a few questions. How did you hear about me and my blog and how do you read it? How often do you reference my material? Would you be interested in seeing me blog again on a regular basis? How often would you read it? What would you like to read about.

If you would, please shoot me an email with the answers to these questions to Eric@TangledMetal.com (I check this email way more than I check the one associated with this Blogger account.) Alright, that is all that I have time for at the moment! I look forward to hearing from you all.

Time Tested Etsy Tips And Tricks

I am recovering from some minor surgery so I am working hard to come up with the time for blogging for you. So many things have changed in the way Etsy does things now. In the meantime check out these articles with info that is sti quite valid:

How to get 40 free istings: http://marketmyshop.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-get-40-free-listings-on-etsy.html

Tips for selling:
http://marketmyshop.blogspot.com/2013/09/10-tips-for-better-etsy-sales.html
http://marketmyshop.blogspot.com/2014/01/9-tips-to-help-your-etsy-shop.html
http://marketmyshop.blogspot.com/2013/05/making-time-for-social-networks.html
http://marketmyshop.blogspot.com/2013/03/7-tips-to-spice-up-your-etsy-shop.html

Anyhow, once I feeling better I will get in here and start posting some blogs!

Hope your 2015 is going great so far!

It's Been One Long Year For Me On Etsy And Beyond

As Santa is getting his final preparations done for this year's delivery of gifts to the good kids of the world, I wanted to wish each and every one of you a Happy Holiday! May it be a happy and joyous event regardless of what you celebrate.

This year has been filled with many new things for me. I got married a year ago in December. In August, I took a 9 to 5 day job. I put one of my Etsy shops on vacation and have scaled down my main Etsy shops and put my wholesale business on hold.

It has been a roller coaster of many ups and downs. There have been a few not so good things but for the most part everything was really good! I am enjoying my new life. However, I do miss writing blogs for you guys. Unfortunately, that is one of the things that will take some time to get back into the habit of.

I do plan to start blogging again. I want to share my experiences with my Etsy shops and business in general. I am slowly working toward making the time for that. So, keep a watchful eye for new posts from me. There is still a plan to move this blog to one hosted on my own site and I will let you all know when that happens.

In the meantime have a great Holiday season!

Yours,
Eric

SEO For Etsy And Google Part 1: Tags and Keywords

It does not matter if you are talking about a webpage from your website or a product page on Etsy. You need to be thinking about SEO or Search Engine Optimization.  Tags and Keywords are one of the most important starts to a successfully optimized page. Choosing the right words to optimize for may mean the difference of coming up on page one of the search or page 50. You need to come up in the first 10 pages of any search to be found!

When talking about Tags and Keywords you need to understand some basic ideas. First off Tags and Keywords do not need to be single words. For proper SEO you need Tag phrases and Keyword phrases. In fact single words can and will actually hurt your chances of being found.

Take this example: Blue, Crochet, Hat are all words that you want to be found for. However they are all generic terms. But if you search for just Blue or just Crochet or just Hat you are very unlikely to be found in any search engine!

Now if you use the phrase Blue Crochet Hat you stand a very good chance of being found. Think of it in the sense of you using a search engine. If you were looking for a hat that was crocheted and blue what would you type to find it? You would not expect to find it if you just typed in the word blue would you? Try to think like your customer. What would they type to find you?

On Etsy you have 13 slots to fill with tags/keywords phrases. Use them all wisely. Use phrases that describe you product. Make sure the words accurately describe your items.

Tomorrow I will talk more about tags and keyword phrases and the different ways that Etsy and Google look at them. In the meantime let me know if you have any questions.

Working Hard On Etsy SEO

I have been very busy lately. I started a new wholesale campaign. I have been reworking two Etsy shops. I just have not been able to find time to blog lately. For that I am sorry and I will try to do better.

One of the things I have been working on lately is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Did you know that Etsy has its own search engine? It is very different from Google or Bing or Yahoo. If you want to get to the top of the search on Etsy and one of the big search engines you have to optimize for all of them at the same time!

Next week, if I have time, I will be revisiting how to optimize your Etsy shop to be found on Etsy and Google and Bing and Yahoo and other search engines. SEO is important. It is how you are found and how you make money.

Anyhow, until then, have a great weekend and leave me a comment if you have any questions or comments about SEO.

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.

Business Cards For Etsy

If you don't have a business card, maybe you should! Even if you do not do any shows or have items in any shops having a business card is still very important. It will give you an air of professionalism that you cannot put a price tag on. Plus it gives your customers your contact info!

There was a time when business cards were price prohibitive. Then came print your own business cards. It was cheaper to buy ink for your printer and card stock back then. Now with the insane price of ink it is cheaper to have your cards printed!

I am sure you've see the Vista Print add where you can get 250 cards for $10 or 100 business cards free. Personally I use Got Print. They have been very consistent for the three years I have been using them. Right now, until the end of February, they are running a 10% off sale using code ITSVDAY2014 at check out.

Last month I was able to order 2500 business cards for less than the price of one black ink cartridge for my printer. My cards are two sided. Side one is full color and the second side is black and white. They are heavy card stock and look much better than anything I could have done on my printer.

I like the two sided card for a couple of reasons. First, my front is a full color image of one of my products with just my business name. It is almost like having a little piece of art. People tell me they put it on their fridge and see it every day. The front isn't cluttered with contact info. The back does have all my contact info. It does not distract from the product image on the front.

So, if you don't already have business cards let me suggest again that you get some. You can get around 1000 business cards for under $20 with shipping paid. It will increase your business and help to build repeat customers. You may also want to put 3 or 4 cards in so that your customer can hand them out when they get complimented for your beautiful work.

Packaging Your Etsy Goods To Build Repeat Customers

Believe it or not your packaging is as important as your crafts or vintage goods. Having a positively memorable packaging experience can mean the difference of another order or not. I am a minimalist when it comes to packaging. Maybe it is because I am a guy, who knows.

I put my items in a Ziploc jewelry bag and staple my business card to the bag. I place the item(and sometimes a free gift) into a bubble wrap envelope. I usually include a handwritten note asking for my customer to add to my review count.

I would really like to hear what you do with your packaging.

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.