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

Get More Views On Etsy

We are all looking to get more views for our shops. More views mean more potential for sales. Of course, it only takes one view from the right one person to make a sale. There are a few things that you can do to help increase your views. Today I would like to point a few of those out.

1. Add more items to your shop. A lot of people talk about a magic number of items in your shop. At that magic number you start to make sales. While everyone seems to have a different magic number most agree it is around or over 100 items. More items means more results in searches and more items to look through.

2. Link to your shop sections. If you have 10 pairs of earrings you can have 10 potential views. Within your listing say something like "For more variety see my Earrings Section http://www.etsy.com/shop/TangledMetal?section_id=7955478" This will get people to view more items in your shop per visit. If you have an item that isn't in a section link to the main page of your shop. Every listing should have a link to somewhere in your shop.

3. Blog about it. If you have a blog, mention and link to shop sections as well as the items. Directing someone to a section in your shop gives them far more options than just to an item, even if there is a link to the section from the item.

4. Tweet about it. Tweet about the sections in your shop. It will get people to go to your shop rather than look at the item in Twitter. It is easy not to go to the item if it is shown in Twitter.

5. Put your best face forward. Put the best items you have on the front page of your shop. Enable the Rearrange Shop function and move the best to the front. Try to put a variety of items on the first page. Also put a broad price range on the page. When you renew or add items remember Etsy puts them on the first page of your shop so you need to rearrange after adding new items or renewing items unless you want them on the first page. Also make sure that you are not duplicating your "Featured" items.

Maybe something here is a new idea for you or maybe you just forgot about doing it. Every little bit you can do to offer your potential customers a variety the better chance you have to convert them to a sale. Please feel free to add items to the list in the comments. Or if you don't understand, ask a question.

You asked for it and here it is. A blog dedicated to helping you market your online shop through making the technical aspects easy to understand and even easier to implement. Through understanding how SEO works, you can put your online shop on top.

Learning how the different online marketplaces treat Titles, Descriptions and Tags can help you to optimize your shop for maximum exposure. Views equal sales and the more views the more sales. Learning how to increase your views and decrease your bounce rate will dramatically improve your shop's performance.

Whether you crochet baby hats or sell vintage clothing, the basic principles are all the same. If you run an online retail shop it is important for your products to be put in front of the people who want to buy them. With thousands of items being sold online every day, you want to make sure that your items are being seen.

In addition to being seen, you want to make sure that your photos tell the story of what you're selling. Photography sells your item. The better you can capture your item in a photo the better chance of someone buying it. I will have easy to follow, inexpensive tips and tricks to making your photographs help you sell your items.

What I am offering you is to help marketing your online shop. I want to help you get more sales through optimizing your shop to the fullest potential. I am doing this for free. All I ask in return is that you help spread the word about what I am doing and maybe link over to one of my retail shops on your blog.

I want you to feel free to ask questions about the things that you do not understand. The only stupid question is the one that goes unasked. Feel free to comment with your questions and suggestions. If you have an idea for an article, by all means share it with me. If you have written an article that you think would be beneficial I will be happy to add it here. My email address is marketmyshop@gmail.com