Share Your Etsy Shop

From time to time I like to have a day of sharing shops. It helps to build networks and to give everyone a little more exposure. Today I would like you to add your shop link, Facebook Page link and your Twitter link. If you have multiple shops please feel free to add a link. But don't stop there! Visit everyone's links and add them to your circle, follow their pages, like an item, share them with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Help build your network and theirs. Here are mine to get it all started:

Market My Shop Etsy Page
Market My Shop Facebook Page
Market My Shop Twitter Feed

Tangled Metal Etsy Shop
Tangled Metal Facebook Page
Tangled Metal Twitter Feed

I will also have a link exchange set up on my Market My Shop Facebook page for you to share your links as well. I just ask that you like the page before sharing. I hope you all have a great weekend. See you on Monday if not before!

When Should You Open A Second Shop

Yesterday I touched briefly on when not to open a second (thrird, fourth, etc.) Etsy shop. Today I would like to talk a little bit about when it is right to open another shop. Much like in the world of brick and mortar, your Etsy shop can become over whelming to your customers. Shops with thousands of items are hard to keep organized.

When you have so many different types of items that you run out of categories to organize them into it might be a good idea to split them into multiple shops. Now if you have just jewelry or just crotchet, 10 categories is probably going to be just fine. It is when you sell vintage goods, supplies, jewelry and crochet that you start to run into problems.

In my opinion a supply shop should always be on its own. You are marketing to people who will use your supplies to craft their own items. I have been to supply shops on Etsy that also sell finished goods and to me it would be like going to Hobby Lobby and seeing booths set up inside selling items made from the craft supply goods that Hobby Lobby has for sale. To me, it makes more sense to sell supplies to crafters and finished products to consumers.

The most important aspect of "the right time" to open another shop is when you have the free time to dedicate the same amount of time to your additional shop as you do your primary shop. If you do not have the same amount of time to dedicate to advertising and networking something is going to suffer. If you are lucky enough to have the time to devote to it, then go for it!

That is all for today. Keep those comments coming and please feel free to share this blog with your friends. I also tweet some as @MarketMyShop on Twitter and have facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/MarketMyShop And of course my Etsy shop here: http://MarketMyShop.etsy.com and soon at http://www.MarketMyShop.com Want to know what I do on Etsy for retail? http://TangledMetal.etsy.com

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.

Opening An Etsy Shop

Whether you are new to Etsy or just thinking about opening a second shop there are a few things to think about. My first shop is about 1 1/2 years old now. I can ignore it for a day or two and still receive 100+ views a day. The shop I opened last week, if I don't add a product and Tweet it and Facebook it, I do not get any views.

My point here is that it will be almost like it was when you first opened your shop. You really need to be aware of the amount of time a new shop or second shop will take from you. It isn't just you build it and they come. You have to get your product in front of those who will want to buy it.

Be prepared to put in a lot of work on a new shop. Just remember it does get easier. It does get to a manageable point. It will eventually be something that will pay you back.

Over the next few weeks I will be talking about some of the things needed for starting a new shop. The ideas also work well for existing shops. If you have any questions please feel free to send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com